Episcopal Bishop John Shelby Spong
Bishop Spong met us at the door of his home and warmly welcomed us into what turned out to be a comprehensive survey of the state of the Christian Church in America in the second decade of this century. Bishop Spong had as one of his mentors the English Bishop John A.T. Robinson whose liberal understanding of the state of the church in the middle of the last century gained world wide involvement with his book God Is Dead. Bishop Spong has done much the same thing with his writings and with major effect.
In his book, Why Christianity Must Change or Die: A Bishop Speaks to Believers In Exile, what is remarkable is not his beliefs themselves, but that an Episcopal bishop would be the one to embrace and espouse them. Spong has become a trumpeter in the battle of beliefs, not just in the Episcopal communion, but in the realm of Christian faith in general in this country. His books are bestsellers and are in turn, presumably, read by those who, whether they agree or disagree see that in some way, Spong is involved in setting the agenda for the Church. This book, as the admitted “summation of his life’s work” tells every reader what the complete Christian agenda will be, for the next few years at least.
What this interview will allow you to see is the heart of the man and his compassion for those suffering the ills of our age, and his love for the church. At 80, he is stunningly alive and awake and using his life to bring the original Christian beliefs out the 15th century and the grips of 20th century fundamentalists and into the post modern techno-understanding of the 21st century.
Enjoy
Notes From the Masters Class, June 14, 2013
This is the video we produced to comment on the current political situation in America. In it, we urge Light Workers to become fully awake and to see the solutions to our problems on a higher level of Consciousness.
Transcript
Hi, today is Friday, June 14th, 2013. This is Flag Day, and it’s appropriate because, if you’re like me, over the last couple of weeks you might feel like you’ve been rocked by the news and the information that we’ve been dealing with. The business of the surveillance that we’re living under, apparently by choice, the whole question of what’s been going on with Syria, and all the other problems at least make me feel like we are just spinning in our tracks.
Now, one of the things that’s interesting about that is, that John Kenneth Galbraith, who was an economist and a social commentator, said, in the mid of the last century, that we are becoming, and by now we are, “A nation of consumers and not a nation of citizens.” Somehow or another in our rush to consume all the wonderful things that come our way, we have somehow forgotten what it means to be a citizen. To take responsibility for what our country does and what we do within our country. So that when we’re hit by all this stuff that involves citizenship and government, and we feel like we can’t have any impact on it.
Part of the responsibility for that is us. By focusing on consuming stuff, and you remember right after 911 we were told, “Everything’s OK folks, go on back to bed, just go shopping.” But the truth is we have got to wake up as citizens. Now, the first thing that happens when you start to wake up as a citizen is, you discover that there is more than enough stuff out there to me really negative about. It is overwhelming. And being negative only attracts more things to be negative about. That’s fine for some people. There’s some people that have a valid reason to be negative, and on top of that, they balance out the scale, but that’s not for you and that’s not for me.
Our job is to be light workers. To carry the light into any situation in which we find ourselves. I saw an article the other day and it was talking about how some environments are toxic, and they’re toxic because only maybe one person just lives in a world of anger or fear, or conflict, and they become a carrier. And everybody else in that environment winds up having the same problem as the carrier does.
It is also true that you and I, when we focus on the light and we intend to bring light into everything we do; you and I are carriers that can affect, and infect any situation we’re in and make it better. Now, I don’t think any of us, certainly not me, are going to be able to change the environment we’re in by taking specific actions or protesting this or that. But as citizens alone, just that. We have a responsibility to see to it that we’re informed, and that we do the very best we can. And part of that means that wherever there is hatred, we sew peace. Wherever there is darkness we bring light. Wherever there is doubt, we bring hope. And the list goes on and on but what I’m trying to say, and you understand what I’m trying to say is that our job is to not flag or falter on the question of bringing light to every situation and there’s so much going on right now that needs somebody, and that’s you and me, to shed light and say to each other and the world, wait a minute.
There is another way of looking at this. There must be and there is another way. And if we start just with that premise, which by the way is the initial premise of the course of miracles. There must be a better way. If we start there, then we open the door to possibilities that others can’t see because they are consumed with negativity. It’s up to you and it’s up to me.
