Wednesday, April 2, 2025

The Merchants of My Temple

 



"Jesus went into the temple of God 
and drove out all those who bought 
and sold in the temple." 
Matthew 21:12

Meister Eckhart interprets 
Christ's expulsion of the merchants 
from the temple as a symbolic 
clearing out of all thought processes 
that distract from the soul:
 memory, 
understanding, 
will, 
perception, 
imagination, 
any object of our desires, 
and whatever it is 
in which you 
wish to find yourself.

This prompts me to ask: 
Who are the merchants in my temple?
And where am I still searching for myself?
 



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Monday, March 31, 2025

May You Walk...



May you walk in the grace of mercy, 
where love finds you unconditionally.
Where compassion envelops your soul, 
where the weight of yesterday 
is lifted by the light of understanding.
May you enter through the doors of forgiveness, 
not as a burden, but as a release.
A release from everything that has bound your spirit,
a homecoming.
A reminder that nothing is really holding you back 
except what you refuse to let go of.
May your heart expand beyond the wounds, 
beyond regrets, 
beyond the echoes of the past.
Because you are not your mistakes, 
you are not your pain.
You are the one who rises, 
over and over again in love, 
in wisdom, in freedom.
So release renew and elevate.
That's right.
~ The Elixir



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Friday, March 28, 2025

When I Slow My Breath...

 




When I slow my breath down, 
including holding the breath 
on both the inhale and the exhale, 
my mind automatically slows down. 
While doing this I bring my prayer, 
whatever it is, to my heart. 
Slowing the breath down 
is a big boost to remembering myself.
~J



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Monday, March 24, 2025

The Difficulty...

 




"The difficulty is not so great
to die for a friend 
as to find a friend worth dying for."
~Homer



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Friday, March 21, 2025

In My First Years...

 


David Thomaston



In my first years in the School, 
I was actively studying the system, 
involving the Intellectual Center. 
And I thought I understood The Work. 
Lately as I study again the 48 laws, 
I begin to realize how important it is 
to become the Work in order to embody it. 
That helps me to balance the 4 centers. 
For that, intention is needed. 
This intention is an invitation to be Present 
which may lead to feed the Higher Centers. 
To be Present is to become the Work, 
always moving, always changing. 
Presence is what remains.
 ~C



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Wednesday, March 19, 2025

Constantly Pulling and Pushing ....

 

Oberon Titania and Puck with Fairies Dancing -
William Blake 1789

We are constantly pulling and

pushing each other into the realm of the soul. 


The responsibility of my inner world is to raise

the hydrogens as high as possible wherever

I am and this is same for all of us.


This is how we can preserve the state of divinity

and the hydrogens that flow will keep us alive.  


~R





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Monday, March 17, 2025

Dream...

 



"Dream no small dreams
for they have no power 
to move the hearts of men."
~Johann Goethe



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Friday, March 14, 2025

To Have An Operational Heart...

 


Jim Dine


To have an operational heart, 
one that is free of grief, sorrow, 
defect owing to personality and experience, 
is a higher gift. 
One that comes with the responsibility 
to repay in kind the love shown us, 
the love of humanity, 
of one's neighbor, 
of those who show value 
and interest in the works of God, 
as it is our natural state and obligation. 
~O



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Monday, March 10, 2025

To Become...

 


Michelangelo



To become a balanced man/woman 
is a very big thing. 
To see oneself, 
to see myself without becoming identified 
is a portal into another realm. 
So, how to balance (in practical terms) for myself?
I was telling P that as a child 
I loved riding my bike and roller-skating. 
The bike was freedom and roller-skating excitement. 
I remember that one day (as a child) 
my moving center was very active. 
I asked my mom 
if she needed anything from the store 
and said, yes, some potato chips. 
So off on my bike I went to the town center. 
I had an aim. 
After I came home with the chips, 
I asked if she needed anything else. 
Bless her heart, 
she gave me another errand. 
I rode like the wind and remembered being so happy. 
It was joyous.
In relaying this to P, 
I realized that I had an aim. 
My moving center was employed, 
the emotions were engaged, 
and the intellectual center (as a child) 
was in use to create the aim. 
I do this now. 
When feeling overwhelmed in the emotional center, 
I find that the moving center helps to balance me. 
It has to be a specific task that needs to get done. 
This has been beneficial on many levels, 
and I am experimenting 
and allowing the understandings to deepen over time.
~M



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Friday, March 7, 2025

Who Shall Give...

