The Divine Guidance Project

How to Call on Your Intuition When You Need It (Guest Blogger)

2010-06-24T11:01:00.000-07:00

The Following is a guest blog post by Jim Wawro, author of "Ask Your Inner Voice"

How to Call on Your Intuition When You Need It

By Jim Wawro

“I’m really not very intuitive.” Have you ever heard someone say that? Or maybe said it yourself?

We hear it all the time. Most people think that their inner voice is hit-or-miss, that it is great when it arrives, but can’t be counted on to show up just when they need it.

But did you know that you can call on your own inner voice whenever you need it?

Your Creative Solutions

Many people quickly dismiss the thought that they are creative or that they can receive a useful insight just by calling on their own inner voice whenever they need it. But those same people also do just that on a regular basis without even thinking about it.

How do they do it? We all work at jobs with challenges. New issues regularly arise in our work requiring new solutions. If fact, think of a situation at work where you were presented with a problem that you didn’t immediately know how you were going to solve, but that you ultimately did solve. What did you do? Did you give up? Did you sweep the problem under the rug or shift responsibility to someone else? Likely not. If you’re like most, you take pride in accomplishing your work competently, and you likely have enough confidence in your ability to know that you will probably be able to solve most problems that crop up in your work. That’s why you have that job in the first place. So, what did you do solve the work problem that first seemed impossible?

Creativity’s Four Steps

Creativity studies indicate that you likely went through four stages in solving the problem: Research, “Kick Back,” “Ah-ha,” and Manifestation.

First, you studied the problem to understand why you couldn’t solve it quickly. Then you gathered the facts necessary to understand as much as you could about why the problem wasn’t susceptible to a quick solution. Perhaps you studied the problem visually, talked to a colleague, reviewed precedents in the files, or looked it up on the Internet. Perhaps you experimented with quick solutions to see if one would work. If none of those approaches worked immediately, what did you do then?

Second, you probably set the problem aside for awhile and went on to something else. You “forgot” about the problem, or “kicked back,” or otherwise turned the focus of your conscious attention away from the problem. What happened then?

Third, the solution likely suddenly “popped” into your mind in plenty of time to solve the problem, as answers had on many other occasions when, for example, in conversation with someone you had forgotten a name and said “give me moment, it’ll come to me.” And it later did.

Fourth, if you’re like most, the excitement of solving a problem that had no apparent solution likely energized you to actually solve the problem, to make the solution exist in the world and to not just exist in your mind. Besides, it was part of your job to solve such problems, to make the obstacles in your work disappear, which you likely then did. And, if the problem was tough enough, and your solution effective, you probably shared the problem and your solution with a co-worker.

Creative Intuition

What went on here? You were presented with a problem that you didn’t know how to solve; you asked your intuition to work on the solution; your intuition delivered the solution in time to solve the problem; and you made it exist in the world. Aren’t you in fact creative?

Do you think that your creativity is limited to solving problems at work, or can you call on your intuition whenever you need it to solve a problem, to gain a creative insight, or to simply make a wise decision with confidence? How would you go about finding a creative and effective answer to a most pressing question, like a question about finance, a relationship or your health?

Intuition on Demand

Why not follow the same four steps you used to solve the problem at work: study the problem, learn all you can about it, and research possible solutions to the problem. Then forget about the problem for awhile and wait for an idea for a solution to pop into your mind. When it does, act on the idea and make the solution exist in the world. You are creative. You can call on your intuition whenever you need it to find answers to your most pressing questions.

Ask your inner voice.* Try it!

* To order your copy of Ask Your Inner Voice (and get a bonus gift of the Ask Your Inner Voice Workbook), go here: http://activateintuition.com/launch-special

Kosmic Surf

2010-04-16T07:25:00.000-07:00

molecules swimming
in the atomic sea
particles becoming waves
waves becoming particles
table top ripples
from the hit
of my liquid fist

SOUND
echoing
turning into thought
into dream
into action
into matter
into nothing that matters

FEAR
dissolving
in an ocean
of connectedness

LOVE
undulating
in the Kosmic Surf

the future,
a one-eyed monster
wanting to be feed

the past,
a shadow
cast ahead

and now,
is…

NOW
riding the waves
Kosmic surfing
going with the flow
nothing else needed
to Know.

- MAK

Image: Particle Wave by me (MAK)

What is Love?

2010-03-15T07:30:00.000-07:00

I have traveled far to ask,

“What is Love?”

A Buddhist Monk once showed me that

Love is a compassionate heart;

A Christian Saint once showed me that

Love is a forgiving heart;

A Muslim Sheik once showed me that

Love is a devoted heart;

A Taoist Sage once showed me that

Love is a heart that accepts all things as they are;

A Jewish Prophet once showed me that

Love is a heart that sees the one within the many;

A Native American Shaman once showed me that

Love is a heart that feels the interconnectedness of all things;

A Hindu Holy Man once showed me that

Love is, when all that is not love ceases to be.

I have traveled far to ask,

“What is Love?”