We’re the people that we’ve been waiting for. We’re the people who are going to solve the problem. And we’re the people who are responsible. So I’d like for you to think about this. This is not a mumbo-jumbo thing. This is not pie in the sky, this is reality. We must take control of our role in all of this and we must do it now, and we must do it consistently. There are plenty of people out there who want to go to war. Who want to cause problems, who want to exclude somebody from everything. All that’s all set in place, but what isn’t in place are the people like you and me who are ready to say, wait a minute; let’s see if we can live this thing through in light. Let’s see if we can do it together without excluding anybody. Let’s see if we can actually find a new way to solve the problems that seem to engulf and devour us.
Now, here’s something to think about. The problems we have, as Einstein said, cannot be solved at the level at which they were created. And all the people that are reflecting and reacting to the negativity around us, are simply stuck on the level where the problems are created. But you and I have the opportunity to look out and say, you know what, there must be a better way. Let’s go up a level, and let’s find the genius’s among us who can understand this and show us the way to make the changes that must be made.
This is a really critical time. Things are changing, they will change, but it’s not a given that they’re going to change automatically or it’s going to be for the positive. That remains to be seen. So for this week, eginning today on Flag Day, think a little bit about what it means to be a citizen and not a consumer. To be a light worker, rather than a negative carrier, and think about what it would mean if you and I and all of us working together were to discover that there are solutions to all of these problems on a higher, different, better level of consciousness. It’s here, it’s possible, it’s happened before, and it can happen again. If we wake up and stay awake, and show other people that by being awake we make a significant contribution. So that’s what I’d like for you to think about. That’s what I’m going to be thinking about, and I thank you for listening. We’ll see you next time.
Jack Burch and the New Trinity!
Jack Burch is a scientist and a new author. The New Trinity is his first book and was fifteen years in the making. He brings a wealth of powerful thought to this completed project and he answers the questions that are increasingly on the minds of thoughtful people. How do you get past the increasingly irrelevant expressions of the organized religions and into the world of pure spiritual thought?
Jack shows the way in this book and he gives us a true sense of his humility and brilliance in this interview.
Notes From the Masters Class 2013-06-08
This is Chuck’s regular Notes video and it features the work of Vivekananda and LIVING AT THE SOURCE.
“Hi this is Chuck and this is Notes From the Masters Class. This week I’ve been reading the works of Vivekananda, in a book called Living at the Source. He died at age 43. He was in this country twice and that was in the late 1800′s and early 1900′s. He created a firestorm of thought and change everywhere he went.
And here’s something that just sticks to me so easily: ‘When man has seen himself as one with the Infinite Being of the Universe, when all separateness has ceased, when all men and women, all gods and angels, all animals and plants and the whole universe has melted into that oneness, then all fear disappears’.
I’ve had several experiences in my life where I have learned, actually very pleasantly, that as I began to understand that we are all connected to each other. Regardless of whether you are animals, plants, or people. I have learned that, and I am learning it in little tiny pieces. But what I discover is, that when I let that happen, there is no fear. There is no fear.
One of the things that is important to me is, I have also learned that when I make any decision based on fear, it’s always the wrong decision. Always. Because fear is anticipating something that isn’t real. Now that does not say you throw caution to the wind, or you don’t be concerned about what is going on, but the response is not fear. Fear is a way for us to withdraw ourselves from the situation, withdraw ourselves from other people, and to avoid conflict. And yet as Vivekananda goes on to say, it is conflict that makes all the difference. It creates the movement that we need to go from one level to the next level. Fear makes us run away and hold ourselves apart. And this is what Vivekananda said about that. ‘I am thoroughly convinced that no individual or nation can live by holding itself apart from the community of others. And when ever such an attempt has been made under the false ideas of greatness, policy, or holiness, the result has always been disaster to the secluding one.’
What I take away from this is that we have been living in this country for the last 12 years under fear. Somehow or another we have let it be created for us. We have let it be created in ways that have really released our rights. We have released our sense of power in changing things. And most importantly, we have become afraid of each other. And it is not working. It is disastrous.
Imagine the situation that we are in politically right now. People cannot even talk to each other. Because they are afraid, because they think something is going to happen to them that they don’t want. We are all one. Our founding fathers were not stupid when they said ‘E pluribus unum’, one from many. So, not only is that a good political idea, but spiritually it is the truth. We are one with the universe. We are one with each other. And we are one with God. Think about that for a while. Next week we will deal with something else. Take care.”
