JOHN 13: 33 “My children, I will be with you only a little longer. You will look for me: Where I am going, you cannot come.

34 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

In the first chakra I am only interested in me, & my feelings

When Jesus and the masters instruct us to love one another, they do not mean from one’s ego. Let’s examine how the ego may fool us. We’ll examine the first three chakras. In the first chakra I believe that the whole world exists just for me and for my personal needs. In this chakra I am only interested in me, & my feelings. Perhaps you have met some individuals who seem stuck here, who have healing to do in their first chakra.

In the second chakra we discover that we have physical and emotional feelings for others

In the second chakra we discover that we have physical and emotional feelings for others. WOW! As we move up the chakras those feelings will become more sophisticated. In the 2nd chakra they are somewhat primal, although we learn how to feel empathy for another. The Highest Purpose for sexuality is to ignite our creativity. Creativity enhances Life. You open your heart & soul to another. Hopefully sexuality opens you beneficially to the whole world. The 1st chakra sets free our Life force. In the 2nd chakra you use, or direct, that energy.

If you are in a healthy 2nd chakra relationship with a partner, and with yourself, you will feel a powerful sense of freedom. You will feel comfortable and exhilarated being yourself. If you do not feel accepted as you are, this is a red flag that ego has taken over this relationship. A person may unconsciously be using sexual energy to gain approval from another because of an unrecognized childhood trauma and wound. Deep within, there may feelings of inadequacy, or of not receiving enough love and affection. If our 2nd chakra energy is out of balance, we may develop feelings of distrust.

If the third chakra is clear and open you are able to move easily from your mind, as intellect, full of information, to the wisdom of your instincts

If we find ourselves unable to step into our personal power our third chakra becomes affected by the imbalanced 2nd. Our childhood experiences play a significant role in the healthy development of these first three chakras. We take the strong creative energy of the 2nd and act on it by recognizing our passions. We listen and dance to the beating of our own drum, rather than following along to someone else’s beat. We find the strength of the third chakra to help us take a stand if we feel something is not right, or fair. We follow our own inner urges rather than live under someone else’s authority. We act from our own personal power. If we haven’t healed issues of doubting our self, our partner will make us grapple with this. You may find yourself losing confidence over what you want, or defending your feelings, which means the ego has stepped boldly in as your emergency self-defense. If the third chakra is clear and open you are able to move easily from your mind, as intellect, full of information, to the wisdom of your instincts. In every cell of your body, in your gut feelings, lives your inner knowingness. Any unsettling feelings in the solar plexus are warning signs that all is not well.

Here is where our energies can really become emeshed. If our ego has jumped into rescue us, it will bring with it an arsenal of judgment, prejudice, and limiting beliefs rather than holy discernment. Holy discernment allows you & me to recognize – from a place of harmonious neutrality – whether something is right for us without having to attack another. Ego labels our perceived “opponent” as an enemy, an obstacle. The ego makes that event, or that person, wrong and inferior. If only we would trust our gut about what isn’t feeling right… without psychologically attacking the other as “difficult” or “bad.”

This is where we have to develop our compassion, to turn over the fire in our belly, for another’s situation and feelings. Does this mean we put aside our passion? No. Quite the opposite! We do not cut off the energies that we feel surrounding issues, even though in our families we have been taught that full-blown feelings are not appropriate. If we keep them in check, if we suppress ourselves, we will become bitter and suffer.

Where pain exists, the ego is operating, not the soul. We are in anguish because of ego, because of its attachments and dependency, which we often mask as love. But ego resists the natural flow of love, and that contraction causes us pain. A soul-to-soul relationship commits to the essence of another without roles. Assigning a role to someone restricts and limits him, or her. Once someone is your partner or lover or spouse or whatever, then the ego enforces rules about that role, how it should look, how everyone should behave. Who needs that?

Ultimately you and I walk this journey alone

Ultimately you and I walk this journey alone. Others come and go. The real journey in internal, as we learn to know and claim our wholeness. No one else can do that for another. A partner does not accompany you. A partner is having his or her own journey. You do not accompany him, or her, for you have your own tasks to do. You may walk side by side at times. That is a gift. But your agendas are not the same. No matter how similar your journeys may appear, your partner or your children’s journeys are not the same as yours. Growth means learning to walk beside all beings, acknowledging similarities and differences, and continuing to hold your agenda and to allow them to hold theirs. As you walk your path, simply be in love. Rest in Love. That is maintaining your integrity. Whether a relationship lasts for an hour, or for a lifetime, encounter each person whom you meet, in that moment, soul to soul. If the two of you decide to dance, do not worry about how long the music will last. Do not worry about its duration. The act of dancing, the joy of dancing is enough.

