Saturday, July 30, 2011

A Conversation....


Mervyn and I were talking today and we were discussing how Man may have changed since the arrival of Jesus. He quoted his "Spiritual Master," (His words) St. John of the Cross,

"What God spoke before to the Prophets in parts, He has now spoken all at once by giving us "The All" who is his Son."

Mervyn explained, "He felt everyone now had access to the Soul or Higher Centers or Jesus, whichever word one uses. He felt this was the gift God gave everyone, which before Jesus, was only granted to the chosen few."

I inquired that if that was the case, how could it be that people were not awakening more? He sighed and said,

"They can, if only we could find the right voice. There were so many Gurdjieff, Jesus, Socrates etc., but the Words have grown stale like a hit record you play over and over until it becomes it's opposite and you start to hate it. We need to write New Music that can be heard by all."

I asked what it would sound like?

He looked at me and then I received that so familiar awakening as I saw once again that there was someone or something else smiling in a most protective and loving way through his eyes. I smiled and realized he was right. I just awoke.

I could feel his Love for who I was at that moment.

Then I realized in a moment that Jesus, St. Paul, and so many Conscious Beings talk about Love.
But how can I Love more? I don't like most people?  He smiled and walked away.  I am sure I heard him say,

"It is not their Machine I am asking you to Love, but the Soul within them."

I was astonished as I realized I never understood the words advising us to,

"Love one another, as I have Loved You."

It was our Inner Worlds that we must begin to see, and then Loving is easier.

Our Soul is There Always...




Sometimes in life we are sailing, fragile on heavy tides. We are lost and broken hearted, searching for ourselves, for meaning, for understanding. Yet, as we awaken, it's as though life is unfolding us, our souls have been there all along, but we were not ready to embrace this. A place we once dreamed of, or suspected becomes real and this place is inside us all. Knowing we were there all along. Knowing this kingdom within us was growing inside us all along and the peace which this realization brings. Our soul is there always, waiting to be discovered, waiting for the right time in patience, in love, in essence. Waiting to unfold us.

Friday, July 29, 2011

The Gift of Presence...


I think that the moments that I am Present are gifts from the Gods.
If I say, "I want to be present now," it is because 
the moment was given to me. 
It was a gift.
One may say that this is a result of one's own efforts.
Yes, however, it is still a gift.

Now, I realized that at those particular moments when the present is
given to me are the moments when I can "do." 
Being aware (present) I am given three choices:

1. I can unwrap the gift and enjoy it now.
2. I can put it away and unwrap and enjoy it later.
3. Reject it all together (forget about this one!)

I know that "later" will never come. 
I know that I must enjoy (extend) the moment now. 
Certain opportunities never repeat.
~A

Thursday, July 28, 2011

Nothing is More Important...



In the end, nothing is more important than digging deep into oneself and getting to know the deeper parts.  Getting into those hidden cobwebs of the mind where we store old memories, that when explored, give us a deeper understanding to what divides us and keeps us from being Real.  
Dig deep, unravel the knots and bring them to the  light. 
By removing the outer layers, we learn 
who we really are and 
we learn to be ourselves.

~JJ

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

The Quality of Our Thinking....


An ancient Philosopher once said:
"He who has not even a knowledge of
common things is a brute among men.
He who has an accurate knowledge of human concerns
alone is a man among brutes.
But he that knows all that can be known by
Intellectual Energy is a God among Men".


Man's status in the Natural World 
is determined, therefore by the "Quality" of his thinking.
He whose mind is enslaved to his bestial instincts is
philosophically not superior to the Brute; 
He whose rational faculties ponder Human Affairs is a man;
And he whose mind is elevated to the consideration of Divine
Realities is already a demi-God, for his being partakes in the energy
his reason has brought him into close proximity with.

The ideal function of Philosophy is to serve as 
the stabilizing influence in Human thought.
By virtue of it's intrinsic nature it should prevent man from ever
establishing unreasonable codes of life.

~Mervyn






Tuesday, July 26, 2011

A Space for the Soul To Be and Love to Enter...


