August 30, 2009
Venture Fourth Fall Intensive

Sunday AM

Keywords: chakras, working with resistance, toning/tuning forks, Winter Intensive/ceremony of intention, Clear Comprehension, higher self/guides/guidance, Oversouls, privacy, direct communication with Aaron, 6^th/7^th/8^th density beings, Ariel, Ra, Q'uo, Deep Spring sangha.

Barbara: First, some logistics; Julie will lead Breathwork for part of the next intensive and will have some assistance from qualified Breathwork facilitators. We'll also be talking about states and stages of consciousness. We'd like people to read Part I of Putting on the Mind of Christ, by Jim Marion. We'll be sending out information about chakras.

I want you to familiarize yourself with chakras. We've already sent you some information from my friend Carla but I will send you more detailed information. One of the ways to work with resistance is to get a sense of what chakra is blocked and how that blockage is participating in the resistance. We do not open that chakra, we find that which is already open and gently invite it to show itself rather than pushing or using force. Invite; welcome the energy to flow again in that chakra.

You can ask your guides for help; use your crystals; just bring in energy. The chakra can never be truly closed; it just seems to be so. For example if it's the heart center that's blocked, picture each chakra as a spinning orb and as it spins, see how energy comes off the head and tail of it. The chakra is spinning, and energy pulls up and down from it. If the 3 base chakras are spinning and the throat and third eye and crown are spinning but the heart is not spinning, the energy is flowing up to the solar plexus and flowing from the throat to the third eye, but the heart area is stagnant. We say then that the heart is closed.

The chakra's never really closed but momentarily there's the experience of it's not being spinning and energy not moving. We don't go directly to the chakra that seems closed; we go to the chakra below and above it and invite them to extend downward and upward to the chakra that feels blocked, to gently invite the energy flow into and out of that chakra.

Then in meditation you can take your crystal and hold it over the heart or whatever chakra feels blocked, just sitting or even lying down flat and meditating and holding the crystal there. Invite the crystalline energy to speak to the chakra. Ask your guides what is blocking this chakra and then literally take it into meditation. Or just sit up and do your vipassana practice and allow an answer to come, insight to arise.

Sometimes there may be awareness of a fear that you had not understood, or some anger or pain that you had not acknowledged. So we work gently, inviting opening with whatever feels blocked.

Before the next intensive I'd like you to meet each of your chakras and get to know the specific energy and experience of them. Each chakra has a predominant tone. I have a set of tuning forks that I use. I'm deaf and I don't have a good sense of the sounds anyhow. I never could carry a tune before I was deaf. But with the tuning forks, I get a very clear sense of the tone. If you don't have tuning forks, that's okay. You can find tapes that give clear tones, that people use for tuning instruments, for example, or just hit the keys on your piano. So you can find different ways of getting these tones.

Base chakra is C. The sacral chakra at the naval is D. The solar plexus is E. Heart is F. You don't have to write these down, you already have them in your coursepack, and I will email them out again. Heart is F. Throat G. Third Eye A. Crown B. And about 4 to 6 inches above the crown, C again. We've come a full octave. C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C.

I spend about half an hour a day toning. This is in part for my deafness and what the entities have asked me to do... I tone with each tuning fork. You hold it this way (demonstrating). If you want to buy tuning forks, or just one, you can buy one. If you do buy one, buy a good quality tuning fork, a weighted tuning fork, even though it's more expensive, and one that's a low octave because you can't really hear the high octave ones.

When you sound a tuning fork, you never <hold> it on the weight, you hold it by the stem otherwise you deaden the sound. You hold it by the stem. Can you hear it at all? (Group: No.) I'll pass it around...

(faint sound of tuning fork) Can you hear it now? (Group: Yes) I sound it and I hold this low C at the base chakra, just above the pubic bone, and I tone the sound that I hear. First I hold it to each ear. (toning) Ommm... Ommm...Ommm...

You never it hit it against a hard object. They sell special blocks or heavy rubber that you can use but I find the edge of my hand is fine.

So I tone. D... (tuning fork tone) (group tones) (Barbara tones) Ommm... I often do this lying down flat on my back and I can really feel the vibration in my body. I may tone that note over and over. If it feels like it's open and moving, then I move on. Ommm...

(tuning fork tone) (group and Barbara tone, each tone higher than previous)

Sometimes I'll spend 10 or 15 minutes just with Ommm...Ommm... Just inviting the lower chakras to open if they feel blocked. Then I move on to the heart chakra. Ommm... Can you still hear it? It's a higher note that perhaps you can't hear. I will pass them around.

Can you feel it in the heart? Let's sound those first 4 again. Try to feel it in the base, the sacral chakra, the solar plexus, and the heart, each one in turn... Tone with it.

(Barbara and group tone through these 4 chakras with the tuning forks)

Throat, this is G... (continuing, tuning fork adjusted so tone is much more audible; end is touching the bell-bowl that is reverberating with the tone)

A, for the third eye...

The whole body hears the vibration; it's not just the ears. The chakra picks it up. Your bodies are energy fields so your whole body picks up this vibration and it goes into the chakra that's most related to that frequency. It helps to support the opening of the chakra.

Crown...(continuing)

And with this last one is above the crown, we're back to C...

You can buy these, I will give you the website of the manufacturer of these. They have far less expensive sets that are not weighted. The entity that recommended these gave me very specific vibrations, very specific notes, so this company sells what they call chakra sets, but the entity said no, those are not suitable. These are more congruent to the specific chakras. So I would stick with these. I will email you the whole information. You're better off just to buy one or two good quality ones that hold their tone, than to buy a set of low quality ones.

You do not have to buy them. For me, they were an essential tool to teach my body to hear. I found afterward how helpful they were for opening the chakras, and I'm sure that's also what Spirit intended.

Medivibe Custom Tuning Forks, bought through www.luminanti.com c/o Anne at anne@luminanti.com These are the frequencies the Entity recommended for me. John bought the same frequencies but not weighted; they are cheaper, but don't carry as strong a vibration.

• C-Custom - 64 hz weighted
• D-Custom - 72 hz weighted
• E-Custom - 80 hz weighted
• F-Custom - 85.33 hz weighted
• G-Custom - 96 hz weighted
• A-Custom - 106.68 hz weighted
• B-Custom - 120 hz weighted
• C-Custom - 128 hz weighted

But I find, for example, if I'm feeling a lot of anger, and I feel where the anger is locked, I use the tuning fork. I lie down, I bring my hands to that chakra. I use the tuning fork to remind myself of the tone and bring energy often to the one lower and one above, just helping to open the energy.

Your bodies are energy fields. So you're inviting your body to express the wholeness of that energy field. It's not something you need to do as a long-term daily meditation as I do. I do it more to teach my body to hear. But it's a wonderful tool for healing. For example, this summer most days I've been spending a few minutes with these (F & G) tuning forks with my shoulders, and I can really feel it opening the energy. And my shoulders feel a lot better after a few minutes of this. It's just going in where anything is knotted up and tense, and releasing. I tone with it.

This is part of what Aaron was talking about when he talked about an aborigine lifetime where they would sing to a broken leg, and the whole tribe would sing to it. We're simply remembering these abilities.

Very often when there's something blocked or some physical ailment–bad shoulders, stiff neck, stomach ache, whatever, and I chant with it, I tone with it in that way, insight develops about how I'm holding my energy. For example, this is a hypothetical example, I'm not doing this with my shoulders, but when something comes at us that we don't want, we tend to tighten up and push away.

