"Lift up your heads... and the king of glory shall come in."

California poppies near the home of the author

by John Gray
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There is a great amount of revered poetry in the literature of human cultures and languages the world around. Poetry is defined in my dictionary as “writing that formulates a concentrated imaginative awareness of experience in language chosen and arranged to create a specific emotional response through meaning, sound, and rhythm.” That definition is longer than some poems!  I think of a poem as imagery and meaning expressed through spare, carefully chosen words which touch the heart. I admire the work of anyone, past or present, skilled in this language art. We might think, for examples, of famed poets such as Shakespeare and Rumi, Homer and Milton, Poe, Walt Whitman, Lao Tzu, Maya Angelou, Robert Frost, and Pablo Neruda, and their profound, insightful, and lasting inspirational works. To me, however, nothing new or old surpasses the poetry found in the King James Version of the Bible.

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"How vital that we make room in consciousness to think about the things that are actually worthwhile, that are generative, creative and contribute positively to the well-being of the whole."

Photo by Simon Migaj on Unsplash

by Sanford Baran
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We are living in extraordinarily distracting times. For many there is an almost non-stop experience of interruption that can easily hijack one’s ability to focus and to think. Increasingly we are bombarded by emails, texts, smart phone notifications, social media feeds; not to mention a never-ending stream of sensational news headlines tailor-made to capture our attention.  Is it any wonder that there is so little room in consciousness to think about the things that are actually worthwhile?

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"We have moved into a phase in our collective destiny in which it is our individual honest experience that is of utmost value."

by Volker Brendel
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We have just launched the Tone of Life website (www.toneoflife.org). This took considerable effort, both technically and in producing the content. It was not the easiest of births, because of the nature of what we are trying to do and convey. I suppose if you have a business, let’s say you are a car dealer, and you need to set up a website, it is pretty straightforward to determine what should be on the site. You tell your potential customers what brands of cars will be available, what types (new or used or both), what models, your opening hours, maybe some characteristics of your approach to business, and so forth; all fairly straightforward, and there are many examples to follow.

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"There is a fundamental transition occurring now, a shift from mind to experience… Central to this is the realization that we are each part of the rich circuitry of the cosmic whole, participants in an unprecedented restorative process, with an active role to play."

by Bill Isaacs
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We are continuously surrounded by abundance. I had the pleasure this morning of picking some peaches off the trees in our yard. So far, we have collected hundreds, and there are many more. It has taken years for the fruit to come. We had nothing for a long while and then got a very modest crop a few years ago. Suddenly now the trees are full of fruit. I put them in some bowls on our kitchen table. They were luminous. How amazing it is to see and taste something so sweet and fresh and full of life. We have spent years pruning and staking and fertilizing these trees, looking after them, caring for them. There are several other kinds of trees in our yard. Some of them became pest infected and didn’t make it, and some have never born fruit. It has taken a great deal of care to get this far.

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"A plan to restore humanity to divine understanding has been underway for thousands of years, a return to a garden-like state of wonder and perfection. Now it is in our hands to awaken and lead the way back to this magical state."

Japanese-Garden-Washington-Park-Portland-Oregon

Japanese Garden Washington Park - Portland Oregon

by Larry Krantz
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As you know from the news and from your own lives, we live in challenging times. We hear of trade wars and gang wars, of mass shootings and uncertainty. Disturbances come at us frequently, but behind the surface turbulence is a heavenly design. That is our grounding, spiritually speaking. Each day the sun rises and shines, even when hidden by clouds, and at night the stars come out. Life is meant to be joyous and full of wonder, our actions sacred and deeply meaningful. When we align ourselves with the stable spirit behind the turmoil, we know that all is well, eternally so, even when circumstances are difficult.

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"Substance is meant to be shared, interconnected with other substance and ultimately subsumed and woven into a larger overall vibrational pattern."

by Sanford Baran
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Preparing to speak in a spiritually charged forum can be daunting. As my turn draws nearer, I often find that my mind is in the dark as to what I should talk about.  The experience can be a bit intimidating, because starting with a blank slate can lead to the anxiety that nothing will be there—that this time around I’ll come up empty handed.  But of course, that hasn’t happened yet.  I’ve seen time and time again that what is needed does come to me and is abundantly available, reminding me to stay in position to let it be so.  Over the years I have increasingly come to know that spirit can absolutely be trusted.

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"It’s not that we shouldn't care [about the world], but that we should care so much that we live and act in ways that allow something altogether different to appear."

by John Gray
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We’ve all had many teachers in our lives. There were the professional teachers in our formal school years, and many, many more people who may not have been teachers per se, but from whom we’ve learned many things. And of course, we are taught a great deal through our own observations and experiences in life and from books and other media.

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"The difference between knowledge and partial knowledge can be the difference between life and death. How do we know that we know?"

by Volker Brendel
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As we went through our usual roll call, the thought occurred to me that everyone is needed. Nobody is here to be entertained, nobody is here to be participating casually. There is something very specific to be done, and I suspect Life itself put the right team together. It is always with great thanks in my heart hearing you and seeing you and admiring the team that has been put together. I think we often acknowledge that there is an intelligence in the universe that is far larger than our minds, and this intelligence is weaving a tapestry of immense beauty and great functionality. It is our privilege to participate consciously in this and with great confidence contribute into this larger whole and its purposes. Acknowledging that everyone is needed and is here for a purpose, I also feel that there is a continuity of our meditations, which is incredibly valuable.

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"Nothing changes until I act in alignment with the image and likeness of what I Am, until I bring my consciousness into that place."

by Kate Isaacs and Bill Isaacs
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Kate Isaacs: It’s a pleasure to be here today with you all. I would like to speak about the topic of creative fields for divine technology. I was really taken by Larry Krantz’s talk a couple of weeks ago about the state of our world and the many ecological problems that we face. I’ve spent my entire professional life working on environmental policy and technology issues in business. What came to me to speak about today was the possibilities and problems with technologies that human beings have brought into our world.

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"The world sorely needs spiritual leadership. We are here because we were meant to be, and we have a job to do."

by Larry Krantz
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Welcome everyone. As always, it’s good to be together. We may be far apart geographically yet know closeness with each other in a place that transcends the material world. Wherever we are, and whatever we face in our personal lives, we know that all is well. It is always so. All is well.

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