I used to think that psychology and spirituality were secondary considerations in a survival situation. After securing the physical necessities of shelter, food, water, medicine, power, etc. then we could devote more time and attention to inner stuff.

Now, however, I have come to the conclusion that the inner stuff is the key to our physical survival. The deepest bomb shelter stocked with tons of supplies won’t do a person a bit of good if his heart is filled with hatred and fear. I remember an episode of "The Twilight Zone" about a wealthy survivalist who invites his ex-wife, ex-boss and others who slighted him to his blast shelter during a nuclear crisis. He tells them that they can stay if they get down on their knees and beg. They all refuse and return to the surface to face an uncertain future. The survivalist realizes that he can’t live alone and follows them. What he finds, a barren wasteland with burned out shells of buildings, is in his mind alone. It is an outpicturing of his inner world.

Conversely, I am convinced that those whose hearts are filled with fearless compassion would survive the most virulent plagues and the most devastating nuclear war and cataclysm. I base this conviction on both anecdotal and scientific data.

When the atomic bomb leveled Hiroshima on August 8, 1945 over 80,000 people died instantly. Everyone within a mile of ground zero perished except for eight men. People who were further away continued to die of radiation poisoning, yet these men continued to live.

Scientists have examined these men trying in vain to discover a biological cause for their survival. When one of them, Father H. Shiffner, S.J. was asked on American television to what he attributed their survival, he replied, "In that house, the rosary was prayed every day. In that house we were living the message of Fatima." Such is the power of prayer!

In the April, 1995 issue of "Science News,"(91) a study was reported that documented a boy who had been born HIV positive but when tested as a kindergartner was found to be HIV-free. The article stated that the boy "was tested positive for HIV twice -- at 19 days of age and one month later. Yet, by every measure, this kindergartner appears to have been HIV-free for at least 4 years."

This case is not just an isolated anomaly. Another study released in the August 17, 1996 issue of "Science News,"(92) reports that about 1% of the population tested, now have developed genetic mutations that make them resistant to HIV infection. This is unheard of in the annals of medical science! Spontaneous genetic mutation, not from one generation to the next, but within a generation! What factors did this 1% have in common? They all had experienced a spiritual transformation. Thinking that they would soon meet their maker, they turned to prayer and meditation, made amends and forgave those who hurt them. The 99% who remain bitter, fearful and full of self-pity continue to die of AIDS. Such is the power of compassion! In the case of the boy, the positive emotions of joy and love that characterize the innocence of a child brought about his spontaneous genetic mutation.

Of the 64 possible combinations of genetic code in our DNA strands, only 20 are turned ON. The 44 that are turned off are dismissed by geneticists as "junk DNA." Dan Winter, in a paper published in 1994, describes the possibility that the "Long wave of emotion programs the short wave of DNA."(93) In other word, the emotion of love can turn inactive genetic codes ON. This would explain the spontaneous genetic mutations. Compassion has been found to also benefit the immune system. In a paper entitled "The Physiological and Psychological Effects of Compassion and Anger,"(94) Glen Rein, Mike Atkinson, and Rollin McCraty focused on salivary immunoglobin A (S-IgA), an antibody found in mucus that is key in defending the upper respiratory tract, gastrointestinal tract and urinary tract from infection. They found that anger produced a significant inhibition of S-IgA from one to five hours after an outburst.. Positive emotions, on the other hand, produced a significant increase in S-IgA levels.

Internist Redford B. Williams and Virginia Williams, in "Lifeskills"(95) reveal how negative feelings like anger and depression can increase levels of certain hormones in the body. One of these, adrenaline, can trigger abnormal heart rhythms. Another, norepinephrine, is the cause of several disorders, including high blood pressure and cholesterol. A third hormone, cortisol, can do all of the above and shut down your immune system

Gregg Braden, in "Walking Between the Worlds," states that "the ancient texts emphasize that there would be a powerful generation that would be born just before the Shift of the Ages. This generation would have a ‘force’ living within them... This last generation would... choose the path of love, harmony and compassion... that would carry them gracefully through the times that the Hopi call the days of ‘purification’ or into the ‘greater light’ from the Essene perspective."(96)

ELIMINATE THE NEGATIVE

Science of the Spoken Word

Mantras have been used for centuries to break up old destructive energy patterns and replace them with more positive ones. I describe my own experience with overcoming anger in Adventures with the Word. For more information on how to use mantras to rectify a variety of conditions, visit Thomas Ashley-Farrand's web site.

