What Will Make Us Make The Rivers Clean?

Whanganui River, New Zealand. What will make us make the rivers clean?

There is a certain legal trend emerging in the world. It is a trend of granting personhood, and thus certain legal rights, to rivers. Why is this happening? I believe the existing ways of thinking about rivers just don’t get rivers clean enough fast enough.

What will make us make the rivers clean?

First, in March of 2017, the Whanganui River of New Zealand was granted the same legal rights as a human being. The Whanganui River is roughly 180 miles long and is the third largest river in New Zealand. The local Māori tribe has fought for the recognition of their river as an ancestor for 140 years. Therefore, this is not just about a clean river. It is a cultural initiative as well.

What will make us make the rivers clean? Second, also in March of 2017 the Uttarakhand High Court declared the Ganges and Yamuna rivers to be living entities. Uttarakhand is a state in northern India where the Ganges River begins. How polluted is the Ganges River? I regret to inform you that for various reasons, the Ganges River is one of the most polluted rivers in the world.

What will make us make the rivers clean? Finally, last month, the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund filed a lawsuit in federal district court against the Governor of the state of Colorado in the United States. The lawsuit “seeks a ruling that the Colorado River, and its ecosystem, possess certain rights, including the right to exist, flourish, evolve, regenerate, and restoration.”

What will make us make the rivers clean? Will these efforts cause the rivers to become clean? I don’t know. All I know is that humanity must cleanse the polluted rivers of the world. If humanity does not cleanse the polluted rivers of the world, it will face consequences it does not wish to experience.

What will make us make the rivers clean? My ultimate answer is “A sufficient number of people responding to Knowledge.” By “Knowledge” I mean “the deeper spiritual intelligence that God has placed within each person.” But I don’t know when that will happen. I don’t know if it will ever happen. I therefore propose an interim solution. I don’t ask much. All I want is for every nation in the world to enforce a law like this:

If a river passes through or borders upon a given jurisdiction (such as a city like Wanganui in New Zealand, a county like Grand County in Colorado, or a state like Uttar Pradesh in India), that river must leave the jurisdiction as clean as when it enters the jurisdiction.

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Welcome to Mystery of Ascension! We are students and advocates of the the New Message from God. We are members of a worldwide community. We seek to assist the world in successfully navigating difficult times ahead. We seek to assist the world in successfully emerging into a greater community of intelligent life. You will also find some poetry. Find out more about us here. Contact us here.

Прозрение: Истина Просветится

Прозрение: истина просветится
прозрение
Шаг 32. 
Истина со мной. Я могу её ощутить.

Истина с тобой и ты можешь её ощутить. Она может осветить твой разум и эмоции, если ты ей позволишь это сделать. Сегодня продолжай свою подготовку по усилению стремления к истине и способности ощутить истину.

В течение двух длительных занятий, каждое по 30 минут, сидя тихо с закрытыми глазами, дыша глубоко и ритмично, попытайся ощутить истину за пределами непрерывной работы ума. Используй своё дыхание для того, чтобы погрузиться глубже, так как твоё дыхание всегда выведет тебя за пределы твоих мыслей, если ты сознательно проследишь за ним. Не позволяй ничему отвлекать или разубеждать тебя. Если какая-либо мысль проникнет в твой разум и тебе будет сложно избавиться от неё, скажи себе, что ты уделишь ей внимание позже, но сейчас ты отдыхаешь от своего ума. Практикуй ощущать истину. Не размышляй над истиной. Практикуй ощущать истину.

Практика 32: два практических занятия по 30 минут каждое.

Разъяснительное замечание–перевод Шагов к Знанию на русский язык находится на начальной стадии. Тот перевод, который вы тут читайте, является первой попыткой передавать смысл Шагов на русском языке.

Истина просветится, когда я успокою шум в голове и прислушиваюсь к Знанию.

В тот день, когда я занималась этим шагом, у меня было прозрение, то, что можно назвать случаем, когда истина просветилась.

Я написала следующее в своих записях в связи с этим Шагом. Я поделюсь этой записью тут. Можно принять за чистую монету, без анализа, без разбирательства. Надеюсь, что и для вас истина просветится.

Прозрение: истина просветится

«У меня было прозрение. Вот те крылатые слова о том, что мы все – одно целое, вдруг стали мне совершенно ясными, понятными. Само собой разумеется! Существует один вселенский дух, можно его назвать Богом, и этот дух вселяется в каждое тело при рождении, чтобы испытывать человеческую жизнь и приумножить свое знание. Значит, тело имеет второстепенное значение и в принципе без разницы какой у него внешний вид, какие таланты, способности, качества, ведь дух – один.

