"O Night Divine"

Christmas Eve 2010

 It is the night we celebrate the Birth of Christ
"O, Holy Night"

http://worriersanonymous.org/Share/Christmas/Holynite.htm

The story is told that he was conceived through Divine inception and was born to a husband and wife who had pledged to be the parents to this “miracle” sent from God.  Said to have been born in lowly circumstances because there were no rooms left in the Inn, he was welcomed into his earth life in a stable.  His arrival, however, had been heralded by amazing astrological signs that many said, were to signal a great Being’s birth.  Wise men had traveled from afar – from Egypt to Bethlehem – to bring gifts to this wonderful Child.  They had come a great distance, following the brilliant Light of a Star that seemed to light up the whole Earth. 

Like us, we reach for the Light that seems to shine down upon us from time to time and marvel that Life contains vivid moments where we feel uplifted and blessed.  When we come back "down to Earth," we feel humble in the face of the marvels we take so for granted: our human body at work, life pulsing through our veins, the life cycle that occurs year round when all of nature moves to a rhythm that is beyond our understanding, and the moments that take our breath away from small unexpected surprises of beauty and grace.

On that evening, too, the shepherds watching their flocks on the hillside not only could see the brilliance of the Light of that Star but swore they were in the company of a host of Angels singing their Joy at the long-awaited coming of this special Child.  Angelic voices resounded in the night and all who were there could feel Their presence among them.  They, too, knew something miraculous was occurring and wanted to move closer to the place where the Light shown most brightly.

Like us, we seem to hear the Inner Voice which guides us forward when we are afraid, assuring us that we will survive and, in fact, that we will thrive if we reach for the Unknown in trust and faith that “all is well.”  As we experience a breakthrough instead of the breakdown that we so feared, we seem to hear the “angels sing” celebrating our perseverance and our triumphs.  Then in those surprising moments we know we are not alone in the world.  We are touched by “The Spirit” – we sense the spiritual dimension that is closer than hands and feet, nearer than breathing.

His family was a normal human family, his father a carpenter and his mother was devoted to raising their several children, with Jesus being one among them.  They lived a simple life, once they had escaped the obsession of King Herod to make sure no one would replace him as “ruler.”  He, as later men after him, misunderstood why this One of Jesus had come.  They, because of their own conditioning thought he would want to be King.

Those of us who were brought up in a Christian church or live in a culture built on many of the Christian values, know Jesus was born and lived a fairly normal life until we read in the New Testament that he began his ministry when he reached 30.   We, who are familiar with the Bible scriptures know of  his  life among the Jews and the ancient prophecies that said a Messiah would come in time and would be sent from God and be the King of Kings!

Reading more widely in ancient manuscripts we find that there are other aspects of Jesus’ life that we hardly hear about in our mainstream churches.  Did you know that there are records that Jesus went on a long pilgrimage of many years between childhood and his return to Nazareth in his late 20s?  There are records in monasteries in Tibet that tell of one Spiritual Teacher who came and both taught and learned from the Spiritual Masters of other faiths there.   These Masters were as impressed with the first-hand knowledge of the Divine that Jesus had as did the Jewish priests when he visited them in the Temple when he was twelve.

These records, as well as records found among all the world religions with which we are acquainted, speak of spiritual knowledge passed down through thousands of years.  These are the Mysteries that individual men and women have discovered as they sought for Knowledge and Experience of the Divine and the origin and sustenance of both the Universe and the Earth.   Every several thousand year cycles, it seems that MORE knowledge is discovered and MORE becomes known and passed on to the next generation. 

Many of us have heard of Mystery Schools.  We can find that there were always those who had determined to explore the Inner Realms of Spirit and the closer we have gotten to contemporary times, the more these “knowings” have come more into common knowledge.  Even if you simply take the history of the founding of this Country, you find that many of the Founding Fathers had studied sacred writings and gathered together in groups to try to discern the Nature of Reality and the purpose for humans being on the Earth.  They brought with them a commitment to place into our government’s design certain Truths that, if followed, would create a new kind of government – based on freedom, equality, and justice for all.  They believed most assuredly that they were following the Hand of the Divine and could create structures that would encourage men and women to live together in “spiritual ways” – those that spoke of God’s Plan for all of humanity.

