A Journey Into The Heart of Love

Im opening this thread to share with you some of the teachings of a book I have, called, "On the Breath of the Gods" by Ariel Tomioka. Im not sure if this book is still in print. I have found it to be a wonderful narrative of the teachings between a student and master. I am not a wordsmith, but I will do my best with this editing to write what I found helpful to me. Also, I am not very familiar with all the abilities of spacing, colour etc, on this forum, so please excuse any clumsiness on my part.

This thread, some will not agree with, that is fine, I understand that. But please, if you find the info disagreeable to you, just pass it by, because continuously attacking posts will just cause me to withdraw. Im not here to argue the point, or change anyones mind, but just to share what has been helpful to me.

I will go through the chapters with the teachings minus too much unnecessary dialogue, plus some comments of how I understood, or to what degree I understood. This will be from a perspective of some points already experienced, some outside my experience, and some still to be experienced.

Okay, the first chapter is of the student meeting her teacher in the 3D world. This teacher is very familiar to this student on the inner worlds, as contact and guidance had been initiated when the student was a child.

The first chapter is entitled "Over the Cliff I note the student is awake and her spiritual development is obvious from the start. She has sort of reached a plateau of neutrality where nothing much was happening, but a sort of expectancy of something about to happen. Many of us here have been or are at that point, I would suspect! Im not going to make this complicated, just write what Ive underlined for myself as important. So, to get to the point, the only part of the first chapter I will write is this!

"I centered myself in the feeling of God's love and allowed the calm to restore my confidence. Suddenly, I felt very normal. Instead of fearing, I began imagining that this could be the start of a wonderful adventure" Thats it, for the first chapter.

The book is important to me in that it explores and explains the male/female relationship, as that applies in all areas, really. Love relationships, rearing children, work and enlightenment.The different aspects and levels of Love and of the movement towards unity with Source, with God.

Love

Carmen

This is beautifull dear Carmen and well appreciated.
I'll journey through the Heart of love with you.



Love from me
mudra

Carmen wrote:The book is important to me in that it explores and explains the male/female relationship, as that applies in all areas, really. Love relationships, rearing children, work and enlightenment.The different aspects and levels of Love and of the movement towards unity with Source, with God.

Carmen,

Does this have any relationship to such things as the sun being considered male and the moon, female?

Thank you Mudra, Seashore. Hmm. Seashore, the book does not address this aspect of Male/sun, female/moon, but I see it as that. Sort of, "as above, so below". This is something I think one comes to accept individually, or not, through studying many sources of knowledge. One clue is how women's menstrual cycles seem to be in sync with the full moon!

Love

Carmen

Okay, Chapter Two! "The Golden Dragon" I probably wont write all of what I have unlined here in one block, cos it's quite a lot, but I'll make a start!

BTW, the teacher is a Tibetan Adept called Haurvata Sampa in the book.

" My teacher continued. "Eventually, in anyones's spiritual journey, it becomes necessary to stop separating one's reality into individual pieces and live, instead, one completely integrated life. In other words, to give a mundane example, at first it may seem acceptable to some to go to church on Sunday and verbally abuse their kids on Monday. But sooner or later, it occurs to them that it is impossible to do both. Seeing the contradiction between such choices and doing something about it is a big step for evolving Souls.

Living the fragmented life of contradictory realities is like living in a dream within a dream. This level of unawareness keeps the pieces separated, the the discontinuity is actually a source of much strain and unhappiness. If this continues for too long, the tension between one reality and the other will either immobilize a person, or force him to choose between the two. Unfortunately, most people choose whatever feels most comfortable, not what is most progressive for them. So there is a certain amount of backsliding in anyone's spiritual progress, without the individual realizing it consciously.