The soul is ever satisfied. The soul is ever renewed. And so it is. Amen.

Readings from The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr.

Watch the Reverend King’s last speech.

These solution strategies offer promising possibilities for creating a world in which nobody’s rights are violated and every person has the opportunity to thrive.

Watch the video trailer. Check out our ideas. Join in the discussion. Let us know what you think.

Arts

Art plays a critical role in conveying the depths of human experience and often serves as a communication outlet for oppressed people to express their realities when it may not be safe to convey in words.

Economics

Our research indicates that our economic system serves as a tool for consolidating power into the same few people’s hands. Centralized banking, fractional reserve and a hidden public private partnership between the bankers, government and corporations keep this disparity in place. There are strategic and practical actions we can take to obsolete the current system and create economies that serve the needs of all people.

Education

American education is failing. Corporations fund University research and therefore influence curriculum, while state elementary and high schools promote obedience above critical thinking. We promote creating independent schools that meet the needs of individual learning styles and passions, and which inspire the thinking, discipline and creativity we need to crate real solutions to our many problems.

Environment

Environmental restoration and eco management require coordinated efforts that include economic, justice and infrastructure considerations. THRIVE’s whole systems analysis offers an approach that makes this possible.

Governance

Until there is campaign finance reform, governments cannot be held accountable by the citizens who elect them. Currently legislation is determined by corporate lobbying. Between that and earmarks, we have a corrupt and unresponsive government. We can change this.

Health

Our health care system is based on a model that profits from sickness. Pharmaceutical companies control the funding of the AMA and the FDA and are often run by the same people who preside over these research and regulating bodies. This intrinsic conflict of interest results in sicker people and a limit on cures that can’t be patented. To find out how to create a holistic health care system that rewards doctors for the health and healing of their patients…

Infrastructure

Throughout the world people lack access to clean water, electricity, sanitary waste disposal, and good transportation systems. Fortunately, modern technology and infrastructural development has the ability to meet the needs of everyone. It will require a shift from a fossil-fuel based economy to one of renewable energy and a transition from a…

Justice

Our current justice system is largely influenced by a for-profit prison industrial complex that benefits from crime and is based on retribution rather than restoration. It doesn’t have to be this way. To find out about using the law to protect individual rights and the commons we all share…

Media

As owners of the public airwaves, American citizens have the opportunity to make the media accurately reflect their needs. THRIVE has a 3-staged approach to solutions that you can learn more about it in the Solutions section.

Science

What is possible for humanity is often prescribed by scientific perception. Is it possible for technology to mimic nature’s own evolutionary design and produce technology that transcends current scientific thinking? We believe that it is not only possible, but that it has been done.

About Solara An-Ra, Warrior of the Light

Solara An-Ra grew up in South Africa, completing a B. A. degree and Teaching Diploma at Cape Town University. After moving to the UK in 1987 she began her spiritual journey which has led her to become a spiritual teacher who brings a Pleiadian sense of joy and fun into all her work. As a member of the Order of Melchizedek, she takes groups on sacred trips to the places of power on Earth across the globe, reconnecting the Light-grid and the tribe simultaneously.

One of Solara’s greatest gifts is the channeled messages and guided meditations she puts up on her website and YouTube, free to download. These are more than meditations – they teach vital skills to beginners and the experienced alike, such as a felt experience of your chakras, how to ground yourself, reclaim your power, connect with your Higher Self and move into a heart-centered way of being.

Watch Solara An-Ra’s video.

We enjoy a Minnesota writer’s Christmas story: Down at Angel’s by Sharon Chmielarz. Illustrated by Jill Kastner, published by Ticknor & Fields, 1994.

Though others think their neighbor Angel is a “dumb Bulgarian,” a young girl and her little sister enjoy watching him work and want to give him a present of their own making.

We held our Children’s Christmas Pageant. Our pageant slideshow will be added to this page — please check back soon!

From Scripting Your Destiny by Archangel Michael and Ronna Herman

Philippians 4:8 New International Version (NIV)
(8) Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.