The Soul begins this work by receiving or taking in impressions and
by opening our eyes to the reality and truth of things.
The space formed between ourselves and the image (impressions) 
is where the Soul should live. 
To be awake is knowing that this space exists; it completes us. 
When the Soul has no images to digest, 
the Divine enters and we begin to digest Love itself. 
Jesus explained this as the inner becoming the outer; 
We replace the identity of our I's and our personality by continually 
forming a space for the 
Soul to Be 
and 
Love 
to enter 
our 
Inner World.
~ C

Monday, July 25, 2011

Desire...

Cupid Delivering Psyche by Eward Burne-Jones

The Greeks said that Eros (God of Desire) 
gives wings to Psyche (the Soul). 
Desire and its realigning is a most potent weapon 
in the arsenal of the true Philosopher.

William Blake makes many references to Desire; of its proper uses.
Do not just say the words and expect something to happen.
Desire to change, see what happens.  
This is the secret; Using the energy of Desire to be present.
Our highest capacities and abilities to soar 
are related to our ability to Desire.

Sometimes a student will ask me how to work with something.  
Regardless of what it is, the simplest answer has to be, 
"Desire to work with it."
Without that Desire, the triad has no juice.  
Everything you do in the Work, Desire to do it.

Love, 
Mervyn

Sunday, July 24, 2011

The Soul in the Lion’s Den


The Soul in the Lion’s Den

This is how the soul is when the awakening process begins; it is surrounded by great danger. But like Daniel, if we stand in the light and remember ourselves and God, we will be protected. It is not enough that we have emerged. “Oh Soul,” we must learn to survive.

~Mervyn



Saturday, July 23, 2011

Love of Souls...


LOVE OF SOULS

It is a strange love, this one
It is not human love, it is something higher,
Something sacred.
It is the bridge that unites us with God
It is … Love of Souls

Through centuries and distance,
Through death, in heaven…. or Earth
Our souls have searched for each other!
To love with more intensity each time,
each re‐encounter.
Among us there are no words, because the mouth lies
We just love, without questions, without answers,
Without waiting for anything, without asphyxiation,
We just love each other,
as simple as a caress from the wind.

It is a strange language, this one of ours
We utilize our eyes to speak
We use our souls to hug and kiss each other
In silence… we love each other.

I am here, Alive!
I listen to my beating heart
I breathe your essence, so sweet and soft
Your fragrance runs through my veins
And is the richest nourishment to my soul.

~EL


Friday, July 22, 2011

Invisible Cathedrals



Dear All,
I have much to be thankful for and so many beautiful souls to be with on my journey. I feel true gladness; a great hope rising in my heart emanating and aching to continue. When I am with my friends I know true love; they allow me to know myself.

INVISIBLE CATHEDRALS

     We are all invisible Cathedrals.
Pure light captured and transformed through luminous windows.
            Millions of pieces of sand melted in your heat for your passage to my heart.
        Floating outside windows, oranges hanging heavy on branches.
Orange juice content in perfect orbs.
The fruits of life gorgeous, glistening, life and creation.

          Can I be the chamber in which your light pierces? 
Purity transformed and printed on white walls 
through the lace of my windows.
I am captured by you in the light.
           It rushes silently into all rooms in my heart.

           I saw the picture of the Angel,
sending the golden arrow to the Virgin's heart.
 It is in flight; I am ready to keep receiving you.

          I saw the birds waiting in the branches 
of the pomegranate tree; ripe fruit dropping.
          Crashing open a thousand little hearts within opened on the ground,
multiplied by the pure light.

           Where do they fly now with the seeds, all things in flight with you!
            Can I sacrifice this ripeness to you also? 
With luminous wings take flight from the 
Invisible Cathedral

All that's Important Arrives in Silence....

Now I begin to feel that all that’s important 
arrives in silence and hope, 
and that the activity should be limited to the Work:
To the digestion and practice of what has been learned, so that it can be emptied out to receive more over and over again.

~Rodney Collin


academyofeurpeanarts.com 

The Relationship between Love, Sex and Spirituality in the Awakening Process



 
Question: Can you explain the relationship between love, sex, and spirituality in the awakening process?