John Smotherman and his book: The Consciousness Paradigm
John has spent his whole life seeking answers to his questions about Consciousness. In his first book, The Consciousness Paradigm, John reports on the answers he has found so far. This interview is a revealing look into the man behind the book and also a discussion of the most important findings. John Smotherman is an attorney and in his book he details how, by reading the classics and other instructional materials, he gained a new level of consciousness and a new life. This is a humble man who, by his life and writing has given us a true give for the directing of our lives.
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Notes from the Masters Class 2013-05-17
Hi, this is Chuck, and this is this week’s edition of Notes from the Masters Class. A long time ago a friend of mine, who in fact is a master, told me something that has stood me well my entire life, and that’s this. The road is easy for those who have no expectations. The road is easy for those who have no expectations.
I don’t know about you, but from the time I was a kid, beginning probably at Christmas time, I’ve had expectations of everything. I’ve had expectations of what was going to happen, what wasn’t going to happen, what I’d get, what I wouldn’t get. My life has been filled with expectations. And even today, with all the work I’ve done, I catch myself having expectations. The problem with expectations is that it puts you in a position where you actually think that you’re going to control or change or manage what’s coming your way. That does not work, because no one, and I repeat no one can predict the future.
Right here on my computer I’m going to read you something. It says, “I am in joyful anticipation of the serendipitous and synchronistic experiences of life. So it be, and so it is.” What that says to me is that the great way is easy for those who have no expectations. But it’s also true that to be anticipating the serendipity and the synchronicity and the spontaneous things that happen in your life is much more fun. Much more fun.
What I’ve learned is this. The past is actually gone. You can’t remember the past anymore than you can remember what happened a thousand years ago. You cannot return and get that information out. It’s multi-level and it is done with. The future’s just the same way. You can’t go forward into the future and come back with any kind of memory or anticipation or expectation or anything else that will, in some way or other, tell you about the actual nature of your future. All you’ve got, all any of us have got is this moment right now, and I’m aware that I am in this moment as I am speaking to you. I am also aware that you’re in this moment as you are listening to what I say.
So here’s the secret from the masters. The minute you start to create expectations you assume that you’re going to be controlling what’s going on. It does not work. It hasn’t worked, and you know that. And it’s not going to work, I know that. So the best that we can do, and it’s a pretty good best, is to let all those expectations go and say, “You know what? Whatever is coming to me is exactly the right thing, and it may be very different than I could even think about expecting. But it’s not something that I am going to have to deal with until it occurs, because the only moment there is, is the moment we have right now.”
There’s no future. There’s no past. There’s just now. And just now whatever you might have expected has already happened. We are in this moment together. It’s all we’ve got, and it is full of incredible possibilities that we can’t even anticipate or think through, and yet here they are in our midst. So again, one more time. You might keep this in your mind the next time you have a whole set of expectations about how things are going to go.
The phrase is this: The road is easy for those who have no expectations. That’s stood me in pretty good stead for a long time, especially when I have a lot of expectations, and I hope it will guide you through your next advanced period of expecting exactly how things should go. They go exactly as they are intended to go. All is well. The universe is in complete and perfect order. I thank you for spending this time with me today, and I’ll see you next week. Bye.
Penny Kelly, ND and Consciousness
Penny Kelly addressed the March combined meeting of Austin’s IONS and INACS organizations. We loved what she said! She has had a remarkable journey starting as an Engineer at General Motors and progressing through medical and physics courses and she currently is a powerful witness to what we all need to know about consciousness. Along the way she had the essential Kundalini experience described by Gopi Krishna. (See the two-part interview with Gene Kieffer elsewhere on this site.) This is a remarkable woman with a wealth of material for the advanced seeker.
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Notes From the Masters Class. 2013-04-02
Hi. This is Chuck, and today is Tuesday April 2nd, 2013 and this is this week’s edition of Notes from the Masters Class.
Two things happened last week that are at least of interest to me. The first was a presentation on, I believe it was “60 Minutes”, about how food processors who are using GMO grown foods from GMO seeds are designing the foods we eat in such a way that we actually become addicted to them. Somehow or another this is what it takes to sell food today, but we are being fed food that we know now is not good for us.
The second thing, which you may have heard, and it is altogether shocking is that Monsanto has been given an exemption from being in legal trouble for consequences from their GMO seeds, and it was signed by the President.
Now I don’t know about you, but to work against our health on a federal government level is not a good thing. Now on the program “60 minutes,” here’s the interesting thing they said. They interviewed people, and everybody that they talked to in the organization where they were making the food understood what they were doing, and they had a perfect rationale for it and there was no real conflict. You can understand that. After all, these people are working for a salary. They’re doing what they’re told to do, and it’s in their best interest to believe that they’re not doing any harm.