Тем самым, мы не разделены, мы являемся единым духом, испытывая разные жизненные реалии в разных телах и таким образом потихоньку пополняем клад общего знания в качестве частицы целого духа мы называем Богом. И после смерти физического тела, мы возвращаемся в состояния духа. Это нас избавляет от зависти, ненависти, ревности, бессердечия, и всяких других негативных эмоций потому, что мы все исходим от единого источника и каждый опыт является ценным. Трудно описывать словами, но, как мне чувствуется, тут истина просвечивается в мой ум».

Шаг 32 гласит о том, что нужно ощутить истину, не размышлять над ей, а ощутить её. Я должна усердно заниматься, не давая себя отвлекаться или разубеждаться.

Более того, я могу заниматься разными видами дыхания, чтобы проникнуть глубже, чтобы выйти из рамок обычных мыслей. Я лично не получаю результата от этого занятия. Может, у меня просто не хватает терпения, может, у меня просто нет навыков и умения правильно принять приемы дыхания, может, я просто не достаточно стараюсь. Тем не менее, я сумела успокоить свои мысли до той степени, что истина просветилась. Когда такое случается, нет никакого сомнения, или отрицания, я просто ощущаю истину до костей своих.

Скачайте бесплатно “Шаги к Знанию” полностью тут.

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Welcome to Mystery of Ascension! We are students and advocates of the the New Message from God. We are members of a worldwide community. We seek to assist the world in successfully navigating difficult times ahead. We seek to assist the world in successfully emerging into a greater community of intelligent life. You will also find some poetry. Find out more about us here. Contact us here.

How Many Times Must The Warheads Be Dropped?

“Yes, ’n’ how many times must the cannonballs fly
Before they’re forever banned?
The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind
The answer is blowin’ in the wind” – Bob Dylan, Blowin’ In The Wind

How many times must the warheads be dropped?

I wish to confess my neglect, and offer remediation. What have I neglected? On August 10, 2017, the human family observed 72 years without using a nuclear weapon in warfare. I have had an annual custom of observing this happy occasion here, here and here. I did not observe this in either 2016 or in August of 2017. But humanity has gone 72 years, 3 months and 10 days without using a nuclear weapon in warfare. By “nuclear weapon” I mean either a fission weapon or a fusion weapon. America used fission weapons against Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Nations of the world have only tested fusion weapons, also called thermonuclear weapons or hydrogen bombs. No nation has used a fusion weapons in warfare since November 1, 1952. My people have refrained from using our most destructive weapon for almost 65 years.

How many times must the warheads be dropped? I regret to inform you that the human race has only gone one month and sixteen days since the last nuclear test, conducted by North Korea. The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, also known as the Iran nuclear deal, has recently been decertified by President Trump. I confess to not knowing whether or not this is a good thing. I feel that all I can do is keep watching.

How many times must the warheads be dropped? I am pleased to share with you the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to the International Coalition to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN). ICAN’s efforts resulted in a treaty banning nuclear weapons. Yes, I understand that nations with nuclear weapons opposed this treaty. Yes, I understand that the treaty isn’t technically in force, as it requires ratification by 50 nations. We’re currently at 3. Yes, I’m aware that it is unclear who is going to enforce the provisions of this treaty. But we have to start somewhere.

“The man or woman of Knowledge is watching—watching without coming to fixed conclusions, watching without condemning the world, watching without losing hope, watching without becoming jaded or cynical, watching without blaming leaders or individuals or nations, watching the changing landscapes of the world, looking for the signs that the world is giving to indicate how, where and when the Great Waves [of Change] will strike.”

How many times must the warheads be dropped? Hopefully two.

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Welcome to Mystery of Ascension! We are students and advocates of the the New Message from God. We are members of a worldwide community. We seek to assist the world in successfully navigating difficult times ahead. We seek to assist the world in successfully emerging into a greater community of intelligent life. You will also find some poetry. Find out more about us here. Contact us here.

Я Не Пессимист – Я Реалист

Я не пессимист – я реалист.

Я не пессимист

Одно из направлений Нового Послания от Бога говорит о Больших Волнах перемен, которые надвигаются на мир. На чем основано такое провозглашение грядущих событий? На ряде откровений, раскрывающихся Маршаллу Виану Саммерсу Ангельской Ассамблеей, которая наблюдает за нашем миром. А кто может в это верить? Не чушь ли это? Не очередная ложная тревога о конце света ли это?

