The Journey Upward - Defining Moments in the Life of a Spiritual Psychologist

In the morning frame thy purpose;
in the evening examine thy conduct—
how thou hast behaved today
in word, deed, and thought.

–Thomas á Kempis

As I reflect on life from the early 1930s to the present, 2006, I realize I have lived during a time of considerable change and both progression and regression of culture. We have certainly progressed, technologically, yet I believe that in many ways we have regressed in human decency. As a culture, worldwide, we tend to take violence, crime and mayhem as an inevitable part of life.
Whatever happened to respect for our elders, simple human kindness, and the expression of the best of mankind’s nature? Not that these qualities are gone forever, but they are not the main emphasis in today’s culture, the media or the schools—and our schools are the training ground for the generations of the future.

What Can We Do to Help?

I sometimes wonder what our great-grandchildren will think about the way we have treated the environment, how we have handled the wars that have devastated countries worldwide, and the fact that technology has become as a god in the business world.
How will we live the biblical injunction to “love thy neighbor as thyself” and to cultivate “the peace of God, which passeth all understanding” in our hearts? How will we do our part to foster gentility toward one another; appreciation of classical music, books, arts and crafts; and to assist humanitarian efforts that promote peace and good will?
As we ponder these questions, let’s make it personal. “What can I do to raise my consciousness and encourage kindness and goodwill in my neighborhood? What can I do to help my family, friends and neighbors and to make a worthy offering to God?”
When we answer these questions from the level of our Higher Self and choose to take positive action in our corner of the world, we feel good about ourselves and inspire other people to do the same. By living our higher values and offering love and compassion to those in need, we move a step higher on the ladder to the ascension.

Visions of Higher Realms

At times I have dreams and visions of higher realms that stir me to keep on moving upward! The dreams are like rainbows----brilliant, then dimming, fading away with just a wisp of color left in the sky. And the flashes of memory of a life before life on Earth tell me the story of where I came from, where I am going and why!
I believe that I originally came from the heart of God, from Sirius, the God Star. And I came to Earth to help people remember God. I know that my mission is to bring God’s sunshine into the lives of the people I meet—I am called to help people see the bright side of life.
Nature is my friend and uplifting to my heart and soul. I love to watch the beautiful white clouds in the blue sky changing from moment to moment in their form. I delight in the first blades of green grass in early spring and the birds and bunnies that hop around in the yard. I feel a sense of exhilaration when the mountaintops are crowned with snow in the winter and the snowfall on the trees sparkles in the sunshine. And I love to watch a river rushing along, its waves shifting and changing, moment to moment, the sunlight weaving its patterns in the water.

Flashes of Past-Life Memories

As I have mentioned, I have occasionally had flashes of past-life memories that are related to my mission in this life. For example, I feel a strong connection with the oracle of Apollo at Delphi, which suggests that I may have lived during that time.
When I ask myself what that means to me in this life, I realize that seeking advice from the oracle would be in keeping with my search for truth, which has been a focus for me over many lifetimes. In this lifetime, that search culminated in my discovery of the Teachings of the Ascended Masters through The Summit Lighthouse and Church Universal and Triumphant. These teachings have been priceless in helping me to accelerate my spiritual awareness and to move onward and upward toward the victory of the ascension.
I have a memory of being in an etheric retreat, bathed in brilliant white light, viewing my past lives as the ascended masters were readying my soul to return to Earth to complete my mission in this life. I knew that the mission I was to fulfill would include cultivating inner strength and higher wisdom, offering love and compassion to others, and setting a positive example by the way I would choose to live my life. And I knew that I would be tested in ways that I would not necessarily anticipate.
I have encountered these tests in different ways all of my life, and the tests have often come in an unexpected manner. The tests of inner strength have come through situations that have aroused the impulse to become angry instead of maintaining inner balance. The tests of higher wisdom have come through situations that were totally confusing to my human consciousness. The tests of love and compassion have come through people who were unkind. And the tests of setting a positive example have come through temptations.
While I can’t say that I have always passed my tests, I can say that through my mistakes I have learned to do better. I can also say that I have come to the point of looking forward to the tests because I know that they always impel me to higher levels of mastery over my human self.
With the help of my guardian angel and the ascended masters, I look forward to exchanging self-mastery for divine accomplishment. That will be a great day! ...

Mother Teresa: An Angel on Earth

One night as I watched a movie about Mother Teresa, I realized anew that her life was a beautiful example of an angel ministering to people on Earth. Of course I do not know if she originally came from the angelic realms, but in reliving her life journey as it was shown in the movie, I was deeply moved by the total selflessness and compassion of this blessed saint.
To me it is crystal clear that Mother Teresa’s tender loving care came from the depths of a loving heart focused on God. It also rather amuses me to remember that along with Mother Teresa’s saintly qualities, she was no wimp in the face of evil. She stood her ground with unreasonable authorities and never wavered in her faith in God, not once! This in itself made an indelible impression on all who knew her as well as those who have been introduced to her through the media.
Why is Mother Teresa so universally loved and revered? I believe it is because she not only loved and served God, she also loved and served people by doing her best to meet their spiritual and physical needs. Rarely in modern days have we seen an individual so humble, persevering and dedicated to serving the little people who need help the most.
It is certainly no surprise that Mother Teresa has been declared a saint in heaven by the Catholic Church because she truly was a saint in her activities on Earth. This blessed soul loved and served Almighty God and His people with her heart, head and hands as she tended the needs of all she met on the highway of life.
I see Mother Teresa as a modern-day disciple of Christ Jesus who followed in his footprints as she tended His sheep and pursued the journey upward throughout her life until she was called by Father-Mother God to return to the heaven-world.
Mother Teresa had such a passion to help the little guy that she was a blessing to all. And yet while she was here on Earth, her light provoked the hierarchy of the Church to treat her in a similar way to how the ancient authorities treated Jesus Christ and his disciples. I sometimes think that we can measure the godliness of people by the decree of persecution they endure for the sake of their faith.
To me the most dramatic aspect of this blessed saint’s life is that although she was often opposed by the Church hierarchy, she brushed aside all that opposition and persevered in her mission of loving-kindness to the very end of her life on Earth.
I am quite certain that Mother Teresa continues to serve the people of God on Earth from the heaven-world. And I am equally certain that if we pray for her assistance, she will help us to fulfill our divine destiny as we pursue our own journey upward.

The Light of Christ

The light of Christ that radiated through Mother Teresa brought out the best in those who were truly striving to serve the people—and the worst in human bureaucrats. I believe that is the inner reason that the mission Mother Teresa was called to fulfill was so opposed by high- ranking officials. So has it ever been for the saints throughout the ages.
As I reflect on Mother Teresa’s mission, I think to myself, “What a beautiful soul and what a blessed example she has been to all of us! She is a living reminder of the infinite power of the Divine and how God works through people who consecrate their lives to serving him with all their heart and soul.”
Let us rejoice that in these challenging times we have been blessed by the example this blessed soul has set before us in living a life of loving-kindness, serving the less fortunate, and handling the challenges of misguided authorities with wisdom and grace.
My prayer is that each of us will choose to follow in Mother Teresa’s footprints—that we too will serve those in need with a loving heart, a mind focused on God, and a determination to continue serving in the face of opposition. As we do so, I am quite certain that by our efforts and God’s grace, we too, in God’s timing, will enter the gates of heaven. ...