Let us return to the events of the One whom was said to be destined to be the “King of Kings.”  His life was an EXAMPLE of what it means to be a Son of God.  He also said that since we each have Souls – each born with a spark of the Divine inside – that we, TOO, are meant to be LIKE HIM.  He spoke of God as his “Father” and said that since we were all “God’s children” that we, too, could approach the Father and that if our intent was to know God directly that we, too, could become “One” with the Father.  Did he not say: “I and the Father are One”?   He said his life, intentioned and given by God to humanity, was meant to show us who we “really are.”  His Coming was not about fulfilling a prophecy that was aimed at one group of people, but to ALL PEOPLE.   And it certainly was not meant to create a Kingdom on Earth where some men would rule over others.  In fact, God’s Message as conveyed by Jesus was that LOVE was the underlying Principle in the Universe!

The Kingdom that Jesus spoke about – the Kingdom of Souls – is a spiritual Kingdom that is meant to be lived HERE on the earth plane.  It is not a faraway place where one goes when one dies.  God is not a faraway vague spirit or a “white man” on a “throne.”  The whole Universe is made of that Divine Essential Presence that IS GOD – and is LOVE - and IS in US. 

Have you been as enlivened as I have when watching  the youtube videos of the Flash Mobs singing the “Hallelujah Chorus”  this year?  Have you felt a thrill in your heart when people of every diverse walk of life and race and probably religion sang together?  Have you marveled at the resounding music that booms through places such as Grand Central Station, the food courts, Macy’s in New York and even our own Crown Center?  Have you watched the faces on the children and the elderly – the families together – and those who had come together to declare: “Glory to God in the Highest!  …and He shall reign forever and ever”?

On this night, in a land faraway, over 2,000 years ago, an incredibly important birth took place.  Through his life the one of Jesus grew up and lived in constant attunement with the Divine and by so doing, he grew in knowledge and compassion for humanity, and agreed to “give over” his Life to God.  He agreed to do whatever was called upon him to do, even sacrifice himself.  In his commitment to do the Will of the Divine and serve his fellow humans, he reached the Christ-Consciousness and became the One we call The Christ. 

I close with a quote from a body of Spiritual Teachings called The Aquarius Materials:

“Those of you who have lit your lamps are being pushed along rapidly.  For does not one flame quickly fan another?  You must stay this way, for these Energies (incoming 4^th dimensional LIGHT) are going to take you up, and expand you into that of a NEW BEING.  And this New Being is the Christ child within you.  This is the birth of YOU.”

                                            “The Resurrection Fire,” Chapter 11, page 73

Linked in LIGHT and LOVE and SERVICE

May you be touched by the Divine this holy evening...

Marcella Womack

Consciousness of The Divine - A Video Gift

A friend of mine on facebook posted this earlier today.  It is a video that captures so clearly both the miracle of the birth of Jesus, and the miracle of our being able to feel the TOUCH OF SPIRIT in our own hearts and minds. 

While watching this, I settled into the "silence" that is sung about in this favorite Christian hymn, "Silent Night," about the night of his birth.  And as I watched the familiar contemporary images of today, I knew that what I was feeling was right here inside me.  Perhaps it was that same hushed stillness which was present those 2,000 years ago when that particular baby was born.  It's possible, I think, since it is the same CONSCIOUSNESS of THE DIVINE that was present then as well as now.    

The contemporary spiritual teacher, Eckert Tolle, has gifted the world with a number of books on STILLNESS and the capacity we have for living in the now.  When practiced, he says we too can sense the DIVINE that It is always present inside us and in our world.  Stillness, silence, conscious intention to listen...conscious intention to perceive...

