Cocktail Hour

   Be sure all ingredients are fresh and pure.
Tip:  Shop from your own Child Heart Centre for...

2 ozs  of trust in Life
2 ozs of joy and appreciation for the small and ordinary things
6 ounces of humility tempered with generosity
a drop of kindness
2 drops of laisser-faire

Add:  ice cubes of judgment,
of worry over yesterday's woes or fear for tomorrow.
Shake it all up with courage and gusto until ice is melted.
Add a slice of laughter and a cherry of Immutable Love

Pour out to others in good measure as you would have them pour unto you.

Guaranteed to keep you intoxicated
not one but 24 happy hours a day !

     

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The Peace Within
by Rose Burrows

There ‘s a secret sacred place deep in my Heart
Where peace abides
Where serenity, tranquillity and contentment reign
And wisdom, courage and strength abound
I need not deserve this peace
Nor must I earn it
It is my divine inheritance
imprinted in this  heart of mine
I need not take a special pose
or breathe a certain way
I simply close my eyes, relax and be aware
In quietness I let go all people, places and things
I let go the hurdles and commotion in my head
I sit as a beholder and focus on my Heart
The cares and woes soon drift away
I am calm, uplifted, supported and fearless
Unfettered, fulfilled, refreshed and whole
This is my safe haven, my sanctuary my inspiration
The choice is mine
To battle the storm
Or turn within
From whence all blessings flow


.

A William Samuel Gem

The value in any message of truth is in direct proportion to that message’s insistence that we turn within and discover for one’s self the message, the divine identity that has ever been all one is.  The honesty of any truth message, be it Eddy or Goldsmith or Jesus, or Sambo’s or the board of director’s or the pope’s or the president, lies in the statement that the truth is in one’s self and IS one’s Self.


We were talking bout the honest message, the honest truth message.  The honest truth message, as we said, lies in one that turns one to discover himself within, one that turns one within where the real discoveries are made, to turn within to the secret place, to the holy of holies, to the Shekina and there find the true message.  The beauty of such a message, it seems to me, lies in its fulfilling the function of way showing but doing it void of theory, void of speculation or commentary and it’s a message that doesn’t bind the seeker, it doesn’t induce guilt nor encourage the veneration of the messenger or the messenger’s words.  The childlikeness of such a message encourages one to find the beauty and power and the wonder of his own words and to express the discovered life within.  Such is the work the Child does.  The place is within.  The place is within, within Consciousness, the place is within this very Awareness that listens to these words.  It is not in any scientific metaphysical system and it isn’t in the semantic games we play with the words of others.  If, as is the case with nearly all organized theology, the message speaks primarily of healing and demonstrations and of altered states of consciousness, and all of those peripheral events, such a message can be as stultifying and misleading as it is helpful.  Therefore, it isn’t worthy of identity.  Ultimately, we have done with following the messages of others to become the finder or our own Messiahship…we find our own message.  Salvation lies in this action and in no other.  The first freedom and the last freedom lie in self-discovery.  That discovery is immaculate, untouched by anyone else.  It is a virgin discovery and recognition of deity within and without.  Any message that has one following a personal leader or teacher for anything longer than is absolutely necessary to find the authority that one himself is, is a distorting, thwarting teacher.

 I’m not saying that we don’t follow the instructions of others, that we don’t read or listen to others, that’s what we’re doing right now, for goodness sakes, but the ones to listen to are the ones who tell us that the messenger lies within and that we go there to find it.  Those who speak of levels of awareness, of states and stages of consciousness, of spiritual hierarchies, as though they were outside one’s very own awareness right here and now, are liars from the beginning.  Their teachings confuse the world with false hope and robe the innocent with false pretence.  We are done with that to find the word that is nigh thee, even in thy mouth and in thy heart. 

                                     
                             

   

The Wizard of Oz

   
     We have all been entertained by this enchanting fairytale, I'm sure but the story also has a deeper meaning that we have perhaps overlooked. It is another fairytale that helps to light the way on our voyage of self-discovery. We are here to remember the glory we knew before the world was, to really know the Happy Innocent Child Heart we are. That is the purpose of our fascinating adventure on planet Earth. Our mission is to find the Heart Child we once knew, to test and prove our findings to make sure we have the authentic, legitimate One, just as the scientists do with their experiments. We then are the living proof and we pass on our findings to our world.
        

