Towards an Age of Light – Building in Light Substance

 

Building in Light Substance

“The growth in human understanding of light has truly been a group experience combining practical observation and experimentation with the intuitive insights of psychologists, philosophers and practitioners of meditation.”

 

In concluding remarks, attention was once more given to advances in modern science and their spiritual implications. Earlier this year, physicists from Imperial College London stated they have worked out how to make matter from pure light and expect to do so within a year. This amazing claim is based on the formula e=mc2 which shows that mass and energy are intimately related. Atom bombs and nuclear reactors are examples of the formula working in one direction, turning matter into energy, but until now there has been no way to do the reverse, turn energy into matter. The difficulty is c2 – the speed of light squared. It accounts for the huge amounts of energy released in nuclear reactions, and the huge amount you’d need to inject to turn energy into matter.

In the US, a team led by Professor Mikhail Lukin managed to coax photons of light together to form molecules, which is different from the work of the researchers in London in that it is actually a new form of matter. Most of the known properties of light originate from the fact that photons of light are massless, and that they do not interact with each other. As one physicist said “What we have done is create a special type of medium in which photons interact with each other so strongly that they begin to act as though they have mass, and they bind together to form molecules”. The physics of what is happening in these molecules is similar to the light sabres we see in movies like Star Wars. The research may lead to progress in building a quantum computer.

Professor Lukin also said that while he and his team don’t know what it will be useful for yet, it’s a new state of matter, so they are hopeful that new applications may emerge as they and others continue to investigate these photonic molecules. He suggested that the system might one day even be used to create complex three-dimensional structures such as crystals wholly out of light. This exploration into high energy physics is a wonderful symbol of humanity’s point in evolution when it can control the relationship between light and matter. The scientific and esoteric understandings of light are bridging and no longer seem so far apart. The growth in human understanding of light has truly been a group experience combining practical observation and experimentation with the intuitive insights of psychologists, philosophers and practitioners of meditation.
 

super-light-buddha
 

In his book Light Years Brian Clegg, a consultant who has worked for British Airways on new and innovative technology, describes how two exciting new frontiers – one which is slowing light down, and one which is speeding it up – both have the power to dramatically alter our concept of reality. The method used to slow light down is called “slow glass”, an idea arising from science fiction but now beginning to become a technological reality. This bears out the esoteric truth that anything that can be imagined can be made possible and manifested when the time and conditions are right. Based on the combined theoretical work of Bose (an Indian physicist) and Albert Einstein, a new state of matter was produced by applying intense cold to a gas until it took on the characteristics of light. Using this Bose-Einstein condensate, scientists managed to drag back the speed of light from 300,000 kilometres per second to a metre per second.

Brian Clegg proposes that if light could be slowed down to the degree that it took a year to pass through such a substance, it could then be placed in a chosen location to capture a view. Then, a year later, everything that has happened in front of the “slow glass” would be seen behind it. Shift the “glass” into a building and it would carry a year’s worth of light with it. You could have a window onto an exotic location, such as an erupting volcano, a tropical rain forest or a lunar landscape, instead of looking onto a busy street, which would be displayed for as long as it takes the remaining light to travel through the glass. For now, the difficulty is in capturing the whole scene as light enters the glass at different angles and travels at differing speeds. This has interesting correlations with our own attempts spiritually to “see whole” as the soul which sees from beginning to end, in contrast to the fragmented vision of the personality.

It has long been thought that the speed of light is a fixed, immutable, universal constant, but evidence is now accumulating that not only can it be slowed down, it can also be speeded up. Controlling the speed of light in this way will not only alter our understanding and experience of time, it will also help to liberate the concrete mind onto abstract levels of thought, and herald a new era in which humanity’s intelligence expresses life through its outstanding quality – light. As humanity moves towards this, so must it also move on and further express love and wisdom: creative force must be infused with love. The idea of “slow glass” is beautifully symbolic for a meditating group who work to absorb the light of the Divine Plan and release it into the world. In meditation the vibratory rate of the mind is stepped up and we contact light of a higher nature. By precipitating it and distributing it through mantrams, such as the Great Invocation, it is as if we are slowing down the light contacted in order to hold a vision before humanity. As we meditate we are creating a thoughtform of light substance that serves as a channel through which higher spiritual potencies can enter, ready to play their part if the opportunity is offered to them by mankind, and everything now depends upon the right action of people of goodwill. The New Group of World Servers are bringing to humanity “illumination and the attainment of the vision.”

From the World Goodwill Newsletter
worldgoodwill.org

 
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Towards an Age of Light – Light in Spiritual Cosmologies

“The artist sees what others only catch a glimpse of”
Leonardo da Vinci

Light in Spiritual Cosmologies

Our understanding of light depends upon our vehicles of perception. Kathy Newburn from World Goodwill shared Leonardo da Vinci’s thought “The artist sees what others only catch a glimpse of”, adding that perhaps this ability to see more deeply is also descriptive of people following a spiritual path – those who by their application to meditation as a way of life have become able to penetrate behind outer appearances and to consequently see that which is not so apparent to others.

