• by Norman Paulsen, Sunburst’s founder • As little children, we are each born with imagination. When I was a child, my imagination created playmates for me! I made them so real that when the game was over, they were still there. They sometimes came home to supper with me, or were waiting the next day. I lived in the world of imagination as a boy. The world of imagination is the house of God.
Each one of us has this as a child, but most of us lose it by the thoughts we collect, perceived through the five senses. The accumulation of this data builds up a nucleus called the ego, which says: “I know because I saw, heard, felt or tasted. I know that I am because I see that I am.” The world of imagination flees from these reflections recorded in the ego-mind.
But if you seek to find your true nature, you discover that this nucleus of ego cannot truly tell you who you are, where you came from, or where you’re going. Following the interior command instilled in you by your true Self, you search here and there, until you find what you think is Truth. If it brings you to the experience of light, peace and bliss, then you have found a path of liberation, a way to regain your true spiritual nature, your divine heritage.
Upon the sensing of inner light, ego may become excited and now desire to use this experience to gain more power for itself, declaring, “I’ve seen what no one else has seen, therefore I must be something better.” Thus springs forth a spiritual ego, a stumbling block. By refusing the spiritual ego, and living in virtue as the ancients have counseled, we continue our path toward the light.
By offering selfless service every day, and desiring to know Truth, we eventually come to that place on the path where the light is within our reach. On that day, ego is put to the test: is it willing to give all it has and enter what it doesn’t yet know? Could this be its annihilation? On that day, if you are able to give an answer that is unselfish and full of service, faith, and love, you enter that light of truth and put on immortality. You meet the true Reality, the infinite Holy One on his own threshold, the sea of eternity. You experience love indescribable and ever-new—not a love that reaches a pinnacle and descends, but is forever reaching higher pinnacles.
Thus man and woman can ascend together, hand in hand, and put on their true spiritual selves. Once doing this, the false self, the ego, has lost its argument. Now you are actively reflecting your true nature, your true home. When you have a world in which everyone has reached this state, consider the power, the peace, the grace! This is what Jesus wanted to see, for surely mountains will move, but more important than moving mountains, spirits can be led to eternal light.
•by Dawn King• The divine dream of Sunburst is a world as it should be. The igniting energy of Sunburst is a consciousness that welcomes everyone who is willing to try living it, free from judgment. Sunburst is a place (Sunburst Sanctuary) and a people, holding the seed of this energy and journeying together while awakening into this consciousness. Sunburst draws us all towards our best behavior, and the courage to live without fear. The aura of Sunburst embraces us with unconditional love and acceptance through sincere caring and guidance for living.
Here we find inner strength and abilities we didn’t know we had. Sunburst, the Sanctuary and the consciousness, offers us an uplifting opportunity to reach for our very best self, our pure Self, the divine part of us that gives good guidance, joy, and a satisfying fulfillment to our days.
Spirit is alive in us, and this life is ever-changing. Thus, Sunburst is a fast spinning vortex. Over time, we each find personal tests pushing us to our limits. Sunburst founder, Norman Paulsen often said that we have to run to keep up with Spirit.
Visiting Sunburst Sanctuary can be a retreat from worldly goals; however, long term living at Sunburst’s Sanctuary only works for those who can put the small self aside for a life of service. Those who’ve resided with Sunburst for decades have the foremost goal of 1. developing spiritually; 2 supporting the mission and message of our founder and line of teachers; 3. supporting the work of Sunburst through daily group meditations and other activities.
Founder of Sunburst, Norman Paulsen tells us: “As each and every one of us moves toward heaven, toward the blessed experience of immortality, we will begin to feel God’s power in us, more and more. He tests each one of us to see how much we can take, like thrusting steel into the fire again and again to increase its temper. At times, you may cry to God, ‘Why am I so mistreated? O God, is your hand so set against me?’ “If you listen to the silence, you will hear God saying, ‘I want you so strong for future work that no matter what happens, you will never break.’ God cannot pour down his life and light, power and wisdom unless he is sure that the vessel is prepared to hold it. That is why the path to heaven is difficult, and described as a razor’s edge.”
Over fifty years of many people’s desires for realizing the Divine within, and those same individual’s selfless service have helped shape what Sunburst can offer today. Some of those people came and left; some are still residing at the Sanctuary. Meanwhile, the divine dream that is Sunburst, as projected by Paramahansa Yogananda and Norman Paulsen, lives on and is a blessing for all.