I invite you to hear anew this familiar song and enter into the Silence that is as old as Creation itself.  And when you do, however successful you are in going deeply into the STILLNESS, you will feel your consciousness touched. 

www.asilentnightmovie.com

It helps me to remember the other phrase: "Love Came Down at Christmas" and truly REALIZE that this Gift of Love was given for us both then and now.

Have a Blessed Holiday and receive into your heart this gift of LOVE that is given to all of the Earth's children. 

Light and Love to all,
Marcella

Never Giving Up

After three days of wrestling with trying to post my second blog and finding myself beginning to think that I would have to start with a whole new blog, I just kept on trying.  "Just one more time, I know it was here a moment ago..."  "Where is it hiding?"  "Why won't it take my edits?"  OOPS IT DISAPPEARED!

When I finally stumbled on a solution, it not only recaptured the copy of both blogs, but I found IT had taken my posting seriously and Blog 2: "Re-Awakening the Heart" was there 3 times!  The problem had been that it didn't show up when I kept trying the VIEW BLOG.

I suspect many of us over 70 (and a few younger Baby Boomers) also have trouble believing that the Internet is not just a new MAGIC LAND in which we have no GPS to guide us through its twists and turns.  It seems to be forever not doing what I tell it to do - or not doing what I think I am telling it to do.

I remember when I tried to write a business plan on my first computer in 1985.  After becoming baffled by the way the person I was paying to teach me seemed to be speaking a foreign language and his hands were flying across the keyboard so fast, I almost gave up right then and there.  I was confused about how this new machine could ever help me.  How could I learn the mechanics when I didn't even conceptually understood how it worked? 

I asked a friend to lunch, my treat, and asked him to explain to me how it all worked.  He was brilliant in his simple way of describing it by using a metaphor of a whole office that stored files and had lots of helps to get me more organized.  Mostly, he encouraged me to not give up and keep trying.

So I would sit for hours with my muscles tense, my eyes straining, and labored over the important words that would sell my business plan to investor.  I was terribly fearful, and kept thinking that I might lose all that I had written once I stepped away from the computer.  (It was like imagining gremlins living inside who would eat the words up or hide them where I couldn't retrieve them.  Do you remember those crazy gremlins during WWII who sabotaged the aircraft?.)  Therefore, I diligently kept saving and saving what I was writing and that particular computer DID SAVE IT by copying the whole thing at the bottom of what I had written the day before.

Don't ask me how that happened.  I'm still the learner after all these years and 1/3 of the time I still don't quite understand what I just did that made something "work" or "look good."  Just because I have persevered doesn't mean I understand everything I am doing when I sit down to start a project.

To continue: one afternoon when I was getting near the end of writing the business plan and was planning to print it out the next day for editing, I became obsessed that if I closed it, I would not be able to find it later.  My energy seemed to be attached to the machine and my body couldn't seem to decide to get up and move away.  I felt "held" and the more I sat there, the more fearful I became.  I knew EXACTLY how Jeff Bridges in the first Tron movie felt when he got sucked into that world and couldn't get out!  I knew I was being ridiculous, yet was afraid of doing the wrong thing and my weeks of work would be lost.  I kept sitting there, feeling helpless.

Finally, I called the friend who had been so helpful before and he could tell I was truly distressed.  He didn't live far away and said he would come right over.  When he walked into my basement office, I was relieved to see someone who could rescue me.  Even though I felt embarrassed by my admission that I felt unable to close down the computer because of fear, I knew he would understand and help me.

He put his hands on my shoulders and helped me relax.  He told me that he would sit down and make sure the file was saved and that it would be there tomorrow.  I couldn't have to be the one to turn off the computer by myself.  Then he stood up and took my hand and raised me out of the chair: "I'm going to fix this.  It will take you time to learn and you mustn't feel bad that you don't understand it all yet.  I will make sure the document is saved securely - and, then I'm taking you to a movie"

Over the years, he has remained a trusted friend and has come to my rescue a few more times when I needed "saving from myself..."  He helped me believe that I was smart and could figure out what I needed to do in numerous situations.  He trusted in both my capacity to learn and my ability to persevere in the face of the unknown.