 


                                                                                      


"Who shall give a lover any law?
Love is a great law, 
by my troth, 
thank any law written by mortal man".
~Geoffrey Chaucer



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Thursday, March 6, 2025

Free Workshop! Monday, March 10, 2025 - The Ladder of Love - Our Story Within

 

                            Salvator Rosa (1615–1673), Jacob’s Dream (c 1665)


You are invited to attend a free workshop on Monday, March 10, 2025 -  "The Ladder of Love: Our Story Within" 

Many spiritual teachers have used the symbol of the ladder as a way to make humanity more aware of its journey toward the union between heart and soul. Each person's life is a series of experiences condensed into a long line of memories. Many are beautiful, but others are painful and difficult. Let us explore together the story within us and try to understand the step we are on.

"Put anger and pride under your feet, turn them into a ladder and climb higher." 

~ Rumi 

This workshop will be facilitated by Caroline O'Reilly.  Caroline is one of the founding members of the Academy and the Director of our Center in Ashland, Oregon. She has led philosophy groups for three decades in Europe, the United States, and Mexico. Join us for this FREE Meetup on ZOOM.

 Click here to register for this free workshop!

Wednesday, March 5, 2025

Maybe in moments of terror and confusion....

 

Jacob's Ladder - William Blake


In a dream, Jacob was shown multitudes 
of Angels coming up and down, 
something we are all familiar with 
over the years and has been 
the topic of many meetings.

Maybe in moments of terror and confusion 
one is disconnected from the other steps, 
frozen and unable to move up or down, 
unable to feel and really know that maybe, 
even the Lower steps are just illusory, 
in the way that the body  thinks, in duality. 

In fear and confusion 
we are still connected to the higher 
and have to trust to stay on that step in presence, 
and not to be tired by waiting.

~C


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Monday, March 3, 2025

A Perfect Example...

 

Jimmy Taurrell 



A perfect example for me 
of balancing all my centers is through music. 
Yes, it is so definitely in my essence,
 and I have had years 
of plumbing its depths as a performer. 
But even as a child 
I was attracted to music in a complete way—
I felt it so deeply (and transcendentally) 
with my lower and higher emotional centers. 
I took it in with its complex vibrations, 
feeling it course through my body, 
dancing with it, laughing, 
pondering its meaning. 
As I became more educated to its forms, 
I became amazed at the mathematical complexity 
and purity of its structures, 
especially with Bach, 
who has traveled with me since my infancy. 
~J



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Friday, February 28, 2025

Love...

 

Robert Indiana



Love doesn’t just sit there, 
like a stone; 
it has to be made, 
like bread; 
remade all the time, 
made new.  
~Ursula K. Le Guin 


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Wednesday, February 26, 2025

Eradicate the conflict....

 

Excerpt From Ouspensky’s Fable : 
The Benevolent Devil


" It is necessary to eradicate the conflict between 
the life of ideas and the life of every day. 
In order to achieve this, it is necessary that 
you should know yourself. 

Each moment know what you are doing 
and why. Only then will you be the 
master of things rather than their slave

Usually you carry out your wishes before 
you have given any thought as to whether 
or not they are necessary for your 
higher aims.  

Try to live in such a way that you keep a watch 
on your actions and do nothing 
that does not serve the higher purpose. 

Or, to put it another way, learn to
do everything in such 
a way that whatever you do serves a higher
purpose. It is possible to do that. 

But, whatever you are doing, 
it is vital that you ask yourself, before
each thought, before each word, before 
each action: Why am I doing
this? Is this necessary? 

Then, imperceptibly, a number of your 
actions and deeds will cease to be 
unnecessary and they will start 
to serve the higher aims.  

The inner conflict in your life 
will begin to disappear and be 
replaced by harmony. "



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Monday, February 24, 2025

Over Time...

 



Over time, 
things shift from the verification of our machine 
and the ability to hold presence 
and reduce our identifications 
to the use of the machine in the hands of the soul 
to understand the creation. 
And that takes for me, personally, effort. 
First pondering of these higher understandings, 
honest assessment of what I don't yet understand 
and then the setting of aims and experiments, 
the use of my body 
to realize the myriad possibilities open to us.
~O



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Friday, February 21, 2025

The Power Of Words...