And I have seen the many faces of Love,

and I have felt the many ways of Love,

and I have touched the heart of Love itself

and learned that

Love truly is all these things.

- MAK

From One Face: A Collection of Interfaith Prayers and Poems

*Image by: Daniel B. Holeman

The Three Faces of Spirit

2010-02-19T19:56:00.000-08:00

One of the ways to deepen the practice of seeking, receiving, and following divine guidance is to unpack our constructs of the Divine Source.

Integral Theory has a great practice to help open our perceptions of Source. It is called the The Three Faces of Spirit and can be found at:

http://integrallife.com/awaken/spirit/practice-three-faces-spirit

Gravity Waves

2008-03-08T21:58:00.000-08:00

I ride the waves of gravity,

surfing on the cosmic sea of light,

rippling distortions in the fabric of space-time,

rising from the past,

cresting in this very moment,

falling toward an unknown future shore.

Have to remember to ride the now,

looking back or looking ahead,

is always how I wipe out.

Night Watch

2008-02-08T21:35:00.000-08:00

In the fall of 1985 I visited the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. I remember walking into the room where Rembrandt’s “Nightwatch” was hung. I froze in my tracks and softly gasped (in-spired). The painting’s presence was so powerful that it felt as though I had entered the presence of some great force. The painting seemed alive, as though Rembrandt had captured the life energy of himself, the people he was painting and the presence of the divine, and fused it all into the paint and canvas. I sat in front of the painting for hours, while it spoke to me through image, character, story, color and light about human struggle and divine yearnings within myself and within all of humanity. The messages I was receiving from the painting seemed to be answering some of the inner questions that had been on my mind just before I entered the museum. That night I lay in bed feeling a deep sense of gratitude for the gifts of the inspiration and guidance I had received at the foot of that giant wondrous canvas.

Zen Ox Herding

2007-12-12T21:19:00.000-08:00

Seeking the Ox

Finding the Tracks

First Glimpse of the Ox

Catching the Ox

Taming the Ox

Riding the Ox Home

Ox Forgotten, Self Alone

Both Ox and Self Forgotten

Returning to the Source

Returning to Help Sentient Beings

Creating Without Expecting

2007-12-06T22:39:00.000-08:00

"The Tao gives birth to all beings...
nourishes them,
maintains them,
cares for them,
comforts them,
protects them,
takes them back to itself,
creating without possessing,
acting without expecting,
guiding without interfering."
- Lao-tzu (Tao Te Ching, 51)

The Sacred Tetrad

2007-12-05T22:38:00.000-08:00

The Sacred Tetrad

"Meditate upon my counsels;

love them; follow them;

To the divine virtues

will they know how to lead thee.

I swear it by the One who in our hearts

engraved the sacred Tetrad,

symbol immense and pure,

Source of Nature and

model of the Divine."
- Pythagoras (The Golden Verses)

The Primordial Poet

2007-12-04T20:47:00.000-08:00

"Meditate on the Guide,
the Giver of all,
the Primordial Poet,
smaller than an atom,
unthinkable,
brilliant as the sun."
- Bhagavad-Gita 8:9 (Mitchell)

The Eye of the Heart

2007-12-03T20:33:00.000-08:00

"I am blind and do not see the things of this world; but when the light comes from above, it enlightens my heart and I can see, for the Eye of my heart sees everything; and through this vision I can help my people. The heart is a sanctuary at the center of which there is a little space, wherein the Great Spirit dwells, and this is the Eye. This is the Eye of the Great Spirit by which He sees all things, and through which we see Him. If the heart is not pure, the Great Spirit cannot be seen." - Wallace Black Elk

Knocking on Heaven's Door

2007-12-02T15:50:00.000-08:00

"Ask, and it will be given you; seek, and you will find;
knock, and the door will be opened to you.
For everyone who asks, receives;
and he who seeks, finds;
and to him who knocks,

the door will be opened."
- Jesus

Seeking Water

2007-11-30T20:06:00.000-08:00

"Not only the thirsty seek the water,
but the water seeks the thirsty as well."
- Rumi

The Kabbalist

2007-11-29T20:15:00.000-08:00

The Kabbalist at Work

This image reminds me that...

To receive wisdom and express creativity
we must act as the Kabbalist
moving between and opening to
the forces that flow through
the Four Worlds (Domains) of Existence:

EMANATION

CREATION

FORMATION

MANIFESTATION

The Seeker

2007-11-25T18:41:00.000-08:00

This image reminds me that...

The true seeking of knowledge and wisdom

requires whole person, or embodied learning,

as well as a deep commitment to

a life of lived inquiry,

in which every experience

is taken as a lesson to learn.

