December 5, 2012 Wednesday with Aaron - Christmas Stories

Aaron's annual Christmas Stories; especially focused on knowing our own inner light

For a first time in our Christmas Stories, Jeshua incorporates to speak directly to a question:

 I'm from Iran. My people in Iran are facing a regime that is killing the people every day. They execute a lot of young people every day, any age. How should it be possible for these people to get rid of this regime with love?

Barbara: Welcome to everybody. Hal and I were realizing as we drove over that this is the 24th year that we've offered these Christmas stories. The first year we were just fifteen people sitting in our living room. There was a fire burning behind me, and the Christmas tree shining, candles lit around the room. We didn't know we were starting a tradition. We didn't even know what we were going to be doing that night. We were just gathered on a regular Wednesday night, the last Wednesday night before Christmas. Somebody said to Aaron, can you tell us a little bit about the first Christmas? And off we went!

Probably many of you have read Aaron's stories of being a shepherd boy in the hills at the time of Jeshua's birth. He tells us that he grew up as a shepherd, and also as part of the Essene community, where Jeshua also grew up. He was about 5 years older than Jeshua, he says, but Jeshua was quite a mature young man. He had the great gift to count Jeshua as his friend as well as his teacher.

They lived some time together as boys. Jeshua, of course, was away as a very little boy and then came back and was part of this Essene community. Then went away again, went away and came back. When they became adults, Aaron was very knowledgeable, was a teacher within the community, and also was a shepherd. He had taken birth there because his father felt the poor shepherds who lived in the hills, had a lot more openness to these teachings of love than some of the people in town, who were very grasping and fear-filled. So Aaron moved regularly from one place to the other. His work was out in the fields with his sheep, and literally living as a shepherd and knowing the other shepherds, and also within the community.

These stories come of what he learned through growing up as a boy and a young man in contact with Jeshua. I find them very beautiful. There's a book available called Forty-Seven Stories of Jesus That You Have Probably Never Heard. A long-time student, Bill Altork, loves these stories. Bill was probably part of that first group in 1989 sitting by the fire in my living room! He asked me 7 or 8 years ago, could he excerpt from the thousand or so pages of stories, take core messages from the stories rather than the long transcripts. If we had put out 24 years of transcripts, we'd have a thousand page book. Bill did a wonderful job, with Aaron's help, of choosing the core messages of the stories. It's a beautiful book. Thank you, Bill.

Something else I have here tonight for you. The Food Fairy, whom many of you know from North Carolina and from the Casa, very much loves this quote from Aaron, so she made up bookmarks as a gift for everybody. I'll give you the quote while you're passing out the bookmarks. Terri, I believe you're online (many are listening in by conference call), and thank you.

The quote Terri  picked is also one of my favorites.

“Through the love and deep intention to work for the good of all beings, may this light and goodness that is my true nature increasingly radiate out into the world and touch the places of darkness. May this work lead to the freedom from suffering of all beings on every plane, material and immaterial, large or small. May all beings everywhere come to know their innate safety and how much they are loved. May all beings be happy and find peace.”

Thank you, Aaron, and thank you, Terri, for giving that to us.

Is there anybody here who has never heard Aaron? I see one or two who have never heard Aaron. Anybody else? So you know that Aaron simply incorporates in my body. When he's here, I'm not. I astrally project out of the body.

(They pause for a technical problem.) Are we back on? Can you hear me, Terri? I hope you heard all of our thank you for the beautiful bookmark. We've got 30-35 people here.

Aaron is simply going to incorporate and talk.

(Aaron incorporates)

Aaron: My blessings and love to you all. I am Aaron. And I wish you a very joyful season of light.

We are in the year 2012, which has long been thought of as the central part of the transition of consciousness into light. Of course it's just one year, part of a process. People have asked me, did Jeshua teach anything about this transition? Not in so many words. And yet everything he taught was about the transition into light, everything.

In some ways he was the transition. He was that which for so many of us helped us to recognize the true light in ourselves and in all that is, through the recognition of it in him. People have asked me, “Well then, if he was so filled with light, was he ever angry?” Of course he was angry. But his anger never came from a spiteful place that wished to harm another. Rather, his anger was more grounded in sadness and disappointment, and he was able to anchor that angry energy in the heart and use the transmuted energy to co-create love in the world.

There are so many stories to choose from. There are not many that I have not told at some point before. Over 24 years, that's a lot of stories! One of my first memories of seeing anger in the adult Jeshua came when we were gathered in a small village, eating a meal quietly, when suddenly there was shrill squeal of pain nearby, out of sight but nearby. Once, and then repeated.

Jeshua immediately stood up and walked out to the source of that sound. There were three young boys torturing a small animal. I had never heard the adult Jeshua with a loud voice before. Very powerful: “NO!” But it was not said in rage or with desire to harm. It was just a firm command, “NO! You may not do that!” You could see the anger in his face, anger that one being would torment another, especially that boys who should be somewhat conscious would torment a small creature.

