The Way of Irish Blessings - The practice of Blessings as a Way of Life

every time you strive to improve on Nature by going against it, you will damage yourself, for Nature is our very being. It is as if your right hand were to fight your left hand or your right foot were to stamp on your left foot. Both sides lose and, instead of being creative and alive, you are locked in conflict. This is the state of most people in the world. - Anthony de Mello

This week`s themes cover the idea of the Dark Wood as a place to go in order to find the light. This week the story focuses on the power of listening to your dreams. It continues to explore the movement of Love in Action. I have added a feature to this ezine which I hope you will find helpful. Should you wish to explore further any of the above themes you will see dotted throughout the story words highlighted in green. For example Dark Wood. Simply click on this green link to find out more. All the recommendations are by writers, poets and storytellers whose work influences the writing of the ezine.

In this weeks ezine I continue with Part IV of the beautiful Chinese tale entitled We Are All One

This is the story of the journey of life and our return to Love. This is a story about the journey of the hero/ine. It is the story of the individual who is willing to come out of the dream of separateness from Love. They as hero/ine are willing to venture beyond belief to find the healing herb that will open the eyes to the knowing of Love and life in the timeless forever Now.

The old Candy peddler has heard the call and has accepted the invitation to become the knowing of ‘I am.’ He is prepared to venture beyond the boundary of the little self into the unknown. He leaves the restrictions of social consciousness and does not stop until he comes to the Dark Wood. This is the place of the creative imagination. It is a place of deep allowing and surrender. It is a place of spiritual engagement. It is a place where you learn to die before you die. You learn to die to the primary illusion that you are ever separate from Love.

Part way through the story the old Candy Peddler rescues an ant’s nest that is being flooded. So let us return to this wonder tale. Let us go further into the Dark Wood.

“We are all one,” the kind hearted peddler said. So he waded into the shallow stream and put the rock on the bank. Then with a sharp stick, he dug a shallow ditch that sent the rest of the water back into the stream.

This short paragraph can be viewed on different levels.

This is the beauty of wonder tales. They are, if you allow yourself to enter the creative imagination, like the skin of an onion. You peel away and peel away until you are left with no-thing. You are left with the beauty of no-thing out of which all is created. You become at one with the no mind that is the One Mind.

“We are all One,” said the Candy Peddler.

This is not some sentimental wish.

This is a realization of truth beyond form. The Candy Peddler does not believe in this oneness. This would mean that there were two. There would be the one who believes and the belief itself. Oneness, as this old Candy Peddler knows, is beyond belief. Belief, he knows, is already within the known and therefore within time. The Candy Peddler is the knowing of Love. Even to say this is an error. He knows himself to be the intense emotional experience of non-separateness from Love where there is knowing but no one who knows.

From this knowing of Love there is the movement of Love in Action. The one who is the knowing moves the rock of ego from the stream of consciousness. The one who is the knowing of Love is a lover and a healer but there is no one who does the loving or the healing. They simply facilitate the movement of Love in the body. This is the joy of surrender to the One and All. Love moves through you as the expression of creation.

‘Without another thought about his good deed he began to search through the forest.’

This is the way of a Candy Peddler.

There is not another thought. A Candy Peddler knows that thought brings in time and the ego. For the Candy Peddler there is no attachment to the idea that, “I did a good deed,” and thus, “I must be a good person.” Candy Peddlers are simply Lovers. Love does not go around thinking it is ‘good’ which would make it a duality. It would then mean that Love as something ‘good’ could only exist in relation to something ‘bad.’ This is why masters such as Jesus can ask, “Who is it that says I am good.”

This Candy Peddler practices Karma Yoga.

This is the beautiful practice described in one of the most powerful religious texts ever written. This is the Bhagavad-Gita. This practice of Karma Yoga is a spiritual practice where one gives up the fruits of action to the Beloved. In this practice one simply concentrates on the action in the moment without regard to the future. Out of such focused awareness and presence the fruit will be what it needs to be. There is no karma being accumulated. There is no attachment to results. There is no attachment to the illusion of time. There is only the devotion of surrender to the All One who is the giver of all.

In this spiritual practice there is only present tense awareness without tension of past or future. This is reflected in the beautiful Zen saying ‘chop wood carry water.’ This is our real Work. This is not our job. Our real work is to be. Our real work is simply to be Love in Action.

This is doing from non-doing. In this action the doer disappears into the action. The emotional experience of this non-doing is the experience of joy. This is the beautiful instruction of the Compassionate One, the Buddha, when he said, “Your work is to find your Work and do it with all your heart. Only in doing this Work with all your heart the doer and the doing is not separate. The non-doing of doing this Work is the experience of ‘We are All One.’

In this non-doing Love is. It is not ‘good’ or ‘bad.’ It cannot be described. To say what it is, is to limit it and thus lose it. This is why all our greatest teachers really want to keep quiet. To quote Lao Tzu the Father of Taoism,

The name that can be named is not the enduring and unchanging name. Therefore the sage manages affairs without doing anything, and conveys his instructions without the use of speech.

