The Power of Being

“I cannot tell you any spiritual truth that deep within you don't know already. All I can do is remind you of what you have forgotten.” ~ Eckhart Tolle


Since the early days in the history of our world, mankind has been on an endless search of the self and God. Going back to ancient times, our need to connect to someone or something higher than ourselves has inspired individuals to create complicated rituals aimed at reaching a higher consciousness. In many cases, the universal need of establishing a connection has been exploited by institutions to exercise control over the masses and serve the personal agendas of a few. This process has been made possible by a far-spreading propaganda which has painted God as an inaccessible entity one must seek without, even if the Bible itself (Luke 17:21) teaches us that the kingdom of God is within us.

Our first step to finding God within is through acceptance – not necessarily acceptance of situations but of the way we feel about them. We spend a great portion of our lives fighting the wave, and rejecting the simple truth of just being. Once we overcome our obsession of controlling how everything should be, we allow our experiences to manifest directly from the mind of the Creator, pure and unspoiled by human assumptions.

If we can get to the point of looking at another form of life and just feel love toward it before our mind has the chance to add labels and shelve what’s in front of us within the compartments of an illusionary life hierarchy, what we experience in that moment is God’s love – unconditional, all-serving and powerful. Labels are created by the ego because of its desperate need to quantify something which cannot be quantified. An absence of labels robs the moment of illusion and leaves only the pure essence of it.

According to the Flower Sermon, toward the end of his life the Buddha took his disciples to a quiet pond for instruction. As they had done in the past, the followers sat in a small circle around him, and waited for the teaching. But this time the Buddha had no words. He reached into the muck, pulled up a lotus flower and he held it silently before them, its roots dripping mud and water. The disciples were greatly confused. Buddha quietly displayed the lotus to each of them, and in turn the disciples did their best to understand the meaning of the flower, without much success. When at last the Buddha came to his follower Mahakasyapa, the disciple suddenly understood. He smiled and began to laugh. Buddha handed the lotus to Mahakasyapa and began to speak. “What can be said I have said to you,” smiled the Buddha, “and what cannot be said, I have given to Mahakashyapa.” Mahakashyapa became Buddha’s successor from that day forward.

There are no labels to describe the energy of God, or Its power, just as there are no labels to properly describe who or what anything is. Simply being sets us free from the chains of illusion and the kingdom of ego.

09-09-09 ~ Ancient and Modern Beliefs

“9/9/9 - Cower in its path, only weeks away, no hiding from its wrath. Magic in this number reverts upon itself.” ~ Peter Schlosser (excerpt from his poem “Nine Nine Nine)


Since ancient times, the number nine has been the object of reverence and mystical speculation. Although the meanings associated with it vary slightly from one belief system to the next, the general consensus is that number nine symbolizes completion, finality and judgment.

Within the Bible, the number nine is quite prominent: Nine persons stoned, nine widows, nine people affected with blindness, nine more afflicted with leprosy. Furthermore, it is a factor of 666, which is 9 times 74. The number 999 is a mirrored image of 666, the number associated to the beast, thus representing the powers above and the divine judgment after the earthly illusion. The gematria of the word "Dan," which means a judge, is 54 (9x6). "" (tee orgee mou), my wrath = 999 (Hebrews 3:11). The solemn  (ameen), amen, or "verily," of our Lord, amounts also to 99, summing up and ending His words.

As one ponders on the meaning of ‘as above so below’, something else strikes the mind: if we add the digits of the diameter of the earth, moon and sun, they each add to 9. The sun - 864,000: 8+6+4+0+0+0=18=1+8=9. The moon - 2,160: 2+1+6=9. The earth - 7,920: 7+9+2+0=18=1+8=9.

Historically, ancient Chinese emperors associated themselves closely with the number nine, which appeared in architecture and royal attire, often in the form of nine dragons. The imperial dynasties were so convinced of the power of the number nine that the palace complex at Beijing's Forbidden City is rumored to have 9,999 rooms.

It is also quite interesting that on modern business recordings the number nine is used to end calls, and that September 9, 2009 is the 252nd day of the year (2+5+2=9), and even more mind boggling is the fact that no matter what number 9 is multiplied by, if one adds the digits of the result, the final number obtained by the addition is always 9.

Being raised in an eclectic spiritual home, the number 9 has always had great significance for me, as it represents the end of human judgment and the advent of divine law. A new beginning naturally follows the completion of a cycle, and it is meaningful that in Latin-derived languages, the words ‘nine and ‘new’ are extremely similar.

A date predominantly dominated by the number nine indicates a time when one can let go and let God; a time of renewal and hope; a moment to put unresolved issues to rest and finally reach closure. As the ninth day of the ninth month of the ninth year, today is the perfect opportunity to release unneeded baggage. And when our hands will finally be free from the weight we carry, maybe it will be easier to reach out to our fellow humans and lay a lasting foundation for new beginnings ahead.

All I Know I Learned in Bible Class

“Whatever the conscious mind thinks and believes the subconscious identically creates.” ~ Brian Adams

When I was a young girl and was attending Bible classes, I often sat in the room, bored to pieces, and listened to Don Battaglini explain how much we should guard our thoughts. “If a man thinks of having an affair with his brother’s wife”, he used to say, “He’s as sinful as the man who does”. As every know-it-all teenager in the room probably did, I also believed it was just bogus. By then, I had pretty much concluded that thoughts and facts were very different things. My ideas in that regard would change in the future.

Since even then I loved to write, but couldn’t really come up with a specific character, I became the protagonist of my own stories. On days when I had the time, I would write short stories, and then I would put them away. When I wrote them I became so attached to the situations – most of them rosy wishes of a teenage girl – that I often envisioned myself living the stories. Strangely, within a short period of time, most of them became reality. One of them, particularly, took the cake. After a trip to London when I was sixteen, I often fantasized about living there. In my daydream I imagined I had married an English guy I had met while he was vacationing in Italy, we had three children and lived on one of the streets near Victoria Station.

Then I grew up, I forgot my fantasies of London, and focused more on real happenings. I met my husband, moved to the States and settled into the life I’m currently living. It was a few years ago, on my way home, that I absent-mindedly glimpsed at the sign outside my subdivision while I waited to turn at the light…the name on it was the same as the street in London I had envisioned living on as a kid! It took my breath away. Suddenly, the events that had played a huge role in my life flashed in front of my eyes – I have, after all, married an English man, and we have three children; we don’t live in London on the street of my fantasy, but live in an area called by the same name.

Once I started paying attention, I realized that thoughts do indeed affect reality. Not all thoughts do, but only those we fuel with emotions and passions. We manifest that which we deeply fear, wish and expect, if we feel strongly enough about it. Without emotional charge, thoughts are just that – fleeting ideas streaming through.

That is why it is so important to watch our thoughts. If we train our conscious minds to accept only positive images, those are what we send to our subconscious mind for production. One important thing to note is that things do not instantaneously change the moment we alter the way we address our thoughts. First we must live through the residue of what we thought yesterday. However, if once we decide we are going to change our thinking we stick to our guns - regardless of the left-over trash we are still experiencing - eventually those thoughts will run their course, and all that will be left to manifest will be positive images.

So many years later, I finally understand what the good old priest was trying to explain. And that brings a smile to my face.