This image is the render from the 3D program I use. I’ve built this scene with the guy in the middle and the mountains in the background on either side. Then the two models were put in position so they almost mirror each other. The weird ‘glasses’ are guides for the swirl leading out of the physical world on the left and into it on the right. There are lots of things I’m not happy with, like the stone work on the castle and the ‘glasses’ are far too strong but it is a good basis for what I have in mind. It’ll be interesting to see how it all works out.
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February 2010
Truth can be like a chocolate biscuit
Thought for the Week
What was true when I was ten years old, was different to when I was twenty and it had changed again by the time I was thirty. For example, when we are young our parents are generally the only adults we trust. As teenagers we saw them as the enemy, trying to enforce their rules on our developing free spirits. By the time we get into our twenties we begin to see how they have helped us, for better or worse, in getting us to where we are at this stage of our lives. As we grow older, possibly as a parent ourselves, we get a better understanding of how they did the best they could for us at the time. So the truth and our understanding of our parents changes as we get more experience.
A chocolate biscuit
The truth is also dependent on how we look at things, our attitude, our involvement with it and what we expect from it. Just to illustrate this, let’s take something as simple as a chocolate biscuit. For most of us it is a pleasant snack to have with a cup of tea or coffee. If we were a cook, a nutritionist or a shop owner we would have a different view of the biscuit.
The Cook
The cook will look at a biscuit and see the ingredients, how to make it, what tools will be needed and how to serve, present or package it. Here’s part of the cook’s true vision of a biscuit:
85 g butter
75 g chocolate
200 g sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 egg
150 g flour
35 g cocoa powder
1 pinch of salt
half tsp baking powder
75 g icing sugar
The Nutritionist
The nutritionist will look at the same biscuit and will determine the calories, fat, protein, etc. in it. They will also have an opinion as to whether it is healthy or not. Part of their true vision of the biscuit may look like this:
Calories ………….86
Protein……………1.2
Carbohydrate….11.2
Fat…………………4.1
Fibre………………0.4
The Shop Owner
The shop owner will look at a biscuit and see how it can be sold, how often and at what price. If it is something his customers need and will there be advertising support for it. His vision of the biscuit may look like this:
The purchase price….0.50
The sale price…………0.99
Shelf space needed…high visibility area
Marketing support ….15 second TV ads over the next month
Shelf life………………..12 months
Returns policy………..Sale or return
You and me
When we, or at least those of us not involved with biscuits, look at the biscuit, we’ll see a nice tasty snack. Some may see it as an enemy of a healthy body, others may see it as a pleasant part of a meal or coffee break.
Different visions of the truth
As we can see, there are four very different visions of the truth behind this chocolate biscuit. All of them are correct and true. If we swap the biscuit for an opinion we have about something or someone, we can begin to see that what we think is true my be completely different from someone else’s viewpoint.
We cannot force our truth on to anyone else. It would be like force feeding someone chocolate biscuits. Just because we think it is a nice food doesn’t mean everyone else does. The person who has been forced to eat chocolate biscuits will have a very different true experience of them than those who enjoy them.
The best we can do is offer our truth, our opinions, our thoughts and our chocolate biscuits to people. It is up to them whether they choose to nibble at them, take one or two or gobble the whole lot. We also have the same freedom, to choose what we wish to accept as true and right for us.
What life is about
This is what life is about. We choose what we think is right for us. We can eat as many chocolate biscuits as we like, believe as many opinions as we wish, accept the thoughts of others as we choose. We then discover what is good for us and what is not. Then we make different choices and learn how to make our lives better, how to bring more love into our lives and share that love with those around us.
We may think we have the best chocolate biscuit in the world and everyone should have it. All we can do is offer it to those we love. It cannot be forced on anyone. If we force it, it changes from a pleasure for us to a pain for them. The love is lost when we force our will on others.
Let’s enjoy our gifts, our blessings and our chocolate biscuits, and offer them to the ones we love, to enjoy if they wish.
*Ed Parkinson
What was true when I was ten years old, was different to when I was twenty and it had changed again by the time I was thirty. For example, when we are young our parents are generally the only adults we trust. As teenagers we saw them as the enemy, trying to enforce their rules on our developing free spirits. By the time we get into our twenties we begin to see how they have helped us, for better or worse, in getting us to where we are at this stage of our lives. As we grow older, possibly as a parent ourselves, we get a better understanding of how they did the best they could for us at the time. So the truth and our understanding of our parents changes as we get more experience.
