Plane-to-Plane Memorandum | |
| To: | My Beloved Students |
|---|---|
| From: | Master Djwhal Khul |
Subject: | January 2007 Lesson |
| Date: | January 1, 2007 |
Beloved Students,
I greet you this month at the dawn of a New Year, my favorite of your Earth holidays. Traditions all over the world celebrate the New Year as a fresh start. As the calendar page turns, so, too, can one’s life turn. Thus, I greet you this month in an offering of freshness and divine order. May you take inspiration at your fresh start, and may you live this year in exuberance, creative magnificence and much, much kindness.
Perhaps 2007 can be a year of freshness and a new beginning for Earth, as well. The stagnant energy of war has compromised both Her dignity and Her tranquility. May She abide in the peace of loving kindness throughout 2007, healing from the wounds of war. May the forces that have coalesced in fury against Her, be nullified completely. May Her full radiance return to shine forth in pristine beauty and matchless light once again.
In the recorded lecture that accompanies this written lesson, I offer a designation for 2007. Let’s make it the year of kindness, for all levels of kindness: to yourself, to other individuals, for groups, organizations, communities, nations, continents, situations, and to the planet, too. “Pulling off” this accomplishment, will require a great deal of mindfulness from all of you. Are you up to the task? (In case you are wondering, the answer is: YES!)
Let us focus in this lesson on deepening your bodhichitta toward Earth. This is an important year for Earth. Much of Her directional course this year will be set in motion by high-level decisions made during the first three months of 2007. If you truly seek Her highest good, begin now “seeding the field,” so to speak, for much care and focused deliberation go into those decisions by those who hold the deciding power.
While it is always a good idea to pray that wisdom grace those who have positions of leadership in the world, it is also wise to extend your prayer energy to Earth as a being. Recall, if possible, the number of wars waged on Her body. Consider the gallons of blood from the slaughtered bodies of Her beloved children (both human and animal) which She has absorbed into Her body. Clearly, Her price for supporting the human race has been great.
Living respectfully on Earth requires a light tread on the great Mother -- literally and metaphorically. Some actually take pleasure in tearing Her skin with their trucks and motorbikes, leaving in their wake profound disrespect for the feminine in the scars they inflict on Her surface. But at a deeper level, anyone who holds disrespect for any of Her children (plant, animal, mineral or human), also disrespects Her. Humanity has yet to discover the sheer bliss of divine cooperation possible in living without violence. I am not referring just to what is called “street violence,” nor to warring activities. I am speaking of all those seemingly insignificant angry, irritated, demeaning, or isolationist thoughts that pass through millions of minds at any given moment. These, seemingly subtle, are violent.I am also speaking of callused indifference, of mindless gossip, or those self-centered situations where others pay for your grumpiness or frustration. These are all forms of violence. Even if you do not feel particularly jolted by these lesser manifestations of violence now, there will come a time in your spiritual development where to even have a passing angry thought will feel like a knife blade in your belly. You might think this is a result of the heightened sensitivity that comes with spiritual development. ... Perhaps. But you could view it also as a return to the natural state for human consciousness. Indeed, humanity has grown accustomed to the insidious underpinnings of violence, and they are no longer even recognized.
If, however, you reflect on young children – let’s say, toddlers, – you can easily see that even a stern look from a parent can cause them to crumble and cry. Most see this as a sign of immaturity, recognizing that they, like other soft and innocent children, will eventually become acculturated to the violent thought patterns which result in violent speech that is found even on the school playground.Thus far we have touched on concerns in the area of thoughts and speech. If one is conscientious with these, remembering to make mental purification for the little slip-ups that occur, that mindfulness will undoubtedly influence the actions one generates. When thoughts and speech are pure, generous, kind and loving, then actions generally follow suit. Having become somewhat mindful, the trick is to stay mindful by delving ever deeper into the process, and applying deeper understanding to all areas of one’s life.
Often, the quickest results of a mindfulness practice are obtained through working with one’s actions, since it may be easier to “catch” mindless actions than to catch mindless thoughts or words. As mentioned above, when thoughts and words that are mindfully generated, the actions which result will reflect that basic purity. In learning to inhabit the bodhisattva’s mind, however, attention is directed first toward actions, with the immediate next step being to see how actions arise from thoughts and speech. Because the body/mind is designed for congruency, if a violent thought occurs, so will an unconscious urge to align speech and action with the thought. This is equally true for the arising of a holy thought – the body/mind always seeks congruency. Thus, you can readily see why spiritual traditions focus on training the minds of their aspirants to generate thoughts appropriate to an evolved being. Such training brings the aspirant into contact with the potential self, which is a viable means of dissolving the ego. To bring our focus from the theoretical level to the practical level, how mindful are your actions with regard to practicing bodhichitta as an Earthling? In the lecture this month, I reference how mindless some are in throwing away spoiled food. This is just one example (quite prevalent in the U.S.) of not applying bodhichitta. Tremendous waste is the norm in the U.S. (where so much is so easily acquired), and is a prime example of how absent bodhichitta is in the lives of most people. Your refrigerator is a storehouse for things that have either died or are in the process of dying. Do the lives of so many of Earth’s progeny mean so little that they can be discarded with so little appreciation? Does it seem okay to simply discard the remains of something that gave its life for you to have a meal, simply because you were not mindful enough to eat what you bought? Perhaps you buy more than you can eat – another mindless American habit. Or, perhaps you are just in the habit of taking more than a fair share, and the waste is but “collateral damage.” Of course, this is not only a “food thing.” Some waste time – another precious gift of your planet. Others waste money. Still others “burn bridges,” and in so doing, waste precious human relationships.Please join me this month in listening to the lecture for this month, Blessing Earth. May this teaching inspire you in your Earth journey. May it be a stimulant, awakening you to greater applications of focused mindfulness. May you truly be of benefit to your dear planet.
Your Loving Teacher,
Djwhal Khul
Copyright 2007, Vajra Flame Foundation, Ltd.
Reprint prohibited without permission.