Paris, Dec. 11, 2004, 2:14 pm

Greetings, cousins and friends.

I am doing well, apologies for dropping off of this page for a few days. I got myself fully immersed in the annual horoscope, then the Cainer page, then the Friday essay. I'll post a sample here, and we'll have the whole thing for you later in the weekend.

It's called Revolution of the Willing, and begins with a discussion of Iraq. Begin quote:

The question is: how long can we see the picture before going into denial? And: why pay attention at all? Once the question gets to that level, we are in territory that can truly be called 'spiritual', if that word is vaguely meaningful.

If we're talking spiritual, we could also be inquiring about the karmic effects of this situation. Karma is the law under which every action we take has consequences; it is the law of cause and effect. Simply, actions set consequences into motion. We often experience the effects of our creations. What is a creation? Something we do; but the lack of action, or lack of awareness where we should have it, count. There is an Arab parable wherein those karma-creating gestures can be as meager as throwing date pits around after you've eaten the fruit. I am certain that there is a large segment of the U.S. population, sufficiently versed in the holy books, well practiced in yoga, trained in healing, or and generally in touch with reality, to understands this equation.

There's another law, said to be a higher law, called the Law of Grace, which can transcend karma. Grace is to karma what quantum physics is to Newtonian physics. It is a higher order of reality. In much the same way as science is struggling to catch up, most people refuse to accept its implications. My understanding of the Law of Grace is that it's not about denial as we think of it, but rather about awareness, honest acknowledgement and asking for intervention. In Christian terms, you can receive the grace of God's forgiveness once you acknowledge your sins. The verbs are 'acknowledge' and 'receive'.

Anyone can do this, but someone has to actually make the request. Often it is not so easy, or we 'forget', and much of what can stand in the way is the unwillingness of people to be relieved of their burdens, the belief that it's not possible, or faith in their own unworthiness, which is powerful. So in healing, the asking and receiving have to work on those levels too. (I am also aware that the Catholics make the matter even more complicated by requiring that an ordained priest be involved in absolution, but I have not found this to be necessary. Mother Theresa and my Aunt Josie were not ordained priests.)

In less orthodox terms, it does often take a healer to assist in the process of healing. Yet most healers will tell you that what they do is love unconditionally within the healing process, and ask for the help of the Holy Spirit. Most would agree that the receiving of healing must be a conscious act by a person willingly seeking it. It is a kind of revolution of the willing.