Spiritual Art Blog - *Ed P

Why is this happening FOR me?

Thought for the Week
We often ask the question, Why is this happening to me? This question implies that we are a victim of the circumstances we find ourselves in. We have no control over the events in our lives. If we look at the situation with the viewpoint of, Why is this happening FOR me? We are now taking a different view and opening ourselves to see what possible benefits could be gained from the situation. We are now taking control. We are looking at it from a higher viewpoint.

For example. We are in traffic and we get a red light at every junction. We ask, What's going on? How come I’m getting all these red lights? I'm supposed to on the other side of town in five minutes. We see ourselves as a victim of the situation.

Why is this happening FOR me?
Let's look at this in a different way. We've hit nine red lights in a row, we are supposed to be on the other side of town in five minutes and at this rate we won't be there for at least a half an hour. We ask, Why is this happening FOR me? We are now recognising that we do not have control over everything in our lives. There is some other power operating in our lives. By asking the question we are consulting this power that is turning all the lights red for us. 

If we get into the habit of asking this question, we may begin to get answers. The answers may come as an idea, or as a headline or word on a van, truck or bus. A sentence or word spoken on the radio or in a song may spark our imagination to give us an answer. With the practice of asking a question, Life will find a way of giving us an answer.

We are not the only person involved
Another thing we should keep in mind is that we are not the only person involved in these circumstances. The person we’re meeting may be having similar challenges and we may end up arriving together at what turns out to be the right time for both of us. If we take a higher viewpoint than just a view from our own world we begin to understand a little about how Life works. 

Look at everything else around us. The people in the cars beside us, the people we are going to meet, the interactions of people and how they can cause traffic jams or allow the traffic to flow freely. We also have the weather, electricity, the road works, etc. There are millions of things going on around us, most of which we are unaware of.

A spiritual art
Trying to keep tabs on these millions of events around us is just not possible. Our brain just can’t handle it. There is another facility we can tap into, the divine part of our selves, Soul. Using It we an get a quick answer to our questions. It lives in the moment and will answer us immediately. This is a spiritual art. We just need to practice catching the answer.

When you notice these events it is a good idea to keep notes in a journal of some sort. This way we will remember the experience easily. It will also give us a number of reference points and we will be able to look back on them and see how situations were resolved and the benefits we have received. It will also help to teach us about how Life works. 

Go with the flow of life
As we build up our awareness of how things happen in our lives and why things are happening for us, life becomes easier to live. We no longer push too hard to get things done the way our mind had conceived it. We become more flexible and allow Life to flow as it will. 

This is how we learn to go with the flow of life. Ask Soul a question, catch the answer and accept it. It can take time to develop this spiritual art but we will gradually become aware of why things are happening for us in our lives.

Wishing you a life which flows with Life.


*Ed Parkinson

Islands and Bridges

This picture is now completed. Next week I’ll devote the Thought for the Week section to explaining my thoughts behind it.

How do we access our Soul consciousness?

Thought for the Week

Gaining access to Soul will change us completely. It will change the way we see the world, how we operate within the world and our whole attitude to life. It is something we can do on a gradual basis so that we ease into this new state of consciousness. We let our awareness grow little by little. With each revelation and understanding we get a better view of life, how it works and our place in it.

Our Inner Geography
This is an inner journey. Let’s examine our inner geography so we can get some idea of where we are going to travel.

Firstly we have our physical body. We are currently using the eyes of our physical body to read this.

Within ourselves we have our emotions. At this moment our emotions are probably calm and balanced but we may have a little anticipation or excitement in reading about this subject, Soul consciousness.

We also have our memories within us. We may be flicking through our inner files to remember where we’ve come across similar subjects and how they compare.

Then we have our mind. We are using it to comprehend the words we are reading. It is going back and forth to our memories and emotions to put what we are reading and experiencing into some kind of logical order so we can understand it. 

Above the mind we have our intuition. At this point we may have a feeling of comfort or unease with what we are reading. It’s not a logical feeling but there is something there. Some of us can feel this quite easily and for some this feeling is dismissed and ignored.