The boys froze at his No. He took the small animal from them. It was bleeding. The blood seeped into his hands. He looked in the eyes of each of these three - they were not really children anymore - adolescents. He looked in their eyes. One of them was very ashamed and cast his head down. One started to weep, and one was defiant, angry back. “I have the right to hurt this creature if I want to.” He didn't say that, but you could read it in his expression.

Jeshua had the ability to heal, and I'm sure he could have healed this animal. It seemed that he held it and asked it if it was willing to give its life to teach these young men. I'm sure that as he held it, comfort came from him and it stopped feeling such pain, and felt his peacefulness and love. And then it died.

One boy continued to weep. One kept his face hidden. And one looked at Jeshua with anger and said, “Well, what do you want us to do?” Jeshua said to that one, “Come with me, and let us bury this small animal and say some prayers for it.” So they went off a ways and found a place to dig a hole and bury it, and pray. They came back with Jeshua, and he asked the community that was there watching, “Is there any small animal in the village that needs help?”

Somebody brought up a small goat whose mother had died and needed to be bottle-fed. It was not strong enough to co-exist with other kids, to get its share of the milk. He handed this little goat to the three boys and he said, “I put this animal in your care. It will need to be fed day and night. In this way you can offer something back. Do it in the name of the small creature you have killed. Through this act, find that in yourself which truly is loving and able to give, truly wants to give.”

I don't know what happened. I never came through that village again. But I would guess that those three boys cared for the goat, and that they learned through loving the goat to forgive themselves and love themselves. For the core of this raising consciousness is learning to love yourselves. If you do not love yourself, how can you love anything else?

If he had said, when he heard that squealing and cry, “Oh, please don't do that,” they would have laughed at him. If he had come at them with rage, ready to beat them, they would have simply been reminded to the belief, “When I am bigger and more powerful, I can control others.” Only love can teach love.

There are so many times when I saw him act with strength that sometimes looked like anger. Yet you could see in his heart that there was already forgiveness. It was not a condemnatory anger, but more a deep anguish that one being could so misunderstand life that it could harm another.

Clean to here

We were traveling once, and paused for the night, with groups of us sitting three and four men to a small fire. Will the women please forgive me, but the women in those days did not so much walk and travel with us. They were welcomed in our circle when we came to a place to rest. But they did not walk between the villages with us too much. It was not that they were forced out. Simply, they had children to tend, work to do, did not have the time and leisure to walk with us. That was the world of those days. I don't mean to set aside women and the power and love of woman, but they were not so much walking with us. So we were groups of men around three different small fires.

Jeshua was at a different fire circle from where I was sitting. A man who was rough, spoke in a crude and tough way, had joined our group a few days before. His face, speech and gestures seemed to lack all kindness. It was a cold night and we were all wrapped in our blankets and robes. He walked up to my friend, who was sitting next to me, and grabbed at his blanket. “I'll take that.” The man looked up at him and said, “But this is my blanket. I'd be glad to see if there's an extra blanket somewhere for you.” The man said, “No, I want this one,” and grabbed at it. The man pulled it tighter. So this guest pulled out a knife and stabbed my friend.

It was a deep flesh wound, though not a mortal one. He simply took the blanket and sat down. In the first story that I told, Jeshua spoke with kindness to those young men. His “no” was powerful, but it did not carry condemnation. It did not carry anything that would frighten them, other than simply the power of NO!

Here Jeshua said no again. He rose from his fire, seeing what had happened, seeing the man stab. But his “No” carried a very different energy. Somehow it brought me, sitting there, into a place of horror, darkness, pain, literally into the hell realms into which human beings can descend if they close their hearts to love. Speaking later to my companions, all of us felt this. Jeshua's “No” had suddenly cast all light out of that space. In some way he sheltered all of us, still sharing some light with us, but this one man, you could see his face change. It was as if he suddenly had descended into hell, as if he suddenly saw where he was headed. I don't mean a literal hell that some god was going to cast him in, but the hell he was creating for himself by closing his heart to kindness. It's as if he suddenly saw where that negativity would take him. He began to scream, dropped the blanket and ran off.

We all sat there in silence for about 20 minutes,. Then Jeshua got up. You could hear the man still screaming and moaning in the distance. Jeshua went out to him. I have no idea what he said to him, but he came back holding him by the hand. He asked, “Is there a blanket for this man?” Somebody supplied one. Jeshua sat him by the fire and brought him a plate of food. The man looked at Jeshua and said, “Can you forgive me?” And Jeshua said, “It is not my forgiveness you must ask.” And that was all he said. We finished our meal. We went to sleep.

After our morning meal, the man picked up as if to leave. You could see the shame and the horror still in his eyes. He again said to Jeshua, “Can you forgive me?” And Jeshua again repeated the words, “It is not my forgiveness you must ask.” “Whose, then?” He turned to the man whom he had stabbed. “Will you forgive me?”, the man asked.  Jeshua shook his head and said, “You must forgive yourself.”

