People leading a materialistic life can find happiness, lead a moral and ennobling life—so why bother to have a spiritual discipline? For many of us, there is simply no other choice that satisfies our inner need for Divine union. Also, there are many practical reasons that only a spiritual life can satisfy. True spiritual experience brings unsurpassed peace, inner assurance, expanding bliss, a knowledge of who and what you truly are, an intuitive understanding and realization that only comes with upliftment in consciousness. Truly, there is no greater life that can be had.

It is definitely not the easiest journey to take, there are no others that challenge you to the core to the same degree, also there will not be any that can lift you so high. Once you have had an experience in transcendent consciousness you will feel that before you were sleep walking in life. It is as if the scales fall from your eyes, and you see inner and outer reality in a brand-new way. There are many who appreciate the beauty of a flower, but with what eyes of realization did Jesus see these flowers when he made the statement:

(Matthew 6) 28 Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:

²⁹ And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

Once I was walking through the woods when I was suddenly lifted into the Causal plane. The rocks, trees and path were the same but I saw them as expressions of subtle, beautiful ideas, my own body was also made up of the same Causal realm; far more beautiful and of greater dimensions than the Astral realm. I understood that before material expression everything exists as an idea of the Creator. That idea form is far more than imagination and has a reality much greater than this material form. It seems impossible to convey in words this majestic, super-natural realm.

Oftentimes we can think the Astral and Causal Realms are distant places, far removed from this material plane. However spiritual experiences have taught me these realities are all around us, the substrata of all we see in the material world. We truly live in a magnificent creation and we only scratch the surface of what is all around us.

I sit here, surrounded in Aum vibration resounding within and without, life-force twinkles in walls, floor and in every material thing, the Divine Presence is blissfully thick in the air; only a spiritual awakening can open the doors to such realities. This is not my province only, but the inborn nature of us all. Let us not live on the surface of life only, but dive deep into the Reality that Divine union alone can bring us.

Health Update: Spiritual perception is not dependent upon a perfect body, and this body suffered a temporary setback after the trip back to the northwest. I am gradually recovering from that, gaining use and strength in my left leg, my left arm fared better and I continue touch-type all of these postings (I have typed all but the first posting after my stroke), and some of my mental executive functions have been affected and are gradually returning.

This explanation comes from our in-house medical expert on returning to home and the challenges and opportunities this brings, Ruth writes:

1. We spoke of on-days and recup-days. On days that include a rehab schedule and recup-days that are absolutely off. No subconscious guilt here.This is important as the push David has been under, rightly so, with rehab experts, was possibly too much for his sympathetic nervous system at the time but necessary.
   Now he needs rest and recuperation time so maybe for a few weeks more recup-days. He will know as will you.

   This is being kind to the parasympathetic nervous system. It most likely has been stretched and needs recalibration to a better norm. It is the repair and heal system.

   When the Autonomic Nervous system (SNS and PSNS) balance, the primitive brain will downgrade alert. Then there will be more natural energy for progress versus mind based mental push energy needed up until now. But in the long run it can bring exhaustion.

2. The world outside the hospital is different as David noted. A very different environment. So now to bring a sensible and patient and balanced rehabilitation to the home. It must be different as it is- 2 different worlds. Plus the body needs to integrate. This can bring a 2 step forward 1 step back experience. This is normal.Honour the cells, with each shift 1000s of cells must change and 100s of 1000s of nervous system recoding, DNA messages and gene changes. A stressed and tired body does not always send information in the correct order, or can take detours. Persistence of course with mountains of Hope and sincere Intention always win to the maximum. However please let wise patience be your friend.

Mountains of hope/faith and sincere intention are absolutely intact; along with your healing thoughts and prayers. Failure is not an option for Team Total Recovery. Thanks for being on the team. Jai Gurus!

A little over a month since I started intensive rehab, and now we are getting on a plane and flying back to the Northwest, back to Camano Island. Jerry drove us to the airport and wheelchair transportation was arranged for in advance from the curb to the plane seat. The entire flight went as smoothly as we could hope.

Before leaving the hospital, I met with Dr. K., the “physical doctor” who has monitored my progress during rehab. She said, “We don’t want to see you go, you have been our “superstar.” My physical, occupational and speech therapists echoed the same sentiments. Earlier, when I said that I will lift my foot to the wheelchair foot-support, something I had not yet managed, my occupational therapist said, “I have no doubt that in a couple of days you will. I have never seen anyone like you. You say you will do something, and two days later you do it. You have such a strong will.” I feel these comments are reflections on my Guru, who demonstrated such a strong will and set the pattern for me to emulate.

It has been interesting being out of the hospital after such a lengthy stay—being in traffic, activity at the airport—it all has given a shock to my healing brain. Even though everything went so smoothly, I found I could not move my left leg by the end of the flight, in fact the last hour of the flight was excruciating. I played Papa’s Ram Nam on my phone and he made it possible to endure it.

