•by Norman Paulsen • One morning while meditating, I experienced a vision. I found myself standing on the ridge above the lodge at our wilderness sanctuary. In the vision, I was looking out across the hills and up the canyons, It was foggy and the sky was gray. I wondered what the meaning was for this early morning vision. Then I noticed it showed that the livestock gate was open to the mesa.
As I drove to the sanctuary several hours later, Spirit said, “You’d better check the bulls.” So I went up the road and onto the mesa. Out towards the water tanks I saw two of the younger bulls, but none of the older ones. I looked all around, then went back up the ridge toward the gate. Here was the same scene that had been shown to me in my meditation earlier that morning. Upon reaching the gate, I could see that someone had left it open. It was clear that the older bulls were now loose on the sanctuary somewhere! We had a big job to do now!
This experience continued to show me that we can be in tune with God, with life, with our projections and responsibilities. Yes, we can receive direction and inspiration to help us see things BEFORE they happen, and try to prevent them, or make them easier to deal with. After many years of meditating daily, I cannot function correctly in my work and carry out my day if I don’t go to the well of Spirit and drink with God. It has become a habit for me to sit down and meditate each morning.
To meditate in the morning with the rising sun is to bring the sweetness of God’s presence into our life for the whole day, to receive instruction mentally and visually. We arrive at the right time and the right place for the right thing to happen for us, not too early or too late. When we are on God’s time, meditating and praying every morning, wondrous things begin to happen in our lives. We see God fulfilling our selfless desires, and freeing us up for the journey ahead.
By Dawn King • My husband, Al, has been reading “My First Summer in the Sierra,” which a friend so kindly gave Al. We have the book’s author, a young John Muir, to thank for the Yosemite area of the U.S. becoming a national park. It truly is an inspiring natural wonder. And when we read Muir’s beautiful detailed descriptions of Nature in the Sierras, we have to think he was a most inspired and illumined naturalist. Here are some excerpts from John Muir’s journal:
Aug. 25: Cool as usual in the morning, quickly changing…Of all Nature’s flowery carpeted mountain halls none can be finer than this glacier meadow. …The birds are still here, showing no sign of leaving for winter quarters…For my part I should like to stay here all winter or all my life or even all eternity.
Aug. 26: Frost this morning; all the meadow grass and some of the pine needles sparkling with irised crystals—flowers of light. …Probably more free sunshine falls on this majestic range than on any other in the world I’ve ever seen or heard of. And how glorious the morning sunbeams are pouring through the crystals on the grass and pine needles, and how ineffably spiritually fine is the morning glow on the mountain tops and the alpenglow of evening. …May the Sierra be named, not the Snowy Range, but the Range of Light.
Aug. 27: Crystals grow in marvelous beauty and perfection of form these still nights, every one built as carefully as the grandest holiest temple, as if planned to endure forever.
Aug. 30: How lavish is Nature building, pulling down, creating, destroying, chasing every material particle from form to form, ever changing, ever beautiful. Mr. D. arrived this morning. Felt not a trace of loneliness while he was gone. On the contrary I never enjoyed grander company. The whole wilderness seems to be alive and familiar, full of humanity. The very stones seem talkative, sympathetic, brotherly. No wonder when we consider that we all have the same Father and Mother.
Norman Paulsen, Sunburst’s founder, advises:Allow your heart to commune with God in nature. Find a pristine environment that makes your heart swell with joy and love. Embrace the solitude. The pure Self within you will come forward through your senses to commune with you in Nature.
•by Sean Fennell•We give ourselves over to the influence of the breathing Earth. Sleep, the shadow of the Earth, seeps into our skin, spreading throughout our limbs, dissolving our individual will into the thousand and one selves that compose it—cells, tissues and organs taking their prime directives from gravity and the wind, as residual bits of sunlight caught in the long tangle of nerves, wanders through the drifting landscape of our Earth-borne bodies, like deer moving across the forested valleys.
Where Spirit, nature and humans meet in oneness—in activity, as well as non-activity—I find my center. Permaculture is not just about growing gardens; it’s about growing infinite possibilities. It’s the marriage of the spiritual with the natural and social, and therefore, one of the highest expressions of co-creating with Spirit.
Everything belongs to Spirit; it’s designed, created, operated and maintained by Spirit. We humans are merely caretakers of this divine creation. As such, we are obligated to share all Spirit’s gifts fairly with others.
The basic principles of permaculture are Earth Care, People Care, and Fair Share. It’s at the intersection where these three practices converge that infinite possibilities exist. In meditation we strive to commune with Spirit inwardly; in permaculture we strive to connect with Spirit outwardly.
Acknowledging this fact, I’m faced with the questions: “What does permaculture look like at Sunburst?” and “What infinite possibilities can I co-create with Spirit moving forward—not only for the immediate future, but for generations to come?
We sleep, allowing gravity to hold us, allowing Earth, our larger body, to recalibrate our neurons, composting the keen encounters of our waking hours (the tensions, joys and terrors of our individual days), stirring them back as dreams into the sleeping substance of our muscles.
As we move forward, the future of Sunburst looks brighter than ever, for what can be greater than honoring our Divine Mother and Father, by loving and caretaking Mother Earth and all her creatures, utilizing her natural resources with utmost respect and care, loving others as we do ourselves, sharing the fruits of our labor and our God-given talents with passion and commitment?