Mervyn Brady: There are many levels and obstacles that a person has to overcome on the long journey to find the Holy Grail, or spiritual awakening. We see that even with Sir Lancelot, although he was a great knight full of prowess and possibilities, his weakness in the sexual arena prevented him from finding what he was seeking. When a person is quite a reasonable distance down this road, it is then that sex and love rise to test him. Without preparation or proper instruction, most people would be sidetracked or even stopped dead in their tracks by these powerful forces.

I have seen many fine people spiritually ripening only to be consumed and stopped where they stand by the lower part of the love experience. On the positive side, it is the energy generated by this experience that like for Dante with Beatrice, can propel a person into the higher realms. For most
people, the experience of love invariably awakens the soul and perhaps is what makes the state so desirable. It is because of the arrival of the soul lovers become content with the most simple things, such as a spring day and the sound of birds singing. There is an awareness and an energy generated that is not available to a person in their day to day life. For some people, losing a loved one simultaneously means losing the connection with their inner world. A true philosopher would be a person who seeks within and not without for their missing half. When one finds one's own soul, love in its highest form manifests. It is only when one has experienced this love, that one can truly love others.

Thursday, July 21, 2011

Let Stillness Direct Your Words and Actions....



Living with an open heart when life is unpredictable, when the suffering seems overwhelming or when life’s dramas become addictive, can be immensely challenging. Even on a smaller scale, when we feel bored or have uncomfortable emotions - we may wish to run away, to blame or judge. We may want to fill the space with activity or chatter.

Eckhart Tolle describes three modes to accessing presence:

ACCEPTANCE: If it’s intolerable, have the responsibility to change it or accept it.

ENTHUSIASM: Enter everything with this energy and creative inspiration will follow.

JOY: Joy does not arise from what you do, but flows into whatever you are doing.

We need to become wise, to our machines and plays. Wisdom comes with the ability to be still. Just look and just listen. No more is needed.

Let stillness direct your words and actions.



Wednesday, July 20, 2011

With Attention...




To speak or to put something into words is a movement away from the real.  Gestures are also a move away.  But with attention, these forms of communication can work without losing our connection to the real in us. 

Recently, while having a meeting of quiet presence 
(not entirely quiet, if you were moved to share, this was open for you), the energy became very high and the quiet stillness inside was there for us all…. 
We saw that only Here was there really a choice or decision… 
For to speak meant to move from the real.  

P


Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Being Helped and Helping Souls to Awaken...





We acquire and construct many personalities around what’s real in us.  This is necessary.  We need it to function in life.  Then we call them all “I” and imagine we are them.  We become our imagination or false personality.  Eventually we begin to see we’re not what we imagine ourselves to be.  We are something else and we need to bring this something else forward.  It feels like waking up.  We need to wake up; but the conditioning is so strong.  We need help.  Fortunately, there is help.  So here we are.  Being helped and helping Souls to awaken. 

P


Why?



“Why”

If you ask a traveler on a spiritual journey, “what is the Aim of their Work?,”  you might receive a response such as, “I wish to Awaken.”  This is a beautiful Aim, but a follow-up question might be, “Why?”

For me, this deeply personal question asks us to ponder the meaning of this process. What does it mean to be Awake?  Why have we been given this opportunity in this lifetime?  What is the “Good” of this Work and how can it help me, as well as, others?
I don’t think the "Why?" question can be answered in short-hand, although the intellect, imagination, and ego could probably do so.  Perhaps the answer(s) are revealed as the layers of false personality are stripped away and the revelations of the soul are unveiled. Perhaps the answer can only be revealed as Rilke suggests; through “living the question.” For as St. Paul says, “now we see through the glass darkly” and only through living and Being will we be able to “be clear” in the sight of God, and then come to a better understanding of why.
 It is a question worth asking, meditating upon, and praying for-with both urgency and patience,without identification or imagination…And perhaps in some not too distant future, we will “come into knowing through unknowing.”

Monday, July 18, 2011

A Conversation


Student  
How can one know one has found something real in oneself?

Teacher  
Through trial and error, one learns what is real and what is not.

Student
How can one avoid judging others?

Teacher
By not judging yourself.

Student  
How can one learn to endure the contradictions that one sees?

Teacher  
You are what observes, not what you observe.
 
Student  
How can one develop the ability to listen?

Teacher 
Through speaking less.