This, in fact, is the key to what’s happening all over. People are doing what they’re being told to do. Even if they suspect there’s something wrong with it, they’re still doing it.
And we have a job that is incredibly important. Some of us, and if you’re watching this video, you’re one of them, some of us have tried to raise our level of consciousness about what’s going on. Now over the last 10 years, Karen and I have had the opportunity to ask some very bright people, “What is consciousness?” There are as many answers as there are people to ask, but the basic answer is something like this. As we become more conscious, we have a bigger and more broad understanding of what’s going on around us and the interconnectedness of how things work.
When you go up a level in your understanding of what’s going on, you’re able to see a much bigger picture. This is why Socrates said the only way to change something is to produce something that people want or works better. You can’t really fight the system. It was Albert Einstein that said you ‘cannot solve a problem that was created at one level by finding a solution at the same level. You have to find a solution at a higher level.’
This is what we’re dealing with right now, and this is what is so important. If you have had the experience of having your consciousness rise, or if you have a bigger vision of what’s going on, you are needed. You’re needed right now, and here’s the reason.
When you let people know that you’re seeing the bigger picture, it gives them permission to see it. It’s that permission that’s going to make the difference in what happens in our country and in every other country, in fact, around the world. What we need to do now is to realize that the problems we have, intractable problems, are not going to be solved along normal solution lines, if they ever did get solved on that level.
We, you and I, have to come up with the understanding that our ability to see a bigger picture, our attempts at raising our consciousness, our willingness to share that with other people is the key to finding the solution. We’re all going to get through this. We have to. There’s no option. The world is not going to come to an end. But it could get a lot worse real fast if enough of us don’t stand up and say, “Hey wait a minute. We see the big picture, and we’d like to show you how we saw the big picture and we’d like to invite you to come and see the big picture with us.”
If enough people begin to voice their concern and their insight and their vision to others, we can solve any problem that comes along. Nobody, that I’ve talked to, wants any of the problems to get worse. We’d prefer if they went away. They’re not going to do that. But the only way they’re going to get better is if folks like you and me take a look at what we see and say, “You know what? It’s time we started using the connections we have with each other in positive ways to make a difference.”
Now this is just an idea. It’s an opportunity for you to think with me this week about how can we begin to make it permissible, possible, doable for other people, who are having the same growing pains of consciousness as we are, to say, “Look, let’s get it out in the open. Let’s talk about it. Let’s make something really momentous and positive and good happen.” And by the way, from the beginning of the Bible all the way through to this morning’s newspaper, there’s one thing that we know doesn’t work. Resisting evil is not the solution. The solution is presenting a higher and better good for us all.
And the way to get there is to use our consciousness to give ourselves and others permission to share what we have learned and to work to solve some of the problems we’ve got….and this food thing is a big, big deal and they are now saying as of yesterday’s New York Times, that the pesticides we are using in plants, which are becoming systemic, are killing the bee population and that means that better than 55% of the bees we had last year to pollinate all the crops in this country have been destroyed in bee colony collapse as a result of what we are doing to systemically treat plants so they will grow better.
We’re not making the right decisions. So I’m inviting you to share with me everything we’ve got, everything we have learned. It’s not about blaming somebody or somebody being wrong or somebody being right or somebody being liberal or somebody being conservative or Republi….its none of that stuff. Its about all of us understanding that we are in this together, and it doesn’t do any of us good to presume that we can get out of it and let others be on their own.
We have to work together and this is the time when we have to do that.
So, this is Notes From the Masters Class. Join me, won’t you? We can really make a difference if we decide we want to make a REAL difference. Thanks so much
Georgia Pearson and The Ones – Part I and Part II
This is a short trailer of the full video interview with Georgia Pearson. The complete videos are now available to Members Only.
We interviewed Georgia Pearson at her home on The New Land around Monroe Institute in Virginia. Georgia is a recognized expert in the field of electromagnetism. However, in this interview she talks about her experiences over the past 11 years with a group of beings she calls The Ones. These beings live in a virtual reality some place far distant in this universe.
As Georgia explains in this Part I of the interview, these beings opened up a line of communication with Georgia and a select few other humans in an attempt to help us get through the global challenges we face in the immediate future.