Try that. Can you feel how that tightens your shoulders? A lot of people hold the shoulders in that way because they're constantly pushing away in a very subtle manner. I don't mean literally but the whole body energy is aversive.

As you invite the contracted area to open, there may be a very clear insight, "Oh, I'm doing this. I didn't see it." And then with mindfulness during the day, we watch how we do it–not to fix it, just to take care of it, in the way if you had a child with a bellyache, you'd keep going into the child's room and just offering some love and being supportive until the child moved through the bellyache. You're not fixing the bellyache, you're just there to support the child's release of the bellyache.

It's the same thing. We attend to whatever mental, emotional, or physical blockages come up in the body. The body mirrors what's going on in the mind. So if there's anger, it will settle someplace in the body, and then we can feel the contraction of it. In meditation we just note, "anger, anger," and we watch where it resides in the body. What is the direct experience of this anger in the body? And how am I relating to this anger in the body? Can there be kindness and spaciousness around what has arisen, knowing it simply has arisen out of conditions? It's impermanent and not self. Hold space for it and invite it to release, What ever has the nature to arise has the nature to dissolve. Just letting it go.

So we get into a habit energy, and here we come back to last night's guided meditation. You might see that there's a habit energy when there's something unpleasant. You tighten the belly, or you tighten the shoulders, or the jaw clenches. "Ah, how many years, how many lifetimes have I been doing that? Maybe I don't have to do that anymore. I can begin to release the conditions that support this arising from the body, and create a more wholesome state of being in the body, for the highest good of all beings."

I'll email all the information about the tuning forks, the specifics, where I bought them. If enough of you want to buy similar sets, we can see if we can get a discount as a group, if that's possible. (K has sent the group info on a group discount)

Q: John has a set that he has found to be effective that isn't quite as expensive as your set.

Barbara: Yes, John's is from the same company, it's the same tones exactly but it's not weighted. It's less expensive.

Q: So maybe we can have that information, too.

Barbara: Yes, it's exactly the same vibration, it's just not weighted.

Q: What's the difference?

Barbara: The weights are these weights on the ends. John's don't have these round weights on the end, they're just straight, they're longer, bigger tuning forks. They don't have the weight on the end. There is not as strong a sound.

Q: Would digital sound work?

Barbara: I don't see why not. I don't know. I've never tried it. I have played these sounds on a tape for people and had them work with the tapes, and they've been able to do that successfully, but you don't get the same vibration, probably. It's not quite the same. But if you're toning with it, you're creating that vibration through your toning so in that case, a digital sound or sound from the tape just gives you the tone, then you tone it and the toning creates the vibration.

Q: There's another instrument out there, these are crystal singing bowls. I don't know how they compare...

Barbara: If they have the same tone...Some do, some don't. They have a variety of tones.

Q: There are singing bowls that are designed for the chakras.

Barbara: Okay, I understand that. When I asked the Casa entities, they said they were not as directly resonant with that chakra energy as these particular tones would be. But you can use different kinds of tools for the same purpose. What's important here is intention, the intention to invite the chakras to open, to invite support from your guides, from your crystals; to work with that which is blocked, to work with the habitual closing of certain chakras for the highest good of all beings, with love. And just to keep doing it. And whatever tool you use will support it.

Q: The advantage of the crystal singing bowls is they resonate for a very long time.

Barbara: That could be a very helpful experience.

Q: If we have only one or two forks, then do we use one fork on all the chakras?

Barbara: No, then you will want to try to find some kind of recording that gave you the sounds for the other chakras.

Q: Then how do we use them...

Barbara: If you plan to get one, and you do not need to get one but if you plan to get one and just one, Aaron will tell you which one he suggests for you as the one that will be most helpful. For many people it would be the heart. For some people it would be the throat or third eye, for some people it might be the base or one of the lower chakras.

I would emphasize that you do not need to buy these. What's important is the intention and finding something to tone your voice to so that you can carry the sound. Then you become the vibrating vessel. These are just helping you to become the vibrating vessel. So the tuning forks are just a tool to help you bring forth the sound and hold that sound. Ommm... When I chant that, I can feel the chakra moving.

Q: You said the entities prescribed these exact ones for you. Is this the general scale?...

Barbara: First the entity said to me, "Get a set of tuning forks." He was very specific. These specific sounds, one for each chakra. And he told me how to use them, listening with one ear and the other ear and then holding it against the chakra and toning with it.

Then a year into this, people asked me about them, and I asked the entity, are these suitable for other people, or would you change them for other people, and he said no, these are suitable. So that's what I use with people.

Q: So why are they special to you, then?

Barbara: They're special to me only in that they did not come in a pre-ordered set, which the company has. I had to order them specifically, "I want this tone," and the salesperson said, "You don't want that tone?" and I said, "No, I want this tone."

Q: Are there 2 different tones for the same chakra?

Barbara: These are the predominant tones for the chakras. I am not highly knowledgeable about this. There's a book called Harmonics for Sound and Healing, a thick dense book, I'll send you the title of it. It has a lot more detailed information. I don't tend to go in the direction of understanding the science of all of these things.

Q: Does the crystal resonate with each tone?

Barbara: Of course.

Q: I felt it the most with D.

Barbara: Okay, so that crystal is very sensitive to the sacral chakra energy, but it will resonate to every tone.

Q: I was holding it in my hand. Is it a good idea to put it on the chakra?

Barbara: Yes. Holding it in your hand, lay it on the chakra.

Reading from Crystal Clear: Practical Advice from <> Meditators, by <><>Rinpoche, This was just handed to me; it's a very clear piece. It's nothing new; we've already said this, but it's written very clearly.

The Buddhist teachings talk about gods and demons as magical displays that may be visible to some people whose bodies have a particular constitution of channels and energies. Some people may not see anything unusual or are simply not afraid of anything. If such is the case then there's no cause for concern.

Let's say one has the tendency to be nervous about being harmed or influenced by gods or demons... Whether one actually sees them or merely feels that something bad is going to happen, one should simply look into the very essence of this dread and discover that actually it, too, is not made of anything whatsoever. Utilizing gods and demons therefore means that the fear subsides by recognizing that the identity of fear is non-existent.

Basically what he's saying here is if a wrathful deity appears or anything that brings discomfort in your meditation or your work to invite supportive beings, and fear arises, go into the fear. It's the same instruction whether it's through a dzogchen teaching or a vipassana teaching.

We take that as the predominant object of the moment. What is the direct experience of fear and dread? There's a beautiful teaching of the Buddha, a beautiful sutta in the Pali canon called the Bhayabherava Sutta, in which the Buddha talks about how, before his enlightenment, he wanted to meditate at a so-called haunted shrine. Monks were terrified and ran away in the middle of the night. So the Siddartha Guatama felt it would be a helpful place to go, and it was a very powerful shrine, but fear came up. His words in the sutra are, "I resolved to sit with that fear and dread and allow the experience of it until it resolved itself."

This is what we do; we sit with, "what is this direct experience?" And in itself we find it's empty, it's simply arisen from conditions, impermanent, not self. Whatever has the nature to arise has the nature to cease and is not me or mine. We just watch how it comes up and how it goes. It doesn't matter whether it's delight in something that tastes good, dread, impatience, whatever it is, that's the experience of the moment.

In the dzogchen teachings, something I've found so beautiful is the repeated statement, "The more it arises, the more we can inquire, is there anything really solid here? Anything that has a self?" And after a time of such inquiry, we realize there's nothing that's solid and permanent and separate, it's just all arising out of conditions and empty. Then when fear and dread arise we just say, "Oh, it's you again."