In the contained environment of the rehab center my brain had made new connections and advanced; out in the world my brain struggles to absorb it all—I was also fighting off the first signs of a cold. Many of the advancements I had made have been temporarily lost. Yesterday I slept through much of the day, and today I am making slow progress to being back to myself, with windows of time with greater control over my body movements, less pain and clearer thinking—I am also overcoming the cold– it never got a grip on me. This trip has had a greater shock to my system than I had anticipated.

The other factor I find interesting is that while in rehab, inner experiences ebbed allowing for full concentration on healing the body. As soon as I came into the house I heard and felt the powerful Aum and I entered into an interior state of being. God’s Presence has been manifest in both the rehab and the house in their unique ways, but a definite shift to interior consciousness has come since arriving home. This is God’s inscrutable play and He is in charge of it all and works for the highest good in all He does.

I arrived home to a bountiful display of nature’s colors—so many vases full of flowers. There was also a refrigerator/freezer full of food made with such love, and modifications for the house—a ramp and handrails thanks to Greg and Jill, a yard looking perfect thanks to Rebecca, get well cards and loving acts of service by so many helping, loving hands, all done in seva to God—my heart overflows with gratitude. We will continue to monitor how the brain heals and recovers from the stroke and the trip home. Right now, this brain and body needs to rest in Him and be surcharged with His sacred life-force.

“May Christ be risen in you today, is an ancient orthodox Christian greeting on Easter morning,” John Durkin wrote to me in an email; he sent those greetings on to me and, in turn, I send them on to you. I thought it such a beautiful blessing, and contains in it the implicit message that the Christ story is every man’s hidden potential—the Christ Principle is part and parcel of the human being’s makeup.

How remarkable when the life and teachings of Jesus the Christ jumps off the pages from ancient texts and awakens a sleeping God-hood within. Mother Hamilton did that for me—she made the Christ live in me and showed me the way to realize our one Father-God. The power of God in her helped awaken the sleeping God in me, and for that she has my eternal gratitude.

Mother took me on such a tremendous journey, physically demanding, mentally exacting, emotionally expanding—in short it tested me in every possible way and in more ways than I could have ever anticipated. From the Mystical Crucifixion of the physical, energetic and mental, each stage carried with it, its own tests and its upliftment. Surely there is no greater challenge and no comparable reward.

Jesus came in a line of perfect incarnations that our Heavenly Father has sent to us to show us the way back to him. We error when we make a god of one of his incarnations and neglect the primary message that the same God is in us as in him. Clarify that message, God and the kingdom of Heaven are to be found within you, and you have unraveled untold misunderstandings. Let us prove to ourselves the truth of these teachings on this Easter Day and every day, by going within and realizing the great Reality waiting to resurrect itself in you. Words do not do it, reading will not get you there. Only by living the life will you come face to face with the living Christ.

It has been wonderful to see this body gradually waking up to its normal functions. Usually, we identify with the body and gauge how we are doing based on that.  Our other point of reference is the mind—am I thinking clearly? Can I solve problems? When God took me through the three mystical crucifixions, He made it perfectly clear that I have a body, but I am not this body, and I have a mind but I am not the mind—the Source of my existence is the eternal Spirit residing within and without.

That knowledge has allowed me to focus on healing this body and not spend time in doubt and worry. It also helps me to live in the moment and not in the future of “What ifs” or a past of “What was,” but to remain in the here and now.

We had a speaker come to a family support group with a remarkable story. Seven years ago, she had a stroke and was in a coma for two and a half months, when she woke up she was blind, had a poor memory, and could not walk. She was in therapy for 18 months and could not be at home on her own for two and a half years. Today she walked into our meeting and you would not suspect anything unusual about her. She spoke eloquently about her experiences. She continues to work to compensate for memory lapses, writing notes to herself and continues to use her shampoo trick even though she does not need it anymore—in the past, she could not remember if she had washed her hair or not, so she pushed the shampoo bottle forward if she had washed her hair and then placed it on the back of the shelf if she had not.

A main point she made was that when the doctor told her she would be in a wheelchair for six more months, she took it as a challenge to do it faster; she was out of her chair in three months. When her daughter-in-law said she could not hold her grandchild until she could prove she could do it safely she went to work strengthening herself until she could. Now she regularly babysits her grandchildren. I thought, “What a wonderful example for living life! To take challenges, not as limitations, but as starting points.” When told that you cannot do a certain thing, take it as a challenge to prove that you can. Such a commitment spurs you to build yourself up, not allow them to create artificial constraints. Another main point she made—do not define yourself by your body or its limitations, who you are is not your body or mind. Today, seven years later she continues to set goals for progress, even though she is no longer in therapy.

We all have obstacles of one kind or another, some of them are obvious to others, and some blend into the background—away from public view. Onetime Mother was riding in a car with a devotee. There were no parking spots except in the one marked for the disabled. Mother said, “you can park there.” The devotee pointed out that it was for disabled people. Mother said, “That’s alright, in the body we are all disabled!” They parked and did not get a ticket. Being with the guru is always an eye-opening experience!

