MY SOUL ENCHANTED

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DAFFODIL

The meandering path

to our destiny is

like a butterfly

here, there, everywhere

until depth and higher meaning is

discovered from within

then with wings open

guided to one glorious Daffodil

a soul fulfilled with purpose

uplifted with

passion over rationality

heart before head

faith over reason

by Deborah Morrison

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A Poem: RELIGION AND SPIRITUALITY

Organized religion

Prayers

Of set phrases

Forced ceremonials

Time-consuming rituals

Adherence to

Outward symbols

At the sacrifice

Of their inner spiritual meaning

Superiority of one creed

Over another, Power plays

Of one religion waging war

Against another

Spiritual brothers and sisters

Fighting with each other

Because there are differences of opinion

About what is the Truth

War, falsehood, hatred, and intolerance

Often preached in the name of religion

With the honour of God

And the compassionate service of

Humanity

Set aside

 

Love has vanished altogether

Reducing religion

To a mere profession of creeds and dogmas

A “profitable” mega-business

 

Words replace deeds

Religion, no longer concerned with

Knowledge of one’s Self

And union with Divine origin

They seek God in the observance

Of outward means

Repetition of verbal formula

Pilgrimages, Temples, Churches,

Amidst unfeeling hearts

Reveal the depth to which

Religion may descend

Many God-gifted ones of the past

Have turned away from

Fossilized religion

And ritualistically encoded “Truth”

It is a sorrowful spectacle

And I ask

“Where is love? Where is Truth?”

 

Slavery is not the aim of religion

Not to bind, but to set humanity

Free from its slavery

Nature does not distinguish

Between one’s race or religion

All belong to one humanity on earth

All are equal

 

Together

We learn the same lessons

From the only true teacher

Universal Cosmos

 

Where no distinctions are observed

Such is the true essence of Spirituality

Care for One and All

Love each other and

Learn that all faiths are to be

Respected

From the perspective that

There is no religion without a

Spark of Truth in it

The essence of Spirituality

Is radiant throughout

The teachings of all the

Great Scriptures

 

The Master-Souls teach

There is One Being

One Divine Light of Truth

That guides humanity

Such is spirituality

The quintessential reality

Of Love and Truth

Of compassion

And I know that

“Here” is Love, here…

Where the sound of silence is heard

And the soul is carried across

This Ocean of nescience

At-One-ment

Such

Is

Love, Truth

 

From:

 

 

Amazon.com | Amazon.ca

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The Writing Process: The Decision of Fiction or Non-fiction

At the pre-writing stage, Debby and I contemplated whether to write a work of fiction novel or to write a contemplative non-fiction book. Our decision to select fiction is both fascinating and revealing of deeper motivations.

Either way we knew that our writing would delve into spiritual insights and mysteries, since that focus intrigues us. If we wrote in a non-fiction, contemplative style we felt that would hinder our creative muse. We would likely slip into essay style writing based on our numerous university papers written over the years but we wanted to write with creativity and imaginative play. This was the primary reason for our final decision to select a narrative style. Some early attempts to express our ideas in non-fiction were limiting to our creative expression on this subject. So we soon turned to the fiction narrative.

The only problem is that most books related to our genre of mind-body-spirit are written in non-fiction. Authors such as Deepak Chopra, Thomas Moore, Eckhart Tolle, Jack Kornfield, Shakti Gawain and others have written many non-fiction books, which is why we first thought of writing in this style. The combination of spiritual wisdom combined with a narrative voice is not too common, though some writers have been highly successful in it such as Dan Millman, James Redfield, Carlos Castañeda and Robin Sharma. Having read these authors, we realized narration and spiritual wisdom can work together to create an enjoyable story with insights for our readers.

The two styles also tend to give preference for either the head or the heart. A contemplative work requires a logical construction and proper reasoning in order for it to be effective. On the other hand, with fiction you can delve into emotions and the heart with your imagination having freedom. We soon also realized our message involved the human heart and it was more suitable within a narrative instead of a contemplative style. What was our message and how could it be best communicated in fiction than non-fiction?

Non-fiction is better suited for exploration of the meaning of life but it is not an experience of life. It can discuss what it means to be human, though it is more difficult to offer human experiences like those found through the journey of characters in a novel. The problem is that we can write to awake consciousness in another person, yet words can illuminate and they can also distract from direct experience. We can get caught up in the words instead of the reality expressed through them.