So, here I am writing my third blog and realize that I often give myself lots of credit because I've mastered something, slogging through computer twists and turns, and find that little by little - especially in this new world of mass communication and the Internet that "never giving up" serves me very well.

(WHEW!)

Marcella Womack

Re-Awakening the Heart

December 9, 2010

I’ve been struggling for the last several weeks to respond to what we see going on in this country since the recent election.  Everywhere you turn, you see people at odds with each other expressing anger. Rep. Bart Stupak was reported to have said:  “Every boundary of decency has been crossed!”  People are divided and fearful.  Community panels discuss the lack of civility in our democratic process.  People are striking out in anger, marking turf and declaring “this group” or “that group” the ENEMY.  A friend of mine has written that he is consumed with anger when he reads about the growing divisiveness in the country because he feels “set up” by the media.  Others are fighting among themselves about whether or not President Obama is “political enough” when coming to reaching compromises that don’t meet the “political savvy” of some of his own party.  They seem to forget that when he was a candidate, Obama stressed the need to work together, to change the way business is done in Washington.  Where is our empathy for him as he faces the extraordinary challenges of being President at this time in history?

We in America pride ourselves on being independent, being successful, and winning.  We have lifted up the virtues of self-made individualism OVER one of the foundation stones of this Country that welcomes others from all walks of life, all religions, and from other countries who desire to have freedom to live and be free.  “They can come but don’t take up any space and detract from the freedom and prosperity that is MINE.” This flies in the face of the promise of the inalienable rights “of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” for all citizens. 

We are supposed to be a union; we are supposed to welcome “the hungry, the tired, the poor, the individuals yearning to be free” and welcome them into our communities.

We have turned our country into an US vs. THEM place to live.  We value winning and we denounce the losers.  The attitude is Winner Take All and rarely is the price paid for winning counted.  Can we survive this intensified state of the national emotional climate?  Will our selfishness backfire on us?  Will our greed collapse what was a thriving middle class?  Will we begin to pull into our communities / political parties / “labels” and see all others as enemies?  How hardened has become our hearts when we say: “Let them pull themselves up by their bootstraps.  It is their fault they are poor – it is their fault that they aren’t educated – it is their fault that they are weak and unmotivated.  NOT MY PROBLEM!”

Some forty years ago, a young psychologist examined the two operative styles typically expected of  men and women.  She knew that both sexes needed to be able to live in more healthy ways, other than one being the aggressor and the other being a passive recipient of that domination.  A new word was coined – assertiveness - that called for a new stronger style where both parties could be equal.  It involved both parties believing in their right to be (to speak, to behave) and a responsibility to be clear when communicating.  Equally important was the fact that both parties had to respect the other’s right to speak and to be.  This, when practiced, would result in both persons WINNING.  

The aggressor plays the win-lose game, the passive person plays the lose-win game, and the respectful/responsible – assertive - person works to create win-win situations. 

If we think only of ourselves and have no respect for the rights and plight of others, we may win, yet we rarely have the true trust of others.  We may “play along” but neither trust nor be loyal to the other because we know they only work for themselves.  Playing the win-lose game separates us from others in every way possible.  The person who is aggressive and thinks only of himself often ends up dissatisfied with his/her possessions and titles of power.  For those who have hardened their hearts against others, there can be a bleakness of spirit in their lives and often simply a greater hunger for more, more, more.  Material things can never be ultimately satisfying without love.

What will it take for us to pull together again?  Abraham Lincoln, in his first Inaugural Address in 1861 talked of the agonizingly difficult situation the nation was in with so many divided among themselves.  Pulling the union apart through secession was not an option, he said.  In closing, he said he knew how hard it was to have so many at odds with each other and hoped that in the long run, the “angels of our better natures” would help the country pull together. 

