Illuminating Insights

     This is dedicated to all who authentically seek inner and outer peace. It is not the simplest of undertakings, but those who truly desire this, will triumph. This is a practice in examining yourself and your relationships to continuously forgive and release built up resentment and stresses.

     It’s not always the most inspiring topic to discuss, but the resentments and grudges that we hold towards others and ourselves are the underlying causes of much disease and premature illnesses. Both consciously and unconsciously, most of us continuously emanate stress frequencies throughout our bodies due to unresolved conflicts and disharmonious relationships. To get right to the point, this is not an article that gives you the tools to make everyone see things your way, or make them like you. It is however a realistic method that empowers you through the acceptance of all things and others through compassion, forgiveness and understanding.

     Interestingly enough, the root of most unbalanced bodily biology stems from stress caused by our own resentments. Keep in mind that most of us have underlying resentments against our own selves, and not simply other people. So what can we do to actively overcome stress and take control over the well being of our body and environment?

     You guessed it, find forgiveness. Forgiveness is one of those words that some may cringe at, and others may welcome. It is however a concept that strikes a cord with us all. To truly find forgiveness, there must first be a profound internal examination. And on this note, remember that you are your own best health consultant regarding emotional wellness.

Since its beginnings, the human mind has labored tirelessly to both understand, and rationalize, its origins of creation.  But to what degree has humanities creativity itself, taken an active role in creating creation, through mythologies, religion, and legend. It’s been mentioned repeatedly this month, that we often overlook just how closely our creativity actually manifests the details of our personal reality. And having touched on this concept, I wanted to take the opportunity to dive deeper into the actual human capacity to create creation through creativity. That’s no doubt an entertaining phrase to say, but allow me to demonstrate, just how humankind has actually created its own creation.

I was thrilled to hear that the Inner Peace issue was extended into the month of July, as much important information was still uncovered.  We have heard a variety of methods to find, and establish inner peace this month, but how do we maintain inner peace when our actual belief structures and fear-based reactions are so deeply rooted into our subconscious, that they eat at us daily like a cancer?

            Who among us would be bold enough to admit their underlying prejudices? Who can say that they were not somehow driven to frustration when hearing about the most recent shootings in Orlando Florida?  How do you think that today’s Jewish population feels when hearing racist Holocaust humor? And how do Native Americans feel when European immigrants celebrate their heritage on the forth of July, in a country taken through the literal massacre of their recent ancestors?  How does the American of African decent feel when they are constantly reminded of the horrors of slavery through racial slurs and a still present social discrimination?

To what degree are you influenced by your exterior world? How do music, television, and cinema, help create your perspective of reality? And finally, are you aware of just how much occult influence is embedded into each of these pop culture facets?

            Popular culture can be viewed as a paradigm of collective thinking based on the western worlds idea of entertainment and lifestyle.  And today, it’s no secret that an elite faction methodically guides humankind, through an injection of popular global trends through pop culture.  Yes, that’s a loaded statement, and some might almost find it offensive when told that their “individual” life is not entirely ruled by their own means. We may liken our existence through pop culture influences to the single fish swimming through the sea within a collective school of many thousands of other fishes. At the slightest shift in the waters current or environment, the entire school (or body) will collectively alter course in the blink of an eye, with complete agreement of the change in direction. We do maintain a sense of individuality on many levels, as we swim collectively within our communities and societies, but as stated in the editor’s column earlier this month, if you’re plugged into the world, you’re somehow under its influence.

I was struck with inspiration in its truest form last week, as I attended my seven-year-old nieces birthday party. The message from my inner voice rang just as clear as it does within a meditation. Celebrate life! I couldn’t ignore this phrase, as I watched nearly twenty children enjoying an afternoon filled with a magic show, a bounce house, a swimming pool, amazing foods, and the company of each other.

            Truth be told, I had planned to release a quite different piece of writing for this month’s issue of death and rebirth. I had intended to present an over view of the souls journey through the twelve signs of the zodiac in a reincarnation sequence to reunite with source. And while that message still nears a later release, I felt clearly instructed to put it on a back burner as I watched these youngsters celebrating the miracle of living.

Anyone who knows me knows that art is a subject of deep passion for me. Art was the first spiritual gift I discovered in this life, and embraced it with a natural inspiration. It has been a gift that I have carried along with me for these thirty-seven years as Joseph, like a small treasure in my pocket.

