In my highest dreams, Like Francis who gave In such reverence Such love begets love. Peace is consciousness
Peace in our thoughts, peace in our world.
Remembering Saint Francis In the fleeting but sacred moments I enjoy with the many birds that visit our garden sanctuary, my thoughts sometimes drift fondly to St. Francis of Assisi, well known as the beloved patron saint of animals, birds, and the environment. Pope Innocent III told Francis that God had given him the greatest gift of all—the grace to approach Him through His beloved creatures. In “The Canticle of Brother Sun,” written shortly before Francis passed on, one of his famous stanzas goes like this: “Praised be You my Lord through our Sister, Mother Earth who sustains and governs us, producing varied fruits with coloured flowers and herbs.” His boundless love of life was inclusive when he prayed, “My God and my all.” For him, every particle of the natural world was holy in its multiplicity of manifestations—in the reassuring ways Life reveals God’s Love. Perhaps the most famous incident that illustrates Francis’ enduring voice for nature and his great love for animals is recounted in the “Fioretti” (“The Little Flowers of Saint Francis”), a collection of legends and folklore that sprang up after the Saint’s death.1 In one of these stories, it is told that while he was traveling with some companions one day, they reached a place in the road where birds filled the trees on both sides. Francis told his companions to “wait for me while I go to preach to my sisters the birds.” The birds surrounded him, intrigued by the power of his voice. Not a single bird flew away from his humble, radiating presence. Thus, the famous “Sermon to the Birds” became a living legend. Naturalist John Muir put it perfectly when he wrote, “any glimpse into the life of an animal quickens our own and makes it so much the larger and better in every way.” My life is daily enlarged and made better by every feathered and furred encounter of grace and blessing. Thank you, sisters and brothers of the animal realm. Thank you, Saint Francis, for your unforgettable, spiritual legacy of love, joy, and humble presence. In today’s rapidly changing world, you help us to remember who we really are—divine beings surrounded by divine beings.
Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace.
O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
Other Animal and Nature Offerings: • Families in Spirit (discusses the peaceable kingdom, a peaceable earth, and the peaceable family) • Silent Communion with Animals • The Little Ones (Buddhist quotes on animals) • The Fellowship Of Joy-Full-Ness • The Essence of Spiritual Ecology
Endnote: 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_of_Assisi
Haiku poem and thoughts about peace © by Zane Maser, 2022. Photos gratefully used from Wikimedia Commons. All 2009-2022 rights of Zane Maser and SunnyCat Astrology reserved worldwide. Always am I grateful for the inspiration and editorial assistance from Chris Maser, my kind-hearted, generous soul mate.
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PRACTICE THE PEACEABLE WAY
Posted in Joy of Living, Mysticism, Nature, Animals, and Birds, Power of Consciousness, Spiritual Growth, Spiritual Haiku | Tags: animals, birds, communion, communion of spirit, consciousness, Divine Master, faith, forgiveness, garden sanctuary, Haiku poetry, hope, John Muir, joy, light, love, nature, oneness, oneness of Spirit, peace, reverence for nature, Saint Francis, Sermon to the Birds
SPIRITUAL REDEFINITION
REVERING ALL LIFE—NATIVE AMERICAN KINSHIP
BE ONE WITH SACRED EARTH—NATIVE AMERICAN WISDOM
Chief Luther Standing Bear
Other Love-of-the-Earth Offerings: • The Essence of Spiritual Ecology • Forests as Our Spiritual Inheritance • Oceans—Water Bearers for the Land • The Spiritual Journey of Salmon
© by Zane Maser, 2022. Quote from Chief Luther Standing Bear from “The Wisdom of the Native Americans,” compiled and edited by Kent Newborn. All 2009-2022 rights of Zane Maser and SunnyCat Astrology reserved worldwide. Always am I grateful for the inspiration and editorial assistance from Chris Maser, my kind-hearted, generous soul mate.
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Posted in Mysticism, Nature, Animals, and Birds, Power of Consciousness, Spiritual Growth | Tags: Indigenous Americans, kinship with all life, Lakota, life-giving forces, love of Nature, love of the earth, love of the soil, Mother Earth, mothering power, mysteries of life, Native Americans, naturalist, sacred earth, soil
THE SECRET OF ONENESS
God the Originator. God the Creator. God the Emanator. God the Expresser. God the Substance. God the Message. All God. All Good. What God is, we are. In God’s love of the Universe
Whatever name the Sacred speaks to you within
As human beings, we have become separated
Other Mystical Offerings: • “The Mystical I”—A Free E-Book
all writings except Joel’s © by Zane Maser, 2022. Photos gratefully used from FreeImages. All 2009-2022 rights of Zane Maser and SunnyCat Astrology reserved worldwide. Always am I grateful for the inspiration and editorial assistance from Chris Maser, my kind-hearted, generous soul mate.