Paramahansa Yogananda wrote: “The greatest influence in your life, stronger even than your willpower, is your environment. When you are having difficulty in trying to change for the better, spiritual company and good environment are essential.”
•by Craig Hanson•Sunburst’s Founder, my spiritual teacher Norman Paulsen when he was a young man, lived at the Mount Washington monastery with his spiritual teacher Paramahansa Yogananda. During the final year of Yogananda’s life, he invited Norm out to a desert retreat where he’d been writing. There, one early evening, they walked around the property. This was a special time because it was an extended goodbye from Yogananda to Norm. He would be leaving his body soon, and Norm held his arm as they walked, because Yogananda was having difficulty walking.
Yogananda turned to Norm, “Promise me that no matter what happens to you in this life, you will never give up seeking God. If you get knocked down, get right back up…and keep walking.Will you promise me that?”
Norm replied, “Yes sir, I will.”
“That’s good.Good.”
How many times in our own lives have we been challenged, faced what seemed like insurmountable obstacles. Yet we found a strength from within, a power beyond ourselves? A series of coincidences, it seems, may get us through this difficulty and on to the next challenge. I was recently remembering my own challenge.
The third day after coming to the Sunburst community, I was called upon to spend the day in San Bernardino loading a flatbed trailer with heavy produce gondolas and equipment for a new Sunburst store in SantaBarbara. On the way back that night, when we got to Carpinteria, in the distance I could see a column of flames leaping up the side of the mountain, above Santa Barbara. I thought, “Oh no, what’s happening?” I thought Sunburst farm may have been burning.
We were pretty exhausted, having been working so hard, and this was my only third day in this group. But here we were on Mountain Drive going into this fire zone about ten o’clock at night. I spent the whole night working on the fire line in a dream-like state, beyond exhaustion.
In the morning at the top of the hill, I collapsed with a group of other brothers. We could hear the helicopters swirling overhead and the relief crew coming, the hotshots from the Chumash Native Americans.
While going down the hill to the high school where we got breakfast, I asked one of the elder brothers, “Is this how it is every day in Sunburst?”
He smiled and said, “Oh, sure, yeah!”
I thought, “Oh boy, I’m finished…I can’t do this…Oh boy!”And on the fourth day, I packed up all my belongings and was walking down Gibraltar Road in the fog thinking, “I can’t be here anymore. But,” my mind went on, “what am I running to?”
I started walking back up the hill, and got above the fog line. In a minute I turned around and started back down the hill. Yet again I stopped and started walking back up. Finally, I sat down and said to myself, “Wait. Where are you running to? Where are you going?Just open your heart. Open yourself.”
So I walked back up the hill to be with my spiritual teacher, and through the many joys and many trials since then, I’m still trying to live what my teacher taught me. The same message so long ago that Yogananda told Norm, “Never give up!” That was something Norm exemplified, and instilled in me and others. It’s a wonderful quality because it takes us out of limited selves and into the pure light.
• by Sandy Anderson • “Nature, the mother of life forms, in her infinite variety is the supreme teacher. Study her, for she springs forth from the imagination of our Creator. More time should be spent deeply studying, observing and meditating on nature. The mother of all life forms exists in the forests and the valleys, the mountains and streams, in wind and sea. Be alone in nature. Meditate there, with all her life forms, and listen.”– Norman Paulsen, Sunburst Founder
Being the kind of a nature spirit that I am, I have definitely taken Norm’s words to heart. One of the many ways that I’m fascinated by nature, is observing the bees. My husband Steve and I are beekeepers, and we do study our bees. Steve first showed me how to do that, it was fascinating.
One day, I saw him get down on his knees in front of one of the hives. He was gazing into the entrance of the hive. Most people wouldn’t really want to do that because they’d be afraid to get stung. But Steve is studious, loving and trusting of our bees. And they are very tolerant of us, so we don’t get stung when we do that.
By looking in, we can actually see how many bees are in the hive, and how many frames are full of bees. The bees will hang down to the very bottom of the frame, if it’s full. And you can see if there’s a lot of honey in there; the honeycomb will be dripping. Keeping bees is a wonderful adventure and many people say it’s a lifetime study to learn everything about bees.