A chocolate biscuit
The truth is also dependent on how we look at things, our attitude, our involvement with it and what we expect from it. Just to illustrate this, let’s take something as simple as a chocolate biscuit. For most of us it is a pleasant snack to have with a cup of tea or coffee. If we were a cook, a nutritionist or a shop owner we would have a different view of the biscuit.
The Cook
The cook will look at a biscuit and see the ingredients, how to make it, what tools will be needed and how to serve, present or package it. Here’s part of the cook’s true vision of a biscuit:
85 g butter
75 g chocolate
200 g sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 egg
150 g flour
35 g cocoa powder
1 pinch of salt
half tsp baking powder
75 g icing sugar
The Nutritionist
The nutritionist will look at the same biscuit and will determine the calories, fat, protein, etc. in it. They will also have an opinion as to whether it is healthy or not. Part of their true vision of the biscuit may look like this:
Calories ………….86
Protein……………1.2
Carbohydrate….11.2
Fat…………………4.1
Fibre………………0.4
The Shop Owner
The shop owner will look at a biscuit and see how it can be sold, how often and at what price. If it is something his customers need and will there be advertising support for it. His vision of the biscuit may look like this:
The purchase price….0.50
The sale price…………0.99
Shelf space needed…high visibility area
Marketing support ….15 second TV ads over the next month
Shelf life………………..12 months
Returns policy………..Sale or return
You and me
When we, or at least those of us not involved with biscuits, look at the biscuit, we’ll see a nice tasty snack. Some may see it as an enemy of a healthy body, others may see it as a pleasant part of a meal or coffee break.
Different visions of the truth
As we can see, there are four very different visions of the truth behind this chocolate biscuit. All of them are correct and true. If we swap the biscuit for an opinion we have about something or someone, we can begin to see that what we think is true my be completely different from someone else’s viewpoint.
We cannot force our truth on to anyone else. It would be like force feeding someone chocolate biscuits. Just because we think it is a nice food doesn’t mean everyone else does. The person who has been forced to eat chocolate biscuits will have a very different true experience of them than those who enjoy them.
The best we can do is offer our truth, our opinions, our thoughts and our chocolate biscuits to people. It is up to them whether they choose to nibble at them, take one or two or gobble the whole lot. We also have the same freedom, to choose what we wish to accept as true and right for us.
What life is about
This is what life is about. We choose what we think is right for us. We can eat as many chocolate biscuits as we like, believe as many opinions as we wish, accept the thoughts of others as we choose. We then discover what is good for us and what is not. Then we make different choices and learn how to make our lives better, how to bring more love into our lives and share that love with those around us.
We may think we have the best chocolate biscuit in the world and everyone should have it. All we can do is offer it to those we love. It cannot be forced on anyone. If we force it, it changes from a pleasure for us to a pain for them. The love is lost when we force our will on others.
Let’s enjoy our gifts, our blessings and our chocolate biscuits, and offer them to the ones we love, to enjoy if they wish.
*Ed Parkinson
Central Remedial Clinic Annual Exhibition of Paintings
News
This coming weekend I’ll have five pictures at this exhibition. If your in the area call in and have a look.
Annual Exhibition of Paintings
On Saturday 27th, 11am – 6pm, and Sunday 28th, 11am – 5pm, February 2010.
Admission is Free. All proceeds from the sale of the pictures go to aid the CRC.
The exhibition is in the Central Remidial Clinic, Vernon Avenue, Clontarf, Dublin 3. (5 minutes form the Killester DART station).
Viewpoint
In this picture I’m trying to show two viewpoints at one time. The viewpoint from our physical world, on the left, as we struggle to find peace, happiness and love. The other viewpoint is from Soul’s view, on the right, where the physical world is just a minor detail in Its existence. At the same time we recognise that both viewpoints are real and help to build our experience and awareness of our self and the worlds around us.
Gateway to the imagination
Thought for the Week
This picture gives a view of heaven and opens a gateway to the imagination. It continues the story from the picture Mountain to Heaven. In that picture we see two people approaching the mountain. It looks like a challenging climb but the goal of heaven is clearly visible and achievable. Now, in Gateway, they have just reached the top of the mountain and the Gateway to Heaven.
