Manifesting with the Law of Attraction

So often these days, we pick up newspapers or tune in to radio or television programs which highlight yet another attack by one religious group against the beliefs of another. One of the primary targets is a group of spiritual and philosophical concepts described as “New Age.”

For many people exploring New Age philosophies, these attacks can seem personal, particularly for those of us raised in traditional Christian homes. In many cases, we turn our backs on the dogma and judgment, and seek guidance from other venues.

However, as we turn away we often discard everything, without regard for that which might hold some truth for us.

Many of the tenets of Christianity, in its purest form, are not only compatible with New Age philosophy, but are the basis of it. The time has come to examine the core of Christian beliefs which, unfortunately, have been obscured by centuries of human agenda and dogma.

In my personal quest to realign myself with this information, which had become so distasteful to me, I began to seek guidance from many sources. One of the most extraordinary and surprising of these sources has been the amazing presence of Simon Peter.

On August 2, 1996, I was booked to do an evening of trance channeling in New Orleans. On that hot, summer evening we were visited for the first time by the powerful presence of Simon Peter.

Since that time, Simon has appeared dozens of times, always full of information and insights to help bridge New Age thought with the traditions of Christianity.

According to Simon, too many people have thrown away the teachings of Jesus, based on what some have done to those teachings from places of fear and hatred.

Here, I offer you a segment of that first appearance of the empowering channeled messages of Simon Peter.

“I am the one you would know by the name of Simon, also known as Simon Peter. I have come here to speak to you of the ways in which you may embrace your own glory to the kingdom. I have come here to speak to you as I did in life, I shall do in death, but to serve the one Master, the one God of creation.

“I have come to speak to you and help you find that God who is within your hearts, your souls, who is in every cell of your body and being.

“I am a fisher of men. Disciples, we were called disciples. We are disciples of the God. It is the God that you call God, that you call Jehovah. It is the God that you call Christ. I am the son of the father and am here to tell you that you are the sons and the daughters of the same father that I am the son of the father. You must but embrace the father to go on.

“I am here to speak to you about my friend. My friend Jesus. Do you know my friend Jesus? Or, do you know of him? For if you know of him, you still have him on the cross. But if you know my friend Jesus, you took him off that cross long ago.

“It was poorly written about, this life, the life of the man that you call Jesus. It was not written about well at all. He was a gentle and kind man. He was made hard and unforgiving by those who are hard and unforgiving. I have come here to speak to you about the gentleness. If you can but put aside the hard and unforgiving natures within your own selves, you will find the gentleness of the father.

“You may light one candle. I taught one man to fish. Is there a difference? Each of you here must be a disciple to the God that you find that lies within the center essence of who you are. It was the addiction to those things which gave pleasure on a sensual level that created the building of the temples. It was my brother, my friend, Jesus who destroyed the temples, for that was not where God was housed. The God is housed within you.

“When one is imperfect and tries to report on perfection, one does it imperfectly. When one communicates with the energy, the God energy, the energy that is within and without, that is pervasive like the air, and part of each part of you, that you can know the perfection of that energy from within. But put words to it, and you have imperfected it. Be it and you shall be the shining beacon. He was a gentle man. A loving man.

“Who remembers the story of the fig tree? It makes me sad. As you shall read it as it was written in its imperfection, you read of Jesus going to the fig tree and it had not a fig on it. And because it had not a fig to offer Jesus, he touched it and made it wither. And the lesson was supposed to be that if you had faith, you could make the fig tree wither or the mountains move. And it was not so.

“God went to the fig tree, through Jesus, and said to the fig tree, ‘Will you blossom for me and give me your essence so I may continue? Will you willingly do this for me?’ And the fig tree said, ‘Nay, I will not. I will not do this for you. It is my time of rest. And you in the form of man have not been kind to me. So why should I do this for you?’

“And Jesus said to the tree, ‘But do you not recognize me? I come in the servitude of God.’ And the fig tree said, ‘That is your servitude. Mine is to Mother Earth.’ And with that, he withered the fig tree. And he withered it for it would not open itself up to recognize its own God nature, and sent it back to Mother so that it may be born again, and grow again.