Is there anyone here who does not know the Milarepa story? "Sit by my fire and have tea." Okay, so you just invite whatever demon has appeared in for tea.

So if a wrathful deity appears, just say, "Oh, here, have a cup of tea. But shhh, no talking, we're not going to get into a dialogue. Just have tea. And when you're finished, whenever you're ready to go, you can go." If the wrathful deity tries to engage you in conversation, just say no. So I wanted to share that because I liked the way he phrased it.

Now Aaron is going to incorporate and spend some time with you talking and answering questions.

(pause)

Aaron: It has been such a joy to be with you this week and see you all blossoming and opening, working hard and learning. Each of you has the intention to carry this love and deepening insight out into the world in support of others. Right there is the bodhisattva intention. Some of you have expressed concern about your readiness to take a Bodhisattva Vow. It does not need to be stated so formally. It can be stated simply as the intention to be of loving service in the world, and to investigate the ego fears that may try to block such service. That's all we are discussing.

You simply find that within the self which wishes to share itself, and not necessarily to the whole world at this stage. It can be just the intention to feed your cat. That's a loving intention. You're sitting comfortably reading your newspaper and the cat jumps up on your lap meowing, and you realize, "I've forgotten to feed the cat." Loving intention says, "Let's go feed the cat." That is service.

As you connect with that part of yourself that's willing to disengage from that little ego voice that says, "Oh no, I'm comfortable in my chair. The cat can just be hungry," and says, "No, I can't just let the cat be hungry," it's not fear that says it, it's not a judgmental, "You should feed the cat," not scolding. You can find the genuine movement in the self that wants the cat to feel good. This is one of the reasons why we took mudita as a characteristic early on, deeply to connect with that quality of the loving heart that finds genuine joy in the joy of others, and sadness in the distress of others. And does not serve from a place of fear but from a place of love.

For the next intensive, what I'll ask of you is to look deeply in yourself for that place that wishes to be of service because of joy, and to nurture it. You find the small voice of ego that says, "Will too much be asked of me? What if I can't do it?" Nobody's asking you to hang yourself on a cross, to martyr yourself in any way, or to move yourself into any situation of extreme discomfort, only to note this small ego voice of fear and to find the stronger voice of love within that says, "Yes, yes, I can. It's only an old belief that I can't. I can do this." But to make sure the "I can do it" is not coming from a judgmental "You should do it" but coming from a loving place.

The ceremony I envision will be one in which we bring people as much as possible into a sacred circle, do some chanting, and then hold space with an opportunity to bring forth into your heart your own intention, incorporate it–I will walk around the room and take each of your hands, and invite you look into my eyes and wordlessly express your intention to me so that you and I will share it together. It will be private between us.

Let it be as simple or profound as you wish. It can be simply, "My intention is to love as deeply as I can." Or whatever kind of intention you wish to state in your heart. My intention so you each feel heard, so that you know I'm with you and supporting your intention, for you.

So it will be a simple ceremony but I hope one that's meaningful to you, one that provides a deep ground for your future work and support for your work. Barbara will send out more material, suggestions of the kind of intentions that she has made and that others might make. I realize that she's sent an email to you that included a ceremony that she experienced in her meditation, and that may be helpful to you, but I don't want her to send you too much because I don't want you to base your own intention on what somebody else feels. Remember that the intention will change and grow as the months and years pass. It's not a stagnant intention. I want you to discover it in your own heart.

The power is in this statement of intention. It's just like taking the precepts. When you come to the retreat and you take the precept not to take that which is not freely given, then you're a bit more mindful about not running the water unnecessarily, not taking more than your portion of the food, not picking up something somebody left somewhere that makes you say, "Ooh, that's nice!" You know that's not yours.

If you found it on a desolate street, you might pick it up, look around, and see there's nobody in sight. "Somebody dropped it. Okay, I'd love to have this and it has come to me." But seeing it on the table at the retreat, you know somebody placed it there and will come back for it. It's not freely given. The intention there is not to do harm.

The bodhisattva intention serves the same purpose though it goes further than not harming. When you're about to act in a way that comes more from the ego, you touch back into that intention and remember, "This is my intention and I want to be true to it." When fear limits you, you remember the intention and transcend fear.

I think you're all familiar with the practice of Clear Comprehension, which in the sutras accompanies mindfulness. It's a part of the teachings on the Four Foundations of Mindfulness.

Clear Comprehension of purpose: What is my highest purpose? I don't mean necessarily THE highest purpose but in this moment, what is my purpose. Somebody's yelling at you and calling you names. Anger arises and you reflect to yourself, "Is my purpose to be right and get my ego fed? Or is my purpose to help create harmony and understanding? What is my purpose in this moment?"

Clear Comprehension of suitability: is the impulse arising and what I feel moved to do consistent with this purpose? To scream back? Well maybe not. Maybe that's not what I need to do. What other options do I have? So we have clear comprehension of purpose and clear comprehension of suitability.

Clear Comprehension of, the way the sutra phrases it is, of the domain of meditation. That means simply that you take all this energy into a quiet place and become aware, what is predominant in my experience right now? So you connect deeply both with the experience of ego, of fear, and old conditioning, and of the loving heart. You allow yourself to know the simultaneity: the clouds and the sunshine, the clouds and blue sky.

We often use windows as a metaphor. These windows are very clean so they don't serve as well as my metaphor. But if the window was very crusted with dirt, we do not need to tear out the glass. The nature of the glass is clear, we would simply wash the window.

When negative impulse arises, we allow it to purify itself, to self-liberate, to release. Then the nature of mind and of heart return. These are not separate terms; mind and heart are one. The clear, radiant heart-mind becomes accessible. It does not become accessible only after the dirt washes off the window, it's accessible right there while the dirt is still on the window, and accessing that clear radiance is a part of the power of what helps to release that which is unwanted, unskillful.

So we keep working toward this balance, openheartedly acknowledging any tension, fear, anger, greed, or other kinds of contraction, holding the highest intention not to enact this in the world, using the supports of the precepts, of the intention to service for the good of beings–let's not call it bodhisattva vow, just of this intention. We use the supports of turning to our guides. We use the support of finding where the body is closed so it's difficult to access that ever-loving and pure heart, and then doing skillful work to reopen.

So we take care. If you were walking outside and you fell and skinned your knee, would you just say, "I didn't really do that," or would you go in and wash it off? You take care of your body in that way. If something comes up that brings up fear or greed or anger or any other strong emotion, it's no different than the skinned knee; you take care of it. You don't overreact, with the skinned knee you don't rush off to the hospital emergency room. You don't weep and wail and begin to think, "I'll never walk again," but you also don't ignore it. You wash it clean and if needed you put a bandage over it. You attend to it.

You are human. That means that there is an emotional body. As long as you are not fully enlightened to the arahant stage, negative thoughts will arise if the conditions are present. The conditions have not been fully purified; negative emotion will arise. The more lovingly you attend to such, the more you move in the direction of purifying that karma so that such negative thoughts cease to arise.

Clear Comprehension of purpose, of suitability, of the domain of meditation; Clear Comprehension of the dharma, is the fourth of these. In Clear Comprehension of the dharma, we simply reflect: whatever has the nature to arise has the nature to cease, and is not me or mine. I would ask you all to write that all out, that phrase that I've repeated endless times this week and hang it someplace in your home. Put it on your altar or paste it on your mirror or wherever you will see it on a regular basis.

