by Norman Paulsen•The wonderful experiences that I have been blessed with were given to me for one reason only. Through all my trials, my heart never desisted from loving and seeking my divine Mother-Father. No matter what I was doing, good or bad, I could never quit loving God. If I made a mistake, I always asked forgiveness and started again.
By our love and devotion to Spirit, we begin to taste immortality. It can be seen; it can be heard; it can be felt. It is the most incredible experience. Yes, touching the hem of the divine garment.
As each and every one of us moves toward heaven within, we begin to feel God’s power in us. We are each tested to see how much we can take, like steel is thrust into the fire again and again to increase its temper. At times, you may cry to God: “Why am I so mistreated? 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.” Our Creator cannot pour into you tremendous life and light, power and wisdom unless you, the vessel, is prepared to hold it. That is why the path to illumination is difficult, and described as a razor’s edge.
I bear witness today to the heaven we can experience within, and to the immortality of each spirit. If we persevere, each and every one of us can gain that experience, to see and know, and understand our Creator, Divine Mother-Father-God.
Oh Divine Comforter, no matter how difficult the path,
I know You have blessed me with the faculties
by which I am able to bear what comes to pass.
As I journey homeward, please hear my soul calling. I will pursue you every moment of my conscious life. I will forever persevere, Oh Spirit Divine,
to develop the willpower to never give up! I must meet you face to face. I must hold you in my arms, if you will allow.
You are my Father; you are my Birth Mother, the Creator of my soul. From you have I come forth into this world, into this sea of faces. I look for you in every face, Oh Beloved. Will you please come forth and reveal yourself to me
somehow, somewhere, someday?
I will continue to pursue you in every image and in every place,
until I find you hiding in the mirror image of my own face.
Oh Divine Comforter, No matter how difficult the path, I know You have blessed me with the faculties By which I am able to bear what comes to pass.
As I journey homeward, Please hear my soul calling. I will pursue You every moment of my conscious life. I will forever persevere, Oh Spirit Divine, To develop the willpower to never give up! I must meet You face to face. I must hold You in my arms, If You will allow.
You are my Father; You are my Birth Mother, The Creator of my soul. From You have I come forth into this world, Into this sea of faces.
I look for You in every face, Oh Beloved. Will You please come forth And reveal Yourself to me Somehow, somewhere, someday?
I will continue to pursue You In every image and in every place, Until I find You hiding In the mirror image of my own face.
• by Sandy Anderson •Divine love is the mother of all virtue. That is where it all starts. Love is the root and the source of compassion. Love makes our hearts beat. It makes our blood flow. It makes the sun shine inside us, and it brings us to understanding and compassion for our fellow beings. Our hearts can include them all.
We are all beings of divine light, of love, from the same Being whom we call God. Our greatest fulfillment is to celebrate our Creator, to embrace him and her, to live a life acknowledging the Divine Being day to day. And to know this being lives in each of us.
As parents, we wish to nurture our children with true unconditional love, total forgiveness, complete embracing, moment by moment. How could you ever reject your own child? That is how Spirit feels towards us. Each of us is their child, and we are each other’s children. I am so grateful to be a part of the human family.
In the vibration of Leo, celebrating compassion, we come to the heart, to living love, to forgiving, to holding the hands of the people next to us, rising above judgment. We all know self-righteousness is not really righteous. Understanding and compassion are righteous.
Visitors to Sunburst sometimes ask, “How do you do it? How do you get along with each other, with so many different personalities?” Living compassion, understanding, living love is the essence, the answer.
Many times, if I have a conflict with someone, I’ll say my prayers and let it float, praying for resolution. As time goes by, I will find myself in meditation with that person, and somehow their feeling is made known to me. A door opens in my heart bringing understanding, and I feel for them. Forgiveness comes spontaneously. I love that. God unites us and brings healing love as a balm, as the comforter of all hearts, solver of all problems, as the joy that we live.
by Jonathan King•One of my assignments, as a freshman in college, was to read The Confessions of St. Augustine. At the time I wondered, “Why on Earth am I reading this?” But I gave it my best. Very late at night, all was quiet and I read about St. Augustine’s life as a student. He used to go out with his buddies to hang out and carouse.
That really shocked me. At the time, I was doing the same thing quite a bit, just as he did, but I didn’t feel that good about it. I was trying to resolve my behavior and think about how I wanted to be as I moved into manhood.
As I continued to read, I started to think, “Wow! This is a dilemma.” I was reaching out to Spirit for a solution. All of a sudden the air in the room became electric. This may have lasted for a minute, but it seemed like a really long time. The room was filled with the presence of Spirit. It was so strong, I felt that it grabbed me by the heart and stopped me right in my tracks.
There wasn’t any question at that moment: “Does God exist?” The internal humming spoke: “I Am” That vibration filled everything, and it stayed. It was incredible!
Later, I thought about it until I inwardly fell to my knees saying, “My God, how could I have ever doubted you? Thank you!”
