I’ve been having trouble with my 3D program. It keeps running into memory problems when rendering this image. It is really a very simple model but for some reason it seems to be difficult to render for the program. So I haven’t made much progress on it this week due to technical problems. Below is a sketch I’ve been playing with.
Thought for the week
One of the biggest fears most people have is the fear of death. Most of us have a natural inbuilt self preservation instinct which ensures we will make every effort to survive, no matter what circumstances we are in. However a lot of us do have a fear of death and what happens, if anything when our body dies. There is a way of overcoming this fear with a little knowledge and the practice of some simple exercises.
We need to realise that we are a lot more than our physical body. We have emotions, memories, our mind, intuition and that quiet happy loving part deep within us, Soul. When our body dies the inner parts continue to exist and function as normal. One of the first things we need to establish is the fact that we are not strictly attached to our bodies.
Our attention is really where we are
Wherever we focus our attention is really where we are. For example, when we watch a good movie we enter the story with the characters. We follow them as the story unfolds. We jump with fright when they get scared, we cry during emotional scenes and we are happy and laugh during the happy times of the story. As we watch the movie, we are mostly unaware of our immediate physical surroundings, whether we are in a sitting room or a cinema. We have moved into the world created by the movie. We often have to be shaken physically by someone who wants to get past our seat in the cinema, so that we return our focus to the physical body. Up to this point we were away and lost in the story of the movie.
Daydreams
Another way of seeing how we are not always in our bodies is during daydreams. If we watch ourselves as we daydream our attention moves to whatever we are daydreaming of. We move to what we are focusing our attention on. This could be the place or to the person we are thinking of. We have left our physical area and are now in two places. Our physical body is sitting or standing in a daze somewhere and we are actively engaged with the thing we are thinking of. This is such a natural occurrence we hardly notice we are doing it. It only becomes apparent that we have been away somewhere when we are suddenly brought back to our body by a noise, or someone touching us. We then realise we have been away in our daydream world and have now been interrupted and brought back to earth.
Dreams
Dreams are similar evidence of the fact that we leave our body as we interact with others and go to some familiar and some surreal places. We recall these adventures when we wake up. We know we have been somewhere other than lying in bed for the previous number of hours.
In the examples of watching a movie or daydreaming, we maintain a strong link to our physical body. We can return to it as soon as we are touched or our attention drifts back to it. When we sleep and venture off into our dreams our link to our physical body is stretched quite a bit. It can take a good shaking to rouse us from a deep sleep when we have become focused on where we were in our dream.
Break the link
If we take this one step further where we cannot be woken from our sleep and we break the link to our physical body, then the body dies and we won’t return to it anymore. We then keep our attention in wherever we are in the dream worlds. We now continue living the life we lead on a nightly basis without returning to the physical body. We have now moved into our inner worlds on a more permanent basis. Our inner or dream worlds are now where we live and our physical world is now dead to us.
Voluntarily move out of our bodies
We can voluntarily move out of our bodies on a conscious level. We can do this during a period of contemplation where we move our focus of attention within ourselves. We should take fifteen or twenty minutes a day for this spiritual exercise.
We close our eyes and put our attention on our inner screen, the point between the eyebrows, the spiritual eye. Now we watch for a light and listen for a sound, an inner sound. We then softly sing a sacred word or holy name such as HU, Jesus, Mohammad, Allah or whatever is acceptable to you.
The sounds and light may combine to form an image or scene which we can enter and go along with the experience. If we are having an interesting and positive experience we can go with it and watch where it leads us. If we stray into negative areas where we are getting into an argument, a disagreement or an unpleasant scene, then we should return to singing our sacred word and watching for any bright lights on our inner screen.
Exercise on a regular basis
When we do this type of exercise on a regular basis we begin to establish a conscious link between our outer physical world and our inner worlds. With this link comes the realisation that our inner worlds are real and a place we can access easily. Slowly we lose our fear of death which releases us into a brighter and happier life. We now know that we will survive beyond the death of our physical body so the fear of death evaporates and we can life our life fully.
As we go about our day, we can watch where our attention goes. We’ll discover that our focus of attention is where we really are. That is where we are most alive. It is where we are currently putting all our attention so it is the most alive place for us. We, our true essence, Soul, is where we put our attention.