In the background we can see a subtle figure in the waves of the Ocean of Love and Mercy reflecting the actions of the heroic woman who is helping her friend reach the same level as her. This vision of Soul will change as our focus of attention changes. In Soul’s world we are the creative ones, we create our world. Wherever our attention is, that is where we are.
I’ve used water as the substance of this heaven to reflect the fact that it is so flexible and changeable. It is like golden water where we can play with love, light and sound. It’s a place of creativity and service to the Souls around us. From our perspective in the physical world it is that place where we go to when there is love in our hearts.
At the Gateway there are steps leading to the golden city. This is where we realise who we are and what we are. An individual part of God, Soul. At this point we have made a major achievement in our development. We have come through the worlds of time and space and duality where one element exists only in relation to its opposite. Where light can only be seen because of its opposite, darkness. We can see this rule applied to everything in our world creating opposites such as, good and bad, up and down, right and wrong, black and white, hot and cold, etc.
While this picture is a very limited view of heaven I hope it helps to inspire you to use your imagination to explore your heaven. By visiting our own heaven we begin to realise that it does exist. We then realise that we have an existence outside of our physical worlds. It may not seem ‘real’ compared to our more solid physical world but when we have our attention there it is real. It doesn’t have the solid nature we are used to here. It’s a bit like our dreams. They are real when we are there but they evaporate when we wake up and have to live in the physical. We have moved our attention from one reality to another.
Our imagination is a way of moving from one reality to another. We just need to enjoy and value the experience when we move our attention back to the physical. Our imagination is a gateway into other worlds, let’s make good use of it.
*Ed Parkinson
Central Remedial Clinic Annual Exhibition of Paintings
News
I’ll have five pictures at this forthcoming exhibition:
Annual Exhibition of Paintings
On Saturday 27th, 11am – 6pm, and Sunday 28th, 11am – 5pm, February 2010.
Admission is Free. All proceeds from the sale of the pictures go to aid the CRC.
The exhibition is in the Central Remidial Clinic, Vernon Avenue, Clontarf, Dublin 3. (5 minutes form the Killester DART station).
Gateway
The struggle for the two Souls to reach the Gateway is nearly over. The giving Soul is reflected in the heaven behind her, showing how we are the creators our own heavens. We create our own worlds, here on Earth but more so in heaven.
This picture is now finished so next week I’ll explain the story within it.
This picture is now finished so next week I’ll explain the story within it.
Get to know Soul
Observe ourselves, get to know ourselves (part 4)
Thought for the Week
One of the basic desires we have is to be happy. It is such a core driver in our lives we should get to know where it comes from, so we can get a better understanding of it. Our constant desire to be happy is really a desire to be where we as Soul are.
We initially fill our desire for happiness by chasing things like money, power, sex, drink, drugs and anything else that promises us happiness. Unfortunately, when we get what we have been chasing, we discover the happiness it promised is short lived. Then we go off chasing the next thing that promises us the elusive state. Eventually we get to the point where out of exhaustion, frustration or despair, we cry for help from God or whatever force is running our worlds and our lives. Once we recognise that life is more than just fulfilling our basic desires and needs, we can move on to exploring the reasons for our life.
Last week we explored our intuition and how our intuitive messages come from Soul, in the article Observe ourselves, get to know ourselves (part 3). Now it is time to explore Soul.
Lives in the moment
Soul lives in the moment, it lives for now. It doesn't think about the past or the future. If we can consciously live in the moment we will move our awareness closer to Soul's. As Soul is an intrinsic part of our existence, we do have contact with it all the time but we are often unaware of it. We get close to our Soul consciousness when we:
Concentrate fully on doing a task well.
When we share our love and friendship.
When we observe a beautiful scene.
When we are doing something we love.
When we use our imagination to explore new ideas, gain insights and discover new concepts,
When we are at peace with ourselves and our world.
When our world becomes heavenly.
Some of us have had experiences where we have been in our Soul body. Experiences such as:
Out of body experiences.
Near death experiences,
Dreams of exquisite beauty and joy
A feeling of oneness with the world around us,
A spiritual experience.
