This is the holiday season and filled with thinking about gifts, what to give and what we might receive. But you might reflect on “What is the greatest gift you already have?”
You might be thankful for family, for home, for the long-needed sporadic, but drought-quenching rains we’re enjoying on the southwest coast.
But the greatest gift you have is You—your consciousness, your life. This is the Creator, God, IN and AS YOU.
There is a Sufi saying: “La ilaha ill-Allahu” meaning the Creator (“Allahu”) is everything. Literally it can be translated: “There is nothing other than You, only You are God.” Sh’ma Yisrael (“Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the LORD is one”) is a similar Jewish prayer.
If we contemplate this, that everything we know of IS the Creator, then we realize we are one with the Creator. We can then make the leap to realizing each of us is potentially the Christ child, the spiritual Christmas gift, the savior, or liberator, anticipated by the world’s great religions.
Sunburst’s founder, Norman Paulsen, liked to use the Christmas Tree as an analogy for a human being. My version is that the Star atop the tree represents your Pure Self. The rainbow of colors, as we have represented on our Lodge Christmas tree, represent your spinal chakras, with red (life force) at the bottom.
We can open the flower of our ourselves—develop and express our gifts, our talents and virtues—and live more fully. Let’s aim for realizing our oneness with the Creator every day of 2017.
Indigenous peoples have always celebrated the winter solstice as a time of new beginnings. Each of us is then thought of as being a year older and hopefully wiser. It is a time for people to come together in observance of natural phenomenon, such as at Stonehenge, as well as for sharing food.
Sunburst observes this unofficial New Year with ongoing silent meditation, a dinner and observances at our standing stones and labyrinth or lighting of candles.
Winter solstice is the start of the winter season, a time of reflection, a season for nourishing the soul as well as the body. In northern latitudes we see the days grow longer after this solstice, although the earth is cooler until spring’s equinox arrives, three months later.
This year’s Winter solstice is particularly meaningful as we set our intentions for deeper soul connections. To help fulfill this resolve, we will participate in the year-end Kriya Meditation Retreat. Starting 2017 on a spiritual note can only be a blessing to ourselves and our world.
As humans, we have a tendency to take so much for granted that we forget that the very air we breathe, the sunlight that gives life to us and our planet, the food that magically grows from a tiny seed – all these are major things in our lives; yet do we thank the Divine daily for them? If only every day was a day of thanksgiving, what a life that would be!
Gratitude can contribute immeasurably toward our joy because it is an essential aspect of love. As such, it draws us to the source of all love. To express loving gratitude for our blessings, whether great or small, brings us greater attunement to the Infinite, and a greater awareness of Life’s responding love. In addition, the divine laws of abundance become more fully operative in our lives when we acknowledge and appreciate the Giver behind the bounty of spiritual and material blessings.
How can we proceed to be grateful often? By catching the moment and inwardly saying, “Thank you God” for any little grace that comes to us. By practicing being thankful for the smallest of things is to dwell on good. And to dwell on good is to magnify it. A mind thus enlivened with gratitude is mirrored in the outward behavior of its host.
Reflecting on this year as it soon comes to an end, I cannot but with deepest gratitude and appreciation think of the efforts of all those who actively support the mission of Sunburst. From our daily activities, to major events, the love and commitment of many have made 2016 a powerful and meaningful year of both personal and collective growth.
A heartfelt and special “Thank you!” to the ministers, childcare helpers, brunch cooks; the office, kitchen, and administrative
staff; our dedicated work crews and temple keepers, permaculture expert Sean Fennell (and his helpers) in growing food as an expression of feeding body and Spirit; Erika Eddy for her amazing workshop on Chinese medicine; Moksha Badarayan who, amidst her busy teaching schedule, finds time to host an unforgettable yearly “Star Party;” Rev. Ron Gibbons for his fascinating workshop on the Mandala; Michelle Schaefer for her illuminating workshop on Ayurveda for Wellness; Craig Hanson for his presentation of Sacred Geometry in nature; and the dedicated yoga teachers: Patty Paulsen, Dawn King, Jennifer May and Carrie Smith; and for all our musicians who help create such a sacred space including the Kings (Valerie, Al, Dawn), Leela Badarayan, Peter Schaefer, Les Boyer, and Ann Kathleen; and any Karma yogis I missed. You are doing your part to make Sunburst happen!
To all our friends and guests, we appreciate and are most grateful for your presence and support in our lives. To each and every one of our sisters and brothers at Sunburst, without whose individual and collective efforts Sunburst would cease to exist, I salute you all and say, “Thank you, thank you, thank you!”
And to our Eternal Well-Wisher, without whom we would cease to exist, with utmost gratitude I say, “Thank you, Beloved Spirit, for all your love, light, patience, understanding, compassion, kindness and grace; for your precious gifts of friends, family and community, and for the countless blessings you bestow upon each of us daily.”
By Sean Fennell
At Sunburst I employ the principles of Permaculture to observe how I live daily, how I connect with the wisdom of the Earth, with myself and with others. This is the outward journey, having been sculpted inwardly through my practice of the twelve virtues and the eight-fold path of conscious living.
This practice supports a continual path of transformation and growth in my everyday life. It helps me approach ordinary activities in extraordinary ways.
