Take a Step into Your Future...

You may not aspire to spiritual mastery, whatever that might mean to you but do you know you can vastly improve your life by adopting some of the characteristics of mastery.  Some of these characteristics make a lot of sense just by themselves.  Some may not have occurred to you.  Masters are sensitive to beauty in all forms.  Masters are egoless and do not direct attention to themselves.  They have respect for Nature and all of its members.  Unconditional love is a characteristic of masters.  They radiate true wisdom.  A Master will not instill fear.  They are universal and non-sectarian.  The true Master is the embodiment of compassion.   Read and contemplate this list.  Look in a mirror.  Does any of it fit?  Spiritual mastery might fit you very well.   Don’t be afraid to take a step into your future...

Peace on Earth with all the Fixin's...

From various ancient word of mouth stories and manuscripts It appears that our planet has been through four or five incarnations.   In other words civilization has essentially ended and been reborn 4 or 5 times.   According to current information also from various sources this time around we were able to do what was necessary to get beyond the end of the world scenarios and are on track to birth ourselves into a mature, creative, peaceful race.  To look out onto the world right now, listen to our news programs, and read our newspapers it certainly doesn’t look like we are on the road to a peaceful world.   However I also agree with the idea that the evil men do is exactly that... evil that men do.   And if we cause a problem that means we can solve those problems.
It will mean being painfully honest with ourselves and taking full responsibility for ourselves and our race.   That which separates us from our animal friends is the fact that WE CAN THINK.    Our lives are not decided by instinct and beyond our control.
If we are in line to create a golden age, a new dawn, a peaceful creative world then I believe we can make the choices that will get us there.   Think about it my friends....   then be honest and be responsible and help our children create Peace on Earth with all the fixin’s.    

Encore.... Have You Ever Felt a Longing?...

The Soul longs for growth.  It yearns to grow, to learn, and to find its way back to the perfection from whence it came.   If you feel a chronic dissatisfaction with your life.  If you feel there has to be more...
It is probably the promptings of your soul.  But, you ask, what do I do?  The answer quite simply is to listen to those promptings.
In a quiet moment speak to your soul.  Ask it to communicate to you what it wants and what it wants you to do about it.  And in whatever way you choose, prayer, meditation, spending time alone, possibly in nature, put out to the universe that you want assistance and to show you a next step, what to do. 
You have done all of that, now start paying attention.    Start watching for synchronicities.   The veils between the worlds are thinning.  I think you will be surprised at what starts to happen.  
If you would like to contact me for whatever reason, email me at sparowhwk@gmail.com
note the spelling of sparowhwk. 
Thank you for taking the time to look at these pages.

To the Trees......

“But I'll tell you what hermits realize. If you go off into a far, far forest and get very quiet, you'll come to understand that you're connected with everything.”
Alan Watts
In the movie, AVATAR, a huge tree is the center of the native populations spirituality.  Under that tree is a motherlode of a mineral that humans want.  
In the book by Ursala K. LeGuin, THE WORD FOR WORLD IS FOREST, earth has been totally deforested and humans have come to this planet to cut the trees to send lumber to the earth.  
Next door to my home a suburban forest and wetland area is protected, except, it seems, from a corporation that can pay to buy some of the property, clear the land and turn it into a hotel.   Even when not a half mile away a new hotel stands partially completed.  It has been that way for some time.  
Teach our children to weigh what they do against outcomes.    Can we really need wood bad enough that we will deforest the planet?  And does it make any sense that we think we need something bad enough that we will use it up?
I have a feeling and a hope that it is the young that will teach us these things.   and while I agree with the quote from Alan Watts above, one doesn’t have to go into a far, far forest to understand your connection to everything.   I have used the metaphor many times comparing God to a tree.  God is all of it, we and all creation are the leaves, the branches, the roots, the fruit, the flowers, even the thorns.  All is One...We are ‘connected with everything’.  
To the trees that I saw cut down today to make way for the hotel, I thank you and I honor you.   

You Do Affect The World....

As humans begin to see through the lies and greed of the past and as we move toward a caring peaceful humanity there will be increased resistance of letting go of that past.  The changes that are taking place on the planet will effect all of us and all corners of the planet.  Whatever you believe and where ever you are you WILL be affected.   I am suggesting that life will go better for you through all of these changes if you pay attention to what you do, look at your motivation for what you do, and keep in mind that what you do does effect those around you and the world in general.  As you keep your awareness on what you do whether it is doing your laundry, building a building, buying property, raising your children, just remember that what you do does AFFECT THE WORLD.    This will become more and more evident as we get deeper into the changes on our planet.  