Lived Inquiry

2007-11-24T13:31:00.001-08:00

"By lived inquiry, I mean simply
the active, innovative and examined life,
which seeks to both transform
and understand more deeply
the human condition... "
- John Heron

Alley of the Unseen Forces

2007-05-16T12:21:00.000-07:00

My earliest childhood memory is of a haunting mystical experience I had when I was in first grade. One morning, as I was getting ready to go to school, I experienced a deep sense of panic at the thought of returning to the ridicule and laughter I was receiving from my fellow classmates because of my stutter. Walking down the block with the other kids, the dread became unbearable. I turned the corner and slipped behind some tall bushes. As I watched the other kids going to school, I started to calm down. After a while, the street was empty. I slowly got up, turned down our back alley, and walked back to my house. I snuck into the garage, took my bicycle, and rode off, feeling the urgency of escape. After riding through the neighborhood for a while, I turned down an alley and suddenly stopped.

Autumn leaves swirled around the cracked pavement of the alley, being blown in spiraling waves by the strong Midwestern winds. White billowing clouds swiftly rolled across the bright blue sky above, and the electric power lines gently hummed around me. In an instant all my pains and fears vanished and I was filled with a sense of awe and wonder. Somehow I felt the power and beauty of the unseen forces at play all around me, and I sensed a presence of something vast and deep and unknown around me and within me. A feeling of safety and peace filled me, and I stood there for what seemed like hours.

Over the years, I have returned to this memory over and over; bathing in the gravity of that experience; and remembering to open to the unseen forces at play in every moment, both within me and all around me.

*Excerpt from Original Gravity: A Personal Narrative Theology Inquiry into the Experience of Seeking, Receiving, and Following Divine Guidance by Mark Allan Kaplan, Ph.D.

Seeking Peace

2006-04-12T16:54:00.001-07:00

My heart has wept many times over the last few years over the seemingly endless and violent conflicts between some of the worlds religious traditions and cultures. Like so many others, I have yearned to find a way to help bring about peace between the faiths. From this place of deep yearning, I began developing an interfaith daily practice to see if I could personally find and affirm an energetic harmony between the traditions. To my amazement the practices of the different faiths that I was exploring merged into one long beautiful sacred dance of movement, meditation, contemplation, chanting, and visualization. As part of this sacred dance I was guided to look up the words for peace in different languages and was further moved to develop an Interspiritual Peace Mantra which I now perform several times a day.

This Interspiritual Peace Mantra that emerged from my practice is a compilation of eight words for PEACE from eight different languages used to represent the eight major streams of world religions: Primal Traditions, Paganism, Hinduism, Judaism, Taoism, Buddhism, Christianity and Islam. The words are arranged in the chronological/historical order of the emergence of each of these faiths. The purpose and intent of this mantra is to nurture and amplify personal and collective peace.

___________________

The eight words of the Interspiritual Peace Mantra are:

Sipala Sith Shanti Shalom T'ai Sidi Pax Salaam.

Sipala is the Hopi word for peace and represents the Primal Traditions (Shamanic , Aboriginal, etc).

Sith is the Gaelic word for peace and represents the Pagan Traditions (Goddess, Druid, Celtic, Wicca , Greek, etc.).

Shanti is the Hindi word for peace and represents the Hindu and Sikh traditions.

Shalom is the Hebrew word for peace and represents the Judaic and Kabbalistic traditions.

T’ai is a Chinese word for peace and represents the Taoist and Confucian traditions.

Sidi is the Tibetan word for peace and represents the Buddhist tradition.

Pax is the Latin word for peace and represents Christianity .

Salaam is the Aramaic word for peace and represents Islam and Sufism.

___________________

As part of this practice, I also developed the above Interspiritual Peace Mandala with the words of the Interspiritual Peace Mantra and symbols from each tradition set within a mandala pattern created by a dear friend of mine, artist Maja Apolonia Rode.

The Interspiritual Peace Mantra and Mandala can be found at the Interspiritul Peace Project web page.

Season of Liberation

2006-04-04T12:47:00.000-07:00

The Jewish holiday of Passover (Pesach) is approaching. As part of my personal journey of healing, studies, and return to the Judaic path, I have explored the meaning, purpose, and practices of this important holiday through a process of spiritual exegesis. This process consisted of a radical interpretation of the Passover rituals and prayers into a language and process that resonated with my own heart while also attempting to honor the heart of Judaism itself. Through this technique I endeavored to heal old wounds and purge myself of the obstacles between the Divine and myself in relation to this important Judaic ritual of liberation.

There are three basic levels of text interpretation in the Jewish tradition: Literal-Biblical, Theoretical-Talmudic, and Mystical-Kabbalistic (Fishbane, 1998; Kenton, 1980). Literal-Biblical text interpretation includes the historical, biblical and narrative levels of the material. Theoretical-Talmudic text interpretation consists of the extrapolation of the philosophical, ethical, moral and religious doctrines, laws and teachings that are woven into the fabric of the written material. Mystical-Kabbalistic text interpretation seeks to unearth the hidden and concealed metaphysical teachings buried in the text.

On the literal level of interpretation, Passover is a ritualistic retelling of the story of a historical biblical event, the Israelites’ liberation from bondage in Egypt. On the theoretical level, the story and rituals of Passover have many philosophical, ethical, moral and religious lessons to teach us about human behavior and the human endeavor to live according to the teachings of the religion of Judaism. Traditionally, the rituals of Passover, including the Passover Seder, tend to focus on these two levels of interpretation and understanding.

