We each must chooses a diet that they feel best supports their vitality and health: physically, mentally, and spiritually. Needs vary from person to person and also can change from time to time for each individual. The most important thing is to notice the effect of what we choose to consume, asking, “Is this bringing me closer to, or farther away from, my goals?”
On the journey of Self-realization, we are aspiring to refine our consciousness, letting go of lower, denser energies, and reaching for more purified awareness. For this reason, on the spiritual path we choose to refrain from the use of tobacco, alcohol, non-prescription drugs, or other intoxicants.
“The ancient adepts all said that right nourishment comes from your own planting, if it’s possible for you—the placing of seeds in the soil of Mother Earth with your own hands, then the watering with love and the harvesting. There is nothing better than your own blessing of energy on the food that you have grown or prepared, or any food that you are about to eat.
“Realize that God is building the vessel of you that will contain him. Nourish your body, mind, and spirit so that you will have the life force to do the work you came here to do.”– Norman Paulsen, Sunburst Founder
by Norman Paulsen, Sunburst Founder•The Christ consciousness looks forward to the day when all beings on this planet will possess it again, when this Earth, the natural garden, will be cared for and appreciated, where divine architecture will again appear, fashioned with the harmonious proportions upon which the whole universe has been constructed. These things will again come.
It is little self- or ego-consciousness that humanity is struggling through, grappling with and trying to leave behind. It is the greater experience of Christ consciousness that seeks to dwell in every mind on this planet. Once seeing the light of pure consciousness you will know that God is alive and that you are indeed a true son and a true daughter. You will have divine direction then, as to what you should do to help divine will preserve life on this planet for our children and our children’s children.
As many of us as hear this, we must do something to change the conditions that exist by lifting our own consciousness higher and higher into the light of Divine Spirit. We will find direction that we can begin to turn the tide of destruction and save our world.
Mars, at one time, had oceans and rivers and life. What great catastrophe overtook our sister planet out there in space? If, indeed the remains of some great society are there for humanity to discover, let it awaken the minds of those who are in power here before it’s too late, and Earth suffers a similar fate.
For our sake, and our children’s sake, changes must be made. In each one of our lives, we need to strive for more light, more divinely guided will and direction, and not just be willing to sit and wait to see what somebody else will do.
Almighty Spirit, our divine Mother, our divine Father, we thank you for this life that we are aware of …for our bodies, for each other and for this world, so magnificently beautiful, floating like a jewel in the sea of infinity. Almighty Spirit, inspire us, and direct us that we might do those things which will preserve the lives of our children and our children’s children, and preserve this world in all its beauty that it may not be destroyed through greed and selfishness.
Almighty Spirit, you are the pure clear air and gentle breeze we feel upon us. You are the life that beats in our hearts, that enables us to communicate with each other. You are the love we feel for all things. You are the Life in each one of us, all of these faces, each one different. All of these bodies are yours. Help us to nourish the Earth with love and husbandry, to protect it for future generations. Almighty Spirit, we love you.
~ by Craig Hanson ~ Some years ago I had the good fortune to travel to England. I spent an early morning meditating inside the enormous, ancient stone circle at Stonehenge. It’s very easy to feel the two divine forces there—one vortex descending through the crown of the head, the other vortex ascending up the spine.
As I completed my meditation I glanced down at the grass in front of me and saw a dark green, humble plant. What struck me was that it’s leaves formed a perfect five-pointed star. I realized it was the same shape as the five-pointed star I’d seen in meditation.
By studying nature we begin to understand the imagination of our divine Creator. Studying nature can mean looking at a beautiful sunset, listening to the chirping of birds and the myriad sounds of the other animals. The great beauty of spiritual vision is that it feels so natural. Wondrous it is that we can use our senses to understand some of God’s nature. It’s a great blessing that what we find within ourselves, we may also see reflected without, and vice versa.
The deeper science delves into the mysteries of creation, the more it has to go within, to the spiritual mysteries behind it. Spiritual disciplines help to fill out that understanding. The more we reflect and experience within ourselves, the more we’re able to understand the processes of creation around us. The patterns of nature, the two forces of vortex, mirror the Kriya meditation tool that we’ve been given.
Brother Norman talks about the importance of being in nature, of deeply studying it, and meditating on it and in it. He recommends the greatest book we can ever read: our own Book of Life, so unique and personal for each one of us. We read it each time we sit down to meditate, and we read it when we engage with nature.
Oh Great Spirit, bountiful are your gifts to us. You pour out all the knowledge of the universe upon our heads. We have only to open, to see. You are not complicated; You are simplicity itself. You are the Divine; You are the spiral, the architect for everything in creation. May we come to be as Christ Jesus, a son, a daughter forever conscious in every particle of your creation. And someday we will smile within the shape of a flower, and within the spiral of a breaking wave upon ocean shores. Amen
“The greater the will, the greater the flow of energy.” – Paramahansa Yogananda •
by Norman Paulsen, Sunburst Founder•The whole creation is divine imagination made visible by thought, will and life. Each one of us is a designer, equipped by God with the gift of imagination. By using this gift, you can create seed images in the field of power around you. These images will take root and appear in time. This is the sowing and the reaping. Consider it an act of faith, that what you plant will grow.