Re-establish the connection with Soul
So is there an easy way to re-establish the connection with Soul? The easiest way I've found of opening the flow of wisdom, light, sound and love into our lives is by singing the ancient, sacred word for God, HU. If we make time every day to sing this holy word out loud or to ourselves, we begin to receive insights and guidance bit by bit. The sound of HU is one of the sounds from the world of Soul. By singing it regularly we bring that vibration into our physical world and thereby opening a link between our inner and outer worlds.
As we sit quietly singing HU, ideas and thoughts come to us. We observe events, situations and difficulties from a higher view point. The sound of HU puts us at rest so we can relax and let go of the tensions of our lives. In that relaxed state our opinions, judgements and emotions relating to the situations in our lives are also relaxed. From this tranquil viewpoint we can observe different angles to theses situations and gain insights and deeper understanding about them, which can often lead us to solutions or better ways of dealing with them.
If we can make a habit of this, doing it every day, we begin to bring the wisdom and inspiration of Soul into our lives, re-establishing our Soul connection every day. It takes time for this to happen. Initially there is just a drop here and there, then a regular flow and then it becomes a stream. As we sign HU regularly our life becomes filled with the blessings of Soul and we become happier and wiser.
Wishing you happiness and wisdom.
*Ed Parkinson
There is more information on using HU in this article.
Thought for the Week
One of the basic desires we have is to be happy. It is such a core driver in our lives we should get to know where it comes from, so we can get a better understanding of it. Our constant desire to be happy is really a desire to be where we as Soul are.
We initially fill our desire for happiness by chasing things like money, power, sex, drink, drugs and anything else that promises us happiness. Unfortunately, when we get what we have been chasing, we discover the happiness it promised is short lived. Then we go off chasing the next thing that promises us the elusive state. Eventually we get to the point where out of exhaustion, frustration or despair, we cry for help from God or whatever force is running our worlds and our lives. Once we recognise that life is more than just fulfilling our basic desires and needs, we can move on to exploring the reasons for our life.
Last week we explored our intuition and how our intuitive messages come from Soul, in the article Observe ourselves, get to know ourselves (part 3). Now it is time to explore Soul.
Lives in the moment
Soul lives in the moment, it lives for now. It doesn't think about the past or the future. If we can consciously live in the moment we will move our awareness closer to Soul's. As Soul is an intrinsic part of our existence, we do have contact with it all the time but we are often unaware of it. We get close to our Soul consciousness when we:
Concentrate fully on doing a task well.
When we share our love and friendship.
When we observe a beautiful scene.
When we are doing something we love.
When we use our imagination to explore new ideas, gain insights and discover new concepts,
When we are at peace with ourselves and our world.
When our world becomes heavenly.
Some of us have had experiences where we have been in our Soul body. Experiences such as:
Out of body experiences.
Near death experiences,
Dreams of exquisite beauty and joy
A feeling of oneness with the world around us,
A spiritual experience.
Re-establish the connection with Soul
So is there an easy way to re-establish the connection with Soul? The easiest way I've found of opening the flow of wisdom, light, sound and love into our lives is by singing the ancient, sacred word for God, HU. If we make time every day to sing this holy word out loud or to ourselves, we begin to receive insights and guidance bit by bit. The sound of HU is one of the sounds from the world of Soul. By singing it regularly we bring that vibration into our physical world and thereby opening a link between our inner and outer worlds.
As we sit quietly singing HU, ideas and thoughts come to us. We observe events, situations and difficulties from a higher view point. The sound of HU puts us at rest so we can relax and let go of the tensions of our lives. In that relaxed state our opinions, judgements and emotions relating to the situations in our lives are also relaxed. From this tranquil viewpoint we can observe different angles to theses situations and gain insights and deeper understanding about them, which can often lead us to solutions or better ways of dealing with them.
If we can make a habit of this, doing it every day, we begin to bring the wisdom and inspiration of Soul into our lives, re-establishing our Soul connection every day. It takes time for this to happen. Initially there is just a drop here and there, then a regular flow and then it becomes a stream. As we sign HU regularly our life becomes filled with the blessings of Soul and we become happier and wiser.
Wishing you happiness and wisdom.
*Ed Parkinson
There is more information on using HU in this article.