“Can you see the difference between the story I have told you and the story you were told?”

By re-examining our Christian beliefs and their foundations, we may see a clear and simple bridge between Christianity and the New Age. Thankfully, messages like this one and historical discoveries are revealing the core of Christianity and its broad, dogma-free applications to our lives.

Resource Box:

Dr. Kevin Ross Emery is a spiritual counselor and teacher with offices in Portland, Maine and Haverhill, Massachusetts. His advice is available in workshops, podcasts, books, CDs and DVDs. He is also available for private sessions in person or on Skype or phone. Find out more at Dr. Kevin’s website www.weboflight.com

Tags: age philosophies, beliefs, christian beliefs, christianity, faith, forgiving, God, Life, new age, Spiritual, teachings of jesus, tenets of christianity, traditions of christianity, Zen

Abraham Maslow was a man before his time. He was intelligent enough to study healthy and productive people, while the trend in psychology is to study people of the mentally unstable variety. His approach was more scientific than philosophical, and so his work is studied extensively in Psychology classes around the world – and for good reason. Maslow helped bridge the gap between science and spirituality. In other words, he added respect to the study of the spirit, and added humanity to science.

In culmination of his 20 years of research, Maslow came to believe that in order for one to become self-actualized a person had to think of themselves as an open vessel-like the elements of nature. To be like nature, that person should have the capacity for two things: self-exploration and taking action.

The following nine steps may help get you there:

1. Allow yourself to be fully in the moment. When you participate in an activity so that your whole focus is on the task at hand you are in the flow. When you become one with source energy you will have this divine energy at your disposal. For this reason, your activity will be a zen gift from the universe.

2. Begin to be aware of what life is bringing to the table, and make choices that serve your best interests. The choices you make will be easy because your intuition (our inner source) is so highly tuned that it never fails to steer you wrong. A trust will be developed so that you realize even though your choice will be more challenging (with a risk attached) the outcome will leave you in a better place.

3. Become adept at keeping your ego at bay. Do not allow yourself to become a slave to other people’s wishes, and be at ease bringing your true self out in the physical world.

4. Live in humility and integrity. Forgive yourself and forgive others. When you make a choice that did not serve you or others as you thought it would, own it. Take responsibility for where you are and what shows up for you.

5. Be prepared to live on an island. Know some of your decisions will be unpopular, but proceed with them anyway. Approval seeking is not the way for you. Take actions that are creative and brave.

6. Trust your instincts while listening to your intelligence. Study in your field of choice. Your ability to deduce will work with your gut to give you a well-balanced appraisal of any particular situation.

7. Be specific in your desires and know that you are able to attract them. Do not bother with trying to attain things that fall in the category of illusion. Use the universal law of attraction with ease, yet keep your feet are firmly planted on the ground.

8. Know who you are and what you are capable of doing. Your strength is in being, and from there you are unstoppable. Allow your actions to be inspired. Be like the zen fireflies and express your freedom with your internal dance. Follow that inner guidance. Understand and respect the power that you have, and be equally respectful of the fact that others have this power at their disposal.

9. Live with compassion, knowing that others may experience difficulty in accessing this source. Have a strong moral compass. Live your life with the purest of intention, and realize this is the best way to serve others.

If you can practice these steps with consistency, Abraham Maslow would picture you as self-actualized. He was a wise man. Maslow passed in 1970, but his work lives on. In this quote from Abraham Maslow he shows his respect for both the spiritual and the scientific nature of the human being:

“Self Actualization is the intrinsic growth of what is already in the organism, or more accurately, of what the organism is.”

Be one with nature and with the magical fireflies that move the night air. From here you will be in a position to move others.

Tags: abraham maslow, divine energy, elements of nature, fulfilling life, inner source, intention, intuition, Kim Mcginnis, Law of Attraction, science and spirituality, self actualized, source energy, true self, universal law of attraction, Zen

Cary Barbor

Researchers are beginning to unfold the secrets to meditation –an ancient practice that yields modern-day benefits.

