MENTAL PICTURE: Flexibility and the Spiral, by Tom Russell

   One of the best analogies for the spiritual path is a spiral staircase. Often on the spiral we must confront things we thought were resolved. However, as we ascend we meet these issues on a slightly higher level of insight than before.

   The higher we go the deeper we see. If an inner haunt appears to be worse it may be because we're seeing deeper to its core. This is good! The authentic spiritual path is one of healing upheaval combined with quiet and cheerful insights.

   If rigid "follow me" methods worked, millions would be free! The fact is they don't. We must dare to explore and find our own way up the spiral.

   Flexibility is the primary element for ascending the spiral. Instead of trying to force anything, we can learn to listen to the inner signal to make a change. Everything wanes. It's then time to make a change to a new activity, a new book, a new hobby. We then find that we return to previous matters on a slightly higher level of a spiral. We're refreshed and energized.

   It's all about how to avoid getting stuck. The way to ascend the spiral is to change gears. Do you remember the old Winston cigarette TV commercials? The tag line was, "I'd rather fight than switch." There's a far more intelligent way, a way that takes you up the spiral staircase. That way is, "I'd rather switch than fight."

   Vernon Howard writes in "Mystic Path to Cosmic Power":

   "When you grow tired of a certain activity, it merely means you have temporarily used up that particular pool of energy. When this happens, you should simply go along with nature to a different activity which calls upon another pool, permitting the previous pool to refresh itself . . . You won't need to think about changing an activity; it happens by itself whenever a pool is exhausted. Just be aware of the signal and follow it. Although this is a natural process, conscious understanding of it provides release and relief."

HIGHER GLIMPSE: Perceive More of the Broadcast

   "Hills are hills. Water is water. Monks are monks. Laymen are laymen. But these mountains, these rivers, the whole world itself, together with sun, moon and stars -- not one of them exists outside your minds! The vast (universe) exists only within you, so where else can the various categories of phenomena possibly be found? Outside Mind, there is nothing. The green hills which everywhere meet your gaze and that void sky that you see glistening above the earth -- not a hairsbreadth of any of them exists outside the concepts you have formed for yourself!" (The Zen Teachings of Haung-Po)

   Quantum Physics confirms this now, and several really good books make these new discoveries accessible and understandable to us non-physicists. We can open up to higher broadcasts, not just a few notes on the cosmic piano that create the appearance of "this world."

   You have higher faculties that can perceive far more intelligent and interesting broadcasts. It's not that "the world" disappears, because it is part of a limited broadcast. It is simply that a million times more opens up to us. "In my father's house are many mansions," Christ informs us.

LIGHTS ON SOCIETY: Tom's Vernon Howard Class Notebooks

   The reason society is such a jungle is that people go ahead and do something anyway, even though they don't know what to do.

SELF-RELIANCE: Tom's Vernon Howard Class Notebooks

Truth/Reality says you need not, and must not, conform to and follow any other mind on earth. -- Tom's VH class notes

     1. Truth/Reality says you need not, and must not, conform to and follow any other mind on earth.

     2. The slave masters ask the world, "How many of you want to have someone else think for you?" And the entire world, almost, raises their hands.

    3. How few people there are who will take responsibility for changing their life. Self-reliance -- what a rare, rare virtue.

INSPIRATION: Vernon Howard

   The start of our new life is like hearing the distant roar of ocean waves which cannot be seen as yet . . . People want to know, "How will we feel when attaining the full vision of life?" American author Herman Melville answers, "It is a very fine feeling, and one that fuses us into the universe of things, and makes us part of the All."