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

The most powerful force in the world is not a weapon or a nation but a truth. that we are spiritual beings and that freedom is the soul’s right to breathe. - George W Bush.

The terrible thing about terrorism is that ultimately it destroys those who practice it. Slowly but surely, as they try to extinguish life in others, the light within them dies. - Terry Waite

Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety - Benjamin Franklin

This week`s theme covers the question of what it takes to overcome the psychological effects of terrorism. 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 VII of the beautiful Chinese tale entitled We Are All One

This week I have been listening to the commentary on the World soccer championship. In between listening to the soccer there has been the news. I learn about acts of terrorism where one group with one label perpetrates some outrage against a group with a different label.

Terrorism is designed to immobilize. It is designed to make the populace on which it is visited feel fearful and powerless. It begins to armour the physiological, physical and emotional bodies of millions of people. It pollutes the collective psyche and it increases the primary disease of separateness. It deepens the feeling within the individual and thus the collective consciousness that We Are NOT All One.

In this time space continuum, terrorism is enacted as a consequence of the individual, and thus collective identity, with the body and ego. It is this identity with label upon label with its emotional attachments that creates a sense of separateness that we call ‘me’ or ‘mine.’

‘Little me’ has no fixed reality. Because ‘little me’ is unreal it must be protected at all costs. It will kill and destroy to protect its sense of self. It will build ideologies around this sense of being separate. If ‘little me’ judges that you do not belong to the ‘right’ label then you are considered a threat. Depending on the degree of this threat you will be avoided or destroyed in the name of this idea or that ideal. This is the illusion of idealism connected to patriotism and nationalism. All of which are forms of ego identity and thus separateness.

The deeper you are identified with the label, the cause, the group, the more you will seek to defend that which you have emotionally identified with. As a result all that you refuse to know as an integral (whole and holy) part of yourself you will cast out into the world of form as the other.

This is what is known in psychological terms as projection. This is the unconscious action of splitting off. You separate and split off the shadow parts of your self and cast them unto the other. This splitting off can be done in the name of Islam, National Security, Communism, National Socialism, Capitalism, and the Spanish Inquisition, ad infinitum. This scapegoating is done in families and in all forms of relationship. You can call it any name you wish. Some call this splitting off unconsciousness. Some call it insanity. Some call it Sin or Error. As a result any action can be justified, and is justified, in order to bring those outside the ideal into the accepted group consciousness.

This is not to say that within the world of form there is not injustice.

Justice will come when this illusion of separateness that is the primary cause of disease, fear and absence of Love, is seen for what it is. The only thing that is real is Love. The only thing that can be destroyed is that which is unlove.

When you allow Love to be the primary focus of life then you build your house on solid ground. You will not be subject to the winds of change. You will not seek to protect that which is subject to change. You will honor the invisible world. You will honor the nothingness out of which all arises and all returns. You will not align yourself with impermanence as the Buddha called it. “You will be in the world but not be of the world,” as Jesus of Nazareth termed it.

Clarisa Pinkola Estes, a psychotherapist, storyteller and writer of the wonderful book entitled “Women who run with Wolves,” writes that terrorism is designed to make innocent people afraid of the future. It is designed to cause people to be less free. She writes that terrorists cast a net of sickness upon the collective human psyche. They then limit our living life as completely free beings, with our minds set on goodness and love for all and pleasure that bring peace and happiness.

Clarissa Pinkola Estes writes that there are many ways to combat this poisoned net. The first one she suggests is to refuse to dwell on what depletes you of hope, of contentment and of ease. Her advice is to practice each day turning the switch that feeds the fear ‘off.’ You are in control if you choose to be. Learn to dwell in the presence of what you love to do. Write, dance, craft, and sing. Do this each day.

Finally she writes:

“Continue to implement your life dreams. If you don’t have one, you’re overdue. Get out your thinking cap. Use your intuition to guide you through these days. It will not fail you. Some call it that great gift that every person possesses – insight. Some call it “sense”. Some like us old believers call it Guardian Angel, which for me is no small thing flapping around, but more like a fierce, gentle Guide with wings.”

This advice to use your intuition takes me back to the beautiful story “We are All One.”

This is the story of the blind rich man who wants sight. This is insight into knowing who he is. With insight into knowing who you are you become a Guardian Angel to the reality of Love. This is the real battle. This is the battle with the little self who defends the illusion of separateness. This is what Christians mean when they sing, “Fight the good fight with all your might.”

Only fighting the ego will not get you very far. The way to fight the good fight is with discipline and surrender. You surrender to the knowing and the grace of We Are All One. You do this every day and in every moment. It is not simply done by attending a place of institution once every week or more. This knowing can be entered by praying ceaselessly. This praying ceaselessly is not about words but about being present to the wonder of now. This praying ceaselessly is more akin to the Buddhist practice of mindfulness.

Intuition and feeling leads you closer to this knowing.

Knowing is not knowledge. Knowledge is of the intellect. Knowing crosses the threshold from no mind. It is always new. It happens in ‘Ah-ha!’ moments. It feels like something has been added that was not there before but was paradoxically always there. You had only to open the door of the prison of ego to allow yourself to breathe the real life. You allow yourself to breathe the beauty of presence.