"Let me put it another way" Haurvata continued, leaning toward me for emphasis. "You need to harmonize what you know with how you are living to put yourself at a higher level of integration! Mastery is a here-and -now thing! It is not just an exotic achievement won by six-hundred-year-old men with beards and long robes"

"In order to accomplish this, he explained, "you must be willing to re-examine, as necessary, every department of you life. You must yield old viewpoints to newer and fresher viewpoints to live on a constantly improving level of efficiency and service. It is somewhat like redesigning a city every time a major change in population or lifestyle occurs. On a physical level, this is neither practical nor possible. But as a metaphor for Soul, it is not only possible, but essential.

"Now," he continued, gathering momentum, "the challenges one must face for mastership are always found within his or her own personal, contemporary life. The details of your life today are no more or less difficult than the details of mine during the days when I was a student like yourself, struggling for the golden wisdom. Do not be fooled into putting your goal of self-mastery off to some vague time in the future. You do not have any future. All you have is now!"

Carmen wrote:Thank you Mudra, Seashore. Hmm. Seashore, the book does not address this aspect of Male/sun, female/moon, but I see it as that. Sort of, "as above, so below". This is something I think one comes to accept individually, or not, through studying many sources of knowledge. One clue is how women's menstrual cycles seem to be in sync with the full moon!

Love

Carmen

Interesting!

Is the left brain considered masculine and the right feminine?

Yes Seashore, the left side of the brain is considered masculine and the right feminine. Our evolving spirit Selves need to bring these two parts of us into balance. This is a big part of what is discussed in this book. When the two parts, or the male/female of every person is in balance, then the person is beyond duality. This can be verified by taking one of the tests offered on the internet. I did it a few years ago,(not sure of the site now) its very interesting. Means our doingness is balanced by our beingness. This is my take anyway.

Love

Carmen

Thanks, Carmen.

Carmen wrote:When the two parts, or the male/female of every person is in balance, then the person is beyond duality.

I'd like to hear more about your take on duality. How does a person who is not beyond duality behave?

Well Seashore, they would act in a balanced was. The swing and beliefs of duality is very evident in most of humanity. The book will answer some of your questions in this regard Im sure.

Anyway, to continue in Chapter 2

" As you've pointed out yourself," I heard the Tibetan grumbling, " just being outside the physical body does not guarantee one a higher degree of wisdom than while dwelling inside the body. True, stripped of the limitations of the sensory consciousness, the deceased is many times more aware of life than he or she was before. This can seem like true unfoldment to the inexperienced. But any serious candidate for self-mastery should know the difference between the carnival performances of attention-seeking entities in the lower astral world, and the systematic guidance of the spiritual teachers."

"It seems to me that real teachers help you to discover truth inside yourself," I put in, recovering my place in these thoughts. "They don't cultivate your dependency on them."

:Aye," the Tibetan agreed, slipping ino his old-fashioned speech. He jabbed a finger in my direction. "We expect initiative, imagination, and courage from our students! Many leave us when they discover that they must make an effort for what they expect to get. They wish to cling to their old habits and viewpoints and have heaven handed to them on a sifver platter. Bah! I have no patience for ones like these."

"Now to return to you," He said frowning. "There is something more you must do for yourself. You must break the habit of occasionally slipping into a state of spiritual sleep."

"This is not a dream and you are not crazy. Let us settle this once and for all, and allow your reality to adjust to the fact that I am here in the flesh as well as on the inner planes. I am as real as you are. But now, the question remains, how real are you?"

"Im real, I'm real, " I protested. "How much more real can I be?"

"Yes, that's it exactly," the Tibetan said with some satisfaction. "That's what you must find out!"

I shook my head. "I am completely baffled. I need you to explain this to me, apparently,"

"And so I will," he said patiently. What do you know about dragons?"

"Dragons?" I repeated, puzzled. "Not much. I like to read about them in fantasy books. Actually, I think they're the most fascinating imaginary creatures that exist---er, or don't exist. Which is it?"

"Large serpents have certainly existed, my friend," said my teacher. "And still do exist in some dimension of the inner worlds., Anything that has ever been imagined is real, for imagination is merely a reflection of what is, in some arena of life.