       When the art issue arrived this SIM this month, I took full advantage of my place on the globe, by featuring a personalized video tour for our entire community, to share the artistic marvels of Valparaiso Chile. I live close to one of the most fascinating artistic communities on the planet, and couldn’t miss this opportunity to share it. Please enjoy my presentation of “Art is Life –A New Renaissance-Valparaiso Chile.”

Most established forms of religion recognize the human being as one of the most magnificent creations in this universe. Bestowed with the divine gift of faith, existing in an intricate reality composed of collective beliefs and archetypes, with an intellectual and spiritual capacity to explore the profound nature of their existence. For centuries, humankind has moved through each new paradigm, held steady through a mutual faith, and a collective foundation that recognizes something greater that themselves.

            So what of religion through all of these chapters of the human existence? To what degree has faith in something greater, helped shape the common grounds of each new paradigm, as humanity strives to authentically experience its deeper spiritual nature? Regardless of where you stand on the subject of religion, and independently of any particular religion you may practice, you are a part of a much larger religious equation than you may realize. In fact, religion is such a powerful concept engrained into our collective and individual psyche, that we couldn’t escape its presence if we wanted to. Even committed atheists and agnostics recognize religion as something to defy, therefore substantiating its power and presence.

            Truth be told, there is not nearly enough space in this months issue for me to completely reveal the entirety of my thoughts and passions toward religion. And I will request your understanding in advance, as my thoughts here may seem a bit less organized this month due to my passionate outbursts in the topic of religion.

            So that being said, I will be focused on two universally applicable insights this month, so that as many people as possible can benefit from my words in this issue.

I wanted to take the opportunity this month, as we look at change, to reflect upon how a few distinct traditions around the world observe the phases of life, and more particularly, the rights of passage within three specific spiritual traditions. Those living in the secular world often let a lifetime pass by, without understanding the significance of its cycles. The cycles and phases of our lives are in fact, spiritual sequences of events, unfolding for our benefit and reverence. The three traditions we will be reviewing this month are that of the Native American (Lakota) with their seven sacred instructions, Catholicism, with the seven sacraments, and finally, Hinduism, and their four Ashramas.

            While all three of these traditions may stem from separate cultures, they hold a commonality in their fundamental and philosophical nature of observing a lifetime in a sacred sequence. I realize completely that many reading this are non Native American, Catholic, nor Hindu, and I chose these examples for this very reason. I ask that you use these examples, and apply them as you see fit, into your own life’s journey, using them to self analyze, and align any secular ambiguity you are experiencing. Many times, in a life free of religious guidance, we forget to look at the years passing us by, and how we are moving through them like the flower within the four seasons. Ultimately, I wish to bring a new inspiration to you through these examples, and open your thinking to analyze your place within your current cycle of life. Use the sacraments of the Lakota, Catholics, and the Ashramas of the Hindu, to examine where you reside within these rights of passage. After I briefly describe each right of passage, Ill ask you a few questions for you to ponder, regarding your own path. I’m not asking you to accept, or even experience these sacraments, but to simply utilize them as tools to observe your own life’s changes and phases.

It’s a common practice in nearly every spiritual tradition to use music to show reverence within the ceremonial moments of the practice. Weather we look at Tibetan monks groaning in unison from the depths of their throats high in the Himalayas, a congregation of Christians singing sweet harmonies in an old church house, or the piercing cries of the American Indian at a tribal pow wow, the use of music has no doubt become the central focus of most spiritual worship.

            When the mind, body, and soul, work in unison to perform this action of singing, something far deeper than spoken word transpires. I completely understand that some readers will find this common knowledge, and others may be uncovering something new here, but no matter where you reside in the scale of musical understandings, (yes pun) I invite you to take a little explorative journey with me into the far lesser known forms of musical worship.

            I want to address the use of music and chant in the occult spiritual practice this month, because I am certain, that the songs and chant used in ritual magic remain both hidden and misunderstood by most. Occult, by definition, entails some thing hidden or unknown, so I wanted to make a few less accessible songs and sounds available to our readers here, in hopes of revealing something slightly absent.

            Language is a strange thing. The sounds that resonate from our vocal chords, to vibrate over our tongues, as our mouth shapes their meaning, are more than we generally realize them to be. Most present day languages have modified, transformed over time, been carried across oceans, and embody far less spiritual qualities than the root languages they stem from. This isn’t to say our words have no meaning, and carry no valuable frequency, but it does mean that when using chant and song in the occult world, we generally use a quality of language far greater than our languages of today.

