Like the Sun, a radiant heart unfolds beauty

Our compassion flows out to those suffering pain and terror amidst the conflicts that ravage so much of our planet. And while our hearts weep for those in pain and we work to bring aid to them, it is increasingly critical that hope be kept alive and be allowed to flower into those solutions that lead to the peaceful understanding of the right of existence of everyone and everything in our beautiful world, in the manifest expression of the One in Whom we live and move and have our being. Perhaps, if we could see into the heart of the conflicts that disturb our world so deeply and cause such terror, pain and anguish, we might find that the point of cause, the seed, lies in the limitations of our understanding about who we are and about who the apparent enemy is.

Conflicts arise out of a sense of difference that generates fear of losing all that is associated with one’s sense of identity – our culture and all its manifestations, even our promised land. As borders shift and become increasingly ephemeral through world travel, migration, rebellions, wars and the vast movements of refugees, the concept of “our land” is slowly blurring and transforming into “our world”. The many cultural identities are setting down new roots in lands far from their inception and in the process a subtle change in human identity occurs. We are becoming human beings first and foremost and this larger identity includes each and every culture within its embrace; exclusivity is fading into an inclusiveness which loses nothing of the rich diversity of cultural essence.

In so many ways in so many hearts around the world, the seeds of peace are being nurtured and given impetus and freedom to grow according to the divine pattern. The more avid the warmongers, the more intense the search for peace and the more clearly we see what is true and what is most needed. Value is returning to life. The world is beginning to listen through the hollowness of the rationalisations and excuses of those consumed by the forces of aggressive ownership, oppression and violence. Those who have lost their sense of identity to these forces sow seeds of hatred like weeds, turning fertile fields into wastelands, and create their own enemies by forgetting the humanity they share.

Any who hold to past ideas about who they are place themselves in the way of the forward flood of life unfolding cyclically through our world, that mighty tide which can sweep all before it and will ever persist. We, as atoms immersed in this ocean of life, also persist with it. This is known by those who follow the path of life, rather than death, and live it into being. They are of great heart and are found, often unheralded, everywhere – such as those organisations described in the article “Rays of Hope in Gaza: 13 Israeli and Palestinian Groups Building Peace”, published in Yes! Magazine.  See: http://www.yesmagazine.org/peace-justice/13-peacebuilders-in-gaza

As a rose opens into full flower it unfolds in a spiral motion. Time-lapse photography makes visible this marvellous process. (See: http://www.wimp.com/bloomingrose/) It reveals the beauty of the underlying spiral pattern of unfoldment that guides the flowering, through time and space, of all in our world and beyond. The rose opens out from its central heart – the point of beginning where the tiny particles of pollen also carry the promise of the next wave of life in the continuing unfoldment of its species, growing and evolving under the divine impulse. Its note of beauty persists through generations, growth cycles and the spiral of evolutionary unfoldment. Over time we imbue the rose with symbolic power as we become sensitised to its essential, divine radiance. That essence radiates and stimulates associations in our hearts and minds. And so in its own way it links, relates and does its part in expressing the interrelatedness of all within the great synthesis of being and in the revelation of Oneness through our planetary Life.

In the 1940’s the Tibetan wrote:

…One of the easiest things in the world to say … is that life is one; that there is nothing but unity … But life is not yet one in consciousness, however true it may be in fact.  The reason for this is that life is loving synthesis in action, and of that there is little today in demonstration.  We have life in activity but love, based on realised unity and leading to expressed synthesis, is still absent.  The vision of it is, however, upon the horizon of many, for in these days many are attaining sight and light is pouring in.  Revelation will come when [we] have perfected the art of revelation.…The important aspect, at this time, of the basic oneness underlying all forms, and which the workers of today must immediately emphasise, is the fact of the kingdom of God, of the planetary Hierarchy.  The citizens of that kingdom and the members of that Hierarchy are gathered out of every nation, every political party, every social group, every religious cult or sect, and every organisation—no matter what their expressed objectives—and the universality of the field from which these people emerge, demonstrates their underlying unity.  When this unity assumes adequate proportions in the eyes of mankind, a real synthesis will follow.”The Rays and the Initiations, page 300