The fear of death will die
Overcoming the fear of death won't happen over night but it grows on us as the realisation, that we do survive beyond death, begins to become part of our awareness. You may need to come back to this article a few times to refresh the ideas in your mind. As these concepts begin to become part of your life, the fear of death will die within you.
Wishing you a life of love so that you have no fear of death..
*Ed Parkinson
If you would like to explore other articles to help you overcome the fear of death, have a look at the Spiritual Writings page by clicking here.
The Design Shed Launch party took place on Friday evening, 22 July, in the Blackrock market, in Dublin, Ireland. There was a good crowd there with wine and foodie bits flowing. There were about fourteen artists and crafts people’s work on display in the Design Shed., ranging from jewellery, knitting, photography, painting and digital art. There was a raffle in aid of Bray Cancer Centre where the tickets were sold out.
The photo below shows the raffle process. On the left is Nick Roche, owner of the Blackrock Market, choosing the tickets with Derek Lyons and Anne-Louise McDermott, of the Design Shed, handling the tickets and prize giving.
“Love helps us overcome fear… As long as you stay within your state of consciousness, which is the secure place within your heart, no outer fear or force can harm you.”
Harold Klemp
“Fear – the cold dampener of the brave fire of living – must be overcome by constantly going within the temple of my heart to drink the ever-brighter light of Divine Spirit.”
Gabriel Ezutah
“He who fears death enjoys not life”
Spanish Proverb
“Our fear of death is like our fear that summer will be short, but when we have had our swing of pleasure, our fill of fruit and our swelter of heat, we say we have had our day.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson
“For mortals vanished from the day's sweet light I shed no tear; rather I mourn for those who day and night live in death's fear.”
Greek proverb
“I have made a lot of mistakes. But I've worked hard. I have no fear of death. More important, I don't fear life.”
Steven Seagal
“Americans have an abiding belief in their ability to control reality by purely material means... airline insurance replaces the fear of death with the comforting prospect of cash.”
Cecil Beaton
“Live your life that the fear of death can never enter your heart.”
Tecumseh
“For it is not death or hardship that is a fearful thing, but the fear of death and hardship.”
Epictetus
“Longevity, an uncommon extension of the fear of death.”
Ambrose Bierce
“The safest course is to do nothing against one's conscience. With this secret, we can enjoy life and have no fear from death.”
Voltaire
“The heart s desires are obtained by meditating on God, and the fear of death is dispelled.”
Guru Nanak
“Courage leads to heaven; fear to death.”
Seneca
“How strange this fear of death is! We are never frightened at a sunset.”
George MacDonald
“Life is short, God's way of encouraging a bit of focus.”
Robert Brault
“Enjoy yourself. It's later than you think.”
Chinese Proverb
“Live every day as if it were your last and then some day you'll be right.”
H.H. "Breaker" Morant
“Every man dies. Not every man really lives.”
Braveheart
“Be happy while you're living, for you're a long time dead.”
Scottish Proverb
“I'm less interested in why we're here. I'm wholly devoted to while we're here.”
Erika Harris
Death twitches my ear. "Live," he says, "I am coming."
Virgil
“Is there life before death?”
Anon
“If you believe in forever, then life is just a one-night stand.”
Righteous Brothers
“Time is a great teacher, but unfortunately it kills all its pupils.”
Hector Berlioz
“When your life flashes before your eyes, make sure you've got plenty to watch.”
Anon
“The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.”
Mark Twain
If you found inspiration in these Fear of Death quotes, you’ll find more insights on the Spiritual Inspirations page by clicking here.
This development of Paths to God has taken a lower angel of view. We’ve moved away from the directly above the mountain to a more side on view. We can see the temples and churches with trails of Souls going to them. Above the mountain are numerous Souls who have successfully reached the awareness of Soul and are now in heaven.
Thought for the week
There are four spiritual elements involved in our lives.
1 - Soul, our true happy loving selves,
2 - The Holy Spirit or the Life Force,
3 - Our inner guide, angel or inner master and
4 - The Higher Power, the Creator or God.
Let’s explore the Holy Spirit or the Life Force and see how it works in our lives and how we can work with it, to help us understand life and become a little happier.