Whatever has the nature to arise has the nature to cease, and is not me or mine.

There is also the beautiful sutra in which the Buddha says, "Abandon the unwholesome. If it were not possible, I would not ask you to do it. If such abandonment brought pain and suffering, I would not ask you to abandon it. But because it brings good and happiness, I say abandon the unwholesome."

Barbara will email the sutra out to you. "Cultivate the wholesome. One can cultivate the wholesome. If it were not possible, I would not as you to do it. If such cultivation brought pain and suffering, I would not ask you to cultivate it. But because such cultivation brings joy and peace, I say, cultivate the wholesome."

So I'd also like you to write those keywords out, "If it were not possible I would not ask you to do it." Barbara will send you the whole sutra. Just a reminder, whatever you're trying to do, if it were not possible, I, Aaron, would not ask you to do it. The Buddha would not have asked you to do it. All these loving entities would not ask you to do it.

Abandon what is unskillful. One can abandon the unskillful. If it were not possible, I would not ask you to do it. If this abandoning of the unskillful would bring harm and suffering, I would not ask you to abandon it. But as it brings benefit and happiness, therefore I say, abandon what is unskillful.

Cultivate the good. One can cultivate the good. If it were not possible, I would not ask you to do it. If this cultivation were to bring harm and suffering, I would not ask you to do it. But as this cultivation brings joy and happiness, I say cultivate the good.

The Buddha

Anguttara Nikaya, Book of the Twos, #10

Clear Comprehension of the dharma means seeing that when an unwholesome impulse arises, it is indeed possible to observe its arising and not be swept away by the energy of it. But if one feels oneself being swept away, to come back into a quieter place and investigate the energy and see this has arisen of conditions. What is the direct experience of anger without any stories? What is the direct experience of fear or sadness or confusion without any stories?

One comes back into that clear space and finds, the more you do, the more you release the old karma, the old conditioning, so that it gets to the point that when this same person comes up at work and starts yelling at you with rage in their face, "Look at the sloppy job you did! There was a word misspelled, 2 T's instead of one." Yelling, raging, "You can't do anything right!" Instead of having to defend yourself, you just note, "This person is suffering." And you're able to say, "Yes, I hear you. I'd be happy to retype it and make sure it's spelled correctly." There's no need to defend, no need to judge the other, there's compassion for the other.

What is my purpose in this moment, to defend myself or to create greater harmony for all beings through what I can do in this moment? I find I have the capacity for peacefulness. Even while rage, feelings of shame, and of confusion, are coming up in me, I can ground myself; even in that moment. If you've got the crystal in your pocket you can just reach your hand in and hold it for support. You can breathe and just come into the heart. You can open yourself and ask your guides, "How do I deal with this? I need some support here." You may simply feel yourself embraced in loving energy that helps dissolve the anger. Or you might connect with the thought, "This being is suffering. Hear his suffering."

So there can be different kinds of guidance. As you sit there clenching your fists and wondering what to do with your anger, a sunbeam may fall across your feet or a bit of rainbow light from a crystal. Who knows where the answer will come from? Open yourselves and trust you are supported. Which means that you can do what you did not believe you could do. I'm not talking here about going out and lifting up automobiles, I'm talking about being more spacious with that which in the past has brought strong contraction and suffering.

This is the action of the bodhisattva. You don't have to take a specific vow that says, "I'll keep coming back time and time again until all beings are liberated," that's not necessary. If you feel you want to state that as an intention, that's fine with me but I don't hold that as expectation for you. Just, "I resolve, I hold the intention to do my best to respond in a loving way to whatever life puts before me, and to treat all beings as part of the One and part of myself, to live my life with love and care for all beings."

As the weeks and months go on, I think you'll see how this work weaves together. The human experience is often one of alienation and loneliness, and you so often feel, "I cannot do this or that." And no, you as ego self often cannot. If I asked one of you to move this sofa–(name), can you move the sofa?

Q: Yes.

Aaron: Yes, you could?

Q: Yes.

Aaron: Alone?

Q: No.

Aaron: With 4 people sitting on it?

Q: No!

Aaron: Could 10 of you together lift the sofa and move it, even with 4 people sitting on it?

Q: Yes.

Aaron: Yes. Now think of this as magnified by the whole world. All beings, part of each other. You, the ego self, are limited. You as the divine creation expressing out through this body, these eyes, this heart, this energy, you are unlimited. So you learn to connect to that through your daily and weekly work with meditation. You observe the places where you still get caught and you learn to pay attention to them. You open to support, you ask for support, you invite the support you need. You learn not to separate but to connect yourselves.

Gradually it builds up until you recognize how powerful you are and you cease to be afraid of that power. That's it.

We've talked in big terms here, this whole transition that the Earth is going through, and the intention that many of you already held before the invitation for Venture Fourth was sent out, the intention to help support the Earth through this transition. It's a beautiful intention. Now what we're doing is, it's like having the intention, "I want to have a party." That's a lovely intention. "Now in preparation for the party I'm going to clean my house, prepare some good food, bring in some flowers, make the room lovely for the party so that it's suitable to support the party." What we're doing in a sense through this program is preparing the space for this party to which you intend, that is, to support this transition of Earth in whatever ways are most appropriate. For each of you it will vary.

A reminder, when you offer loving energy to the person who speaks abusively to you, and with compassion, that does not eliminate the strong side of compassion, You may find the need to say, "No, you may not call me names and speak abusively," but you say that from a place of love and not to try to take back power.

At this point I'd like to open this to questions.

Q: I have questions about a journey. It is my understanding that I can journey to you, Aaron, as a guide. But Barbara said I can't communicate with you because your vibration is too high. Is that correct?

Aaron: That is incorrect. I can hear you; you may or may not be able to hear me in terms of linear thought. You may only be able to feel my loving energy. For each of you it will vary.

If you cannot hear me, then be sure that right there beside me will be your guide of a slightly lower vibration and who is able to say to you, "Aaron says this or that." Like a translator. I'm speaking a different language, my vibration is up there. But if you cannot fully get my vibration in terms of linear thought, then you ask your guide for help and your guide will be there with me, and together we'll impart whatever information is required.

Q: Also, I keep going into confusion about the differences between what you're teaching and the teachings I've been steeped in for over a decade. I have been taught to rest as awareness and surrender into the unknown mystery, and that all of the answers and guidance come from there. So I have sometimes confusion about going to God.

Aaron: I think the real difference here, and the only difference is that we're asking you here to take a bit more responsibility. The first step is as you have spoken, to rest in awareness and to surrender–I would hesitate to use the word surrender in that way, there's too much doing in it. It's more like the experience again of the sun and clouds. One does not try to get to the sun, one just opens to things as they are and knows that the sun is there beyond the clouds. One has not to travel anywhere to get to the sun. Even though the clouds are in the way, the sun is still there, always there. To surrender subtly implies that there's something you have to do or fix in order to get to that place of resting.

Let me take this one more step. Once that is done, instead of simply resting there, one brings forth the power of one's intention. In a sense, one does these practices, with the crystals, with your guides, higher self, power animals, and so forth, to more readily form a connection, to learn from them how to open your energy field in such a way that the guides can communicate with you clearly, so you're taking more responsibility to forge the connection. And then what comes through will be clearer.

If I prepared a beautiful meal for you but you came to the meal from the sports field with a tooth guard in your mouth, you would look at the meal but you could not partake of it. You could sit there in the room and smell the scent of it but you would need to take responsibility to go into the washroom and remove the tooth guard; then you can come out and partake of the meal.