Посмотрим, что гласит одно из откровений Нового Послания под называнием Глобальная чрезвычайная ситуация.

Я не пессимист“Человечество стоит на пороге больших глобальных перемен, мировых перемен невиданного ранее масштаба, вызваныx неправильным употреблением и злоупотреблением мира, человеческим невежеством и человеческой жадностью. Это состояние теперь затронет жизнь каждого человека.

Через 30 лет прибрежные города и порты мира могут оказаться под водой. Земли будут обессужены. Урожай спадет. Будет миграция населения невиданного масштаба с большими бедствиями и конфликтами. Это будет огромное несчастье, если человечество не подготовится.”

Я не могу спорить с тем, что мы испортили нашу планету и продолжаем её испортить. Как мне видится, так дальше нельзя без пагубных последствий. Я склонена верить в то, что говориться в этом откровении. Есть отклик в душе.

Я не пессимист – я реалист

Посмотрим, что сам Маршалл Виан Саммерс говорит об этом.

А где факты? Где доказательство? Кто может подтвердит? Но есть отклик в душе. Мне не нужны факты и доказательство. Достаточно смотреть вокруг, чувствовать, что происходит в мире, чтобы убедиться о верности его слов.

Тем не менее, для тех, кто нуждается в фактах и доказательстве, посмотрим, что говорят средства массовой информации.

Вести.Ru: Повышение уровня моря происходит стремительнее, чем ожидали учёные 

“Согласно прогнозам, глобальный средний уровень моря поднимется на 40-63 сантиметра к концу этого столетия (точные показатели зависят от количества углеродных выбросов). Эти цифры не учитывают погрешность, то есть на деле верхняя граница может и вовсе достичь 82 сантиметров.

Поднятие уровня океана может иметь огромные последствия для сотен миллионов людей, которые являются прибрежными жителями. Их города могут подвергнуться угрозам эрозии, затопления и штормовых приливов, а также будут испытывать дефицит пресной воды”.

Мир Прогнозов даёт список стран и городов, которые утонут в ближайшие десятилетия

К концу столетия подъем уровня океанов серьезно отредактирует карту мира. Помимо Мальдив, Бермуд и Венеции, под воду уйдут целые куски нынешнего побережья США, существенная часть Голландии, большие территории в Италии, Дании, Германии, Польше, Испании. От наступления океана сильно пострадают Китай и Япония – будут затоплены Шанхай и Иокогама. Украину потепление также не пощадит: Черное море грозит поглотить Керчь, Феодосию, Евпаторию и Одессу.

Я не пессимист, я реалист

И “Комсомольская правда” публикует карты мира после Всемирного потопа.

И пишет: Сейчас лед покрывает 10 процентов поверхности Земли. Его объем, по приблизительным подсчетам, составляет 9 миллионов кубических километров. Что будет, если вся эта замерзшая вода растает?

– Будет потоп, – предрекают ученые. – Уровень мирового океана поднимется на 70 метров.

Как будет выглядеть наша планета после потопа? Это изобразил National Geographic, создав серию карт.

Я не пессимист

Европа. Белой линией обозначены границы суши до потопа. То есть, нынешние

Я не пессимист

Азия

У нас единым водоемом станут Черное, каспийское и Аральское моря. Затопленным окажется все Поволжье. Астрахань уйдет глубоко под воду. Равно, как и Санкт-Петербург на Севере. Море с островами и полуостровами образуется в Сибири – там, где до потопа текла Обь.”

И есть уйма похожих источников.

Я понимаю, что большинство из нас не хочет слышать об этом, не хочет ничего знать об этом. Может, пронесет? Можно, как обычно, оставить на авось. Или же игнорировать и надеяться, что всё решится само-собой.

А вы хотите быть похожим на большинство? Или же вы готовы взять ответственность на себя за свою судьбу и судьбы окружающихся вас людей? Вы чувствуете, что мир меняется, что грядут большие перемены? Тогда смотрите вокруг с ясными глазами, не как пессимист, а как реалист. И делайте выводы. И подготовьтесь физически, морально и духовно.

Как? Я лично это делаю с помощью “Шагов к Знанию”.

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Welcome to Mystery of Ascension! We are students and advocates of the the New Message from God. We are members of a worldwide community. We seek to assist the world in successfully navigating difficult times ahead. We seek to assist the world in successfully emerging into a greater community of intelligent life. You will also find some poetry. Find out more about us here. Contact us here.