Our ability to see and perceive has changed over time to the extent we now see colours that were veiled to people in past centuries. From this, we can take it that our present perceptions are unlikely to be the end of the road, as in time we will unfold more refined vehicles of perception with which to see more deeply into the nature of reality and subtle realms of colour. This will loosen the gripping hold of the materialistic forces. It is said that within the realm of spirit, all things are one, and within the realm of soul there is differentiation. Light is understood as the interplay between spirit and matter, the result of the process of differentiation, as the pureness of spirit begins to take on and become qualified by colour, hue, note and vibration. Helena Blavatsky wrote “Darkness is the one true actuality, the basis and the root of light. Without darkness light could never manifest itself, nor even exist. Light is matter and darkness pure spirit”.

Throughout history, humanity has always had its Light Bearers, those who came forth to reveal the transcendent nature of reality and to lead humanity forward to take its next step. Such individuals taught through their very being the means whereby light could be contacted, known and expressed as a way of dissipating the dogmas and delusions of the material world. One of the greatest teachers was Patanjali who was said to have lived 12,000 years ago and who was the first person to set down the oral teachings of ancient India. Patanjali’s teachings on the Raja Yoga sutras, the “kingly science of the mind”, constitute a scientific technique for bringing in the light.
Another important teacher in world history was Plato. Plato’s allegory of the cave (in The Republic) highlights the deluded condition of darkness in which the bulk of humanity lives. Those who through their own efforts face the light, begin to emerge from the cave and must go through trials as they learn to see and take the light. Socrates insisted the enlightened ones are obliged to return to the cave in order to help free the prisoners.

From the World Goodwill Newsletter
worldgoodwill.org

Building in Light Substance, the final part in this Towards an Age of Light series, to follow soon…

 
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Towards an Age of Light – The Path of the Heart and the Head

double-wisteria-7

 

“What is the nature of reality?” a group of seers was once asked. They replied, “The Light you see everywhere diffused is the incarnation of Pure Mind”

 

The Path of the Heart and the Head

 
There are many paths that meet the varied needs of humanity, but eventually all paths lead to the same goal. These different paths can broadly be divided into the way of the heart and the way of the head. The past 2,500 year cycle, governed by Pisces, was par excellence the age of the mystic follower of the heart path, although there were many exceptions, particularly among those who came forth along the scientific line. The approach to the mystical path of the heart was through devotion to the teacher and the awakening of the heart, the center of love. The path of the heart provides the sure foundation for the path of the head, which is often a later development within the evolutionary cycle. Without the firm foundation of the heart, the lower mind can block out the light of the spiritual sun and become the “slayer of the Real”.

The path of the heart, being aligned energetically with the feeling nature, is often accompanied by transcendental experiences that can arise spontaneously. Here are a few individual examples:

“When I was ten or eleven years old and lived at Kamarpukur, I first experienced samadhi. As I was passing through a paddy-field, I saw something and was overwhelmed. There are certain characteristics of God-vision. One sees light, feels joy, and experiences the upsurge of a great current in one’s chest, like the bursting of a rocket.” Sri Ramakrishna (The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, p. 176)

Plotinus, a third century philosopher, came forth to reinvigorate and provide a living testament to the Platonic worldview. He showed in his life that the way of the head and the heart can be synthesised. Plotinus stated that he had a number of “enlightened experiences.” He wrote, “many times it has happened, lifted out of the body into myself, becoming external to all other things… beholding a marvelous beauty then, more than ever, assured of community with the loftiest order, enacting the noblest life, acquiring identity with the divine, stationing within it.”

An account of Walt Whitman’s mystical communing with nature was given by his friend, Dr. Richard Bucke. He wrote, “His favorite occupation seemed to be strolling or sauntering about outdoors by himself, looking at the grass, the trees, the flowers, the vistas of light, the varying aspects of the sky, and listening to the birds, the crickets, the tree frogs, and all the hundreds of natural sounds. It was evident that these things gave him a pleasure far beyond what they give to ordinary people… All natural objects seemed to have a charm for him. All sights and sounds seemed to please him. He appeared to like (and I believe he did like) all the men, women, and children he saw (though I never knew him to say that he liked any one).” (Walt Whitman, Dr. Richard Bucke 1883)

 

light-trees

 

The path, no matter whether it is of the head or of the heart, leads eventually into a new and expanded state of consciousness, often called enlightenment. But it would be a mistake to view enlightenment as an end in and of itself for, in reality, it is the beginning of the endless way of liberation. The word enlightenment is defined as “to make luminous, to shine.” It is through the steady appropriation of light and the growing ability to let that light shine that the eventual transformation that is enlightenment occurs. The Vajrayana teachings of Tibetan Buddhism are thought to be some of the most advanced teachings on the steps – the ways and means – to enlightenment. The teaching provides steps to help the individual break through the walls of ‘ego-clinging’ and merge with the infinite expanse of consciousness wherein anything is possible.

