Color the World With Generosity of Spirit

UNCONDITIONALITY OF LOVE AND FORGIVENESS IS EXTENDED WITH GENEROSITY OF SPIRIT

Have you ever had a day when you felt completely in love with life, when you could see and feel spirit all around you, in everything and everyone?  When you feel like this, you are generous of spirit.

Generosity of spirit can also be accomplished with thought.  One of Neville Goddard's sayings is "Think of something wonderful for yourself and another."  If our thoughts create our reality, then being generous in our thoughts will bring a generosity of spirit into our life that translates into peace and joy.

Giving our loved ones the space and love they need to work out their difficulties without agency or intervention can be generosity of spirit.  Often, if we see someone struggling, we feel compelled to do something for them, fix things, or give our opinion or words of wisdom.  Almost just as often, this makes things worse. 

There are those times when we can be helpful.  Usually if someone needs our help they will ask for it.  It sometimes isn’t easy to stand by and watch someone struggle.  But sometimes – our generosity of spirit is all that is needed for others to feel loved and supported.  Knowing that someone is in our lives that we can ask for help when necessary, who loves us enough to allow us to try and fail and try again – empowers us to continue to try.

If you can look out at everyone, and see them as becoming, remembering their highest potential and, in spite of their apparent mistakes and foibles, as doing the best they can in grace with their state of mind and stage of life - then you truly do have generosity of spirit.

At times, the world can be a big, unfriendly, cold place to live, full of darkness and shadow.  Relating to others with respect and kindness is to be generous of spirit.  Encouraging others around us to shine is a gift that we all can offer each other.  In fact, when we extend this gift to others, we extend it to all of life. When we remember that it is more important to extend love than to be number one or front and center, we express our generosity of spirit.

All material copyrighted 2010: excerpt, All About Living, Molly Brogan

A Glimpse at My Upcoming "Early Poems"

If Love Is

If love is, then,

A meeting

And a meaning,

Just one meaning,

One shared meaning,

Then listen gently

To the sound

Of its tender sigh,

Its soothing,

Wind sung note.

Do not look for words,

But the low

Plaintful moan

Of lovers’

Sweet release.

Drink it as I do

With no thought

Before

Or after.

Nip the cool

Sensation

Of hushed

Wet gasps

That echo

When lips meet

And mean

The warmth,

The oneness,

The fusion.

Excerpt from unpublished Early Poems
Artwork by Moira Marshall.  Many thanks. 

Wedding Tribute

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All I know of angels

I can see in your eyes.

The deep blue of heaven

Moves me like the sea.

Lifts me up with wings

Of unending possibility,

Into the depths of my soul.

Your love guides and protects me

Like a steadfast guardian,

Sentry at the threshold of my fear,

Banishing all potential harm

Allowing light and love to fill me,

Your golden glow surrounds me

Like a pocket of tender safety.

Your hands reach out to me

And reveal your sacred gift,

So simple and so elegant,

Merely all that I AM

And all that I can be,

Because you love me enough

To let your eyes lead the way.

And so my humble heart opens

And reaches for you in kind,

With an overwhelming desire

To move you completely,

To move you with me in tones,

In the rhythm that is ours

And ours alone.

Within that glorious rhythm

We connect to all creation,

Your angel wings enfold me,

Your gentle spirit infolds me,

And we become the divine creator

And all that is our good experience,

In truth, in love, in faith, through you.

--  Molly Brogan

The Exquisite Mystery of Lifelong Friendship

Halfway through my first day of high school, at the tender age of 14, frightened and overwhelmed by my own small feelings, I was ripped away from them when a slender hand slipped a note onto my desk during English class.  I looked up to see a beautiful stranger attached to the hand.  The note said, "I like your laugh."

From that day forward, the presence of Vivian George in my life continues to uplift and inspire me.  Even when she is away, in my heart, she is my confidante, and I speak to her often.  With the spirit of her presence in my life, when we are able to get together, as we have not lived in the same state for almost four decades, it is like we never left each others' side.  We immediately pick up where we left off and each leave the encounter re-energized and inspired. 

