[viiagrag]

dear kenneth and everyone,
you may want to see this about st. francis:

http://www.rosicrucian.com/ami/amien...rt_2_chapter_7

"...constant contemplation of christ and unceasing efforts to imitate him in all things. these exterior stigmata comprise not only the wounds in the hands and feet and that in the side but also those impressed by the crown of thorns and by the scourging. the most remarkable example of stigmatization is that said to have occurred in 1224 to francis of assisi on the mountain of alverno. being absorbed in contemplation of the passion he saw a seraph approaching blazing with fire..."

(from max heindel's ancient and modern initiation)
your sharing re-st. francis was perfect timing - this link was waiting in thewings for where to place! nina

dear nina

i really don't know what to make of the stigmatist phenomena since i have a gut feeling that something is, well, perhaps 'extreme' would be a safe term.

i have a dear friend who belongs to a reactive splinter group described as "traditional catholics". from her i pick up a sense of a glorification in the punishment of the physical body -- via the attempted sharing of that pain and suffering of jesus on the cross which is considered to be of great spiritual merit. i stupidly mentioned to her that protestant's view of this attitude was that "the catholics never took jesus down from the cross." geri's response to my bit of innocently shared information was to scream, "get out of my life, mr.darkness...and take your demons with you!" (my hearing is not as it was before she slammed the phone down)

did i mention that she is a dear friend? so i did manage to patch up things after i told her that, according to "science", the whole linear time business was questionable and that jesus could still be up there after all.

extreme discipline of the body worries me. this is 3d. a 2d density animal has given up its life to enable our spiritual evolution ... and then we abuse it? except for the other-than-self-love aspect, such over-the-top rigid self-discipline resembles the high road to negative polarity!

it is dangerous to push oneself into a higher spiritual realm out of season. it is not for us to try to become "more spiritual". (this subject was discussed in earlier postings) we are here to grow potatoes in the good earth, not fragile orchid's in an isolated and protected greenhouse. (a ra compatible observation of stuart edward white in a precious little book of long ago, "the job of living"

good grief! i'm giving a heretical sermon! sorry.

here is something important from q'uo at llresearch.org

march 1st 1998 #69
###
the next time that you experience the catalyst of feeling that you are yet an incomplete spiritual being, remember the truth of subtracting, of dropping away that which is not. and as you experience those realizations that enable you to drop a part of the ego away, rejoice. you cannot make it happen. you cannot rush it. but there come moments that you perceive that you no longer have that pride or that particular fear. and of that you may be proud and happy, and if that is a distortion also, then so be it. for you are not here to go beyond distortion but to live within distortion by faith, to express within this confusion a trust in the plan that placed you here, a trust in the destiny that is absolutely yours. a feeling, that cannot come from proof or words, that all that is yours will come to you and that you do not need to reach but only ask “thy will for me today. what is it? and i will try my best.” that is all that you must do. so do not give up on the self because it continues to have distortions and confusions. that is all right. you are not supposed to be without illusion.

ah, precious incarnation. if we could but share with you the realization of the opportunity that is now yours. if we could share that perception with you fully, you would jump for joy. you would rejoice most fully and heartily, for here is the place where you choose your path by faith alone, and this choice, this expression of faith, however imperfect, creates within that permanent self, which is beyond space and time, tremendous changes in consciousness which you cannot achieve outside of this third density of yours. for in other densities the veil of forgetting is lifted, and what virtue is it then to realize that you are your brother and that all those things your brother has are yours? there is no virtue in perceiving the color red if your eyes are open. but, ah, with the eyes closed. here you are in a world of color with your eyes closed. for you are in the equivalent of a black and white movie. you are up there on the screen, and watching yourself the pigment of the movie screen is grainy, and some of the voices are distorted. it’s kind of a corny story, and it’s over too soon. but, ah, when you come out of the theater into the light and you look back on that black and white movie, you see the hope and the faith and the caring and the love and the compassion that you truly have had, with no reason for it but just that constant desire for love, to know love, to know the truth, to express that love. each of you is a gallant, gallant soul, and we both envy you and honor you, for you do much that you do not know. even as you suffer, you heal worlds.

so be content. that is what we would say to you. be content, and simply look carefully, and more carefully, and with more and more open eyes at all that there is about you.

[snip]

please check it out!

best! billyblabberbuttered, aka mr. darkness