"Soul incarnates in many dimensions other than that of space-time. Science is only now starting to recognize the possibility of these dimensions, which lie beyond the observational powers of man. Soul often remembers something of its expanded life in these worlds. Its memories are frequently distorted by the limited mental faculties it must take on in the human consciousness. But these memories represent, at any rate, some lingering traces of Soul's experiences of the higher worlds.

"Flying horses are real, too, though not on earth. The laws of reality on this planet, in this day and age, do not allow for such creatures. Fairies, gnomes - all these exist as well, and very close to this physical plane, yet we cannot see them. They reside in another reality which generally only children visit, and a few perceptive adults. But dragons have retreated even further away than the elementals of the earth. We have only legends and speculative tales to tell us what they looked like and how they behaved"

"Does this have something to do with me?" I asked timidly.

Haurvata laughed. ",Yes, my child. Be patient with me a moment longer. Dragons, you see, while banished from the physical plane of reality, sill survive in the imagination for an important reason. Haven't you ever wondered why humanity has continued to maintain such a fascination for dragonkind?" Dragons represent the awesome spiritual potential of man lying below the threshold of his awareness. Scientists say that man uses perhaps only ten percent of his brain. But I say he uses even less of his spiritual powers!

"Dragons are beyond the duality of good and evil, and thus share qualities of both. Man cannot conceive of what may lie beyond such dualities, so he pins his imagination on a mythic beast that represents for him what he cannot intellectually fathom and morally accept. Do good and avoid evil, the moral teachings say. Yet dragons are neither good nor evil, but simply are.

"Soul is like the dragon in this way. Its highest morality is that it is fully itself, and as itself, it serves the higher power, or god. It may be on the side of peace at one time, and on the side of war at another time. This makes no sense to the social man, but Soul is concerned with its own survival more than with the preservation of any particular community, race, or way of life. The language I am using makes Soul seem immoral. But this merely points to the failure of language to adequately describe the glorious wisdom, freedom, and power of Soul.

To be cont.

Love

Carmen

I love that book ..
What comes to mind ... to experience all that we are not and then awaken to who we truly are . .. that is like finally switching the light on and really see.

Thank You Carmen.


Love from me
mudra

Yes Mudra, experience - wisdom. From all I have learned, we are here to learn, to experience, to gain wisdom. Over many lifetimes we accumulate wisdom. Whatever we have never experienced, our soul prompts us to learn and gain wisdom from. How can we "know" the priest, the whore, the thief, the murderer, the wife, the mother, the warrior, the victim, the hero, unless we have 'been' it. Over all the thousands of years that we have incarnated in this plain, we have gained wisdom slowly, but surely. It makes sense to me that whatever we judge, in one life, we will come back "as" in the next life. Our soul goes home to God pregnant with experience, and at Peace with all of Life/God.

Love

Carmen

I am reminded of this quote (Proverbs)

Wisdom is the principle thing;
Therefore get Wisdom
And with all thy getting;
Get understanding

I am enjoying this thread Carmen-especially reading about dragonkind and the imagination where all and everything exists.
myth and legend suggest dragons as a strong link in our evolution- i am interested in changing my perspective toward this mighty creature.
*ie moving beyond fear. or integrating this reaction...as with other species that invoke a "flight" response. removing "fear" for me is key to my full understanding of al that is...what appears as a mirror (if you know what i mean)....


Could you please elaborate upon this point...?

"but Soul is concerned with its own survival more than with the preservation of any particular community, race, or way of life".

does the word "survival" suggest freedom to choose, to experience?
the soul, as i understand, is immortal...and yet>

with Thanks

Thanks for your response Shakticat. Some of this enquiry Im still pondering on myself. As far as the Soul goes, my understanding (at this point) is this. Every person has a Soul, regardless of religion, country, colour or belief, and the your Soul will place you in the incarnation best suited to your/its progress and evolution. Its here for progress, wisdom, understanding and will go to any length or method to help advance the incarnating entity. God does not have preferences as to colour, creed, country, we are all made of the same 'stuff', the same lifeforce, which is God.

