Beloved Students:

May all beings everywhere come to know that life is good. May those who suffer as prisoners (whether of conscience, political bias, warfare or their own karma) open to their liberation, and may liberation from suffering be established on Earth. I greet you this month just past the American time of Thanksgiving. I hope each of you, no matter the country in which you live, are giving thanks every day for the dawning of great liberation. May you each have your liberation, and may your minds become clear and pure as an example of what it is to be fully human.

What precious times are these. It matters not that you may be experiencing the chaos of that which is arising trying to define itself — even the chaos is precious. Those of you in America know that your country is divided severely along political lines, and while this has caused some of you grief, there is a positive side to the situation as well. Whenever polarization becomes severe, and the tension between the poles is drawn taut, something new is trying to emerge. This condition is much like the straining rope in a game of tug-o-war. If you can imagine that there are massive tractors on either end of the rope, pulling in opposite directions, creating intense stress on the rope, then you have an apt analogy for the political strain in America at the present time. Eventually, the rope will snap; the extreme tension makes it impossible for the rope to remain intact. Out of that breaking apart a burst of creative energy will be released which will allow for something new to arise. How fortunate are you to be living at this time so you can witness the process.

While we cannot as yet say exactly what will arise at this point, still, each of you can have input into what is arising. This is true for those of you living in other countries, as well. Rather than hating what it may appear the U.S. is becoming, hold the vision of the possible; hold the vision that the frayed “rope” that tries to hold together strong poles of opposition will “die” to the tensions from both sides. In so doing, a new balance medium must be created. Hold the vision that it will be done in a manner that honors all sentient beings.

Those of you paying attention to the recent election in the U.S. are likely aware that significant election reform is needed. While some are proclaiming that wide-spread voting “irregularities” now demonstrate a corrupt electoral process, others are claiming such is not possible. Again, you can see the powerful tension in the opposition between the poles. In fact, you will have difficulty finding a true point for middle ground, since the poles are so rigidly defined. Know, dear friends, that this can mean only that something is ready to snap. Use this opportune moment well, for it can become a co-creative moment like none you have witnessed before! The last time the polar tensions were strung so tightly was at the time of the Civil War. While it is not likely that pattern will be recreated, it is highly likely that something profound will come from this time.

Perhaps some of the hopelessness felt by those of you who supported Mr. Kerry has arisen from having had to survive such a noxious campaign. The particularly bitter taste of the campaign has left many of you with some bitterness in your hearts, perhaps even feeling betrayed by…something. Some of you are even blaming the spiritual plane for allowing this to happen. In truth, all of your feelings grow in fields ripe for the harvest, and you can come to realize that your “bitter tears” still nourish the parch ground of collective experiencing.

While rarer among my students, those of you who supported Mr. Bush may be feeling you have been saved from the evil ones — those who would allow a woman’s right to choose what happens to her body and those who support unions with same-sex partners. It should probably be stated that banning gay marriages will not stop people from being gay (nor should it if such is their karma). Likewise, outlawing abortion will not stop women from getting abortions; it will drive the process back underground or out of the country. Some of you may have voted for Mr. Bush because you felt he was the candidate that could provide the greater level of safety in the event of another terrorist attack. It is at least interesting to note that the people in the areas closest to the 9/11 attack and the coastal areas most likely to be marked as potential future terrorist targets did not agree with you on that matter.

What is important at this point is to let go of the past. Those of you who have been considering emigrating to Europe or Canada because you no longer feel you can bear to live here, put your focus and energy into your enlightenment and that of the planet. Let your emotional wounds from the election be healed in the flow of grace that now comes to facilitate the precious release of the old and receivership of the new. Clearly, you will have to learn to be with what is for the present, since this “snap” is a process that unfolds over time. Surely you cannot doubt that something is happening, even if you cannot see clearly how the energy is moving. Remember, the American Civil War facilitated a new notion of government, a new notion of rights and privileges under the law. While the process may not have been instantly complete (indeed, these issues are still all works in progress,) It did provide a profound turning point in the design of a nation. Given the opportunity, how would each of you redesign the U.S. as a nation?

Could each of you hold the vision that this particular country could become a nation of heart? Given the current complications with the war and the drive to claim Iraq’s oil, such may seem an impossible notion; but in truth, the only way it will ever happen is for a critical mass of individuals to hold that vision. By so holding, opportunity is created for the nation to step into the vision.

Times of war stimulate an overabundance of head energy. While there is nothing wrong with head energy in and of itself, left unbalanced or unsoftened, it can devolve into cold, heartless oppression. Perhaps the imbalance you now experience holds a key to understanding some of your pain. Does it appear to you (as it does to many around the world) that America has lost her heart?

As children, many of you learned in school the inscription on the Statue of Liberty, which was a gift from the nation of France, extolling the heart of America. Lady liberty beckons the world, saying “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free…” Many of you might wonder, and rightfully so, would France say that about America today? In truth, many Americans today see the tired, poor and huddled masses of the third world as but a liability on the American economy. Yet, these are the types of people who built America. These are the ones who built the cities, erected schools and churches, cut their way across the continent, and ultimately made America what has been dubbed “the land of opportunity.” Indeed, the tired, the poor and the disenfranchised contributed the broken backs upon which the U.S was constructed — often in the face of blood, pestilence and severe discrimination. Even so, through their suffering, a nation had heart.

The price of war is always greater than it appears. When warring mentality is unleashed, there is always a repercussion effect, often igniting those termed “loose cannons” in the society. Such incidents as have made the news in America this past week only demonstrate this fact: a hunter killing other hunters with an assault rifle; basketball players raging into a crowd of spectators to do physical damage; a mother in post-partum depression cutting off the arms of her baby, etc., etc., etc.

Clearly, America (as well as other nations) is in grave need of heart; perhaps in need of a bath in the infinite love of the Great Heart of the cosmos. Please join me this month in listening to the teaching I gave in Denver on November 7th of this year, called The Longest Journey. May you find the strength of heart needed to complete the work of the times that are before you. May you eternally give thanks for the opportunity to be of such profound service at this time, and may you, through your service, realize your enlightenment.

Your loving Teacher,
Djwhal Khul