Howard Goodman March 16, 2025 Capetown, South Africa
So, this is a very exciting exploration and I want to do my best for us to stay focused in the spirit of center, from which all creative potential may be born. So where are we going from here, what are we going to liberate in us, set free to allow an increase in our experience and take forward what Lynne McTaggart, author of "The Field," explored in her small group experiment finding that when people focused attention on being of service, doing something for others, rather than on their personal agendas, something remarkable happened for them, over a year of consistent small group participation, radical transformational changes, health changes, occurred in the lives of the participants.
So agency comes from our willingness to be spiritually activated; wouldn’t you agree? I love what our speakers have brought this morning. Their expressions have spiritually activated my experience, and I now hold the potential of this creative flow with you; to bring a collective outpouring of spiritual essences into the field we focus together—and let the ripple effect of what we share move out into the larger world. But I want to raise the stakes a little bit! Isn’t that what our spiritual evolution calls for? Yes, we are here to uplift and bless our world, for sure! ongoing! But if our relationship with Divine Reality—“as above, so below”—is allowed to really come home, completely fill us, we are surely ready to take another step.
Shall we acknowledge that, not only as above so below, but as in the beginning so now as well, a transcendent beginning, in the spirit of Alpha and Omega—that we once again are charged to recreate humanity in the image and likeness of the Elohim, not God as an old man with a beard, but the reality of the plurality of Divine Being to manifest at this level of Being; it is the focusing of the Will of the One so that our consciousness can be restored again to the heaven of this beautiful earth, to tend and keep the Garden, steward the processes of creation on behalf of the Creator. To feel the joy of fulfilling the purposes of this wonderful creation, for this planet as an integral part of the Solar System; a purpose of which we have lost conscious memory. After all, what is the purpose of planet earth within the family of planets, within the larger celestial context of the unfolding universe?
Be it as it may, we are now at this stage of things unfolding where you could say the world is in creative chaos. Everything is being turned inside out and there’s plenty of evidence of a rotting going on from the inside out. So this is the perfect opportunity for us here and now to bring our Divine Superpowers to bear, magical spiritual powers of creation available to us right now, to birth vibrational essences, new seed for a new world to be born in this sacred womb space we are sharing right now. In this day, we find we are called right now, in the presence of the Elohim, to once again create Man in the image and likeness of who we divinely are. We are not in the world just to maintain and in some ways preserve civilization, the state of our present humanity. We are here to take the creative process forward—not only to "do something for somebody else", as in Lynn McTaggart’s small group experiment, but allow the Creator to create through us a true world, something for everybody right now, something for the whole of creation right now, by way of the spirit of the creative process, embracing all people and the whole of creation.
In our attunement training we speak of attunement as a keystone spiritual practice. It is to bring into the energy field and into one's engagements with what is happening in the world, the realms of being which already are governed and moving in a unified coherent way, the essential essences of Being, whole, spiritually governed and radiantly unified. Our attunement in Being provides a collective focus for love to flow into the world through the vertical axis—the axis mundi—of the crossover point connecting the invisible and visible worlds. Okay. How do we increase our spiritual bandwith? How do we regenerate the capacity necessary for spiritual expression, generate the spiritual substance necessary to make known the presence of the Elohim; known and expressed through our human body temple? We are beautifully designed and empowered to receive and transmit creative power, governing essences of spiritual reality into the world, with confidence and creative power.
In focus right now is the need to restore an experience of identity, virtues and attitudes in concordance, true to the nature of Being; to live in attunement with what is already happening in the Divine Family, the Angelic Hosts working with us from a higher vibrational frequency. We’re certainly not trying to reinvent the wheel, and end up creating a Frankenstein—but we’re here to generate an increased vibrational bandwidth of resonating consciousness and be aligned and centered with the Axis Mundi [Howard uses hand gestures to show the crossover point and vertical component of the Axis Mundi]. So, from the heaven of our Being let us bring pure vibrational essences, a carrier wave for Life, for generativity, that manifests the true design for restoration. And we discover what that expression needs to be in the present moment.
We gladly admit we are in an intimate creative relationship with the Wonderful One within—knowing I Am that I Am! I am an ambassador or representative of the Elohim, together with all of us. We are that plurality of Divine Being right here, and right now in this identity we may fulfill the will of the Elohim in the world. The world at this time is well described in the book of Revelation as, “Babylon the great city is fallen, is fallen”—signaling the end days of a world created by the self-active human mind that has arrogantly and consistently refused to receive the eternal nature of Being as the ... as True Home for all of Life on this planet, and let us return in service to Source, to receive essences of Divine Being, for stewarding our Garden Home, for the thriving of the life of this planet. And to let our soul resonate so deeply in our hearts and minds that we can't do anything else but let love come through our soul, because we are in service to the highest vibration of Love, to the One whose Presence was with us in the beginning and always will be with us in the Center, simply because there is only One Center for all humanity. There is One Center for us all. And the Spirit of that Center activates our spiritual expression.