            I will be specifically addressing the qualities of three spiritually sacred languages. These will include Vedic Sanskrit (Language of the Gods), ancient Hebrew (Language of Formation), and Enochian (Language of the Angles). There are certainly others in this category of ancient tongue that carry equally valuable meaning and tone, but I will be focusing on these three primary tongues for our purposes here today.

Today, hundreds of thousands of people all around the world will be gathered in small and large groups, to begin their personal education in U-Lab. As we focus on positive change this month, we could not overlook the intense effects of edX, and their latest global training program U-Lab.

There’s a beautiful song by my favorite indie artist Val Emmich, which begins with the words, “I made a new years resolution, knowing I would break it, knowing that it wouldn’t stick.” And while the song is a fabulous piece of writing in it’s own right, this line has always kept my attention.

            We can all get so motivated about making changes in our lives. It’s incredibly exciting to reinvent our self somehow, and keep that fresh and new feeling about life. Weather it be quitting smoking, getting a new job/career, finding a new partner, eating healthier, practicing better physical and spiritual health, learning a new hobby, or what have you.

At the suggestion of our own William May, we have decided to kick off a regular video series for you titled inside the astral. Because the L*B*T is a spiritual community based in the out of body experience, we felt it was both valuable and necessary to begin sharing actual experiences from within the astral, as well as reveal many of the real techniques used to engage in spiritual evolution within the astral. It is with great joy that I deliver the following video production to you, and am certain it will inspire and evolve all who engage in its deeper teachings. Within this feature, you will not only be given a taste of the rich history from deep within the Egyptian and Shaman traditions, but also be given the methods to be in the presence of advanced spiritual beings within the astral. Serious methods for serious seekers are given here. 

What makes something seem important to you? What spawns, and then influences the decisions you make? From small decisions like choosing the cloth you buy and wear, to major decisions like whom you marry and how many kids you will have? I ask, are you consciously aware of why you make each decision in your life? And to be completely blunt, to what degree have you simply followed the collective stream of social patterns throughout your entire life?

In today’s modern world, we cannot so much as get out of bed, and not somehow be affected my media and advertising. It is quite a common thing now to sleep next to our smart phone, and habitually check our emails and messages even before getting out of bed in the morning.  Here, we may see media streams, advertising, and what’s “trending”. And depending on where you look online in the morning, you may even be given a level of fear to carry with you each day based on global and local tragedies.

This is my second column for this month, and you may wonder why.  After writing my column earlier this month, which looked at the message of Mother Theresa, the Dali Lama, and Mahatma Gandhi, my words still felt incomplete.  There was still one story I needed to share.  It is a story that will only be told if I share it now.  It’s a true story of one person who, through unbelievable acts of kindness and selflessness, has made a difference in this world; few people know who she is.  It’s a story of someone who lives each day filled with the Holy Spirit, and trusts so deeply in the power of God that she is nearly fearless.  The reason this story, like so many others that are similar, will never be told is that this person seeks neither recognition nor applause for the spiritual work of doing good.

            This “untold” person I refer to is my own mother.  I do not share this piece because she is my mother, indeed, it is easy to imagine how that could seem somewhat sycophantic or biased.  If anything, my awareness of how it might be perceived may have kept me from including this in my previous column.  I share this simply because I have not known, personally, anyone else who has served her fellow humans at the level my mother does.

It would simply be an injustice to do a monthly issue discussing living to make a difference, without mentioning a few truly magnificent men and women in our history that made amazing positive impacts. Realizing that this material may be a review to some, and new to others, I ask that no matter where you come from; use these words to inspire a positive meaning in any way, shape, or form, that you see fit.

            I, as you may too, feel a bit outdone, and even at times, discouraged, when considering the amount of good that someone like mother Theresa accomplished in her lifetime, or the message of peace spoken by the Dali Lama, in spite of an endless repressive rule over his religion and people.  And most of us cannot even imagine what it would be like to liberate an entire nation through non-violence, as did Mahatma Gandhi. As spiritualists, we go about our day with a certain level of awareness, that we may feel is somewhat advanced, but how do we really apply this? And to speak directly, how do you, apply your spiritual lifestyle and awareness, to make a difference each day? I ask that you let this question circulate in you mind as we explore some amazing stories now.

Yes, it may seem a bit left field as a spiritual topic, and as our Editor William mentioned in the opening column of this month, money does seem to be the root of materialism, or at very least, the fuel that drives the vehicle of material necessity. However, as long as we exist within societies that subscribe to the reality of food coming from grocery stores, water coming from the faucet, entertainment coming from electronics, and shelter requiring four solid walls, a sturdy roof, and electricity, we have chosen too subscribed to a necessity for money.