How do we forgive ourselves? How do we open our hearts to that which is beautiful in ourselves and not be consumed with that which is negative?

A day passed, the man clearly not knowing what to do with himself. And then the man again made as if to leave. The man who had been stabbed looked at Jeshua, and Jeshua nodded. So he said to this man who had stabbed him, “Brother, please stay.” “How can I stay? I have hurt you through my rage, through my greed. How can I stay?” Jeshua said to the man, “This man who you stabbed, he is not going to be able to walk as fast as us. He's going to need help. Please, will you help him. Walk with him. Let him lean on you if he needs help. Make sure he has food and his needs are taken care of.” The man's face softened for the first time and he agreed.

The gradual transformation was beautiful to watch. This man had recognized the negative aspect of himself, but he had never recognized the divine aspect of himself. Given the opportunity to serve another, to feel appreciation from another, to feel himself loved and embraced in this circle of loving beings, he began to soften. His heart began to open. He saw a different possibility in himself, not just that which was negative but that right there with the negative is that which is loving. He understood now that he had the option to enact that loving kindness.

There is a difference between anger and negativity. Anger is not necessarily negative. It depends how you use that anger. Anger is energy. Under certain conditions, it will arise. It can be used in positive or destructive ways. Jeshua was not afraid of anger as it arose, because he had learned as a young child, as all of us in the Essene community had learned, not to enact anger when it arose. We learned how to take care of our anger; and how to consecrate that energy for the highest good.

So no, I never saw him enact anger in ways that would harm another. But yes, I did see him experience anger at times.

Only once do I remember feeling his anger turned against me. It was for me in a moment of fear and weakness. This is a story I have not told.

We had come into a place of small shelter in a storm, an overhanging rock. It was not much shelter for several men, but enough to keep the worst of the rain off of us. We had not much food with us. It was a very cold night. Three men came, creeping out of the darkness with their knives drawn. We were talking by the small fire; we really did not expect any danger. Suddenly these men were in front of us. There were more of us, but we were not armed, and even had we been armed we would not have attacked. They said, “Give us your clothing, your robes, your food.” We had no valuables, but they took everything we did have including even our sandals and left us there.

Jeshua simply nodded to them and gave them what they asked for, as I had seen him do before. But on this night, I was sick with a small fever, I was cold, I was hungry. I had just joined Jeshua that day, had walked a long distance to come where he was and walk with him for a few days. I was exhausted from my travels and from the challenges of my life.  When the men had taken our things and fled, I began to speak out my anger at them. Jeshua had not expressed anger at them, but he turned to me with anger and said, “Who are you that you cry thus, fearing your needs will not be met!? Where is your faith? Why are you afraid?” And I could feel what I took as his anger at me.

I loved this man so much, and feeling this anger at me, I began to weep. His words took me back into a place of fear and helplessness. For many months I had been struggling. Some of you have heard me tell the story of how I came to find him after my wife died in childbirth, and how on that journey I had fallen and broken my leg. He had helped me heal, and eventually sent me home. This was 6 months later. It had been a hard 6 months without my beloved wife, trying to take care of the infant she had borne me as she died in childbirth. Trying to take care of my other children, and my sheep.

I knew I had a community I could turn to. I knew I could have given the sheep to others, and taken us all back into the Essene community, who would welcome us with loving arms. I knew I would be cared for. But there was this small ego that said, “I”—Nathaniel was my name in that lifetime—“I, Nathaniel, have to do this. I have to conquer this.” So I was forcing myself instead of opening my heart to myself and this fear, pain and grief. His anger, I cannot really call it anger, it was compassionate anger but I experienced the strong thrust of it, awakened me to what I was doing to myself. So I needed to hear him. But what I heard at first was anger. “He's assaulting me! He's yelling at me! The man I love most in the world, even he does not see my pain.” But of course it was because he saw my pain that he was willing to offer a very strong statement of, “No, you may not wallow in pity!” It was the same “no” he gave to those three boys. “NO! Stop feeling so sorry for yourself. Stop losing your truth in fear and negativity. Come home to the loving heart.”

I wept, and he embraced me. Through that cold, dark night, many loving friends came and sat beside me. The next day we walked for hours in bare feet in the snow, without robes or food. It was a hard trip for us all. No one complained. We all felt the love and power of his presence beside us, and gratitude to be with him and together. Finally we reached others who helped us, fed and warmed and clothed us.  

Through the days that followed, I had a chance to release some of the fear and tension of the self-imposed hardship of prior months, and to heal. Had he walked up to me that night and said (softly), “Oh, Nathaniel, why are you so sad? Don't worry, it will be okay.” I would have entirely rejected those words. I needed his strong NO to wake me up. NO! Don't sink into the negative aspect of yourself, which is always going to arise at times. But remember when that negative aspect of the self does arise, a sit will, that the divine self is right there with it. Turn again and again to that divinity.