The ego loves the idea that it is the doer of good acts. It can thus consider itself a good person and might then as a consequence enter heaven or paradise. This is often what masters refer to as spiritual egotism. This is often the hardest rock to move so that the stream of grace can flow through a life that is the real life beyond your life situation. This wonder tale continues.

‘He looked everywhere; but as the day went on, he grew sleepy. “Ho hum. I got up early. I’ll take just a short nap,” he decided, and lay down in the shade of an old tree, where he fell asleep.’

In this wonder tale we are told that the Candy Peddler looked everywhere but the day went on. This is what we do in this 21st Century of noise and haste. We look everywhere for satisfaction and the days of our life situation go on. We get up early but we are still asleep. We are still dreaming the wrong dream.

We dream that we live our life separate from Love. We are asleep and as our lives move on we move deeper and deeper into the sleep of personality alone. We identify with the mask, which is the meaning of persona. We become more and more attached to our life situation. We identify with time and thus with memory. We become attached to the `little me.’ This is a state of spiritual unawareness and unconsciousness. This is the identification with ego. Some masters have called it insanity. The deeper we enter this state the more suffering we experience which then turns to addiction and violence.

In this story of ‘We are All One’ the Candy Peddler is not spiritually asleep. He is aware of the needs of the body and its rhythms. The body needs rest so he gives it rest. He does not fight the body. He does not admonish the body or judge it as being less. He is a Lover and will be in love with the grace and beauty of the body. He will love it but he will not be attached to it as something that he thinks he is. So he lies down in nature under the shadow of an old tree. This old tree gives him protection.

‘In his dreams the old peddler found himself standing in the middle of a great city.’

This Candy Peddler is aware even when he is asleep.

This is lucid dreaming. Even when the body sleeps there is awareness. There is the awareness of the witnessing one. Dreams are for the Candy Peddler guides from the beyond. This old Candy Peddler recognizes that dreams are the language of the Soul. In the world of dreams the ego loses control. Dreams are a reflection of the deeper self. Dreams use the deep language of symbol and metaphor. This world of dreaming has become a forgotten language accept for those willing to venture into the Dark Wood beyond the logic chopping intellect.

Like any language the understanding of dreams requires commitment.

This language is unique to you. Many people say they do not dream. It has been scientifically proven that everyone dreams every night. It is only that you are asleep to the idea that such nocturnal imaging matters. These visitors from the world beyond form are gifts from the Divine should you be allowing enough of their power. The dreams that the Candy Peddler dreams tell him what he needs to do as he goes deeper and deeper into the Dark Wood.

Dreams allow you to go beyond ego and into a deeper understanding of who you are. The Candy Peddler listens to his dreams and is familiar with their language. As a consequence he trusts his dreams as guides in the world of the Dark Wood.

Next week we will continue to move into the Dark Wood.

Here we will find the broken down temple where there is a frightening voice that we hardly recognize. This is a magic voice represented by a strange creature. This is our true voice that we fear because it calls us to be true to ourselves. It calls us to recognize that we are living the wrong dream. This is the dream and the nightmare that causes so much suffering in the world of time. This is the nightmare of the illusion of separation from Love. This voice in the broken down temple calls us to wake up to our true self and realize that the Blessing is already here and that you are it.

Go to 'We Are All One - Part One Click Here
Go to 'We Are All One - Part Two Click Here
Go to 'We Are All One - Part Three Click Here

From The Way of Blessings by Tony Cuckson

This is the beautiful story this weeks and next weeks Blessing for YOU will center around. It is an everyman/woman story about the search for healing in this world of time.

I have been blessed to go and tell stories at the Inishowen Summer Gathering in Donegal. This area of the NorthWest of Ireland is a place of outstanding beauty. I will be giving a performance which combines storytelling, poetry and music. This will be a performance of three short stories centered around the theme 'Return to Beauty.'

These stories combine the poetry of ancient and modern day poets and mystics from many cultures. The stories are written by Tony about the ancient people known in Ireland as the Tuatha de Danaan - the fairy people. The stories center around the time in Ireland called the Mythological Cycle. The cycle of myth.

In the first story Tony tells about the Arrival of Beauty on the shores of Erin in the form of the Tuatha de Danaan. Then another story called 'The Coming of Iron' tells of the time of the invasion of Erin by the Sons of Mil and of Amergin the first poet of Ireland. This story then tells of the battle between the Sons of Mil with the beautiful people - the Tuatha de Danaan. This battle represents the battle between the heart and logic.

Finally the story session ends with a story called 'The Return to Love.' Here the fate of the Sons of Mil is weighted in the balance of the Scales of Justice. In the Hall of Beyond a blind seer woman tells the story of how far the Sons of Mil have gone into the world of time and lost their connection to beauty. The session ends with a well known fairy song from Ireland.

Between the stories Tony will sing some other popular songs of Ireland about the fairy people.

These stories are written from a concern for the environment and the way in which modern technology is alienating individuals from their connection to nature. The stories will suit children between the ages of five and ninety five.

Coming soon to inspire and inform based on one of the worlds favorite and most inspirational poems The Way of Desiderata. In twelve parts a full outline of how to use this poem to lift and inspire the heart. Will include bonuses and other gifts.

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