If you came into the dining room with filthy hands from working in the barn, cleaning up after the animals, and the meal was on the table, it would distort the meal if you did not wash your hands. You don't want that dirt on the food, you don't want to bring that into your body. You go and wash your hands. It's the same thing; it's simply the taking of responsibility to fully prepare yourself to receive the feast that is being offered.

Q: Okay, I don't quite understand that yet but I'll sit with that.

Aaron: Okay.

Q: You had written earlier that the information or some of what is done in this program can be shared with others. I have a very dear friend who's been meditating over 20 years and recently learned vipassana, took a vipassana class. And I'd like to know what, if anything, can I share with her from our training?

Aaron: Let me put this in 2 compartments. Anything that was said in shared discussion in the large or small group from each person's heart remains within this group. We may transcribe and email it out only to this group. Please do not share those personal transcripts with others. This is personal material. (from Barbara as I review the transcript; such material was not recorded and is not included. These transcripts may be fully shared).

Any instruction from me, from Barbara, from Heather, next session from Julie, any of the instructional material and more, let us say, impersonal discussion, that will be a transcript that will appear on the Deep Spring website. That may all be shared.

Q: The other information on the website is the package that went out for us. Can that be shared?

Aaron: Everything that is on the website–there is one thing that is on the website that needs perhaps to come off. I think it's okay, I need to look at it. It was not intended to go up on the website but Barbara was doing emailing and it got sent off. It was the information when you first responded with your thoughts about the humility practice. And although it was all shared as anonymous, I want to look into it and make sure that nobody's privacy is violated in any way by that one page of sharing. (from Barbara; we have looked; it is fine)

Anything that appears on the website may be shared. There are many people following this program and doing work them selves. Everything may be shared except that which is spoken in the privacy of this circle and room.

Q: I have a question that relates to the previous question about communicating with Aaron. I believe I did make contact with Aaron, I think it had to be Friday night, Saturday morning? I asked to meet Aaron and I immediately felt a very gentle, warm, and very safe feeling. The next thing I saw was a glorious waterfall, it was light. I then spent the next hour and a half in dialogue with this guide. I'm wondering, was this Aaron?

Aaron: Indeed it is, my brother, yes. Let me explain this. Think of Niagara Falls. You could not stand under Niagara Falls but if I diverted a bit of Niagara Falls into a piece that big (holding fingers into a small space), that would not overwhelm you. When you ask for me I give you that part of me that you are capable of holding and merging with so that you will not feel overwhelmed.

Remember that when Barbara first met me she did not fully hear me in words, she had to work with guides of a less high vibration, who were able to transmit specific thoughts to her--work with this color light, that color light--and as her vibrational frequency became higher, she was able to tune to me, and also it was an enjoyable challenge to tune to her.

To the best I am able I will tune myself to you so that you can feel me and hear me. But also, you all have guides who are very capable guides and it's very important for you to connect to your guides. I am your teacher. There are only a very few of you here for whom I am a guide as well as a teacher. There are a few of you. You don't need to know who. Some of you already understand that in your hearts and it doesn't make you better or different than the others; it is simply that because of our past karma together, we had a pre-life intention that I would be one of your guides. But you still have a primary guide with whom you can deeply connect. Guidance doesn't need to be just from me.

Q: I've always experienced your presence when I meditate, and this time, what amazed me was how wonderful it was to communicate without words, just by thought. It was such a delightful experience.

Aaron: You are all capable of this and you will learn to communicate that way, not only with your guides but with each other. There was not an articulation that said, "Now tell me how to derive the square root of 973." It was more an energetic expression.

There's nobody here who has not previously shared that kind of energetic expression with a beloved other. As you learn how to open yourselves and work with your energy, part of maturation is deep respect of another's privacy and free will. No being of positive polarity invades another's privacy or violates another's free will. When I say "communicate with each other," is there anybody in the room, and I feel strongly there is not, who has not had a deep moment of transmission of loving energy with a beloved other human being? All of you have experienced this, maybe not often, but all of you have experienced that true merging of heart and energy. You did not communicate, "Now what time is the picnic going to be?" you communicated something much deeper.

All of you will learn how to do that more easily as you work with your guides so that when you are with people whom you trust and who trust you, whom you respect and who respect you, there will be a deepening of shared energy. It is not necessary to call it communication, because you think of verbal communication and that's not what I mean. I'm not saying that cannot happen, only that's not what we're looking for, to teach you all to be telepaths. We're simply talking about sharing the energy so when the beloved friend comes into the room and you feel their energy is sad, you immediately look up and hold that sadness in your heart and are open to it. You don't block it out; you're accessible to them. But if their sadness is troubling to you and you do pull back, they'll be aware of that and they'll hold back their sadness a bit so it doesn't overwhelm you.

Q: Can we call that communion?

Aaron: Communion, yes, but it's also communication. Why are you afraid of the word communication?

Q: You said not to call it that.

Aaron: I said, if you... let me backtrack. I said that you think of communication as the verbal, precise communication. It is more. So yes, you can call it communion, but I prefer you call it communication and begin to understand how many levels of communication there are, and that the deepest communication happens in silence, not with words.

Q: The times that I have been meditating and I've felt your presence, I thought it was you, I didn't feel it was somebody else. There were no words there, no information other than that was passed. And it was a positive experience.

Aaron: There is no verbal communication for 2 reasons. One, I am encouraging you to connect with your own more personal guides who will give you that verbal communication, and with crystals, animal spirits, and so forth. And two, that right now on the level of the mental body, my frequency vibration is too high for you to pick up articulated verbal thoughts.

Q: How about just thoughts?

Aaron: The thought of love was there. The thought of my availability was there. But I didn't say to you specifically, "Why don't you try this specific exercise for your back?"

Q: It's not that kind of communication...

Aaron: For each of you in this room who reached out for me this weekend, and wondered was that really me, yes, I was aware of you reaching and yes it was really me. (laughter) Be assured, it was me. In your meditation at home, I am available to you. You will find me often just sitting and helping you to hold the space. I am there, but I want to encourage you to form a deep and personal relationship with your own personal guides.

Q: Thus far, my experience with my guide is, this being seems to be readily available and I seem to be too low of a vibration to have more verbal communication, at this point.

Aaron: Have you asked your guide to help you tune into a higher vibration?

Q: Oh yes...

Aaron: And your guide, I assume, is doing so?

Q: There are 2 things happening. There's openings and energies happening in my system, and there's merging and just basking in the resonance of that being. And it seems that the net result is the same with both, that it shifts me to more openness and clarity, and peace, gentleness.

Aaron: Yes; you are increasingly pure light and high vibration. Let's use an image of pure radiant light. It's so clear, so clear, perfectly clear, pure, extraordinary radiance. Now let's take a very angry human and look at their energy field. It has a lot of shadow in it, a lot of distortion. If you hold that human in front of that clear light, it stands out in stark silhouette.

Now watch the human who has been doing a vipassana practice, working with dharma and strong intention to loving action in the world, working in a skillful way, not to fix arising anger and control but truly holding it in love. The shadow begins to melt away. It's like a very dirty window and it's the first cleaning; it's clearing out.

If you hold that being against that brilliant light, some of the light comes through but you still see the outlines of the being. If you hold me against that brilliant light there is still some, I would not want to call it shadow but mistiness, cloudiness, I'm not yet entirely clear. I'm an upper 6^th density being, very much at the upper end of 6^th density, but there are 7^th and 8^th density beings beyond me.