2nd chakra work: reprogramming sabotaging emotions

Courtesy of The Eden Healing Centre

Orange Energy—Negative Attributes
Self doubt, envy, addictions, over-indulgence, compulsive behavior, guilt, judgment, criticism, sense of superiority or inferiority, embarrassment, control and manipulation, defensiveness, stubbornness, anxiety, following instinctual nature only.

Orange Energy—Positive Attributes
Your soul-self is director of your life, revitalized, confident, healing, follow highest good and purpose, ego aligned with spirit, giving and receiving nature harmonized.

Reflection questions:

1. Do you feel guilt? …Over past actions? Regarding responsibility? Regarding others?
2. Do you accept yourself the way you are in this moment? …Why not? What’s your story about it?
3. Do you compare yourself to others?
4. How do you feel about your body?
5. How do you feel about the opposite sex?
6. Do you have sexual issues that need resolving?
7. What are your addictions?
8. Any compulsive behaviors?
9. What makes you defensive?
10. What makes you feel embarrassed?
11. Do you honor yourself before trying to please others?
12. Are you willing to make a commitment for 21 days to release a negative trait/behavior that you have had for years (and which has bothered you and made you feel guilty for years)?

Why be stuck in a spiral of pain and suffering, unworthiness and/or lack? The angelic helpers are available to help transmute those old negative energies.

Your Life of Spiritual Mastery, from Scripting Your Destiny by Archangel Michael and Ronna Herman), Star* Quest Publishing, Reno, NV

1st chakra work: Self-Empowerment begins when one decides to actively take control of her/his life

Courtesy of The Eden Healing Centre

Negative Root Chakra Attributes: Lack of vitality, sense of depression &/or helplessness, Resentment, hate towards anything or anyone in one’s life, Survival and scarcity issues, self-centeredness, impatience, a sense of aloneness, not being grounded to Mother Earth.

Positive attributes: Red energy to create strength, truthfulness, power in thought, actions, and deeds, strong discipline of self, claim and manifest abundance, develop courage, use will power to speak one’s truth and to stand in one’s integrity, to stimulate one into action to manifest all you desire in order to live up to your highest potential.

Seek out the origins of your emotional responses and pain:

What negative traits did your Father / Mother mirror to you for your learning?

What positive traits  did your Father / Mother mirror to you for your learning?

Who else in your childhood contributed to your belief system?

What positive/negative traits has your spouse displayed to you?

Is there a theme (or themes) playing over & over in situations and people in your life?
— What/who controls you?
— What/who do you try to control?
— When have you tried NOT to be responsible… by blaming others, the government, fate?

What beliefs are keeping you from becoming your best?

What makes you angry? Fearful?

Bhagavad Gita
2.1: Seeing Arjuna full of compassion, his mind depressed, his eyes full of tears, Kṛṣṇa, spoke the following words.

2.2: The Supreme Personality of Godhead said: My dear Arjuna, how have these impurities come upon you? They are not at all befitting a man who knows the value of life. They lead not to higher planets but to infamy.

2.3: O son of Pṛthā, do not yield to this degrading impotence. It does not become you. Give up such petty weakness of heart and arise, O chastiser of the enemy.

Revelation 21—A New Heaven and a New Earth
(1) Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,”(a) for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. (2) I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. (3) And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. (4) ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ [b] or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

Isaiah 65:17-25—King James Version (KJV)
(17) For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind.

(18) But be ye glad and rejoice for ever in that which I create: for, behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy.

(19) And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people: and the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her, nor the voice of crying.

(20) There shall be no more thence an infant of days, nor an old man that hath not filled his days: for the child shall die an hundred years old; but the sinner being an hundred years old shall be accursed.

(21) And they shall build houses, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them.

(22) They shall not build, and another inhabit; they shall not plant, and another eat: for as the days of a tree are the days of my people, and mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands.

(23) They shall not labour in vain, nor bring forth for trouble; for they are the seed of the blessed of the LORD, and their offspring with them.

(24) And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear.

(25) The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock: and dust shall be the serpent’s meat. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, saith the LORD.