We are here to serve one another, to be in service to the whole. In South Africa we know that as the Spirit of Ubuntu. In dignified, caring relationship with one another, this collective reciprocating identity was known and practiced by the ancestors of African spirituality; and we are meant to be about caring for the whole as we serve one another. Lynn McTaggart speaks about going beyond the five senses; that, if we just engage our world through the five senses, and not develop our spiritual capacity, we have lost the plot. Well, as a culture we’ve already lost it, but shall we remain lost? rotting from the inside, believing we are born to exist for a while and then die, not knowing the Truth of Life? So tragic!
But here, we are profoundly thankful for having reawakened to an activated spiritual capacity for the expression of spiritual essences in blessing to the world. Within those essences is the very pattern of life that seeks to manifest in our lives. Through expressing true spiritual essences, we are reintroducing spiritual DNA into our earthly heredity and biological DNA. We are allowing the lineage and presence of Eternal Being to bring about a transformation, to epigenetically create all things new in and around us, because there's a harmonic that has been brought back into place. That's what our spiritual capacity for expressing essences is for—to accomplish that.
So may I in this moment bring a declaration on our behalf: “From the Center of Being, in loving devotional relationship with the Presence of our soul, the Wonderful One within each of us, we declare we are called once again to create humanity in the image and likeness of our Divine origins.” As above, so below! In the character and image of the Elohim, we may see ourselves asJehovah, a name for God in action on earth. Jehovah is all of us, the collective image at this level of the Elohim.
The power of One brings creative change to the world, but it requires the many in One. We will not be distracted! Lot’s wife was distracted, pulled back to what was falling apart, resisting leaving behind the very state they had been trapped in, and what was she turned into? Yeah, a pillar of salt. What is the pillar of salt? Crystallization, no space for spiritual essences. I want to cry! The sad loss of the potential of husband and wife, man and woman moving together into a vibrational space for new creation, a redemption offered to humanity.
You could say nothing's ever changed; we've always had this Commission. So, we are here to receive once again our Divine Commission. How beautiful to have the humility and the courage and the willingness, as a Living Body of individual cells endued with the spiritual fortitude and passion required to be a True Focus of the Light of Being. We are chosen because we choose to be here—and we are here for this together!
“And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed. And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.”
Here is a beautiful portrayal of the truth in understandable words; however, because the words are understandable this does not mean that what is being said is necessarily comprehended. The word Eden is used to portray the manifest world, which indeed would include the planet Earth but is vastly more than the Earth. The Garden planted eastward in Eden portrays the heaven, but is also vastly more than is understood by the word heaven. Whatever is included in Eden reveals in manifest form and expression the reality of what is included in the Garden. This is so when Man is on hand in the midst of the Garden. This portrayal is of the Garden, of Eden, and of Man—all three essential requirements in the whole. The story of the Garden of Eden, and Man in the midst, is usually seen in rather fantastic terms relating somehow to the material world, but here is a portrayal of what might be referred to as the true state, long forgotten.
We ourselves have some comprehension of these things and are indeed concerned to participate in the revelation of whatever this truth is. Something obviously has first to be remembered. If I use this particular passage out of the Book of Genesis in the Bible it is to bring something to remembrance. It might well be possible to use some other passage from some other scriptures which would likewise recall what is necessary to remembrance. What may be remembered in this regard is rather faint, but with most people there is a sense of the reality somehow present and capable of being recalled. Of course if it is a matter just of recalling something to mind out of the past, that in and of itself does not amount to much. The recall that is necessary is that which allows the state portrayed by the words which I read to become factual in present experience. Then it isn't just a matter of memory. Here is something to be known now. Most people are very reluctant to let this occur. All sorts of supposedly good arguments are raised up to indicate that it would be quite impossible. This is of course a rationalization and is not a rational attitude.
Obviously the present state is unsatisfactory to most people, and yet how obstinately human beings refuse to allow it to be any other way: “I don't like the way things are but I will die if necessary to keep them that way!” That is hardly rational, and yet it is the factual situation insofar as experience of this irrationality in a personal sense. I think the general attitude is a resistance to change. People claim to want something different but when it comes to allowing something different actually to occur, then that is a different story. Resistance appears—rationalizations are put forward to indicate that any change would be wrong, particularly those changes which are suggested by somebody else. We see this occurring constantly on the political scene, for instance. Everybody, I am sure, agrees that something should be done but nobody agrees as to what; and no matter what is suggested there is always the opposition on hand to refute it. In a sense I suppose this is right and proper because anything that human beings do will be wrong and make things worse, and yet nothing is gained by trying to leave things as they are. Only deterioration can occur on that basis. We have a state of affairs propped up by scaffolding, so to speak, because it is falling apart and nobody can decide what should replace that which is passing away. All the suggestions that arise are based in improvements upon what was before. Some of the improvements are radical improvements, some of them just gentle adjustments; but the whole endeavor is to sustain what human beings have known in the historical past—perhaps improved, particularly as we now have so much so-called modern technology to do it. But all this is a futile and purposeless endeavor, leading nowhere.