    It is probably safe to assume that most of us on 'The Path' got to where we are today because we initially had something unpleasant to deal with, something we wanted changed. We wanted our toys fixed. We thought we would find a way to make all our problems disappear. As Dorothy Gale from Kansas, we set out to seek a better life "somewhere where there isn't any trouble". We were living in The Meadow (in Kansas) but we didn't know we were.
 

    We have wandered away from Home and lost our way. "Toto, I think we're not in Kansas anymore!" When we left Kansas we abandoned our Heart, we left our Child Heart Home in The Peace-filled Meadow . We are stuck now in the make-believe space/time world with a pseudo-me who relies on history, conditioning, analyzing, competition and struggle, we have created the sense of duality, the pairs of opposites, the tree of good and evil.

            As portrayed by the brainless Straw Man in search of wisdom, the heartless Tin Man yearning for a heart,  and the cowardly Lion seeking courage, we are suffering from amnesia, we yearn for Light, for our Sweet Heart's gentle pure Love, its infinite wisdom, its courage and strength  and we desperately want to find our way back Home. These three characters also represent the division or separateness experienced by this pseudo-identity. We look outside our Self for what we already are. We are what we see and we would appear to be rather vulnerable without the Heart.
           
    Dorothy is told that the way Home is to 'follow the yellow brick road'. We can never be separated from what we are. The Yellow Brick Road is the shadow that leads directly to the tree and it is a challenging obstacle course, an often-bumpy ride, designed for the purpose of understanding and loving the world we live in. It is the laboratory where we can learn by testing and proving our findings. The images are our grist for the mill. The wicked witch of the west presents images of fear, of loneliness, of lack, disease,
storms, draughts, wars, a myriad of images of powers from outside of ourselves. This is all material for our laboratory. Do we believe what we see, hear, touch and smell? Are these things real? Do they have power? Is there anything beyond my present understanding that can give my life more meaning? Who is this me I see, what is this you I see....and on and on... We learn about who we are by seeing what we are not. Since our essence is Light and that Light is everywhere present, it fills our eyes and we cannot see It because we are It. We see by contrast: turmoil shows us Peace, arrogance delineates humility, ignorance delineates wisdom and so forth. I should say here that when I use the word Image with a capital I, I am referring to my Real True Self, the invisible, everlasting, immortal One that is the Original Image of Its Source, and when I say 'image' I am referring to what you look at in the mirror. Likewise for Light and light. I refer to Light as the Brilliant Still Light/Life/Awareness that is the Source of the light we see and that light is the moving light that we see by contrast. We discover Light by examining light and this light leads back to its source, to Light, the Essence of all that we see.  This is the Light, Awareness that some of us call God. I am the Child/Heart/Image of this Brilliant Still Infinite Light of Awareness. There is no power in the little me/image, the power is ever in Awareness being all that Is. Awareness is the Light, without Awareness there is
no Light.
   
Identity=Awareness=Now=Experience.

If I have $10 million in the bank and I don't know it am I rich or poor?
            Fear appears to us in many forms. If I see sick, poor, lonely, angry, impatience, jealousy, storms, floods, famines, disease, planes falling out of skies, or something out there threatening my well-being...whatever the image, I am seeing the face of fear, the shadow I am afraid of because I cannot see the Real. It is the image I give power to when I cannot see the Light of Truth. Without the eyes of the Heart, my vision is dim, distorted so I start with small steps. I do not try to change anything in my world but I try to
understand it and to love it. The images are my teacher. They are the tools given me on the Yellow Brick Road that allow me to test my glimpses and glimmers of light along the way, to prove them true, then to live by my proven discoveries and to pass on my findings to my world. These images refresh my memory of Home and are the antidote to my amnesia. When I pass on my glimpses and glimmers, more is given me. It is a continuous uninterrupted flow if I don't put up dams of doubt and fear in the way.
     