It Will Change...

It can be difficult to maintain ones composure when the world feels like it is falling apart around you.  And when that happens, whether it is a shooting at a theater, more war stories on the news, disconcerting politics or even something personal like ones health or family, one really just has to step back, quiet yourself down and take some deep breaths. 
There are a lot of things at play presently including mercury in retrograde, so we need not blame ourselves if things aren’t playing out right.  Just be aware of how we are dealing with what happens in our life and in the world.   As the old saying goes, if you don’t like what is happening, just wait awhile, it will change.   And I think that especially applies now.  It will change...

A Year Later...

Just over a year ago I wrote about leaving a legacy when I am gone and I said I would revisit this to compare how I feel now with then.  This is what I wrote: 
“If you had a gift to give to the world, a legacy of some kind to leave behind you, what would it be?   I have thought a lot about this very question for myself and I will revisit this in a year and see if it is the same.  But for now:
What I would consider my legacy to be would be my awareness of two things.   My first Awareness that I would tell people about, that I would leave as my legacy, would be that we are all ONE, completely connected, made of the same stuff and despite our separation and differences, humans are really Many parts of One.   I honor and celebrate this awareness by wearing a white plastic bracelet that has the word ONE embossed on it.  This bracelet is from a great organization called One.org that works to eliminate hunger and aids from Africa and the planet.  I wear the bracelet because it constantly reminds me that we are ONE.
The second awareness I would leave with the world are my ideas and understandings of God and the fact that God is so much more, so more beautiful, so much more awe-inspiring than we can ever imagine. 
Oh, and perhaps, there really is one more thing... and that is that all is well with my soul and with the world.  In spite of all that happens that we judge good or bad, positive or negative, that all really is O.K.  
What is the gift that you would leave, your legacy, to the world?”
How do I feel about this as the legacy to leave now, just over a year later?  I guess I pretty well agree with it except I feel like leaving a legacy just isn’t that important any longer.  I know that I won’t be leaving a negative legacy and that is the most important thing for me.  
We are Many Parts of One.  God is so much more, so much more beautiful, so much more awe-inspiring than we can ever imagine, and all is well with my soul and the world.  How about you, again I ask, what will your legacy be?  Can you say all is well with the world and my soul?  

From a Higher Perspective?...

I have spoken often of learning to look at our lives and our world from a higher perspective.   But it is not a simple matter or easy to do all the time.    And in situations like the murders that took place this day after midnight at the showing of the latest batman movie in Aurora, Colorado, it may be almost impossible. 
The evil that humans do is human caused but we may never know why these things happen.
 There were some very interesting ‘coincidences’ with this situation.   The movie theater is thirteen miles from Columbine High School, the location of another mass murder in 1999. 
Another co-incident is the case of the female sports blogger that survived a shooting in Toronto, Canada, when two people were killed and others wounded at the Eaton Centre Mall shooting on June 2, 2012, only to be gunned down in Colorado.    
When our minds are reeling with our attempts to make sense of these ‘senseless’ incidents about all we can do sometimes is try our best to release judgement and  be compassionate in our feelings.   We can be supportive when possible and hope that sometime we might be able to gain an understanding of these things that happen in our world.  

11 Ideas for Living Now...

1. Be Awake
2. Be Aware
3. Believe in yourself
4. Follow your heart
5. Look for synchronicity
6. Do not Judge, especially yourself
7. Be willing to look forward
8. Take the best of tradition and leave the rest behind
9. Know yourself, heal yourself
10. Intend good health, abundance and all the above
11. Love as you have never loved before

Make Your Part Positive...