There is, however, the true state described in these words: “The Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had made.” He didn't put man to function from the standpoint of the material world, from the standpoint of Eden. He put him in the Garden—in the midst of the Garden. The proper place of man is in heaven on earth. We might for a moment look at the Garden, at least what we can see of it, which isn't much because according to the story man was ejected from it. Of course we know very well that he ejected himself but he doesn't know what it is he ejected himself from, because not being in the Garden he does not know the Garden; he does not know what it is. There is, in all people, a certain sense of longing to get back into something or other, a different state, but what the real state is has been forgotten. Our memories have been revived a little so as to become aware of a reality which, though present, has been excluded from human experience.
Referring again to this matter of change, the need for it and the reluctance of human beings to let anything of value occur, we may recognize that the past, which is contained in our history as individuals or as the human race, is gone. We cannot do anything about it. We cannot change the past. You can't change a thing. This past relates to what used to be Eden—the world, inclusive of the earth, and all the things that have been happening over the centuries, over the ages. So nothing can be done about the past. But if there is to be an Edenic world, a world which is a true reflection of the Garden planted eastward in Eden, then man needs to be in the midst of the Garden. That is part of the formula. He is not in the midst of the Garden, is he? He is in the midst of Eden-lost, struggling with all the factors that seem to have come down to him out of the past. If indeed we must struggle with the things of the past, and we cannot change the past, we are in a bad way—nothing whatsoever can be done to change it.
What about the present then? You can't change the present, can you? It is just exactly the way it is. Not a thing can be done about it. It will now! [Martin snapped his fingers] be in the past. So trying to change the state of affairs by struggling with the present is futile. The present is the way it is. It instantly moves out of the present moment and becomes a part of the past, which certainly cannot be changed. So human beings have seen that maybe it was necessary to pin their hopes upon the future. Ah, there may be something to this, if it is not merely a matter of hope. The Garden was planted eastward in Eden. Our tomorrows certainly come out of the east insofar as the rotation of this planet is concerned. Here is a portrayal of the future.
The Garden relates to the future, what is coming in this instance from God into the present moment through man, and so into the past. If this is allowed to happen in its proper sequence, then we may have some delight in remembering the past because it is so beautiful. At the moment human beings endeavor to remember what was pleasing and forget what wasn't. As most of the past was not pleasing most people have poor memories, and in endeavoring to remember what was pleasing, for the most part they invent it. It is a fantasy. It was not that way at all. It is rather a horrendous thing if one realizes, somewhere along the way, the ugliness and the worthlessness of the past. It seems better to take artistic license and paint it in different colors on the canvas of memory, if we can. Some are better artists at this than others!
When man is in the midst of the Garden he lives in the present moment, but he is concerned with what shall appear out of the future. He is not concerned initially with the events themselves. We might see what is called time as a conveyor belt which brings events out of the future to the present moment and then into the past. The question is as to what those events shall be. Once they are here we cannot do anything about them, and once they are past we cannot do anything about them. But there is something that can be done about what is coming out of the future—it is not yet here. But we shouldn't concentrate on events, because the events will reflect the quality ofpreparation that has been made in an invisible sense while the event is still invisible. It only becomes visible when it is right here in the present moment—then there it is. So the preparation for such events as shall put in an appearance in the days to come is made now in the Garden planted eastward in Eden. Man was instructed to dress it and to keep it, not particularly to dress and keep Eden, the manifest world—that has gone by—but to dress and to keep this invisible realm of the Garden, which is heaven.
Most human beings think that they are subject to the earthly world in which they live, and they are subject consequently to the events which are coming on this conveyor belt out of the future. They see doom in the offing these days, coming on the conveyor belt; and where there is fear people freeze into immobility and that which they feared comes upon them. Because the Garden has been forgotten and the opportunity to determine the nature of what is coming out of the future in this realm, it has seemed to human beings that they were subject to the whims of fate. But the events that are coming out of the future always relate to what human beings are doing now. We have the portrayal of the seed and the harvest. The seed you sow now will be harvested in the future. As you sow, so also shall you reap. But there is always the sneaking suspicion of the possibility of somehow escaping the harvest of one's own sowing; and when the harvest does come most people loudly complain, as though they had nothing to do with it.
There is the endeavor on the part of many to try to influence the future. They make demands which the future is going to have to deliver. This seems to be a way of somehow circumventing history. “Now we are going to take the garden of the future by force and bend it to our will”—mostly for the sake of survival supposedly, and also because these characteristics of fear—fear and greed are strong. If there is to be a right future it must come in the way that it was designed to come and not on the basis of human demand. Man was put in the midst of the Garden and instructed to dress it and to keep it, not to demand anything from it but to do what was right, and trust that then what had been established in this invisible sense would be made evident in that moment when the form of it reached the present moment. The form of the Garden then would be a true reflection of the Garden—a very easy way of handling things, actually.