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Posted in Joy of Living, Mysticism, Power of Consciousness, Spiritual Growth | Tags: Deity, finite existence, fulfillment, God, human beings, Joel S. Goldsmith, material existence, names of God, One Creator, One Life, one Self, oneness of life, Principle of Oneness, Source, Source of Life, spiritual reality of the universe, spiritual universe, state of oneness
“RUMI”-NATING IN QUIET REFLECTION
SPIRITUAL SHEDDING OF SKINS
“TAKE OFF THE MASK” by Jeff Foster
“THE EASTER OF OUR LIVES”
The following are a few paragraphs from Joel S. Goldsmith’s class, “The Easter of Our Lives.” It was recorded as part of the 1952 New Washington Series. As timely as the words were then and now, the message is a profoundly mystical one that is spiritually nourishing for those on the mystical path who have “ears to hear.” May the message be a blessing of inspiration and renewal. ”The celebration of Easter is not to commemorate an event, which took place two thousand years ago, but to reveal a principle; so that when we face a world filled with wickedness in high places, whether they be high spiritual places, high political places, or high commercial places, we can know the impotence of human scheming, human planning, human ambition, evil, degradation, and iniquity. We can stand fast in the faith that God Itself is our power, God Itself is our presence. It makes no difference what religious holidays we celebrate if we do not take from them the principle that they show forth. For us, the principle is all. … There will come a time in our experience when we are in that courtyard, and when we know that before us lies inevitability in one form or another. Before us stands the desertion of everything and everyone upon whom we have placed reliance, and we find ourselves alone with God. It is in that aloneness with God that we find the spiritual reality of wholeness and completeness. … The only reason we have the symbolic teaching of a Master deserted by his disciples is to show us that wherever our human trust has been, we might be prepared for that desertion. We can then take the higher step of witnessing the spiritual aid, the spiritual wisdom, the spiritual angels, which are sent to us and which never leave us or forsake us. Remember, “I will never leave you. I will never forsake you.” This is not a man talking. This is an angel, a guardian angel, God’s own witness within our consciousness saying that if mother or father deserts us, It will never leave us. We know through this symbolic lesson that there is That which did not desert the Master and which enabled him to reveal to the world that the desertion of human help leads to an elevation of consciousness necessary to the realization of divine help. … Remember the Easter lesson: “My kingdom is not of this world.” Remember the greatest blessing that has come to the human world has been the denial of the Master by those he fed and healed and by his very own disciples. The great lesson we must learn from the experience of Jesus is not to trust man whose breath is in his nostrils, not to place our faith in the outer world, but always to turn within and to become acquainted with our guardian angel, with the angel of the Lord, with our divine protector, with the very Christ of God, which has been planted in the midst of us since the beginning of all time.”
Other Mystical Offerings: • Easter is an Individual Experience • Easter Thoughts by White Eagle
blog post © by Zane Maser, 2022. The “Easter of Our Lives” tape was uploaded onto YouTube by Infinite Way International Hub. Deep gratitude to Wim Haverkamp for his tireless efforts and generosity in providing class tapes from Joel for all of us currently involved with a spiritual teaching of our choice. All 2009-2022 rights of Zane Maser and SunnyCat Astrology reserved worldwide. Always am I grateful for the inspiration and editorial assistance from Chris Maser, my kind-hearted, generous soul mate.
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Posted in Joy of Living, Power of Consciousness, Sacred Festivals, Spiritual Growth | Tags: aloneness, Christ, completeness, consciousness, desertion, disciples, divine help, divine protector, Easter, God, guardian angel, Infinite Way International Hub, Jesus, Joel S. Goldsmith, mystical path, Mysticism, religious holidays, spiritual aid, spiritual angels, spiritual principles, spiritual wisdom, symbolic lesson, the Master Jesus, wholeness
VALUE NOT VALIDATION
At some stage in our spiritual journey, attention, approval, recognition, and awards are transient moments that satisfy not the thirst, like a watery mirage on the desert. No presence of divine renewal and provision can be found in such external desires, only a manufactured value that is like dust blowing in the wind. Validation is the highly over-rated, quested after holy grail of outer acknowledgment in an attempt to find some measure of self-value and temporarily relieve the sense of emptiness. Such pursuits quiet, still not the Soul within us that is Self-content, Self-reflective, eternally Self-reliant. Nowhere on the globe is the grail cup. Everywhere on the globe is the grail receptacle. It is infinite and singularly expressed—as the reality of you. True value is intrinsic, already the whole of you in the invisible, secreted depths. The Treasure is before time and space, everlasting, uncontainable, outwardly unattainable, except as it is first achieved inwardly in Self-awareness. Who is the Master you serve? Whether validation or Value, what you serve serves you. Will it be that tangible dust disappearing through your fingers or the opened eyes that are witness to your real identity? Both Lords are outward evidence of the yet closed bud or blossoming rose of your state of consciousness. If you’re reading this, the likelihood is you’ve already heard the call inside. When the timing is right, the time is here. This eternal moment is an on-going sense of deep peace and harmony.
Other Mystical Offerings: • What Value A Gold Nugget? (seeking validation or wisdom) • Casting Outward, Casting Inward • The Treasure is in My Own Garden (the futile quest for the holy grail) • Heaven’s Realm is Within You
Text © by Zane Maser, 2022. Both photos gratefully used from FreeImages. All 2009-2022 rights of Zane Maser and SunnyCat Astrology reserved worldwide. Always am I grateful for the inspiration and editorial assistance from Chris Maser, my kind-hearted, generous soul mate.
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Posted in Moving Forward in Life, Mysticism, Power of Consciousness, Spiritual Growth | Tags: approval, awards, consciousness, eternal moment, external desires, grail cup, harmony, Holy Grail, inner peace, Mysticism, recognition, self-awareness, sense of emptiness, spiritual journey, stages of development, states of consciousness, the Self, unfulfilled, validation
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