Whatever you sow in thought, be it for good or for ill, becomes visible to you in the future. As you think and desire, and desire and think, the future is written and the past is erased. By concentration and willpower, you can set forth images impregnated with life force. These images will draw you in their direction like iron filings to a magnet, like a moth to the flame.
How do you know what images to put forth? By opening up your limited imagination to the unlimited creative will of the Divine. Divine intervention in your life creates inspiration. Inspiration excites imagination. Imagination seeds the future. The future becomes visible in time. Reach with your consciousness into the future. You can induce the power of Spirit to descend into you when your projections are for the benefit of all beings.
Begin by planting the seeds of illumination to arrive in your near future. This is your inheritance! You may be surrounded now by imperfections, mind-produced images that have arisen from non-virtuous actions. Do not be discouraged. These images can be shattered and transmuted in deep meditation.
To begin the practice of positive projection, you have to be patient and receptive. It is like an infant child—if nourished, it will grow. Meditation every morning and evening will water the seeds that you want to see grow. Through practice, you will generate the force to create and manifest images.
As you gain mastery of your own life,
You, the infinite soul, the son or daughter of God,
Will have all the forces in creation behind you.
You can use this divine force to help, to heal, to console.
You can put it all in your heart and experience ecstasy.
As long as you use this force for good, you will be happy.
by Catherine Mauron • My visit to the butterfly sanctuary years ago was an awesome experience. Lying on the ground, consciousness filled with fluttering wings, eyes drunk with the awesome beauty of the colorful winged beings flying in circles above me, I started to wonder about the butterfly story.
The medicine of the butterfly is rebirth, transformation, rejuvenation. Like a spiritual aspirant, the caterpillar starts its life at the base, preoccupied first by physical needs, eating nutritious leaves, sleeping, and growing. Until, one day, suddenly, something calls from deep within its being, and the caterpillar starts to turn inwards.
It wraps itself in a cocoon, its meditation closet. Then it waits and waits. Finally after much perseverance, deepening its own knowledge about itself, it reaches illumination: “I’m no longer a caterpillar! I am a butterfly!”
The pure Self has revealed its true nature, the veil of the cocoon has become thin, like the veil of meditation, and the light of knowledge starts to pierce through. What an awesome spiritual insight the butterfly can bring to us if we try not only to understand it with the mind, but rather try to feel it deep within us.
Now the butterfly slowly unfolds its wings, observing with awe its transformation, fluttering gently in its new winged attributes, letting the gentle breeze dry them. No more concerned about eating, sleeping, or growing, it starts to fly—just a little bit at first. Soon it understands the full potential of its new abilities, and the open sky, infinite in its beauty, becomes its garden of Eden. “How high and how far can I fly?”
Some butterflies don’t fly very far. Others migrate, flying over the ocean, limited only by their own imagination. Just by realizing their true nature they allow it to become manifest. Let us all fill ourselves with butterfly medicine and fly higher and higher to meet the sunrise of our spirits.
Light on Sunburst Sanctuary – Sky Crest Trail • Hiking one of Sunburst Sanctuary’s trails in spring, amidst the intense green of Nature’s botanical explosion is a treat. Here’s photos from April 5 of 2021. Our first grand view is of the “deer field” up the canyon from the lodge (photo above). Winding up toward the top of the canyon the newly graded road—Thanks, Heiko!— outlines the far side of the deer field, which is currently planted in a mixed hay crop.
Photo below: The next grand view is of the deer field directly below. We are looking toward Point Conception and the Pacific Ocean. Sky Crest Trail follows the eastern ranch boundary fence up the hill to the top boundary of the Sanctuary.
Soon the trail leads into the oak forest.
Photos above: In the forest, mushrooms sprout amidst the deep oak leaves, and a bush lupin catches early morning sunshine. Photos below left to right: Shooting Stars and Buttercups appear amidst the oak trees. The trail ends at the main road that winds back down into the canyon.
“In talking to children, the old Lakota would place a hand on the ground and explain: ‘We sit in the lap of our Mother. From her we, and all other living things, come.We shall soon pass, but the place where we now rest will last forever.’ So we too, learned to sit or lie on the ground and become conscious of life about us in its multitude of forms.
“…The world was a library and its books were the stones, leaves, grass, brooks, and the birds and animals that shared, alike with us, the storms and blessings of earth. We learned to do what only the student of nature ever learns, and that was to feel beauty.
“…Observation was certain to have its rewards. Interest, wonder, admiration grew, and the fact was appreciated that life was more than mere human manifestation; it was expressed in a multitude of forms.”