Freeze Frame

Howard Mart and Deborah Rosman of the HeartMath Institute teach a biofeedback technique developed by Doc Lew Childre for controlling negative emotions called "Freeze Frame."This technique enables you to stop unconscious reactions to people, events and issues in the moment, resulting in clearer perception and the ability to adapt to a situation while it is happening. You can purchase a book or tape album on Freeze Frame and teach yourself, go to a weekend workshop, or buy a computer program called "Freeze Framer" and hook yourself up to your PC. To find out more about these options, visit The HeartMath Institute's web site.

I experimented with freeze frame one weekend and found it helpful in a couple of stressful situations, both involving my set of keys. Perhaps my Holy Christ Self was trying to tell me that freeze frame was a key to survival. In the first instance, I forgot to bring my keys to my part-time job of cleaning a restaurant after closing. Since the key I needed to let myself out was on my key ring, I was locked in until the morning cook arrived. Instead of getting angry with myself, I sat down and did the freeze frame technique.

I shifted my focus to the area around my heart and held my attention there for 10 seconds as though I were breathing through my heart. Then I recall a positive feeling during a pleasant vacation and re-experienced it. The next step, was to ask my Holy Christ Self what would be a more efficient response to the situation. The answer came immediately - take a nap. It was so obvious. I had no where to go but home and bed, so I might as well curl up in a booth and nap until the cook came. My anger clouded my thinking so that I couldn't see the obvious. Freeze frame cleared my mind and calmed me down so that I could see what to do and do it.

In the second instance, I discovered that I had lost my keys when I went to start my car. Anger and fear began to well up in me, but I sat down where I was - on the ground leaning against the side of the garage - and did the freeze frame technique. I asked my Holy Christ Self what I should do and help me remember what I did with my keys. The answer this time was to just go about my business and don't worry. So I rode my bike instead of driving my car. It was a nice day, so I had some enjoyable recreation. Later on, while talking on the phone, I remembered where I had put my keys.

ACCENTUATE THE POSITIVE

DNA Activation

Most people who have gone through this process report a sense of serenity and an increased ability to handle stress in their lives. Many also notice expanded consciousness, lucid dreaming, beneficial changes in eating and sleeping patterns, more energy, and occasional spontaneous physical healings from long-standing illnesses and imbalances.

The tape album reveals how this process allows easier access to the emotional body and healing of unresolved issues manifesting as imbalances. The tapes reveal how the emotions can either inhibit or expand the opportunities to turn on "dormant" DNA codons in the body. Catherine Bennett also gives techniques for working with your newly activated DNA to achieve maximum results.

My wife and I set aside an hour to listen to the first tape. We sent our girls to a play date, unhooked the phone and put "Do not disturb" on our door. First we listened to a lecture about DNA, then we were guided through a meditation with visualizations and fiats that were right in line with my beliefs and dear to my heart. I was expecting a powerful emotional experience, but it was a very gentle, peaceful one. My youth and vitality chromosomes were activated and ten more were prepared for activation. We listened to the tape around 4:00 p.m. Thirteen hours later, after only three hours of profound sleep, since I had to go to work for several hours, I was experiencing an emotional high and an energy burst, but I wasn't hyper like I get when I rarely take caffeine. I was at peace and felt one with the universe.

My wife and I listened to the second activation tape today. This time the experience was more powerful. I felt like I was a light bulb connected to a circuit from the Great Central Sun to the sun of even pressure in the center of the Earth, which, up to that point, had only been connected to a 12 volt battery. My wife said her experience was one of "peace, love and becoming a being of light."

