Dear Sisters and Brothers,

There is a tendency for us, especially when the going gets tougher than usual, to think in terms of war. This is a mistake. It is not accurate to con-fuse the unavoidable challenges with which we are continually faced on the Path with War. To do so only lengthens the time and, dare I say it, the pain of the struggle.

 

Walking the path occasionally involves protecting the Truth from the onslaughts of evil whenever and wherever. This is not war either. We are not trying to kill and dominate others. It is guarding and protecting the stronghold from the forces of Evil. There is no winning. There is no-thing to win. And Triumph, as Leo indicates, is unavoidable.

One of the earliest things we need to understand is that the struggles we face on the Path cannot be defeated, they can only be overcome by consciously and deliberately moving (evolving, maybe?) past them. To be in war with the delusions of the personality is to have already lost.

 

As I have previously noted,

 

Sacrifice means resurrection.

We die,

To be born.

Each night merges

Into a new dawn.

The pain comes from holding on.

 

Sacrifice is saying yes.

In the yes, we let go.

And

The pain ends

In the New.

 

It is, of course, true-

There can be no Phoenix

Without the ashes.

But

Phoenix focused, fused

To that rush and release,

Pain remains

Below

With the ashes.

 

And

Flying free

We wing

Joy filled- joyfully

Into New and formless

Light.

 

Sacrifice

Is the commitment

Of Summer’s full blown richness

To the gloriously incandescent furnace

Of Autumn’s kaleidoscopic color

And

The death white ash of Winter

From which has already

Sprung Spring.

 

Sacrifice is the doorway into Eternity.

 

Knowing this, of course, is not quite doing it. Still, this point is so simple that it is often overlooked by the personality who is struggling to BE the soul. Hence the usually long, not that much fun, path from the darkness to the Light.

 

There is great need for striving but not for all the strife. We simply need to do what a Soul would do in any given situation. It’s not, as you all know, letting go. It's taking over!

 

Of course, because we are so enchanted with war, and defeating the cursed enemy, this sounds to the personality as impossible. Which is the first thing that needs to go. As the Master Yoda pointed out “Don’t try, DO!”

 

P.S. Probably, for now anyway, expect disappointments or dumb choices. Its trail blazing, not a nice walk in the sun.

lots of Love and Joy

-tom