To enter 7^th density involves releasing the mental body and that is a one-way street. If I not only release self-identity with the mental body but literally release the mental body, and the emotional body for me has already been released, and the physical body, when there's no longer a mental body there's only a pure spirit body. The being that has entered 7^th and then 8^th density has fully released the three heavier bodies. If I've released the mental body and I no longer have use of it, I can no longer communicate with you in any mental way.

So at the end of 6^th density I hold the use of the mental body, with no self-identification with it. When I have a retreat, so to speak –– sometimes if Barbara is in a situation where there would be a period of several days when I know she will not need me, and I can come back immediately if she does need me, I enter a retreat; for me, retreat is the temporary release of the mental body –– I enter into that space of complete emptiness and just rest there, so joyful and peaceful.

My intention is to service. There are different kinds of service and one is not better than the other. If you have a jar of absolutely pure water and one being says, "I will become as the pure water and add myself to the jar," the sense of any self is gone. You can't take that drop back out of the jar, but you expand the power of the clear water. Another being says, "I will stop short of fully merging with that jar so that this drop that I am can go out into the world." One is not better than the other.

So the being that follows this path, merging with the pure water, full realization, becomes an arahant, as the Buddha did. Nobody channels the Buddha. You might notice that some people channel the Christ energy, channel Jeshua, but nobody channels the Buddha. Have you ever noticed that? People channel Buddhist wisdom but not the Buddha because the Buddha is an arahant and holds that ground. The mental body that was the Buddha is no longer directly accessible. The mental body of that which was Jeshua has remained as a far higher 6^th density being that I am. There is really no mist left at all but he holds himself into 6^th density form so his mental body is available, so that he can speak through and participate in the world.

Q: What about Ariel?

Aaron: Ariel is one of my teachers. Ariel was never a physical being. He's a multi-dimensional being. Ariel holds itself also at highest 6^th density level, but such a high vibration that very few could channel it.

Q: Like J, I have a lot of felt sense of you, Aaron, and of my guides, and I love being in that loving energy. But if I have specific questions for my guides, are there some techniques that you recommend, like asking a question and then journaling, or some other way to get maybe a more specific answer or specific questions from my guide?

Aaron: First, do sit in that loving energy whenever you can. It raises your vibration. It helps you find joy. It helps you remember who you are.

When there is a specific question, state the question, stating the intention, "For the highest good of all and with harm to none, I wish to understand how to work with this situation," or how to respond to this person or what may be the most wholesome course of action, or whatever the question might be. "I invite the highest vibrational being to answer this question who can give me the clearest answer, whose vibration I can stably hold."

You are not going to get Ariel or some other being whose vibration you cannot hold; you're going to get a being whose vibration you can hold. If the being is helpful to you and guides you, you say thank you. Get to know this being in whatever form it comes--quasi-human, animal, swirling light, crystal. Gather a circle of friends. Get to know these beings.

At times the being may come to you and say, "I cannot fully answer your question but please breathe in this or that color light. Please move yourself into this or that kind of energy." And as you tune yourself into a higher vibration, you may feel a different entity coming in.

If the first being does not introduce the second, you challenge the second, whatever your 3 questions are. If the first being introduces the second, you do not need to challenge it. Just listen and hear whatever guidance is being offered and know you are always responsible, you must always discriminate in a positive way. Is what comes to me truly what I seek for the highest good? And if it sounds off in any way, just say, "Wait a minute. In what way might I be inviting something that's not fully wholesome?"

Q: Wednesday evening you posed the question, when self falls away, where does intent come from?

Aaron: And have you figured that out, any of you?

Q: I've got some ideas.

Aaron: What's your response?

Q: I think that as we work with these qualities, we become more human and open to our potential, and the universe unfolds through us. There's no self there, obviously, but we become a tool or a hollow bone for love.

Aaron: I could not have said it better, my brother. Thank you.

Q: I'm going to ask the question you told me today about Oversouls, and the difference between our Oversoul and our guides.

Aaron: Let me try to answer with a metaphor. You are all part of a spirit family...Let me try to find a way to express this. Some things defy your verbal articulation. If I could use a hologram of some sort it would be easier.

Once on a retreat or workshop, or several times in class, we did an exercise where we had people in the group turn back to back, a group of perhaps 6 or 8 people, and link arms in this way, and then move. Was anybody here in that class? (yes)

I didn't say "Move here, move there," I just said "Move." The experience that people found was as each cluster moved, there was a very clear sense of direction, for the most part. The whole cluster moved here or moved there.

What happened was that the merged intelligence and intention of the group came together to create a unified energy that simply directed the group. And the groups didn't crash into each other, as I remember, did they, P?

Q: At first they did, and then there was an experience of more than just the separate groups but the whole room, and no one ever crashed into another group.

Aaron: And there was just a clear flow for quite awhile, these clusters just moving in a perfectly choreographed free movement dance.

So let us call that connected intelligence the Oversoul. However, it's not just made up of these humans but your guides and their guides. For example, I am Barbara's guide. Ariel, who is one of the archangels, is my highest guide. So like you, I also have guides.

There were times back in the early 90s when Ariel did channel through Barbara. It wiped her out for days afterward, it was such a high energy. She was able to channel Ariel with much clarity but it was too stressful for her body, she could not hold that high vibration. So it felt better that I simply be the one that came through and that Ariel not do this kind of work with her.

J spoke the other day of the Ra material; the group energy known as Ra also is at a very high vibration. When Carla would channel Ra, she laid down on a bed. She was draped in white. Her head had to be faced in a certain direction. A certain prayer, certain candles, Ra gave very precise instructions how this should be done to be of least harm to this physical entity Carla. And yet it certainly did affect Carla's body. And Carla has physical trauma in her body from the carrying of that high energy. She was willing to do it because it felt important that this information come through, and spirit was very careful to re-nurture the body. Yet it was in some ways destructive of the lower vibrations of the body.

Carla now channels and entity Q'uo who has much the same relation to Ra as I have to Ariel. And this is a vibration that the body can more comfortably handle. Equally important, D1 were you there when Ariel was channeled in the early years? And D2 also. Do you remember that everybody in the room fell asleep?

Q: Yes.

Aaron: It was such a high energy nobody could stay awake through it!

D: And we all have memories of the channeling.

Aaron: Okay, so the Oversoul, coming back to the question, you all have spirit families with beings of all levels, up to the highest 6^th density. And beyond 6^th density, although it cannot give mental direction, there is the 7^th or 8^th density being that's a part of that soul family and helps to anchor the energy, like the pure drop of water I described.

So it's not just the beings with their arms clustered, at one density level, but it's as if you had beings of 3^rd, 4^th, 5^th, 6^th, highest 6^th, 7^th density all together merged into one unity that we would call the Oversoul. The Oversoul is not somebody who has command of you. The Oversoul is that within, of which you are participant. Your own higher self is no less pure and radiant than that of the highest being. You are participant in this oversoul. You are the outer expressions of this.

Together the whole soul group and the Oversoul work to create, to shape, to give, I don't want to say give voice to, it's not to articulate voice, but to give non-verbal intention into that toward which the group aspires. And then at each level, each being does what it best can do both to manifest that intention and also to prepare the self to manifest the intention.

Many of you are part of the same soul group. I've found that many people who participate at Deep Spring are part of the same soul group. No surprise. Not all of you; there are several soul groups within Deep Spring. There's one more large one and a number of other smaller ones, and there are some people that are not part of these soul groups. But part of what binds many of you together is that you've been together in so many lifetimes, and on the astral plane, and are part of the same soul group.