Above all of these is Soul. This is really our true self. It is the happy, loving part of us. It is also hard to see or know from our physical viewpoint as we generally use the mind to understand things. Soul is above the mind and defies logic which makes it difficult for us living in a logical, mental world to see.

Soul’s World
In Soul’s world there is no time, there is only Now, this moment. As we sit here reading this and at the same time try to become aware of Soul, we may well catch It and be It, but when we try to capture the feeling or how It works, It vanishes. We are trying to bring something that doesn’t belong here into this world. It’s like trying to bring a flaming torch down to the bottom of the sea. The flames are quenched as soon as it touches the water.

How do we contact Soul and become more aware of It in our lives? To become aware of Soul we need to quieten the physical and inner parts of our selves. We have to take time to work on building up our connection with Soul. A lot of people do this each day by contemplating. They usually have a regular time they spend quietly contemplating on their inner selves.

HU Song
One of the easiest and most successful methods I know of is singing the HU song, either out loud or quietly within ourselves. While singing HU in a long outgoing breath, with our eyes closed, try and calm the mind and watch for lights, glows or sparkles on our inner screen. Sing HU about six times, rest for about six breaths and start again. In the resting period listen for a sound, an inner sound. We may hear sounds like running water, the sound of a train or jet, musical instruments, high pitch electronic sounds, the wind or thunder. There are many sounds we can hear and a variety of light shapes, sizes and colours we can see as we sit in contemplation. 

We may also gain insights into problems and issues we are dealing with in our physical life. A thought about a subject can float by on our inner screen. We may become aware of a different angle to the situation which may give us a better understanding of it. We may drift off into the colours and sounds within ourselves until they become a dreamlike scene which may reveal further insights to us.

Get this habit going
When we start doing this exercise, we should spend about five minutes singing the HU and contemplating. Over time we can build this up until we get to about twenty minutes. If we haven’t done an exercise like this previously, it can take time to overcome the initial impatience we feel. If we can do it regularly for at least thirty days, it will then become a habit and will be easier to do. Once we get this habit going we will soon see the value it adds to our lives by helping to calm our busy lives and give us insights into situations around us. 

Eventually we will have opened a new line of communication joining our physical world, our inner worlds and Soul together. We will then begin to bring Soul’s awareness into our lives.

Wishing you well on your inner journey.

*Ed Parkinson

Inspirational Soul Consciousness Quotes

“If we dwell in spirit, or Soul, we are living in happiness, for Soul is a happy entity. It is seldom anything else. When the mind presses in on it too strongly, however, it withdraws and leaves the body under the tyranny of mind.”
 Paul Twitchell

“We recognise that Soul is eternal; It has no beginning or ending. Therefore, when a person leaves his physical body, he continues to exist, usually on a higher plane of consciousness.”
 Harold Klemp


“Each of us is here to discover our true Self… 
that essentially we are spiritual beings 
who have taken manifestation in physical form…
that we‘re not human beings that have occasional spiritual experiences… 
that we’re spiritual beings that have occasional human experiences.”
 Deepak Chopra 

“As you sincerely go for deeper levels of love, the results you'll have in well-being and increased quality of life will motivate you, leading you to a wider dimensional awareness. The results are so rewarding you can easily develop a passion for self-management.”
 Sara Paddison

“Blessed are those who can laugh at themselves, for they shall never cease to be amused.” 
 Anon

“When you do things from your soul, you feel a river moving in you, a joy.”  
 Rumi 

“Wisdom tends to grow in proportion to one’s awareness of one’s ignorance.” 
 Anthony de Mello 

“You are here to enable the divine purpose of the universe to unfold. That is how important you are!”  
 Eckhart Tolle 

“Keep love in your heart. A life without it is like a sunless garden when the flowers are dead. The consciousness of loving and being loved brings a warmth and richness to life that nothing else can bring.”
 Oscar Wilde 

“Hell is a place, a time, a consciousness, in which there is no love.”
 Richard Bach