We are already past the halfway point in this momentous year of change, 2012. When 2012 passes and the world is still here and the wars are still being fought and the banks and huge corporations are still fighting for ever so much more money, those that have heard all of the fearful predictions but still live in the old energy will say that is has been just another year.  But it isn’t just another year.  It is the mid point of a 36 year cycle in which the planet and its people are changing.  We will still see the wars and violence, the corporations fighting for their way of life but that is the old energy fighting to hang on to that which no longer works.  Yesterday on Facebook I shared a quote from folk singer Woody Guthrie about soldiers laying down their arms and refusing to fight.  This month would have been Woody Guthrie’s 100 birthday.   We will see that more and more on both sides, our young laying down their arms to “study war no more”. There will be more ‘occupy’ type movements with citizens of the world stepping up and claiming themselves and their planet whether it be an Arab Spring or Occupy Wallstreet.   This has been building up for a long time.   We will also see more extreme weather.  
The feminine energy is claiming its place and the old masculine energy fights to remain.  The feminine and the masculine has been out of balance for so long.  Look for a lot of positive changes in the southern hemisphere because that is where the Divine Feminine will make its foothold.   Have you ever noticed that most of the wars have been started by those in the northern hemisphere, the seat of the macho masculine energy?   
No, 2012, will not have been just another year but we probably won’t see that until we look in hindsight.   We have a few months left to add our loving peaceful energy and let our light so shine on this beautiful mother earth.   Our energy, no matter who you are or what your beliefs are, are part of this change.   Make your part of the change positive.   

My Joys are Simple Joys...

My joys are simple joys
share them with me
the joy of a happy lover
the joy of my canine companion sniffing and walking and owning his little world
the joy of a tree

My joys are simple joys
share them with me
the joy of the yellow bird feeding at my window
the joy of the chirp of the chickadee dee dee
the joy of sweet sunshine

My joys are simple joys
share them with me
the joy of a song sungfelt and heartfelt
the joy of a book or story that takes me away, that takes me home
the joy of a visually ecstatic scene

My joys are simple joys
share them with me
share them with me

Would You Kill the Child?...

This morning I heard a conversation on public radio with author and scientist Jesse Bering PhD.   Dr. Bering has a new book and has a speaking engagement about the book and it’s contents in Seattle this evening.   Dr. Bering has done a great deal of research in evolutionary biology and the conversation at one point focused on human choice and what makes us what we are as humans.  I wish to touch on some points raised during that conversation.  Does free will exist?  Interesting research has shown that if scientists tell people that there is no free will, that they do not have control over their lives, they have a tendency to become more antisocial and will live their lives that way.  The opposite exists if people are led to believe that they do have free will.  The studies have shown that people are able to make personal choices that they feel matters and they live more kindly and more altruistically.   Interesting findings don’t you think? 
Also in the discussion about free will the subject of the holocaust was brought up.  Dr. Bering proposed an interesting dilemma.   What if it were possible to go back in time
and find a five year old Adolph Hitler?  If we believe in free will then there would be many places in Hitler’s life where he could have made the decision to not proceed as he did.  If you found him as a five year old would you try to talk to his parents and get them to raise him differently?  Would some archival footage of the holocaust shown to his parents get them to raise him differently?  And last of all, if you were convinced this child was the future Adolph Hitler that was to kill or the be cause of death of millions of people through his lifetime would you kill the child?

The author is Jesse Bering PhD, and the title of his book, yes this is really the title: WHY IS THE PENIS SHAPED LIKE THAT and other reflections on being human.   Dr. Bering’s website is http://www.jessebering.com/ and the book is available at Amazon and as a digital download on itunes and in Kindle format. 

What Part of the Tree of Life Are You?

I have used for a long time the metaphor of a tree that represents 'all that is'.  All That Is... is God and we and all of Creation.    A tree may have roots, branches, twigs, limbs, leaves, flowers, fruit, some even have thorns and broken branches.  
I have seen some wonderful quotes from Albert Einstein.   There was a lot more to him than E=MC2.  He had a vast understanding of the universe.    " All religions, arts and sciences are branches of the same tree. "
Albert Einstein
What part of the tree of life are you?    A root?  A branch?  A thorn?  How about a flower? 

Can You Think of a Way.....

I did a survey of websites on ‘how to improve quality of life’.   There are similar ideas on each site but some different ideas.  I am going to cull some from each and just mention them.  You can do the same by plugging “how to improve quality of live” into google or another search engine.   These were culled from three websites and there were many other suggestions I did not add.   Think on these... esp. if you aren’t satisfied with your own life...

• go outside
• know what makes you happy
• don’t stress about it
• cultivate optimism
• love yourself
• when others upset you, think of them as actors being the bad guys in your life and aren’t they doing a good job...
• here is an interesting one:   Know your greatest moments to construct your future.  Think about this one?   Constructing your future from your greatest moments......  What if your life could be all a series of ‘great moments’?  Can you think of a way to put this into practice?      

