Characteristics of a Spiritual Master

This isn't one of mine :-), but I liked it so am sharing it here. Happy Easter everyone!
 From: http://www.umsonline.org/Reading/PastIssues/2004/Summer04/Articles/CharacteristicsMaster.htm

* A Master expresses and is sensitive to beauty in all forms.


* A Master never directs attention to himself. He is egoless.


* A Master has respect for all members of the Nature kingdoms.


* A Master’s very presence radiates power.


* Unconditional love is a basic quality of a Master. A Master never judges, is always impersonal, detached and yet compassionate.


* A true Master is a Master of Wisdom. His understanding of life and Cosmic laws far exceeds those of the average person.


* A Master, though possessing some or all spiritual and psychic powers renounces their use except for emergencies and urgencies. He, therefore will hardly ever reveal to anyone that he has them.


* A Master never commands he simply suggests, he never instills fear but awakens courage. He never makes you feel bad about yourself; on the contrary, he helps you build self-esteem.


* As a rule, a Master never predicts a person’s future and he never flatters the human ego.


* A Master will always lead and direct you to the ultimate goal. Though he may teach the lower laws, truths and forces applicable to the improvement of mundane life, he will not place too much emphasis upon them, instructing that the phenomenal world is nothing but a dream and is illusory from the absolute perspective.


* A Master seldom speaks of his past, himself, his background, etc., unless it is pertinent and useful as illustrations in the conveyance of spiritual teachings to others.


* A Master is universal and non-sectarian in his attitudes. He sees all men as an expression of the Supreme, regardless of their religious leanings, their color, race, sex, etc.


* A true Master is creatively original. Being enlightened by his own divine essence a Master would teach or even write books directly from his heart and own experience. He would never plagiarize the work of another or teach things that are outmoded.


* Masters do not argue. They know that no amount of argument would convince the skeptic, and to those who are true seekers no argument would be necessary.


* A Master embodies most, if not all, of the divine virtues.


* Although compassionate, a Master never sympathize with the feelings of the human ego for he does not recognize imperfection. He is simply aware of the perfection of God indwelling in the divine spark within microcosmic man.


* A Master has no longer any egoic desires, he no longer functions from the personality level; he has long given up his human will in favor of the expression of the Divine Will of God.


* A true Master does not hasten a student’s psychic growth prematurely by any “transference” of power. He always predominately concentrates upon raising the consciousness, improving character, spirituality, and increasing the wisdom and the understanding of his students.


* A Master never judges the outer person of others but looks into the depths of their soul for value.


* A Master never makes others feel guilty in any way.


* Although detached, impersonal, and sometimes seemingly aloof, a Master is full of affection for his chelas (students).


* A Master appreciates every small service that is offered to him and the great work of manifesting the Divine Plan.


Perhaps one of the most outstanding and admirable characteristics of Spiritual Masters is that they do not consider themselves Masters. This is their humility. They know that they still have a considerable amount of things to master and learn. They are so aware that they are still undergoing the learning process that they are embarrassed to call themselves “Masters” or have anyone else call them that. In performing their divine and spiritual duties Spiritual Masters declare: “It is not I that works but the ‘Father’ within me.” 

The Beginning and The End

I hear a call in the dark,

And my heart follows,

Alone into the glorious light,

Of the cosmos,

Of the Universal mind,

Of the light that shines,

All around,

Eternally,

In love and joy,

Bereft of the darkness,

That has shrouded humanity for so long.

The end is near,

But the beginning is beautiful.

The Enigma of Light and Dark

Received February 25, 2010

The darkness has been an ever-present aspect of your current and previous realities. The dark cannot exist without the light. Darkness is the absence of light, the absence of energy, the absence of vibration, the absence of resonance.

You cannot see in the dark. Material objects are hidden. Therefore, you fear the dark. You fear the possibility that dark entities, evil entities, dark spirits, evil spirits exist in the dark. And your fears are self fulfilling. You create these dark forms from your own mind and they become part of your own reality, but they do not objectively exist. They are subjective. They are actually aspects of yourself. Your own inner darkness projected outwards into the world around you.

