Beyond the Door

Don Hynes

Cleansed of stress

and ill feeling,

root fed and purged,

I relish the inner space,

the sympathy with what rises.

Deep green has touched the earth

though cold winds stir the sea

and spring waits

while the ancient balance

holds the churning wave,

the tall swaying trees.

Letting go I am found,

emptied out I am full;

beyond the doors between us

a land rich with peace.

donhynes.com/blog

from

Archangelic  Focus

Alan Hammond

Anybody who has any competence in any field is competent because they’ve allowed the Spirit of God to come to focus in that field. They are careful in that field, they have some discipline in that field, and they have to love it. We have at least some theoretical awareness that we’re here to allow the Spirit of God to create quality and competence in every aspect of our living, so that we reveal a balanced Tone. Perfectly pitched notes carry further than blurred notes. Muddled, off-tone living isn’t very useful. As soon as one begins to think about this, one realizes there’s no space for complacency in one’s own living. There’s serious concentration needed so that the perfect Tone is sounded in every aspect of our living, which means in every moment.

If we seek to express the Tone in every moment, different facets of our lives come to focus in the cycle of a day, a week, a month. The key to all of this is love—loving the Lord Our God, loving that quality of character, loving perfection, loving beauty, loving effectiveness—because that’s the character of the Lord. So, if we love that character, love the Lord above all, we express that in each moment, and that is bringing to focus all the creative principles one might like to enumerate in living relative to that area of living. Oddly enough, “loving the Lord our God” is the most down-to-earth way of being effective in life if one actually does it in the moment.

Each of us was born to do something specific on Earth in the course of our lives. But what is that specific thing? Don’t we wish to know purpose in every moment of our lives, not just in one great thing and then drop dead when we’ve achieved that one thing? Actually, the specific thing we came to do is made apparent to us in every moment. We are present in every situation to magnify the Lord, to reveal the Lord, to reveal the creative spirit in every situation. We came specifically to do that. We are present to do this, so this gives us purpose in every moment. We’re not just waiting for our big curtain call when we pop onstage, do one big thing, and then pop off again. There’s a specific purpose in every moment, and if we’re conscious we can fulfill that purpose. Often we lapse into unconsciousness, and maybe we don’t completely fulfill our purpose in every moment, but to successfully accomplish the purpose in every moment is real living. However, there is an overall purpose also, to which these myriad smaller purposes may contribute.

One of the larger purposes we incarnated to achieve now is to reveal some absolute truths, and thereby reawaken human consciousness to absolute truths. Characteristic of the human consciousness at the moment is knowing virtually nothing for certain. As a consequence, there’s the generation of a plethora of religious, philosophical and scientific theories, and a vague swimming around of consciousness. Nothing is known for certain. Part of our purpose in incarnating now is to reawaken in the human consciousness the absolute truth.

Well, we have to have a starting point. All truth can’t be revealed in an instant. So what is the starting point of absolute knowing? The obvious one to me is that we are an expression of Life, the one Power that’s animating everything everywhere. To me that seems obvious, but it isn’t to most people. God knows what they think they are! They have all sorts of theories about that. But the absolute truth is that I am an expression of Life—the animating force of everything everywhere. I am an aspect of Life, the Creator. And this is true for everyone.

Subsequently, another absolute truth is that my nature is that of the Creator. My nature is the Truth of Love. I love to love, and I love to create because this is who I am. These are absolute truths and I know therefore that, although it may be challenging to reveal who I am, ultimately there are no excuses for not doing that. I am absolutely responsible for the expression of who I am through this human form. These are the starting points for the revelation of whatever other truths may emerge thereafter.

If we know this, then we begin to live out of this absolute truth and we play our part in the unfolding re-creative process that is transpiring in the body and consciousness of mankind. Also, if it is absolute truth and we’re expressing that, then this will have effect in the creative field in which we’re participating. One has to be man or woman enough to say there’s no reason or excuse why I cannot express the finest quality of character conceivable in every moment. Certainly we know it may be difficult now and then, but we also know that this is why we’re here.