Don't think of an Oversoul as a master, separate from yourself, but think of it as that highest intention of love, which you support and in which you participate, and from which you express.

Q: You sort of answered it but I get the impression that it's possible for me to intend to so purify the self so that I can become a clear expression of this Oversoul in which I participate into life.

Aaron: Precisely. This is much of what each of you is doing. Not just doing it for the self but doing because you have aligned yourself of very high positive polarity. It's part of this bodhisattva intention, this intention to service for the highest good. To work with what you see as radiant light and love and so purify yourself as to be serviceable to that whole intention.

Q: ...From what I understand it's possible almost at any point for an individual to switch from positive polarity to negative polarity. Does my Oversoul include individuals and groups of individuals in negative polarity?

Aaron: Yes and no. It's a different track. That which is negatively polarized can shift to positive polarity but it necessitates a move through a long passageway. It does not involve linear time. But there must be that shift. The "yes" is because those beings who have made that shift but not yet walked the passageway are still partially negatively polarized but have aligned their intention with positivity though they still don't know how to bring it forth. They then align themselves with a positive soul group as preparation and support for their work.

I will ask Barbara to try to find a long dialogue with me and Q'uo about this question. It's probably in that not yet published book, the Aaron/Q'uo Dialogues. There are 2 different books of which we have spoken. One is Barbara's new book, Manna in the Wilderness; one is a book Barbara and Carla finished this year, or finished several years ago but the editing has just been finished. They are also looking for a publisher. But meanwhile I think the whole book is available on the LL website, on Carla's website. It is not on the Deep Spring website.

Q: I made the choice to align myself with this group before I was born?

Aaron: At some level, yes.

Q: Will I always be with this group?

Aaron: you hold a loose intention because each being has free will. There was the intention to join together with the energy but for that energy to happen, first Barbara had to come to the readiness to create the space to hold the group and then different individuals had to make their own personal decision to become part of the group?

Q: So it's just rearranged all the time?

Aaron: To some degree. Many of you, if you remember back when you first came to Deep Spring, said, "Ah, I feel like I've come home." Why? Because you have come home. Because there are many beings who are long-term brothers and sisters that you remember at some level from a past life. People have said this is the sangha of compassion, and many of you have that strong intention throughout your life, long before you came to Deep Spring, to learn to deepen in compassion. So when you came here, you felt, "This is where I need to be." Some people have left it for some time. They seem to come back.

Q: Can you suggest one or two tuning forks for me?

Aaron: In our private meetings we will work with each of you who wants a tuning fork to decide. It would take too long to go around the room now and choose one for each person.

Q: Is the relationship between us and the Oversoul similar to the cells in our body and us (the whole of the human)?

Aaron: Yes, similar. Not identical but similar.

Q: In the sense that the cells themselves have a spirit as well, and has participated in this entire body?

Aaron: Yes, the cells have individual intelligence yet this cell will not react in a way that will damage that cell. In a sense this is what disease means, that the cells suffer a distortion in which cells begin to proliferate that are damaging to other cells in that body, more service to self than service to the whole. You could say that in the diseased body, cells have separated from the Oversoul.

Q: The second question is, you said yesterday you would explain about orbs and about the DNA.

Aaron: That is less important than some other questions, that's more curiosity so let me make sure that the specific questions are answered first.

Q: I'm still trying to understand responsibility in the way you spoke of it, in tuning. Is it like the purification process that J spoke of? Like taking responsibility to purify myself to be able to fully embody pure presence?

Aaron: Yes, and always also with the awareness that at one level there is nothing to purify, and no one to purify it. Both are real. Nothing to purify, no one to purify it, but it still must be done. In the Flight of the Garuda, there's the wonderful line, "Butter is made from the essence of cream, but if the cream isn't churned, the butter won't form." Here we are talking about your nature as enlightened, but the expression still must evolve.

We have half an hour remaining. Many of you have spoken repeatedly, and I'm happy to have had you participate. Some of you have spoken not at all or only very rarely. I'd like us to hold some quiet here and invite those who have not spoken much to speak into the quiet if they have a question or something they wish to share. There's no compulsion here; you're free to remain quiet, but I want to hold a sacred space into which those who are more quiet by their nature, will have a space in which to speak.

Q: I've been wondering whether eventually I will be walking the earth with my guides very present all the time, as you are for Barbara.

Aaron: I cannot predict that but I would think so, I think that's probable. And of course it's not all the time, and it's not all the time for Barbara. There are times when she forgets me (laughter) –not for long but, she gave the example of smacking the spider on her leg. She was not connected with herself, with her own higher self, or with me. Just, the small ego self came up and smacked.

Q: So it's up to me to allow as much as I want?

Aaron: That is correct, and positive polarity will never force itself upon you. If you feel any force, any being saying, "Now you should listen to me!" and pushing at you, you need to say no. Then you investigate, why has this more negative entity appeared? In what way am I inviting that? And to realign yourself. I'm not saying this in anticipation of what you might experience, I'm speaking to the whole group here. Your loving guides will come in through the doors that you open. They will never force open the doors.

Q: I'd like to express my gratitude to this group. And I think I have work ahead, but one of my primary jobs is to be able to contain all the joy that will come to me. And I want to thank you all for that.

Aaron: And thanks to you, also.

Q: I'd also like to echo that. I've had a lot of love poured into me from everywhere.

Aaron: I'm speaking here for Barbara, and I know she's had the idea that it would be wonderful to create some kind of a closed blog, I think the technical term is. If you know how, would you be willing to undertake this? If we have this available so that people can communicate with each other when you're working with the characteristic of the week, then if there's something that comes up for you that you feel you'd want to share in this circle, put it on the blog site so the others can hear you. Share it, communicate back and forth so this group holds its energy together in these coming months, until you physically come together again, and so that you can continue to inspire each other.

Q: I will work with Barbara.

Aaron: Thank you very much. Is it something you can set up so that people can participate on their own without running it through Barbara? Yes. Barbara will not be able to run it, people will need post their own postings.

Q: There are 2 options and I think she will like one of them better than the other, but I would give her a choice because they have different capacities. One of them has a lot of capacity to post photos and blogs and content and music... but I will give Barbara the choice.

Aaron: That's fine, I will stay out of it. Thank you very much.

Q: I would just like to follow up on what D and C said. This has been a wonderful experience for me. Obviously all of us have gained so much from Heather being here, she was amazing. And Barbara and Aaron have given us so much.

But equally important for me has been the community. I came here not really knowing anybody, just kind of having spent some time with a few people on retreats over the years. I'm just amazed at the sense of humble openness. People have experienced amazing things this weekend. But it just seems to be, it's shared in an open way but in a very humble way, in terms of practicing humility, which is pretty challenging for most of us. (laughter, chatter)

I just have found so much openness and so much <>. I just want to thank all of you.

Q: Can guides work in pairs? I have the feeling of both male and female working together.

Aaron: Certainly, certainly. Yes. That is accurate, also.

Q: Guides can work together, both male and female?

Aaron: Remember they are not male or female, they are simply presenting in that way. In doing so, they present to you a balance of male and female energies. If they wished, I'm not saying they will do this, the one that expresses as male could express as female, and vice versa. So they're all androgynous but expressing in one or another direction to help you find the balance of your male and female energies.

Q: When you brought the Brother of the Light in, I experience a great healing.