I feel the same with God-consciousness; it’s the essence of our study in this lifetime. Though there’s many fascinating things in nature, the greatest mystery behind all of nature is Divine Spirit, the Creator. That’s who and what we really are longing for; that’s the mystery that we really want to unfold on a deeper level in our lives.
Norm also says: “Divine Spirit wants to be the caretaker of the Earth through the hands, feet, hearts and minds of men and women—to feel the good Earth beneath many feet, breathe the clear fresh air, swim in the pure waters, and run in the forests. It desires to feel and look upon the brilliance of the sun, and find divine love within one another, realizing all the time that it created all this superb beauty!”
•by Paul Custer•First, I want to take a closer look at the concept of virtue. Existing within each one of us is the radiant light of God, known as our pure Self. It’s already there. It’s not outside you, it’s inside of you. And that radiant sphere of light that’s in you contains all of the virtues, each spinning perfectly, producing a vortex of pure radiant light.
Consciousness of any virtue is the understanding of how it works, what it does, how it manifests, how to bring it through your being, how to share it with others. But the feeling of that virtue is love. Its fruits are freedom and joy.
Love is the weave that binds all of the virtues together, allowing them to work in conjunction with each other, to support each other, to amplify each other. And love gives us understanding, if we’re applying that virtue to the best of our ability. It’s one thing to understand the concept or the consciousness of a virtue, but as you’re applying it, you can literally feel what it’s doing. You can feel the effect it has on others. You can feel the effect from others as they express virtue towards you. If you approach this by realizing that virtue already exists in you, in its purest form, then you are simply allowing it to shine forth.
As with every virtue, when you’re practicing and using Honesty for example, your intent is as important as what you say—the thought process and the consciousness behind what you express. Virtue itself is a form of life force, a true force of nature, the force to create. When you express virtue, you create a beautiful, enduring world. It has the ability to last through eternity.
The integration of honesty/truthfulness into your life has three unique parts. First is the thought process or intent behind it, the consciousness that you’re using to energize that force. Next is your ability to express it in words, in spoken concept, to deliver it as a beautiful message to others. Even the simplest thing can carry the signature of that pure life force.
The final integration is when you align your intent with your words and allow them to manifest as actions. Your actions are the final piece that demonstrates to the Universe, not just to other individuals but to the Universe, that you are aligned with the virtue that’s coming out of your core, from your pure Self. Your intent, your word, and your deed are integrated, allowing the full force of your life connection to that virtue to flow through you.
The inevitable result is that you bond with the Universe. You create a perfect golden strand of light connecting you to the entire Universe, and that is truly powerful in every sense. It allows you then to exist in that joyous state of heaven on earth, one that you are creating and choose to exist within. Remember, that if you don’t apply all this, you’re choosing to exist somewhere else. This exemplifies one of the great gifts that our Creator has given each one of us—the ability to choose.
When you’re making choices, remember that at every moment that pure vortex exists within you. It is your life force. It is your life essence, and all you need to do is let it be expressed.
As you begin to express virtue in your life, in your exchanges with the other wonderful souls that you come in contact with, you can hold forgiveness in one hand and gratitude in the other, and it will help you guide your path. Through forgiveness you remove all prior judgment from those who you meet and speak with. You remove prior judgment upon yourself, and you open the door to allow your opened heart to allow virtue to flow outward from you.
From your other hand, gratitude allows you a simple form through which you can express your love and appreciation for your existence here and for your interactions with other beings and with your Creator. That simple expression of gratitude begins the flow. Life force flowing out from you as pure virtue makes it much easier to honestly express what’s in your heart, what your intentions are, what your needs might be.
The greatest application of honesty is your relationship with our divine Creator, your willingness to open your heart and to recognize what your abilities are and aren’t, and to openly share that and to ask for the strength and the virtue of life force to create a deep loving bond between you and your Creator. Then applying honesty to your actions shows the Creator your willingness to apply all that you have just stated, whether it’s easy or whether it might be more challenging. Each time you express virtue as an integrated flow of life force, you are manifesting heaven on earth.
“The greatest influence in your life, stronger even than your willpower, is your environment. When you are having difficulty in trying to change for the better, spiritual company and good environment are essential.”