In this brief discussion of the spiritual significance of light, perhaps it is fitting to conclude with the story of the Roman Emperor Julian, who arrived in Antioch in 362 AD to organize his campaign against the Persians. Julian was an ardent student of philosophy and religions, so he invited all the philosophers and wise men in the city to an audience. When they were all assembled, he asked them one question, “What is the nature of reality?” They conferred among themselves in serious whispers and after a while, nodding their heads in mutual agreement, one stepped forward and answered: “The Light you see everywhere diffused is the incarnation of Pure Mind.” Julian later wrote to his friend, “The Phoenicians, who from their sagacity and learning possess great insight into things divine, hold the doctrine that this universally diffused radiance is part of the ‘Soul of the Stars.'”

From the World Goodwill Newsletter
worldgoodwill.org

Light in Spiritual Cosmologies and Building in Light Substance to follow soon…

 
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Towards an Age of Light – Light and Enlightenment

The UN has designated 2015 as the International Year of Light – a celebration to mark a series of anniversaries in the history and development of our scientific (and spiritual) understanding of light. World Goodwill is one of thousands of international organisations who are conducting seminars and conferences around the world on Light. The following articles are from The World Goodwill Newsletters and cover a number of topics relating to light: Light and Enlightenment, The Path of the Heart and the Head, Light in Spiritual Cosmologies and Building in Light Substance.

Poets, philosophers and esotericists often think of light in terms of consciousness; knowledge, wisdom, understanding, joy and beauty are all characterised by different tinctures of light. In a future age of light, we can expect wisdom and the more refined lights of the soul, to be reflected in an outer-world of light based technologies and arts. Culturally this inner light will be expressed by a deeper and richer understanding of wholeness and interdependence. It is not the eye that changes but the mind that interprets what comes through the eye to see wholeness and interdependence in a way that we cant imagine seeing it now. This will increasingly inform every profession and every aspect of life, from economics to psychology, art to politics. World Goodwill is an International movement hoping to mobilise the energy of goodwill and to build right human relations.

worldgoodwill.org

 

Light and Enlightenment

 

sunrise-over-planet

“To the illumined mind the whole world burns and sparkles with light”
Ralph Waldo Emerson

From the very dawn of time the light of the sun has been revered as the life-giver, that which takes away the darkness of the world and embodies the good, the righteous and the true. Light has always held a central place in the many cosmologies of the religious and spiritual traditions of the world. All things were understood as coming from darkness and eventually entering into light. All that is, is the result of the interplay between these fundamental and conditioning dualities. In Genesis 1 we read, “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good and God divided the light from the darkness.” Eastern cosmologies extend the depth of understanding to include layers of worlds blending in and around one another. For example, Hindu cosmologists posited more questions than they answered. In the Rig Veda it states, “Neither being (sat) nor non-being was as yet… who knows from where it came into existence? None can know from where creation has arisen, and whether he has or has not produced it. He who surveys it in the highest heavens, he alone knows – or perhaps does not know.” (Rig Veda 10. 129). Tibetan Buddhist teachings present the idea that the source of all light emanates from the primordial mind. The original condition of all phenomena is a self-luminous, self-born state of clarity that was not created by anybody. This transcendent luminosity is identified as the source of all phenomena.

Theosophical writings propose that many millions of years ago, a great event, called individualisation, took place on our planet. In that far distant time, there occurred a potent inpouring of the light of consciousness, which ignited the spark of mind within the animal forms of the human beings of the day. Thus began the evolution of human consciousness. Light is related to the second aspect of divinity, the soul aspect, that which qualifies, colours, and differentiates the essential purity of spirit. One of the ways by which humanity has manifested this differentiation of light has been through the spiritual and religious faiths that have sprung up in response to human need. Perhaps the first intimations of faith stemmed from the observation of nature with its ebb and flow, its waxing and waning of light. The ancient cults, such as those of Mithras in the Roman Empire, and Mitra, its Hindu counterpart, held as their cornerstone the worship of the sun and, particularly, the key points of the annual cycle – the equinoxes and solstices. These cycles in the natural world coincide with the cycles of the soul.