Aaron: I was not channeling him, I simply stepped out of the body and the Brother incorporated in the body in the same way that I do. So Barbara was serving as the medium first for me and then I released this body to the Brother of the Light and then to a Sister of the Light, each in turn coming in to incorporation in the body.

Q: Can Brother of the Light, is he able to communicate as my guide? A couple of times I experienced him, I thought <it's/as> a guide.

Aaron: You might do so, yes. He would be more as teacher than personal guide. A number of people hear this Brother.

Q: After experiencing him and talking with him, I felt I was betraying you, that I was putting some one else ahead of you.

Aaron: Not at all! It only adds to my joy that you connect with all these loving entities that are available to you. That's for you to take into your vipassana practice and investigate.

Q: Are the entities at the Casa brothers and sisters of the light?

Aaron: Are you asking if they are Brothers and Sisters of the Light? All of us beings, your higher level guides, all are beings of light and are Brothers and Sisters of the Light. There are certain entities that appear more in certain places. At the Casa, certain entities appear. Here, I appear. But we're all part of the Brother/Sisterhood of Light.

Q: I have an image for you that flashes in my mind. In the play that is your life, different lights go on at different times and they are shining on you.

Aaron: That's a very accurate image, yes. You are an actor that comes onto the stage at the, not necessarily at the time of birth, at the time the soul enters the body, which can happen at any time in the 9 months up to and at the time of birth. There's one ongoing light through the incarnation but there are also, I think what you are calling lights, the lights of intention burning, certain intentions that come more to the fore as the lifetime progresses.

So 10 years ago, 20 years ago, few of you would have thought about joining this kind of gathering. That light was not yet on. Then as the light began to gain in intensity, you began to look around you. This light of perhaps, for some of you, material gain, work in the world, began to dim a bit and you began to ask yourself, what more is life about? And a different light began to brighten, the deep aspiration to understanding more about the spirit. And as that light grew brighter, you were led into another place of seeking more purification.

Now you're working with what we might call the light of growing compassion and service. Each being has its own path and it comes to these different intentions at different stages. Usually they build upon each other so that certain tools that you enhanced earlier in this lifetime become supports for the current intentions. And yes, I can see those as different lights shining and bringing forth the ability to see and hold that newer intention.

Q: I have a question about discernment with regard to the guides. I was told once by a spiritual teacher that I had a false higher self, that would give me guidance but it was not truly higher guidance. How do I know that the guidance I'm receiving is not an aspect of ego or some other, some part of mind?

Aaron: The "false higher self" is the small ego based in fear, that is experienced by every human, It is an imposter. Love diminishes its voice. There are negative beings also, beings that come more in service to the self, not in service to all beings. One experiences their energy as contracted. There's not the sense of that spaciousness of love. And there is the True Self. The basis for your discernment is your own growing intention to live your life with as much love as is possible, and to address the issues that ego raises with kindness, not with cruelty and judgment.

As you move in that direction you become unavailable to negativity. Let me do a brief guided meditation with all of you...

You wake up from sleep, your body a bit bruised and stiff. You see that you've been lying on the ground in an alley near a railroad track. You look at your clothing. There's no wallet, no other kind of identification, and you have no memory at all of who you are.

You hear water of a stream and you walk toward it and wash off your face and hands, brush your hair back a bit. There's a bit of fear: who am I? How did I get here? The last you remember was being hit on the head from behind. There's a dim memory of that, but not where you were or who you were or how you got into that circumstance.

After refreshing yourself a bit, you walk toward the opening of the alley and find yourself in a town square. It's early evening. Looking up in one direction you see a sign that says, "BAR," lights flashing on and off. There are some people standing outside and loud music is coming out.

You look around at the square. Toward one side of the square you see what looks like a park, some trees and benches. Over in a third direction you see a sign that says "GYM," a gymnasium, "OPEN TO THE PUBLIC". And on the 4^th side you see a quiet-looking building with a sign that says, "MEDITATION ROOM".

Where are you going to go? There's no right answer. Maybe you're thirsty and you need to go to the bar and ask for a glass of water. Maybe you want to just go and sit in the park and try to rest there in the trees and garden. Maybe you want to go and meditate. There's nobody inside that says, "Oh, I'm the guy that drinks," or "I'm the girl that exercises," or "I'm the one who meditates." You touch on your own deepest inclination.

So allow yourself now to move to where you would go, into that space, and see what you experience. I'll be quiet for a minute...

(pause)

Most of you went there to the meditation room or to the park. A few went to the bar to see if you could get some water, and very few to the gymnasium looking for a shower!

For those who went to the bar, or those who went to the meditation hall or to the park, or who went to the bar only to get water and then planned to go elsewhere, if as you began to head toward your destination somebody shouted out to you, "Hey! Don't go into that meditation place, that's stupid! Come over here to the bar! Come to drink with me!" would you have any trouble saying no? It would be very clear to you, no, that's not where you need to go.

The barkeeper comes out and says, "I see you're a stranger here. Come on in, I'll even give you free pretzels. Have a drink here." "No thank you, no. That's not for me." Next to the bar you see there's a pool hall. The pool hall owner comes out and says, "You don't want a drink but you can come in and play pool and we have gambling, too." "No. I'm just going to go and meditate (or sit under the trees)." Your heart knows where you need to go.

You may open your eyes. It's the same discernment. When this small inner voice says, "Hey, let's get into a little bit of trouble, let's deepen our judgment of this person, let's enhance the anger, let's take that–nobody will notice," "No, that's not who I am. That is the imposter."

For all of you there will be at times such mischievous voices. Just tune into that which is clear and radiant and beautiful, that's all.

Q: I think what's more challenging is the spiritualized messages that aren't clear, like spiritual ego, you know, things that sound good but they're not...

Aaron: (reading signer) I'm just not following that... to discern the spiritual...I'm trying to get it directly from you but I'm still not getting the idea...

Now I understand. Child, your meditation practice will walk you through this. It's a process. If you look at something and believe it, and follow it, and it turns out not to be wholesome, then you need to go back and reflect, "In what way was I pulled into this? What part of me am I not attending to? What part of the ego am I trying to suppress rather than opening and attending to and taking care of so it can resolve itself?" And as you do that work, these old aspects of the self that have had power and brought negative influence will begin to resolve.

I think for you and for several of you, there is such a deep intention toward purification that there is an aversion to that which is negative in the self, not specifically a fear of it but a desire to control it, which can lead to suppression of it rather than an allowing that it's there and just knowing it has arisen from conditions and you don't have to be afraid of it.

Q: I'm talking about things that don't appear negative.

Aaron: Things that do not seem to be negative but turn out to be negative, is that what you're saying? Yes. So when they turn out to be negative, instead of condemning yourself, "I should have known," just note, "This arose for some reason. I missed it that it was more negative, for some reason. And my intention is to get to know that which allowed it into my experience in this way, so that I may choose in a more wholesome way in the future." But that doesn't take self-condemnation of judgment, just deepening in trust. It's a process. It will happen.

It's 12:35. What I'd like to do is simply to end here with that beautiful song, "All I Ask of You." It's on the chanting sheets for those who don't know it.

The words:

All I ask of you is forever to remember me as loving you.

Repeated:

All I ask of you is forever to remember me as loving you.

And then Arabic, "Ishk allah ma bood lay la." And repeat. The words mean, "God is the lover and the beloved."

Let's make a closing circle.

(session ends)

(the closing singing was recorded for the transcriber who enjoyed feeling connected and says Namaste)