The Holy Spirit is the element or soup which holds all of creation together. It is what keeps our atoms spinning in the right directions and at the same time it keeps the universes rotating on their voyages through space. It also maintains the inner worlds, the places we go to in our dreams, day dreams and imaginings. It is the force which helps us work our bodies so that when we want to pick up something, the signal travels from our brain to our hands and fingers so that we can pick up the object we want.
The Holy Spirit is also the matrix which allows the suns rays travel to us and warm our skin. It is the force within electricity which we have been able to harness to bring light and heat into our homes along with machinery and tools to transport us, work for us and entertain us.
Holy Spirit is God’s love
The Holy Spirit is the love of the Creator in action. It uses this Life Force to create the structures in which we can have our existence, our lives and our experiences. This structure or the world and life we are living in is God’s way of letting us have our freedom and discover ourselves. This whole structure has been set up so that we have the freedom to learn about living, make lots of mistakes, discover what works and what doesn’t and in the process uncover the fact that we are Soul, a divine element and part of this Higher Power.
This Holy Spirit is really the Divine’s love in action in a way that helps us develop our awareness of ourselves, of the Souls around us and eventually to realise what the Higher Power is. Holy Spirit is God’s love creating the matrix through which we can experience our lives on all levels both physical and spiritual.
How to work with the Holy Spirit
Divine Love is the basic element of the Holy Spirit. If we can bring some Divine love into our lives, we will begin to come into contact with this energy which holds all life together from the molecular level throughout the universes and into the vast spiritual cosmos. This is a fantastic opportunity, to be able to touch the energy which runs the cosmos and use it in our lives.
The starting place is our human love where we love the things and people around us because they give us some benefits or assist us in some way. We also have our warm emotional love where we have a strong emotional commitment and attachment to a person, place or thing. We only have a certain amount of this warm love and it usually goes to those close to us.
Then we have unconditional love which we give to those we appreciate but expect nothing in return. We love them for what they are, possibly assisting them whenever we can but without expecting any reward. This type of unconditional love is getting closer to Divine Love. The Higher Power gives Its love without expecting anything in return. It has no conditions on what we do as a result of us receiving Its love. If we can maintain this attitude as we give our unconditional love to those around us, we will begin to see a trickle of Divine Love come into our lives. With this love comes an increased happiness and added purpose to our lives. Working with Divine Love is working with Holy Spirit.
Show me Love
A way of getting even closer to the Holy Spirit is to ask. We can ask our angel, inner guide, inner master, the Higher Power, the Universe or whatever name we put on the Divine. During a quiet time when we won’t be disturbed we can close our eyes, take a few deep breaths and sing a holy word such as HU or a word that works for you. In this quiet and calm space we can ask “Show me Love”. We can do this regularly so that our awareness can get used to the idea that we should watch out for signs of love. They may not show up as we expect but with the passing of time we may realise that some of the small events were the start of new love in our lives.
If we can do this exercise regularly or any exercise which links us to the Holy Spirit or the Higher Power we will bring more love and happiness into our lives. By doing this we will be working with love and with the Holy Spirit.
Wishing you love in the Holy Spirit.
*Ed Parkinson
If you liked this article on the Holy Spirit, click here to go to the Spiritual Writings page for more inspirational writings.
Design Shed Ireland would like to invite you all to their official opening night on Friday 22nd at 7pm. They are in the front of Blackrock Market on Blackrock Main Sreet, Co. Dublin.
It will be great for meeting the artists and crafts people and pick up a handmade gift.
There will be wine and of course a raffle with some great prizes.
Spend €30 on the night and get a voucher for a free child photo shoot worth €80.
Other special discounts on the night…. Grab yourself a bargain.
Raffle on the night, proceeds go to Bray Cancer Support.
Spread the word and bring a friend……
See you there, *Ed P
“The EKC or Holy Spirit, can lift the most common beginning to the highest good. Yet to secceed, we must surrender our little self to achieve divine love.”
Harold Klemp
“O Holy Spirit, descend plentifully into my heart. Enlighten the dark corners of this neglected dwelling and scatter there Thy cheerful beams.”
Saint Augustine
“Inspiration: A peculiar effect of divine flatulence emitted by the Holy Spirit which hisses into the ears of a few chosen of God.”
Voltaire
“I myself do nothing. The Holy Spirit accomplishes all through me.”