Because the Garden has been forgotten and the Edenic world has become something else by reason of the fact that the Garden has been forgotten, then it seemed necessary to be in conflict constantly with what was coming along on the conveyor belt. Regardless of all the human manipulations that have come into the picture, and the human demands that have been made, still unwanted events show up, some of them seemingly unexpected. They shouldn't be. Attention is toward this lack of an Edenic world, and the endeavor to make it into a more Edenic world has prevailed, which simply short-circuits the creative process and everybody goes around and around in a circle, because the Garden is ignored as though it didn't exist and as though it was impossible for man to be restored to the midst of the Garden.
We may see this conveyor belt of time bringing events out of the future. These days the conveyor belt is gathering speed and events are coming thick and fast. What shall those events be? Do we have any say in the matter? Man in the midst of the Garden has a complete say in the matter within the context of the Cosmic Whole. Of course, humanly speaking the Cosmic Whole has been completely ignored, because the Garden was ignored and there was no sense of relatedness to the Cosmic Whole. But in the midst of the Garden there is that sense of relatedness, and one would never do anything which would be a violation of what it is that is unfolding in the Cosmic Whole. But one has a responsibility right here to let what is so unfolding be brought to focus and allowed to take form in the event which comes to be experienced in the moment. Then we can look with joy and satisfaction toward the past if we want, from time to time. Of course, we will find ourselves so occupied with handling our responsibilities relative to the Garden planted eastward in Eden that we won't have all that much time to soliloquize about the past. But the past might be said to get better and better.
So there is the event that is coming on this conveyor belt. But at the same time there is something else coming to be received in the Garden. Now that, if we are thinking in terms of this conveyor belt, could be said to be in the future too. It is in the future of the event that is coming on the conveyor belt, or at least from our viewpoint in the present moment it is the future. But whatever it is in this invisible sense that constitutes what is present in the Garden—in our field of responsibility in other words—is there already insofar as we are concerned. It is simply coming down, so that it properly meets the event when the event reaches the present moment. We can see, on this vertical aspect of the Garden, that the things that are closest to us relate to immediate events, but things that are further up the upright relate to more far-distant events. Now if we get far enough up there we find ourselves beyond the field of our particular responsibility. We get out further and further into what is coming relative to the Cosmic Whole.
In order to allow the Garden which is planted eastward in Eden to become known in our experience we must keep it—that is, maintain a condition in which it may be present, and within the range of our comprehension and understanding. We have spoken about this condition as a stable atmosphere in which there are no violent storms to disrupt the power lines, to disrupt the connection. We have seen the importance of holding steady moment by moment in our living, so that we are not swept hither and yon by subliminal emotions which rise up and seek to govern what we do and what we say and how we think. If that is happening we are in this meaningless circle—we are trapped. It is what is happening in the experience of most people. We all know something about it. And when something does rise up in that way we do rationalize it—we always have the cart before the horse. The rationalization comes so quickly that we think the rationalization preceded the feeling, but it didn't. We become experts at deluding ourselves. The whole world is deceived on this basis, so that we are able to say, “Well it was because of what so-and-so said, or what so-and-so did, it was because of this event, that I have this feeling.” No, you had the feeling first and you hooked it to an event. You found an event that was suitable to you to which to attach it.
We need to realize this with respect to our living. Whenever we have a seemingly good reason for doing something on the basis of a reaction, we should realize that because there is a reaction it sprang out of emotion and there was nothing rational about it at all. To maintain our self-respect, as we think, we rationalize so as to make it seem, to ourselves at least, to be a rational action. “It is only natural,” we say, “that we should get into this disturbed condition and that we should say things, nasty things, and all the rest.” It is not natural at all. It is because one is subject to emotions which have no relatedness to what is occurring in the Garden. They are simply related to what is occurring in the world of events which is not the Edenic world, and even if it were the Edenic world we would still have no business reacting to it, even though our reaction might seem to be a pleasing one. It doesn't matter which way you go, pro or con, it is wrong.
So there is what is coming down in the invisible sense in the Garden to be considered, because in that realm everything is very malleable. You know it is malleable in your realm of thought, isn't it? You can think this way or you can think that way—no big deal. It is only when we have something seemingly crystallized in form that it becomes a bigger deal to change it around. But before it gets to that point, while it is still in the future, the ordinances of heaven can be known, so that the dominion of them can be set in the earth. Then the events that come along will simply reflect what has already been established vibrationally. Of course they are going to do that anyway. The trouble is that what has been established vibrationally has been so distorted and the events reflect that. They cannot help themselves; they do it. How easy then to restore the world: all the events that are coming along on the conveyor belt may, insofar as our field of responsibility is concerned, be a true reflection of what is present in the Garden. We have absolute responsibility in this. It is an individual matter, but when we accept the responsibility individually immediately we begin to find that it is a collective matter too. But we don't really know that until we have accepted our own individual responsibility. We may have some imagination about it.