It is in these ways that he spoke to this transition, although it would be 2,000 years before we had crested the hill, so to speak, as you are doing now. Consciousness was in a different place in those days. We were just getting out of the eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth kind of thinking. We were just beginning to see the possibilities of the power of love. So no, he did not lecture us about transition. He assisted each of us to enter into that transition in consciousness, to remember who we are.

Many of you come to me feeling sadness and self-anger. You talk to me about feelings of guilt, shame, and unworthiness, condemning the self that you should not be feeling jealousy or greed, should not feel resentment toward others. My only reply is, can you have compassion for yourselves? As long as you're in a physical body, you're going to feel physical sensations. This is part of the human experience. As long as you're in a human body, you're going to feel emotions, and some of them are going to be painful. These painful sensations and emotions are not there to defeat you. They are there to help you remember the power of compassion that is innate to your being, and to know who you are.

You are so powerful, all of you, and you so easily forget how powerful you are. As you come into this time of awakening to your true divinity and the power of that divinity, it is important to remember the deep interconnections between you. The small ego self is not all-powerful, but the divine essence of you is powerful.

The young folks sitting in the back of the room, do you remember the year that I asked you if you could lift a big man who was sitting in a chair, and all of you said no? (they are nodding ‘yes' and smiling) Then I asked, could you do it together? And together you were all able to lift his chair, lift him up in the air. Yes, alone you cannot do it. Together it was not hard.

Together you are bringing forth this shift in consciousness. None of you can do this alone. You each must do your own work, yes. But also, it is so important to share the path with friends, to hold the vision with friends, and to see the reflection of your own divinity in your friends' divinity. It's so easy to forget who you are. So we have to keep looking in each others' eyes again and again and remembering, “I am that divinity. I am that.” We see the beauty in our friends, and we remember. And we start to trust, “I also have that radiance in me. I also have that power in me.”

You see that others are not, I want to phrase this carefully, others are cautious of the possibility to misuse their power, but they are not afraid of their power, only increasingly committed not to misuse that power. It's very easy to abuse power. It's much harder to use power consciously and with love. You learn that skill from each other and seeing how others do it.

This transition into non-dual consciousness on the Earth, this transition into a higher density, higher vibration on Earth, depends on each one of you. All of you who are in this room are old souls, every one. All of you have chosen to come into incarnation at this time because of the intention to help bring Earth into a higher vibration more deeply based in love. This does not mean there's not going to be any more negativity on the Earth. Unfortunately, there will continue to be mayhem, murder, and greed. But instead of greeting these things with hatred, the more you are able to greet them with Jeshua's compassion that said, “NO! You may not kill this creature, you may not torture,” the more you are able to offer that compassionate ‘no' to fear, the more you will be able to change the world, to help people shift out of their own fear-base and remember who they are, to remember the possibilities in themselves.

Six or seven years ago I had the joy to speak by telephone with a young man in Palestine, a long distance phone call. We had a very valuable hour together in which he told me of his extraordinary pain in seeing his beloved land and friends and people torn apart by fear and hatred. He expressed how helpless he felt, so alone. How could he change anything? He felt on the one hand that he wanted to escape, simply to leave and go to another country and just leave the situation. And on the other hand, he felt, “I took birth here for a reason.” So he asked me, “Why am I here?” I pointed out to him how much power he had in the loving compassion he felt for the world around him, and how, for each person with whom he shared his concerns, shared the possibility of peace, how this literally could shift his world.

As we talked, he began to see that he was not helpless. He began to see how he had denied his power because he was afraid of the rage he felt for what was going on around him. But as he made space for his anger, he could use that anger as positive energy, bringing forth deeper compassion and saying no with compassion, even to the point where he might be endangering himself to say no, if he was ready to go to that length. I told him he did not have to do that. He did not have to endanger himself. He should say no to the degree that he could do it. There was no right or wrong to it.

So I heard from him about 8 months later. And he had connected with many likeminded others. They were beginning to create small demonstrations. They were beginning to do service work for people, not just Palestinians but people of any sort who were suffering in the area in which they lived; to help people find food, to help orphans, to help provide blankets and clothing for people, free of concern for the person's personal affiliations or beliefs. This work was creating a vast ripple effect where people were starting to connect with each other, not as Palestinian, Jew, or whatever, but simply as humans. He said suddenly he realized how powerful he had always been, and that he perhaps had been afraid of that power. But now he knew that it was safe to wield that power in loving ways and for the highest good.

One more story about Jeshua. Let me think of an appropriate one.

Many Bible words and stories have been distorted. But there is an essence of truth that underlies it,. I'm sure all of you have read in the Bible the story of his so-named Sermon on the Mount, a place of his deepest verbal teaching to people. It did not happen in exactly the way the Bible describes it, but yes, he stood up before a large group of people and spoke his deepest truth.