William Blake
“I believe in God, Mozart and Beethoven, and likewise their disciples and apostles; - I believe in the Holy Spirit and the truth of the one, indivisible Art; - I believe that this Art proceeds from God, and lives within the hearts of all illumined men; - I believe that he who once has bathed in the sublime delights of this high Art, is consecrate to Her for ever, and never can deny Her; - I believe that through Art all men are saved.”
Richard Wagner
“In trouble we are prone to forget all that we have heard and read that makes for our comfort. Now what is the reason that a man comes to think of that which otherwise he should never have called to mind? The Holy Spirit brings it to his remembrance; He is a Comforter, bringing to mind useful things at such times when we have most need of them.”
Richard Sibbes
“The divine awakening produces in the soul of the perfect a flame of love which is a participate of that living flame which is the Holy Spirit Himself...this is the operation of the Holy Spirit in the soul that is transformed in love.”
John Of The Cross
“Faith is a living, bold trust in God's grace, so certain of God's favour that it would risk death a thousand times trusting in it. Such confidence and knowledge of God's grace makes you happy, joyful and bold in your relationship to God and all creatures. The Holy Spirit makes this happen through faith. Because of it, you freely, willingly and joyfully do good to everyone, serve everyone, suffer all kinds of things, love and praise the God who has shown you such grace.”
Martin Luther
“My religion consists of a humble admiration of the illimitable superior spirit who reveals himself in the slight details we are able to perceive with our frail and feeble mind.”
Albert Einstein
“Some souls think that the Holy Spirit is very far away, far, far, up above. Actually he is, we might say, the divine Person who is most closely present to the creature. He accompanies him everywhere. He penetrates him with himself. He calls him, he protects him. He makes of him his living temple. He defends him. He helps him. He guards him from all his enemies. He is closer to him than his own soul. All the good a soul accomplishes, it carries out under his inspiration, in his light, by his grace and his help.”
Concepcion Cabrera de Armida
“I love you when you bow in your mosque, kneel in your temple, pray in your church. For you and I are sons of one religion, and it is the spirit.”
Khalil Gibran
“It isn't until you come to a spiritual understanding of who you are - not necessarily a religious feeling, but deep down, the spirit within - that you can begin to take control.”
Oprah Winfrey
“No pessimist ever discovered the secret of the stars, or sailed to an uncharted land, or opened a new doorway for the human spirit.”
Helen Keller
“There are only two forces in the world, the sword and the spirit. In the long run the sword will always be conquered by the spirit.”
Napoleon Bonaparte
“O Holy Spirit of God, abide with us; inspire all our thoughts; pervade our imaginations; suggest all our decisions; order all our doings. Be with us in our silence and in our speech, in our haste and in our leisure, in company and in solitude, in the freshness of the morning and in the weariness of the evening; and give us grace at all times humbly to rejoice in Thy mysterious companionship.”
John Baillie
“I used to live in a room full of mirrors; all I could see was me. I take my spirit and I crash my mirrors, now the whole world is here for me to see.”
Jimi Hendrix
"I get excited about what the Holy Spirit is doing now through all the people he is refining and raising up all over this planet. I love connections and relationship and networking but it must be led by the Spirit.”
Daniel Smith
If you have been inspired by the Holy Spirit quotes, click here to go to the inspirations page for more insightful quotes.
Above is a first attempt at showing how all religions lead to the same goal or the same God. This is a bird’s eye view above a mountain with the various religions represented by their temples or churches around the sides. This doesn’t work but it gives you an idea of how I start a picture. At this point I’m not even sure if I can capture the image which explains the concept but I’ll have a few more goes at it. Watch this space to see if I eventually get it.
Thought for the week
Many of us have significant spiritual experiences in our lives. Research shows that one third of the population have had some kind of spiritual experience. That research is probably based on a few direct questions. If we could explore the subject a bit more with people there would be a lot more people confirming the fact that they have had a spiritual experience.
I’ve been at a number of public meetings which explored the concept of spiritual experiences. A lot of interested people bring a friend as support and this friend is often not particularly interested in the subject. However it is interesting to note that this friend often discovers that they too have had experiences of an inner spiritual nature. When the subject is explained and developed we discover that spiritual experiences come in a variety of shapes and forms.