“According to the true Indian view, our consciousness of the world, merely as the sum total of things that exist, and as governed by laws, is imperfect. But it is perfect when our consciousness realizes all things as spiritually one with it, and there”
 Rabindranath Tagore

“I looked for my soul but my soul I could not see. I looked for my God but my God eluded me. I looked for a friend and then I found all three.”
 William Blake

“Cherish your visions and your dreams as they are the children of your soul; the blueprints of your ultimate achievements.”
 Napoleon Hill

“What we say does not matter - only what God says to souls through us.”
  Mother Teresa 

“I’d just die if the soul’s not eternal.”
Anon

Islands and Bridges

I’ve moved the islands around in this further rough development of the picture. I want the fifth island to be a bit misty and mysterious. I’ll be adding some clouds around it. The sixth island will also become much more subtle and hidden in clouds.

Who are we really?

Thought for the Week

As we go through life we play many different parts. We grow from a baby to a child to a teenager to an adult. We also have several roles we play in life. But who are we, really? We are more than the roles we play or the personality we portray. What is at the core of our being?

What people see of us and how we see ourselves can often be completely different. We have different personalities depending on the role we are playing. Within one day we can play many roles, such as; 
Spouse, 
Parent, 
Guide, 
Customer, 
Boss, 
Friend, 
Teacher, 
Enemy, 
Lover, 
Advisor, 
Worker, 
Task master, 
Judge, 
Partner, 
and lots more. 

As we play these roles we portray the essence and attitudes of that role. Are we mainly one of them or a combination of many? The people we interact with in these roles only see us as that type of person. They probably don't see us play any of our other roles.

How come some roles are easy and others are a real challenge?
If we take the view that this is one of many lives we have lived, we can see where some of the easy roles come from. Very often a skill or talent we have in this life is something we have learned in a previous life. This understanding helps explain a lot of our 'natural' talents. They are 'natural' because we've learned them before, we know them well. The challenging roles we play are new to us and we’re probably learning them for the first time.

From my own personal point of view, in this lifetime, I see my main personality as mild, calm and caring. However, I have some recall of a lifetime spent as a Viking. From what I recall, I was a determined, focused and fierce leader of a small raiding party. This personality made me a good Viking but a nasty human being. There are other lifetimes with different personalities such as a monk, artist, bodyguard and many more. While each of these personalities are part of a complex mix that make up my current one, are they really me? They are certainly part of me but there is more to me than that. 

The same can apply to you. You are made up of several lifetimes of experiences and personalities. You too have a several skills, talents, gifts and challenges from previous lives. Are there any that come to your mind now? Write some notes on them in a note book or journal so that you can refer to them and add to them as more insights reveal themselves.

Who are we?
We are unique individuals. We all have such a variety of experiences, outlooks, dreams and talents. We are the individuals who:
Play the personality of the role we are currently in. 
Have experienced a range of situations and learned from them. 
Have our own unique outlook on life based on what we know and have learned so far. 
Have a variety of relationships with family, friends, colleagues, neighbours, animals, plants and the environment. 
Have hopes, dreams and challenges we wish to accomplish. 
Have a range of talents, skills and gifts we can share.

Are we the personalities we play in the various roles in this life? Which is the dominant one or is there a consistent part of us in all of these roles we play? As we observe the many roles we play in our lives we can also see that there is one consistent element that holds all of them together. That element is us. And who are we?

Soul consciousness
All of the knowledge, skills, talents, dreams and challenges we have experienced over our many lifetimes is available to us in Soul consciousness. If we can access that high level of consciousness within ourselves we can access the many experiences and skills we’ve learned throughout our many lifetimes.

How do we access our Soul consciousness? That is a big question, which I’ll try to answer next week but one technique I’ll be recommending is the HU song. Click this link to the HU Song to learn more about it.

In the meantime, make the most of your love and your life.