I Might Be A Little More Ready To Help

I might be a little more ready to help

I am pleased to report that I have completed Steps to Knowledge for the second time. Steps to Knowledge is the book of spiritual practice of the New Message from God. By “completed,” I mean I practiced each of the 365 steps in order. By “practiced,” I mean I read the step, followed the practice instructions without expecting a particular result. I started in April of 2014, and finished in August of 2017.

I might be a little more ready to help

I feel that someone reading this is thinking “Are you supposed to do one step a day, and thus finish in a year?” That’s right. “But Douglas, you took three years and four months to do this.” I did indeed. I had two long periods of inactivity during this time which added up to almost a year. I was engaging with the material in a different way, just not practicing the steps as directed. Sometimes events interrupted my practice. Sometimes my own ambivalence interrupted my practice..

I might be a little more ready to help. Marshall Vian Summers, who received Steps to Knowledge in 1989, said “You cannot exhaust this.” I certainly didn’t exhaust Steps to Knowledge. I practiced Steps to Knowledge for the first time between April of 2010 and April of 2014. During this time, I felt I wasn’t really supposed to think very much about the references a step made to an earlier step. There were enough challenging things to consider in each step that I felt I needed to focus on the step right in front of me. But the second time through, it seemed to me as if Steps to Knowledge was presenting an idea to me multiple times. Each time it revisited an idea, offered the idea in a slightly stronger form. Steps to Knowledge took me through multiple stages and octaves of development. An idea wasn’t just an idea in itself, but the top of the stack of progressively stronger iterations of that idea.

I might be a little more ready to help. I wasn’t exactly sure how to consider myself when I began practicing Steps to Knowledge for the second time. Didn’t I have a certain degree of experience? After a little while I became reconciled with the idea of being a beginning student in a higher octave, and being content to be so. I am content to be a beginning student in the Steps to Knowledge Continuation Training and what else comes next.

I might be a little more ready to help. People have expected a lot from me in my life, and I have disappointed them a lot of the time. Steps to Knowledge removed a great deal of suffering from this disappointment in a number of ways. Steps to Knowledge encourages me being in the present moment instead of being in my judgments. Steps to Knowledge gives me an alternative, empowering frame in which to put the events of my life. Steps to Knowledge encourages me to work toward my greater purpose, the demonstration of the fragrance of Knowledge. This “fragrance” is happiness, completeness, cheerful participation, doing what is necessary, demonstrating essential relationships.

I might be a little more ready to help. I have great gratitude for many people who helped me in one way or another to get to this point. Sometimes they were kindly and encouraging, sometimes they were challenging. I couldn’t have done it without them. Any accomplishment is a group effort.

I might be a little more ready to help. Perhaps you’ve never heard of Steps to Knowledge. I wish it was better known in the world. I wrote this to briefly describe what it offers and requires. If you’re practicing Steps to Knowledge for the first time, and you’re wondering whether you should do Steps a second time, please receive my encouragement to do so. I believe it will be good for you, your world, and the world.

This song by Jon Anderson and Vangelis is ringing and singing inside me as I think of this.

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Welcome to Mystery of Ascension! We are students and advocates of the the New Message from God. We are members of a worldwide community. We seek to assist the world in successfully navigating difficult times ahead. We seek to assist the world in successfully emerging into a greater community of intelligent life. You will also find some poetry. Find out more about us here. Contact us here.

Beaten By Bigger And Bigger Angels

I consider unfulfilled expectations to be part of the experience of following a spiritual path. Steps to Knowledge is the book of spiritual practice of the New Message from God. Each of its 365 steps contain instructions for practice.

Beaten by bigger and bigger angels

Sometimes I follow the directions, and beautiful things happen. I get some kind of experience related to the step. I get some kind of insight, a thought I hadn’t thought before. But there are other times when I follow the directions and nothing happens. The heavens are as brass, and the earth is as iron. But maybe that’s part of the plan. Maybe it cultivates emotional intelligence to not get what we want right away.

Beaten by bigger and bigger angels. Rainer Maria Rilke wrote the poem “The Man Watching” (“Der Schauende”) sometime between 1899 and 1902. It was one of the poems in The Book of Images. I consider Rilke to be one of my companions in my Steps to Knowledge journey. He takes poetic licence with the story of Jacob wrestling with the angel in Genesis 32. This is Robert Bly’s translation.

I can tell by the way the trees beat, after
so many dull days, on my worried windowpanes
that a storm is coming,
and I hear the far-off fields say things
I can’t bear without a friend,
I can’t love without a sister.