When the sun in all its majesty sinks out of view each evening, another type of light, like a delicate filigree, opens before our view. Ancient peoples were fascinated with uncovering the mysteries of the silvery light of the night sky, unravelling its stories and formulating them into myths through which the heavens could reveal themselves. It’s said the whole history of humanity can be known from the stories hidden within these simple myths.

backyard
Photo by Andrew Crockett

“To one who goes over the bridge, the night becomes like unto day, because in the worlds of the Spirit there is a light which is everlasting”
Upanishads

In ancient teachings, the word for light was often understood to be synonymous with the word for God. This light, or god, came to be recognized by humanity in both its transcendent and immanent forms. Humanity has always had its Light Bearers, those who came to reveal the transcendent reality in a form adapted to the conditions of the time. These teachers have taught and demonstrated through their being the means whereby the light could be contacted, known and expressed within the crucible of the daily life. Schools of thought – philosophical and religious – emerged over the centuries in different centers of the world, in Europe, Persia, Egypt, India and Tibet, each contributing to a vortex of energy to which spiritual seekers were drawn in their search for light. The teaching went forth from Master to disciple through a rigorous system of mental and moral disciplines that facilitated tremendous progress for the select few. The great sage Patanjali who, by some accounts, lived as long ago as 10,000 B.C., was the first person to write down the oral teachings of the yogic tradition that had been carried forward through the centuries to aid humanity in its pursuit of light. Later, around 1,500 B.C., Vedic literature began to emerge, which provided the basis for the Hindu religion.

One of the most important teachers of the pre-Christian era was Plato. His allegories of the sun and the cave powerfully illustrated the human condition. Plato used the image of the sun to help define the true meaning of the Good. The Good, he wrote, “sheds light” on knowledge so that our minds can see reality, free from the distortions that normally control. The Good enables us to see with the “mind’s eye” transcending the limitations of the physical eyes. Plato believed the sun bequeathed its light so that we may see the world around us.

Plato’s allegory of the cave is perhaps the best known teaching from The Republic and highlights the theme of light and the general condition of glamour and darkness in which the bulk of humanity lives, seeing all things distorted and misshapen. Those who begin to emerge from the cave and enter into light must go through many trials as they learn to see within this new reality. Socrates, Plato’s teacher, insisted that the enlightened are obliged to return to the cave in order to help free the prisoners, even if it results in death. In this tale, Socrates is implying that the enlightened philosopher must descend from a continuous intelligible contemplation of the good to share in the visible lives of his fellow citizens for the well-being of the whole.

“When meditation is mastered the mind is unwavering like the flame of a lamp in a windless place”
Bhagavad Gita

The Buddha came forth at a time when there was a tremendous inpouring of the light of the second aspect of Divinity, identified by Alice Bailey as the ray of love-wisdom, which was active in northern India around the 6th century B.C.. The Buddha broke with the Vedanta traditions of his day and also with the ascetic practices that were common among the wandering monks, in search of the light of liberation. The Buddha’s Four Noble Truths focused upon the suffering incident to desire, and the Noble Eight-Fold path provided the steps on the way towards the goal of enlightenment.

Christ

The Christ, the great brother of the Buddha, came forth upon the second aspect of the second ray, the love aspect, whereas the Buddha came forth upon the first aspect, the wisdom line. Christ was described by St. John as the “Light of the World” and much of his teaching was concerned with bringing forth this light. He taught the significance of the inner eye, the third eye, when he said, “If thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.” The Buddha and the Christ are the greatest Avatars who have so far come forth to our world. They were responsible for using the light, in conjunction with their followers, to deal a major blow to some of the distortions and illusions in human consciousness.

Some time between the 5th and 8th centuries A.D., the great Shankara emerged in India to shine a light on the Vedic tradition, with the end in view of freeing it from some of the crystallizations that had set in over the centuries since its inception. He taught monasticism and focused on a non-dual philosophy. According to Shankara, Brahman alone is real and the world in which we live is one of Maya that he likened to the trick of a magician. His most famous work, The Crest Jewel of Wisdom, taught that our central task as spiritual aspirants is to develop the light of the intuition. He taught that truth was known through reasoning, and not through endless rituals, ablutions and extensive breathing exercises.

“Use the light that is in you to revert to your natural clearness of sight”
Lao Tzu

One of the major gifts to humanity over the last 2000 years has been the great strides taken in the cultivation of the intellect. The light has poured into the mind of humanity, resulting in a tremendous wealth of creative expression. This creative light expressed itself through many avenues, including science and the arts. For example, Leonardo da Vinci’s paintings, such as The Virgin of the Rocks and the Mona Lisa, revolutionized the way in which artists perceived light and used it in their paintings. Within the field of science, the great Copernicus helped unravel some of the mysteries surrounding the sun. His treatise On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres, published just prior to his death in 1543, began a scientific revolution by positing the central place which the sun holds in our system.

From the World Goodwill Newsletter
worldgoodwill.org

The Path of the Heart and the Head, Light in Spiritual Cosmologies and Building in Light Substance to follow soon…

 
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George Monbiot

How Whales Change Climate

The astonishing story of how whales keep the oceans alive – and alter the composition of the atmosphere.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M18HxXve3CM?rel=0]

 

Written and narrated by George Monbiot. Produced and directed by SustainableHuman.

 

“I Love not man the less, but Nature more” George Monbiot

George Monbiot’s website is probably one of the most challenging sites with regard to politics, environment, education, globalisation, law, war, health and safety, land-rights and just about everything that involves your well being in today’s world – especially in regards to where YOU stand.

