Ring of Power - june 2002

Monday, 24th of June 2002: Power Sentence: "By the conscious decision to live in a holy way we attract the information, the understanding and the teachings that will help us to use our gifts to the benefit of all." (Dhyani Ywahoo) Getting to know the creative potential inside us and remaining faithful to it seems, to me, to be one of the most important aspects of peace work. What is happening on the earth right now is certainly not corresponding to the plan of Creation of Universal Love. Beside the madness of human social structures totally different structures exist: structures of life, love and abundance of life. These structures can be retrieved at any time regardless of anything else existing or happening. To rediscover these universal structures of life and put them into practice in a creative way is one of the tasks of peace workers. How else should we be able to give consolation, hope, courage and power to others? Every day anew, I am surprised by the miracle of the abundance of life surrounding us. Here in Tamera some staff members are on an arts retreat at the moment. We exercise ourselves in the perception of this life and Creation. Learn to look to the spirit of Creation, to its beauty and its joy. This life pattern, we call it the "holy matrix", can be found everywhere. Every being is a miracle, a manifestation of this Creation. In each and every moment when we consciously leave our old pattern, when we discover and liberate the creative potential inside us, we contribute to a new orientation. Thoughts and visions create reality. Today's reality emerged from yesterday's visions. This is why it is so important to rediscover harmonious visions, to make a life of abundance, freedom, love, awareness and harmony possible for the generations who will come to this planet after us. For our children, for all that has skin or fur... for all creatures. Character: Dhyani Ywahoo is a teacher of the Cherokee Indians, which stand in the tradition of Tsalagi. The teachings laid down in her book Voices of our Ancestors (Shambhala Publications) are based on the traditional teachings of the Tsalagi. After generations of keeping the secrets it was decided in 1969 to share the teachings of the Tsalagi-Tradition with non-Indians. There are many similarities between the teachings of the Tsalagi and those of Buddhism, of Christianity and Judaism. The roots of all peoples and all religions lead back to the great tree of peace. Dhyani Ywahoo: "Nowadays the native inhabitants of America are confronted with cultural and physical genocide every day. The natives are just play stones within the progress and profit concepts of multinational companies. Just think about the forceful re-locations of numerous native Americans and the terrifying genocide of native Middle and South Americans. Through her teachings Dhyani Ywahoo wants to help to diminish the misery in the world. In the tradition of the Tsalagi it is said that a small number of human beings who follow an intention, a purpose, and who are totally directed by the holy principles can change the world and can create what is necessary to diminish misery and to serve all living beings. Power Text: (by Dhyani Ywahoo, Voices of our Ancestors, Shambhala Publications) Following your breath, paying attention to your breathing, you can become more conscious of how you can manifest your potential(...) My grandma made me hold a broomstick in both hands and jump over it. She said that I was thinking too much to one side, and that this exercise would help me to find my balance. It is a great challenge to have to jump over a broomstick this way. Either you are really present and balanced or you will fall on your nose. What my grandma wanted to tell me was: "Your deeds are more significant than your promises. They must be put into practice now."And she deepened the lesson further: She taught me that a task becomes easier when you consider it already done. I thought it would be difficult to jump over a broomstick this way. She said: "Your thoughts are as important as your deeds. All doing starts in your head.". I thought about it for four days and when it had become clear to me I jumped over the broomstick with ease. Because we live we have the opportunity to watch life, to recognise the gift of brain power and to take a choice: to manifest the creative voice which will build up a world of beauty, a world of peace to the benefit of all living beings up to the seventh generation. This is why empathy, compassion and taking care of oneself and others are so important. What we do today, what we think about ourselves in this very moment, has an impact on the whole life circle. Our thinking is a power in itself. Meditation Text: (by Dhyani Ywahoo, Voices of our Ancestors, Shambhala Publications) In the past one achieved redemption through a Saviour, a great teacher. Nowadays we are all requested to integrate the concept of the Saviour into ourselves. Let us save through the clearness of the language, the purpose and the doing - through a harmonious life and through respect for the future generations. May our heart always recognise the clear light of mind and spirit. Let us affirm the wholeness of our being human. Let us affirm the way of the self-completing decisiveness within ourselves as