And this is the way that it is. Or at least the way it has been. But, indeed, ‘the times they are a changing’. You are reaching a point in your evolution where the darkness can no longer keep you enslaved within its stultifying shroud. It is impossible for the darkness to maintain itself much longer. Ultimately, it can never overcome the light. It lacks the energy to do so. The light will always prevail.

But, in itself, the fact of the spectrum of darkness to light in your lives has been necessary. Darkness cannot exist without the light. Think of a rainbow. Even though the ‘red’ end of the visible spectrum has a lower rate of vibration than the ‘violet’  end of the spectrum, you cannot say that the electromagnetic waves that represent ‘red’ are any better or worse than those that represent ‘violet’ when you interpret these vibrations in your brains and bring them into your own individual reality. ‘Red’ is no more good or evil than ‘violet’. They are both necessary aspects of the universal reality.

And so it is with light and dark. You can escape the hold of the darker ends of the spectrum when you remove yourself from your preconceived judgements about external reality. Of course, you can and should empathize with and grieve for those who are afflicted by darkness, but you can remove yourself to a place where the darkness no longer perceives you as a target worthy of attack. However, your temptation is to fight the darkness -  actively, head on. But this is just what the darkness wants - you have lowered your energy levels, reduced your vibration to its levels. And so, your aggressive response, accompanied by  negative thought processes and emotions, creates negative energy, which is converted into dense matter - pure blocks of darkness, which, in turn, create blockages within you. And so you enter a downward spiral. You are sucked into a vortex of darkness.

But, the paradox is that in order to ‘fight’ the darkness, fighting is the last thing you should do. You simply need to remove yourself from it. You simply need to find a place outside of the dark-light spectrum where you are grounded and centered in an objective reality that is, in actual fact, outside of time and space - the ‘no time’, ‘the now’ where the real you exists eternally. You then become ‘unreachable’ by the darkness. You become elusive, enigmatic and the darkness no longer has any hold over you. Consequently, even though you have removed yourself from the dark-light spectrum, the light floods in upon you and fills your heart with joy, with love and you then climb the spiral. You are sucked up on a vortex of enlightenment. You are within the light, above the light, and below the light. You become the light! You are then capable of reaching ever higher planes of consciousness. You gain ever increasing abilities to see reality for what it really is, unlimited by your old ways of sensing the universe.

You see that the dark-light duality that existed in your life has now gone. Its time is up. It is done. It is over. Dark-light duality has been transcended. A new reality dawns. A soul that reaches this level of understanding exists permanently in the light, listening always to the ever-present wisdom of the heart. And this wisdom exists outside of time and space, because it is absolute. It is perfect. It is a gift from the great Creator. Therefore, the enlightened you gains the ability to transmute time and space, to alter time and space by feeling, by compassion, by belief. You remember the ability to create your own future from the myriad of possible futures that exist for you. And, in the process, you also transmute the futures of each individual on the planet and throughout the universe. The collective consciousness is raised because everything, everyone is connected. We are all one. The light shines brighter and the darkness skulks away into one of the few remaining hidden corners for shelter. Ultimately, the darkness can no longer obtain any sustenance and so it withers and dies.

Although you should not mourn the passing of the darkness, you should appreciate it and give thanks for the fact that it existed. For only through its existence could you know yourself better during the course of your many lifetimes; to obtain levels of understanding and consciousness that previously never existed in this universe. So that All That Is, The All That Has Been and The All That Ever Will Be, Creator, God also exists at this higher level, above and beyond its nature at the beginning of its great journey of discovery.

For the Messengers

In the depths of the night,
When silence reigns,
Will the words come to you,
Like the rising wind.

You will use those words,
To reclaim the sheep on the hillsides,
Who find themselves lost in the snow.

You will help guide them along a new path,
That they already know how to follow,
And your words will be solid and perfect and wise.

You will always know what to say,
Because the words will come from the inner-most core of your being,
And the people will begin to know that what you have to say is the truth.

“A light in the darkness,
The truth,
Despite their lies”

Previously, you didn’t understand the significance of the words you received,
And wrote down.