*Ed Parkinson

Inspirational Life and Knowledge Quotes

“Life requires that Soul have every experience.”
 Harold Klemp

“The good life is one inspired by love and guided by knowledge”
 Bertrand Russell

“The great end of life is not knowledge but action.”
 Aldous Huxley

“There comes a time when the mind takes a higher plane of knowledge but can never prove how it got there.”
 Albert Einstein

“Man can no longer live for himself alone. We must realize that all life is valuable and that we are united to all life. From this knowledge comes our spiritual relationship with the universe.”
 Albert Schweitzer 

“Life is a culmination of the past, an awareness of the present, an indication of a future beyond knowledge, the quality that gives a touch of divinity to matter.”
 Charles Lindbergh 

“For a person to build a rich and rewarding life for himself, there are certain qualities and bits of knowledge that he needs to acquire. There are also things, harmful attitudes, superstitions, and emotions that he needs to chip away. A person needs to chip away everything that doesn't look like the person he or she most wants to become.”
 Earl Nightingale

“A man of knowledge lives by acting, not by thinking about acting.”
 Carlos Castaneda 

“Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do.”
 Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

“There is one thing one has to have: either a soul that is cheerful by nature, or a soul made cheerful by work, love, art, and knowledge.”
 Friedrich Nietzsche

“Knowledge is of no value unless you put it into practice.”
 Anton Chekhov 

“You know more than you think you know, just as you know less than you want to know.”
  Oscar Wilde

“Knowing others is wisdom, knowing yourself is enlightenment.”
 Lao Tzu 

“Real knowledge is to know the extent of one's ignorance.”
 Confucius

“I believe that imagination is stronger than knowledge - myth is more potent than history - dreams are more powerful than facts - hope always triumphs over experience - laughter is the cure for grief - love is stronger than death”
 Robert Fulghum 

“Knowledge is a process of piling up facts; wisdom lies in their simplification.”
 Martin H. Fischer 

“Those that know, do. Those that understand, teach.”
 Aristotle

“To know and not to do is not to know”
 Proverb

Islands and Bridges

This picture is beginning to take shape now. At this point I know where we are going and how it should look when it is finished. This layout, I’m happy with but you never know, things can change.

How can we see the Divine in our lives?

Thought for the Week
If we look at this planet we are on, we have to ask, How does it keep going? How does the sun come up every day? How do the stars we see at night work? How did they get there? There has to be some power or life force maintaining all this. I spent the weekend in the country recently and at night we had beautiful clear skies. It was fascinating to look up at the stars. We could see the Milky Way, it looked like a cloud of stars. On seeing the stars we have to admit there has to a Divine or Higher Power, a Life Force, God or whatever you like to call It, keeping all this in place.

How can we see that power?
We don’t have to look to the stars to witness this magnificent Higher Power. There is evidence of this Divine Power in life all around us.

Plants and Flowers
Where do the plants and flowers come from? They appear out of the ground to gives us food and beauty. They help maintain our planet. Their beauty can lighten our heart and bring us joy. Could they be a Divine gift?

Landscapes
The pants and flower along with the hills, mountains, valleys, plains, lakes, oceans and the sky go to make up the landscapes around us. Depending on our viewpoint, the light, the season and our attitude, the landscapes around us can be beautiful and inspiring. They can sometimes remind us of heaven. 

Animals and Birds
The variety of animals and birds is wonderful. Some give us love as pets. Some we share our planet with. Some give us food so we can survive. We can see the Divine in the animals we get to know personally. They could be pets or wild animals who visit us around our homes. The love we share with them can help lighten our day.

Beauty
The beauty we see in life around us, even in our imagination, can open our hearts and bring a sense of the Divine into our lives. 

Learning
Learning is another gift that helps us to keep improving our understanding of the things around us, the people we are with, how things work and how to work with them. With each thing we learn, we grow a little, we get a little wiser and we take a step closer to the Divine peace and happiness within ourselves.

Imagination
Imagination is another gift from the Life Force or the Divine. Using it we can travel to unique places, see new things, find solutions, meet friends and explore new worlds. Our imagination is one of our greatest gifts. It is the creative element within us. It is the element that allows us to develop our Divine creativity.

Creativity
We can often be inspired by the creativity of people. We can wonder at the genius that brought something extraordinary to life. We can see this in technology and the things that help make life easier. We can also see it in the way people deal with challenging situations. Where does this creativity come from? Could we be using the Divine gift of our imagination?