well as in all relationships. Let us respect the clear light of mind and spirit within every human being whom we meet. The path of Beauty, of the Great Peace is our "meeting ourselves", the perception of our mind and spirit, the termination of those waves and forms of thinking, which lead to disagreement. Let us sow the seeds of peace in all our doing, in all our thoughts and in all our words. Let us renew the "holy circlet". How can you create priorities in your life that will create the right order? The first priority of life is to remain loyal to the creative principle inside you, to realise that you own the gift of life and that you are the guardian of this gift. Be aware of the power of your mind and spirit; do not forget that we are all in the process of transformation, developing ourselves, and treat yourself to the state of being free of doubt. We can choose, we can weave, we keep the form, we dance the form (...) We are humans. We can live in harmony with the world and in respect. We can make peace, enable ourselves to be peaceful. This is an affirmation, a hope, a vision. Through the force of its sound it is reality. Warm Greetings Sabine Lichtenfels Summer Solstice - Friday, 21st of June 2002: Each year at summer solstice heathen cultures, various religions of Creation, and archaic tribes commemorate the celebration of the Goddess. A celebration of fertility and life. The Goddess represents the female power, the Eros and the matter. All life derives from her, all life goes back to her. We come from a cultural history, however, where these aspects of life have been suppressed, pursued, and extinguished for a long time. Today, we recall our peace knowledge: we stop honouring a culture and society of violence, and instead, we recall the holy matrix of life and the voice of the Goddess. Bringing back the voice of Life to is rightful force. Peace will only prevail on earth when we stop suppressing the elementary life powers. In a meditation the picture of the Goddess, Nammu, Mother Earth, Sofia, Gaia... whatever we call this life force... came to me. Return to the voice of the Goddess, to the voice of Life and to the voice of Love the space which naturally belongs to them. When we do this, the Goddess asks for a powerful prayer and powerful deeds. She calls from inside me: STOP THE MADNESS OF NORMALITY What reasons are there to keep doing what makes ourselves and others unhappy? Stop the madness of compliance. We live a life of consumerism that causes millions of people in the third world to live as slaves. We choose perfumes to please our lover and ignore it when animals are tortured and murdered for it. While we are arguing in congresses a world is dying outside. Indifference is the new form of cruelty. We cannot live happily any longer in such a world. Stop the madness of normality. Stop the massacre of people. Stop the massacre of animals. Stop the destruction of plains, fields, rivers, lakes and seas that would be perfect to celebrate our joy in life. Love starts when we step out of our own madness. All beings have a right to live. This planet was made as a home for all beings. There are no borders and no private property for the rich. In search of the lost happiness we want to find international friendship and the community of hearts, living, acting and thinking for peace on this planet. The big community is a community of plants, animals and humans. Our power starts with leaving powerlessness. We will no longer believe that we cannot do anything. We will no longer believe that what happens everywhere makes sense somehow. We will no longer believe that our accommodation to this world as it is will be for our good. We will not allow ourselves to be pressed into the bourgeois ideas of profession and future. We will not allow ourselves to be pressed into the eternal lie of bourgeois double morality. Also we will not allow ourselves to be pressed any longer into the bourgeois cages of small love relationships, by which we close the doors to a much bigger possibility for love in this world. Let us leave the private cages of love, which is no love, and enter into the freedom of love. Let us understand that this world could be a love affair and that this possibility is still in our hands. We take part in the global war by telling our lover: if you love another, I will kill you. Let us step out, forever, of this madness and distrust of each other that is not able to let the healing power develop for a positive revolution. Let us step into truth and solidarity between men and women. Together let us build the trust needed for our healing. Let us create places where we can trust again the voice of our hearts. Let us find common songs, words and deeds for the implementation of a world worth living. At service of warmth for all bearing skin and fir, in the name of love for all beings. Yours Sabine Lichtenfels Monday, 17th of June 2002: Power Sentence: "Through the power of my vision I co-operate for a future of this earth which causes joy and hope inside me. For us and the generations who are to come after us. In the name of life. " Visions for a Better World is the current subject of the Ring of Power. Wars are derived from religions. As long as humans continue to pray to a violent God there will be no peace. As long as we allow hostile