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Notes From the Masters Class 2013-03-07
Here is the text of this post:
Hi and welcome to this next edition of Notes From the Masters Class. Today I’m going to share with you what I’ve learned about the Huna tradition of Hawaii, and I learned this from Serge King when he was in New York, back and forth, in the ’80s.
The Huna tradition is an indigenous outpouring of what the folks in Hawaii, the ancients, learned about life. It’s been boiled down by Serge into seven rules, and the first one is: The world is exactly what you think it is. I’m putting my finger here to remind me and to suggest to you that a way to remember these is just simply to place them someplace on your body as you’re repeating them.
The world is what you think it is, and you have the power to change what the world is just by looking for something different than you’ve been looking for up to now. If you’re looking for fear, there are lots and lots of examples and ample proof, that will come to you, to show that you are right. If you’re looking for love and peace and harmony, those too will come to you, and they will deny the fear that you may have had in the past.
Number two, there are no limits. So you put your finger and say, “There are not limits.” Now, none of us is going to be 10 years older anytime soon, and none of us is likely to be able to go back with our bodies to a different time or forward to a different time. But beyond those, the limits that we experience in life are limits that we’ve placed there ourselves. I’ve done this, and you’ve done this.
Basically, when we’re ready and willing to give up the limits that we think we have because we have created them, we will notice that they were just an illusion. There are no limits.
Next, energy flows where attention goes. What this means is that whatever you put your attention to, your incredible, powerful energy will go there as well and will amplify that. So if you put your attention on the things that you’re afraid of or the bad things that people have done to you, all that does is give more energy to it, and pretty soon it will consume you.
But if you place your attention on the things you want to see, on the love you have in your life, and that includes being grateful, then you will discover that your energy, having been focused in that way, will increase what it is that you are looking for.
Now is the moment of power, and that goes right here. Now is the moment of power. There’s no power that existed yesterday, and there’s no power that exists tomorrow that you’re going to be able to do anything about. All of your power and your considerable power is available to you right now. Don’t wait. Don’t put if off. Don’t regret you don’t have what you had yesterday. You have incredible power today.
Next, to love, and this is a great definition of love, to love is to be happy with. No more complex than that. The things that you’re happy with will turn out, upon investigation, to be the things that you love. The people you love, the events you love, the things you love, the places you love, the weather you love, those things that you are happy with will be the very things that you love. Look around for them. They’re everywhere.
Next, and this is very important, all power comes from within. Nobody can confer upon you any power that you don’t already have. Nobody can make you do anything with your power that you don’t want to do. All power, incredible power comes from within. If you haven’t experienced that yet, take a look for it. Take a look, when you put your hand right there on your stomach, and say, “All my power is right there.”
And the final one is effectiveness is the measure of truth. What that means is, and that’s a great definition, if it works, it’s true. If it doesn’t work, and this is ultra-pragmatism, it ain’t true. So if you’re finding that you’ve got some things that aren’t working, aren’t effective, then that’s not true. Change your mind about that.
Now there’s one final thing that Serge told me, and I used to call him Sage, the final thing that Sage told us about and that’s this. Here’s a rule that really does work like the other seven, all the time, and that’s this: When you enter into a relationship with somebody, decide up front that the things that you don’t like about that person are unimportant.
Now what this does is this creates a dynamic where you’re free then to focus on the things that are important and that you can increase by following the second part of this, which is: Praise and compliment everything you like about the other person. This is not making a joke or being insincere. This is just looking at a person and saying, “You know, I really like that about you.” What happens to the other person is, just like it would happen if somebody did it to you, they will want to get more of that kind of praise. Now try that on yourself, try that on your spouse, try that on your children.
In fact, Sage told the story of his son, who was not doing very well in school and the rest of it. So rather than complain about it or try to discipline him, he said, “You know what? I’m going to focus on the fact that this kid is smarter than he thinks.” He started calling his son “brains.”
All of a sudden, they were building a house together, and the son would find solutions that Sage couldn’t even see. He’d say, “That really took brains.” All of a sudden the child became motivated. So motivated, that not only did he wind up graduating at the top of his class in high school, he went on to college and became a Navy Seal, all because his father found that complimenting and praising everything you like in the other person is a way to get rid of all the things you don’t like and to help that person build on those good things that you can see and maybe they can’t see themselves.
So give some thought to this. This is important stuff. It’s been important to me, and it works for me. Thanks. See you next time.