As we take a closer look at money this month, I want to personally take you through a mini course on how to not only make money, but how to do it in a way that is spiritualty sound, and remains in sync with your true desires and passions.

So lets get right into it. How do we make money? How do we gain financial security? Without sounding sarcastic, I give you first, the simply answer, which is, work! Yes, if we take a position under another, and perform the duties required to win our wage at the end of the day, we will be making some form of currency. However, lets take a superior look at what work should do for us. Work, in many cases, is not always as gratifying as it should be, and granted, not everyone on earth is in a position to pick and choose what they do by day to provide for themselves and those in their lives. But work, or the task we do by day to earn currency, should be at least, at some level, spiritually gratifying, and in some way an extension of our own passions. This is not my philosophy alone; it is in fact an age-old understanding that maintains our mental, physical, and spiritual health, while remaining productive within our societies.

In light of both the Suns observable position in the sky this time of year, as well as Christian religious traditions now celebrating Easter, I felt more than inspired to share some insights into the life of the a brilliant man and mystic who pertains to both.

Regardless of where you come from in your religious and spiritual background, you have probably heard of this man who fueled the entire New Testament in the Catholic Bible.  While we will be focusing a bit upon the message of Jesus in this New Testament in just a bit, I wanted to first take you through his earlier life and possibly reveal a few insights that aren’t as well recognized.

Naturally, most of us know that Jesus of Nazareth was born the son of Mary and Joseph, in Bethlehem, in a stable, on December 25^th. Now, to gently touch on the matter of timing of birth, as well as many other Solar Messiah coincidences, I will say that today, as we can recognize a plethora of additional “solar messiah” mythologies, we find there are similar birth dates, and chain of events surrounding each of their lives, right down to the numerology of their social circles, the number of years alive, and the list of course goes on. However, this is not a reason to dismiss the actual presence of any one of our solar messiahs on this planet, and in no way an excuse to ignore the brilliantly profound spiritual teachings handed down to us, specifically through Jesus.

     As a user of the internet, I ask you to consider: how many times have you liked, tagged, followed, posted, tweeted, downloaded, commented, written, viewed, streamed, clicked, searched, shared, joined, or favored, within the realms of cyberspace? Chances are you can’t even guess; the number could be somewhere in the tens of thousands or even more. And, while there is nothing wrong with all of this cyber activity, it must be acknowledged; cyberspace has become a nearly faultless reflection of our own conscious thought patterns, both at the individual level, and as a collective hub. Simply through the aggregation that occurs in our use of a search engine, the traces of each personality and thought are imprinted into a gestalt of cyber activity. And when we include all of the methods of adding and altering data represented by the more specific activities listed above, we can almost see how it could be possible to impeccably observe the mind of any individual engaged in cyber space.

     As we focus deeper on technology this month, I invite you to take a journey with me into the realms of cyberspace, undoubtedly a collective human psyche, and, perhaps, the very soul of the world, to examine exactly what is happening as a result of this technological explosion.

There’s an age-old Hermetic law that brilliantly displays the law of attraction, and its resilient current that constantly carries certain aspects into, and out of our lives. Weather you are aware of these Hermetic laws or not, they still perfectly govern your existence both physically and spiritually.

As spiritualists, we realize that most of, if not all of what manifests into our life, is an integral part of our selves. As we honor love and romance this month in the magazine, I wanted to take this opportunity to really focus on the importance of the ones we love, and specifically, our romantic partner.

This Valentines Day I encourage you to begin by profoundly analyzing the relationship you have with you partner, and reflect on exactly why this beautiful individual once entered your life. Ask yourself, what circumstances within my own essence harvested the energy to manifest this extension of myself, to help me continue this journey from a state of greater balance, and why?

This must be clearly answered and understood before you continue into the following exercise. So be bold right now, stop, close your eyes, and find the answer to these questions.

I left the theater here in Viña Del Mar last week filled with much spiritual inspiration having just watched the film Interstellar. It’s a rare occasion for me to go out to a Hollywood blockbuster, but I was invited, and my interests were a bit sparked due to some previous knowledge of the plot.

The general premise of the film is that of finding a new home for humanity, as Earth becomes uninhabitable. Granted, this story line is nothing new for Hollywood, but this film took a magnificent philosophical, and even spiritual turn that I did not anticipate.

And so, if I may take a plunge into pop culture with you this week, lets explore the deeper significance of this film, and how it actually serves humanity in its irreversible conscious evolution.