The typical spiritual experiences usually come as a significant dream, a deep insight, a sudden awareness or knowing which has an impact on us. Some of the experiences are so unusual that we have no logical explanation for them, so we ignore them rather than bring attention to something that could show us as being mentally unstable. This comes from a lack of education in the spiritual aspects of life. As we have little or no knowledge in this area the experiences we have go unnoticed or ignored.
Common Spiritual Experiences
Here’s a list of common spiritual experiences. Have you experienced any of these?
Intuition or direct knowingness, a feeling of knowing what we should do.
Déjà vu, recognising a scene or event and being aware of how it will develop at a particular moment.
A sense of oneness or a loving presence.
A feeling of connection with all life.
Prophetic dream which gave us insight into some events.
A dream with a departed loved one.
Guidance from departed loved ones, angels, spiritual guides or teachers in dreams or through intuition.
An inner light during a contemplation, or while in nature.
An inner sound while meditating, praying or going about our regular lives.
“Coincidences” and connections which place us in a position that can change the direction of our lives.
A past life memory or the feeling of knowing a place when we first arrive there.
Out of body or near death experiences as a result of an accident or serious illness.
Miracles, healing, protection, guidance, which defies logical explanations.
There are many more and here are some examples we’ve heard-
Out of her body
One person told of lifting out of her body while sleeping and being unable to return to it. This illustrates the natural occurrence of us leaving the body while we sleep and entering the dream worlds. In this case the sleeper stayed in the physical world while her body slept. She was unable to ‘return’ or more accurately ‘get her physical body to move’ because she was no longer in her body. It is like she has taken off her cloths and left them on the bed but now wants them to move. Because she is not in her cloths, they can’t move and because she is not in her physical body it can’t move.
Meeting in dreams
Another experience which regularly mentioned is meeting our friends and relatives who have died in our dreams. This is a natural experience when we consider that they have left their physical body, permanently, and we have left ours, temporary, so we are now both in the spiritual worlds and able to meet and talk together. The next aspect to work on is remembering our conversations or a least the parts which relate to our physical lives. This is how our dreams can help us in our daily lives.
Coincidences
If we can get our awareness to the point where we can see our lives as spiritual experiences we will have made a lot of progress in our spiritual development. There is an art to seeing Spirit working in our lives and recognising our spiritual experiences is part of it. One of the easiest ones to recognise is what we usually call ‘coincidences’. How do these coincidences occur? Why do the happen in a particular fashion? They sometimes happen to put us in a particular situation which we would have found impossible to engineer ourselves.
There are significant coincidences in our lives such as the meeting of our spouse or a significant friend in what may seem like a random way. There are minor coincidences such as being touched by a plant to remind us to water it or somehow physically hurting ourselves when we get angry or think negatively. These are spiritual experiences as they are orchestrated by the Life-force or Holy Spirit and if we view them as spiritual we can grasp the inner meaning or message.
Exploring our Spiritual Experiences
If we explore our lives for small events and coincidence we will begin to discover a number of spiritual experiences happening on a regular basis in our lives. We just need to be turn up our awareness a little so that we can catch one or two a week. After a while we can turn it up again until we see one or two a day. Eventually we get to a point where we see all of life as spiritual. Our explorations can lead us to some wonderful discoveries and one of those discoveries can be happiness.
Wishing you love and happiness in your explorations.
*Ed Parkinson
Discover more spiritual experiences and stories in the Spiritual Writings page by clicking here.
“There is a spiritual side to every experience or event, no matter how large or small, and wheather or not it occurs in everyday life or in a dream.”
Harold Klemp
“For me a spiritual experience is a gift of love from God that comes in any way, in any form, at any time, awake or asleep because I am special—I am Soul. Moreover, so are you!”
Betty Jane Rapin
“The most spiritual human beings, assuming they are the most courageous, also experience by far the most painful tragedies: but it is precisely for this reason that they honor life, because it brings against them its most formidable weapons.”
Friedrich Nietzsche
“In order to experience everyday spirituality, we need to remember that we are spiritual beings spending some time in a human body.”
Barbara De Angelis
“You are also caught with the fact that man is a creature who walks in two worlds and traces upon the walls of his cave the wonders and the nightmare experiences of his spiritual pilgrimage.”
Morris West
“I'm not a big fan of religion for that reason. But I am a true believer in God, and I have great faith, and I think that a spiritual connection with something is a really important part of our experience. That doesn't necessarily have anything to do with the church.”