I think we could also see that we’re here as aspects, or focalizations, of the Archangelic Being. Perhaps we should define the word archangelic. If all human beings are, in true Identity, Angels, and there are a given number of Angels responsible for this planet, then that overall spiritual body is the Archangelic Body. It’s the radiation from these eternal Beings that actually sustains and develops this outer world, with all its myriad forms. Thus, each of us is an expression of this archangelic Spirit, which is doing everything on this planet. Of course, this Archangelic Body is part of an even larger body, but I suppose we should concentrate on our immediate sphere of responsibility.

So, in reality we’re focalizations of this angelic entity, and so is everyone else. In my consciousness, anyway, there’s a shift of emphasis on how to participate in the Archangelic Body. Often we’ve thought of a spiritual action coming through one person initially. That individual—Jesus, Buddha, Uranda, Martin Exeter, somebody—arrives on Earth and projects their spirituality into the world, and then things begin to happen. Well, that’s true. However, a different way of looking at the process, and a way that may be helpful to us now, is to see that the radiation from the archangelic Spirit is One, and that there are some channels, human forms, which are less encumbered with distortion than others, through which that radiation has easier access to shine into the earthly creative field. In other words, as individuals, we don’t have to grit our teeth, project superior spirituality, wrestle with evil, or with this, that and the other thing in the world. We’re actually an aspect of something very vast. In fact, we’re an aspect of the One Power that’s doing everything everywhere. So it’s a matter of relaxing and letting the clarity shine forth, letting the light shine into the creative field. This radiation is part of the one archangelic expression of that moment.

When we meet other people, we see that same light. We see the archangelic Spirit coming through everybody, to some extent. That familiar spirit is shining through everyone. Maybe with some it’s pretty clouded but, now and then, there it is. One of our responsibilities is to be conscious that every individual is also an aspect of the archangelic Spirit, and we encourage the expression of that. This is what is called magnifying the Lord, by the way. Magnifying the Lord is making larger the expression of the Lord wherever we encounter it, and we’re here on Earth to do this. As conscious archangelic points of focus we know this, and so we do it.

Praise and thanksgiving are usually thought of as ways of worshipping the Lord. They are also interesting modes for magnifying the Lord on Earth. There’s a scientifically practical aspect to them, also. For example, if you thank a person for something they do, they’ll be disposed to do it again. If you praise something in someone, you’ll find they’ll be encouraged to do that again. This is true of people, of animals, and appreciation of plants and objects causes them to flourish also. All aspects of the Archangelic Body love to contribute what they can to other aspects, and praise and thanksgiving are ways of communicating what is appreciated.

Now the Lord doesn’t need praise to encourage Him or Her to express divine character. Divine Being doesn’t need to be praised in order to feel, “Oh, that was nice. I’ll express my divinity even more.” But in the human network of things, I just want to show that if you do offer praise it tends to magnify the character of the Lord. I don’t think we should be ashamed to praise the Lord in each other, or in other people. I don’t mean flattery, and I don’t mean being manipulative. I mean genuine appreciation for the archangelic Spirit wherever we see it emerging. That is magnifying the Lord and that will release the Lord on Earth.

As I say, the Lord doesn’t need to be encouraged by praise. However, if we don’t express appreciation, perhaps silently within our hearts, for the expression of the Lord through anybody or anything, it’s the same as casting pearls before swine. If there’s no appreciation felt, or even silently acknowledged, by a person for the gifts of the Lord that are offered, they tend to evaporate for that person. Because the Lord is seeking to create, and you can only create where there’s openness, or response, actually. So if there’s praise and thanksgiving offered to the Lord for something or someone in one’s world, that’s creative also, because the Lord has found an avenue of open, appreciative response.