In the highlands of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, people look at life differently. Upon entering the local Buddhist monastery, there is a spectacular sculpture the size of a large oak. The intricate carving of clouds and patterns are painted in powerful colors. But as soon as winter gives way, this magnificent work will melt to nothing. The sculpture, in fact, is made of butter, and it is one of the highland people’s symbols of the transient nature of life.

And life here is not easy. Villagers bicycle to work before dawn and return home long after sunset. Many live with nothing more than dirt floors and rickety outhouses. Upon entering these modest mud-brick homes, you’ll find no tables or chairs–just a long platform bed, which sleeps a family of eight. However, when the people invite you in for tea, their smiles are wide and welcoming. How do they possess such inner calm in conditions we would call less than ideal?

When villagers cook, sew or plow the fields they do so in a tranquil state. As an approach to life, weaving meditation seamlessly into almost every action throughout the day seems unfamiliar to Western cultures. Is there something we can glean from this way of life that will improve our own? The romantic notion of quitting everything and joining Tibetan monks on a mountaintop is not the only way to meditate. You don’t need to quit your job, give up your possessions and spend 30 years chanting. Recent research indicates that meditating brings about dramatic effects in as little as a 10-minute session. Several studies have demonstrated that subjects who meditated for a short time showed increased alpha waves (the relaxed brain waves) and decreased anxiety and depression.

To explore exactly what part of the brain meditation acts on, researchers at Harvard Medical School used MRI technology on participants to monitor brain activity while they meditated. They found that it activates the sections of the brain in charge of the autonomic nervous system, which governs the functions in our bodies that we can’t control, such as digestion and blood pressure. These are also the functions that are often compromised by stress. It makes sense, then, that modulating these functions would help to ward off stress-related conditions such as heart disease, digestive problems and infertility.

Meditation: What is It?

Aside from determining its physiological effects, defining the actual act of meditation can be as elusive as imagining the sound of one hand clapping. In his book, What is Meditation? (Shambhala Publications, 1999), Rob Nairn talks about it as a state of “bare attention.” He explains, “It is a highly alert and skillful state of mind because it requires one to remain psychologically present and `with’ whatever happens in and around one without adding to or subtracting from it in any way.”

The physical act of meditation generally consists of simply sitting quietly, focusing on one’s breath, a word or phrase. However, a meditator may also be walking or standing. It isn’t unusual, in fact, to see a meditating monk in the highlands walking a few steps and then lying prostrate over and over again until he reaches his destination many miles away.

There are many traditions and countless ways to practice meditation, and perhaps because of its polymorphous nature new meditators wonder whether they are doing it correctly. According to Roger Thomson, Ph.D., a psychologist in private practice in Chicago and a Zen meditator, there is one way to know for sure: “If you’re feeling better at the end, you are probably doing it right.”

Thomson makes it sound easy, but many people can’t seem to get the hang of it, no matter how often they try. “It can be difficult,” says Steven Hendlin Ph.D., a clinical psychologist in Irvine, California. “It may be a struggle to overcome the internal chatter that we all experience.”

Seeking methods for quieting that internal chatter and reducing stress are what initially attract many people to meditation. “It is a very effective stress-reducer, which is a way into the practice for many people,” says Thomson, who sometimes refers clients to meditation. “If someone is struggling with feelings of anxiety, he or she may benefit from its calming aspects. And it’s absolutely facilitative of mental health because it brings about a higher level of self-acceptance and insight about oneself.”

But greater awareness about oneself can be a double-edged sword. Mark Epstein, M.D., a New York City psychiatrist in private practice and a meditation practitioner, extends a caution about one of the ironies of meditating. “It could actually raise your level of anxiety if there are certain feelings you are not owning.” In other words, there’s nowhere to hide when you’re practicing “bare attention.” And this, for some people, is both the good and the bad news.

That’s why some experts suggest marrying meditation to psychotherapy. “Both allow the person to be present for the moment, open and nondefensive,” says Thomson, who explores the complementary nature of the two in a paper recently published in the American Journal of Psychotherapy. “In both meditation and psychotherapy, we are trying not to get caught up in internal preoccupation, but to be intimately present with what is happening here and now.”