So we look after the Garden, and we do not have to worry about the events then. We rightly look after the Garden like we do with respect to a baby that is enfolded in pregnancy. We see the event of birth coming. What shall that event portray when it arrives? The mother has a responsibility in this, not the only one but the primary one. How we handle what it is that is coming down invisibly will exactly determine the nature of that event. We obviously have the responsibility for it. We may say, “Well there are others involved too.” Yes there are others involved, but if we handle our responsibility correctly it will come out the way it should come out in view of all these factors which are being drawn to focus.
The Garden is planted eastward in Eden and we may do our gardening work in that realm relative to what is coming. But insofar as we are concerned, what we are working with is present now vibrationally, because the vertical connection is always maintained in the present moment; however it will only connect up with the forms on the conveyor belt as those forms put in an appearance in the present moment. Then the vibrational factors being what they should be, right, present in that present moment as that event comes, the event reveals the Garden. It takes its true form on earth, no sweat of the face—it can't help but do it. It has been doing it right along but the absence of the vibrational preparation has been made very evident because there have been no human beings in the midst of the Garden to do it. So the events are certainly not what they should be but they are a reflection of whatever human beings have generated in the realm that should be heaven. For the most part it has been hell, hasn't it? And here comes hell on earth and everybody complains about it. Well human beings put it there. But we can allow that to dissolve and pass away so easily when we begin to accept our responsibility relative to the ordinances of heaven, that the dominion thereof may be set in the earth.
Whether in politics, religion, or some other field of human endeavor, conservatism can be a trap. It can become an attempt to live in the person’s imagination of the past. It can become an effort to re-live the forms that were glorious once upon a time, but which no longer work today. Likewise, progressivism can be a trap. A person can imagine a future that they think ought to be and attempt to impose that imagination on the world and the people in it. In each case, the person is prone to experience disappointment and a sense of hopelessness. They find they can’t bring back the forms of the past. And they can’t live in the world of their imagined future. There is “The Power of Now”, as Eckhart Tolle put it. This is where the axis mundi—the axis of the world—descends from the invisible realms of Being and intersects with the world of space and time. Living in the here and now, the essences from the past that are relevant to life now come rushing forward to empower us. And we draw to us the optimal manifestation of life now from out of the unformed future.
In October of 1979, Martin Cecil gave a talk emphasizing the significance of a space in consciousness that allows what is sacred to live. He later entitled the talk “The Preservation of Essences”. The preservation of essences as Martin describes it is different than the preservation of forms, which are, by their very nature, temporary. The essences of life are preserved by us because we are fully here where we have landed geographically, and fully in this present moment, now. In this place, the forms we create can be full of the essences of life. Some of those forms endure longer than others. Here at Sunrise Ranch, many of us know that when we walk through the campus we are likely to receive a big hello from Brian Mullen. The reverberation of his words hangs in the air for a moment and then they’re gone. In the process, the essence of Sunrise Ranch lives. Thank you, Brian.
We have an elliptical geodesic Dome that is almost 50 years old. Being inside it and gazing at the dome ceiling reminds us of the heavens. While it has been well taken care of over the years, it now needs a new roof and renovation of other facets of the structure. We have an archive department at Sunrise Ranch. It is an extensive library of books, audios, videos, and booklets, mostly recording the precious words of the founding leaders of Emissaries of Divine Light, Lloyd Arthur Meeker and Martin Cecil. These materials won’t last forever. But for as long as they are useful, they provide a connection point to what does—the Eternal. A good book can be like a magical powder. Add water and stir, and what seemed inert connects the reader with what is alive within them and in the world in which they live. Our library is like that. All that is needed to bring it alive is the conscious attention of the individual. We have the God-given ability to invest our words and all the other forms of our expression with the same magic that is in those archived materials.
When we think of the past, while we can be grateful for the forms that are from the past, the ultimate value is in the essence that those forms expressed and embodied. The essences of that past, and the reality that was known by those who lived it, can come forward into the present to support us now. In that sense, the essences of the past are preserved. But how are they preserved? Having been around when Martin gave that talk, I remember thinking, in my silly imagination, of little vials up on the shelf, with the essences in them preserved. But that’s not really how it happens, of course. Essences are preserved in living experience. They are preserved because they resonate in consciousness. They resonate in the vibrational field—in the epigenetics of today. An essence might seem like an ephemeral thing. And yet in the essence of things is the very pattern of life, the very pattern of a human being. The innate pattern of human culture is in those essences. The forms play a part, and I’m not here to diminish the significance of forms. Martin was talking about the forms present in his day that preserved what is essential, naming Sunrise Ranch and the community of people in 100 Mile House in British Columbia. Spiritual essences were preserved because they were lived and known by human beings.
That’s what we’re doing here at Sunrise Ranch today, along with our friends around the globe. We are letting the essence of what it is to be a human being, the essence of who we are together as humankind, be preserved in our living. We can embody that in form. Some of those forms seem to be more temporary—a conversation, a smile, or a meal served. However temporary, they are not unimportant. The simple things we do, even in casual ways every day, preserve the essence of life.