As Self-conscious points of archangelic focus in the body of mankind, one of our tasks is to magnify the presence of the Lord, because this is part of our achievement. Usually a self-centered ego thinks they have arrived on Earth to achieve something of themselves. However, part of the achievement is in encouraging others to achieve, helping others to achieve by praise and thanksgiving for their expression of the Spirit of the Lord, which is doing the achieving. The Self-conscious focalizations in the Archangelic Body are seeking to release the archangelic Spirit on Earth, and this is how it’s done: appreciation for the spirit of the Lord, whether it’s coming through people, animals, plants, objects, everything. Our achievement is not for ourselves. In fact, the archangelic view is: “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” I am come that they may release their essences of Being, and therefore know the fulfillment of that. That’s why I’ve come and that is my attitude toward everybody, everything I know, because I know that the only way anybody and anything can know fulfillment is as they express the archangelic Spirit of the Lord.

To know the spirit of praise or thanksgiving, even silently within one’s heart, for blessings offered through any form on Earth—be it a person, animal, plant, or any object—is also a direct experience of worship to the Lord. Jesus once said, “Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.” “Inasmuch as ye have expressed praise and thanksgiving for blessings offered through the Archangelic Body, you have expressed those sentiments unto Me.”

The archangelic Spirit is doing everything that is real on Earth. That means, for example, that in the body of this planet, when the Archangelic Body acts in a moment, the action is simultaneous through all the parts. There’s one radiation to accomplish one purpose in the moment, and that radiation moves through the myriad forms to facilitate whatever is being achieved. So, in some parts of the outer body there may be tension; in other parts there may be relaxation. In some parts there may be the expression of gentleness; in other parts, tremendous vigor. In other words, it’s not the outer manifestation of the form that really is the description of the spirit. This is where human beings are often fooled, relative to the expression of the archangelic Spirit, because they tend to have concepts about what a focus of God, a focus of Spirit, would look like. Maybe he would always be gentle, smiling benignly, always stroking children tenderly on the head! Whereas we know very well that the expression of love can be a swift kick in the pants. Or, “A spiritual leader is always decisive. He’s in a situation and Bang!—he knows exactly what to do next and does it.” Well I would suggest in many situations there are various factors coming to focus, where it may be rather uncertain what to do right now, or perhaps all the factors haven’t come to focus where action is possible. One has to wait. One can see half the picture but there are other things one knows are missing, so nothing can be done. People may look and say, “What a ditherer—hardly an expression of the Archangelic Body!” But it could well be!

I could rehearse a lot of images that would be unattractive to the human concept of spirituality. Jesus was viewed very disparagingly at times. His disciples thought He was very self-indulgent, for one thing. Remember when He let Mary put ointment on His feet? “Self-indulgence” was one opinion. There were opinions that He didn’t care much for the sick: “He was late arriving for Lazarus, who was sick, and so He obviously didn’t care about the sick as much as He should, if He was divine.” Then: “He wasn’t worried enough about feeding the poor. He did a bit now and then but, as far as the money goes, He’d rather have it spent on ointment for Himself than feeding all these poor people, so He didn’t have enough compassion for the poor, the starving masses.” And then others, of course, thought He was a blasphemer and the devil’s servant. So there you are, and people have had critical views of Uranda and Martin. Well, offering something absolutely, I’d say such critics are fundamentally clueless—clueless as to what was present, of what was being undertaken in the body and consciousness of mankind, and clueless as to some of the factors that had to be weighed and worked with.

So in our own expression of the archangelic Spirit, let’s not misjudge our own expression of that, either. Now this is not to say that we should dither around in the human sense, or that we should be harsh in a human sense, or sweet in a human sense. This consideration isn’t latitude for any old human behavior. We’re talking about something that is the pure expression of the Tone in the moment because the absolute spirit is given expression, relative to the circumstance of that very moment. If the absolute spirit just shone forth, regardless of the situation, it would just burn it up and blow it away. Absolute creativity in these levels of substance in which we dwell requires that the absolute power be expressed perfectly, relative to the exact circumstances in which we find ourselves, to assist the overall creative process of which we are a part. Absolute creativity is action absolutely relative to the exact circumstance of the moment.

