Manjushri on the Shower of Spirit
We all know, we are living in an extraordinary moment of modern history, full of rapid changes and complex challenges to our ways of life. Manjushri lays out a very wide view of what is happening, and how we can flourish in its midst.
I have been feeling a prompt or a nudge for several days, that it is time to ask Manjushri for a Teaching about what is actually underway in the world, on the large scale. I have been so absorbed with my own profound journey this last year, I’ve essentially ignored the larger context of my life and of the Teachings I so gratefully receive. Recently I have received questions from several friends about what is going on, and I’ve promised to ask him.
Yes. An excellent idea and question, for a very great deal is underway, and as you know, the most skillful students strive to stay in alignment with these energies.
In a sentence, this is full blown Shower of Spirit. Our first Teachings for you, years ago, were meant to prepare you and your readers mentally, for this profound infusion of new energy and therefore new views and new opportunities for consciousness. We focused then on some preliminaries, and then invited you to pay attention to all that obstructs your awareness and your responsiveness to such phenomena. We grouped those barriers into a long discussion of fear, its origins, its forms of operation, and helpful strategies for eliminating those patterns and habits.
This has gone well, and it has been well received. Now, the second book of Teachings, which nears completion, develops those Teachings in several ways, which we hope will be useful to the students. It focuses on deep healing, for your world and country and community are all in need, terrible need. The suffering is deep and widespread, and the emergence of these new forms of communication has led nearly every person alive to recognize this. Never before have so many understood the profound reality of human suffering, in the heart of every person. It is a remarkably auspicious time, and the Teachers are full of joy.
Many people around the world recognize two aspects of this planetary transition: it is manifesting in the realm of human awareness or consciousness, and it offers a vision of the interdependence of all forms of life. Your world is abloom with countless spiritual practices and teachers, who reflect a stunning variety and creativity. There is a path or a practice or a dominant metaphor for every living person – truly a remarkable situation! The challenging aspect of all of this is the speed at which the planet’s very atmosphere is changing, forcing adaptation upon every species of life – plant and animal, tiny and huge. There is no escape from this pressure cooker of a world, and many are unable to adapt quickly enough. Your world is transformed from within itself, in full view. For some, it spurs attempts to calm the heating of the planet. For others, it feeds the old responses of denial and blame. That divide also marks those whose consciousness is available for transformation, and those who will “sit it out” until a future incarnation. Learning difficult things can be very slow and arduous, and you are watching it, everywhere. To avoid your own fall into despair, you must practice a much wider view, especially of time. It will take lifetimes for some people to see what is right in front of them, but their full engagement is not necessary for the rest of you. Send them encouragement, and help them with their deep fears, as best you can. And then, let go.
So, what is this beautifully named Shower of Spirit? We teased you a while ago, saying you had apparently imagined it as a lovely soft soak in a gentle rain. Ah, no. Perhaps “shower” is not such an apt word. Perhaps now we should call it a tsunami, a volcanic eruption, a palpable shift of cosmic tectonic plates, or a flood reminiscent of the story of Noah? The language must capture its tremendous power, its range, its relentlessness, and its cosmic origins.
Yes, we recognize we are sliding into the long human tradition of apocalypse, of End Times, of Destruction and New Beginnings. But that is not what we see. For all those images arose out of a deep awareness of evil, of sin, of human corruption and ignorance and depravity. That is absolutely not the situation, not at all. That is the widespread temptation of despair. No, that is not an option now, not for any whose path is shaped by expanding awareness.
This is not a vision of destruction. It is not loud or aggressive or violent. It is born out of human silence, emerging without force within the heart center of countless humans. It is the path of healing, of dissolving fear, and of welcoming kindness. We must teach you about Spirit, for this is the unstoppable incursion of Spirit within the existing forms of consciousness. Less than a “shower,” it is more a flood rising up from the very roots of life itself. So many of you are already drenched to your knees!
You live in a three-dimensional world, with time imposed upon it. The reality of Spirit is not contained, cannot be contained, within three dimensions or time. This is so difficult for humans to grasp, or even imagine. The realm of Spirit has always held or contained the human realm, the realm of planets and physical beings and forces. This is the realm so aptly described by Newton.