 

Here is an excerpt from the INTRODUCTION of George Monbiot’s website www.monbiot.com

My job is to tell people what they don’t want to hear. That is not what I set out to do. I wanted only to cover the subjects I thought were interesting and important. But wherever I turned, I met a brick wall of denial.

Denial is everywhere. I have come to believe that it’s an intrinsic component of our humanity, an essential survival strategy. Unlike other species, we know that we will die. This knowledge could destroy us, were we unable to blot it out. But, unlike other species, we also know how not to know. We employ this unique ability to suppress our knowledge not just of mortality, but of everything we find uncomfortable, until our survival strategy becomes a threat to our survival.

Whenever I have tried to bring an awkward issue to public attention, it has been greeted with a cacophony of voices insisting that there is nothing to worry about. The volume of denial bears no relationship – except perhaps a positive one – to the strength of the evidence.

Denial is exacerbated by the nature of the media. I believe that the first purpose of journalism is to hold power to account. But it is used, overwhelmingly, to support power against those who challenge it. Most media organisations are owned by very wealthy people or corporations. They appoint editors in their own image, and the people who work for them are acutely aware of where their interests lie. One of the privileges of wealth is that you can employ other people to engage in denial on your behalf. Ideas and information which conflict with the interests of the proprietorial class, or upset their assumptions, are either energetically denounced or comprehensively ignored by their employees.

 

To read more of the INTRODUCTION go to his website. As well as his Introduction and a brief on his background and qualifications you will realise George Monbiot’s dedication to the environment and all things in nature – and what an incredibly prolific writer and dedicated activist he is. With a love and lifelong genuine appreciation for the health and safety and sustainability of this planet you will be inspired in your own life to make a stand – which if enough people contributed, would make for an enormous shift in consciousness and usher in a new world for the benefit of all humanity.

 
 

George Monbiot
George Monbiot

About George

An excerpt from www.monbiot.com/about/

After six years working in the tropics, I decided to return to Britain. There I became involved in the direct action movement: first against timber companies importing mahogany from the Amazon, then against the government’s road-building programme. In the summer of 1994, while contesting the road being built through the flank of Solsbury Hill, I was hospitalised by two thugs in yellow tabards, who impaled my foot on a fencing spike, smashing the middle bone. I was one of 11 people admitted to accident and emergency in the local hospital that day as a result of beatings by the security guards.

I saw the road-building programme as an example of the kind of enclosure the peasant movements in Brazil were fighting. Reading histories of land alienation and resistance movements in Britain, I began to see that these forces had played a major role in our politics, but were now largely forgotten. I co-founded a group called The Land is Ours, whose purpose was to try to revitalise public engagement in decisions about how the land is used. We occupied a number of sites, including 13 acres of prime real estate beside Wandsworth Bridge in London, which was destined for yet another supermarket. We held it for six months, beating the owners, Guinness, in court, and built a village there, which was eventually destroyed in the eviction.

After writing a few op-eds for the Guardian, I was offered a regular column in 1996. Thanks to the tolerant and open-minded editors I have been blessed with ever since, I have been able to explore the issues that interest me, however obscure they may be. I cannot think of any work I would rather do, except perhaps tracking wolves, but there’s not much call for that in Britain.

As a result of some of the things I learnt while researching my columns, I began the investigations which culminated in my next book, Captive State: the corporate takeover of Britain, published in 2000. The discoveries it made, I felt, shone new light on politics in this country. But while the books I had written about other countries were reviewed in most of the papers, Captive State was reviewed hardly anywhere, at least when it was first published. The deathly silence with which the book was received suggested to me that some issues are treated by the media as too impolite to discuss.

After identifying what I felt were some of the problems curtailing democratic politics, I set out to propose some solutions, in my next book, The Age of Consent. Like Captive State, this sold well. Perhaps unsurprisingly, there has been little progress towards the solutions it proposed. Since then I have published three more books. The first is Heat: how to stop the planet burning, which shows how we can cut carbon emissions by 90% without destroying our quality of life; the second is a collection of essays called Bring on the Apocalypse. The latest, which was first published in 2013, is about rewilding: the large-scale restoration of ecosystems. It’s called Feral: searching for enchantment on the frontiers of rewilding. It’s a wonderful subject. Researching it felt like stepping through the back of the wardrobe.

My work is more sedentary than it used to be, so I temper it with plenty of physical activity: sea kayaking, ultimate frisbee, running and some heavy duty gardening: growing my own vegetables and much of my own fruit.

Here are some of the things I love: my family and friends, salt marshes, arguments, chalk streams, Russian literature, kayaking among dolphins, diversity of all kinds, rockpools, heritage apples, woods, fishing, swimming in the sea, gazpacho, ponds and ditches, growing vegetables, insects, pruning, forgotten corners, fossils, goldfinches, etymology, Bill Hicks, ruins, Shakespeare, landscape history, palaeoecology, Gavin and Stacey and Father Ted.