In the Jewish mystical tradition, Passover can also be seen as a powerful vehicle for personal and communal psycho-spiritual development. From the Mystical-Kabbalistic perspective, the Passover story of a people being freed from the bondage of slavery is transformed into a road map for how an individual can be freed from the bondage of limited consciousness (Kenton, 1980); the land of Egypt becomes the realm of narrowness of body and mind, and Moses becomes the Higher Self being called upon by the Divine to free all the different voices of the psyche (the children of Israel, the Awakening Self) from the bondage of the ego (Pharaoh).

This mystical level of interpretation became my pathway through the metaphysical gates of these ancient and sacred rites of inner and outer freedom, leading me to the discovery a personally transformative psycho-spiritual Passover experience. The final product of this endeavor was the creation of a Mystical Passover handbook or Haggadah (Kaplan, 2003) which I now use ever year at this time.

REFERENCES

Fishbane, M. (1998). The Exegetical Imagination: On Jewish Thought and Theology. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Kaplan, M. A. (2003). A Mystical Passover: A Transformational Passover Haggadah. Pacific Grove, CA: Original Gravity.

Kenton, W. (1980). Kabbalah and Exodus. York Beach, ME: Samuel Weiser, Inc.

*Image: Mystical Sedar Plate revealing the inner dimensions of the physical symbols.

*Originally published on KabbalahBlog hosted by Enlightenment.com

The Awakening Self

2006-01-21T11:08:00.000-08:00

The Hebrew word Yisrael, or Israel, has been used in the Judaic tradition as a label for the Judaic "tribe" as a whole, and for the land that the tradition has held as sacred.

The name Yisrael was first used in Genesis 32 in the story of Jacob wrestling with a "stranger" from Heaven. In this story Jacob is at a crossroads in his life and he heads off alone in the middle of the night and ends up wrestling with a divine force in order to receive a blessing. This blessing finally was given to Jacob in the form of a new name, Yisrael.

This name has several mystical meanings that all relate to the process described in the story (Gordis, 1995). These definitions include: One who wrestles or struggles with the Divine; one who yearns for the Divine; the song of the Divine; and the Awakening Self (the Self that struggles to awaken to it's true oneness with the Divine).

A mystical translation of this biblical story reveals the archetypal psycho-spiritual pattern of our struggle to awaken to our true Self and the Divine:

In the middle of the night Jacob arose

and sent his loved ones and all his possessions

across the river of struggles.

Jacob remained alone.

A stranger appeared and wrestled with him

until the break of day.

The stranger saw that Jacob was strong in faith

and touched the hollow of Jacob's thigh,

causing a great strain.

The stranger said:

"Let me leave for the dawn is breaking."

Jacob told the stranger:

"I will not let go until I am blessed."

The stranger replied:

"Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel,

the one who strives to awaken

and know the truth of the Divine."

Jacob asked the stranger's name.

The stranger replied:

"Why do you seek my name?"

He then blessed Jacob.

Jacob named the place Divine Face and said:

"I have seen the Divine face to face,

and my soul has withstood it."

The sun rose and was shinning on him

as he continued on his way.

- Genesis 32:23-32

REFERENCES

Gordis, D. (1995). God was not in the fire. New York: Scribner.

*Image: Jacob wrestling with the Angel of God

*Originally published on KabbalahBlog hosted by Enlightenment.com

Prayer for the Festivals of Light

2005-12-22T12:46:00.000-08:00

The rebirth of the life-generating and life-sustaining sun
at the darkest moment of the seasons;
The oil of an ancient temple lamp burning beyond its limit;
A shining star in a dark sky illuminating the way;
The light of mercy revealed through prayer and devotion;
The guiding light of seven principles arising from the heart of
the Dark Continent.
This is the season of The Festivals of Light...
The Winter Solstice,
Chanukah,
Christmas,
Ramadan,
Kwanzaa
In the darkness of this Winter
during these terror filled and challenging times;
May we all find the light in darkness,
faith amidst struggle,
rebirth following change and loss,
and virtue and devotion in the face of great challenge.

Published in: Beben, M. T. (2002). New Wine: More Eucharistic Liturgies for 21st Century Small Faith Communities. Boulder, CO: Woven Word Press.

The Love of Wisdom

2005-09-18T18:02:00.001-07:00

This year I graduated with my doctorate. As I prepared for graduation I struggled with the shift from perceiving myself as a student, to perceiving myself as a Ph.D., a Doctor of Philosophy. The self-construct of being a student was so ingrained in me that it was difficult to transcend.

I decided to look up the root meanings of the words doctor and philosophy. I discovered that the English word doctor comes from the Latin doctor, meaning "teacher;” and that the word philosophy comes from the Latin philosophia, meaning, “love of knowledge or wisdom."