     My Heart is under lock and key. I am the guardian of the prison, the gatekeeper. I need to open up a way for the imprisoned Splendor to escape. What appears as fear is Love in disguise. The fear comes to unlock the prison of my Heart. This can be a painful process. I may cringe at the first image that comes to frighten me but if I look it squarely in the eye my Brave Heart, will start to shine through and It will 'rise' again into full view. An image of turmoil appears to delineate and cause me to remember the Peace I already
know because I am It. When I see it, I feel it... it is a familiar feeling, I am touching the lost Love of my Heart. I am getting closer to Home.

            We may, for some time, be tricked into thinking that our 'demonstration' is to change the images from bad to good. If we manage to do this we may think we have found The Way, that we are the 'chosen ones'. Our temptation to believe in what we see as the good images is often harder to discern because the 'bad' images get our attention by causing us grief, pain and distress and cannot be ignored. The serpent is the 'good' images because they make us feel comfortable, therefore we want to believe they are Reality. We are tempted to believe that we have found IT if images show us human success, dollars in the bank and so forth. We are often comfortable with our 'little lives' but we are still puzzled by the crazy world 'out there' that would seem to be disintegrating and falling apart. However, the day may come when we discover, much to our chagrin, that these fleeting things are still images, the 'moths that rot and rust...' My world is a reflection of my Heart. It is my own creation, what I see is what I AM so I don't want to settle for a 'hot house orchid' when the real one is just a view away.

            As I face my many challenges I begin to understand the fickle 'images' because I am discovering the Reality of Image, the Child Heart I am. Armed with Truth, the images no longer haunt me. So, we do not resist or try to change images but focus on keeping the Heart ever open and pouring, honouring every feeling, every situation, circumstance and condition, knowing that all of it is not outside the Awareness Being me but that all is to be understood and loved. Power is always and ever in the Awareness. We have been
settling for an impostor thinking we have found the True One. We must be diligent for the Precious Pearl comes at a great price. The Child Heart does not know inequity, period. Images of evil can be our friend and good images are often the real trickster. Let us look again, perhaps the gem we have is only an imitation..
           With perseverance we find Balance. We learn it all line upon line, precept upon precept, little by little. If we wander off the Yellow Brick Road we get temporarily caught up in the dream, analogous to Dorothy, et al falling under a sleeping spell... We dust ourselves off and keep going. We expand our view from seeing ourselves as a little point in time and we gradually see that sphere is all-inclusive, it includes, plane, line and point.     Point is limited to point and cannot see outside of point. Line includes and understands point, plane sees and understands plane, line and point and sphere is all-inclusive. Likewise, the subjective solipsistic view of life includes all, from the agonistic, the atheist to the objective view of religion and metaphysics, it includes all (image within image within image). When we find our subjectivity, our solipsism we find the wings of freedom because from the top of the mountain we can see all views. All that IS IS because
God is being It. We can fly and soar in the Freedom of "I and the Father are One". The government is upon His shoulders.

        The Wizard of Oz was himself a man from Kansas. He plays in the children's playground, in The Meadow.  He is the guru or teacher who points Dorothy in the right direction but he cannot take her there because she has to discern for herself that the wise wizard she sees is her Self.  The Great Oz presents Tin Man, Straw Man and Cowardly Lion with tokens that change their belief, the view of what is that allows the Child to magically appear.   Dorothy wakes up from the dream of separateness by the click of her
ruby slippers. 

           The recognition of the Child is a prerequisite, our ticket into the Meadow. There is no way to get there but to Be there. The belief was the eye opener.  There is no other time and place, It is all Here Now. We can change our view, our experience in the twinkling of an eye, as quickly as Dorothy can click her ruby slippers together!
            Dorothy 'returns' to Kansas with only memories and a bump on her head to show for her trip.  Out of the dream world she sees the Perfect Place that Is, that always was and ever will be.  The wicked witch of the west helped her to face her fears and to see that they have no power because all these images are what they are, the tree's shadow that leads to the tree. Glinda, the good witch, teaches us that there is no Truth, Life to images, whether they appear as good or evil and helps us to touch the Beauty of our Soul. And we know it now "There's no place like Home, there's no place like Home". There is no wall. Heart/Home is not tomorrow for tomorrow is Now and it is not over there somewhere 'over the rainbow' because there is Here. The tree of good and evil opens the Eyes of our Heart and the secrets are revealed. My World is New! There is no place like Home, no place like Home! I live from the Infinite Source/Life, not from man whose
breath is in his nostrils. I am the Light of the world, the Light of Awareness Being All.