Some forms are more enduring than others. The skyscrapers of today would likely topple within several hundred years if not maintained. But the oldest building in the world is thought to be a temple in present-day Turkey, Göbekli Tepe. It is thought to be 11,600 years old. There are pyramids around the globe which are generally thought to be 4,600 years old. The prevailing opinion is that the Great Pyramid of Giza is approximately that age. But some say it is much older, perhaps dating back to 10,500 B.C. Stone structures last longer than modern-day buildings, and perhaps longer than books, magnetic tape, or digital records, though they don’t endure forever. Ancient pyramids pre-date the Incas and Aztecs in the Americas. There are buildings and pyramids elsewhere that pre-date cultures with which we are more familiar. They are not just ancient. They are ancientancient.
Many of these “ancient ancient” structures are aligned with celestial bodies. They memorialized and embodied the relationship humankind has with a heavenly order that is of a far vaster scale than human culture itself. In this way, they preserve the essence of that relationship for people of today. They remind us of that connection. They also remind us that while we like to think of the culture of today as the zenith of human civilization, there are those who came before us who had knowledge and ability that exceeded our own, at least in some respects. Who among us could build Stonehenge, or a giant stepped structure the size of the Gunung Padang Pyramid in Java, Indonesia, which is at least 4,000 years old? The significance of these ancient structures is not that they inspire us to re-create them today. We are not going to build a pyramid or temple of stone. Their significance does not lie in their outer form, but in the fact that they preserve the essence of an ancient knowledge and experience. For us in the present, we can access that same heavenly connection that was embodied in stone so long ago.
Part of what’s preserved in documents from “ancient ancient” times is the realization of who and what we are as human beings and how we are made. It was preserved in form in the story of Creation in Genesis, attributed to Moses. Moses, himself, lived 3,500 years ago. And yet we suspect that the truth that is in those words is not only ancient but is “ancient ancient”, telling us about how we are made and how we were empowered by the Creator to keep the world in which we live. The story carries the implication that we are endowed with magical powers. We are made in the image and likeness of the Creator with the powers of Creation, which include the powers of consciousness.
People who have exceptional creative ability have tapped into those magical powers of Creation that are latent within us all. If you ask them about how they accomplish what they do, they typically explain it in ways that are unfamiliar to most people. They conceive of what they do in fantastic ways. Einstein did not develop the theory of relativity just through rigorous study. He imagined himself riding a beam of light. A violinist isn’t thinking where she is placing her fingers as she plays a Bach sonata. A creative magic takes over. From the hermetic tradition comes this saying: “As above, so below”. This is exactly what is portrayed in the story of Creation. It says that humankind was made in the image and likeness of God. “As above, so below”. Here is a core essence of human potential, embodied in the words of the biblical text, translated into English.
As I wrote the “Pulse of Spirit” last week, I puzzled over the use of the Hebrew name for God used in the story, Elohim. It is a plural word, just as the Hebrew word “kibbutzim” is a plural word for the word “kibbutz”, an Israeli collective community. I wanted to know if the word Elohimis commonly accepted as plural, and whether it is a name for God or more like a title. Many religious scholars deny the plain meaning of the word, whichis plural. They excuse away the plural form of it and assert that it is a name for the one God of Israel. And they say it is usually inappropriate to speak of The Elohim, just as I would not call myself TheDavid. It is understandable why this attitude might be taken. The Israelite tradition—and the Jewish, Christian, and Muslim traditions that followed it—was developed in a surrounding religious context that featured competing gods, many of whom were not kind to human beings. The Israelite tradition distinguished itself from these surrounding cultures. “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD.” [Deuteronomy 6:4]
But in the zealousness of this monotheistic tradition, what was lost is that while the reality of God is one, it is also plural. “E pluribis unum. Out of many, one.” One Family of God in perfect unity. The word Elohim refers to the plurality of God, and especially to a high pattern of focalization of the Family of God. Why does this matter? As human beings, we are not made as something distinctly different from what is above. We are the same reality at a different frequency. Knowing that, finding the correlation with what is above becomes easy. It is essentially the same as us, but at a higher level and without all the human tendencies. Relating to that reality becomes far easier than trying to relate to an omnipotent old man with a beard.
After I posted the “Pulse of Spirit”, a biblical scholar in Israel, Etzion Becker, who is a fluent Hebrew speaker, wrote to me, verifying that the name Elohimis plural and that to understand the Hebrew words, they have to be experienced. If we conceive of God as one being, then what is below is different than what’s above. We are not just one being, as humankind. There are now eight billion of us. If we understand that God is at the same time one family, in total harmony and unity, and also plural, we will understand something about how we are made as human beings. We are both plural, and we are one. And just as above, where there is a center to the family of God, there is a center to this human family that we seem to have lost. And so, we end up in conflict and chaos.