And You Can Choose...

Who are you?
Where did you get who you are?
How did you become you?
What do you love?
What do you fear?
What do you choose?

You have to know who you are.
You have to know how you got there.
You know who you love but do you love you?
Anxiety and Worry are Fear.
Depression and Anger are fear.
Know yourself and who you are
And you can choose. 

What Would you Say...

     He stood in front of me, tall, commanding, yet emanating a feeling of warmth and calm.  “I have come from a star system close to yours.   I have been sent to evaluate whether your people are ready to join the galactic council.   But I have been sorely disappointed.” 
“We are in the midst of a lot of change.”  I felt like I was pleading with him.  Like I was trying to justify humanity. 
“When I first arrived on your planet military forces from many countries tried to take me into custody.  They even stopped fighting one of their many wars to try to capture of kill me. 
And speaking of wars, your people seem to thrive on killing each other.  Also there are those on your planet who are so poor that they are starving and dying of disease and yet a small percentage of humans have so much more of your money that they cannot possibly use it all in one lifetime.   In addition your planet cries out to the universe over what you have done to her, let alone what you have done to each other on her.”
I bowed my head.  “Why did you come to me?  There is nothing I can add to what you already know.  I’m sure you can complete your report.”
“I sensed something different from you.   There are others like you.  I wanted to hear what you had to say about your people before I made my report.”
“There is little more that I can tell you.”  I told him, raising my head to look him in the eye.  “There are changes taking place.  There are many people who are tired of war.  They can no longer deal with the sadness of death and violence, the hunger and homelessness.  Can you see that?  There are changes taking place.  It may take a generation or more but things are changing.  And the number of us is growing.   I can make no excuse for my people.  I too am tired of the violence and the poverty.  I am tired of the pain we cause each other and the destruction we do to our planet.  Humans are stubborn but many are learning.  It will happen.  The changes are happening.”
“That is why I wanted to talk to you.” He said gently”,  The galactic council will continue to monitor this small primitive planet.  In time we will return.   It is time that I leave now.” 
He turned and walked away.  But then turned, with one last admonishment.  “Your people will never be allowed to go out in space until they can be peaceful and trustworthy.”  He turned and continued walking away and a few meters from me he stepped into an energy vortex, like a tornado, and disappeared. 

Listen to your heart and Open your eyes...

There is an old song by the Sandpipers called “Come Saturday Morning”.
It has these words:
“Come Saturday morning, I'm goin' away with my friend We'll Saturday-spend till the end of the day, just I and my friend We'll travel for miles in our Saturday smiles and then we'll move on But we will remember long after Saturday's gone.”
I have a friend like that.  And our Saturdays (and Sundays) are turning out to be a lesson for me in trust, intuition, synchronicity, and stepping out of the box.   My friend was trying to decide betweens several places for us to go on Saturday and finally decided on one after expressing how much he would like to go to one of the other places.   We went with our cameras looking to find birds to identify and photograph.  We found few birds but we had a wonderful, safe encounter (from a safe distance) with a momma black bear and two cubs.  What a wonderful sight, and we took some nice images with our long lenses.   I’m glad he went with his intuition and we went there.    Then Sunday, the same thing.  Where to go?  He decided on a place and we went.  I was objecting to one trail because a family with rather noisy children were going that way.  So we went out on a low tide sandbar and there had wonderful encounters, as in flying right over us, with several Ospreys, the beautiful bird of prey known as the fish eagle or sea eagle.  We got more pictures and felt so good out in nature with these beautiful birds who dive in the water to get fish for food.  He then suggested that we walk along the sandbar close to the shore and I was reluctant because it didn’t look like an easy walk.  We went.   I suddenly called to him to stop and look.  I had seen under some over hanging brush against the shore a beautiful deer, a doe, lying there in the shade just keeping cool in the warmth of the day.  She did not try to run away and we took some great pictures.   We walked on not wanting to disturb her further.   Two perfect days, fun and full.   He followed his intuition about where to go.  He stepped out his comfort zone just a little to watch the bears.  We followed his intuition to go out on the sandbar to see what we could see.  I stepped out of my comfort zone and walked with him along the shoreline.    Keep following your intuition, my friend.  I will keep pushing back the walls of my comfort zone. 
Be aware of the decisions you make and what happens when you make them.  Be aware of your surroundings.  You can learn to live a fuller, happier life.  And who knows how many deer and bears you have been missing. 
“Come Saturday morning, I’m going away with my friend.” 