Where Spirit, Nature and people meet in oneness in activity, as well as in non-activity, is that place where I find my center. Permaculture is the marriage of the spiritual with the natural and social and is, therefore, one of the highest expressions of spiritual practice.
Permaculture begins with the individual, and is contingent upon one’s thoughts, ethics and beliefs. This, in turn, is what one can fully utilize in creating a sustainable way of life, starting from the inside out.
By employing the benefits of meditation, deep self-reflection, time spent in nature and group interactions, one’s creative expression and endeavor can translate into a life that’s fun, rewarding and sustainable for oneself, for others, and the Earth!
“If it’s not fun, it’s not sustainable” is the Permaculture mantra.
Sean demonstrating the permaculture method of planting trees.
Saturday, August 13, 2016 was finally there, charged with anticipation as we prepared for yet another evening of great fun and excitement at Sunburst. Decorating the Lodge, preparing snacks, laying tarp upon the sacred Wheel of Life hill for eager campers created a high-energy environment perfect for those who would stay awake all night looking at the heavens. Celebrations for our customary annual “Star Party” had begun. The Perseid Meteor Shower was to make its grand entrance!
Moksha Badarayan, our renowned Sunburst science teacher, held her large classroom full of eager students, both mature and young, spellbound as she presented a three-part slide show on astronomy that included the latest discoveries and scientific information that kept us riveted in our mental journey through outer space, traversing the Milky Way! How amazing to hear the many theories put forth by science as they try to define and categorize the very subtle differences of what constitutes “life” in outer space – mind-blowing and intriguing propositions that elicited much teacher/audience participation, with the tiny “grown ups” asking the most interesting questions, resulting in the most interesting answers! Needless to say, Moksha’s acumen and preparedness placed both her and the kids among the “stars” that night!
And the evening was just starting! On the patio outside lay mounted three gigantic telescopes, manned by an amazing group of seasoned astronomers, including Sunburst’s own Steve Anderson. Not only were we all in awe peering at the rings of Saturn, the moons of several planets, watching the space station whiz by, but an occasional meteorite would streak by too, further building the excitement of the evening as some made “goop” as a science experiment, drank hot homemade chai, snacked, and continued their periodic visits to the telescopes.
The grand finale marked a short pilgrimage to our Wheel of Life hill that held a 360-degree view and upon which some of would spend all night scanning the heavens, “ooing and aweing” as the heavens presented the ultimate light show – incredible meteors with their comet-like trails streaking across the land! Oh what a night to remember – warm, starlit, fun-filled and joyful. Looking up I could only sum it up in a few words to Moksha camping beside me: “Look what beauty our Heavenly parents have created for our enjoyment.”
Thank you, Moksha for making “Star Party 2016” a memorable one!
What is this light that within glows
A thousand rays in all direction goes
What is this peace, this joy it holds
That none can explain, merely concur
If to him, to her its witness shows?
Darkness if there be, matters not
Its presence made invisible,
Vulnerable, inconsequential, weak
For in this light is held the joy I seek
Yes, this light powerful yet so meek
O great light, soother of souls
O devourer of ego, of falsehood all
Bare we become, stripped to the core
As a young babe in our mother’s arms
Pure love to receive, O light divine
Where there is love there can only be light; where there is light there can only be joy; where there is joy there can only be peace; where there is peace there can only be God; where there is God, there can only be virtue; where there is virtue, there is only pure consciousness; and where there is only pure consciousness, there lies bliss, there lies the one, the all, the beginning of the pure light we once were and the light we are again to become. This is the beginning, the journey, the end.
Sunburst observes this unofficial New Year with ongoing silent meditation, a dinner and observances at our standing stones and labyrinth or lighting of candles.
A heartfelt and special “Thank you!” to the ministers, childcare helpers, brunch cooks; the office, kitchen, and administrative
the dedicated yoga teachers: Patty Paulsen, Dawn King, Jennifer May and Carrie Smith; and for all our musicians who help create such a sacred space including the Kings (Valerie, Al, Dawn), Leela Badarayan, Peter Schaefer, Les Boyer, and Ann Kathleen; and any Karma yogis I missed. You are doing your part to make Sunburst happen!
This practice supports a continual path of transformation and growth in my everyday life. It helps me approach ordinary activities in extraordinary ways.
Moksha Badarayan, our renowned Sunburst science teacher, held her large classroom full of eager students, both mature and young, spellbound as she presented a three-part slide show on astronomy that included the latest discoveries and scientific information that kept us riveted in our mental journey through outer space, traversing the Milky Way! How amazing to hear the many theories put forth by science as they try to define and categorize the very subtle differences of what constitutes “life” in outer space – mind-blowing and intriguing propositions that elicited much teacher/audience participation, with the tiny “grown ups” asking the most interesting questions, resulting in the most interesting answers! Needless to say, Moksha’s acumen and preparedness placed both her and the kids among the “stars” that night!
And the evening was just starting! On the patio outside lay mounted three gigantic telescopes, manned by an amazing group of seasoned astronomers, including Sunburst’s own Steve Anderson. Not only were we all in awe peering at the rings of Saturn, the moons of several planets, watching the space station whiz by, but an occasional meteorite would streak by too, further building the excitement of the evening as some made “goop” as a science experiment, drank hot homemade chai, snacked, and continued their periodic visits to the telescopes.