The story of Mahakasyapa and the Golden Lotus Flower illustrates direct experience versus mental filters. On Vulture Peak, monks had gathered to hear a sermon by the Buddha but he remained in silence, holding a Golden Lotus in his hand. All the monks sat with dour faces. The silence and intellectual seriousness was broken by Mahakasyapa who merely smiled at the beauty of the flower. In his smile, he expressed a direct realization, unfiltered by his mind attaching values or meanings to the flower before him.

Through the narrative format, we wanted the audience to be engaged through direct experience of each character’s journey, including their pain, struggle and even doubts. A novel has the great capacity to arouse empathy through our connection with its central figures. Since our writing dealt with pain, suffering and the connectedness at the core of our being, narration would best allow our readers to be placed in these experiences.
Our writing explores the central mystery of what connects all life. That mystery is beyond thoughts. We can try to point to it with metaphors, yet it is about the journey to the centre, to our own centre within. The journey can be presented convincingly in a narrative. We also wanted our readers to draw their own conclusions from experiences presented to them, instead of delineating those experiences through our own understanding.

The journey of the characters in our novel shows that life is at times sorrowful, full of pain, loss and even death. Yet the central problem is how to accept this sorrow instead of trying to resist it. For Logan Andrews, our protagonist, it’s even a more fundamental question: Can I accept my pain and hurt in life? This requires great courage since you then accept the world as it is, including the pain in your own life.

In Eastern thought, we have the ideals of Jivanmukt, a liberated person engaged in life, or the Bodhisattva, an enlightened person alleviating suffering in the world, which demonstrate that a transcendent experience can be lived out in real life. A jivanmukt and Bodhisattva have both experienced suffering and in many cases at the core of life.

Physical existence is temporal and that creates a kind of suffering, yet to recognize this condition can be an acceptance of life that goes beyond pessimism of earlier stages of our growth. Yet to get to this point is not easy and some like Logan may seek to escape from the suffering in different ways. For Logan that escape is through death, yet he also wants to renew his life, and find peace and love within his heart. That struggle can be magnified in a work of fiction, which would be difficult to capture in non-fiction writing.
The journey highlighted in our novel gives the reader an experiential understanding of wisdom expressed throughout our story. Lived experience can be discussed in non-fiction writing, yet it becomes most real through the story of each individual character in Nexus.

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Anti-hero as Hero: The Case of Logan Andrews

In literature as in life, heroic qualities are found not in a perfect human being, rather they can lie hidden in a person who on the surface does not exhibit obvious heroic qualities. The anti-hero is a troubled individual who can be filled with fears expressed in frailties and anxieties, unlike a traditional hero who stands resolute with clear conviction, idealism or courage. In this way, an anti-hero is more true to life than an exalted hero. A hero emerges through the conquest of fears, no matter what the outcome. We often confuse public success with being a hero when in fact the heroic act started with overcoming personal fears.

We may dream of emulating heroic virtues in our lives, yet most of us can more readily relate to the anti-hero figure, since s/he is a figure not on a pedestal but walks among us. Yet the anti-hero can turn out to be a hero through death and resurrection of the self.

Logan Andrews, the anti-hero of Nexus, is conflicted after the loss of important relationships in his life. He is an awkward, alienated, passive and in some ways pitiful character, whose journey shows the conflict between self-destruction and a disordered attempt to reclaim life.

His journey can end in one of two ways: either in death or in final resurrection. His journey through many initiations makes him a hero because he struggles within himself. In this way, he evolves into a pathetic hero, not a hero in the traditional sense but a hero fit for a postmodern understanding.

Logan’s primary journey is to lose himself and the self-protection he has built up around him to guard against possible hurt and pain. Of course, such walls also disconnect him from life and human connections. So a transformation is needed at the level of conscious awareness, if he is to succeed in reconnecting and breaking the walls around his heart.

Even as a anti-hero, Logan commits some heroic acts. The most important being to trust his intuition and begin his journey to a spiritual retreat. There he meets his ex, Sarah McMaster, and old passions are ignited with potential to destroy or to fulfil the destiny of the two soul mates.

Subconscious forces are at play and conscious intentions cannot control energies unleashed, whether of sexual attraction or vengeful anger. Conscious intentions are not running events at the retreat, subconscious motivations have great powers.

The teachers offer guidance, yet they can only show the way. Each character makes their own journey. The greatest challenge for Logan is the struggle between his higher and lower consciousness. If he fails, he gives himself to the dark forces within himself and if he succeeds he experiences a glorious life free of doubts, anxieties and fears through a transcendent experience of a connection to all life.

He needs to find out what’s ticking inside him. If he can do so then he erases his fears and anxieties and in the process he can reclaim his life. Otherwise, he loses the gamble and is conquered by lower forces. Then he will go down the path of self-destruction.