Here are some of the things I try to fight: undemocratic power, corruption, deception of the public, environmental destruction, injustice, inequality and the misallocation of resources, waste, denial, the libertarianism which grants freedom to the powerful at the expense of the powerless, undisclosed interests, complacency.

Here is what I fear: other people’s cowardice.

I still see my life as a slightly unhinged adventure whose perpetuation is something of a mystery. I have no idea where it will take me, and no ambitions other than to keep doing what I do. So far it’s been gripping.

 
 
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Andromeda Galaxy – The greatest photo ever taken

 

Hubble's High-Definition Panoramic View of the Andromeda Galaxy

 
 

The Hubble Space Telescope has been used to take a 1.5 billion pixel image of Andromeda Galaxy. More than 100 million of its estimated trillion stars are visible in this image, provided you go deep enough. Most of Andromeda’s stars are simply too faint to be seen at this distance, even with a telescope as powerful as Hubble. However the image doesn’t take in the full width of this mighty galaxy. The part photographed is 40,000 light years across. The galaxy’s full diameter is estimated at 3-5 times this size. Because the galaxy is only 2.5 million light-years from Earth, it is a much bigger target in the sky than the myriad galaxies Hubble routinely photographs that are billions of light-years away. The Hubble photograph is assembled together into a mosaic image using 7,398 exposures taken over 411 individual pointings.

There are over 100 billion galaxies out there. Makes what you think or do in your day to day activities rather mundane.

 
 
 

More:
http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2015/02/image/a/format/zoom/
http://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/hubble-s-high-definition-panoramic-view-of-the-andromeda-galaxy/
http://www.spacetelescope.org/images/heic1502a/zoomable/

 
 
 
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Inner Worlds, Outer Worlds – Parts 3 & 4

 

Inner Worlds, Outer Worlds – Part 3 – The Serpent and the Lotus

The primordial spiral is the manifested world, while Akasha is the unmanifested, or emptiness itself. All of reality is an interplay between these two things; Yang and Yin, or consciousness and matter. The spiral has often been represented by the snake, the downward current, while the bird or blooming lotus flower has represented the upward current or transcendence.

The ancient traditions taught that a human being can become a bridge extending from the outer to the inner, from gross to subtle, from the lower chakras to the higher chakras. To balance the inner and the outer is what the Buddha called the middle way, or what Aristotle called the Golden Mean. You can be that bridge.

The full awakening of human consciousness and energy is the birthright of every individual on the planet. In today’s society we have lost the balance between the inner and the outer. We are so distracted by the outer world of form, thoughts and ideas, that we no longer take time to connect to our inner worlds, the kingdom of heaven that is within.

 
 

[youtube http://youtu.be/yNEruEsb5T4?rel=0&controls=0]

 
 
 

Inner Worlds, Outer Worlds – Part 4 – Beyond Thinking

Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. We live our lives pursuing happiness “out there” as if it is a commodity. We have become slaves to our own desires and craving. Happiness isn’t something that can be pursued or purchased like a cheap suit. This is Maya, illusion, the endless play of form. In the Buddhist tradition, Samsara, or the endless cycle of suffering is perpetuated by the craving of pleasure and aversion to pain. Freud referred to this as the “pleasure principle.” Everything we do is an attempt to create pleasure, to gain something that we want, or to push away something that is undesirable that we don’t want. Even a simple organism like the paramecium does this. It is called response to stimulus. Unlike a paramecium, humans have more choice. We are free to think, and that is the heart of the problem.

It is the thinking about what we want that has gotten out of control. The dilemma of modern society is that we seek to understand the world, not in terms of archaic inner consciousness, but by quantifying and qualifying what we perceive to be the external world by using scientific means and thought. Thinking has only led to more thinking and more questions. We seek to know the innermost forces which create the world and guide its course, but we conceive of this essence as outside of ourselves: not as a living thing, intrinsic to our own nature.

It was the famous psychiatrist Carl Jung who said, “one who looks outside dreams, one who looks inside awakes.” It is not wrong to desire to be awake, to be happy. What is wrong is to look for happiness outside when it can only be found inside.

 
 

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmL4CeTENtw?rel=0&controls=0]

 
 

All four films can be watched at the filmmaker’s site: http://www.innerworldsmovie.com/index.cfm?page=video&videoid=1

 
 
 
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Inner Worlds, Outer Worlds – Parts 1 & 2

 

Inner Worlds, Outer Worlds – Part 1 – Akasha

Part one of the film Inner Worlds, Outer Worlds. Akasha is the unmanifested, the “nothing” or emptiness which fills the vacuum of space. As Einstein realized, empty space is not really empty. Saints, sages and yogis who have looked within themselves have also realized that within the emptiness is unfathomable power, a web of information or energy which connects all things. This matrix or web has been called the Logos, the Higgs Field, the Primordial OM and a thousand other names throughout history.