Imagine an earth where Joy and fun are interspersed with every day miracles and transcendental experiences. That is what this blue skinned Divine incarnation, Lord Krishna, teaches us. As we approach the Christian time of advent, a season of waiting for something wondrous, I thought we would start in the east, where Mystery begins. The wise men of the Christmas story may have journeyed from India, or Egypt. Ancient Indian writings explain that Lord Vishnu incarnates as a being on earth whenever there is need to tackle a super human task. Isn’t that right now, too, in 2011, to realize that the dwelling place of God is within, and to raise our individual vibrations and those collectively on the planet.

Long after Krishna, Jesus incarnated as a Way Shower with a unique covenant with the west, but that story will have to wait. Like Mother Mary we will hold our expectancy in our hearts.

This Sunday we are won over by the charms of this mischievous dark or blue skinned child whose flute playing captivates cows and cow herders alike, who cheerfully invites us to to break long standing habits that keep us oppressed. But not in a sorrowful or shaming way, but playfully and humorously. He invites us to take life lightly, not so seriously. He teaches us how to engage and expand our heart chakras (through humor and laughter) in order to release the so-called demons within us.

Krishna reminds us not to be afraid because darkness always precedes the dawn. Miracles (like the creamy rich taste of fresh butter) exists amidst the routines of daily life, but we have to be open and grateful to enjoy them. The next time you eat pancakes, slather on the butter. Appreciate, every creamy bite! Not only did young Krishna smear butter all over his face and then deny that he had eaten any, but he organized his gang of beloved butter thieves! So share your benevolent laughter and fun with others.

Here is the question that Krishna asks: Can you claim our own freedom, value your creativity, accept your heart filled revelry, or do you force yourself to fit into society’s norms? What happens then? If playfulness is not allowed expression in an environment of loving freedom it can turn in to our shadow side, acting out. What would that look like? Cynacism. Sarcasm. So called humor at another’s expense. Even humiliation in the guise of play. Most deceptive: cleverness which is the cold rigidity of self-centered ego.

Do you love yourself from a place of purity as innocent as the infant Krishna who delights in sucking his big toe?

Yes, we have to cope with 3-D reality, to integrate our growing 5-D Wisdom into material thinking. Yes, as the more mature Krishna re-Minds us, it is our responsibility to gather spiritual tools to navigate and to serve this complicated world. Yes, we have to discipline our mischievous energies, so that we can accomplish our divine tasks. We must be able to think from our hearts and feel with our brains. We set healthy limits and boundaries for our children (and stand upright in our place as benevolent authorities) to teach cause and effect. We filter society’s norms and rules, so that we assist only Supreme Creator’s Plan and the Highest Good for All.

Krishna could see through the murky waters to identify the serpent hiding in the dark depths. As mature adults we need to clear our own destructive impulses and blockages, but not from a place of fear, or over excitement. We are never called to use psychological, emotional, or physical violence. What did Krishna do to conquer evil? He danced merrily on the head of the cobra. He trusted in the Divine Plan. Trust is the practice for us all. He trusted in the assistance of Mother Earth as her waters beat the rhythm of the Universe’s victory song.

There is Divine Wisdom and Good… in all things. But we must uncover it. Awaken and share this magnificent news with everyone. The baby Jesus in Bethlehem escaped Herod’s order to kill all Hebrew boys. Jesus’ miraculous story we will celebrate over the next 5 weeks. The baby Moses in the Hebrew Scriptures survived the murky depths of the Nile river and avoided being murdered by the Egyptian Pharoah’s soldiers. Krishna escaped the evil forces which imprisoned his birth parents. We are called as disciples of these Way Showers to stand undefeated, facing what appears as evil, empowered to dance over obstacles, within or without.

Baby Krishna put mud into his mouth. His mother asked him to open wide. What did she see? The entire universe within this infant’s mouth. In our readings Isaiah, asks his Hebrew brothers and sisters, who have been wandering in what feels like an endless desert of time and space, to do what? To behold! Their former slavery shall not be remembered. (And I would add, nor ours in this post modern age, for we have responded as slaves to our work, to family obligations, slaves to time, and to our limiting and addictive behaviors. No more! The Universal I Am is creating new heavens and a new earth. You and I, centered in our I Am Presence, are creating new Heavens and a new earth. Be glad and rejoice. Be a people of Joy!

Finally the writer of the book of Revelation calls us to come, and see the glorious bride and bridegroom. We are invited to a celestial wedding! How is it that Revelation is usually portrayed, as a book of gloom, doom, and destruction? That is an interpretation of impotence as Krishna warns. To read Revelation in the darkness of punishment and destruction is to be as blinded as Arjuna, by his own tears of ignorance. What does Krishna say? This is not befitting a human being who knows the value of life!