Catherine Bennett suggests three modalities that can accelerate our spiritual evolution: right diet, breathing exercises, and the Five Tibetan Rites. Right diet means macrobiotic and no fast food or junk food. The best breathing exercise is Djwal Kul's breathing exercise, which is described on pages 142-145 of "The Human Aura," available from Summit University Press; These five rites of rejuvenation were published in "The Eye of Revelation" by Peter Kelder. In the next issue of Mandala of Light, I will present these rites along with other hatha yoga asanas and chi kung (qigong) standing exercises. But for now, I will just quote from Bennett: "These ancient rites, performed as daily exercises, which take no more than 15 minutes in the morning, greatly assist in regulating the spin of the chakras or energy centers of the body. This, in turn, allows for stuck energy, in the form of frozen emotion in the cells, to be set free for easy release... By doing the five rites daily, you can break up this frozen energy and recall the life force you have given away back to yourself. There is more of you present..., more energy to maintain your center in the midst of adversity."(33) Used for thousands of years in the Himalayas, these simple exercises are said to strengthen and align the physical and etheric bodies and to stimulate the flow of human vital energy, the long sought after "fountain of youth." You can find them on the internet at www.alchemilla.com/martial/5rites.html

The December 18th Dilbert comic strip poked fun at new age management techniques that reference DNA activation. Even though it appeared in the comic section and not on the front page or opinion page, I think it is a sign that DNA activation is becoming a household term and is being considered by the mainstream culture. To find out more about DNA activation, visit www.dnaplay.com

The Lost Mode of Prayer

Gregg Braden, in the tape album, "The Lost Mode of Prayer"(98) talks about two miraculous healings he has witnessed. In one case, three healers in China prayed over the body of a woman who was suffering from a three-inch cancerous tumor in her bladder. An ultrasound image of the tumor was displayed on a CRT screen during the "operation". The healers closed their eyes and went through a silent process. Then they recited a phrase, "Already done!" over and over. Within two and a half minutes, the tumor completely disappeared, leaving no scar tissue on the lining of the bladder. In the second case, a man who had fallen and cut his head was healed by a passerby. She pinched his wound and prayed and within two minutes his cut was healed so completely that the paramedic who arrived later could not find where the blood on his shirt came from. Braden states that the lost mode of prayer transcends Western science, religion, and mysticism. He calls prayer "a highly sophisticated vibratory technology of thought, feeling and emotion that we embody in the cells of our being." We can collect and redirect the power of prayer within ourselves for healing and miracles. Based on lost books of the Bible, Braden has discovered that the power of prayer is just one of four lost tenets. These are: 1) We are all one consciousness; 2) We are moving collectively to a point where we redefine our world; 3) We have the inner technology of prayer which gives us access to creative forces of our world and bodies; 4) We have the science of compassion that allows us to transcend the great challenges of the end of the millenium with grace.

Braden travelled to Tibet in search of the lost teachings on prayer and compassion of the Essenes that he suspected were being preserved by the monks. They have recorded the great traditions of the Essenes in remote monasteries. He asked them what their inner experiences were when they prayed and chanted. They were grateful to Braden because they thought the world had forgotten them and shared the lost mode of prayer with him. There are four modes of prayer that most people use today: colloquial or having a conversation with God, petitionary or asking for specific things, ritualistic or repeating a predetermined sequence of words, and meditational or having an awareness of God without words. But there is a fifth mode that has been lost for centuries that allows us access to the creative forces of our bodies and nature.

The Essenes say that we live in three modes: body or e-motion (energy in motion), thought, and feeling. Without the desire and wisdom of our heart, thoughts have no power. Without thought to guide them, emotions have no direction. But together they produce feeling or compassion. Thus we see the importance of a balanced three-fold flame: thought or visualization, the yellow plume; desire body or emotion, the blue plume; and feeling or compassion, the pink plume. When these three become one, when our left-brain logic and our right-brain emotion produce a coherent feeling, then we can create positive change in the world.

Braden talks about a study conducted by the HeartMath Institute in which they hooked a person up to probes and also put probes on plants around him. Then they told the person to think thoughts and have emotions of hatred, then love. What they discovered was that his negative and positive thoughts and emotions had a measurable corresponding effect on nature up to 50 feet away from his body. Thus our thoughts, emotions and feeling affect our world for good or bad whether we are conscious of the process or not. In the "Science of the Spoken Word", the ascended master, El Morya teaches that "Every moment, each man, each woman creates his own future. Life, which is a God-given gift, continually acts to fulfill man's spoken or unspoken desires. Human thoughts and feelings are decrees in themselves and do produce with certainty and justice after their kind, whether joy or sorrow."(99) The lost mode of prayer is a technique that anyone can do that consciously joins positive thought and emotion to produce positive effects in their world. Unfortunately, when people usually pray for something, for example, abundant supply, their words express the negative thought that they lack supply and their emotions are also negative. The resulting feeling is one of poverty consciousness, which just attracts more of the same. If they want to manifest abundant supply, they need to affirm it, visualize it with their mind and experience it with every sense of their body. Then they will have the feeling of abundance that will magnetize it into their world.