What is not said in the scriptures is that the night before he gave that talk, he was afraid. He thought, “People will misunderstand me. They will distort my words. They will misuse my words for their own selfish needs. People will not understand.”

He realized at that time, “I have a choice. I can act in fear and not speak my truth because people could misunderstand me. Or I can act with love, knowing that I can be misunderstood and I cannot control that. But I still choose to speak my truth, because that's all I really have to offer.”

So he stood up there and spoke. And you know what he said. It is a bit distorted in the scripture translations, but close enough. He said, as I have been reminding you:

“You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.

Yet there are ways that what he said have been misunderstood. People will always misunderstand and try to use teachings for their own good when they're on a negative track, caught in fear. Thus people quote his words to make a statement of blanket wrongness against certain acts or ways of thinking, to serve their own rigid views. Lacking compassion, people become inflexible. Please trust that somewhere inside them is this sacred light, and that your words will touch them. Your actions will spark off this light and connect with it. If you speak your truth with love, even if you're attacked for speaking your truth, good in the end will come of it.

This is the way this transition will happen, with each of you entering into the place of your own deepest truth, speaking with love, working skillfully with your fear and anger so as not to enact it, acknowledging it but not trying to bludgeon it to death. It is okay that there's fear, greed, and anger there. You are human. The light is there. Keep moving through the darkness to find the light. Cherish the light, and see it in each other's hearts. This is the only way this Earth will move through this transition into the higher consciousness, on the path that He, I would not say initiated but awakened us to, back 2,000 years ago. Of course, that path had already been opened by others. And this beloved Master came and helped us remember what it was we came to do. Most of us were too afraid to do it then. Now you're here again 2,000 years later. Nobody is asking you to be crucified. It's not that hard. Just love with your heart and speak your truth.

Let me pause here and see what questions you have. I'm happy to tell other stories. I'd rather hear what you need to hear.

Q: Can you tell us something about Mary Magdalene?

Aaron: Mostly that she was strong, wise, compassionate. She is one who was caught up in belief in her own negativity and, with Jeshua's help, broke through that belief, to know her divinity. She had taken birth as a truly high vibrational being, but she had agreed at her birth to lose herself a bit into confusion and darkness, to deepen in compassion, and to move out of that confusion and darkness as a way of modeling the path for others. She did that for us all.

The pictures of his disciples show men, but of course she was a foremost disciple and a part of the inner circle, a very loving and powerful being, and beloved to Him.

Others?

Q: I have read in some of the other stories that Jesus often prayed silently. Were there times when he also prayed verbally with a group?

Aaron: Not often. He was of the Jewish tradition, and he recited some of the core Jewish prayers. If he went to the synagogue, he recited those prayers with the others. In his Sermon on the Mount he says; “do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others.” But only some people pray just to make show of the self. He also understood that people of deep clarity and love could come together to join voices in prayer. He respected that but it was not his first choice for himself. he had a personal relationship with the one he regarded as the Father. He was not comfortable with men coming together because it allowed those with big egos to show off their spirituality or religiosity, to make a big show of themselves in front of others. He preferred simple quiet communion with God. He felt that each being needed to find that place of connection with the divine. When your heart and God's heart are together, then you know your radiance and divinity. You're no longer stuck in the small ego self. We're not trying to get rid of the small ego self, only to remind ourselves it's not the boss. There is the divine essence. Within that divine heart, God and I are one.

I think of waves on the ocean, a deep, still water and tumultuous waves on the surface, which will eventually calm down. We don't try to stop the waves, we just sink down into the depths. So his prayer was more of that nature, to teach others and to remind himself—I would phrase it differently—to teach others; he had no need to remind himself; he was always in that depth. When he slipped into a human tension, sadness, anger, confusion, as certainly did happen, he so quickly grounded himself into the divine, because there was never a separation for him.

This was very important to me, because for me, God was still “out there.” And he kept reminding me, no, God is right here. So there's no need for spoken prayers to God. But we do them because the community expects us to do them and to support others who are still looking for the inner radiance. We'll go to the temple and pray with others, because that's a kind thing to do.

Have you encountered the Lord's Prayer in Aramaic? This is probably the clearest of his spoken prayers. And of course the present-day translation in Aramaic is not completely accurate. But it basically is:

(inserted later, to replace Aaron's initial phrasing of it. Here are two versions)

A Translation of "Our Father" directly from the Aramaic into English (rather than from Aramaic to Greek to Latin to old English to modern English)

O cosmic Birther of all radiance and vibration. Soften the ground of our being and carve out a space within us where your Presence can abide.

Fill us with your creativity so that we may be empowered to bear the fruit of your mission.

Let each of our actions bear fruit in accordance with our desire.

Endow us with the wisdom to produce and share what each being needs to grow and flourish.

Untie the tangled threads of destiny that bind us, as we release others from the entanglement of past mistakes.