Despair is not befitting those who know the value of life. We are human angels, no longer isolated and impotent in a terrify universe.

From now on we claim our global unity, our wholeness and higher consciousness. We join galactic interstellar Light beings to fulfill—not ego’s petty demands—but the Supreme Creator’s Plan. Let us play Krishna’s flute, the celestial songs…charm the world with our compassionate presence. With God, may we wipe away every tear. For that is why you and I, and the masters, were so wondrously and gloriously made.

Amen.

In the past we have experienced fear, anger, a sense of isolation and abandonment, of unworthiness, and not being loveable. Not to worry, these are all normal reactions from feeling separated from our Benevolent Almighty Source of Being, from having to accept earthly limitation and constriction within a physical body. Imagine what it was like when you and I had to fragment our Selves, let go of our Powerful Energies, in order to incarnate, minimalizing into a tiny fraction of ourselves, on this planet. You probably know that earth, according to other star systems is the most challenging, dark, chaotic, and violent environment in the galaxy.

So, why did we volunteer to come here? Mother Gaia, with all of her beauty, resources, and diversity offers every individual the most amazing spiritual experiment and adventure. Within the vastness of personal Freedom will you and I find our way home, to goodness, to God? It’s the Ultimate Game, which surpasses Extreme. In our contemporary world, anything goes. Scientific minds, that create cluster bombs, which blow off the limbs of innocent children have the same freedom as inventors of life saving kidney dialysis machines. Photographers of abusive sexual pornography have the same access to internet viewers as filmmakers who document modern saints such as Mother Theresa, Gandhi, and Martin Luther King Jr. I could go on and on listing the absurd polarities, the contrasts, and choices. Much of the time, until you find your own sacred center and balance, life can feel completely nuts. And yet, if you were the Grand Designer, how else would you create such a dynamic, rich, varied, all encompassing journey back to Source?

When I was a student pastor in Boston I worked in an Alzheimer’s facility. On my last day before graduation I had to say good‐bye to one of my residents, Edna, who I had walked and sat with every day. She had a broad beautiful smile as she looked at me. “I knew you’d find me. I love you!” The light in her face was as bold as if lightning had struck me. I knew in that moment she was speaking for God. Those are the words that God will say to each of his/her creations eventually….

It was Edna who taught me this. Edna, whose mind was no longer cluttered with concerns of the ego, or memory. She knew, in spite of the holes in her physical brain grey matter, what is the living, energetic reality. How ironic! She was clinically diagnosed as memory impaired.

But it is you and I who have had to accept the veil of forgetfulness when we incarnated here. It is such a testament to God’s Trust, Compassion, and Love for his/her own creation that Source knows we will find our way back to the Truth, and Majesty, to the Connection of who we all are. Perhaps this remembrance of all we have had to reclaim will give us compassion for those who have not awakened, those who are still asleep (and mad and scared as hell.) These are the bullies who still attempt to annihilate anyone, and everything, which they perceive as not conforming to THEIR religious, cultural, and political beliefs and rules. Their behavior is the last of the 3rd/4th dimensional dogmatic views that need to be transmuted. But before we wag a judgmental finger at the naughties, let us look within, at our own similar fears of change, our terror of losing control over our lives, of having to detach from our obsessions and addictions.

Last Sunday, Lydia, who played here reminded me that Pythagoras was afraid of the invention of the alphabet. For as long as humans existed, before written language, people communicated by story, by the power of the spoken word. For him, an oral tradition had more integrity, was more fluid and alive. But what of a written language? Would it restrict human communication, make ideas rigid and written in concrete? Would written language be manipulated, twisted, used to coerce and harm? Would the written word, in contrast to the tribe coming together to listen and speak together, would pieces of paper with words separate and isolate people? We could raise the same concerns—magnified—over electronic media and telecommunications today!

You and I know in our DNA that the limitations of this 3D existence our not the Ultimate Truth of who we are. No wonder so many babies cry in frustration when they are born. As beautiful as earthly existence can be, the duality, the harshness of what we may experience, or witness, the negativity that we do not want, that illusion that passes as reality, can be almost unbearable until we awaken to the Beauty, Purity, and Goodness of what is instead possible.