I proudly declare that thereis a center to who we are as a human family, to be found in the here and now by each of us. We can figure out all the social parts of that in due time. The essential matter is that we know that center inside ourselves. And so we wait for the day when what is central for us all can naturally emerge among us as human beings—that one thing that we all hold in common that unites us all—that one love, that one divinity. Yes, we know we’re plural, but we are also one. We’re one because we share one thing. And that one thing unites us, and we know that one thing in the here and now as we connect vertically with the reality of the heavens now. And as that heavenly reality is known and expressed and embodied by us in our living, we come to feel and know and experience that one thing that unites us all, that brings us all together.
It is one reality “up there”—above. And one reality “here”—below. Let’s know and live that reality here and now. Let’s accept the powers of the Creator that are largely dormant within us. Let us live and know the reality, “as above, so below”. Praise to our ancient ancientancestors who preserved the essence of this reality in the words of the Creation story: “And the Elohim said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.”
The Spiritual Expression Plane Of Being
David Karchere March 21, 2025
When Uranda founded Emissaries of Divine Light, he spoke about this ministry as operating at the “spiritual expression plane of Being". It was probably an unfamiliar way of talking about something to most people. His point was that what was really at issue for humanity—and the area of greatest opportunity—is the experience and expression of our spirituality. This is an area that has been claimed by religion, as if religion has authority over it. And so, for many people, it seems like you either play by the rules of religion or just leave the game. In either case, there can be a lack of a conscious approach to our own spirituality.
I want to make the distinction between spirituality, and religion without spirituality. Now you can have religion with spirituality, and to some degree that happens for people. People who are practicing their religion sometimes experience the spiritual expression plane of Being. Still, there are shades of gray and partial spiritual experiences that are part of the picture. And religion can easily degenerate into doctrine, dogma and unthinking ritual. So, we make the distinction between religion without spirituality and the experience of spirituality wherever it might appear, which is what we are knowing and bringing to the world.
To some degree, religion without spirituality has spoiled spirituality for the world. Because if you have someone representing this field of human experience in a dogmatic way, without spirituality, it’s a turnoff. They’re telling you how life is, what you ought to believe, and all the rest. And it’s often not happy stuff. And so, for many people, they just turn the other way and look to make a lot of money or find some kind of happiness in the world without paying attention to their spiritual experience and expression. What a huge missed opportunity! There is something else that happens as a result of the phenomenon of being turned off by religion without spirituality. A person can search for what they think of as spiritual things, but with little understanding of where to find them. They might have no map to the experience, or an erroneous one. They can become lost in some form of New Age spirituality, which is very much a “roll-your-own” experience.
In a world full of doctrine and dogma, the individual can come to distrust spiritual knowledge of any kind. There can be a sense that there is no spirituality that is real or solid, that there is no reliable truth to it, or intelligent pattern—that it is just what a person chooses to think or believe on any given day. We might applaud a person’s spiritual search. But searches should lead to something being found, and not just a counterfeit or faded version of the reality sought after. It should lead to finding the real thing, probably not all at once but over time.
What we call spirituality is a reality that has a size and a shape to it. There is a pattern to it. Just like any reality, it isn’t just mush, and it isn’t just anything that a person might conceive it to be. It isn’t this way one day, and another way tomorrow. Reality is reality. There’s something to find, to get to know, and to experience. It is not a physical thing. And even though physical form can manifest it, spirituality is the essence of the form. That essential reality is stable, though ever-changing. It is the bedrock of the human experience. For a person who is searching, they have to ask themselves if they are finding that bedrock, or just experiencing feelings and ideas that shift and change day by day—not really something that you can live your life by.
Authentic spirituality is experiencing the bedrock of reality. It’s a place of true north and true centering, the birthplace of wisdom. When we know that place, we can come to know ourselves and each other. We can find the basic pattern for success as a human being, and for us as people together. So, Uranda, and Martin after him, and us today have sought to bring to the world the opportunity to know our spirituality. To some it might have looked like religion. It doesn’t really matter what it looks like to someone if they’re willing to find out what it really is.
It’s pretty hard to show the pattern and the shape, size, and feel of something that is invisible until it is known, lived and embodied. How do you teach it? Especially, when we live in a world that contains religion without spirituality, sometimes full of lifeless dogma and doctrine? But I will proudly say we’re doing it. We are teaching something that is a living knowledge. We’re speaking of something that we know. And we are not forcing anything on people. Or just telling them to believe what we believe. We are offering signposts so that a person can discover the experience of spirituality for themselves. We are showing them how to find it. Does that excite you? Does real spirituality excite you? The idea of coming to know that and experiencing it and bringing it to the world? It excites me terribly.
The only time and place to find the empowerment of spiritual knowing and expression is here and now. This is how it came home to me. Maybe you can relate to the story. I was living in New York City, right in the heart of Manhattan, working downtown in the financial district. I’d been there just a short time when I found myself thinking, “How do I get away on the weekend? How do I get out of this place and get a break?” And then I found myself thinking, “How long am I going to have to live here? Perhaps I can do a stint for a couple of years and then move on to someplace else.” I had all these escapisms going on. And needless to say, that’s not a happy state to be in. I felt buffeted by all that was going on in the city—the smells, the noise, and the sheer energy of it. New York hums!I don’t know how it happened. But at some point, I had a talk with myself about it. Do you ever give yourself a talking to? I said, “Dave, you might be here forever. Get over it. Get used to it. Accept it.” And I did. Something magical happened. It had felt like I was drowning in the cultural sea that is New York. But when I finally chose to be here now, it felt like I bobbed up like a cork to the top of that sea. I went from drowning to floating. And all the influences that had buffeted me were now supporting me, stimulating me, and holding me up. I felt like the king of the world, or at least the king of the city.