How exciting is this responsibility, to seek to express the pure Spirit of the Archangel in every moment, to our highest ability now. Hope- fully that ability will increase, our expression will become more competent. And as we do this moment by moment, then, not our personal voice in a self-centered way, but the archangelic Voice will be increasingly heard in the temple of the body of mankind. We have to start where we are, and eternally continue where we are.

© archangelicbody.org

To  Pillar  The  Deep

Don Hynes

Before the altar of morning,

with the rise of spring

and grey cloud rain,

one body rests in silence,

steady and full as the sea.

The long arc of history

compressed to a tremor

passes through bedrock,

yearning for stability.

Who will pillar the deep,

give their strength

to the stillness?

Quiet as a leaf,

weightless as a bird,

heart and mind hold

for the earth to live on.

© donhynes.com/blog

quotes from

Bob  Dylan — A  Spiritual  Life

by  Scott  M.  Marshall

© BP Books, 2017

Well, Christ is no religion. We’re not talking about religion… Jesus Christ is the Way, the Truth and the Life… Religion is repressive to a certain degree. Religion is another form of bondage which man invents to get himself to God. But that’s why Christ came. Christ didn’t preach religion; He preached the Truth, the Way, and the Life. He said He’s come to give life and life more abundantly. He talked about life, not necessarily religion… Well, a religion that says you have to do certain things to get to God—they’re probably talking about that type of religion, which is a religion by works: You can enter into the kingdom by what you do, what you wear, what you say, how many times a day you may pray, how many good deeds you may do. If that’s what they mean by religion, that type of religion will not get you into the kingdom, that’s true.

As I was walking around today I noticed many tall steeples and big churches and stained glass windows. Let me tell you once again: God’s not necessarily found in there. You can’t get converted in no steeple or stained glass window. Well, Jesus is mighty to save, if He’s in your heart, He’ll convert you.

My so-called Jewish roots are in Egypt. They went down there with Joseph, and they came back out with Moses—you know, the guy that killed the Egyptian, married an Ethiopian girl, and brought the Law down from the mountain. The same Moses whose staff turned into a serpent. The same person who killed 3,000 Hebrews for getting down, stripping off their clothes, and dancing around a golden calf. These are my roots. Jacob had four wives and thirteen children, who fathered thirteen children, who fathered an entire people. Those are my roots too. Gideon, with a small army, defeating an army of thousands. Deborah, the prophetess; Esther the queen, and many Canaanite women. Reuben slipping into his father’s bed when his father wasn’t home. These are my roots. Delilah tempting Samson, killing him softly with her song. The mighty King David was an outlaw before he was king, you know. He had to hide in caves and get his meals at back doors. King Saul had a warrant out on him—a no-knock search warrant. They wanted to cut his head off. John the Baptist could tell you more about it. Roots, man—we’re talking about Jewish roots, you want to know more? Check up on Elijah the prophet. He could make it rain. Isaiah the prophet, even Jeremiah, see if their brethren didn’t want to bust their brains for telling it right like it is. Yeah, these are my roots I suppose. You know when John the Baptist saw Jesus coming down the road, he said, “Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world.” Did you know that? That’s right, that’s what he said.

On born-again Christian: First of all, born-again is a hype term. It’s a media term that throws people into a corner and leaves them there, whether people realize it or not; all those political and religious labels are irrelevant.

On evil: Sure, I believe in it. I believe that ever since Adam and Eve got thrown out of the garden, that the whole nature of the planet has been heading in one direction—towards apocalypse. It’s all there in the book of Revelation, but it’s difficult talking about these things to most people because most people don’t know what you’re talking about, or don’t want to listen.

People can’t get away from the Bible. You can’t get away from it, wherever you go. Those ideas were true then and they’re true now. They’re scriptural, spiritual laws. I guess people can read into that what they want. But if you’re familiar with those concepts they’ll probably find enough of them in my stuff. Because I always get back to that.

