posted June 06, 2007 11:02 AM         

According to Besant,
there are three basic forms of Love...

There is Pity, Compassion, and Benevolence,
which we may feel toward one who is "below",
or weaker than ourselves, in some sense.
There is Friendship, Passion, and Affection,
which we may feel toward one who is "equal",
or approximately at our own stage of development.
And then there is Reverence, Adoration, and Devotion,
which we may feel toward one who is "above",
or stronger than ourselves, in some sense.

Devotion is a powerful motivating force for good.

"Among the many forces which inspire us to activity, perhaps none plays a greater part than the feeling we call devotion, along with some feelings that often mask themselves under its name though fundamentally differing from it in essence. The most heroic self-sacrifices have been inspired by devotion, while the most terrible sacrifices of others have been brought about by its pseudo-sister, fanaticism. Devotion is as powerful a lever for raising us, as is fanaticism for degradation. The two sway humanity with overwhelming power, and in some of their manifestations they appear to resemble one another. But one has its roots in knowledge, the other in ignorance; one bears the fruits of love, the other the poison apples of hate."
- Annie Besant

She recommends wholeheartedly a practice of frequently observing, reflecting, contemplating, and meditating on the likenesses, words, and deeds of the greatest world-teachers, the Masters and Avataras of the ages. She says that, merely fixing them in our minds is enough to inspire love for them - for they are abundantly rich in those qualities which it is natural for us to love, - and that loving them is sufficient to inspire us with the motivation to serve them and, more directly, the ideals for which they stand.

Besant quotes one anonymous Master:

"Devotion to the Blessed Ones is [essential to] all spiritual progress and spiritual knowledge. It gives you the proper attitude in which to work on all the planes of life. It creates the proper atmosphere for the soul to grow and flower in love and beauty, in wisdom and power. It tunes the harp of the heart, and thus makes it possible for the musician to play the correct notes. That is the function of devotion."

Here is one good place to start:
http://www.ascendedmasters.ac/index.html

Please, share your own resources and stories of how you've been inspired by the images, words, or deeds of high spiritual beings.

With Love and Light,
Heart-Shaped Cross

posted June 06, 2007 01:40 PM         

We can feel reverence and awe at his musical genius and his extraordinary insight for his time, we can feel a friendship/kinship and affection toward him as we relate to him as an equal in some areas and we can feel compassion and pity for him for his particular weaknesses which eventually destroyed him. This can also be applied to other similar great or master teachers/artists/philosophers. Reminds me of the conversation on strengths and weaknesses... points of intellect, wisdom, strength, dexterity, constitution, etc. etc. Just wondering if she mentioned and expanded on this idea.
I had a hard time answering your final challenge, and the only person that came to mind was my daughter in our time of pure love when she was first born. I guess I wasn't inspired so much in her images, words, deeds, as simply by her pure innocent energy and the beautiful energy that was created by our love (and maybe a little hormones) .
Thank you for the topic.

p.s.

posted June 06, 2007 02:14 PM         

Ok, pondering Masters....

Every "Master" teacher I come up with in my mind that blew me away... I don't see them as what blew me away. Its always God. God blows me away. There are Master channells I guess, those who let Love In hehe through their writing, music, other arts etc...
I thought back to my first "awe-struck" love from "learning" from a "Master teacher" and it was reading Marianne Williamson's "A Return to Love". But the real AWE of that came from falling to my knees and asking for God and Holy Spirit to come into my life. It was like she gave me God's phone number. Even though other steps led to my understanding that is what was being given to me...
I think of so many others writers and stories of people through history that have blown me away. And it was all because they were able, somehow, to show me another aspect of God that had not yet been revealed to me. They gave me another key. But each time it wasn't the key, so much as the feeling of the energy and knowledge that poured through that open door... the touch of God... the Love... the Understanding that created the True Awe.

Its all God, baby!

Its All God

mmmmmmm

posted June 06, 2007 03:40 PM         

It's nice to see you shining today. I was thinking about you a little while ago (about an hour), and what a light you are, to everyone, but especially, it seems (from where I'm standing), to me. I'm really trying to purify myself, and get back in touch with my first priorities. I just took a bath and read some of the Bible and also about Channelling. I felt some good things. When I begin to feel those things - I call them auras, subtle energies or nuanced vibes, sometimes reminiscences, - I know I am beginning to clear my channels. And I felt grateful for you, and I felt a sense of fellowship with you on the path.

I was telling my friend Dan about Ms. Besant's categories, and it occurred to me to clarify that she is simplifying a great deal, for the sake of expediency, but that, yes, it is possible to feel devotion for one aspect of a person, and compassion for another aspect of that same person. I was wondering myself why she did not think it worthwhile to make that clear.

After that, I was reading my book about channelling and it said something about this. It said that, as one's awareness of something expands, one becomes increasingly aware of subtleties and a greater need for precision. Often, channelled messages are streamlined in order to convey what is most essential in them. Truth comes through in very simple and obvious forms, for good reason. But, it is enough to focus in on any statement to reveal a whole world of subtleties, and whole libraries of knowledge. To say everything with perfect precision would be impossible. The closer you get to precision, the more your writing begins to resemble the footnotes to section 7b, of volume 12, in a 50 volume edition on the breeding habits of the West African tse-tse fly, or something. Boooooring.

So, I suppose, precision is sacrificed, at least, until one reaches the level of seeing God in the remotest obscurities of the life of a tse-tse fly. For instance, it is my belief that the term "free will" is used by high-level guides who do not really believe in it. For them, it is a convenience, more or less necessary to convey other points of importance to listeners who firmly believe in free will, and who would not be able, at this stage in their development, to grasp a more comprehensive point of view.

I agree, it is very important to remember that these avataras, or incarnations, are merely highly refined vessels and channels of the Divine Light which is God. Ms. Besant speaks of this, and she explains very effectively, imo, why it is needful to focus on an avatara. A form is conceivable, but what is formless is infinitely subtle. While a disembodied God eludes us, the image of a humanoid Christ, or a Buddha, inspires very direct experiences of closeness, immediacy, reality. I've used this metaphor before (as I am very fond of it), but, an avatara may be seen as the training wheels we need in order to hold us up in our love for God, until we can acquire enough momentum to find a more narrow balance ourselves. If that does not feel right for you, it may just be that you have no need of those training wheels. Some can focus on a word or sound, like "Om" (or Aum), and the awareness of God is sufficiently palpable. Some can find God in the silence, and in every sound. "Let everyone be persuaded in their own mind."

I thought of an even better metaphor...

Imagine that you are running a very long marathon. Not only can you not see the entire path of the race, or the finish line toward which you are headed, but, even to think of the distance at which you are set from your goal would only overwhelm and discourage you. A teacher, a guide, a master, or an avatara, is like the next telephone pole ahead of you. When you reach that pole, there will be another, slightly further along on which to focus your attention. Always, what is most important is the ground under your feet and the ground you are covering presently. The race will take care of itself. I suppose, when you really begin to realize that where the path goes, where it ends, and who gets their first are meaningless (and that the running of it is everything), then you can stop counting telephone poles. Or maybe, then you can see that the telephone pole in front of you really is the whole thing?

Anyway, makes sense to me.

So much love to you, Melody.

hsc