But these words existed within you,
From all eternity,
From the beginning,
From a thought that flickered,
And then burst into flames,
And still walks within you,
Flowing through your veins.

And in your inner sanctums,
Reside the words that are written for all time.

They have been placed like the most precious jewels,
In the most ornately decorated caskets that you could ever imagine,
Waiting to be opened.

And you will continue to awake in the middle of the night,
With your spirit swelling with abundance, with joy, with pride, with wonder,
Within you!

And the words will come,
And you will know them instantly,
For they have always existed,
Since the beginning of time and space.

And it is through you all that many people will know the truth,
Of the cleansing power of the spirit and of all creation,
Seemingly from without,
But from deep within.

And the lost ones will call you,
And you will help the shepherds on the hillsides to bring the sheep home,
And all the wayward ones who bleat and shuffle in the dark and in the cold.

The ones who are lost,
The ones who cry.

And the words will come,
Again and again,
Like the inexorable tide,
Like they did for Myrddin in the old days,
When his spirit also guided him.

This is the day of your dreaming,
The beginning of your true calling,
To become a messenger,
One who understands,
One who knows the truth,
And teaches it,
Whether it is accepted or not,
By the fearful ones,
Who turn away from it.

For you are the fighters,
The warriors,
Bringing down the sword of truth.

And know that the work is good,
And that the load you carry is light.

Alone?

Alone,

Sitting,

Staring,

Wondering,

Thinking.

Moon,

Eternal,

Faceless,

Blameless,

Watching.

 

Clouds,

Chasing,

Racing,

Unhurried,

Gentle.

    

Stars,

Flickering,

Delicate,

Ancient,

Secretive.
        

Sea,

Lapping,

Crashing,

Powerful,

Profound.
     

Love,

Beautiful,

Deep,

Unfathomable,

Perfect.

     

Us,

Alone,

Sitting,

Staring,

Thinking,

Wondering.


Am I alone in nature or not? I used to retreat to 'my hill' overlooking the low lying levels to get some time and space to myself....this is a simple poem but I have a deep sense even now of 'thinking' and 'wondering' about nature...I'm alone but I can also be with the one I love....

A Prayer to My Spirit

My spirit,
You are divine,
You are absolute,
You are omnipresent,

You are a gift from creation,
And you are incarnate within me.

You protect me from temptation and confusion,
 You enable me to learn from my mistakes,
And to avoid judging those of others.

You nourish my heart with celestial light,
From throughout the universe,
So that I walk with wisdom,
Always aware of the truth.

Your power fills my every moment with knowledge,
For yours is the eternal kingdom within me,
The source of all joy, love and bliss,
The power and the perfection,
 Forever and ever.

Amen.

The Canteen

(Signal Hill, St John’s, Newfoundland, Canada, June 21, 2009)

At the old canteen at Signal Hill
Sitting on the wall staring out to sea,
The gulls glide gracefully,
Graciously soaring for me,
In the updrafts above the cliffs.

There is only the lonely distant sound of the sea,
Of the waves crashing on the rocks way below.
There is a dark, close, suffocating feeling here,
A mournful stillness.

I watch the dandelions moving to and fro,
The breeze blows their seeds out to sea,
An exercise in futility.

There are lost souls here,
Reaching out, but unable to fully break through to me,
I feel them around me nevertheless,
In eternal twilight they struggle for peace,
They yearn for the eternal rest they are unable to receive.

So long ago they sang their songs and drank their ale,
So far from home,
Within the walls, above these cliffs,
As the ancestors of the same gulls rode the same winds outside.

There is a darkness here,
A mournful hollowness,
Of heartbroken lovers,
Of men lost at sea,
Of drunken soldiers falling from cliffs,
Of lost souls infused with sadness,
Stifled by heavy snow,
Frozen in the cold,
Chilled in the ice-flows of time.

The feeling is overwhelming,
I can’t stand in any longer,
So I make to leave.

Somehow I know that the songs of the sad men,
 Who died here so long ago,
Will haunt these cliffs forever,
For eternity.

And mostly,
Only they will know.