The experience of spirituality is in the here and now. This is where we tap into spiritual power. This is the only place where spiritual expression becomes real. In this place, we connect with the source of power, which is above the human world, and above the world of form. We then relate to the world as an expression of that power. We are connecting with the axis mundi. We are connecting with a higher reality that’s empowering us.
Here is Jesus’ teaching on this matter: “And when it was demanded of the Pharisees when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation. Neither shall they say, Lo here! or Lo there! For behold, the kingdom of God is within you.” [Luke 17:20,21] The text references both time and space. The Pharisees were looking for the kingdom of God in the future. Essentially, Jesus tells them to stop looking for it in the world of time and space because it is within you. How much more immediate can you get? He wasn’t really saying that it is in your stomach, your brain, or your liver. It is right here with you, inherent in who you are. Dr. Bill Bahan used to say, “The kingdom of God is within you. Let it out!”That’s spiritual expression.
Jesus was putting attention on what is right here, right now, with you, and in you. He was a profound spiritual teacher—not a teacher of religion, a teacher of spirituality. Here is the rest of the story. “And he said unto the disciples, The days will come, when ye shall desire to see one of the days of the Son of man, and ye shall not see it. And they shall say to you, See here; or, see there: go not after them, nor follow them. For as the lightning, that lighteneth out of the one part under heaven, shineth unto the other part under heaven; so shall also the Son of man be in his day. [Luke 17:22-24]
There’s something happening in the invisible ranges of the spiritual reality we share—the heaven. That’s where the answer for our lives and for our world appears. That’s where the power is. But you have to be in the here and now to see it and know it. And that’s never going to happen if you’re chasing after it over here, there, or the other place. Something happens when we’re here now, individually, wherever we may be, and it’s miraculous. You here and now where you are, and me here and now where I am, we are here and now together. We are in one place spiritually. We find ourselves on that basis. When we come home to ourselves in that way, we find each other. We find the community of people who are having that experience together in one place. And there you are, there I am. We greet each other with joy in this one place of power and light and knowledge, not just imagined or hoped for, but known. I am making no claims here. I’m just saying that the more that we’re here and now together, the more we know the power of Creation. We come to know the essence of things, not just the form.
Years ago, I was commuting by car for about 45 minutes twice a day, mostly through Westchester County in New York. It was wintertime, and I was working in an office all day long. There was stress and challenge in my job, and in my life otherwise. I was driving to work one winter morning. Above me was a gray sky. There was snow on the ground, and I was driving through the bare trees. It was cold and bleak, inside and out. I had gotten hold of a CD with traditional Hawaiian chants and songs. And I had a killer sound system in my car. So I put the CD in the player, and all the warmth of Hawaii filled my car. All the essence of the beaches and the feeling of Hawaii came through. Even though I had never been there, it was strangely familiar. In those moments, I was transported to an ancient paradise. It felt more like home than anything I had felt before. And there I was in the middle of those cold woods with my heart on fire, inspired by touching these essences. I sobbed.
Last Saturday night, I had a similar experience. The Hawaiian Music Masters were playing in town, featuring George Kahumoku, Jr., on the slack-string guitar. George has a beautiful, melodious voice. As the band played their enchanting melodies, harmonies, and rhythms, the packed house in the Rialto was transported to Hawaii. You could feel the Motherland through their music. Between songs towards the end of the show, George called out, “Keahi, Keahi. Where is Keahi?” He was calling for Keahi Ewa, whom he had met the day before. He wanted her to share the hula while they played. So she danced on the stage in front of the band, her every micro movement evoking the essence of an ancient paradise.
Keahi
This is not about trying to be somewhere we are not, across an ocean. It is not about trying to go back in time. The truth is, we all carry the essence of a dormant reality. When we show up fully here and now, those essences have the opportunity to come to life through us if we let them. And so we become interested in those essences in ourselves, in other people, and in all humankind. In this case, the essences of ancient paradise came to life through Keahi’s hula. So much of reality is like that. It seems, perhaps, that the essences of things is ephemeral. But no, they are forever. They are eternal. They are part of the spiritual reality we are coming to know.
Spirituality is knowing the very essence of reality. Developing our capacity to know is partly a matter of the mind. But without a heart perception of what transcends all the forms of life, we can’t know. There has to be heart clarity for that perception to be available. We are here to experience that clarity and perception. If we do, we can share it with the world. We awaken the world to the spiritual expression plane of Being. No human institution rules this field. It can’t. It is not theirs. It all belongs to God—to Being.