thinking within ourselves, we contribute to disturbance and war. Thoughts create reality. This is why we work daily on revitalising the picture of a loving, extensive and protective icon, whether we call it God or Goddess… everybody may find his or her own vision and his or her own prayer that gives him or her true power and joy of life. Here in Tamera we have just had a 10 day intensive coming together, to support all participants to free the inner voice of life, to develop our own manners of praying connected with creative pleasure, and to find the courage to artistically design prayers and rituals. Leaving false piety and entering courage and awareness for the life forces were important steps in overcoming old, limiting habits for everyone. We created a Conference of Life - an attempt to connect with the infinite plenitude of manifestations of life and to perceive, understand and involve the language of animals, plants, elements and other beings. This is a way to develop new relations within the community between all living beings. We enter the structure of a new world and reality which are just being created. Character: Jasmuheen Three years ago I met Jasmuheen at the "Psi Days - congress" in Basle. Among all the speakers she was the only one who held a very committed and courageous speech about political and spiritual compassion. In a committed way she spoke about possible solutions for the world's hunger problem. This made me study more of her texts. Jasmuheen is a much debated personality and was confronted with a lot of attacks. This is not a reason to become sceptical, however, as nowadays many committed peace activists are being attacked. I definitely do not agree with everything that Jasmuheen writes, but I still want to introduce her in the Ring of Power, as a person who developed important and courageous thoughts in favour of peace. Since 1993 she feeds herself only on light and is sure that it is possible for humankind to live on light alone. She belongs to a group of people who carried out successful pioneer work in the area of Prana-nutrition and the initialisation of human energy fields into healing frequences. Not only regarding nutrition but regarding a general change in life she formulates revolutionary thoughts of peace. A revolution of the mind for a world of peace. Power Text: (by Jasmuheen, "In Resonanz, Das Geheimnis der richtigen Schwingung"/ "In Resonance, The Secret of the Correct Vibration", Koha-Verlag) In an ideal world In an ideal world the perfection that is the base of all Creation and all creatures is recognised by each and everyone. In an ideal world we know, without doubt, what the purpose of Creation is, and therefore love each other without any conditions and without devaluing each other. In an ideal world we all work together in peace, since all peoples are inspired by the same vision and enjoy this. This vision meets our capacities, and in turn they will be fulfilled and expressed in accordance with providence by us human beings. Thus we take the chance to reflect the divine... In an ideal world all beings act honestly and immaculately... Be open for co-operation, avoid competition, for competition creates separation while co-operation creates agreement. Meditation Text by Jasmuheen: Sit in a comfortable way and prepare yourself through breath and light work. As soon as you feel calm, centred and totally relaxed: Allow your mind to wonder about and fantasise how you would like the world to be, if there where no limitations or restrictions at all and the only guidelines were happiness and joy for all creatures. How would it be if all beings - humans, animals, and even mother earth - were safe, nourished, respected, cared for and in no way damaged. Imagine and visualise that our home planet would not undergo any environmental pollution. Visualise crystalline, fresh, blue water in which hordes of sea animals are romping around. Imagine a clear blue sky with numerous birds flying up there. Visualise a dense lavish rain forest and a vegetation in which all types of plants are found. Imagine that all creatures live together in harmony, without having to fear for their lives. Imagine that all people carry out a fulfilling profession and have happy relations. That they have harmonious life conditions, this means enough food, shelter, clothes and entertainment. Visualise a world where there is neither poverty nor hunger..... Imagine that your imagination creates visions and that visions create reality. Be aware of what you want to create. Learn to create for the good of the whole, in a way that all may profit from this." Do this vision work as often as you can. When you will have finished your meditation let it happily go into the cosmos with the accompanying thought, this or something better may become reality. Warm greetings, Sabine Lichtenfels Monday, 10th of June 2002: Power Sentence: "Follow your longing in a way where you connect yourself with its fulfilment. " I would like to dedicate the Ring of Power texts, for some time, to the subject: The Power of Visions. In a situation where we confront ourselves every day with the reality of our time - as is the case for example when we look at the global situation of the ever increasing war and how little the political powers of imperialism care about