In my life I have insisted on my own investigation and aquiring of knowledge. The bible carries much truth that has been ignored, or twisted to serve controlling interests of religion. When we are awake and aware we see beyond the conditioning of our childhood. We see the truth shining through the great works of antiquity, of which the Bible, is one. With much of what I have learned, my approach has been of accepting all information, allowing all information. As time goes by, what I have aquired in knowledge is either backed up from other sources, experienced directly as truth, or discarded as not relevant. I have to be careful with discarding anything really, as its often subject to my level of ignorance at the time. Quantum physics would be one such area that I have to be aware of my own lack of any background knowledge of. I've had to start as a total beginner with this great science. A sense of humbleness, of always being open to new ideas, new knowledge, is necessary for me.

Love to you

Carmen

Oh, Shakticat, I forgot the mirroring. Thats a very important aspect of the evolutionary, awake life! Our personal world is inside us, but also all around us in our friends, family, animals, environment! Whatever we "see" in someone else is us, especially, if it pushes our buttons. Its something to look at, and ponder on. We do not "see" in someone else that is not a reflection in some way, of us. In that, we are self contained. We can shift to the ends of the earth, but we never escape from our own consciousness, that faithfully reproduces our inner beliefs, attitudes and ways of seeing exactly where we left off in the last place! Reality is from the inside --- out, not from the outside ----in. Our learning, our life, our consciousness, is self-contained. When we change our mind, let go of limiting attitudes, learn more knowledge and apply it, our outside reality changes to correspond to our inner changes. Our inner self is definitely mirrored for us in our outer reality.

Love

Carmen

Okay, to continue, still in Chapter Two

" Now you may notice that the literature of both Eastern and Western cultures contains references to dragons. Indeed, the chinese zodiac, which is divided into twelve-year cycles, has as one of its symbols the serpent, or dragon. But there is one important difference between the Eastern dragon and the Western dragon..

"The Eastern dragon has wings?" I asked, tentatively offering my meager piece of knowledge.

"Exactly," smiled Haurvata. "The Eastern dragon is winged and flies through the air. It can breathe fire. The Western dragon traditionally lives in a cave or under water and is more rumored about than seen. Grendel, of the old English tale, is a typical Western dragon. In the realm of symbolism, water is the most unconscious medium, the world of dreams. Land is akin to the normal daily waking consciousness. But the sky is the realm of the superconscious, the "magical" level on which one can perform miraculous feats!

"What this tells us about East and West is simple. It relates, as you shall see, to something you will learn about in greater detail in the future: the male and female spiritual forces. The Eastern cultures, by and large, have recognized the male and female elements as spiritual counterpoints to each other. The two halves thus make a whole, the yin and yang of existence,. In the West, on the other hand, life is regarded as essentially masculine, with the feminine as an evil or regressive influence to its forward movement. Thus, the West has denied the feminine an honoured and respected place alongside the masculine. It has effectively banished the female to a dark cave or watery prison.

"Up until now, the results of this aberration have not been tragic. Of course, in terms of human creativity and personal development. The loss has been tremendous. But as a culture, the Wes has benefited greatly from its masculine drive to provide technological advancements for the earthly community.However, without the proper checks and balances to this aggressive approach, there is a real potential for disaster in the future. The hope is that both East and West can learn from each other and proceed with a modicum of difficulties through the twenty-first century.

"In order to accomplish this, mankind must tap the resources of its hidden spiritual power as symbolized by the dragon. The purpose of this change is more for individual growth than for the rehabilitation of the planet, but the results will be the same. The siritual power ---Soul power---is actually a neutral force. But it can only be contacted by one who has realized both masculine and feminine forces within him or herself. To use the metaphor again, the dragon must be coaxed out of its lair in cave or lake and allowed to soar!"