The article on The Word in the fall issue outlined a technique to create rain in drought-stricken Africa. It didn't work because the emotion or desire step was based on fear. I used a photo of a starving African child as a focus for this step when I should have used one of a healthy child eating. Braden states "the moment that you pray for rain, you have guaranteed that you won't get it because the thought and emotion underlying that prayer is fear that there won't be any rain and people will continue to suffer from the drought." He then goes on to relate a story of a Native American friend who demonstrated the lost mode of prayer to bring rain to the drought-striken American Southwest in the late 80s. He hiked with Braden out into the wilderness to a medicine wheel. These geomantic structures are located at energy vortices of the Earth's grid and, like temples and cathedrals, are used by Native Americans to more easily connect with the Light of God through prayer and meditation. He sat down in the center of the medicine wheel and meditated for a couple of minutes, then got up and started giving thanks for the rain. When Braden asked him why he didn't do a rain dance and why he was giving thanks for rain that hadn't come, his friend answered, "You don't pray for rain, you pray rain. You visualize rain coming down, you feel the mud between you toes, you smell the clean, cool air, you see the green corn as high as it should be. The visualization and the desire are the prayer. Then you give thanks to the forces of creation that you were able to be a part of the creation of rain. You have faith that it will come." He continued to give thanks all the way back to town. Later that night, there was a torrential downpour that broke the drought.

Braden searched for the lost mode of prayer in Egypt, Tibet and other countries. He examined ancient hieroglyphs and manuscripts, books that were taken out of the Bible, and the Dead Sea scrolls. He discovered some passages that were condensed and watered down. One was "Ask, and it shall be given you..." Matt. 7:7. The original Aramaic reads: "Ask without hidden motive, and be surrounded by your answer. Be enveloped by what you desire, that your gladness be full. So far you have not done this and your prayers have not been answered." Thus, when we pray for something, we just visualize it and desire it around us and feel the peace and joy of having created it and, in that full cup of gladness, we give thanks without ceasing. According to Braden, this feeling of peace is the key ingredient in the lost mode of prayer. When the Essene monks and nuns would greet one another or take their leave of one another, they would say, "Peace be with you!"

Braden's research has uncovered a technique that, properly understood, can change people's lives and the world for the better. However, he left out two important ingredients of the lost mode of prayer. He doesn't describe what the Tibetan monks, the Chinese healers or his Native American friend did in the few minutes of silence. He assumes they simply visualized the object of prayer and engaged the senses in the unified action of the thoughts and emotions. But I believe that they also invoked the power of God and beings of light and recited subvocally specific words of power or mantras. In ascended master teachings, these two ingredients are the preamble and body of a decree. The close of a decree is the acceptance or thanking God in advance for answering the prayer. This part was observed and reported by Braden.

The fact that the preamble and body of the decree only took a few minutes instead of hours of repetition attests to the power of unified thought and emotion. If everyone would discipline their mind and desire body to focus on the words of the decree so that they could feel what they were decreeing for, then that healing, abundant supply, peace, etc. would instantly become a reality in the outer world. But all too often, the mind and desire body are distracted or unconscious negative thoughts and emotions counteract the intent of the decree. An excellent book on how to train the mind to visualize is "Creative Visualization"(100) by Shakti Gawain. To find out more about this and other books on visualization visit her web site.

Braden states that the key to effectual prayer is coordination between the left and right brain. Thus, if you want to get better results from decrees, mantras, and prayers, it would be good to increase this coordination. Educational Kinesiology is an effective way of doing this. It connects the left and right brain functions through specific movements in a "repatterning" or "integration" process. These movements are called "Brain Gym." To find out more about Educational Kinesiology and Brain Gym visit braingym.org or enhancedlearning.com. Two effective and effortless ways to increase coordination between left and right brain are: 1) Listening to Tibetan singing bowls which produce a tremendous range of enchanting sounds. These delicate harmonies seem to synchronize left- and right-brain functioning, causing an almost immediate cessation of discursive thought, which propels one rapidly into a deep meditative state for chakra balancing and for other spiritual healing or energy work. 2)the use of the chi machine. See the article in this issue on The Chi Machine - Part I.

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