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"Everyone wins in 2010" Thank you to all of you who continue to support Life Now and our ventures! We have received a few Good articles that will be shared in Expansion Encounters, starting in 2011. If others of you have something you would like to share, please send it to Dusty (`~`*`~`)`~`*`~`(`~`*`~`)`~`*`~`(`~`*`~`)`~`*``~` (`~`*`~`) You can read archive issues of "Expansion Encounters" at Expansion Encounters and now at New Expansion Encounters Current (`~`*`~`)`~`*`~`(`~`*`~`)`~`*`~`(`~`*`~`)`~`*``~`(`~`*`~`) Help! 2011 is coming and we need a new theme! The new year presents an "opportunity" to consider something that would rhyme with eleven. I can think of only 3 words. If you have any suggestions for a theme phrase, let me know! Here is a bit of appetizer for articles in 2011. Thank you, Nic! ~ ~ ~ THOUGHTS ON MEDITATION by Nic East I have been meditating for almost 30 years and during that time, I have been shown many kinds and styles of this important process of mental clarification. What works best for me has been the written style that I invented 26 years ago. I write down the date and time of beginning and then I postulate a question that I hope will yield a spiritual answer. Mundane questions do not work. Questions like who will win a specific horse race or baseball game are useless and have no value. Meditation is not a form of controlled prescience, but a genuine spiritual communication with one’s inner Wisdom. I write down the answer that I receive, then I note the time it has taken for me to transcribe that answer. I do not know if this is actually important, but I have always timed my meditations. Going back and reading them many years later, I am always surprised to see how accurate they were and given the perspective of time, they are a strong validation and reward of spiritual vindication. 1. A meditative mind is not absolutely silent. Instead, it is quieted of concerns. It is within this quietude of the mind that the Inner Voice can be heard. Only a “quieted” mind can hear itself meditate. 2. Some people think of religious concepts while meditating. I find that to be severely limiting. For me, removal of internal and external limitation ensures clarity. Religion, to me, symbolizes systematic conformity. I crave unlimitedness and total freedom without constraint or restrictions imposed by religious philosophy or dogma. 3. Though I am an artist and believe that Art cannot be taught, I know that Art can be learned. The same is true for meditation. 4. Some say that one must have silence in order to meditate. I have learned that I can meditate in any place where crowds offer anonymity. All I need is an uninterrupted or undisturbed block of time along with a pad of paper and writing instrument that needs no attention. For that reason, I favor using a ball point pen and narrow-lined paper in a ring-bound booklet. 5. The direction my mind takes during the style of Meditation I do, is aimed by my question. Sometimes the answer I receive veers and broadens into wider and deeper venues. Nevertheless, I maintain my attention and focus until I am finished. 6. Paying too much attention may also prevent clear Meditation. One cannot watch oneself fall asleep, but can prepare for sleep. Meditation works in a similar manner. When you become aware that you are meditating, it splits your attention and suddenly, you are no longer meditating. 7. To some, Meditation is hard work. Though it is certainly the result of certain disciplines in action, like quieting your mind and sitting in comfort free of distractions or interruptions, Meditation can be very easy. If you prepare properly and listen to the answer you get with an uncritical mind, that is Wisdom. 8. Meditation is a loving acceptance of "what is". Meditation is about paying deep attention to your God Self Within. 9. Meditation is its own reward. It brings peace, security, clear information and spiritual guidance. You will become as a "Spiritual Warrior", afraid of nothing. Then you float free of any constraint. 10. Meditation is self-communication of the highest and clearest sort. One can neither self-direct nor control Meditation. One must become open to the Wisdom Within. 11. Meditation is never about mundane knowledge; it is about the truth behind this illusion we call "Life". 12. Your God Self Within will teach whenever you are willing to listen in Meditation. Meditation is perfect understanding of “what is” and moving beyond toward spiritual truth. Quiet your mind so that you can hear your Soul speak. 13. Meditation is undirected seeking; searching for originality within your inner vistas. Meditation is "Super Consciousness". 14. I create my own solitude, giving over any possible distraction to that quiet place I set aside within my mind for that use. When I meditate, I am in contact with the sublime. 15. Meditation is not prayer. Meditation offers freedom from fear while prayer is based upon weakness and assumes that God is a separate entity rather than the All That Is, including you. If you can know and understand that you are a part of the God you acknowledge, you will also know that all people are also a part of that God Principle. Then you will treat all others as expressions of God rather than "sinners". The concept of "Evil" will no longer hold sway upon your existence and you will become free. 16. It has been said that Meditation is the act of becoming empty of the past, though I wonder why anyone would care to do that. It seems that becoming empty of the past is a specious method of avoiding dealing with one’s life issues. 