To explain his thoughts on the connection, Thomson compares Zen to relational psychoanalytical theories. He writes that it “encourages its practitioners to become aware of the fundamentally distorted aspects of an overly individualistic view of human experience. Recognizing that the true nature of all individuals is emphatically nonindividual, neither lasting nor separate, is the wisdom of zazen.”

Silence and Science

Certainly anything that helps us fight stress is a welcome tool. But what else might meditation be doing for us? Since researchers like Herbert Benson, M.D. [see story, page 56], began amassing data, many studies have shown that indeed meditation has not only a mental but a profound physiological effect on the body. Studies have shown that, among other benefits, meditation can help reverse heart disease, the number-one killer in the U.S. It can reduce pain and enhance the body’s immune system, enabling it to better fight disease.

More new research offers additional encouragement. In a study published last year in the journal Stroke, 60 African-Americans with atherosclerosis, or hardening of the arteries, practiced meditation for six to nine months. (African-Americans are twice as likely to die from cardiovascular disease as are whites.) The meditators showed a marked decrease in the thickness of their artery walls, while the nonmeditators actually showed an increase. The change for the meditation group could potentially bring about an 11% decrease in the risk of heart attack and an 8% to 15% decrease in the risk of stroke.

A second study, published last year in Psychosomatic Medicine, taught a randomized group of 90 cancer patients mindful meditation (another type of practice). After seven weeks, those who had meditated reported that they were significantly less depressed, anxious, angry and confused than the control group, which hadn’t practiced meditation. The meditators also had more energy and fewer heart and gastrointestinal problems than did the other group.

Other recent research has looked at precisely what happens during meditation that allows it to cause these positive physical changes. Researchers at the Maharishi School of Management in Fairfield, Iowa, found that meditation has a pervasive effect on stress. They looked at a group of people who had meditated for four months and found that they produced less of the stress hormone cortisol. They were therefore better able to adapt to stress in their lives, no matter what their circumstances were.

Diana Adile Kirschner, Ph.D., a Philadelphia-area clinical psychologist, sometimes refers her clients to learn meditation and has seen firsthand how helpful it can be. “Not only is meditation an absolutely marvelous destressor, it helps people better relate to one another,” she says. “I can tell when clients are following through with meditation. For instance, I had a couple who consistently bickered. After they started meditating, they came in less angry, more self-reflective and more loving.”

So why aren’t more people taking up the practice? “Because it puts us in the middle of ourselves, which is not always where we want to be,” suggests Thomson. “Often, we want to fix things rather than accept them the way they are. Many of us feel as though we can’t afford the time and energy to meditate, when in fact we can’t afford not to.”

Epstein and several other experts feel that meditation’s effectiveness has to do with putting aside attachment to one’s ego. As he says, “When you look directly at a star at night, it’s difficult to see. But when you look away slightly, it comes into focus. I find it to be the same way with the ego and meditating. When one zeroes in on a sense of self through a practice of meditation, the self-important ego paradoxically becomes elusive. You become more aware that you are interconnected with other beings, and you can better put your own worries into their proper perspective.”

A group of elderly Chinese maintain their connection by meeting every daybreak in the village common in Monterey Park, California. They swoop their arms and stretch their torsos in graceful harmony, and then stand absolutely still, simply meditating. Only puffs of warm air flow from their nostrils. All of them look vibrant and relatively young, when in fact they are well into their years.

While western scientists are still exploring exactly how and why meditation works, we already know that it has both physiological and psychological benefits. And many therapists consider it a valid complement to more traditional therapies. So perhaps we should simply take Thomson’s advice–and the Tibetans’ lead–and do what makes us feel better in the end.

READ MORE ABOUT IT:

Going on Being: Buddhism and the Way of Change. Mark Epstein, M.D. (Broadway Books, 2001)

What is Meditation? Buddhism for Everyone Rob Nairn (Shambhala, 1999)

Tags: brain, Life, Meditation, mind, now, thought, Zen