Shaun Cassidy
“The first act of awe, when man was struck with the beauty or wonder of Nature, was the first spiritual experience.”
Henryk Skolimowski
“You are not a human being in search of a spiritual experience. You are a spiritual being immersed in a human experience.”
Teilhard de Chardin
“The great awareness comes slowly, piece by piece. The path of spiritual growth is a path of lifelong learning. The experience of spiritual power is basically a joyful one.”
M. Scott Peck
“Happiness cannot be traveled to, owned, earned, worn or consumed. Happiness is the spiritual experience of living every minute with love, grace, and gratitude.”
Denis Waitley
“Experiencing something which is beyond the comprehension of the five senses, mind and intellect constitutes a ‘spiritual experience’. Even if one can perceive an event through the five senses, mind and intellect but the reason behind it is beyond the gross intellect of mankind, it still constitutes a spiritual experience.”
Spiritual Science Research Foundation
“A definition of spirituality or the spiritual experience: a subtle, bodily feeling with vague meanings that brings new, clearer meanings involving a transcendent growth process.”
Elfie Hinterkopf
"An enchanted life has many
moments when the heart is
overwhelmed by beauty and
the imagination is electrified
by some haunting quality in
the world or by a spirit or voice
speaking from deep within
a thing, a place, or a person."
Thomas Moore
"Religious structure often dilutes the spiritual experience."
Steve Maraboli
“In love lies the seed of our growth. The more we love, the closer we are to the spiritual experience.”
Paulo Coelho
If you enjoyed these spiritual experiences quotes click here to visit the Spiritual Inspirations page for more quotes.
In the Blackrock Market in south Co. Dublin, Ireland, a new venture opened to help shoppers easily find good artwork and well made Irish craft work. The Design Shed Ireland has space for up to 18 crafts people and artists.
You can find some of my work there and with a special offer where you get the folder, Journey of Soul of 12 images, free if you buy any of my prints. Not only will you be getting a piece of art which helps you connect to your inner self where you can find joy and happiness you can also enjoy the story and images of The Journey of Soul.
If you want a spot in this brand new, completely refurbished gallery you can book in with Derek or Anne-Louise at The Design Shed Ireland. They are almost full for this coming weekend but you can go on a waiting list if you have good quality work which will appeal to the visitors of the Blackrock market.
Thought for the week
I was asked to do a picture of an angel for the cover of a small magazine issued by a friend. It’s not a subject I’ve done a lot of pictures of but as I sketched, a few ideas came to mind and out of them came the Angel of Imagination. Here’s my thinking behind the picture.
The angel of imagination will appear if we can unblock our mind from its logical and practical ways. If we can get beyond our mind we can release this angel and a new world of beauty, colour, sound and wonder will open as we explore what our imagination has to offer. Beyond the dogmatic dictates of the mechanical mind are bright colourful, melodious meadows of wild ideas, flowing rivers of insights and places of wonder and beauty. Here we can find a better understanding of our lives and solutions to the challenges we face.
The difference between mind and imagination
We need to understand our inner make up to know how our mind and imagination work. Within ourselves we have our emotions, our memories and our mind. These three aspects of our inners selves are under the rule of the mind. There is a lot of logic involved and the study of psychology of the mind can help us put a framework on the way it all works.
Above the mind we have our intuition and our true happy imaginative and loving self Soul. Soul does things with love and so tends to be soft, subtle and considerate. The mind on the other hand can be demanding, dictatorial and stubborn. Soul’s subtlety gets walked on by minds aggressiveness. The logical demands of mind distract us from the light and sound of Soul. Its soft loving voice and insightful advice get shut out by minds logical dictates.
Blocks to the imagination
One of the biggest blocks to the imagination is the logical mind. We are easily convinced by the mind’s practical logic. After all it does make sense. Our imagination does penetrate through some of the blocks set up by the mind by suggesting creative ideas and new ways of looking at things. However until we realise that we are more than what we think in our minds we will be blocked off from our angel of imagination.
One of the blocks mind comes up with is ‘If I can’t see it, it’s not real’. It dismisses our inner nudges, our intuition, and our dreams. This thinking shuts the doors on the light coming from our higher self, Soul, and puts shutters on the windows to our imagination. It compels us to only live in the darkened house of our mind under the belief that if it isn’t within this house which the mind can control, it doesn’t exist. However the existence of the light does show through the cracks in the doors and the shutters.
