Inner Michael

A spiritual devotee learns to see divinity in all things and to see all that exists as a part of the whole of divine creation. He learns to recognize god in all things, to see life as sacred and beings as an extension of the divine creator who is the source of all things. He sees nature as a vast and spectacular dwelling place for all that the Creator has made. He sees animals as being equal in importance and fellow humans as part of one big family. He sees babies as the newest sparkling creatures arriving in human life from a place of pure love and divine light of god. They are the ones who come fresh and new and untouched by anything that is not- god. When babies are born they are pure god-self.

The spiritual seeker also knows himself to be of divine origin and knows everyone else came from the same source and holds the same divine spark of that creator—the god-self. Everything is alive with light and life for the truly spiritually devoted. And everything becomes a part of that intricate and sparkling interconnected web of life. Everything is of god and that divinity fills all spaces, informs all things—both living and non-living.

The aspirant practices gratitude for the life he has been given, for the divine spark within, for the beauty he sees all around him and the god he sees in the eyes of others. He prays wherever he is at the moment; he thanks god for giving him the present opportunity and for giving him the talent, tools, skills and means to represent his benefactor in a way that benefits all humans.

Ever notice anyone praying on stage? When Michael Jackson raised his arms in that gesture with his arms spread, it is a gesture of embrace and supplication. He catches his breath and then as you watch, his eyes roll upward and you can almost hear the prayer: “Thank you for the blessing of love. Use me O God. Thank you for all you have given; thank you for all that I am. Here am I, Lord—use me.”

Christianity calls this omnipresence and omniscience. The sparkling energy of god that is in all things is called Prana in India, Chi or Qi in China, Ki, Reiki or Huchi in Japan, Mana in Hawaii and Ruah or the “breath of life” in the Old Testament. This energy is considered conscious and intelligent in many of the world’s cultures and some native and indigenous cultures can detect it in inanimate objects—rocks, minerals, crystals, and so on. Trees are considered sacred in many cultures and are sometimes even held to be actual beings.

Shamans are trained to communicate with the Spirit of all things—that divine energy that is omnipresent  and has innate intelligence. That is how ancient humans and the natives and indigenous learned about the medicines in plants and animals parts—that revealed their secrets to “he who has ears to hear.” Modern medicines come primarily from plants processed for their medicinal properties. That is ancient knowledge from Spirit.

Healers know of the innate Spirit or life force in the individual human and they know when it departs. The life force can be diminished by not properly taking care of the body, by stress and illness and disease, by the absence of healthy and optimistic thoughts and the presence of negative and heavy emotions. The mind permeates the body and impacts the cells, tissues and fluids. The human ecosystem determines the body’s health and wellness.

Nature also has an ecosystem. She too is affected by stresses and influences, by minds and the collection or coagulation of thoughts. Indigenous tribes respect the land and all that the land provides in nourishment and medicines. Native peoples used only what they needed and they gave thanks to the land and animals and Father sky and Mother Earth and the Creator for the gifts given to sustain life. They thanked the Spirit of the animal who gave its life so they could be nourished and kept warm with skins and fur. They lived life in a state of reverence, blessing all of existence.

There is a Spirit that inhabits a land. Many areas are thought to be sacred lands and they are considered holy ground. The ecosystem of the land determines its health and therefore what it can lend to its inhabitants in the form of sustenance. The land also becomes imprinted with the events that occur there. The land has a feel, a mood, a presence, a theme. It can be healthy or unhealthy. And it affects the life there.

There are those who have visited Gettysburg battlefield and they will tell you it feels as if something horrible happened there. Some have even heard the cries of dying men or seen ghostly forms wandering about the land. If you visit Chartres in France, you will sense a special kind of Spirit and it will feel much different than the Alamo or Trail of Tears in the American West. The thoughts that permeate an area, the way the land is respected or abused, the mindset of the humans who live there, and events that occur all leave behind an impression, an imprint on the ecosystem.

Neverland is no different. It was once filled with children’s mirth, the feelings of joy and carefree youth, the awe and appreciation of the adults who visited, and the doting love of its steward. It rang with music and laughter and was treated tenderly and with respect. But a time came when all that changed. The ecosystem was contaminated, violated and infused with condemnation and dark projections of minds caught up in confusion and shadow. The time came when it could no longer sustain the love with which it was created and cared for. It had lost an alive and living presence that sustained those in residence and its main resident. And so it had to be abandoned.

The land remembers. And the land can heal. So if you go to Neverland, bless it with your words and bless it with your mind and especially your heart. Bless each rabbit and squirrel and rock and stream. Thank each tree and bush and flower for bringing its beauty and embrace all the creatures and beings—rock beings, animal beings, tree beings, and so on, with love. Feel the love in your heart and breathe that love and expand it with each breath until your heart can no longer contain it—and it pours onto the property, into the land—washing it clean and free of the scars and wounds of the past.

Then in your mind, see Neverland beautiful and spiritual once again, the grounds alive with merriment and the laughter of children. See the animals content and happy, the trees full and green, the glowers glowing with the love that once flowed there. See the land healed and sweet again, the sky applauding and the earth singing. Feel how it feels at Neverland when Neverland was love. Bring back the love. Close your eyes and see it clearly, and feel it with amplified intensity. Bless it silently.

The word “remember” has two parts re and member. Re-member. To dismember is to tear apart or tear down or to scatter or dissipate the integrity of something. Re-member means to bring it back together, into balance, into wholeness again.

See the land healed from the wounding that occurred there. Bless all the beings—even those who, in their ignorance, didn’t know what they were doing. Bless it all—the people, the events and especially the land. And if you can manage, let that love spread throughout the whole Santa Inez Valley and all the surrounding area. There will be those both seen and unseen who will join you in this healing ritual. It doesn’t matter if you are at Neverland in spirit or in the physical because Spirit knows no earthly limitations. If one calls forth the compassionate god-self and the compassionate heart, the human heart is capable. And the land will remember and re-member. And someday it will love back again.