Student  
How can one better realize the illusory nature of time?

Teacher
One’s true time is the number of breaths one takes.

Student  
How can we be on time?
Teacher  
By valuing the time of others.
 
Student  
How does comfort threaten one’s work?

Teacher  
By being content with one’s illusions.

Student 
 How can we increase our desire to awaken?

Teacher
 By understanding awakening is a realizable idea.


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sunday, July 17, 2011

The Inner Ear...

Elihu Vedder, Listening to the Sphinx, 1863, Oil on canvas
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Dear All,
This man’s sincerity is obvious, but so is his ignorance.
He is trying to hear the wisdom of the Sphinx with his Human Ear.
It is to our Inner Ear or the Ear of the Soul to whom the Angels speak.
“Let him with ears hear.”

Love,

Saturday, July 16, 2011

How does one know when one has found something real?



Question: There seem to be many paths one can take when seeking spiritual answers. Are there real and practical answers about life and the soul available in today's world? How does one know when one has found something real?

Mervyn Brady
: One of the problems facing an awakening soul today is that there are many pathways with morsels or tidbits of truth to tempt the naive soul down. Yes, there are real and practical answers, and I have seen many people with answers they could not possibly live. There has to be a balance between a person's knowledge, understanding and being. And if one or more of them goes out of sync, you will end up a parrot, a "stupid saint" or a disciplined person who does not know what to do. One of the surest ways to test a teacher is to examine his fruits, i.e. his students. It is here that one can see if the teacher's knowledge, understanding and being can be passed on. One of the true tests of consciousness is: Can it re-create itself in another person? If it can't, it is probably just imagination. 


Food for the Soul




  We read profound literature because it feeds the soul and the realizations that come from such reading goes "directly" to the soul.  We listen to beautiful and higher music because it "touches" the soul and the emotions produced from this are higher emotions.  We look at beautiful paintings and what we see in them races to feed the soul. The creature is not interested in this stuff and will allow the soul to feed on this as much as it wants to.  We can see however, that a beautiful nude painting can compete with the creature.  The creature sees it as sex ...the soul sees it as the beauty of the human body.

When we "speak" from our soul
… this is a most beautiful sound.  There is a huge difference between listening to someone speaking from "false personality" or a "feature" … and a person "speaking" while they are present.

Friday, July 15, 2011

 
 
We remember our Soul, when in presence we are in its energy, we become the Soul and we feel the energies of the other Souls around us.

What about the Heart? can we feel it? can we feel in it the vibrations generated from each feeling? 

Are we observing that the Heart is awakening the same as the Soul? that we need to keep connecting with the Heart, to feel constantly its aliveness? 

Are we remembering the Heart the same as the Soul? 

We are intentional in nourishing the Soul through impressions ... using our senses, what is the role of the Heart in this? Agony and ecstasy ... how much the cocktail of emotions is helpful to keep awakening the Heart and keep the Soul awakened?

The Heart speaks ... do we listen to its words?
 
~A

Thursday, July 14, 2011

What is the awakening of the soul?



Question: What is the awakening of the soul and what is required?

Mervyn Brady
: The awakening of the soul is exactly what the words say, the soul awakens and has to find a way to manifest in this world. However, as we said the body will constantly try to take this space and claim it for its own. It is interesting that we have a soul, but we don't always remember that. Therefore, the first requirement is to "remember" the soul. This is man's greatest obstacle; he forgets and becomes consumed by the body's attempts to digest and control his life. A man must find a way to constantly "remember" his inner world. 


Wednesday, July 13, 2011

The Abduction Of Psyche

 “Le Ravissement De Psyche/The Abduction Of Psyche"
Adolphe-William Bouguereau. 1895

Psyche (the Soul) does not yet have wings that are big enough to fly of her own accord, (although the potential is there). In this picture we see that Cupid is taking her to his palace. This signifies that Love can elevate the soul. However, Psyche’s eyes are closed, she is in ‘sleep’. Although she is being ‘lifted’ she is not ‘conscious’ of what is actually lifting her.

Once in his palace, Cupid kept Psyche in a locked room and would only make love to her at night - she wasn’t allowed to ‘see’ him. Although, initially this wasn’t a problem for Psyche as she was infatuated with the ‘state’ that Cupid would create in her.