We seem to be creating an untenable situation in America, where people are divided against each other.  Truth is being distorted and it is hard to find out “real facts.”  Manipulating public opinion through advertising and campaign attack ads feed our fears.  I strongly suspect that this roiling anger comes from the fear and worry that is inside all of us when it seems like “our way of life” is falling apart. 

We need to bring more “heart” into our conversations – more empathy, more compassion, more patience, less judgment.  “Being our brothers’ keeper” is one of the simple maxims given to the world by Jesus, who became the Christ.  He assured us that God was indeed the Father of us all.  As we find LOVE swelling up in us during this sacred holiday season, let’s expand our awareness of blessing and sharing and think of all of our fellow citizens.  Not judging, embracing them in our minds eye, and recognizing that “We are all in this together…”

Marcella Womack

oh my goodness, I've done it!

Thank you to the several friends - especially Corrine and Wade - who encouraged me to blog and inspired me by their venturing into this "vague realm" where I am constantly learning (and getting stuck with not knowing what to do next!).

In the summer of 1983, I went on a rather unorthodox Vision Quest down to the Ozarks to spend a week with a friend in a cabin with no running water.  Located on the land that had once beckoned a bunch of people who wanted to form a new kind of community we called in those days a "commune," it was deep in the woods of southern Missouri.  By the early 80s, it had become a small center for women who wanted to get away, experience the land, and get away from the rigidity of patriarchy.  My friend had taken a summer to determine her own future as a single woman once more and had invited me down.

Little did I know that August of that year would be one of the muggiest and blistering hot months of that summer.  I came home with 283 chigger-mite bites AND a vision quest NAME.  The bites happened because I slept in a sleeping bag on the floor of the cabin and walked in the dusty, scraggly woods for a week going back and forth to get water from the main house.  I did this all while seeking (what seemed like endlessly) for The Great Spirit to give me "my spiritual name." 

By Saturday noon, I was driving up a rutted hill to get back on the paved road and was thoroughly disgusted!  I had not been given a name!!!  All I wanted was a simple vision and a voice booming in my ear with an exotic - or profound - or amazing new name.  Why hadn't I been heard?  Who was "up there"?  Were They listening?  Was I  unworthy?  Grumbling and itching, I turned onto the asphault road and abruptly HEARD my name.  I braked and sat there in shock.  Not only had I actually been given a name but I didn't like it!  I sat there for a few moments with my brow knitted and feeling grumpy. 

"Well..." I thought.  I liked part of it.  I liked the TRUTH-SEEKER part of it - but "relentless" sounded too harsh.  Why would there have to be an adjective in front of the noble sounding TRUTH-SEEKER?  The more I thought about it, the more I liked the second and third words...  I even thought about just leaving off the RELENTLESS part although that did seem a bit like cheating.  I had heard all three words loud and clear, so I took a deep breath and started for the several hour drive home.

It is only now, over a quarter of a century later that I fully appreciate the whole spiritual name given to me: RELENTLESS TRUTH-SEEKER.  I have discovered that I have a strong tenacity to keep looking until I find what resonates in my heart as "truth."  Now that I've lived fully so many years of exploration and discovery, I know that this relentlessness has truly served me well. 

A psychic once told me: "You only come to people like me after you've discerned your own answer, don't you?"  I shrugged because she was the first psychic I had ever asked for a reading, so how did I know I would do it next time or there would even be a next time?  I've discovered that she actually was right "on target" and I do follow my instincts and my intuition and seek out answers for myself.  And always, my "test for truth" is always to let my HEART "tell" me. 

So here I am, doing my first post on my new blog and will promise any who reads my words that I promise to have tested them for myself before I share them with readers.  I will never ask you to "believe me when I tell you...," but rather only ask that you pay attention to that which RESONATES WITH YOUR HEART.  It is always up to you to decide what is "truth" for you.

Dedicated to Love and Light and Service to humanity and the Earth,
I am Marcella, "relentless Truth-Seeker."