•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.
• by Norman Paulsen, Sunburst Founder • The lives of the saints and prophets are expressions of divine Spirit, to show us the way to live if we want to meet and know God—if we truly want to be in an eternal existence with the Divine. Every man and woman alive who has felt true love, true peace, and seen true beauty, wants to live in that energy forever. We all want to see the sun rise tomorrow and feel its warmth, see the blue sky, feel the wind in our face, smell the fragrance of the flowers, and hold and touch those dear faces and friends. Yes, we all want continuous life.
If we want continuous, or eternal life, we must seek it where we were told we could find it. We have to make an effort to meet God. But how can we accomplish this? How can we become more like our divine Father and Mother, to draw that Presence into our lives?
I find that God’s power responds almost immediately when it is for the benefit of others that we pray. We then see miracles and the presence of the divine power working. For the most part, when people pray and ask for things for their own self gain, God doesn’t acknowledge this, and people wonder why. It’s because we aren’t fulfilling divine law. God is constantly giving and serving every particle of creation in every moment. When we can align ourselves with this energy, the floodgates are released, and the divine power can flow through us.
When we are more concerned with helping those around us than we are with helping ourselves, then we can see God’s power working. God watches the humble servants who have become more concerned for the welfare of their brothers and sisters than for themselves. Then God says, “I have to help her (or him), because nobody else is going to. He (or she) is too busy helping everyone else.”
I’ve seen it over and over again, that God takes care of the humble servant, miraculously. Those who set their own desires aside, and entertain the one desire to serve God, have all things added unto them. God loves them so much, and loves divine communion with their souls. God’s living presence becomes so strong within them that every desire of their hearts is miraculously fulfilled.
When you are one with God, you say, “Lord, I gave that desire up; it really doesn’t matter anymore.”
And God says, “That’s alright, just take it anyway.”
But then you can give it all away if you want to. These are the things that we see, that God does for us. Humble servants for God have seen miraculous power at work to build things for the betterment of all human beings.
• Dawn King, Sunburst • Often, I ask my closest companion, God, to let me see through his/her eyes so I can understand better what in the world is going on here. But when I’m outside in Nature, I invite God to enjoy this beautiful creation with me through the sensations I experience. What a joy this brings to me and I know God feels it as well. I’ll tell you how I know; here’s an example.
I went birding for the first time with Cary and some friends in Santa Barbara. I’d been so wanting to go birding with others and, was thrilled to take this opportunity. The group was going to Lake Los Carneros, “home turf” for them.
Very soon in our walk, someone said to me, “Well…I don’t hear or see any birds right off.”
I responded, “In the distance, I hear a cacophony of birds, but can’t make out any particular song.”
Only a few minutes later, in a flash we had already seen extraordinary mating displays, I’d taken some great bird photos, and the group was very excited. Hal leaned my way saying, “You realize, it’s not this way every time we come out here. This is an extraordinary day!”
“I’m sure it is!” I replied, rememberingthe many times my husband Al and I havebeen in nature where joyous people excitedly commented: “We’ve never seen it like this before! This is extraordinary!”
Yes, life is extraordinary when we invite God to enjoy it with us. If anyone in your group is doing that, you might all get the benefit. It seems to be a contagious enjoyment. Below is a photo from my recent Nevada desert trip.
God loves to be with us. This is what the whole creation is about. – Norman Paulsen, Sunburst Founder
By using our willpower we can tune into divine grace and accept the opportunities it provides us. This is not an instant thing. We have to persevere and have patience. It’s a lifelong pursuit, much like the following story in which Tibetan monks meditate as they build a monastery floor.
[Excerpt from the book “Tibetan Voices”] We built the floors of the monastery from scratch. Since there was no cement in Tibet, we used a material called arka, which is similar to crushed stone or gravel. It made very beautiful floors. We pounded this material with a tool consisting of a long pole and a heavy stone attached to the bottom end. The monks would form a line and sing as they pummeled the many stones into a solid floor, working to the rhythm of the song.
This was hard work; the big stones were broken up to make smaller ones, and then layers of these stones were pounded into the floor, slowly going from bigger stones to smaller and smaller. Remaining holes were filled by pounding in the finest material. Then a powdery form of the stone was put on top and this was also hammered into the floor, using water to help the binding.
Once the floor was pounded so it was smooth and level, we would get down on our knees and use big flat slabs of stone to polish the surface. Water was sprinkled onto the floor as we polished and worked our way from one end of the room to the other. The muddy result of all this effort was wiped away with cloths. Slowly, the beauty of the floor would begin to come out. Finally, a mixture of boiled oil and tree resin, the type used in making incense offerings, was applied. Cement was never used in the construction of Tibetan monasteries, and the finished quality of the buildings was far superior to any that could have been made of cement.
Slowly, the beauty of the Pure Self, the Christ light within each of us can shine forth, after lifetimes of desire and effort. This is the power of patience.