Therapy Update: I am kept busy here with five or six hours of various types of therapies on weekdays for the body and mind (two hours a day on the weekends). Recent progress shows increased cognitive functions, my stamina has steadily grown, the beginning of the activation in my left hip, leg and foot (first comes activation of the muscles, then strengthen the response and then the muscles grow stronger), standing and sitting (with assistance) is smoother and with better balance, I slept through the night for the first time Friday night, periodic nerve pain on my left leg has reduced, and I am also dressing myself with greater self-reliance. Everything I can do for myself I do—when you put the demand on the brain it responds by clearing old pathways or creating new ones. The muscles are intact, what is needed is the brain connection to the body.

With Loving Pronams

Thank you for all the lovely cards, emails and texts, and of course your prayers, all are lovingly received. The staff here have all commented on the rapid recovery they are seeing in this body; That is in no small measure a result of your positive thoughts and prayers. Please receive my loving pronams in return.

The value of living a life centered in God is never so evident as when we face life’s greatest challenges. For that is the time when having the strength that God-awareness brings with it, along with knowing His never-failing goodness, love—and the peace that comes with perfect resignation to His will.

The human way is to question why a seemingly untoward thing is happening, fear and anger can run rampant with a consequent feeling of being cut off from God, the Source of all virtue and right action.

God does not pull the rug out from underneath us, so to speak, simply to vex us, nor is it a mechanistic universe that does all without thought or caring. When your eye of intuition is opened to the universal vision and you see a glowing intelligence behind all life and you see demonstrated before you His Grace operating in and around you, you undergo a marvelous transformation in which you are never alone, without direction, or the strength to meet life’s challenges.

So, let us cheerfully meet the world and know God as your sole (Soul) support, comforter, and guide.

Miracle List Update

Today I am typing this using my left hand, this morning I lifted my arm from my left shoulder, my left leg has shown signs of voluntary movement, my left side periphery vision has vastly improved, and sustained concentration is much stronger—these were all affected by the hemorrhage on the right side of my brain—there are too many improvements to list here. This morning, for the first time I could move my leg and actually felt some strength there.

I continue in rehab bootcamp here, where they ask the impossible so that they might get the possible. Ric and Judy are leaving for the “great white north,” as they have maxed out there allowed time for being out of country. They have both been a God-send and done yeoman’s seva, along with Jerry and Lois who will remain here. And, of course Carla, who, after driving here while chasing the helicopter to the ICU, has not left my side, at one point sleeping on the floor, all the while making my life a million, million times easier—she has been a rock. And to you, dear ones, prayer warriors for Team Total Recovery, with too many assists to count—my deepest love and gratitude. Victory to God, Victory to the Light!

Beloved Children of the Infinite,

God gave me a very interesting experience the other night. I woke up around 1:30 am in terrific pain—it felt like a nail being driven into the nerve behind my knee. These pains have been coming on my left side as a sign of awakening from paralysis, however this felt more intense and difficult. Normally, when such pains have been coming to me in the night, I consider it a good sign. I have used distilled oil of comfrey that was a gift from Zach and Hailey and in most cases, the pain then goes away. However, in this powerful experience, the pain remained intense–God thought to reveal a great truth in this manner. He guided my thoughts toward the question, “Why is there cruelty in the world?”

So, I asked God, “In creating this universe, why did You allow cruelty to be part of it when it is nothing but a joyful expression of Yourself.” And what He told me, “For every such thing it awakens its opposite.” For cruelty awakens divine compassion not always in a moment or a day, and as divine compassion spreads over this world, cruelty will be cancelled out. If man had not erred by going against God’s harmony in the first place, there would be no such need for a counterbalancing law.

So, when you see discord and inharmony in this world, even cruelty, let it awaken compassionate love in you and then be even more determined to be a bearer of Light and Love. As each of us do this it will gain a collective strength and one day will result in cruelty being something only known in the history books. Until that day comes you are called upon to be warriors of compassion. Such wisdom came from God during this experience that words could never fully convey.

Rehabilitation Continued

I want to thank you for all your prayers, cards, and emails. Last week was a very rough one as gastrointestinal problems and dehydration affected my energy and concentration. As of today, I can tell you I feel that I am more fully  myself once again – renewed energy, renewed concentration and all of my rehab test scores have vastly improved this week. Carla had the idea to start a “Miracle List” each night noting the improvements we have noticed through the day. Years ago, when people came for time with me while I was in Maple Ridge, Christine would always say, “Get your miracle” in a lyrical voice. I think of that now when we make our “Miracle List” at the end of the day—a list of firsts. Every night we have had ten or twelve things of note. Today, I was able to open and close my left hand smoothly and evenly where before it had been a struggle. This early morning, I was doing multiplication tables mentally that were difficult for me last week, I am solving story problems that require inferences and concentration that sent me into a tizzy the day before, my sense of balance for sitting and standing continues to grow. So, what I would like to suggest to you is that you pay attention to the little and big miracles in your life— “Get your miracle!”