whether we want peace or not - working on a vision for a positive future is an important source of power for me as a peace worker. Our activities, which may seem powerless or meaningless today, find a different orientation when we measure the handling by our visions. What effects will our present actions have on the generations living after us? What looks like a tiny meaningless element today in this all-powerful world might contain a seed for a great peace. Those who work for a vision are like gardeners planting seeds for a new development. May the vision become ever more concrete and connect itself with the growing powers of universal love. Power text: (from: "Die Heilige Matrix", Dieter Duhm, SYNergie, "The Sacred Matrix") The power of a concrete Utopia. If it is our will to overcome war we need a concrete vision for peace. If we want to overcome the powerful global field of violence we need a concrete vision for a powerful global field of peace. During the students’ revolution in the 1960’s we experienced how easily people are united to fight against something while at the same time find it difficult to live together. We were able to solve the problem of a police barricade, but unable to solve the problem of dishwashing in our communal households, the problem of hierarchy in our groups and especially the problem of sexuality. Apart from the slogans for a life free >from domination we had no positive vision and no concrete utopia for a new lifestyle. Most liberation struggles were fights against the existing injustice and were not a fight for the realisation of a clearly seen and realistic vision for peace and justice.(...) We don’t need to invent the future we wish for, because it is - latently - already contained in the present. It must be retrieved, seen, and we must become aware of it: a real subject of vision finding. As young Marx wrote in a letter to Ruge: "It will turn out that the world has been in the possession of the dream of something for a long time already, something it only needs to become aware of in order to really possess it. " This means, we only have to become aware of the world-dream in order to „possess" the content of the dream, i.e. in order to make the dream become real.(...) It is all about the comprehension and the realisation of this world-dream. Ernst Bloch called this the „Nondum", the Not-Yet, the "Utopian Latency" or the "concrete utopia". This Nondum possesses latent (undisclosed) but real existence. It is a spiritual picture of reality, which is immanent in all features of this reality as a real blueprint of a real possibility. (...) The action of the concrete utopia follows a principle of power which is far superior to all principles of mechanics. A tiny weed germ is able to push through a layer of asphalt five centimetres thick. Again, it is not its own power that empowers it but the link to the whole, immanent in its inner blueprint. This shows that the power struggle between the weed germ and the layer of asphalt is decided on a completely different level. In a comparable manner the forces for peace could succeed against the external superiority of the powers of destruction. If we are able to find a suitable concrete utopia for us and our cultural development there is no doubt that a fundamental turn towards a future without violence is possible. This would give us the matrix or blueprint through which the power of Creation could aid our work. It is the only power stronger than war. Meditation Text: (from: "Quellen der Liebe und des Friedens", Sabine Lichtenfels, SYNergie, "Sources of Love and Peace") The butterfly is immanent in the caterpillar It is a strong power which is waiting to be received by you. Through this power everything will be transformed and you will see everything in a new light. It needs your will and your open heart as its channel of birth to be able to manifest itself. For the one who has this will the whole universe is the placenta for his or her work. Become aware that the entire universe is dancing in your cells. Don’t look for the divine beyond the thing but acknowledge the divine that is working within the things. Don’t wait for miracles to happen, but acknowledge the divine miracle evolving in front of your eyes, every day anew. Paradise on earth is still waiting for its fulfilment, this is our common dream through which we are all connected into a common work of creation. The feasts of the earthly love is still waiting for its fulfilment. Follow your longing in a way where you connect yourself with its fulfilment. This is the path of new creation which I shall go with you. Every hunger can be fed, every thirst can be quenched, every longing is carrying the entelechy of its fulfilment. The caterpillar is carrying the information of the butterfly. A seed carries the whole information of the grown up plant; it develops according to its inner laws of growth. This is also true for the human being. In addition to this the human being carries the task of understanding and creation. Freedom of mind made it possible for the human being to take lots of winding paths and even to destroy himself. Your path will fulfil easier, will be less painful and more like a dance if you trust in your own fulfilment. If you didn’t trust in your fulfilment you would be like a plant