 




The power of words -
Words are seeds. 
Each one we utter has the power to grow, 
either to give life or to destroy. 
The tongue has the power of life and death,
and those who love it will eat its fruit.
Words are not just echoes, 
they are architects that shape what will be. 
A kind word can mend a heart, 
while a careless one can break it.
Words can uplift, inspire and transform, 
but they require care, intention and love.
As Rumi said, “Raise your words, not your voice.” 
It's rain that grows flowers, not thunder. ”
It is not the volume but the depth of our words 
that nourishes the life we are building.
Speak with a purpose. 
Speak with love. 
When we align our words 
with what we really desire, 
we become co-creators of our future.
Words are the silent sentences 
we send out to the world that become action. 
They are a reflection of our faith in what is possible.
So today, let your words be rain. 
Let them water the seeds of your dreams 
and feed the good in the world around you.
Speak life into your circumstances. 
Speak truth in spaces where fear once lived. 
Speak boldly, 
as if the life you long for is already unfolding, 
because it is.
~Zen Wisdom



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Monday, February 17, 2025

Over The Years...

 



Over the years, 
I find that I've grown more patient 
and willing to view my mechanics 
with less identification. 
Something like: "yes, I see you, 
but you need to keep a distance". 
AND to see others with love (as much as I can). 
Also, something Mervyn said about viewing others 
to see their highest potential 
(or something like that). 
It makes life more expansive.
~M



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Friday, February 14, 2025

With Love...

 

 William-Adolphe Bourguereau



With Love, just as with Consciousness,

first comes The Taste……The sweetness.

2nd….Awe and Fear….The Pain.

3rd….Doing….Being able to be it.

When the Lover meets the Beloved

 there is a surge of energy in the body.

The effects are many, 

both physiological and psychological.

This may or may not depending 

of the quality and strength of it provide sufficient current 

to the Soul and awaken it. 

Just as sufficient electricity 

sent to a light bulb will illuminate it.

The gift of Love therefore contains apart from itself 

another priceless one. 

One a person will often completely miss.

It is the Soul.

The arrival of the Immortal Soul.

To drink "The Love Potion" or not? 

If you do you may forget your mission. 

The rule is to only drink the potion if you can stay present.

God gave men and women 

to each other as a divine gift. 

They are the opposites that combined with God 

make a trinity that can be Magic. 

(Magic only works if you believe in it). 

One must learn to survive in the Realms of Love.

Heaven is a state not just a word.

Have you ever been awakened by a kiss from a God? 

If you do, 

you had better serve her 

or she will not save you from the dangerous beasts out there.

Love must be served or it will turn against you.

Our forms of marriage and relationships, 

which are institutions of a different era, are crumbling. 

Something new is called for, 

not just the opposite of what we have now. 

Energy is all around us 

and we need rules and observations 

on how to use it or it will use us. 

We do have legitimate needs, 

but we must unravel the mysteries again. 

Women have new freedoms and possibilities 

and must use them. 

Men must also change and see women as human beings.

The love experience must come to terms with the lover 

and the loved along with who and what they are. 

It is no longer enough to have a sex partner, 

or to keep changing them. 

The sex act is sacred. 

We must start at the bottom 

and relearn everything again. 

Everyone thinks they are a great lover, 

salesman and driver, 

but love has to be learned. 

There are many pitfalls.

The highest ideal must be teaching people 

how to give and receive love; 

Love that puts body, heart and soul in harmony.

Sometimes when we look into another's eyes, 

we can send matter in molecular form to them. 

Love, for example is not "nothing". 

One can feel it emanating from another. 

Imagine if we could make love and bottle it?

There is an impulse of a lover to be lost in the beloved. 

The way a moth is drawn to a flame and consumed by it. 

The aim must be to use the light of the flame. 

To see it and be wise enough to withstand it. 

We have to be able to withstand the light of love.

To touch the skin of those closest to you 

is to touch the outer wall of their solitary confinement.

You have to be able to reach the level of pure sex. 

The Ace is 1 or 11. 

It is lower and higher than all of the centers.

“As above, so below.”

When a man and woman are in love, 

there is the need to “go into” each other.

When you are in love, 

you have the opportunity to touch someone’s inner world.

You are free to love any one you want, 

but not sexually.

The more people you love, 

the more energy you have to stay Awake.

The great secret is to love more. 

Because I can receive love, I can give it.

This does not mean more sex. 

The higher the love we feel, 

the higher and more refined the ENERGY. 

I am a lucky man, for I love so many.

This is a form of payment 

for what I wish to receive.

There is a stage 

when we must think less and love more. 

When did you last hear of the Sacred Intellect of Jesus? 

No, it was the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

There is only so far humans can go with love. 

I don’t think people can unleash their love. 

We have to unleash our love. 

Just one moment is all that is necessary.

So, if you dare, LOVE.... 

LOVE like nobody has ever loved.

~Mervyn Brady





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