When I combined these terms and realized that the phrase Doctor of Philosophy could be translated as Teacher of the Love of Wisdom, I had a visceral breakthrough in my self-perception. I recognized that I was holding onto the idea that being a Ph.D. meant that I had to be a master of knowledge and wisdom. To be honest, I surely did not feel like a master yet. But when I considered the idea that a Ph.D. degree was actually calling to be a "teacher of the love of wisdom," I found myself being able to hold that role easily within my heart and mind.

Indeed, on my journey toward my doctorate, I had grown to love wisdom and the journey of seeking it, and that I believe I can teach...I cannot teach wisdom, but I can teach the love of it, or at least try to share the love I have for the path of wisdom.

The Experience of Divine Guidance

2005-09-01T15:10:00.000-07:00

Announcing the publication of...

The Experience of Divine Guidance: A Qualitative Study of the Human Endeavor to Seek, Receive, and Follow Guidance from a Perceived Divine Source

By Mark Allan Kaplan, Ph.D.

ABSTRACT

This research study examined the experience of seeking, receiving, and following guidance from a perceived source of divine wisdom. Nine advanced spiritual teachers (5 men and 4 women) from 7 spiritual traditions participated as coresearchers in this study. Coresearchers were North American or European born, predominantly Caucasian, California (USA) residents between the ages of 52 and 74. Coresearcher participation consisted of individual semistructured in-depth interviews. The questions and topics of discussion used for the interviews were developed through a process of researcher heuristic and spiritual self-inquiry. The results of a grounded-theory-based qualitative content analysis of the interview transcripts suggested that the experience of divine guidance, as measured in the current study, is characterized by a common structuring of the experience that includes general categories, factors, and patterns which appear to manifest into various particular and contextual forms depending on the individual person, event, and circumstance. The reported common structures of the experience included: The perception of a divine source of guidance; the experience of seeking, receiving , and following guidance from this perceived source; and various contributing, impeding, developmental , and mediating factors . Additionally, each coresearcher reported a unique metaphor of divine encounter that appeared to give them an archetypal and visceral way of describing and holding the experience. The researcher appeared to experience each of the coresearcher's metaphors of divine encounter through some kind of resonant learning or mimicking process. A Guidance Experience Template, Guidance Experience Evaluation Checklist, and Synthesized Guidance Practice were developed as aids to counselors, practitioners, and researchers exploring the experience of divine guidance. The findings of this study, and the development and implementation of guidance-related applications in this research, may advance the understanding of this common and historically significant human experience, and offer a valuable contribution to the fields of transpersonal psychology, spiritual guidance, and spiritual psychology.

Proquest Dissertations And Theses 2005. 462 pages; [Ph.D. dissertation].United States -- California: Institute of Transpersonal Psychology; 2005. Publication Number: AAT 3174544.

Index terms (keywords): Divine guidance, Guidance, Spirituality, Religious experience, Transpersonal psychology

Source: DAI-B 66/05, p. 2855, Nov 2005

Source type: DISSERTATION

Subjects: Developmental psychology, Religion, Theology

ISBN: 0542126788

The Divine Orchard

2005-03-25T10:21:00.000-08:00

I have traveled through a long dark night of the soul. As I emerge from this sacred time of exploration and wonder, I am still unable to fully understand it, yet I can share that I feel as though I have traveled through the Divine Orchard that the Kabbalists speak of…

The following is my own mystical interpretation of the famous passage of the “Four Who Entered the Divine Orchard” from the Babylonian Talmud (Hagigah 14b):

Four seekers entered the Divine Orchard. The first seeker said to the others: “When you reach the stones of marble, do not speak the words: 'water, water'...for it is said: 'You that speaketh falsehood shall not be established before my eyes.'” The second seeker gazed and died. Of this seeker it is said: “Precious in the sight of the Divine is the transcendence of physical form.” The third seeker gazed and was stricken with Holy Madness. Of this seeker it is said: “Hast thou found the sweetness? Consume that which is sufficient, or be filled to overflowing.” And the fourth seeker cut down the shoots in renunciation. In the end, only the first seeker departed in peace.

The first seeker sees the truth behind form, and leaves in peace.
The second seeker gazes at the Divine and loses body, for one cannot gaze upon that which is formless without losing form.
The third seeker gazes at the Divine and loses mind, for one cannot gaze upon that which is beyond thought without losing thought.
The fourth seeker gazes at the Divine and loses heart, for one cannot gaze upon that which is beyond love and fear without losing all attachment.

During my journey into the orchard, I felt all four forms of seeking within me: At times I felt as though I was going to die, and at other times I felt as though I was transcending my constructs of the physical universe; At times I thought I was losing my mind, and at other times I felt a loosening of my mental constructs; At times I felt myself losing heart and faith, and at other times I felt a loosening of my emotional attachments; and throughout the process I felt a soft whispering presence holding me and showing me the way through the orchard’s maze of truth and illusion.

REFERENCES

Louis Jacobs. Jewish Mystical Testimonies. New York: Schocken Books, 1997.

Gershom Scholem. Jewish Gnosticism, Merkavah Mysticism, and Talmudic Tradition. New York: Jewish Theological Seminary of America, 1960.