Love
If we meet someone we love and who loves us, there is a joy in meeting them. There is an energy that mixes between us. That energy is Divine and we know it as love. The love brightens us and our world. If we have love in our lives, we are indeed blessed.

Love is really the most Divine quality we can find in our lives. Love can come from our family and friends, our work, our hobby, our interests. It is nice that we receive love, but it is essential that we give love. Love is like water, it has to flow. If it stays in one place within us, it grows stale. We have to let our love flow through us so that it blesses our world and life around us.

Take time to enjoy the moment
By taking the time to see the Divine around us we can bring a bit of heaven into our daily lives. As we observe the beauty, wonder and inspiration of the Life Force around us, we should take time to enjoy the moment. Savour the feeling and let our heart be moved to a higher place.

Some people who have worked on their spirituality can easily see the Divine, the Higher Power, the Life Force, God or whatever you like to call It, in their lives. It often shows Itself through an inner light, an inner sound, as visions, ideas or thoughts coming to mind, a feeling of love and caring, and as inspiration.

If we take the time each day to observe and reflect on the Divine around us, It will bring beauty, inspiration and love into our lives. 

Let’s enjoy the Divine life we have.

*Ed Parkinson

Inspirational Divine Quotes

“The Creator, the Highest Being, speaks to creation through the Holy Spirit, the ECK. This voice of divine love is very real. Those who enter the higher reaches of heaven here and now in their states of consciousness see the holy Light and hear the divine Sound of God clearly in everyday life. The Light and Sound are God's way to communicate directly with us. They help develop our creativity, which makes us godlike.”
 Harold Klemp

“To see a World in a Garin of Sand
And Heaven in a Wild Flower
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand
And Eternity in an hour.”
 William Blake

“The most I can do for my friend is simply to be his friend. I have no wealth to bestow on him. If he knows that I am happy in loving him, he will want no other reward. Is not friendship divine in this?”
 Henry David Thoreau

“Strange is our situation here upon earth. Each of us comes for a short visit, not knowing why, yet sometimes seeming to a divine purpose. From the standpoint of daily life, however, there is one thing we do know: That we are here for the sake of others...for the countless unknown souls with whose fate we are connected by a bond of sympathy.”
 Albert Einstein

“To err is human, to forgive divine.”
 Alexander Pope 

“To forgive is human, to forget divine. . .”
 James Grand

“To err is human, but it feels divine.”
 Mae West

“It is well to think well; it is divine to act well.”
 Horace Mann

“My belief is that to have no wants is divine.”
 Socrates

“Who loves not a false imagining, an unreal character in us; but looking through all the rubbish of our imperfections, loves in us the divine ideal of our natures - not the man that we are, but the angel that we may be.”
 Alfred, Lord Tennyson

"The trouble is that in your everyday life you don't go deep enough to tap the divine mind within you.”
 Orson Welles

“I am convinced that there are universal currents of Divine Thought vibrating the ether everywhere and that any who can feel these vibrations is inspired.”
 Richard Wagner 

“Music is the divine way to tell beautiful, poetic things to the heart.”
 Pablo Casals

“Whoever possesses God in their being, has him in a divine manner, and he shines out to them in all things; for them all things taste of God and in all things it is God's image that they see.”
 Meister Eckhart

“When an apparent miracle happened. it proved divine mission to the credulous, and proved a contract with the devil to the sceptical.”
 George Bernard Shaw

Islands and Bridges

I’m still working away on this picture. Here’s a render from the 3D work I’m doing on it.