The storm, the shifter of shapes, drives on
across the woods and across time,
and the world looks as if it had no age:
the landscape, like a line in the psalm book,
is seriousness and weight and eternity.

What we choose to fight is so tiny!
What fights with us is so great.
If only we would let ourselves be dominated
as things do by some immense storm,
we would become strong too, and not need names.

When we win it’s with small things,
and the triumph itself makes us small.
What is extraordinary and eternal
does not want to be bent by us.
I mean the Angel who appeared
to the wrestlers of the Old Testament:
when the wrestlers’ sinews
grew long like metal strings,
he felt them under his fingers
like chords of deep music.

Whoever was beaten by this Angel
(who often simply declined the fight)
went away proud and strengthened
and great from that harsh hand,
that kneaded him as if to change his shape.
Winning does not tempt that man.
This is how he grows: by being defeated, decisively,
by constantly greater beings.

Beaten by bigger and bigger angels. That might not be so bad.

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Welcome to Mystery of Ascension! We are students and advocates of the the New Message from God. We are members of a worldwide community. We seek to assist the world in successfully navigating difficult times ahead. We seek to assist the world in successfully emerging into a greater community of intelligent life. You will also find some poetry. Find out more about us here. Contact us here.

How Do We Handle A Hundred Harveys?

Houston on August 28, 2017. How do we handle a hundred Harveys?

Many have reported the enormous damage of Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, Jose and Maria. The New Message from God frames these events in the context of what it calls the Great Waves of Change. What are the Great Waves of Change? A series of big, ongoing disruptions in the near and not-so-near future.

How do we handle a hundred Harveys?

Why do I even think that we have to handle a hundred Harveys? Climate scientists such as Sean Sublette and Adam Sobel and Gerry Bell study hurricanes. They suggest that rising sea levels and warming oceans cause hurricanes to be stronger. They might be right. The New Message from God has a teaching called “The Great Warning,” which goes along with the predictions of some scientists. This is a portion of that teaching.

For you [humanity] have changed the chemistry of the atmosphere so sufficiently that the planet will become hotter and the waters will rise. The oceans will rise and they will continue to rise, consuming everything in their wake. Great droughts and storms will lash upon the world as they are beginning to do now.

How do we handle a hundred Harveys? We have to prepare. And by “We” I mean “you and me.” When seconds count, the police are only minutes away. When minutes count, the National Guard is only hours away. When hours count, the government is only days away. There are some small, but eminently practical things an ordinary person can do, such as not freaking out, speaking clearly and calmly to the emergency operator, staying safe, moving an injured person to safety if possible, stopping the bleeding, putting the injured in a safe position, and providing comfort.

How do we handle a hundred Harveys? We have to prepare. And by “We” I mean “our businesses.” There is one particular business I wish to commend.
Waffle House. How do we handle a hundred Harveys?Waffle House restaurants have acquired a reputation for resiliency in the face of natural disasters. Waffle House started in 1955, and a majority of their 2,100 franchises are in the southern United States. Did they recognize that staying open during a disaster was a service to the community? Did they recognize that staying open during a disaster was profitable? I don’t know. All I know at this point is a great deal of pre-disaster planning and preparation has already been done:

Hurricane preparation for many can be a scramble, but for Waffle House, it’s a game of chess with military-style strategy and execution. Before a storm hits, and even before hurricane season, the company makes storm checklists for each location, meets with local authorities, and educates new employees, though many have been through 15 hurricanes.

How do we handle a hundred Harveys? Was their preparation effective? These pictures were taken in the Houston area some time on August 28, 2017:

Houston on August 28 2017. How do we handle a hundred Harveys?Houston on August 28, 2017. How do we handle a hundred Harveys?

But it was reported that each and every Waffle House restaurant in the metro Houston area was open on this day. One lesson to be learned from this is that part of successfully navigating the difficult times ahead involves preparation, not only for you, but for other people.

How do we handle a hundred Harveys? I realize all these words about climate science and disaster preparedness and logistics may seem quite…un-spiritual. But what if we came to the world to serve the world, instead of avoiding the world or escaping the world? What if your preparation ends up saving a life?

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Welcome to Mystery of Ascension! We are students and advocates of the the New Message from God. We are members of a worldwide community. We seek to assist the world in successfully navigating difficult times ahead. We seek to assist the world in successfully emerging into a greater community of intelligent life. You will also find some poetry. Find out more about us here. Contact us here.