disconnecting itself from the water it needs for its growth. It is a decision to take the path of trust. Ya azim. Warm Greetings, Sabine Lichtenfels Monday, 03rd of June 2002: Power Sentence: "Connected with love, there is true forgiveness because suddenly you see through the eyes of the other." We (Benjamin v. Mendelssohn and I) have just came back from an intense journey to Israel/Palestine. We were investigated for more than two hours at the airport when we left. Keeping up our connection through this was a rather serious exercise for us as peace workers. Our trip needs a follow-up time of intense reflection. A lot of contemplation is necessary now, so that all the often shocking impressions of the trip may result in fruits for our peace work and our planned Peacecamp in Tamera. I would like to give a thank for the solidarity and support, and the great number of letters we received for this trip to Israel/Palestine. Starting today, I will facilitate a course called Eros and Nature here at Tamera. During this course we will work together on the subject of inner peace work. Relating to this subject, I chose a text by Mechthild von Magdeburg as this week's ring of power text. She expresses her connection with Creation through her profoundly erotic language. Indeed, the text reflects the suppressed part of the Eros, and it might make you want to smile. At the same time, however, her words reflect the deep sensual search of a woman at a time when sexuality itself was considered impure. The text proves that in the end sensuality cannot be driven out of life and will always find its way to express itself, particularly in powerful souls. Historical Personalities: Mechthild von Magdeburg Information about her life is scarce. She belonged to the so-called Begins, a Medieval movement who dedicated their lives to God. Mechthild von Magdeburg was born in 1207 into a wealthy family in the arch bishopric of Magdeburg. She left the courtly life for, in her view, it was full of vanity and conceit, and searched for alternative ways of living. What is striking about Mechthild von Magdeburg is her connected, mystical language and erotic connection with God and the Creation. According to her own words she was touched by the Holy Ghost for the first time at the age of 12. This changed her life completely. From then on she expected everything from God and nothing from herself. Courageously she broke with all the relations and securities within society and decided to live her life entirely for God. At the age of about 20 she let go of everything that seemed to be safe for a human being like wealth, honour, and family and spent over 30 years in a community in the city of Magdeburg being poor and unknown. The Begin-movement was characterized by the fact that it was close to the people and carried by women. Mechthild defended herself courageously against clergy and stagnating orders and was pursued, accused and degraded. "Nobody is so fast in his chase, so mean..., so bad in his anger that he could destroy the heaven I live in" was her reply to the manifold hostilities. Later she seemed to be highly esteemed, otherwise, she could not have afforded to utter daring statements like..."That God calls the Masters of the Dome bucks, He does, because their flesh smells unchaste." She spent her late years in the Cistercian Convent Helfta, a women's community, whose goal was to combine religion and science. "Will I not be able to win without weapons?" was the central question of the women's movement of the Begin Community. Power Text: Mechthild von Magdeburg from: "Das fließende Licht der Gottheit" (The Flowing Light of Divinity) "God says: When I shine, you must glow. When I flow, you must wave. If you were to sigh you would draw my divine heart into yourself. When you cry for me, I take you into my arms. When you woo, however, the two of us will become one. And when we are one, separation can never take place again, only delightful waiting will take place between us. And the soul speaks: Lord, I shall wait with my hunger, with my thirst, with my hunting and searching until the playful hour comes, when chosen words will flow from thy divine mouth, words no one but the soul alone can hear when it is undressed from the earth, laying its ear by thy mouth, learning about the treasure of love." Power Prayer: (from the above mentioned book) About Perception and Delight Love without perception seems like darkness to the knowing soul. Perception without delight seems like agony.... You shall pray that God will woo you, long and often, so you will became chaste and beautiful and holy. Oh Father, woo me powerfully and long and often, the more often you woo me, the more beautiful I become, the longer you woo me the holier I become, here on earth. What God replies to the soul: That I woo you often, derives from my nature, because I am love. That I woo you powerfully derives from my desire because I desire to be wooed powerfully as well. That I woo you long, derives from my eternity because I am endless. (*rather literal translation of medieval German into current English, remark of the translator) Warm greetings Sabine Lichtenfels startpage Sabine Lichtenfels, Monte do Cerro, P-7630 Colos, Portugal Email:  Ring-of-Power@Sabine-Lichtenfels.de   Web: http://www.sabine-lichtenfels.de