As compassion pours through the heart it nourishes the seeds of the future world – just as the Sun draws forth the unfolding flower, and draws forth the unfolding livingness of everything within its mighty purview. Thus revelation radiates through the sun-like power of the heart whose potency is unstoppable. We are told that:

The sun is the heart of the system; so, also, the heart of man is the sun of the organism. There are many sun-hearts, and the Universe represents a system of hearts; therefore, the cult of Light is the cult of the heart. To understand this abstractly is to leave the heart cold; but as soon as the Light of the sun-heart shall live, the need of the magnet’s warmth will begin to shine forth like a true sun. … The heart’s rhythm can be regarded as the rhythm of life. The Teaching about the heart is as bright as the sun, and the warmth of the heart speeds as swiftly as a sunbeam. Everyone has wondered at the instantaneousness with which a ray of the rising sun warms all things. The heart can act likewise.

I speak of the warmth of the heart when it is especially needed. The striving thought kindles space, but the warmth of the heart is a constant hearth. Courage dwells in the warmth of the heart. This must be remembered. The appearance of the dark forces is like a frost to the sowing. Only the heart’s warmth provides a glowing shield. But, as we delicately test light-waves, so solicitously must one approach the heart.” Heart, 62

The warmth of the heart nurtures the unfolding pattern, that marvellous and all-powerful spiral, which enables everything to express its destined beauty. However, no loop of the spiral can be over leaped though speed may be facilitated and patience can grow through understanding. This has been discerned through the investigation and body of work called Spiral Dynamics, based on the 1970’s theories of psychologist Clare W. Graves. On the website for Spiral Dynamic Integral, we read that:

Spiral Dynamics reveals the hidden complexity codes that shape human nature, create global diversities, and drive evolutionary change. These dynamic Spiral forces attract and repel individuals, form the webs and meshes that connect people within groups, communities and organizations, and forge the rise and fall of nations and cultures.” See: http://www.spiraldynamics.net/

A more deeply thoughtful perspective is offered in an article in the World Goodwill Newsletter, number 2 in 2007, available from Lucis Trust at: www.lucistrust.org/en/service_activities/world_goodwill/newsletter/recent_issues/2007_2…

At the core, at the heart, there is always the eternal seed of promise, the heartbeat of the One Life pulsing through all the myriad forms it breathes into being and animates with its Soul. The challenges created from our current limited understanding of who we really are becomes transparent when seen through the eyes of the heart. Then the radiance of the heart transcends the false vibrations of difference, separation, exclusivity and their ensuing conflicts. This is beautifully explained in the short video, “The Heart’s Intuitive Intelligence: A path to personal, social and global coherence” by the Institute of Heart Math. See: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QdneZ4fIIHE

All around us there is much inspiration for nurturing a new civilisation of understanding – of who we really are, of the deep interconnection with one another, our world and the subtle spiritual realms that raise us up. Just as the passing era was created out of the mind and its mental processes, so the new era now enduring its birth pains is of the heart. And so we are told:

To behold with the eyes of the heart; to listen with the ears of the heart to the roar of the world; to peer into the future with the comprehension of the heart; to remember the cumulations of the past through the heart; thus must one impetuously advance upon the path of ascent. Creativeness encompasses the fiery potentiality, and is impregnated with the sacred fire of the heart. Therefore, upon the path to the Hierarchy, upon the path of Great Service, upon the path of Communion, synthesis is the one luminous path of the heart. How can the manifested rays be radiated if the flame is not affirmed in the heart? It is precisely the quality of the magnet that is inherent in the heart. The highest creativeness is imbued with this great law. Hence, each consummation, each union, each great cosmic unification is achieved through the flame of the heart. By what means can the foundation of the great steps be laid? Verily, only through the heart. Thus the arcs of consciousness are fused by the flame of the heart… Thus, we shall keep in memory the beauteous attraction of the magnet of the heart, which links all manifestations.” Heart,1