I kept coming back to the question the Tibetan had so insistently asked me. "How real are you?" he had said. I puzzled about this still. My preoccupation must have shown, for soon the Adept stopped discoursing and looked at me keenly,

"Have you figured it out yet?" he asked flatly.

"No" I said. "I take it you're referring to what you said about being real?"

"Aye"

"Well," I sighed. "Pinocchio wasn't real. He was a puppet. But Gepetto, the toymaker, loved him so much that he sent him to school and treated him as if he were real. Finally, Pinocchio saved Gepetto from the belly of a whale out of love for him. Then the Blue Fairy made him flesh and blood.

"I don't know what this has to do with anything. Im just babbling," Isaid, shaking my head.

"Not at all," replied my teacher, smiling. "It is a useful bridge between the idea of dragons and your own particular situation. Pinocchio wanted to be human, but could not achieve it without first developing within himself the capacity for love and self-sacrifice. You aspire to the Soul level, but cannot win it until you develop the courage to unleash the spiritual forces within you--the dragon, as it were. So you see, like Pinocchio, you are not quite 'real' yourself.

"In both stories, however, there is a higher power at work. In Pinocchio's case, this higher power took the form of the Blue Fairy. In your life, the higher power is represented by myself, the spiritual teacher. And hough I may not have a magic wand, I can help your undergo the transformation you seek! But only you can do the proper work and make the required efforts".

"Oh, I see now!" I said excitedly. "In other words, only Soul is 'real' in you sense of the word. The rest is just---just personality, human consciousness, instinct----is that the idea?"

:True," he grunted, "What people normally think of as themselves is actually a whole block of unconsciousness consisting merely of identification with experiences. Men and women are simply genetic entities without the presence of Soul. The mind, emotions, and memories of the subtler bodies are also rather mechanical manifestations. cuture and social training are even more superficial.

Carmen wrote: Soul is concerned with its own survival more than with the preservation of any particular community, race, or way of life. The language I am using makes Soul seem immoral. But this merely points to the failure of language to adequately describe the glorious wisdom, freedom, and power of Soul."

I would tend to say that the term " survival " may not be the best one to use .
Unlike the body the soul does'nt have to strugle to survive as it is immortal .
In my understanding the journey of the soul is the awakening to who it really is and therefore it's growth and understanding of it's relation to all that is .

Love Always
mudra

Carmen wrote: "What people normally think of as themselves is actually a whole block of unconsciousness consisting merely of identification with experiences. Men and women are simply genetic entities without the presence of Soul. The mind, emotions, and memories of the subtler bodies are also rather mechanical manifestations. cuture and social training are even more superficial.

I agree with that . Who we really are can't be defined by words as those belong to the mind .
Words can however be used as pointers to what is undefinable . We can say the soul is emptiness but this will still be a concept in the mind . To realize one's true nature there is no other means but to experience it . One is looking through a window and see land, trees , people and horizon and yet one is not standing in the room .In fact we are nowhere to be found in the scenery we are projecting.

Love Always
mudra

To continue. Thanks for your comments Mudra. Umm, as I stated at the start, much of this info Im still processing/understanding myself, so I will only comment on bits that I feel I have understood enough to comment on. Anyway, maybe clarification will come further on in the book for me.

"So what can I do to become 'real;? I asked, cautiously.

Haurvata smiled. "Many things. But at the bottom of them, only one thing. Have the courage and audacity of the dragon! Take risks, intelligent risks. The past and the future are more fluid than you believe. You are swimming in them now. Stroke in any direction and you are liable to meet with yourself, as you were, as you could have been, or will be in the future. Life is dynamic for Soul, and time is merely a mechanical factor which can be transcended when necessary to accomplish your spiritual goals"

"My head is spinning," I groaned, which was only a slight exaggeration.

"Aye, child," the Tibetan said in a throaty baritone. "The neat, compartmentalized, and ultimately dissatisfying world you have constructed is being razed. The disorientation you feel is the experience of you old gridpatterns being blown to pieces."