Do not let us be seduced by that which would divert us from our true purpose, but illuminate the opportunities of the present moment.
For you are the ground and the fruitful vision, the birth, power and fulfillment, as all is gathered and made whole once again.

Alternate Translations:

Abwoon d'bwashmaya 

(King James V version: Our Father which art in heaven)

O Birther! Father-Mother of the Cosmos!

Nethqadash shmakh 

(King James V version: Hallowed be thy name)

Focus your light within us--make it useful!

Teytey malkuthakh 

(King James V version: Thy kingdom come)

Desire with and through us universal fruitfulness of the earth.

or  - Create your reign of unity now!

Nehwey tzevyanach aykanna d'bwahmaya aph b'arha 

(King James V version: Thy Will be done in earth, as it is in heaven)

Your one desire then acts with ours, as in all light, so in all forms

Hawvlan lachma d'sunqanan yaomana 

(King James V version: Give us this day our daily bread)

Grant what we need each day in bread and insight.

Wahboqlan khaubayn (wakhtahayn) aykanna daph khnan shbwoqan

l'khayyabayn 

(King James V version: And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors)

Loose the cords of mistakes binding us, as we release the strands we hold of others' guilt.

Or - Lighten our load of secret debts as we relieve others of their need to repay.

Wela tahlan l'nesyuna  Ela patzan min bisha 

(King James V version: And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil)

Don't let surface things delude us, But free us from what holds us back from our true purpose

Or - Deceived neither by the outer nor the inner--free us to walk your path with joy.

Metol dilakhie malkutha wahayla wateshbukhta l'ahlam almin. Ameyn. 

(King James V version: For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.)

may these statements be the ground from which all my actions grow in trust and faith.

Or - To you belongs all ideals, energy, glorious harmony -- during every cosmic cycle; the vital force producing and sustaining all life, every virtue.

He did practice meditation, and often went into the wilderness, to be silent. He understood the value of silence, to deeply and stably rest in that inner heart of love. In the end I don't think he needed it so much for himself but continued to do it as a reminder to others.

Others?

Q: Did he ever speak about going to the east, like Asia, to learn meditation?

Aaron:  Yes. At a point in his adolescence, he traveled in other lands. He learned from the Druids in England. He learned much in Asia. He encountered many great masters, who taught him some of the deeper meditation and other spiritual practices. When I say taught him, reminded him. He did not need to be taught, as many of you do not need to be taught. Some of you come to our vipassana classes and you say, “I've been doing that all of my life. I never knew what it was called.” You remember.

These masters helped him to remember things that he had long known. But he was human, and as a human, he had forgotten. So it was vital for him to remember.

You are wondering if there is any one practice that he learned. He learned to understand the multitude of tools, and that no one tool was better than another, but that each was suitable for different personalities and dispositions. He did not so much teach these tools to people. That was not his way. The Buddha was the one who taught the tools and even he more modeled than taught them. Jeshua simply understood the tools and knew that eventually they would all flow out and reach the people who needed them. His job was not to teach these tools.

But he modeled the fact that they were important to him by practicing. So when he said to us who walked with him, “Go now and be quiet,” we knew he wasn't saying, “Go to sleep,” but inviting us to move into that inner heart, each in our own ways. Every night we ended our gatherings in this way, and he would often sit through the night, gaining his rest in that inner communion.  Many of us had learned the practice of meditation in the Essene community in our childhood, or elsewhere, and others of us simply remembered these practices. So we really didn't need instruction, as many of you don't need so much instruction.

One practice that he avoided, and I find it interesting that I never saw him encourage this practice, is the deep concentration practice you call jhanna. He knew how to do these practices. He moved deep into these states. He saw others move into these states. I think his concern was that it was too easy for people to move into a place that was separate from human experience, become attached to the peace and bliss of that space, and avoid human experience. Much of his teaching was about staying connected with human experience. He did not speak negatively of concentration states; he simply did not practice or teach it in any way.

He had a very powerful ability to astrally project out of his body, to astrally travel anywhere. He had a very deep understanding of energy practices, harmonics, transmutation. He understood how important all of these would be in the world to come. But at that point in the world, for the most part, people were not yet ready for these practices. People were just trying to come out of the darkness of self-identify with anger and negativity. This needed to be a gradual progression.

But Jeshua is just as available to you all now as he was 2,000 years ago, and many of the great masters of those days are available to you. And now you're ready for these practices, ready to understand how to use energy, harmonics, light and the power of the heart to literally create change in the world. So there's a lot of interest now in these practices. You're ready for them. Does this answer your question?

Many of you were part of the Essene community where Jeshua lived, of 2,000 years ago, or similar communities, and many of you, of course, also lived in Lemurian times. Many of you are just beginning to remember the deep trainings from Lemuria, and how to use this energy, harmonics, light, love, and so forth, to change the world. When I spoke earlier of Jeshua's willingness to speak his own truth, some of you have some fear, because you find yourself “different” from some other people  in the ways that you see and understand. You have dim memories and you don't always trust your memories. They are so beautiful and the world can seem so harsh. They are so empowered and in the world you feel small and vulnerable.  