He needs to know his centre, otherwise he will be torn apart in his psyche. Nirvana is a psychological state untouched by desire, fear or compulsion. So as one dies to the old states of mind, a new consciousness can emerge. If Logan succeeds then he transforms in his life from an anti-hero to a hero. Even if he fails, he still becomes a hero through his struggle with life no matter what the outcome.

Logan is a hero, since he took the journey and went through difficult initiations. Life can have many struggles, great or small, yet as anti-heros in our own lives, we cannot give up. We have to go through our own initiations and develop courage and confidence to live our lives with peace, love and centeredness.

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A GANDHIAN COMMENTARY ON THE INNER VOICE

In our novel NEXUS there are several situations where one of the characters will follow their higher guidance in order to take appropriate action in a situation. Also, to apply the process of following our higher guidance in our day to day lives will invariably result in increased non-violent approaches to resolve conflicts with more peaceful outcomes to experience.

The following is an excerpt from some of my relevant research about Gandhi and the inner voice, that may expand understanding about higher guidance.

“The only tyrant that I accept in the world is the still small voice within me”

Mahatma Gandhi, Spiritual leader who showed importance of non-violence. His ideas influenced the American Civil Rights Movement and various other non-violent movements throughout the world. At the core of non-violence is non-cooperation with an unjust system and to listen to the “still small voice within”

It must be stated at the outset that according to Gandhi, the inner voice cannot be fully defined in words. However, he attempts to describe the inner voice in order that our understanding of it may be somewhat enhanced. He explains that Truth is what the inner voice reveals. Furthermore, the inner voice may be described as one’s conscience. Gandhi refers to the inner voice as a Truth force or Soul force that has the power to elicit the Divine in us. He urges his fellow humans to follow the inner voice as opposed to following the dictates of modern civilization. This voice would affirm our commitment to non-violence, since its compassionate quality will lead us to peaceful solution to conflicts in life. So the purpose of listening and responding to the inner voice is for positive, progressive reality transformation.His response to the inner voice may be described as a kind of spiritual insight, that enhances one’s sense of discrimination; to know right from wrong, as well as when and if one should take action.

Gandhi’s most vivid description of the inner voice was given at the time of his decision to undertake a fast in 1933:

“For me the voice of God, of conscience, of Truth, or the inner voice, or the ‘Still Small Voice’ mean one and the same thing. I saw no form…what I did hear was like a voice from afar and yet quite near. It was as unmistakable as some human voice and definitely speaking to me, and irresistible. I was not dreaming at the time I heard the voice. The determination was made accordingly, the date and hour of the fast were fixed.”

With the above quote, we are provided with insight into the workings of Gandhi’s mind, especially in terms of his understanding and direct experience of the inner voice. The inner voice may further be described as not a message, but rather a compulsive self manifestation of Truth which has to be obeyed, as the only true way to act in a situation. Thus, one becomes impelled to action by the inner voice rather than compelled to action as a response to one’s external environment.

Gandhi feels that intuition (inner voice) is the heart of reason. Reason however, can become the crowning glory of the inner voice; for Gandhi advocates that one check (by means of reason) the actual results that are accomplished. He would, however, have us give primary attention to the means (a non-violent response led by the inner voice as “the mystery of all mysteries”). Gandhi says that “the inner voice does not suppress reason but rather sanctifies reason”. He described the inner voice as follows:

“Even as the bestirring of true love necessarily expresses itself in as many (sometimes unconscious and effortless) ways, so too a person who has heard even a whisper of the inner voice cannot but follow it.”

Guided by the inner voice, Gandhi expressed his heart’s compassion and decided to undertake other fasts as form of self-sacrifice through which he wished to arouse compassion in other people’s hearts. He fasted many times to end bloodshed between Hindus and Muslims even in his last fast when he was seventy-eight.

Many leaders since Gandhi have also turned to non-violence to resolve conflicts, such as, Dr. Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela and the Dalai Lama. The basis of non-violence comes from the idea that rulers derive their power from the people. If people no longer support an unjust system, then it will fall. Of course, non-violence can be applied in areas outside politics, including in families, schools and local communities. As Gandhi points out, its application becomes clear when we listen to our conscience.

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WILD ROSES

Make my mind still as a calm lake without waves

thoughts clear as crystal water

by Your grace open my heart softly

like petals of a wild Rose

scent my words with Your sweet inspiration

let all my cares drift into the mists

that I may share Your ways of wisdom

for that which grows wild, free

is always more beautiful

than that which is cultivated,

may creative, natural, spontaneity

be the still small voice

that guides my way

in humble gratitude

I arise to Your sacred ways

oh Great Spirit

source Eternal

by Deborah Morrison

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HEART CHAKRA

Some themes of paramount importance in NEXUS are compassion, love, and heart centered living, so I thought it would be relevant to expand on some ideas about the heart chakra (a metaphysical, energetic centre located near the heart).