"Unless ye become as little children
Ye cannot enter the Kingdom of Heaven"

 Recognizing the Authentic One

Most of us need a guide to help us recognize the very delicate and ever so gentle murmurings of our own heart. 
       
 A valid 'teacher' is one whose guidance comes from within his own Being; s/he has not only heard the message within but lived it and proved it so.  S/he will be speaking from his/her own experience and not from the words of others.  That one will be pure of heart, most humble and does not claim to be a teacher but a way-shower...one that can point you to the moon but you have to see it for yourself.  

Prove Me now herewith!

The moment we begin to fear the opinions of others
and hesitate to tell the truth that is in us,and from motives of policy are silent when we should speak,  the divine floods of light and life no longer flow into our souls.                             

 Elizabeth Cady Stanton
   

        With this quote in mind, I would like to share with you how I found such a teacher that led me directly to the joy and wisdom of my own heart...not that I hope to convert anyone. I am simply sharing with you how my shopping frenzy finally came to an end..


       I searched through many secondhand stores, junk stores, department stores, warehouses, and pawn shops...religion, psychology, self-help, malls of New Age and power of mind...flotation tanks...rebirthing and hyperventilating in hot tubs ... hypnosis, even tried walking on hot coals...trans-mediums, spiritualism, Unity and New Thought...healing classes, Course in Miracles, metaphysics, eastern and western philosophies, Infinite Way and I did not find my Heart.  Basically, I had learned to be a shopping addict in search of a way to improve the human condition.  I had eliminated a few possibilities.  I did know that what I was looking for had nothing to do with mind control but I was still living in duality.  I was seeing a mortal man said to be illusory, something to deny and discard.  What a struggle it was trying to be spiritual.
     
  It is said that when the student is ready the teacher will appear.  That was certainly the way it was for me. Right where I was, Heaven opened up and dropped into my lap three beautiful  books written by William Samuel, a soldier turned luminary who discovered The Presence on the battlefields.  Bill was a most prolific writer who could address the most complex subject matter by communicating heart to heart.

       
  I read  " 2+2 = Reality", "Awareness and Tranquility" and "Awareness of Self-Discovery".
        
  I knew this message was different but I was not able to discern how the message differed from what I was studying at the time, namely "The Infinite Way" teachings of Joel Goldsmith.  There was a  feeling here in Bill's writing, there was something fresh and new, yet familiar.  What was it?  I didn't know for sure until I ordered and read "The Child Within Us Lives.Well, then I put away the old teaching and stayed with Bill's message.  What an I-Opener!  Yes, it was clear to me now that Bill's writings put me in touch with the Joy in my heart, a joy that was a homecoming!  Once I came upon "The Child Within Me Lives"  it became my constant companion, satisfying not only the heart but the intellect as well.  I never felt the need to read other books after this one. This is not to say that I haven't read another book since, but that I didn't read out of need because that which I sought I now have...I am it! 
 
Shortly after, I listened to a tape entitled "Springtime in Alabama" and I heard:  

...The value in any message of truth is in direct proportion to that message's insistence that we turn within and discover for one's self the message, the divine identity that has ever been all one is...

... The honest truth message, as we said, lies in one that turns one to discover himself within, one that turns one within where the real discoveries are made, to turn within to the secret place, to the holy of holies, to the Shekinah and there find the true message. The beauty of such a message, it seems to me, lies in its fulfilling the function of way showing, but doing it void of theory, void of speculation or commentary and it's a message that doesn't bind the seeker, it doesn't induce guilt nor encourage the veneration of the messenger or the messenger's words. The childlikeness of such a message encourages one to find the beauty and power and the wonder of his own words and to express the discovered life within...

... If, as is the case with nearly all organized theology, the message speaks primarily of healing and demonstrations and of altered states of consciousness, and all of those peripheral events, such a message can be as stultifying and misleading as it is helpful. Therefore, it isn't worthy of identity. 