17. If Meditation is Love, the flowering of Love is in understanding Love. The flowering of Meditation is in learning to understand the All That Is. 18. Some think that Meditation is done in a certain clearly defined ritual. That kind of conformity is slavery, for Meditation depends upon absolute freedom of thought. 19. If some say that Meditation is "thought-less", from what source comes truth? 20. Meditation gives Empowerment, though that is not its goal. There is a transcendental benefit to meditating, else why do it at all? 21. Meditation is not the repetition of a Mantra or secret word. It is neither experiencing a vision nor the cultivating of silence. That is another form of self hypnosis. 22. If you make a religion out of the act of meditating, you will lose the freedom inherent in the act. If your body and mind are divided, you lose your coordination become unable to function properly. Religions encourage conformity to canonical laws. Religions therefore are anti-freedom and eventually become dogmatic. "Meditation" then becomes a useless exercise in searching for religious validity. 23. Meditation should never follow a "path". Following a path means you are following another’s footsteps and you become a disciple rather than a trailblazer. 24. Meditation is asking for information rather than currying favors from the Infinite. Ask not for favors, and the God Within will truly answer. That Voice always tells the truth. Make your body into a cathedral for this is a true taste of Grace. 25. When meditating, do not pay attention to yourself. Instead, become a receptacle for spiritual Enlightenment. Paying attention to oneself derails the quietude. 26. There is no such thing as "Fundamentalist" Meditation. The worst kind of religion is Fundamentalist because it uses words to justify wrong and sometimes vicious actions. 27. In Meditation, you strive to become clear. If one becomes truly clear, they do not need to judge or evaluate their experiences. They simply allow the experience to shoot through them and watch it as it happens without fear. Fear is the necromancer and when a decision is based upon fear the outcomes are always failures. 28. When I meditate I never silence my mind; I simply "quiet" it for a time. My mind can never be as empty as some swamis require; my mind is complex and filled with creativity. Perhaps that is why my meditations yield such treasures to me. - Copyright Nic East, 2010. Meditation By Dusty Reed A thought whispers out across the expanse of lake as a sense of oneness in God's love with all creation envelops my being. As minute as a ladybug on a bramble leaf, deep in the timbered frame surrounding the crystal blue. Feeling of importance because God loves me. Feeling of equality with all nature and mankind. God's arms surround me in the dense woodland where branches of oak, elm and maple leaves surround and umbrella me. This mantle brings God into my presence with an awareness I can touch Him and whisper His name. (`~`*`~`)`~`*`~`(`~`*`~`)`~`*`~`(`~`*`~`)`~`*``~` (`~`*`~`) Eyes of Love By Dusty Reed How can we discover the joys that are here, waiting for us to experience them? We can ask God for awareness. We can ask for a desire for giving gratitude and praise. Meditating, listening, gives God time to answer what we ask for in prayer. Prayer without reflection is only monologue. Meditation is allowing dialogue. Allowing our entire self to become quiet, we can ask that we hear only God's message. We can welcome His counsel. We present ourselves in His presence. Inviting Him into our presence can bring meditation. We can listen. We may not understand all His message at the time. We will know His message as He releases it to our understanding. The Lord lets us see life with a song in our hearts. The Holy Spirit within can lift us to see the world as the Lord sees it, through the eyes of love. Some sites I recommend: Nic East's Home Page - Stained Glass Creations It is my joy to share with you that I have been posting most of my drawings at Dusty's Gallery and at Dusty's Art I continue to add new rose drawings and some photographs available at art.com! You can view them at Roses. I now have some of my rose drawings at an auction site, Art By Us And, I have a page with note cards (for sale) with some of my rose drawings. You can check it out by going to Rose Note Cards. (`~`*`~`)`~`*`~`(`~`*`~`)`~`*`~`(`~`*`~`)`~`*``~` (`~`*`~`) And, for anyone who enjoys playing at ebay, lots of goodies (records, books & post cards - occasionally some nic nacs) are available at Dusty's eBay You are welcome to forward this newsletter to friends who might be interested! If they would like to subscribe (at no cost), they can write to me at With Expansion Encounters as Subject. Thanx muchly! Working toward consideration and to better humanity, we want to encourage free enterprise, free speech. We are Life Now, a spiritual happening on and off the Internet. Pathway ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Life Now ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Enjoy every moment! (`~`*`~`)`~`*`~`(`~`*`~`)`~`*`~`(`~`*`~`)`~`*``~` (`~`*`~`)
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