Isidore Epstein. The Soncino Press Babylonian Talmud: Ta’anith/Megillah/Hagigah. Brooklyn, NY: The Soncino Press, 2001.

*Originally published on KabbalahBlog hosted by Enlightenment.com

God in Drag

2004-12-01T13:33:00.000-08:00

"It's all God in Drag!" I first heard this phrase from Ram Dass while attending one of his spiritual retreats. All of us laughed deeply when he delivered the phrase with his perfect spirtual/comic timing. I laughed so hard I almost cried while the ripples of my laughter mixed with the chills of feeling like I was hearing a profound truth.

Over the years this phrase has often helped me to surrender into the Divine Flow of life by reminding me that whatever is happening is perfect as it is and I just need to be fully present to it.

So many times in my life I have been re-minded of this truth. So many times I have had experiences that seemed bad, horrible and/or traumatic, only to find out over time that they were part of a greater arc of experience that almost always brought about growth and blessing.

At that same spiritual retreat Ram Dass expanded on this idea of "It's all God in drag" by telling the following story:

There once was a rancher who had a beautiful stallion. He loved this stallion and pampered it with love and attention. One day there was a great storm and the stallion broke free and ran off into the mountains. The rancher and his family all sat around the hearth and bemoaned their bad fortune. The old grandfather merely sat in the corner and whispered a soft and whimsical: "ah-so."

Three days later, after the storm had passed, the stallion returned. As he galloped into the coral, three wild horses followed him. The rancher and his family were overjoyed at their good fortune. Of course, Grandpa just smiled and said "ah-so."

The ranchers' eldest son asked if he could learn to break in one of the wild horses. His father began to teach his son, when all of a sudden the wild horse threw the son across the coral. The son broke his hip and laid in bed in dire pain. The family huddled around, grumbling about the great misfortune. Grandpa gently held the boy's hand and whispered once again…"ah-so."

The next day a great army came to the village and took all able-bodied young men. The ranchers' son was spared. All eyes looked to the grandfather, who just smiled wisely and said…"ah-so."

Ah-so...Oh-Gee...It's all God in Drag!

Divine Flow

2004-11-12T17:00:00.001-08:00

Then, suddenly, I would find myself in another pattern of experience. Everything seemed to go wrong, and I was out of the flow. I sensed that I was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Places I wanted to see would be closed or inaccessible. People seemed distant and cold. I felt isolated and alone. Every step was an effort, and I felt out of synch with everyone and everything.

Slowly I began to realize that there were certain thoughts and perceptions that seemed to precipitate and support these two different patterns of experience. A surrendering of my plans, expectations, and past memories preceded the periods in which I experienced a sense of flow and effortlessness. During these periods of flow I would tend to be totally in the present moment. I seemed to naturally accept things and people as they were. The periods in which I experienced everything being out of balance seemed to coincide with planning, expectations, and/or following a past idea, suggestion, or desire. A flood of past memories and future concerns also marked these times.

The qualities of my flow experiences were very similar to those described by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi in his writings on flow (1990; 1993; 1997). These qualities include the loss of self-consciousness, a sense of being part of some greater entity, and an altered sense of time (Csikszentmihalyi, 1993). This experience of flow is "... like being carried away by a current, everything moving smoothly without effort" (Csikszentmihalyi, 1993, p. xiii).

At first I tried to manipulate myself into having these flow experiences, but that only seemed to send me farther into the other experience. I began to see that each pattern of experience was related to the other. My periods of flow seemed to come from the surrender produced by the culmination of the frustration of the "out of the flow" experiences.

When I finally surrendered to the whole process the rest of my journey was filled with miracles and blessings. I felt guided at every step by a loving and compassionate force beyond my comprehension. Though I had explored spirituality and caught glimpses of this force prior to my trip, none of my previous experiences compared with the combined depth, magnitude, duration, and everyday integration of my experiences in Europe.

When I returned from my trip overseas I was unable to retain my deep and continual connection with this force, yet somehow I felt as though I had awakened from a deep unknown sleep. Everything seemed different; old familiar people, places, and experiences had a different quality to them. It was as though my center of gravity had shifted.

It is a disturbance of the equilibrium of the self, which results in the shifting of the field of consciousness from lower to higher levels, with a consequent removal of the centre of interest from the subject to an object now brought into view: the necessary beginning of any process of transcendence. (Underhill, 1961, p. 176)

Before my journey, my life was centered on career and finding romantic love, with short excursions into the realm of spirituality. After my experiences in Europe, the center of my life seemed to shift toward becoming the best human being I could become, and to find a way of reconnecting with the experience of Divine Flow. I began to explore, more deeply and earnestly, the world's spiritual and religious systems for knowledge and practices that could aid in my journey. And ultimately, I was lead to a process of self-reflection and self-inquiry to deepen my quest to understand this strange and wondrous experience of being in the Divine Flow.

*Excerpt from Original Gravity: A Personal Narrative Theology Inquiry into the Experience of Seeking, Receiving, and Following Divine Guidance by Mark Allan Kaplan, Ph.D.