The important thing here is to trust your heart's intention to service for the highest good of all beings and without harm, and then to allow yourself to move into what you remember, to ask for guidance to remember and how to enact this in the present day world. It must be done with humility. You are not better than others because you have these memories or skills; you are the servants. The servant, the one who takes care of others. This does not mean you are better. You are the servant. Let that help you to do your work with humility and with love and trust. For each of you, the path will more fully open the more you trust. You have not come here in this incarnation by mistake.

Other questions?

Q: I'm from Iran. My people in Iran are facing a regime that is killing the people every day. They execute a lot of young people every day, any age, a lot. How should it be possible for these people to get rid of this regime with love? Because every day a lot of people have been killed by this regime, and nothing has changed from 30 years ago.

Aaron: (repeats for tape and telephone conference call) The woman is speaking of the killing going on in her home country, Iran, and how can people learn to say no with love to the terrible killing that's going on?

I don't have an easy answer for you. Through the history of mankind, people have killed other people. It has been proved that killing and hatred only beget more killing and hatred. Jesus said, “Turn the other cheek,” and yet how often can you turn the other cheek? How many people can you allow to be killed? How DO you say no when somebody is not yet mature enough to catch on and finally stop killing? It takes a great deal of love and faith.

One moment, please... I think you all know that occasionally other beings incorporate in Barbara beside me. Other beings channel through. Many of you have met the Mother channeling through Barbara. When a great being incorporates in Barbara's body, it's just one thread of that energy. She doesn't have the power to hold that entire being. If you imagine an ocean and a trickle of that ocean flows through as a small stream, it's still the ocean, but it's only one piece of that ocean. And yet it is a direct expression of that ocean.

If you are comfortable with his coming through, the one you know of as Jeshua would like to speak directly to this question. Is there anyone who would be uncomfortable with that?  (all say no; they want him to come in) You do not have to believe he's real any more than you have to believe I'm real. You can simply see it as some expression of Barbara's imagination. No problem with that. But perhaps he is better equipped to answer your question than I am.

(Jeshua incorporates)

Jeshua: Thank you for calling me forth. My love to you. And as my brother Aaron says, you do not have to believe I am real. I am the one you have called Jeshua ben Joseph from those times. And of course I have lived in many other lives, as well.

You ask a vital question that brought me forth to speak here, because it is the question that all of you are asking in your hearts. It's not just about Iran; it's about the slaughter going on all over your world, of people, animals and the earth. There are people who are so deeply negative in their outer presentations. There is truly an oppositionality in these days, of light and darkness, of lower and higher consciousness. The more light you broadcast, the more darkness steps forth to say, “We will conquer the light.” But darkness can never conquer light, because darkness in its essence is light, light that is covered, shaded so that it cannot shine forth, yet still light. There is no duality in your world; there is only light.

The more of you that stand firmly in the expression of the light, the more what some call the loyal opposition comes forth to try to overwhelm you. If you give way to despair and hatred, they are winning. If you deeply trust the power of light in yourselves, all of you, to bring forth that light, to live that light even if you as the humans die, the more radiantly the light will shine.  I'm not talking about making martyrs of yourselves. You don't have to be hung on crosses or bombed into oblivion. But can you hold the power of light in your own heart with your neighbors, with your parents and children? With those around you who are angry? Who are arrogant? Who are hostile and afraid? This fear is the essence of it. They are so afraid. They are so afraid that that light within them has been hidden and seems dimmed to such an invisible flicker. Only kindness can allow it to emerge.

In a specific place like your country, that has to happen one person to another. These armies that kill people, they are sons and daughters of mothers and fathers. They are parents of children. They are human beings. If you approach them as an army of monsters, they will be an army of monsters. But when there is a universal movement of loving humans to talk, one to another, of the possibilities of the open heart, of forgiveness and love, gradually the shift will occur. It takes enormous courage, because when you speak in that way, you could be killed. I understand that.

Those who would be servants of the light need to know that the light within them can never die. When that light flickers, another light will catch the flame and will light up. It can never die. It's one to one to one, passing this light, so that each being begins to find that emergence of light in themselves. This is the only way you will transform your world, one to one. Always knowing the light in yourself, the divinity in yourself.

These wars come at a time of transition on your earth that has been awaited for millennia. You are now at a crossroads where you may have the opportunity to demonstrate the power of love, or fall back into the trap of fear for further ages. Each being must make the choice. Which do you choose? The whole earth, even the ground upon which you walk, is trembling with a readiness for love!