     ...Ultimately, we have done with following the messages of others to become the finder or our own Messiahship, we find our own message. Salvation lies in this action and in no other. The first freedom and the last freedom lie in self-discovery. That discovery is immaculate, untouched by anyone else. It is a virgin discovery and recognition of deity within and without. Any message that has one following a personal leader or teacher for anything longer than is absolutely necessary to find the authority that one himself is, is a distorting, thwarting teacher...       
 
          The words contained in the above frame were my "Damascus" experience.... a very warm and loving, soft and ever so, gentle Presence responded to these words,  yet it was the greatest power I had ever known.  It was my heart's response to truth...unmistakable...  ...undeniable...  "Yes..Yes!  Yes!!!  This is IT! This is IT!  I felt it, I heard it, it was loud and crystal clear! The words were electrifying, empowering!  My heart tells me true!  My heart does know and this is how it tells me.  It tells me what is true; it tells me what is untrue; it tells me I am Truth, I am Love, I am simplicity and gentleness and trust and joy and beauty.  Love am I.

         I had always known but now I knew that I knew, I felt it so intensely!.  This is how my heart tells me true!.  It is Love and Love is this feeling.  This is how my heart tells me what is true and what is untrue!  This feeling is It! I knew my Heart!  Now, I knew I could never again be duped, my shopping spree was over! I had found My Beloved One, the Child that would hold my hand forevermore!  I was  out of the shopping malls, away from the crowds, away from the neon lights...the Boutique had come to me, quietly, unobtrusively!  My Child was a painless home delivery!  A friend had brought me the books.  Bill's words breathed life into my soul, he woke me from the dream. His words were the Song in My Heart, My Song of Joy, I recognized my very Heart and Soul in the soft gentle living Love that I felt so intensely.  It was Love felt, recognized, known, alive and living!
 
       From this experience I became aware of so very many times I had encountered this Sweet Presence and passed it by. I passed it by on the other side, searching for something more flashy, more spectacular...I'm not sure what.  This experience told me it is true,  heaven truly is spread over the face of the earth.  I saw that my Heart introduces Itself in 'little joys', as Bill referred to them...the pennies from heaven...ordinary daily living, extraordinary when seen through the eyes of the Child. The evening shadows of tree branches dancing in the wind, how I knew the Love they revealed now that I had eyes to see.  I saw and felt them forever in my life never recognizing what I had.  A Child happily running to catch a butterfly...trusting and living in the joy of the moment!  Gentle breeze caressing my face and blowing through my hair! And what about the feeling of glory of a starlit night!  As a child, the joy of running carefree in large fields with my grandfather looking for pretty wildflowers and spotting a happy yellow buttercup dancing in the breeze,  waiting just for me! The magic of all those images in the clouds and all the stories they could tell!   All those carefree moments when the Child came out to play!  Those 'little joys' were always there.  I had always known, but never realized it was that simple; I never realized it was so humble.  I can look upon all the wasted pennies cast aside for lack of recognition of their value.  Well, I did wake up from the dream!   Those words in Bill's tape, when I realized that is how my heart speaks to me, that is how I know. This is what I was searching for.  Inspiration, the daily bread, the manna falls from heaven.  That which I seek I am.
 
       The mall experience (living the 'is not') is my Cinderella story.  There is work to do and we do it, we pay the price and then we get to know what is. The fairy godmother appears and we get to go to the ball...and we drop our slipper and our Prince comes in shining armour .  Our prince arrives!  Light dawns and Light is living Love.  It isn't necessary to change the human scene.  We walk the edge of the sword between the two worlds, understanding the reasons for the "is not" and knowing what to do about it.  We understand and love our world; we give to Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is God's. What a love story! 

       I am grateful to Bill, my wayshower and to Sandy Jones who was a dynamic booster, she was the midwife that delivered My Child to me!

      I did not find my Heart in a religious teaching or Joel Goldsmith or any of the other teachers I met along the way but I know that all of them played a part in making the truth plain.  This is not to say that mine is the only way.  I am not surprised if you find your way via religion or an eastern philosophy or a different teacher.  Love knows the way for each of us.