In part one of Inner Worlds, we explore the one vibratory source that extends through all things, through the science of cymatics, the concept of the Logos, and the Vedic concept of Nada Brahma (the universe is sound or vibration). Once we realize that there is one vibratory source that is the root of all scientific and spiritual investigation, how can we say “my religion”, “my God” or “my discovery”

 
 

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXuTt7c3Jkg?rel=0&controls=0]

 
 
 

Inner Worlds, Outer Worlds – Part 2 – The Spiral

The Pythagorean philosopher Plato hinted enigmatically that there was a golden key that unified all of the mysteries of the universe. The golden key is the intelligence of the logos, the source of the Primordial OM. One could say that it is the mind of God. The source of this divine symmetry is the greatest mystery of our existence. Many of history’s monumental thinkers such as Pythagoras, Keppler, Leonardo da Vinci, Tesla and Einstein have come to the threshold the mystery. Every scientist who looks deeply into the universe and every mystic who looks deeply within the self, eventually comes face to face with the same thing: The Primordial Spiral.

 
 

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIMoxXO0XvM?rel=0&controls=0]

 
 

www.innerworldsmovie.com

 
 
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The One Life

space

The One Life is the sum total of all that we can see – it is every person, animal, plant and mineral. The one life is the reason for the existence of all these things. If the one Life had not thought us into being, we would not be here.

The one Life is also more than this. It is all that we cannot see. It is the space between us and between all things. It reaches from where we are to the furthest corner of the universe. It stretches away into other dimensions; in fact, this is the source from which it comes. The one Life began in a dimension beyond the known universe, beyond time and space. The one Life of this universe is the result of an idea of an unfathomably immense thinker.

As the entire universe is part of the one Life, nothing happens that it does not know. The one Life has sent its awareness into all things in order to find out what it is and what it can do. It has experimented with form life in multiple dimensions. It still has experiments to conduct as it changes its mind in response to impacts from beyond itself into interuniversal space. It is the great scientist within the laboratory of Life itself. What can Life accomplish, through varying combinations of thought and form?

We are the one Life becoming conscious as itself of that life. We are awakening from a dream in which we were one atom absorbed within itself. We now see and relate to other atoms in our surroundings. The atom, which is our group, self is becoming aware of a greater atom, which is the Whole. We are seeing patterns expanding away into infinity. The pattern of what we are is reflected in a higher and greater portion of ourselves. The greater pattern also reflects upon a yet higher level. Our distorted, clumsy and imperfect local patterns expand into purer and more beautiful patterns. We follow the patterns upwards and outwards to view the patterns of what we are destined to become.

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The one Life has temporarily subdivided itself into group atoms to evolve particular qualities. Love is the focus of its intention in our portion of the whole. Our task is to explore the ways and means by which love can be infused into a realm of substance in which it previously was not. This love emanates from beyond the solar system, which is our group atom; not just beyond in the sense of space and distance, but beyond in terms of a higher dimension. It streams outwards from the interdimensional gateway, which is our sun. It contacts the heart centres of our individual and group atoms. As we let it out, we become more and more open to its flow. From us it expands to embrace all that is. The flow has no limit and no end, for the cosmic heart, which is its source, never ceases to beat and supply. Through and beyond the cosmic heart lie higher dimensions yet, where cosmic love enwraps universes in a fiery bliss of oneness.

When we love with open heart, we are aligning with a cosmic pattern and a divine heartbeat. We invite love into our system from the cosmic heart. As the cosmic heart senses our need and our appeal, it realises down the chain of relationship the love that our world needs. Then love spills out through our hearts, into our world and unites all manifestations of the one Life in a collective web of compassion.

By Ruth Kelland
The Beacon November/December 2004

The BeaconThe Beacon
A magazine of esoteric philosophy, presenting the principles of the Ageless Wisdom as a contemporary way of life.

Published four times a year and available by subscription from:
www.LucisTrust.org

 
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The stars are always there

“On the earth is love and in the heaven is love, and this – the love which makes all things new – must stand revealed”

Hubble Space Collage

After data from the Hubble HUDF images was considered, it was estimated that there are more than 200 billion galaxies in the “observable” universe. Galaxies range from dwarfs – with as few as ten million stars – to giants with a hundred trillion stars each orbiting its galaxy’s own centre of mass. For a fly through click on this link: http://www.geek.com/science/astronomers-create-3d-fly-through-of-hubble-ultra-deep-field-image-1568596/

That’s a whole bunch of galaxies and a bigger bunch of stars. But, so much for galaxies and suns. How about planets? It is estimated that most suns have “planets” which, bound in their gravitational field, are circulating around them. Just what constitutes a planet is a matter of discussion within the astronomical community. Currently, for example, because of the size and some other dense physical attributes, the International Astronomical Union “recognises” a measly eight planets in our local solar system. Many scientists disagree with this opinion which actually reduced Pluto from planet status to, I don’t know, a really “Big Rock”. Also realise that these eight planets, and all the other heavenly bodies our astronomers have catalogued in the great out-there, include only those that our present dense physical instruments can “see”. Since the Etheric dimension of Cosmos is not recognised as existing, the number does not, for example, include Vulcan and several other planets still very much in their etheric development stage in our Solar System.