There is a mystery here about spiritual intimacy that cannot be denied.  We have allowed it since our paths combined.  Over the years, we cultivate it, appreciate it, marvel at it.  There are times we include it in our life’s work.  She makes an appearance in my first novel, Remember Me as the recipient of the main character's letters, acting as a mirror character.  Her wedding gift to me, a painting, is now included on her website:  viviangeorge.net

Someday, I hope to include myself in her Tuscany Workshop, but unfortunately, not this year.  Here are the details for anyone interested.  Believe me, you will be transformed:

The Inspiration of Art

A Painting Workshop In Tuscany with Vivian George MFA

Dates: May 21 - 31, 2011

Colorado artist Vivian George finds her inspiration in nature. "Nature has all the components that are in painting - rhythm, color and harmony. Individually and together plant forms show energy and light, texture and pattern, repetition and color; and when confined to the flat, square format, their geometry is revealed," she explains. In this workshop, Vivian works with each participant individually to find his or her vision. The colors of the late afternoon sun on the olive grove, the repeating patterns of a hillside vineyard or the symmetry of a narrow drive bordered by native cypress . . . each person's view is different and leads to a unique interpretation.

Artwork by Vivian George.   Many thanks.

Forsaking All Others Brings Us to Unity

WE ARE REALIZED BY BEING THE GOD WITHIN

Most of us feel that there is a source or creator or God or ultimate order to life.  Connecting to this for some of us, is fleeting, takes effort and may even be something we think very little about.  How do YOU connect with the spirit within you?  How often do you connect?  How does this connection effect your life?

Do we have to have a God?  I believe God is.  God is within us all. Not all of us recognize or understand that it is this God within us that creates our experience according to our own filters of belief and viewpoint.  Our experience is created whether we recognize this aspect of it or not.  I believe that the quality of our experience improves with peace, harmony and love, if we do.  Does this mean that folks who don't believe in God are doomed or suffer more or are wrong?  No.  It simply means that some of us believe in God and some don't.  I believe that everyone is living to express who they are and moving into their potentiality that will be included in their expression.  This is change.  I can feel the harmony and completion of the entirety.

We all live a different experience.  Our relationship to our experience creates it.  This includes our relationship to ourselves, others, God, the earth etc.  That is the many.  There is that part of life where we are all one.  Some say this is the God within us or Christ consciousness.  Paradoxically, the oneness doesn't negate our individuality, it empowers it. 

My viewpoint is that nothing is external to God, and God is not external to me.  God is an essential part of who I am.  God is I AM in me.  The paradox is that I am both differentiated (individual), and undifferentiated (God).  I am God (Father), myself (Son), and my experience (Holy Spirit), expressed in states and stages and dimensions of consciousness.

All material copyrighted 2010: excerpt, All About Living, Molly Brogan
 Artwork by Ron Isom.  Many thanks.

A Welcome for the New Year

The Call

I stand ready

To embrace

The challenge.

I stand firm

In the truth

Of my soul.

I stand tall

As my heart

Races forward

At unimagined speeds,

Following spirit

Following the call.

I look upward

For a vision

Of my soul’s longing.

I see possibility

So sublime

That is whisks

Me away.

I fill quickly

With emptiness

And wait for you,

Quietly wait,

And wonder

What is real

In the waiting.

Excerpted from A Blaze of Light by Molly Brogan

Artwork by  Alejandro Silveira Bruno.  Many thanks.

The Soothing Power of the Spoken Word

I was honored to be told by my friend Dr. Brenda Carson, that she reads poetry to her mother, Mardine Carson, from my book A Blaze of Light.  Dr. Carson owns an Alternative Health and Wellness Clinic in Detroit, MI, and reads to her mother regularly to facilitate her speedy recovery.