What I realize now is that I was being called. We all have the experience of being called at some time. It’s an archetypal experience which is custom tailored for each one of us. Beyond a shadow of a doubt, we know we are being asked to change — to change in a way that will give us ultimate freedom, and entrance into a realm of feelings and vibrations we could not attain any other way.
Making a commitment to live your life every minute dedicated to finding Spirit within opens up so much joy, so much meaning and satisfaction. Even after a short while, you realize there really isn’t any other meaningful choice. I hope you will remember the times you have been visited by Spirit. If you haven’t had an experience like this, you will!
What you sow you will reap. This is the law of cause and effect. It actually exists in order to multiply our joy, our bliss. God waits for us to call, so he can respond.
Listen to the voice within you; it is the voice of your pure Self. Listen to it well. Has it not been waiting for you since the beginning of your existence? – Norman Paulsen, Sunburst Founder
by Dawn King•We are always delighted to learn about the life of another great, illumined person from earlier times. Today I’m writing about Guru Nanak who became a spiritual teacher (“guru”) during his extraordinary life. With deep devotion (bhakti) to Truth, he equated God with the ultimate Truth, and he saw all people as bearers of Divine Light.
Born in what we call Pakistan today—but in the 1400s and 1500s—Nanak refused to favor a sex (male or female), religion (Hindu or Muslim), or one caste over another. Women were not given equal status with men at this time. His attitudes shocked his contemporaries also because competing religions and the caste system were firmly established in that era. Followers of Hindu and Muslim faiths were in constant conflict; something Nanak continually tried somewhat to reconcile.
Stories of Nanak’s early childhood state that as a sleeping child he was shaded from the hot sun by a venomous cobra’s hood, or a magically moving tree. While 7 years of age, upon learning the first letter of the alphabet, he associated it with the number “one”, and described it as a symbol of unity and the one God within all. Like Jesus, at a young age the precocious Nanak debated with both Hindu and Muslim religious scholars about the nature of God.
He is quoted as saying: “There is but One God. His name is Truth. He is the Creator. He fears none; he is without hate, He never dies. He is beyond the cycle of births and death. He is self illuminated.… He was True in the beginning…. He is also True now.”
Another saying attributed to him: “Even Kings and emperors with heaps of wealth and vast dominion cannot compare with an ant filled with the love of God.” He was attributed as hearing the “word” of God, a divine guiding sound.
Revelations from God inspired Nanaks’ teachings. Popular tradition offers ways in which his teaching may be practiced: 1. Be of service to others. [“Share with others, help those who are in need, so you may eat together.”] 2. Earn an honest living, without exploitation or fraud. Daily life offers opportunities to serve. 3. Meditate on God’s name, in order to feel His presence, and to control the five vices or thieves of the human personality. The “thieves” steal one’s common sense: lust, wrath, greed, attachment and excessive pride, or ego. 4. Maintain connection to the Divine in your heart with every breath.
Nanak travelled extensively during his life, exploring religious practices in many areas far from his home, and offering his own views on the Truth. Consequently, he made an impression, and is celebrated in Sri Lanka, Tibet, Nepal, Iraq, Russia, and China.
My favorite story about Guru Nanak is that about his passing from this world. Both Hindus and Muslims wanted to claim him as their saint. When representatives of both religions showed up to claim his body, the shroud was removed to reveal a heap of flowers. Each group was able to take flowers and treat them as they would their revered saint’s body.
Today we have the Sikh faith, all followers of their original saint, Guru Nanak. Sikh means “seeker of truth,” meaning the divine Truth within.
by Norman Paulsen • When we become aware of the cosmic forces existing Within and around us, we begin to receive divine imagination, the creative will of God. By using inspired imagination we can visualize and create mental images. Observing them to be rooted in virtue, we can spin them into the field of power—the life force surrounding us. Like seeds, they will take root, causing events to appear in the future.
Divine intervention in our lives creates inspiration. Inspiration excites imagination; imagination seeds the future; the future becomes visible in time. How do we know what images to put forth? By calling on divine intervention to create inspiration; by opening up our limited imagination to the unlimited creative will of God. We have to reach with our consciousness into the future for God’s direction. We can induce the power of God’s presence to descend into us when we work for the benefit of all beings in our projections.
To begin this practice of positive visualization and projection, we have to be patient and receptive. This practice is like an infant child; if nourished, it will grow. Meditation every morning and evening should be pursued. You must water the seeds with God’s presence. Test daily the field of power that is generated by your efforts. Consider that all the forces of creation are rooted in your body temple to assist you.
When it’s possible, come together with other like-minded souls to practice your meditation. The power of being together in a circle of meditation will quicken the evolution of your spiritual advancement. Even without saying a word, you are mixing your energies. You intuitively learn what you have, and what each one present has to offer to the whole group. To participate in a circle of meditation is to receive advancement in spiritual knowledge, and to participate in the projection of positive images rooted in virtue.
Whether you meditate alone or in a group, always remember to ask for positive inspiration, and upon receiving it, place it in the field of power and make it appear. This is faith that whatsoever you plant will grow. Plant it not for yourself, but for the benefit of all beings.