"I can see the wrecking ball now!" I wailed comically.

"Yes, it is funny," he agreed, "especially if you choose to see it that way! That is a quality I like very much in you, and you should develop it further. You are not aware as of yet how great a survival factor humor is for anyone,. Humor dissolves resistance, heals breaches, discovers new approaches and avenues for growth. Humor can find the needle in the haystack and the silver lining in a cloud of doom. With humor, you will find that the changes coming into your life will not be disasters, but gifts. Laugh, and you will maintain your balance even when things are particularly difficult. And, in times of change, difficulties are always inevitable.

I remembered a dream I had about two weeks ago. I repeated it now to Haurvata.

I was a passenger of a car traveling along a busy freeway. Suddenly, I noticed all the heads of the people in passing autos turning to stare at something behind me. As I looked around, a white streamlined sportscar passed me to my left. I gazed at it in admiration. Never had I seen any car so beautiful, and yet so unique in design! I couldn't place its manufacturer, and decided at last that it must be a rare custom-built car or a prototype of a car of the future. As it drove away, its license plate declared in simple letters, "Honolulu"

"Honolulu," I thought to myself. "That's where I was born!" In a flash, I found myself in the driver's seat of the futuristic car. The car then revealed itself to be even odder. It had no engine, no control panel, nor any bit of mechanical equipment or parts. Despite this strange fact, the car drove itself remarkably smoothly, swiftly, and safely. For awhile, I sat in the car enjoying myself immensely. But soon I became restless and fearful---how can this be happening? How can any car drive itself?

Panicked, I quickly took control of the situation. Somehow, I gathered the tiny car in my arms like a hoopskirt and sprinted down the freeway. It was a ridiculous sight, and I woke up grinning and laughing!

Haurvata listened carefully to my dream and chuckled at the incongruous final image. Then he offered his interpretation of the odd dream.

"This dream is basically about the difference between the little self and the Soul self --- the ego and the individuality. The white car is the symbol of Soul, the pure vehicle for Spirit which you, and any sincere seeker, may become. As you noticed, the car drove on its own power, which was non-mechanical and self-generated. This shows that the true source of all power is within Soul itself, and not anything less, such as the mind or the emotions.

"The little self, on the other hand, is the part of yourself that wants to control the vehicle. Through ignorance, it distrusts Spirit's ability to guide Soul through the challenges of life. It overrules Spirit and tries to do thing through personal effort and struggle. This makes the little self feel, and perhaps look, important. But, from the spiritual point of view, such efforts are merely ludicrous. Even worse, as you have discovered at first hand, personal effort and struggle will tire you. It will drain your energies and shut off the creative inflow of Spirit. In shor, it will leave you 'high and dry' just when you need divine help the most.

"Now here is one more thing about the vehicle which you have overlooked! It is very important, so I will point it out to you. It has to do the the design of the car itself. The use of the car as metaphor for Soul --- a 'vehicle' for Spirit --- as well as the car's white color as a representation of purity, are conventional and thus easily recognizable spiritual symbols. However, the rest of the car is very individualized and original! I believe you used the words 'futuristic' and 'unique' the passengers of the surrounding cars on the freeway admired the white car, but not because it moved without mechanical means. Indeed, they could not have known that from the outside! They admired the car beause of its great originality, power, and beauty!

Soul also has its own originality and unique beauty. Each Soul is ulike any other. By the time Sout reaches the point of being a seeker of self-realization and god-awareness, it is utterly itself! The dream was thus pointing out to you the level of spiritual individuality you have reached. The individuality is entirely different from personality, which is associated with the ego. This individuality of which I am speaking is the fruit of spiritual development over lifetimes of experience and training.It is an individuality built upon choices made, a particular interest and style developed, and a specific spiritual mission taking shape.