Mardine Carson is 87 years old, and began writing poetry in her 60s.  She has always been a home-body, and very involved with family, friends and church.  Dr. Carson tells me that she knows her mother is enjoying the poetry as she reads it to her by the serene smile on her face.

As a writer, I think there is no greater honor than to hear a story like this.  Thank you both, Brenda and Mardine, for sharing it.  Good health and God bless you both.

Forgiving or Giving For Love

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EXERCISING FORGIVENESS UNCONDITIONALLY LEADS TO THE AWARENESS OF ONENESS

 There seem to be many faces to the process of “forgiveness” being worn these days. Many books, lectures and workshops are available to help us contemplate and adopt forgiving behaviors. We are all taught as children that forgiveness of friends and family is an important part of social life.

The poet William Blake tells us: "In heaven, the only art of living is forgetting and forgiving."  This leads us to the notion that forgiveness is key to finding heaven on earth.

It can be difficult for us to understand that forgiveness cannot happen when we are focused on the tangibles, on what we feel we have lost, on our injuries.  No matter what has occurred in our experience, what happens is an invitation for greater self awareness.  It is an invitation to understand that by bringing our awareness of the spirit in our experience into focus, we can forgive and create harmony.

To complete the process of true forgiveness, whatever our actions, we must be willing to let go of the memories that create anger and resentment. And we must be willing to hold all others in our heart with love.  The paradox here is that as we learn to live with unconditional forgiveness for ourselves and all others, we no longer experience the conflict that requires forgiveness.

All material copyrighted 2010: excerpt, All About Living, Molly Brogan

Living the Change

WHERE THERE IS A DISTINCTION BETWEEN LIFE AND DEATH, THERE IS CHANGE

Change happens. It is part of the human experience. It can be a wonderful gift, if we understand the process. There is a great deal of information available about skills for managing change. But the most important skills that we can master are the ones that give us an understanding of ourselves, and how we, ourselves, facilitate change in our lives.

Our capacity for paradox is probably the most important factor in our ability to change...In every paradox, what seems to be opposing can be seen as complimentary and in fact, part of a larger spectrum, from a wider viewpoint...Determining the spectral nature of paradox might require an ability to develop and sustain relationship. If the change you are experiencing affects not only you but a larger group, your understanding of the nature of relationship may be the key to successful change.

Another critical element of change is anamnesis, or the remembrance of our own essential being, that part of us that we bring to manifestation, our own spirit...This change in viewpoint is the crèche of experience manifest. This, is essential change.

All material copyrighted 2010: All About Living, Molly Brogan
 Artwork:  Newton, By William Blake

Writing Comes Back as Miracles

The online groups where I share my writing have enriched my life over the last couple of years in many ways. One of the most extraordinary ways is with an online friend named eric, who I met in the gaia group ZenChrist. We exchanged many thoughts and ideas and I always look forward to his comments because he has a very deep understanding of the Zen and Buddhist traditions, and a keen insight into the symbolic nature of Christian scripture.

One day I got a post from eric: "the Slips Naturally poem you posted awhile back in that part got me thinking differently about parenthood. I never had any desire to be a father, maybe because mine was not the best example growing up. In many ways I resisted it over the years. But when my wife and I were talking about it, this poem of yours came to mind. I have never really bought into societal norms and have been a bit of a lone wolf and this poem made me realize the duties I may have as a father do not preclude me from slipping naturally into spirit."

A few weeks later, this message: "Arete Metta was born 8-1-09 @ 7:16 a.m weighing 7lb 12oz after 55 hours of labor!! Mom, dad and baby are happy as clams (what does that mean btw)."

My heart goes out to eric and his beautiful family as they begin life as three. It feels good to be a writer today.

Love as Becoming

Anonymous said...
A beautiful expression of love as emanation.

I would like to thank this anonymous viewer for this comment on my poem. It got me to thinking about emanation, or the unfolding principle, the outflowing from the source of creation. To me, this statement speaks to love as becoming in ways that completely connect us to all of creation. How wonderful.