We’re all sinners. People seem to think that because their sins are different from other people’s sins, they’re not sinners. People don’t like to think of themselves as sinners. It makes them feel uncomfortable. “What do you mean a sinner?” It puts them at a disadvantage in their minds. Most people walking around have this strange conception that they’re born good, that they’re really good people—but the world has just made a mess of their lives. I had another point of view. But it’s not hard for me to identify with anybody who’s on the wrong side. We’re all on the wrong side, really.

The Bible says, “Even a fool, when he keeps his mouth shut, is counted wise,” but it comes from the Bible, so it can be cast off as being too religious. Make something religious and people don’t have to deal with it, they can say it’s irrelevant. “Repent, the Kingdom of God is at hand.” That scares the shit out of people. They’d like to avoid that. Tell that to someone and you become their enemy. There does come a time, though, when you have to face facts and the truth is true whether you wanna believe it or not, it doesn’t need you to make it true… That lie about everybody having their own truth inside of them has done a lot of damage and made people crazy.

Jews separate themselves like that: Orthodox, Conservative, Reform … as if God calls them that. Christians, too: Baptists, Assembly of God, Methodists, Calvinists. God has no respect for a person’s title. He don’t care what you call yourself.

Whenever anybody does something in a big way, it’s always rejected at home and accepted someplace else. For instance, that could apply to Buddha. Who was Buddha? An Indian. Who are Buddhists? Chinese, Japanese, Asian people. They make up the big numbers in Buddhism. It’s the same way with Jesus being a Jew. Who did he appeal to? He appeals to people who want to get into Heaven in a big way.

This last song now is all about my hero. Everybody’s got a hero. Where I come from, there’s a lot of heroes. Plenty of them. John Wayne, Clark Gable, Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, Michael Jackson, Bruce Springsteen. They’re all heroes to some people. Anyway, I don’t care nothing about those people. I have my own hero. I’m going to sing about him right now.

Well, for me, there is no right and there is no left. There’s truth and there’s untruth, y’know? There’s honesty and there’s hypocrisy. Look in the Bible: you don’t see nothing about right or left. I hate to keep beating people over the head with the Bible, but that’s the only instrument I know, the only thing that stays true. Conservative? Well, don’t forget, Jesus said that it’s harder for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven than it is for a camel to enter the eye of a needle. I mean, is that conservative? I don’t know, I’ve heard a lot of preachers say how God wants everybody to be wealthy and healthy. Well, it doesn’t say that in the Bible. You can twist anybody’s words, but that’s only for fools and people who follow fools.

What kind of artistry is equal to the silver glisten on a river, or a sunset, or lightning in the sky? What kind of man’s artistry can compare to the great artistry of creation?

Every Grain of Sand

In the time of my confession, in the hour of my deepest need

When the pool of tears beneath my feet floods every newborn seed

There's a dying voice within me reaching out somewhere

Toiling in the danger and the morals of despair

Don't have the inclination to look back on any mistake

Like Cain, I now behold this chain of events that I must break

In the fury of the moment I can see the master's hand

In every leaf that trembles, in every grain of sand

Oh, the flowers of indulgence and the weeds of yesteryear

Like criminals, they have choked the breath of conscience and good cheer

The sun beams down upon the steps of time to light the way

To ease the pain of idleness and the memory of decay

I gaze into the doorway of temptation's angry flame

And every time I pass that way I'll always hear my name

Then onward in my journey I come to understand

That every hair is numbered like every grain of sand

I have gone from rags to riches in the sorrow of the night

In the violence of a summer's dream, in the chill of a wintry light

In the bitter dance of loneliness fading into space

In the broken mirror of innocence on each forgotten face

I hear the ancient footsteps like the motion of the sea

Sometimes I turn, there's someone there, other times it's only me

I am hanging in the balance of the reality of man

Like every sparrow falling, like every grain of sand

https://vimeo.com/61822795