This will allow you to experience the uniqueness of the dance that you are. This unique beauty is not dependent on the view of others or the view of your inner critic. You begin to reclaim a feminine power. You begin to align this power with the more masculine energy of the intellect. Thus both hemispheres of the brain come into harmonious relationship. This brings the harmony of no mind into your mind. This is the peace beyond understanding that we all seek.

When you do the work to align these energies of heart and head you are bringing light into the collective unconsciousness. You are raising the vibrational energy on this planet. You combat the darkness of terrorism in this way by becoming a light worker. The work you are doing is the work of delight – the light. When you trust the knowing of who you are then you begin to dissolve the disease of terrorism that comes as a result of the primary disease in this world of form. This is the disease of the illusion of separateness from Love.

To effectively combat terrorism is to vow to be a spiritual warrior.

The spiritual warrior battles the primacy of Ego. This is what it means to enter jihad, the holy war. This is not an outer war but the battle to bring light to the illusion of separateness from Love. A spiritual warrior serves Love and the knowing of Love. A spiritual warrior’s allegiance is to the world of the formless, the invisible, the no mind of all Creation that is the first and only cause worth serving.

The spiritual warrior does not serve a God. Neither do they serve language, which is always in time. They are not what are termed “People of the Book.” The spiritual warrior serves the silence and knowing of no mind. The terror a spiritual warrior inflicts on a consenting other is the terror of nothingness. The spiritual warrior takes the sword of truth without form (which is not ‘my truth’) and cuts away all illusion of separateness. All that is left is Love. All that is left is the knowing that ‘We are All One.’

So let us journey on into the story, and hopefully for the reader, allow a glimpse of the experience that We are All One. In this week’s part of the story of “We are All One” the Candy Peddler wakes up from dreaming that he meets the Queen of the Ants. This is his meeting with intuition. When he awakes he says:

“This is a good omen,” he said to himself. He began searching even harder. He was so determined to find the herb that he did not notice how time has passed. He was surprised at how the light was fading. He looked all around then. There was no sight of his city – only strange hills. He realized he had searched so far that he had gotten lost.

“This is a good omen,” said the Candy Peddler.

The Candy Peddler wakes up from a dream and can assert his knowing.

When we wake up each morning many of us still walk around in a fog. We do not remember our dreams. We do not remember the visitation of the imagination beyond ego. We do not integrate our dream images that have the power to heal our separateness from different parts of ourselves.

We do not create meaning from the images gifted to us from the world beyond form. We think this is illogical. We judge our rational mind to be the only way of knowing anything. We forget that the word rational comes from the word ratio, meaning part. We forget the knowing that is whole and holy. We forgo insight. As a result we go blind and ask for relief for our diseased eyes. To wake up from the illusion of separateness from Love is to ask the Candy Peddler within ourselves to seek the herb that will cure all diseases of the eyes. When this healing herb is applied to the eyes then we see and know who we are.

This knowing is certain. There is no need to convince anyone else of this knowing. It is not a debate. The knower and the knowing are not separate. It is truer to say that you are the knowing of All One. Nothing that can be said in words can describe the coming home to this state of being where your eyes can see. What to say? There is no need to terrorize anyone into accepting this knowing. There is no need for an Inquisition. There is no need for witch burning or any other form of scapegoating. There is no need for conviction. There is nothing that is needed. What more is needed than to know that you are everything forever?

When you become the seeing that We are All One you recognize the primary disease and illusion of separateness. Seers then seek to bring healing to those caught deep in the richness of ego. They are not out to save anyone. In reality they recognize that there is no one to save. In the knowing of Love presence is enough. Your presence will speak volumes. It will speak in many ways in the world of form. You will know the real dance and people who are open to the healing of separateness from Love will recognize this dance and be drawn to you. You are not some Savior. You are a Lover.

You will, for the first time, be a real Lover. You will be a Lover of no mind, of no form, of no thing. This will allow you to be in love with everything because you will know We are All One. This will cure your blindness of separateness from Love. This will change your relationship to the world of time and space. Terrorism will look different to one who is the seeing and knowing of the birthless/deathless state.

This does not mean you are ambivalent or impervious to the suffering of those individuals affected by terrorism or the terrorists themselves. You now know that all forms will change. You now know that all things will pass away. Only you will also know that you are that which does not pass away. Everything passes away except no thing, except Love.

You recognize that today there is one form of terrorism, tomorrow another. You know the form will change as all things change. The real change happens when you know that beyond all form you are the formless/birthless/deathless one. You know that you are life everlasting. This is bringing Heaven to Earth. This is bringing the unlimited knowing of eternity into the limitation of form. Terror cannot live in this state. This very idea terrifies the ego. This very experience is liberation from all forms of fear.

This is the blessing and you are already 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
Go to 'We Are All One - Part Four Click Here
Go to 'We Are All One - Part Five Click Here
Go to 'We Are All One - Part Six 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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