There are many examples of books, plays, movies, poetry and art where the writer or artist has opened a pin hole of light where we can see into their imaginative world. They bring us on a journey through their stories, insights and visions. They open the shutter a little. With the insights learned from their creations they shed light on some area of our life which up until now has been in the dark.
How can we access our angel of imagination?
As children we may have spent time watching clouds drift across our skies. In those clouds we could see lots of different shapes. A head, an animal, islands coming together, floating candy floss, cotton wool to cuddle into, castles, cities, mountains and anything our imagination suggested to us. It lasted for a few minutes and then changed into something else. What did you see? What can you see today? If there are clouds in your sky now, have a look and see what you can make of them with the help of your angel of imagination.
We need to take time to allow ourselves develop our imagination. This is time where we take it easy, slow down and enjoy the moment. If we can dedicate fifteen to twenty minutes a day to visiting our angel of imagination we will be rewarded with lots of insights and ideas, a more relaxed view of life and a general feeling of being happier.
A good way to start is to sing HU for a few minutes, listen within for any subtle sounds and watch our inner screen for lights and colours. Thoughts or ideas may float across our mind but we should keep singing HU, listening to the inner sounds and watching the lights and colours. We may be struck by an idea or solution to an issue we are facing. It’s a good idea to write these insights down and then review them when we are finished our contemplation. Each idea is like a candle which adds light to the aspects of our lives which the minds dull logic has failed to illuminate. By doing this kind of spiritual exercise daily we begin to open the doors of our mind so the light from our angel of imagination can brighten our lives.
Our Angel of Imagination waits for us to move the mental blocks so its inspirational light can brighten our lives.
*Ed Parkinson
If you enjoyed Angel of Imagination click here to go to the Spiritual Art Gallery page for more insightful stories and pictures.
Today is a reminder that we all have a right to our own independence. Independence to live as we wish, do as we wish and love as we wish, provided we don’t encroach on others or their property and do what we say we will do.
It is also a reminder that we have a right to be independent of the things of this world. Our attachments to material things, to people, memories, feelings and logical stuff. We have a right to strive for our independence of spirit to reconnect with our true happy loving selves, Soul.
If we can connect with Soul we will truly be independent and happy.
Wishing you happiness and independence today and every day.
*Ed Parkinson
“The imaginative faculty within yourself is like a muscle. You are going to have to train it day after day. What you are actually doing is learning how to become aware and observant of yourself in a different state of consciousness.”
Harold Klemp
“Love doesn't grow on trees like apples in Eden - it's something you have to make. And you must use your imagination too.”
Joyce Cary
“The man who has no imagination has no wings.”
Muhammad Ali
“Love is a canvas furnished by Nature and embroidered by imagination.”
Voltaire
“I am enough of an artist to draw freely upon my imagination. Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.”
Albert Einstein
“An idea is salvation by imagination.”
Frank Lloyd Wright
“Imagination rules the world.”
Napoleon Bonaparte
“All prosperity begins in the mind and is dependent only on the full use of our creative imagination.”
Ruth Ross
“Imagination grows by exercise, and contrary to common belief, is more powerful in the mature than in the young.”
William Somerset Maugham
"Do not quench your inspiration and your imagination; do not become the slave of your model.”
Vincent van Gogh
"It is the marriage of the soul with Nature that makes the intellect fruitful, and gives birth to imagination.”
Henry David Thoreau
“Only in men's imagination does every truth find an effective and undeniable existence. Imagination, not invention, is the supreme master of art as of life.”
Joseph Conrad
“Imagination disposes of everything; it creates beauty, justice, and happiness, which is everything in this world.”
Blaise Pascal
“We especially need imagination in science. It is not all mathematics, nor all logic, but it is somewhat beauty and poetry.”
Maria Montessori
“Music is a moral law. It gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and charm and gaiety to life and to everything.”
Plato
“What the imagination seizes as beauty must be truth.”
John Keats
“What the imagination seizes as beauty must be truth.”
John Keats
“The imagination imitates. It is the critical spirit that creates.”
Oscar Wilde
Looking for more thoughts on imagination? Click here to go to the Spiritual Inspirations page for more quotes on a variety of subjects.