Inspirational Resurrection Quotes

“Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live (John 11:25).”
 Bible

“The (Christian) "doctrines" are translations into our concepts and ideas of that which God has already expressed in language more adequate, namely the actual incarnation, crucifixion, and resurrection”
 C.S. Lewis

“Receive every day as a resurrection from death, as a new enjoyment of life; meet every rising sun with such sentiments of God's goodness, as if you had seen it, and all things, new - created upon your account: and under the sense of so great a blessing.”
 William Law

“Imagination has always had powers of resurrection that no science can match”
 Ingrid Bengis

“Nations, like stars, are entitled to eclipse. All is well, provided the light returns and the eclipse does not become endless night. Dawn and resurrection are synonymous. The reappearance of the light is the same as the survival of the soul.”
 Victor Hugo

“Our Lord has written the promise of resurrection, not in books alone, but in every leaf in springtime.”
 Martin Luther

“To die daily, after the manner of St. Paul, ensures the resurrection of a new man, who makes each day the epitome of life.”
 William Osler 

“If this invisible germ of life in the grain of wheat can thus pass unimpaired through three thousand resurrections, I shall not doubt that my soul has power to clothe itself with a body suited to its new existence when this earthly frame has crumbled into dust.”
 William Jennings Bryan

“The resurrection is not a static and an isolated event fixed in the past, but the unleashing of a power and force that takes the form of a death defying love. Resurrection is ever present, constantly accosting us, challenging us, stretching us, cracking us open and seeking to have its way with us in order that we might come to maturity in Christ.”
 Frank Griswold 

Resurrection and how we can be part of it

Thought for the Week

As we are celebrating Easter, it is an ideal time to look at what the Easter resurrection may have hinted at. Here’s what Wikipedia has to offer on the subject:

“The resurrection of dead humans is a central doctrine of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. It may refer to the resurrection of biologically dead corpses by divine power or to a purely spiritual resurrection where the 'dead' (human beings who are blind to their spiritual nature and the possibility of salvation) come to Life (in Christianity referred to as eternal Life) by means of spiritual awakening and subsequent transformation to a life of holiness. It is used both with respect to particular individuals or the belief in a general resurrection of humanity.”

Spiritual Resurrection
The idea of “a purely spiritual resurrection” makes a lot of sense and may be the original reason for the major religions bringing our attention to it. When we realise resurrection does exist and is possible, we may see that it refers to the spiritual side of our lives.

This spiritual resurrection can occur in a variety of different ways. We can have small insights which change our mind or attitude or we can have a major realisation which changes the direction of our lives completely. 

A small insight
Here’s an example of a small insight which a friend explained to me recently. He was sitting down to watch a DVD movie. Before the movie were a number of promotional trailers on various other movies. One of these was about the re-release of the Disney cartoon Dumbo. Not really of interest to him but as he was watching it, he received a subtle answer to question that was on his mind. 

About three quarters way through the trailer, a mouse hugs a bubble with an image of his beloved and it bursts. Then almost at the end the headline “Let Your Spirit Soar” appears. The first image lasts about one second and the headline is on screen for about three seconds. The whole trailer is just over a minute. The question that was answered concerned a woman he wished to get close to, but with whom he had no real connection with. The answer he took from the images was- she is an illusion, (the mouse hugging the bubble that bursts) let your spirit be free, explore new possibilities in your life (the headline “Let Your Spirit Soar”). This awakening of a new realisation within himself lead to a new sense of freedom and adventure in his life. 

He was able to find the trailer on YouTube and sent it to me. Here’s the Dumbo trailer he saw:


That is an example of a small but significant inner awakening. We’d hardly call it a resurrection but with a number of such awakenings they can add up to having a significant impact on an individual. If the realisations or awakenings are of an inner or spiritual nature they can help lead us to the resurrection of Soul into our consciousness.

Growing spiritual beauty
Bringing Soul’s awareness into our thoughts, our decisions and our life can resurrect Its light and love in us. This spiritual resurrection can happen over time as we allow Soul’s light, wisdom and love slowly grow and brighten our world, like the flowers and plants coming back to life in Springtime. As each of these flowers of awareness, bloom in the garden of our consciousness, they add a little more colour bit by bit. We can look back at our earlier life before the flowers arrived and compare it to the beautiful garden our life has blossomed into. Comparing it to our previous dead garden we can really say it has been resurrected. It is now a place of growing spiritual beauty.

Wishing you love as you tend to the garden of your life.

*Ed Parkinson

Here’s a link to the Wikipedia quote.