A story about a man, a bull, and a new age, by Agnes Sanford

[The following is taken from Agnes Sanford’s book “The Healing Light,” first released in 1947 and still available today in paperback (see below for purchasing options).]

A certain engineer was once surveying in a field when a bull charged his party with lowered head and thundering hoofs. There was no tree to climb. There was no fence to jump. So the engineer stood his ground, filled his mind with the love of God and projected it to the bull.

“I am God’s man and you are God’s bull,” he thought in silence. “God made both of us, and in the name of Jesus Christ I say that there is nothing but loving-kindness between us.”

The bull stopped abruptly. For a moment he looked about uncertainly, as if confused. Then he wandered off and lay down peacefully under a bush. And all that day as the men prospected in the field he grazed quietly behind them, as if he enjoyed their presence.

“Will you tell me what you did to that bull!” asked a farm boy who was holding the rod for the surveyor. “That was a mad bull if I ever saw one. Will you tell me what you did to him?” (“I can believe every story in [your] book except the one about the bull,” a lady once said to me. But the engineer was my brother, and the story is true.)

The farm boy had seen, for the first time, the working of that force that will eventually take the place of bombs and shells upon this earth. For as soon as enough people are able to use the power of love in such a way as to create thereby a perfect self-defense, wars will be outmoded. When one can obtain justice and right and friendly cooperation without money and without price, without bloodshed and without pain, it will no longer be sensible to fight for them.

“If an armed burglar broke into your house with intent to kill,” the old question goes, “what would you do? Fight him, or lie still and let him kill your wife or child?”

Silly old question. One would do neither. One would project into the burglar’s mind the love of God, by seeing him as a child of God and asking God to bless him. And if one were strong enough in faith and love, the burglar’s mind would change. He would leave the family unharmed and go away.

“But hardly anyone can do that!” the answer comes.

Obviously. For if we could, we would not need to resort to war in order to defend ourselves. And we had best learn to do it, for until we do, we must suffer. Until we know the method of love and brotherhood, our choice of weak non-resistance or self-defense is only a choice of evils.

A new age is being born. The day has come when love-power, at the command of ministers and surveyors and children and everyone, is sufficient to change hearts here and there in the world about them.

This is the beginning of a new order. It is the dawning of a new day!

Exercise, week starting Monday, Aug 3, 2009

The group read up to page 121 of Experiments....

Exercise:
from page 119 or Experiments:

Examine your life and choose one way in which you are using energy which is not in accord with your ideals. This can be an emotional, attitudinal or active way of using energy. Write down what you select. Then demonstrate in your faily life your understanding of the inherent oneness of all force by transforming that energy to a more loving or constructive form. Record your experiences.

Example: Feeling frustrated and angry with other drivers who are discourteous.
Transformation: Changing your expression of the one energy by sending out to those people a prayer instead of thoughts of anger.

Movement Meditation class this Tuesday evening, July 28th

All are cordially invited to join Nikki Hu's Movement Meditation class this Tuesday evening, July 28th, at the Old Ship Labyrinth in Fellowship Hall: 107 Main Street, Hingham. Please arrive at 6:00 p.m. to get acquainted with Nikki and the Labyrinth space. Following the class Liliane Verdier will conduct a guided workshop on how to walk the Labyrinth.

Please RSVP to nikkiandorguy@comcast.com

We can filter out the noise ...

God can speak to us, and does all the time. It can come through kundalini or any other God-channel we choose. By choosing and focusing on a spiritual ideal, we can filter out the noise in us and receive guidance constantly. In time, we become one with the guidance, for the guru/God is in us, and is us. It is not so much in the mind. God does not speak to the intellect, so be careful about the mind games we can play with ourselves -- we can build castles in the air in a hurry with the intellect. He/She speaks to us in the heart with feelings and intuitions. This is also how we speak to God, with our heart, with our feelings. If we are intense in our bhakti to our ideal, our needs will be communicated automatically and we will know what to do next. It is like that, a very intimate process that emerges as a oneness inside us on the inner levels of feeling.

We experience a knowingness deep inside before we know. If that is how it happens you can be sure it is divine guidance, and not some trick of the mind.

The best way to cultivate bhakti is to purify the heart, which is done through all the advanced yoga practices we have discussed to date -- especially meditation. A purified heart is a blissfully silent heart. Meditation brings up the "silent witness" in us, which is the deep heart awareness that enables us to choose what direction our emotions will go in. Before the witness, we were dragged every which way by our thoughts and emotions, because we were identified with them as our self. With the silent witness we experience our self beyond all that, so thoughts and emotions become like objects we can redirect before they manifest outwardly. We can pull an ongoing "inside job" on our thoughts and emotions and avoid problems that come up when everything flying around inside us shoots out. In essence, working from the level of the silent witness, we are able to develop the habit of redirecting thoughts and emotions deep in the mind before they reach the surface. This was mentioned in the first lesson on bhakti (#67).

http://www.aypsite.org/109.html

EFT - Emotional Freedom Technique

Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) Introduction @ Yahoo! Video

Among the focused exercises Lynn Sparrow Christy had us doing at today’s all-day workshop was something called “energy blockage release techniques.” Here’s a similar example I found online. Give it a try on any “negative” emotions or health issues that are bothering you. Feel your body-brain release them and enjoy!