It is said in your scriptures that “I am the way.” That “I” doesn't mean me, Jeshua, it means the “I AM” presence, the light in each of you. This is the way. You are the way, that radiant aspect of each being. This love, the innate base of your being, is the way. Fear will exist in the world. How do you address that fear? If fear breeds more fear and you do not attend to the fear in yourself, you become a source of fear. How do you, daughter, go into your own heart and your pain, your anguish for your country, your family, your friends, and find forgiveness and compassion for the fear and pain of those who enact horror? This is the starting point, forgiveness and compassion.

I am with you. Not just me as Jeshua, but all that I am as the Heart of Light. I am always with you because you are me. You are the light. I am not other than you but we reflect the radiance, each to each.  I walk with you always. Thank you.

(Aaron reincorporates)

Aaron: I am Aaron. So, a bit of thinking from the Source, as it were. In our Christmas stories, we have never brought Jeshua in directly before. It is a great treat and honor to have him here with us.

One more question, perhaps, and then we'll turn you over to the cookies and conversation. (long pause) Jeshua is a hard act to follow, so if you have no questions, that's okay!

Q: Did Jeshua speak of the Mother as he spoke of the Father, Abba?

Aaron: I think there's a semantic difficulty here. Abba is the Aramaic word that means Daddy. And yet it also means “that out of which I spring,” the Divine or Eternal, and this eternal is not male or female. It encompasses both mother and father. So when he spoke “Abba”, he was speaking of the masculine, the Father, and also speaking of the totality of divinity in its male and female aspects, out of which we all spring. While there is a relative plane mother and a father,  Mother and Father are one on the ultimate level.

We could see his devotion to the divine feminine through his love of his mother and of Mary Magdalene, and in general, his reverence for woman. In the Essene community there was not a sharp distinction made between men and women. Women could bear children, yes. There was little else that women could do that men could not do. And there was really nothing that men could do that women could not do.

Women were deeply respected teachers. Some of the highest teachers within the community, those who taught the highest initiations, such as what we call the resurrection initiation, and the crucifixion initiation for that matter, were women. The crucifixion initiation involved learning how to lower the body energy to a point that it seemed as if the body had ceased to exist. The whole of body processes was slowed down to that extent. Another part of the crucifixion initiation was the willingness to face one's own deepest demons, and move through any fear of those demons; to fully embrace and connect so there was no sense of a  self or other about the demons. This is the practice we've done with Milarepa's putting your head in the demon's mouth.

The resurrection initiation involved practices of light, harmonics, especially. Energy practices. A triangulation of energy was employed so that the energy gathered into one place could raise the energy in another place, through triangulation bringing it together. Toning, harmonics, a various  energy practices were the tools.

My point here is that for many of these practices, women were the most advanced practitioners and teachers. He had enormous respect for there maturity and skill. Many of His disciples were not nearly as advanced in many ways. They had some power and were loving human beings. But they were not nearly as advanced in some of these energy practices.

So, one last story. When he was born, my father brought me down from the hillside. I have told that story and it is in the archives. I had a young lamb that I carried and gave to Mary  for the Infant Jeshua. I was a small boy named Nathaniel. He was a newborn infant. I was so joyful to meet him and He smiled at me. Mary, who knew me from the Essene community, asked me to keep that lamb for him until he should be able to return.

Then he was taken away to safety, and I next saw him as a small boy and I about five years older. He had not seen me in those years, of course. He probably had been told, “Your friend Nathaniel has a lamb for you when you come home.” But he didn't know who Nathaniel was. He knew none of this in a conscious way.

I was living in our Essene community, and we knew he was coming so my father had had me bring the lamb, now a grown sheep with her own lamb, down from the hills. They came into the village, to the community, and we were all filled with joy to see him and his family. I'll never forget the moment, as he walked in and he looked up at me. I was holding the younger lamb, and he set eyes on me and he said, “Nathaniel!” He came running toward me,  hugged me and took the lamb.

Our eyes connected, and we remembered each other, not from that moment in infancy when we had met, but from many lifetimes before, from our souls' plan for this lifetime. And we loved each other.

So that is my first conscious memory of the more mature little boy Jeshua rather than the infant, and of Jeshua's first recognition of me as his friend in this lifetime. I've had the opportunity, when Jeshua has channeled through our friend Judith Coates, Jeshua and I have had some wonderful conversations and with Mary, also channeled through Judith. Mary reminded us of that moment, asking us,  “Do you remember?” and Jeshua remembered, and I remembered.

I'm sharing this with you because so many of you have known each other before, and are gathered here in this lifetime with specific work to do. Some of you feel that soul level of recognition, one to another, and yet you feel shy. You might wish to overcome that shyness a bit. Come out and embrace each other as Jeshua embraced me that day. You might even have to say, “I don't know your name in this incarnation, but I love you, and I recognize you.” Love one another. That's what he taught. When we begin our break, please find these remembered ones and share the hugs.

Trust yourselves and your divinity. You are doing fine. You are doing the work you came to do. Just keep going.

Now go in and enjoy your cookies and your party. Thank you very much for this opportunity to be with you.

(session ends)

21