News
I’ll have five pictures at this forthcoming exhibition:
The Central Remedial Clinic (CRC) Parents & Friends Association, is having their
Annual Exhibition of Paintings
On Saturday 27th, 11am – 6pm, and Sunday 28th, 11am – 5pm, February 2010.
Admission is Free. All proceeds from the sale of the pictures go to aid the CRC.
The exhibition is in the Central Remidial Clinic, Vernon Avenue, Clontarf, Dublin 3. (5 minutes form the Killester DART station).
The Central Remedial Clinic (CRC) Parents & Friends Association, is having their
Annual Exhibition of Paintings
On Saturday 27th, 11am – 6pm, and Sunday 28th, 11am – 5pm, February 2010.
Admission is Free. All proceeds from the sale of the pictures go to aid the CRC.
The exhibition is in the Central Remidial Clinic, Vernon Avenue, Clontarf, Dublin 3. (5 minutes form the Killester DART station).
Gateway
This picture Gateway continues to progress. I’ve done a lot of work on the Soul’s hair which is a bit wild and wavey at the moment. We’ll see how it develops.
Observe ourselves, get to know ourselves (part 3)
Our intuition can bring us blessings
Thought for the Week
Getting to know ourselves is a key way to find happiness in our lives. In the Thought for the Week over the last two weeks we’ve discussed Observe ourselves, get to know ourselves (part 1 and part 2), now it’s time to explore our intuition and our true happy, loving selves, Soul.
It can take time to re-establish our connection with Soul. We probably have allowed a lot of mental baggage to distract us but we can reconnect with Soul via our intuition. If we try and grasp a few small intuitive messages first, test them and then begin to build out trust in the messages, bit by bit, we can get to the point where we get regular clear messages on all sorts of topics as we go about our lives.
Intuition
How do we recognise our intuition when it comes to us? This depends on our personality and awareness. Firstly we should ask to be shown ways in which our intuition comes to us. Who do we ask? We ask ourselves, our inner guide, our guardian angel, a saint or holy person, God, the life force, the Holy Spirit, or whoever we talk to when we need help in the spiritual area of our life. We do this to open ourselves to receive our intuitive messages. We then have to pay attention to the subtle things in our life, as our intuitive messages can come in several different ways.
Our intuition may come as:
A subtle thought,
An idea,
An urge to do something spontaneous,
A coincidence,
A series of similar events.
A dream that stays in our memory,
A feeling, a hunch or a knowing about a situation or subject.
Testing our intuition
Once we receive our intuitive messages, the next thing we need to do is test these messages to see if they are beneficial to us and those around us. For example, we could be walking to a particular place and as we proceed a series of similar events happen to us, such as people blocking our way. If this is an intuitive message it usually happens three or more times. We recognise that our way is being blocked and begin to wonder, Why? Is there a reason we should change our route? Is there danger ahead? Have we forgotten something? As we ask ourselves these questions we should be aware of any ideas or feelings coming to mind. If we feel uncomfortable about proceeding along the route, we should change direction. If an idea about something comes to mind we should think about it and see what we can do to deal with it now.
We now have a choice; do we follow our intuition or continue unchanged to our destination? If we want to test our intuition, we should go in the direction it suggests. When we get to the destination we may be able to check the original route to see if there may have been problems or challenges on the way. By testing our intuition in ways like this we begin to build up a trust in its suggestions. We are beginning to open up our line of communication with Soul, that true happy part of ourselves which gives this guidance and help to us.
Blessings
By reopening this connection with Soul, a flow of love begins to trickle into our lives. It shows itself as an appreciation of the blessings our intuition brings. Then it spreads onto our friends and loved ones, as we begin to see more of Soul’s love in our world as we benefit from the guidance our intuition gives us.
By using our intuition we are getting more in tune with life and our true selves and thereby going with the flow of life. Our intuition comes to us when it is needed, in the moment that is right for it to appear. We react to it, whatever way we choose and continue down the path of our lives. We no longer have to rely on our mind to calculate how we reach a point or goal. We use our mind to make a plan to get to where we wish to go but we watch and listen for intuitive messages which can guide us as we proceed. It all adds up to an easier, more pleasing and loving life.
Try it, it’s well worth the effort.
*Ed Parkinson