We have as yet to develop instruments or technology capable of registering the presence of these planets. Of course, if one starts out wearing the blinders of believing that such things do not exist, the chance of “seeing” them is remote. Anyway, the point is that, given just the estimated number of galaxies and stars or suns which we can see, we could well run out of zeros before we approached the number of planets that our telescopes can find.

I have no doubt that we will, sooner rather than later, discover a planet somewhere in that vastness we call Cosmos that supports what we have arbitrarily decided is Life. But that is not really the problem. The problem here is that the Big Scientific Question “Is there Life in the Universe?” is actually based on an assumption that is an error. The error is the assumption that equates Life with dense physical form existence. Every definition of life that I have seen links life with form existence. For example, from Wikipedia “Life is the characteristic that distinguishes organisms from inorganic substances and dead objects.” “Inorganic” stuff is “dead”, but organic stuff is alive. Why this discrimination makes sense in terms of Life, escapes me. However, in order for Life to exist there must be a form. This is the problem that lies at the root of most of our scientific investigations. We keep looking for life in forms rather than reaching beyond forms into Life.

Actually, there is no form without Life! Life is. The visible Cosmos is the expression of Life. Life is Intention. Life is Nothing, but contains the inexhaustible possibilities of Everything.

For example, If we would shift this fixation of our focus on the dense carbon water based form that Life generates as it manifests through the idea of human on Earth and start looking at the living idea of a human being as an existing conscious intention or a principled, manifested kind of energy field, rather than some specific form, a universe of possibilities would open for us. The most immediate realisation would be that Humanity exists throughout Cosmos. Humanity is an Idea, a frequency of consciousness which is the medium through which intention moves into action or form. This is the eternal process of motion in Cosmos: Intention, Love or Consciousness, and Action or manifestation through intelligence. Moving the search from the form to the idea, of Human as an expression of Cosmic Intention, is such a tiny step, yet it opens the door to Infinity.

We will never be able to “see”, experience, or comprehend Life through the exploration of forms anyway, and this tiny step does not require cyclotrons or telescopes. Every human being is born with a physical sensory apparatus that will never be equaled by any human invented instrument or technology. Learning to use this “equipment” is what we are about. The “rewards” in terms of liberty, freedom, understanding and beauty are worth all the work.

Many times in this incarnation, while spending time in the High Sierras, I have had the experience of lying on my back at 9000 feet or so at 1 and 2 in the morning observing the tiny part of the one of those trillions of galaxies that I could see with my naked eyes – our galaxy, the Milky Way. I have watched constellations, the Great Bear, the Twins, wheel across the sky, seen “shooting stars”, once one that lasted 6 seconds, watched meteor showers, watched the sun rise and gradually drive out all the stars except Venus.

While awesome in a certain way, none of the above facts – experienced as numbers on paper, in books or on slides, concerning the sizes, and distance from Earth of the diversity and multitude of bodies in Cosmos – come even close to the impact of awe, the meaning and significance of the experience of being in a dense physical body lying on the top of one of the lower ridges in the crust of our tiny planet and registering Cosmos. I use the term registering because the experience involves so much more or our sensory apparatus than our eyes. One can feel, hear, smell and even taste Cosmos.

On several occasions, I have experienced, or you might say realised, that Infinity was right in front of me and all around me, that I was connected to it, part of it. And, though this is unthinkable, I was it. Difficult to express, but the role the heart plays in registering these kinds of experiences is significant. Somehow the Heart speaks before the mind/brain starts processing data.

These experiences have a way of imprinting themselves in consciousness, both as images of light and beauty and intense frequencies of joy and maybe once in a while, bliss. And they come back again and again with power and clarity during one’s trekking around in the mundane tasks of daily living, giving it a sense of connection and value and meaning that makes it worthwhile and joyful.

It is interesting to realise that while raking the leaves in the garden or shopping for groceries in the supermarket, or driving down the freeway, one is an inextricable part, not only of Humanity and the planet, but of the Infinite Cosmos. We are a part that for a very brief time – as time goes – just happens to be housed in a rather incredible space ship we call a body and focused for a brief moment in the act of raking or shopping or driving.

Deep within, we know that the Stars are always there … waiting for us to return.

Tom Carney
www.ngws.org

 

The Universe is energy – all pervasive – waves of energy constantly radiating through space. Oscillating from here to there and from there to everywhere. Every thought that ever was and will be exists in that timeless space. We are that space and that space is us.

 
 

 
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