Beloved Students:

I greet you in the radiance of 2003, all new, all fresh, bright, and shining with potentiality. May you, too, feel the energy of newness and freshness. May you acknowledge fully your opportunity to start afresh in your life. Try to see yourself as fresh, no matter how many the years with which you feel you have done battle, no matter how many the scars (or experience marks) life has bestowed upon you. Let yourself enjoy the sense of being all new.

As you begin a New Year, it is a good idea to use the momentum of the New Year to explore your mind. The idea is to distinguish between the mind you have had, or used, in the past, and the mind you are dedicated to creating in 2003. Since many of you will be working in groups from the text A Year to Live by Stephen Levine, this exercise should help you derive the most from your group work as well. Why don't you use 2003 as a year in which you "die to" your mind?

Ah; already I hear the resistance arising. "Die to my mind? That's crazy!" -- Or so the ego would have you believe. Sooner or later you are going to have to ask yourself just what the ego knows, anyway. Has its guidance taken you where you really want to go, or has it been instrumental in generating patterns in your life that really do not work so well? Every time you have felt hurt or angered, who or what was hurting or angry? Was it really You, or was it merely the ego confusing you to believe it was You?

Many of you have accepted (cognitively, at least) that your ego is your own biggest hurdle with regard to your spiritual attainment. This understanding is both useful and good. It shows you have applied some of the Teachings deeply enough to hold the understanding. However, you may find it is another experience altogether to realize your way out of egoic control. As you may have already guessed, this is the part that will take real work on your part. It is one thing to understand the ego is empty and quite another thing to realize it is empty.

Why not make 2003 your year of Realization? All it really requires is mindfulness toward generosity, self-discipline, joyful effort, patience/tolerance, concentration and, or course, wisdom. Mindful Generosity, for example, is much more potent than simply having a sweet nature. Mindful Generosity continually looks for situations in one's own life that demonstrate attachment, and uses generosity to transcend attachment. Mindful Joyful Effort is more potent than simply feeling good when others about you feel good. It is active engagement in creating joy and absence of suffering in the lives of others that transcends one's own self-centeredness, or preoccupation with personal issues.

Mindful Self-Discipline generates its own energy, and will have you confronting your ego/mind continually. This can be difficult, since the ego/mind will do everything in its power to pull your focus off it and put it on how difficult the circumstances are with which you have to work.

Active mindfulness in working with your Patience/Tolerance quotient will give you much to attend to. Often people believe they are being patient or tolerant by simply not saying anything that demonstrates they have inner feelings about something. If they persist in such behavior, there is little option but to "check out" in difficult situations. Checking out, of course, is neither patient nor tolerant.

Ah, Concentration (one of my favorites). Let us here say, "mindful concentration." What is such but perfect training for the mind? After all, your goal is to be able to simply place your mind where you want it, and let it there rest. That is, rest without being distracted by the commotion of the world or others around you, nor by the desires and aversions of your ego/mind. What better gift could you give to those around you than developing mindful concentration? What finer gift could you give yourself?

Finally, we come to Wisdom. Now the idea of mindful wisdom may cause many notions to arise, but in this case, what we are actually talking about is the mindful application of wisdom. That is, you go through your day mindfully seeking emptiness in each and every situation life offers you. Whether it be negative or confusing emotions arising; whether it be judging mind arising, whether it be depression, greed, anger, impatience, or just a case of the grumpies -- such are all empty of any reality of their own. To clearly recognize and act upon this truth is the beginning of realized emptiness. Remember, the elements that most need you to realize emptiness are the ones arising within your own mind. Get that part, and the rest is easy.

Please join me this month in listening to Journey to the Pure Land, a talk I gave in Denver in December, 2002. Recognize that your mind is constantly interpreting whatever arises in your life. However, it usually does so on the basis of old, less enlightened patterns. The more you develop spiritually, the more you will realize that how you see the world and every experience in it comes from you, not from "out there." You have all likely known people who have good skills, are bright and capable, but because they cannot see themselves as a success, they are never able to actualize that success - even if it is the very thing they came in to do. Others have held themselves back because they believed they couldn't succeed because of their looks, their weight, their stuttering, or whatever. The truth is, you have the ability to see yourself in many ways. How ever you perceive yourself is but an empty notion, meaning it has no "reality" other than what you (or your mind) give it.

