Monthly Archives: February 2012

Head or heart?

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Head or heart? Mind or emotions? Feelings or intellect? Lots of discussion revolves around these. Which one rules you? How do I make my decisions? How do I discern which direction to go? Where does my leading come from?

As I move into a more Spirit-led way of being, I am learning that the age we live in has skewed to the intellectual. Mind takes precedence. We live in the “Age of Reason”. We have been trained to trust our minds over our hearts. Feelings have been relegated to secondary status.

I am learning that this is not the way we are intended to live. The mind is supposed to be subservient to the heart, not the other way round. “As we return to a heart-centered way of being, we remember who we really are.” (Your Soul’s Plan, by Robert Schwartz, p 148)

In the Church this debate has long raged. As early as the 1970’s, in my own life’s journey, we went through a deliberate stage of learning about the place emotions play in our spirituality. We recognized there had been a serious lack of balance which needed correcting. For myself in that period, while this discussion allowed me to begin to acknowledge the place of emotions in my life, I still very much saw them as secondary to thought. It has only been recently that I have been able to place more importance on heart, following my heart as opposed to doing what makes sense intellectually.

Indeed, most of what goes for orthodox Church theology is determined intellectually. We are constantly encouraged to read and study the scriptures. Yes, we are to pray, but all direction and belief must line up with scripture. When I talk to fellow Christians about following my heart, this is still viewed with great suspicion; it is not to be trusted. In a recent discussion at church, “experiencing God” was treated very dismissively. Only “the word” was to be trusted. And of course, in his mind, “the word” equates with the Bible. And not only the Bible, but his interpretation of the Bible, although he would likely not make that distinction!

Not for me. No longer will I trust my intellect primarily. I want to trust my heart. I want to follow where Spirit leads, even when that seems against what my head might tell me, even when it goes against what I have been taught intellectually from the scriptures. I don’t delete mind from the equation. My brain is still important. My thoughts, my study, deliberation, are all still part of who I am and where I am going. But obedience to Spirit will take precedence. I make this declaration publicly, knowing that I am still a work in progress. I will no doubt fall short many times. But this is how I plan to live the remainder of my life!!!

Lessons From Readings

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The two book reviews published below resulted in some interesting speculation. What are the messages from them? Are there common themes? What is the spirit dimension trying to say to us in 2012? While I am sure both these books will stay with me for awhile, here are some initial reactions:

Both of these books, coming from radically differing perspectives, carry common themes. One is the sense of urgency. We don’t have much time. We humans have created a fine mess here on earth, and it won’t be long before it becomes unsustainable. Another strong theme coming from both these authors is the care for us coming from the spirit dimension. We are cared for; the divine element wants us to succeed, to do well, to survive. Another common message is that it is up to us to listen. “Nothing happens without requesting it,” says Talia from beyond. We must learn to quiet our minds in order to tune in to the spirit world. Help is ours, is available to us, if we only avail ourselves of it. Another message from these books is that nothing happens to us by accident. Every trial, every pain we experience, is there for a reason. It is yet another lesson for us to learn from. We grow through what we experience.

What amazes me is how consistent these messages are with messages from other sources. My own background in the Christian Church, while differing at some key points, is strongly in agreement with all of this. My experiences in soul regression (which I will be writing about here in the future) are also along completely compatible lines. People, there is hope!!!

Two Book Reviews!

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Just finished reading two books over the weekend. The first one I had been reading over a period of time, as it’s that sort of book – one you want to savour, contemplate, and wonder about. The second I had only recently heard about, checked it out of our local library, and read very quickly.

The Universe Speaks: A Heavenly Dialogue, Kimberly Klein, 2011.

The author’s 13 year old daughter, Talia, was killed in an airplane crash, along with her father and the pilot, in Panama in Dec, 2008. One month later Talia communicated to a family friend to let her mom know she was okay. This friend, called “G” in the book, continued to hear Talia’s communications from “the other side”. She told him to write these down, and to publish them for the world to read. What follows are the first half-year of these communications. She is basically teaching G what the heavenly realm wants humanity to know. There is a sense of urgency in these messages; the time is short. G goes through a lot of self-doubt that he is actually hearing Talia, that he is hearing her accurately, and that he has the ability to communicate these lessons to the world. Talia continually reassures him that what he is doing is good, and the right thing.

One thing that amazed me was the biblical language used by Talia, since she and her mother lived a non-religious life. I was so intrigued by this use of biblical imagery that I emailed Kimberly Klein to ask if perhaps G had a religious bent. She replied that no, he did not, no more than she and Talia had, but that he had recently picked up a Bible for the first time shortly before Talia’s death, and had read it. Kimberly thinks that the immediacy of G’s reading the Bible may have contributed to the spirit dimension communicating to him in biblical language. Spirit always relates to us in accessible terms.

Solving the Communion Enigma: What is to Come, Whitley Strieber, 2011.

In the mid-eighties Whitley Strieber had published an account of his abduction by unknown, and non-human, entities, called Communion. After some initial interest and furor over his experiences, he found himself marginalized by society. This experience pretty much wrecked his life. He continued to publish both fiction and non-fiction books, always based on para-normal occurrences.

Now, 25 years after its publication, he attempts to further understand, and explain to us, the implications of his earlier experiences. What he concludes is that these experiences were not sinister in nature. In fact, he sees them now as the beginning of a schooling for him.

The lessons he learned, and that he shares with the wider community of humans, are profound. We are being looked after by others. There definitely is much more to our existence than our material world. We are being taught how to survive on this planet. Things are urgent enough that if we don’t learn our lessons soon, we will not be able to continue living here. And these “others”, whoever, and whatever they may be, are completely committed to helping us through.

We are cared for and loved. Communications from them are not direct, but rather enigmatic. Things like crop circles, cattle mutilations, human abductions, implants, etc, are done for specific reasons. If they were to communicate openly and directly to us, we would come to rely on them, ceasing to use our own intellectual powers to solve our problems. But they are overseeing and guiding us as we seek to get ourselves out of the mess we have created on earth.

A Random Beginning

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Here begins a new identity as “Urban Monk”. I don’t totally know what that means! But I aim to find out. Over the next few months (and hopefully years!) I will be posting various ideas, books, and conversations. As we move along the path together, we will gradually forge an identity for the “Urban Monk”.

“Urban” means of the city. I think I heard correctly that over 90% of North Americans are now urban. Hey, I guess that means most of us!!! But we don’t exclude any rural compatriots.

“Monk” has all sorts of connotations, including religious overtones. It speaks to solitude, spiritual disciplines, simplicity, style of dress, community. Together “Urban Monk” bespeaks a mingling of secular and sacred, ancient and contemporary, material and spiritual.

My aim is that together we will listen to what is happening in our world today, and also hear what the universe is saying. We are at a critical juncture in the history of our planet. Things are both crumbling, and evolving. World events are not encouraging. But there is also a growing spiritual awareness, an awakening. And this movement is increasing exponentially. In this there is hope.

Let me hear your reactions to my ramblings. We will not always agree, I am sure. But together let us listen and learn along the path.