Divine Flow

2004-11-12T17:00:00.000-08:00

Many years ago, while I was backpacking through Europe, I began to notice myself falling into two distinct patterns of experience. One pattern seemed to consist of periods in which everything flowed smoothly. Things would unfold effortlessly and seemed to work out perfectly. I would meet people who would point me in the right direction where I would in turn meet others. I would have the sense that I was in the right place at the right time and that there was a grand intelligence guiding me. All the elements of my life and the life of those I met seemed to be in some kind of beautiful synchronized orbit held together by some strange unseen force ... and life felt rich and full of "original gravity."

Then, suddenly, I would find myself in another pattern of experience. Everything seemed to go wrong, and I was out of the flow. I sensed that I was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Places I wanted to see would be closed or inaccessible. People seemed distant and cold. I felt isolated and alone. Every step was an effort, and I felt out of synch with everyone and everything.

Slowly I began to realize that there were certain thoughts and perceptions that seemed to precipitate and support these two different patterns of experience. A surrendering of my plans, expectations, and past memories preceded the periods in which I experienced a sense of flow and effortlessness. During these periods of flow I would tend to be totally in the present moment. I seemed to naturally accept things and people as they were. The periods in which I experienced everything being out of balance seemed to coincide with planning, expectations, and/or following a past idea, suggestion, or desire. A flood of past memories and future concerns also marked these times.

The qualities of my flow experiences were very similar to those described by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi in his writings on flow (1990; 1993; 1997). These qualities include the loss of self-consciousness, a sense of being part of some greater entity, and an altered sense of time (Csikszentmihalyi, 1993). This experience of flow is "... like being carried away by a current, everything moving smoothly without effort" (Csikszentmihalyi, 1993, p. xiii).

At first I tried to manipulate myself into having these flow experiences, but that only seemed to send me farther into the other experience. I began to see that each pattern of experience was related to the other. My periods of flow seemed to come from the surrender produced by the culmination of the frustration of the "out of the flow" experiences.

When I finally surrendered to the whole process the rest of my journey was filled with miracles and blessings. I felt guided at every step by a loving and compassionate force beyond my comprehension. Though I had explored spirituality and caught glimpses of this force prior to my trip, none of my previous experiences compared with the combined depth, magnitude, duration, and everyday integration of my experiences in Europe.

When I returned from my trip overseas I was unable to retain my deep and continual connection with this force, yet somehow I felt as though I had awakened from a deep unknown sleep. Everything seemed different; old familiar people, places, and experiences had a different quality to them. It was as though my center of gravity had shifted.

Cosmic Dance

2004-11-07T17:25:00.000-08:00

Renewal by Csuri

When I integrate
the different levels
of my inner and outer life,
I enter into a glorious and miraculous
cosmic dance,
in harmony with
all that is within
and all that is without,
from the tiniest atom
to the greatest
expanse of the universe,
I am held and impelled
by an original gravity,
a force of ancient origin
and of a continually
unfolding newness,
unique and original,
and together,
you and I
and all of creation
are balanced,
integrated,
and complete,
at home
in orbit
around the sphere
of all being-ness.

First Taste

2004-11-05T16:43:00.000-08:00

Many years ago I traveled to London for the first time and met a sixty-year-old British postal worker in the Duke of Wellington Pub in Soho.

He bought me a glass of barley wine and told me it had a very good original gravity.

I asked him what he meant by original gravity.

He explained that it was the British method of expressing the strength of a beer.

He winked and said I should always make sure I’m partaking of strong original gravity.

As he spoke these words he seemed to momentarily transform from an intoxicated postal worker into a sparkling-eyed mystic.

In my mind, the phrase original gravity blossomed into a metaphor for living life to its fullest, and over the years it has become the catch phrase for the state of being I aspire to attain in my life and through my work in creative expression, education, spirituality, research and healing.

*Excerpt from Original Gravity: A Personal Narrative Theology Inquiry into the Experience of Seeking, Receiving, and Following Divine Guidance by Mark Allan Kaplan, Ph.D.

Original Gravity

2004-11-04T16:08:00.001-08:00

Original Gravity, as I have come to use it, refers to that original force that attracts and holds all things together: It is Michael Murphy’s true gravity, "…a universal force, an ethical imperative, and an overwhelming spiritual experience…the omnipresent "heart power" or "feeling-force" that permeates all things" (Murphy, 1972); it is Ken Wilber’s Spirit-in-action, the Eros "…that moves through you and me, urging us to include, to diversify, to honor, to enfold" (Wilber, 2000); and it is Jean Gebser’s inner commission that points beyond us and is the driving force behind all healing and transformation, and the evolution of consciousness,

Whichever way we may live, we need to remember that we are also lived by an authority or a power for which there are many names. And, above all, we must remember one thing, namely that whichever way we live, we follow, whether we know it or not, an inner commission that points beyond us. – Jean Gebser (Feuerstein, 1987)

This "Divine" inner commission is the guiding force behind the "next manifesting Phase" (Murphy, 1972) of our personal, cultural, and social evolution; it is the guiding force within the evolution of consciousness; and it is the guiding force that I seek within every aspect of my life.