The expression of primal urge into an emanation is also conveyed in one of my favorite James Russell Lowell poems, The Vision of Sir Launfall:

“And what is so rare as a day in June?

Then, if ever, come perfect days;

Then Heaven tries Earth if she be in tune,

And over her softly her warm ear lays:

Whether we look or whether we listen,

Every clod feels a stir of might,

An instinct within it that reaches and towers,

And groping blindly above it for light,

Climbs to a soul in grass and flowers.”

Bright Zellner

My friend, Peggy Zellner, ND, PhD, passed away suddenly on my birthday last Saturday. I discovered Peggy (or should I say, she discovered me) shortly after moving to Las Vegas at and IONS meeting. She was giving the crowd a hands on presentation of Kinesiology, a method used in her practice as a Naturopath, and I fell in love with her on the spot. She invited me to a "group meditation," held every Tuesday evening at her office. I was skeptical, and immediately pictured craziness and woo woo. She put me at ease and I was there the next Tuesday, and every Tuesday that I was in Las Vegas afterward.

Peggy had a method of meditation that, I quickly discovered, allowed us to witness the formation of group soul. I was blown away by the process and the potential. I will never forget the beautiful feeling that was shared each week by the participants (often different). Because the participants were different, each experience was different. Peggy guided us as we each described the images that came up for us in the meditative state. As the 90 minutes unfolded, these images revealed to us, without fail, how we connect at the soul level; how the group soul forms into a cohesive connection; how we are all and each left more than before. I was fascinated and devoted to this process. I now wonder if I will ever see anything like it again.

The genius of Dr. Peggy Zellner shed a light on this world that will never be dimmed. Why she made her sudden, final exit is one of life's mysteries. Somewhere, I suspect, she is smiling. At least, I hope so. I will continue to smile whenever I think of Peggy.

Each Character Their Own Voice

Kim said...
I finished Chasing Twilight! Whew. I have lots of comments and questions but need to think about it some more. To begin with, I wonder, was it hard to write such a big novel in the format of letters between two characters? Developing the story in the things that two people say to each other can't be easy, but I will say it worked here.

Thanks for your question, Kim. You are right, this format for the novel was one of the biggest technical challenges that I faced while writing Chasing Twilight. This technique is tantamount to writing in the first person for two characters, which proved to be an exacting task. The first person is considered by many to be the most difficult voice in writing fiction because the story has to unfold in the confines of the psychological filters of the character. They may not be seeing events clearly because of intense emotion or immaturity. Yet in the first person, the writer can only convey to the reader the thoughts and feelings of the character within these confines. The format for Chasing Twilight doubled those confines because each of the two main characters wrote in the first person and conveyed their own version of the story as it unfolded.

While I found this difficult at times, I thought the technique reflected our contemporary world, and allowed a wonderful exchange of spirit between the characters. Romance beginning with emails over the Internet has become common place. The increasingly popular use of computers and the Internet has expanded our individual worlds and led us to a more worldcentric view. We can now develop relationships and exchange ideas with people we will never see. It is easier for us to stay connected with loved ones without having to take the time to physically visit with them. The technology not only expands our worlds, but offers us insights into who we are and opportunities to explore our consciousness. All of this came into play as I wrote Chasing Twilight.

I have also found that when people are writing to one another, they are much more profound and poetic. They can take as long as they like to write a paragraph, writing and deleting until the words are just right. We can’t do this in conversation. Using this format gave me a chance to explore what two people might express to each other, without the problems of emotional reactions, body language or time constraints. Letters allow our very best expression. The more we write them, the more profound we can become. I think this allows our hearts to open, not only to others but to ourselves. Molly Brogan

Logos Moves Between You and I

Robert said...

"We are the writers, and the readers and the stories and the Logos."

What do you mean by Logos?