The Heart Chakra is associated with the colour green and/or pink. This love centre of our human energy system is often the focus in bringing about a healing in an individual.

Thus the words “love heals all” have great truth.

Hurtful situations that can affect our emotional well-being are divorce or separation, grief through death, emotional abuse, abandonment, and adultery etc. These are wounding to the heart chakra.

Physical illness brought about by heart-break require that an emotional healing occur along with the physical healing. Learning to love yourself is a powerful first step in securing a healthy fourth chakra. The “wounded child” resides in the heart chakra.

HEART CHAKRA

Colour: green, pink

Physical Location: centre of the chest

Spiritual Lesson: forgiveness, unconditional love, letting go, trust, compassion

Physical Dysfunctions: heart conditions, asthma, lung and breast cancer, thoracic and spinal problems, pneumonia, upper back/shoulder problems

Mental and Emotional Issues: love, compassion, confidence, inspiration, hope, despair, hate, envy, fear, jealousy, anger, generosity

Information stored in Heart Chakra: connections or “heart-strings” to those whom we love

Area of Body Governed: heart, circulatory system, blood, lungs, rib cage, diaphragm, thymus, breasts, esophagus, shoulders, arms, hands

Gemstones and Flower Essences: gemstones and flower essences that stimulate, cleanse, energize the heart chakra are:

Gemstones: Malachite, Emerald, Rose Quartz

Flower Essences: Holly, Poppy, California Wild Rose

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Cast of Characters in Nexus

Logan Andrews: Main character, mid-20s, journalist, depressed and suicidal

Sarah McMaster: Main female character, mid-20s, Logan’s ex. She leaves Logan for Kurt

Celeste: Violinist, charming teacher, 45 year old, insightful and thoughtful

Chandra Singh: Retired lecturer, 50s, insightful spiritual teacher, Celeste’s partner

Muriel: Almost 60, lonely widow, grandmotherly figure with warm eyes

Steven: Mid-40s, millionaire, an unethical businessman

Kurt: 32, current boyfriend of Sarah

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A Poem: APOLOGIES OF LOVE

I thought love could be controlled
It cannot
I thought that love would adapt to me
it does not
needs, expectations, societal
coerce
obscurity of grey cloud
cast in the azure of a warm summer sky
through silences
between the spoken word
illuminates all that is done
manifest reality, acts and intentions
seen in a new light
deeds of omission and commission
all that is nearest now
contrasts become defined
a whisper of emergence
is yet unnoticed
all rests on contingency
of the superstructure
of what is supposed to be
are we loving yet?
emulating even an insignificant degree of Truth?
an appropriate future should form
should it not?

a process even though slightly
a compromise
of hearts desire, an apology
heart shattering but nevertheless prolific
a do not disturb or disrupt
policy is well maintained
and the distance kept and enforced
is so utterly acceptable
submissions of nebulous order
versus
the spontaneity of authenticity
perspicacious
yet paradoxically
corrosive and carcinogenic, in a spiritual sense

in essence
a soul fragmented
but invisibly so
besides the visual effects
are purely natural,
the flower
merely blossoms then falls
to die, isnt it supposed to be so?
the historicity of the flower
had a linear natural pattern
to display, each one an experience unique, progressive
the rhythms of time, that is the beauty of it.
the flower once had
petals profuse dynamic
prolific
as they intertwined
into an abundance of a foreverness of one.
splendor blossoms
with the transcendence of eternity
the beauty was brief, but wasnt the depth profound?

as the quest toward mundane success surfaces
apparently and with deliberance it
severed the blossom from where it had been
the fall was swift, silent
natural yet also
with finality. was it spiritual? logically
argued that it is natural and therefore to be
accepted with grace
as grace
all I do now is wonder what kind of grace
impositional? Divine?
can the dew of heaven
bless this union now?
the nectar of Divine Will is sublime,
devotion, pure and lovely
yet the waters separate from the sky
in the horizon, just look into the distance.
my hand trembles before such a destiny
or before such a tragic comedy.

to think that love could be controlled.
the best part of love does not answer
to any conscious intent
can you see it too?
or is it just a peculiarity of perception?
nevertheless
I hope and pray
that you will accept
my most humble and sincere
apologies
of
love.

by Deborah Morrison

From Mystical Poetry

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