        It was a matter of a few weeks from the time I opened  "2+2+=Reality" to this experience with "Springtime in Alabama".  Every line I read of William Samuel's writings touched my heart strings, every line was a journey to the core of my being.  His message was fresh and new, uniquely his.  He was so childlike and the most effective teacher I have ever known.  William Samuel pointed me to my Heart and I found My Love!
      "In My House are many mansions!"
Love and Living Light to all of you,
 
- Rose Burrows
 

Becoming a Child Again

"Unless you turn and become like a child,

 you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

 Whoever humbles himself like this child 

is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”

So, how does the adult become a child again?

Like the lily in the field that does not spin or toil for its survival, the newborn child is totally dependant on his/her parents. S/he does not worry about where the next meal will come from or how s/he will be clothed.  If the child gets into trouble the immediate reaction is to run home to mom/dad.  S/he holds back the tears until s/he is in view of the parent and then starts crying with all his/her might.  It is such a relief to let go of the worries!  S/he knows that her parents love him/her and trusts them implicitly.

 

The primary requirement to become a child again is trust.

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart

and mind and soul

And lean not 

on your own understanding."

It is John and Maggie's little girl that is lonely, that is tortured, that is desperate and does not seem to find the answer to her problems.
When you were a little girl and ran into trouble; if you were sick or frightened you instinctively ran to safety in your parents' arms.  You become the Child again as you follow your Heart and trust your heavenly Father to lead and guide and inspire and protect you from all harm.

 by: William Samuel

The question was asked, "how shall I reach the throne?" This man who had been long confused because there had been so many teachers saying so many things...Having been counseled  by an entire series of so-called enlightened ones, each proclaiming his way is the only way, a seeker of old threw up his arms in despair and asked, how do I know whom to listen to or whom to follow?  Which is the way to go?  Which way is the way to walk?  One says this, another that, than a third and a fourth and a fifth that are disputing among themselves, pointing out their own inaccuracy.  Well, whom must I follow now, Father?  Tell me directly, tell me here in my heart so I will understand.

Well, the heart of us, the heart of us--not the intellect, but the heart of us, to distinguish the wheat from the whey, the heart recognizes honesty and sincerity.  The heart of us knows those things that the intellect can never comprehend or understand.  Now,that's a big mouthful.  Make me prove it.  It's so simple, make me prove that, for instance.  I've been challenged on that so many times, the University of Tennessee, for one.  How?  Well, how simple, how simple...how many times have we seen an errant son who is the veritable scourge of the neighborhood and yet how his mother's love wavers not, how the intellect and reason would say, how in the world can a mother continue to love a son like that.  Why, now, he's a hardened criminal, he's done this, he's done that.  How in the world the mother's love doesn't waver?  Love loves beyond reason and beyond logic, quite beyond the intellect. How may times have we seen a woman marry perhaps a slob-excuse me, but he's full of beer all the time and he's lazy and indolent and he does nothing.  Reason and logic would say, 'how in the world can a woman love a man like that? and yet she loves him.  Love, the heart of us, knows all there is to know about the intellect, its reason and its logic and it knows more.  Now, we know this is so, we've seen it so.

As to whether or not we have a heart, in the bible there is a statement: "I will put my law in their inward parts and write it in their hearts".  Those of us who listen to the heart, and we all do because we can't ignore it, will learn the truth directly for the heart shall hear a word behind thee saying "this is the way, walk ye in it, when you turn to the right hand, when you turn to the left."  And the heart understands what is meant by the statement "Come my people, enter thou into thy chambers and shut the doors above thee.  Hide thyself, as it were, for a moment, until the indignation, the trial, the tribulation be overturned.

A Soldier's Prayer 

Anonymous

I asked for strength that I might achieve

I was made weak that I might learn humbly to obey 

I asked for health that I might do great things

I was given infirmity that I might do better things

I asked for riches that I may be happy

I was given poverty that I might be wise

I asked for all things that I might enjoy life

I got nothing I asked for but everything I hoped for.

Despite myself, my prayers were answered

I am amongst all persons most richly blessed