I would like you to continue doing the meditation given for November and December of last year. While you may not have figured it out as yet, this meditation is the basis for opening to Emptiness. Some of you are simply not doing this meditation, and that does have an effect upon the whole of my students. For those of you who have been doing this work faithfully, do not feel held up in any way by those who have ego issues with this meditation. Know that you help them dissolve those ego issues by continuing your own work so diligently. Also know that you can never do this meditation too much. It establishes in your heart strong devotion for your Teacher, and generates purified heart energy for your own transformation. Given below you will find it repeated from last month's lesson. Give yourself at least 30 minutes per day for this practice. If you can do it twice during the day, you will greatly benefit yourself and all sentient beings. Never allow your mind to distract you by feeling bored with your meditation. That is the oldest gimmick in the world!

Begin by sitting quietly with your eyes open, gazing at the floor some two to three feet in front of you. If you would like to place on the floor at your gaze point a colored sheet or piece of fabric that is uniform in color, please use a solid color, choosing from among blue, yellow, red, green or white. Follow your breath for 15 full breath cycles. If you lose track of the count, simply start over. When you complete the cycle of breaths, close your eyes, and feel yourself to be in the presence of your Spiritual Teacher. Make the feeling as real as possible, engaging as many of your senses as you can. Feel true reverence and respect for your Teacher, and allow yourself to be fully appreciative of His/Her assistance in your life.

See yourself sitting before your Teacher, who is seated on a platform or lotus throne about eye level in front of you. Think of some quality of the Teacher's that is very precious to you, and bow before your Teacher as a sign of respect to the Teacher and the quality you are cherishing. Be aware of your Teacher's love streaming to you, and feel deep appreciation for this gift. See yourself making a physical offering to your Teacher - something that the Teacher would know came from you. As your Teacher receives your offering, feel a loving smile coming to you from this Precious One. Feel yourself nudged to make a deeper offering - perhaps your promise to meditate daily and to dedicate whatever goodness comes from your meditation to your Teacher.

Review your life for the past 24 to 48 hours. Think of your most negative moment, and notice whether it was due to your thoughts, your words or your actions. Let yourself experience some genuine remorse for this, and then make a promise to your Teacher that you will not do this again for the next 24 hours. Next, think of a moment of kindness that you generated in that same period. As this memory arises, allow a feeling of warmth to arise at the heart level. Promise yourself that in the next 24 hours you will look for more opportunities to create goodness and kindness in your life.

Next ask to see the Teachings in every aspect of your life. Ask your Teacher to witness for your thoughts, words and actions in all situations. In difficult situations, ask to see the Teacher's face on the face of those who try your patience, as well as those you serve in love and kindness. Try to see what each situation would be like if you could experience as your Teacher in each case. Have a sense that your Teacher is not only watching your every thought, word and action, but that your Teacher is ardently holding forth that you will make the best decision in every situation for all concerned.

Now ask your Teacher to stay with you for the duration of the next 24 hours. In the palace of your heart, create a room for the Teacher that is quiet and filled with love and reverence. Visualize the Teacher becoming small enough to fit into a beautiful pearl. Open the petals of your lotus crown, and allow the Teacher to descend through your Crown Chakra on an energy flow that brings the Teacher to rest on a lotus throne in your lotus heart. As the Teacher sits there in dignity and serenity, ask Him/Her to be both witness and coach to/in your life. Ask help in seeing your own thoughts, words and actions, that you may continually increase the purity of your motivations, and see through the controlling parts of your ego/mind.

With the Teacher enthroned in your heart, bring your focus to the floor or colored cloth before you. Using it as a backdrop, try to hold the image of the Teacher. See Him/Her as a living person (not just a photo or statue), and envision Him/Her doing the kinds of things He/She would do were He/She in physical form today, such as giving a Teaching, or conducting a blessing ceremony or an empowerment. Try to hold this living, working image as you simply remain aware of your breath. Watch the Teacher performing virtuous tasks as you simply say "rising" on your in-breath, and "falling" on your out-breath.

Try to hold this image and stay connected to your breath for at least 15 minutes. Should you find it difficult, forgive yourself and just keep trying.

When complete, become aware once more of the qualities of the Teacher you wish to manifest in your own life. With each breath, draw those qualities into yourself, receiving them as a gift from your Teacher. Appreciate your Teacher's example, as well as your own opportunity to receive precious Teaching at this time. After about 5 minutes, let yourself arise with royal dignity, knowing yourself to be purified by this work, and trusting it has generated transformation for yourself and for Earth.

Walk in peace, give peace, share peace, and above all, become Peace by the careful scrutiny of your mind's activities.

Djwhal Khul