Through this Word – Logos – all things became. In it was life, the light of human beings. It shone in the darkness, and the darkness received it not. It was in the world, and the world did not know it. It entered in individual being and, to those who received it, it gave the ability to become children of God. Its radiance was seen, full of grace and truth.” – Georg Kuhlewind

In Carl Jung's analytical psychology, the logos is the masculine principle of rationality and consciousness. Its female counterpart, eros (Greek, love), represents interconnectedness. I think the term is really both.

To become aware of Logos is to become aware of logos in ones self. Logos shines through the visible and invisible alike. It is the light in relationship between persons, between words and meaning, between God and man. It is the knowing that you are. The speaking and knowing to what you are speaking … is logos. It is a living, present truth. What man cognizes, what is communicable, is the world. That man cognizes, is Logos. It is brought into meaning and passes between. This world exists for and through the knower, through Logos.

Thanks for the question, Robert. Molly Brogan
Artwork by F. Rassouli

The Death of a Character Gives Life New Meaning

Jim said...

I finally got around to reading your book, remember me, something I've been meaning to do for awhile. One question, why did you kill of your main character?

This is a great question, Jim, thanks for asking it. The Mary Margaret character in Remember Me died for reasons intrinsic to both the story of Remember Me and to the larger story of my trilogy of novels. Each of my three novels examines love and loss from different viewpoints, and all three together examine love, life and death, as they fundamentally effect our experience.

Because Remember Me was written as a plea for reform in US family courts, it was important for the main character to die because each year, thousands of people take their own lives or have their lives taken as a result of the ineptitude of the US family court system. To research my book, I spent countless hours in family court, listening to these stories and interviewing litigants. There is an overwhelming feeling of hopelessness in domestic violence cases because weak laws, inexperienced State's Attorneys, and burned out judges allow cases to go unresolved or perpetrators to go free, empowered to continue the violence. The death of this character and destruction of this family was a common story in US family court.

Looking at the larger canvas of the trilogy, on the journey of the spirit, the death of the ego is the first step to be taken toward enlightenment. Some say, for instance, that the Tibetan Book of the Dead is actually a manual for ego death. The Mary Margaret character in Remember Me never catches on to this process as she cannot let go of her egotistical concerns, and suffers her losses, defining herself with loss and pain. Because this is a dead end for a journey of the spirit, her death frees her spirit to begin again.

In the second novel, Chasing Twilight, the character is resurrected, and begins to understand the importance of ego death and resurrection of being – or consciousness raising. So, her journey can continue and the concept of death takes on new meaning. With death, comes rebirth and the cycle of life is felt in the soul.

This will bring up interesting questions in the third novel, Shadow Dancing: What is death? What parts of us die while we live? How is this integral to being and becoming?

I sincerely hope you enjoy the stories and the concepts. Thanks again.

Artwork by Moira Marshall Many thanks.

Life Begins With Awakened Imagination

Morgan said...

Your character in Remember Me, Mary Margaret, has a lot of imagination. And yet, she is never happy. You say imagination is the key to how we create our reality. What does that mean?

Hello again Morgan and thanks very much for the question. The answer requires depth and is difficult to put into brief blog form, but I’ll try and would be glad to discuss further.

I understand that this is a mystical statement. The journey of my characters in my trilogy of novels is the journey of my spirit, written in a form meant to entertain. The characters are not me, but their journey reflects my own. In my own journey, I reached a point where I understood unity consciousness, meaning that I am connected to everything in life and everything in my experience is of me. After this, I developed a greater awareness of my role in creating this experience and what it reflects to me in each moment. This is where imagination is key.

Neville Goddard, the 20^th century mystic tells us, “Every moment of time you are imagining what you are conscious of, and if you do not forget what you are imagining and it comes to pass, you have found the creative cause of your world.”

I believe this to be true. More of his lectures on imagination can be found with this link:

http://www.nevillelecturehall.com/Lecture54.html

Molly Brogan

Artwork by Vivian George Many thanks.