Original Gravity

2004-11-04T16:08:00.000-08:00

Whichever way we may live, we need to remember that we are also lived by an authority or a power for which there are many names. And, above all, we must remember one thing, namely that whichever way we live, we follow, whether we know it or not, an inner commission that points beyond us. – Jean Gebser (Feuerstein, 1987)

In Beginning

2003-12-12T06:21:00.000-08:00

As I began my journey into the world of mystical Judaism I discovered Kabbalistic exegesis, the mystical interpretation of text. I learned that every Hebrew word has many different possible meanings: Every word is connected to a root word with numerous variations; each Hebrew letter has a numerical value that when added up gives every Hebrew word a numerical value, and every Hebrew word is connected with all the Hebrew words that have its same numerical value; and in most of Judaism's sacred texts the original Hebrew words are written without vowels, leaving the past, present or future tense open for interpretation.

Every Hebrew letter, every sound, every combination of letter and sound holds a key to the cosmic code of creation, and in Kabbalah, it is the seeking out and embodiment of this code that enables one to become a vehicle for receiving the Divine presence.

The Kabbalist can be seen as a kind of cosmic secret agent; like the CIA agent who looks at a newspaper story and finds his next assignment hidden within the text of the story, the Kabbalist hunts for the secrets of the Divine by looking beneath the surface of the sacred texts of Judaism and deep within every aspect of creation. Hidden beneath every word, letter and sound, every rock and tree, every thought, emotion, and action, is a hidden DNA; a cosmic DNA holding the keys to the wisdom and the presence of the Divine. Just as every single piece of biological DNA holds a map of the whole organism it is a part of, every piece of cosmic DNA holds the whole of the universe and all of heaven within it. Like the spiraling strands of biological DNA, the cosmic DNA is a spiraling ladder, a ladder between earth and Heaven; it is Jacob's Ladder; it is the Tree of Life itself, hidden within us and all around us.

So as I began my hunt for the cosmic DNA within the words of the Torah, I discovered that the first three Hebrew words of Genesis (Bereshet), "Bereshet Bara Elohiem," can literally be read as: "In beginning create God." Then I learned that all the Hebrew words for God are not really names of God, but are actually references to aspects of the nature of the Divine. In Judaism, the Divine Name can not be spoken because it is beyond naming. So Elohiem actually refers to that aspect of the Divine that creates. As I delved deeper into these three words, exploring their letters, sounds, and hidden codes, these three simple words became a vast well of wisdom.

There is a story about an old Rabbi who was revered for his wisdom of Torah. A young man sought out his wisdom and asked him what the essence of the Torah was? The Rabbi laughed and told the young man that he had no idea because he was still studying the first three words...

Bereshet Bara Elohiem
In the beginning God created
In beginning create God
In beginning create the Source of Creation
In beginning to create call upon the Source of all Creation

Bereshet Bara Elohiem
In beginning this Blogging adventure I call upon the Source of all Creation to bless this journey...

Here is a simple mantra meditation derived from this mystical word code. This meditation can be used before beginning any endeavor to assist you in opening to receive the Divine flow of creation.

A Receiving Mantra...

1. In beginning, Inhale slowly and deeply, feeling your breath moving into your body; Exhale slowly, sounding out the Hebrew word BERESHET (pronounced Bah_ray_sheet).

2. Inhale slowly and deeply, listening to the sound of your breath moving into your body; Exhale slowly, sounding out the Hebrew word BARA (pronounced Bah_rah).

3. Inhale slowly and deeply, imagining the breath of the Divine entering through the top of your head and moving through your entire body; Exhale slowly, sounding out the Hebrew word ELOHIEM (pronounced El_oh_heem).

4. Inhale slowly and deeply, imagining that your body is an empty vessel being filled with Divine breath; Exhale slowly through your mouth allowing your outgoing breath to create a whispering sound. Listen to the sound of the breath until it vanishes into silence.

Allow your breathing to return to normal and be with the silence within you for a few moments.

Then begin your endeavor...

*Image: Rendering of the big bang.

*Originally published on KabbalahBlog hosted by Enlightenment.com

To Receive

2003-11-07T10:02:00.000-08:00

The Hebrew word Kabbalah means "receive." Kabbalah as a mystical practice is about transforming ourselves into receptive vessels, vessels for receiving Divine wisdom in its varied forms... the "speaking silence," the "small still voice," the experience of union with the Divine Presence.

I was born and raised Jewish, then left the faith for many years, journeying through the landscape of other traditions. I finally returned to my religion of origin following the death of my mother when I began to explore the Judaic rituals for grieving the loss of a loved one. That year I entered into the depths of sorrow and the mysteries of Kabbalah. I began to receive information from an inner source that guided me in my sacred studies and through a process of psycho-spiritual healing. My practice has grown into an integral spirituality with mystical Judaism as my core tradition. The journey of striving to become a receptive vessel for Divine guidance has become the central goal in my life.

*Originally published on KabbalahBlog hosted by Enlightenment.com