Remember that Love can ‘awaken’ the Soul. It can bring us the necessary energy to be present. It is up to us to remain conscious or remember ourselves during these moments.

Henry Meynell Rheam, Sleeping Beauty, 1899, Watercolor



Dear All,
This is a picture of my favorite part of ‘The Work.’
The Soul is the Sleeping Beauty and the Prince
represents Higher Knowledge
waking her up with a Kiss.
I have seen many Sleeping Beauties in my time.
Some have gone back to sleep and some of you are still here.
Love,
Mervyn 



Tuesday, July 12, 2011

What is REAL?

  


What is REAL?

"What is REAL?" asked the Rabbit one day, when they were lying side by side near the nursery fender, before Nana came to tidy the room. "Does it mean having things that buzz inside you and a stick-out handle?"
"Real isn't how you are made," said the Skin Horse. "It's a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real."
"Does it hurt?" asked the Rabbit.
"Sometimes," said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful. "When you are Real you don't mind being hurt."
"Does it happen all at once, like being wound up," he asked, "or bit by bit?"
"It doesn't happen all at once," said the Skin Horse. "You become. It takes a long time. That's why it doesn't happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand."
 
(From the Velveteen Rabbit)






Monday, July 11, 2011



Come, said my Soul
by Walt Whitman

Come, said my Soul
Such verses for my Body let us write, (for we are one,)
That should I after death invisibly return,
Or, long, long hence, in other spheres,
There to some group of mates the chants resuming,
(Tallying Earth's soil, trees, winds, tumultuous waves,)
Ever with pleas'd smiles I may keep on,
Ever and ever yet the verses owning – as, first, I here and now,
Singing for Soul and Body, set to them my name  
 


Some moments pierce us and some moments simply pass us by. I believe that the gods try to work through us as though we were an open vessel.To let go of fear, to let go of negative emotions, to destroy accounts to rise above the laws we are under and become light, to just 'be'.
This is when we can channel that love, that energy and that inspiration. It is not 'ours' but it is that which works through us. It is that which is sacred and heals. It is that which is real. To bravely surrender that which we do not need is to receive a higher love. In the beauty of life sings life's brutality, and so, we must die and become reborn again. Just as every cell in our bodies is doing at every moment, so do we in our soul.
S


Sunday, July 10, 2011

New York City - Introductory Meeting



The Academy of European Arts and Culture
New York
 invites you to attend an an introductory meeting:  


Wednesday, July 13th at 7:00pm.

This will be an excellent opportunity to learn more about what the Academy offers.

To RSVP and location in Mid Town Manhattan

or
1.866.312.7922


The Heart...A Dialogue




Online Meeting
Sunday, July10, 2011


I addition to their regular meetings, students of the Academy gather online each week 
to share in Presence and understanding. 
Below are excerpts  from today's meeting.



F:
I see the heart as the link between the body and soul. As students of awakening the heart is our entry into higher realms. The heart has the raw material for us to grow in being and in light; to reach within and to reach upwards.

The heart is the starting point to understanding and the temple of the mystic’s life. In the heart resides, love, compassion, devotion, and faith. The heart is the source of all great love stories, all deep longings of lovers, all creative energies and mysteries. To awaken the heart is higher than to awaken to consciousness.

S:
 I have been pierced without expecting it. I was surprised and could not buffer the experience of the heart. It is important to keep remembering the moments of the heart and not deny them or make them smaller than they were.  Rodney Collin said, 

“It is important to affirm, affirm, affirm.”

N:
The heart carries such an important role for a mystic.

“The beauty of the heart is the lasting beauty. Its lips give to drink of the water of life. Truly it is the water, that which pours, and the one who drinks. All three become one when your talisman is shattered. That oneness you can't know by reasoning.”
~Rumi

J:
 I see how important meditation is while experiencing a painting or playing music. I see how easily I go to words to buffer the experience of the heart, to seek solutions to pain, to try to connect through being "reasonable."