In the vast, endless sea of eternity, My body, mind and spirit with Thee,
In truth I strive to be the best I can be, Better than none, but simply all I can be. In silence amidst the inner worlds I dance, Feeling Thy presence. Oh the Divine Romance! How can I contain this gift from Thee, How can I let it flow unceasingly? Awakening gladly to the Sun-kissed day, Knowing love cannot be held, simply shared, Given to Nature and to all brothers, sisters dear. This gift, my offering, I humbly bear.
Each year a special full moon occurs in May. If there are 2 full moons, it is the second of these and declared the celebration of Wesak, or Buddha’s commemoration. The name Wesak is derived from the Sanskrit name for this particular month.
Buddhist temples, decorated with the appropriate flags and flowers, are visited before dawn. Hymns are sung to celebrate the Buddha, his teachings (the Dharma), and his disciples (the Sangha). Processions with candles light up the evening.
During Buddha’s life, he told his followers to commemorate his life by living his teachings of compassion, peace, and good will, and by devotion to the service of humanity. Thus, at this time Buddhists give extra energy to performing noble deeds: observing vegetarian diet; offering donations of money and food to people and charity organizations in need; there are blood drives; and wild animals are released back into nature.
Buddha was born in 623 B.C. in India. It is believed that he attained enlightenment during the full moon in May, and that his final liberation from this material world was on the same day. Buddha’s birthday is also celebrated as being on this day by his millions of followers.
Buddha gained enlightenment while meditating under a tree (Ficus religiosa), called peepalin India. It has heart-shaped leaves, and is used medicinally. This kind of tree is said to live over 1500 years. A cutting from the original Bodhi tree was planted in Sri Lanka and is claimed to be over 2200 years old. In Burma, during Wesak, Bodhitrees are watered to ensure their survival through a dry summer.
by John McCaughey•The other day it was a bright sunny day at the ranch, and I was washing off a piece of equipment near some pine trees. I’ve been particularly fond of these trees and knew I could take the time to give them a bath and a drink at the same time. I aimed the water high into each pine. Every branch moved with the force of the water.
When you give a bath to a little baby who can’t even sit up, you can tell how much it appreciates the touching and caring. It giggles with joy, and then smiles as you hold it in a towel next to you. That was the feeling one of those trees conveyed to me; it appreciated the attention. How beautiful the pine branches were while wearing water droplets sparkling in the sunlight!
In an instant, a number of feelings passed through me. I pondered the creation, and a point before time, when all that existed was the slumbering I Am That I Am in the smallest of all places. What incredible power had to be so focused at that point. When I try to understand, I’m brought to my knees. It’s so amazing…and I seem so insignificant.
But Jesus said, “These things that I do, you can do also, and far greater things.” This has stayed with me and encourages me.
Now the trees I had sprayedwere shaking in the breeze. I realized that the way our eyes see the world is one thing, but the way it really exists is another. All the cells of my body were mingling with the atoms in the air, and the air was touching the cells of the trees. My feet on the ground were mingling with the atomic structure and magnetism of the Earth in one huge collage of energy, atoms, cells, vortexes of magnetism and light. Truly, we can just reach out and touch anything, because we’re all connected to everything.
Looking back, it always seemed to me that the path home to Spirit was uphill—sometimes really steep, sometimes more gradual, but always uphill. Recently, however, it came to me that each one of us crosses a threshold of knowing that there’s no turning back on the spiritual path. Once we are truly rooted in our spirituality, the path is not uphill, and we know that when everything is right we’ll collide head on with our Creator and experience the joy of knowing who we truly are.
Each one of us has a personal relationship with Spirit, completely unique, completely dependable, totally real. We should all be encouraged…should allow our hearts to be light and open. We are all children of God, and I Am That I Am is alive in every place…in every point in the universe. Each one of us has been blessed with the desire to be one with that energy and given the tools to attain that goal.
• by Valerie King • When the year 2000 came around, and I wrote “000” so many times, it made me stop and reflect. The zeroes felt like a new beginning, a fresh start, a time to plant good seeds, a time when humanity has entered undiscovered country.
About that same time, I read an article that said time was going to start speeding up. I wondered what that meant. How can time speed up? Soon I began to understand that it meant our planetary karma was speeding up. Humanity as a whole is going through a tremendous growth spurt, which can be painful at times.
The intense pressure for change is upon us all, pushing us into new adventures. We are all experiencing the necessity of reviewing our lives, our choices, and making changes. Now more than ever, we must make the time daily to connect with the Divine, to listen to that quiet inner voice speaking of love, kindness, and virtue. Following is a timely message for us from a Hopi Elder:
“You have been telling the people that this is the Eleventh Hour. Now you must go back and tell the people that THIS IS THE HOUR. And there are things to be considered…Where are you living? What are you doing? What are your relationships? Are you in the right relationship? Where is your water [coming from]? Know your garden. It is time to speak your Truth. Create your community. Be good to each other. And do not look outside yourself for the leader.”
Then he clasped his hands together, smiled and said, “This could be a good time! There is a river flowing now very fast. It is so great and swift that there are those who will be afraid. They will try to hold onto the shore. They will feel they are being torn apart and will suffer greatly. Know the river has its destination. The elders say we must let go of the shore, push off into the middle of the river, keep our eyes open, and our heads above the water.
“And I say, see who is in there with you and celebrate. At this time in history, we are to take nothing personally, least of all ourselves. For the moment that we do our spiritual power and journey comes to a halt. The time of the lone wolf is over. Gather yourselves! Banish the word struggle from your attitude and your vocabulary. All that we do now must be done in a sacred manner and in celebration. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for.”
