◄ by Joseph Antell, Loveland, CO ►
Each year I establish a theme of inner direction and focus for my personal current of Attunement. I have shared my thoughts with some of you through our teleconferences and individual conversations that my theme for 2014 was “the heart within the heart.” Each month insight and experiences gathered around that larger influence of radiation. For instance, December 2014 was honoring everyone who, and everything that, crossed my path, extending a blessing of appreciation.
For 2015 my theme is “living from the sanctuary of my devotion.” To me sanctuary is a sacred field of energy where the prayer of my Being resides, which may reflect in my home, but it is not limited to an external dwelling. It is a place of many attributes of the divine—safety, power, nourishment, rest and healing. I can gather these ranges of substance to hold a cycle or event that is still finding its fruition, or extend it out to wherever there is a need for protection or support within the scope of my awareness. Through my devotion to this atmosphere of Sanctuary first, I serve the world around me.
Over the last few weeks I have seen a tremendous need for empowering innocence and compassion. Here are two beautiful examples that touched me deeply. The first is a letter to Santa Claus from my five year-old granddaughter.
Dear Santa,
I would like to give a puppy to the children who are sad.
Love,
Julia
The second is part of the eulogy given by police commissioner William Bratton at the funeral service for one of the two fallen New York City Police Officers. There were at least 25,000 law enforcement officers that were present to hear these words.
“Maybe there’s a reason for the struggle we are now in as a city, as a nation. Maybe it’s because we’ve all come to see only what we represent, instead of who we are. We don’t see each other. The people who are angry at the police, who support us, want us to be better. Even a mad man assassinated two men because all he could see were the two uniforms, even though they were so much more. We don’t see each other. If we can learn to see each other…. to see that our cops are people like Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu, that our communities are filled with people just like them. If we can learn to see each other, when we see each other, we’ll heal. We’ll heal as a department, we’ll heal as a city, we’ll heal as a country.”
Expressions of innocence and compassion like these prevail all around us. These are the tidings of comfort, joy and of good news. What flows through these hearts is part of my heart. It is kept safe and strengthened in the larger Sanctuary we all contribute to, bringing a quiet power that fills that space with peace and good will to anyone or anything that is open to sharing in the presence of unconditional Love. Blessed be this consciousness of Attunement that is in the world.
“May thy light shine forever on the Sanctuary of our devotion, and may we be able to awaken thy love in all hearts.” – Paramahansa Yogananda
Joseph – Thank you very much! This reminds me of an exercise done in one of the Attunement Workshops where we look into a partner’s eye and “see” the Being in whose eyes we are looking. I remember that being a terrifically difficult exercise the first time I did it. Having someone actually “see” me created within me an intense feeling of vulnerability. However, as I stayed with the current we were exchanging, as I began to truly “see” my partner, it was an incredibly enlightening process. Fear fell away and I was filled with Joy and Love. At the end, the person I was sharing this exercise with said with tears in her eyes, “I have seen the God within.” To “see” others is, of course, seeing ourselves. When we are asleep, we see no one. To practice living from the sanctuary of my devotion for me is practicing seeing the Being with intention in all things, in all places. What a great thought!
Joseph my friend of many years… your life expressions never lack for purity and clarity and your current proclamation of “living from the sanctuary of my devotion” is no exception. The current of your devotion this coming calendar year sounds very close to the command: Thou shalt love the Lord Thy God with thy whole heart, thy whole soul, thy whole mind and thy whole strength. At least that’s how it rings in my ears.
What a magnificent offering you are once again making to your individual and to our collective world!! Thank you for the courage and convictions you have been proving out to all of us all these years. Blessings to you and yours, Joseph, throughout this coming year… and beyond!! Leon
What a beautiful heart your granddaughter has, Joseph. I appreciate your words. When Xavier was a police officer, people wouldn’t recognize him out of uniform. That was a clear indication that they saw only the uniform. He was remarkable, doing that work in the police world with the awareness and love of attunement in his heart, a very necessary aspect to bring to that world.
Since Xavier’s passing (it’ll be a year this February) I have been working mostly with attunement on myself; in an effort to keep a balanced, healthy life. When I work with the endocrine system, I use these four phrases and they seem to help me stay balanced and calm:
Come into balance
Clear the mechanism
Provide a safe place for the heart
Let life fill the space of grief
As I provide this for myself, I can better provide the same balance and care in my world.
Beautiful articulation by the police commissioner to the public on seeing each other. The question I ask myself is this: do I see “my ” children as sons and daughters of the universe coming into existence from the source field as individual BEINGS, or do I see them as my children belonging to me as their parent? Do they see me not as a parent role but just another Being having a human experience? Can we move beyond roles and titles and see each other as SELF in another FORM ? If I fail to see GOD in ALL, I am not likely to see God at all. If consciousness is restored the mistreatment and killing of one another would cease to take place. God would never kill GOD !