I'm beginning to learn to be still and to speak less. Now it becomes more uncomfortable to be caught up in so many words. If I wait a moment and try to absorb a painting, the words of a friend, the full experience of the morning air, I have a chance to let my inner world respond instead. Then the words, if they are words, or just the hug or smile, can emerge instead from my inner world, which has been waiting in the wings.
 
N:
Yes, it is a constant effort to learn to stay in the heart since our mechanics weigh heavily.    I look at the heart at this tiny organ that has the potential a gateway to cosmos.  Daily life creates I’s and we forget the beauty of our heart easily. Rodney Collin says,

One needs to listen to the heart. It will tell things so clearly what must be done, what must not be done.”
 N:
  I love the following from Meher Baba.

“The Word that I will speak will go to the world as from God, not as from a philosopher; it will go straight to its heart. With the dawn of the realization of the Unity of all life, hatred and dissension will come to an end. There will be unfaltering love and unfailing understanding and men shall be united in an inviolable brotherhood, based on the realized Oneness of God.”

The heart has the power of peace on earth, unity of man, and the awakening of the souls. When I think about the potential of love, I want to nourish my heart everyday

J:
When we live in our hearts, we lose that which divides, that which is not essential, that which buffers our REAL existence. The real meaning, the Unity of us all. 


All Life is a Mirror




It is spring and I am contemplating the simplicity of nature; it's endurance and purity. Each year we too can use this energy to our advantage, or give into the madness of the machine; running in fear or without direction through the field, like the March Hares.

All life is a mirror. I can choose through remembering my soul to direct the purity and filter the juicy sap to my soul. This poem from Rainer Maria Rilk'e "Sonnets to Orpheus" describes it perfectly...
           
Flower muscle, that opens the anemone's meadow morning bit by bit,
          until into her lap the polyphonic light of the loud skies pours down,
         muscle of infinite reception, tensed in the still star of the blossom,
        sometimes so overmanned with abundance, that the sunset's beckoning to rest,
        Is scarcely able to give back to you, the wide sprung petal edges,
        You resolve and strength of, HOW MANY WORLDS!
 We with our violence are longer lasting. 
But when, in which one of all lives,
 are we at last open and receivers?
C.O.

The Inner Sanctuary of the Heart

Dear Souls:


Sometimes in moments of intense pressure, 
the gift suddenly appears, and through the storm,
guides the path that we uniquely must walk.

During these times of emotional madness 
that which wants to process the unknowable must detach. 
The inner sanctuary of the heart holds and contains the gift 
until the moment it is ready to reveal itself; in a song, an image, a prayer, or a story. 
Whoever has ears or eyes will know it is the gift speaking. 

Chicago – Open Forum – July 11, 2011

Chicago – Open Forum

July 11, 2011

 

What is the Meaning of this Life? Are we True to this Meaning or Getting Lost?

We all have our own view of the meaning of our lives. We believe we know the meaning and purpose of this existence, yet still struggle to stay true to it. Even though we  feel pulled in different directions, there is one thing that always points the way back. Please join us for an Open Forum  and share what brings you back to your aim, your meaning, and your truth.

Monday, July 13, 2011
7:30pm

Bon Bon Sandwiches LLC
2333 West North Avenue Chicago, IL
 
There is NO CHARGE for this event!
 
RSVP
 
1.866.312.7922
or
chicago@academyofeuropeanarts.com

 

Saturday, July 9, 2011

The Gift of Gifts...


Let go...let go of the machine and its petty desires. Let go and let the state of divine love 
grow within you.  For this love is from God. It is so precious.  It is the gift of gifts. 
We are so close when we have this … and it can grow!   
It can become like the Sun, radiating from within us and warming those that come close. 

~ O 

Thursday, July 7, 2011


   
Protection, or Song of Peace, or Aphrodite, 1902
Brighton Riviere, Oil on canvas,
The Dahesh Museum of Art, New York, New York



Dear All,
Our Souls in this world are surrounded by dangers. Beasts are often used to illustrate what would harm us.  Here we see the Soul surrounded by what would tear us apart, unhurt and protected by ‘The Holy Ghost,’ represented as usual by a white dove. One sees that as long as the Soul keeps her connection, the beasts will hold back.

Remember to remember and keep the Connection to ensure the Protection.

Love,
Mervyn