"Thus, the dream is telling you that you must cease pursuing self-improvement in the human consciousness, and surrender instead to the perfection of Spirit! Simply allow Soul to express itself by following the inner direction along the lines of your natural interests and abilities. Then life will be as effortless as the ride down the freeway in the vehicle you just described!"

This information stunned me in its clarity and simplicity. As A friend of mine would have joked, Haurvata's advice was a real B.F.O.---that is, a " blinding flash of the obvious." I would never have described what I had been doing in his terms. But, thinking about it, I found that it was accurate. My line of reasoning was this:in order to have greater results in life, I had to work harder, be more clever, and forcefully conquer all obstacles in my way. When I tried this approach, however, I found a ghostlike obstinacy to my problems. What Haurvata was suggesting was nothing short of revolutionary: stop struggling and Be

"The principle I've been describing to you is called the Law of Unity. This law is essential to any Soul who wishes to grow into the full expression of its true individuality. Male or female, adult or child, the law operates in the same way for all.

"The essence of this law is that all ego-limited efforts dissipate your spiritual power. And any effort that has at its core a sense of lack, fear, or self-serving need is an ego-limited effort. When your personal power is dissipated, naturally your ability to accomplish great things will be limited, despite what might be exceptional innate abilities. Now the only way to regroup your spiritual forces, and thus unify your life, is to serve God through the higher self, or Soul. For in serving God, you are serving the whole, including yourself. Therefore, serving God is the more universal attitude. It results in increase for both oneself and others, on levels of creativity that the personal self could not possible match!

"Two metaphors come to mind to explain this to you. First is a team of horses with the personal self holding the reins. The horses are all lined up in a row facing forward. But their stances are not quite parallel to each other. So if one were to project their line of travel in space, you would see that the horses' directions would soon diverge. In other words, they would fan out the way the spokes of a wheel do from a central hub."

"Interesting. Go on," I commented encouragingly.

"That is what your life has been like up until now. Your efforts have been multiple energies projected in diverging directions. Your writing, teaching, spiritual life, family life, and friendships ---they all seem to start from your centre, yet when they go forth from you, they begin to pull in different directions. When your efforts start out, this divergence is not apparent. But by the time your efforts have been out there a while in time and space, they are as clearly separate as the individual spokes of a wheel are separate from each other!"

"Now to the second image. The second image is simple. It is a big white horse, with you riding bareback on it. You are holding onto its mane ---no saddle, no bridle, no reins. The horse and you are one Soul. It moves and you are right there with it. Its direction is straight ahead. No deviations, no obstacles. Just straight ahead. The white horse is a symbol of yourself as Soul. The power of that horse is your own purified spiritual power. As in your dream of the white car, you do not have to make any effort to control or direct the horse, for its nature is of God.

"YOu have come to the point of unifying your desires and efforts in this life. This has been made possible through the inner work you have done to clear the way for this unification to occur. All your fears and limitations have been sapping your confidence and making you afraid to live such a unified existence. It was as if you were afraid to put all your eggs in one basket, in case you might fail. So you split up your efforts to placate the damaged and frightened ego. But none of your partial victories have been satisfying to you because they were not generated from the depth of your Soul, from a unity of spirit, heart, and mind. If you had trusted God more, you would have learned sooner how to live in order to be truly happy."

I felt strangely at peace. I compared this feeling to the utter exhaustion and relief one feels after an emotional outburst, or after the sudden consummation of a long and arduous physical struggle. I was coming out of a gnawing restriction in my life and sensing the possibilities hitherto unseen.

"You know," I began brightly, "it occurs to me that dragons have colours too. Is that significant?"

"For our purposes," he answered, "only one colour is important---The gold dragon."

"And why is that?" I asked.

"Gold is the colour of highest material value," he replied, "It represents what is most precious, the ultimate alchemical transformation of consciousness from dross into Soul. Therefore, the golden dragon should be for you a symbol of the highest you can achieve in this lifetime---the refinement of self into Soul in order to act with courage and love for all life. You see this now?"

Love to All


Carmen