It's not Easy...

To bring about a shift in our lives and the world we live in we will need to change some attitudes and ideas.  The old way was based on what I can get out of you and the planet.   It was competition that becomes so extreme that it turns into exploitation.  I know a man that runs his dogs in a protected growth area.  It is a forest within the city that is protected to provide animal and bird habitat and plant life.  This is convenient for him so he either doesn’t realize what those large dogs can do to the area or he knows and doesn’t care.   This is the kind of thinking that has governed what the large corporations have done to our planet and the people.  If it is the easiest way to make money then they will not worry about the effect it has on people and the environment.   
Thankfully there are individuals now and some companies who are starting to realize that the old way of thinking is not sustainable and people are starting to see through what they are doing.   I think it is interesting that these programs of starting to think sustainably are called green.   I know that is the color of plants and trees, but it is also the color of the American dollar.   Thinking ahead, realizing ones true motivations, and trying to change the competitive exploitation of the past are the things we need to teach our children.    I’m afraid in some cases they will be teaching us before we can get a grasp on an economy of sharing and collaboration.    Until the ideas become so common and people start using common sense it will probably be as Kermit the frog has said:  ‘It’s not easy being green’.

Are you Curious...

We are so in love with our reality, the physical, three dimensional reality where our bodies and our wars reside.  It is part of coming here to planet earth that we forget who we really are and that there is something else besides planet earth.   We get so into the fun and games and pain living here that we don’t realize there really is more.  Infinity, spirit, even God are names we use to describe what else is there just beyond our sensitivity.   The stories our religions tell us have helped keep our attention on the third dimension and they have always discouraged asking questions but haven’t you ever wondered what else there is?  And now with the changes taking place on the planet information on the ‘rest of it’ is becoming more available.   We forget when we were born what the rest of eternity was like because we would have a lot of doubts about our choices to come here.  However, “nobody knows” is no longer an excuse.   If you want to know more about the universe you can.  Spread the word.  

A Gift from the Past...

I am encountering an interesting phenomena.  Books and information that I had never been able to read or understand or even want to read suddenly are becoming must reads for me.  And it usually is through a synchronicity that I become reacquainted with this information.  In the past few weeks I took up a book by Dr. Wayne Dyer on intention because my friend had seen one of his shows on PBS.  Then from Dyer I was reintroduced to Carlos Castaneda which at one time I was not able to get into at all.   I am now learning from both of them.   When another puts words in a certain order I can see a picture and gain an understanding.  From Castaneda’s book, THE ACTIVE SIDE OF INFINITY, Castaneda’s teacher Don Juan describes when they met:  “When we met in Arizona, both of us crossed a peculiar threshold, ‘he continued’. And this threshold was not decided by either one of us, but by infinity itself.  Infinity is everything that surrounds us..... The Sorcerers of my linage call it infinity, the spirit, the dark sea of awareness, and say that it is something that exists out there and rules our lives.” 
continuing Castaneda writes: 
....”He answered that his steps and mine were guided by infinity, and that circumstances that seemed to be ruled by chance were in essence ruled by the active side of infinity.  He called it intent.” 
 “... the active side of infinity.  He called it intent.”     This was truly a gift from the past to me.  Carlos Castaneda died in 1998.  

Are you searching for meaning....

Life can feel unbearable at times;  Too much heat, too much cold, too much tragedy, too much pain.  Sometimes we seem have a tendency to go through life as sleepwalkers, not being very aware of who and what we are.  Viktor E. Frankl, a Neurologist and psychiatrist, spent time as an inmate in Nazi concentration camps and from that came his book, “MAN’S SEARCH FOR MEANING.”  
“Life is never made unbearable by circumstances, but only by lack of meaning and purpose.”
― Viktor E. Frankl
By taking responsibility for our lives we can find meaning but does it take life experiences like that of the holocaust and the concentration camps before we recognize the need for that meaning in our lives?  
Does your life have meaning?  Do you feel fulfilled with what you do and who you are?  What will it take for you to find meaning?