Apparently, this little experiment of the cosmos required its own protected space, perhaps something like one of those glass Christmas balls with a little scene inside it. Shake it, and it seems to snow! The experiment has gone so very well, in its protected enclosure.
Imagine, then, that that enclosure becomes porous, and that its environment of Spirit, of that fundamental energy of the cosmos, begins to seep in. Or, imagine a multi-dimensional space intersecting with the Newtonian, three-dimensional space known to you, with an infinite number of points of contact. You could name it, Indra’s Net Gone Wild!
How could an earthly mind begin to comprehend such an event or reality or process? That would be as if we asked your puppy to please write a sequel to Bach’s B-minor Mass!
Please let this just settle into the back of your mind. You will begin to see countless connections – abstract art, astrophysics, multi-dimensional geometry, literary forms never seen before, avantgarde music, and much more.
This is an important Teaching for you and your readers. We will help you to send it out into the world. But first, we will teach you more about Spirit, the other part of that signal phrase. We wish the students to be able to live safely and joyfully within this framework. There is immense freedom here, for all of you.
Heat, of course, is energy, as is Spirit. As is life itself and the visible world where you live. Energy manifests in an infinite range of frequencies, and that simple fact stands at the origin of temperature, form, vibration, sound, and life in all its dazzling variety. Spirit is its primal origin; it is what released what cosmologists name “the Big Bang.” Every creation myth around the world starts with the emergence of light, the creation of light. It is a powerful intuition of this beginning, which cannot be known. And it is this “beginning which cannot be known” which we name Spirit. It could also be named Source, but Source as active energy pouring out into the now-emerging space.
All this is unknowable, not only to humans, but also to us, we who live in other realms. We too bow before its magnificence and its mysteriousness. At the most fundamental level, being cannot know its origins. We share with you awe, wonder, and rhapsody. We too resonate with the deep vibrations of the cosmos. It is why we are able to communicate with each other, even across these vast spaces.
How does this help us speak of Spirit? We have said to you before, the cosmos – the energy of Source – intends, always a tricky word as we always remind you, intends for life in form to flourish. Indeed, Source intends life, for it intends all the manifestations of energy, life and not-life. We often name that compassion. And this is why, just to gather up some loose ends here, we have taught you about fear, how fear causes blockages and suffering, and then, how to heal what blocks the free flow of the vast compassion of Spirit and its energy. To its warmth, its power to enliven, and its gifts of insight and ease and freedom.
We will return to warmth shortly. But first, please remember, that every spiritual tradition offers a path of healing in the service of compassion and wisdom. The paths are many, as you know, but the initial heart longings and the ultimate destinations are one. Truly, all of humanity at all times shares that longing, whether aware of it or not. And because you share this, you are related to every other person, without exception, and they, with you. Recognizing this is the path of awareness, and then creating a world from that realization is the task. This literally says it all.
One mark of Spirit is warmth. Your language is full of this insight: You warmed my heart with your call. I feel warmly towards her. With the warmth of spring, plants emerge. Etc. You already know, warmth signals more life energy, more flourishing, and more abundance.
Except when it doesn’t. Except when it signals danger. And so you face the paradox of Spirit pouring its high energy into your earthly world, prompting an explosion of seekers, contemplatives, reformers, visionaries, and lovers of the people, while your planet is rife with wildfires, drought, rising oceans, pandemics, and unimaginably vast suffering on every continent. There seems to be more warmth than the planet can absorb and use, essentially because of human activity. Meanwhile, another form of energy is drenching earthly life, stimulating great expansions of consciousness. Compassion and wisdom are flourishing. Eventually, that will enable people to counter the human contribution to planetary warming. But at this moment, there is a great gap between knowledge and appropriate responses. Plenty of people recognize this. What is to be done?
You already know what must be done, on the concrete level of public, daily life. Reduce the consumption of stored energy such as fossil fuels and rely on the more than adequate sources of solar and wind energy. Reduce in that way the release of CO2. Limit economic growth, control the outrage of consumerism and greed, and bend your policies towards equity, sustainability, and cooperation. You don’t need the Teachers to lay all this out.
But the other dimension must also be addressed – the healing of human hearts to allow for the natural flow of kindness and the recognition of interrelatedness among all beings. That energy flow is what allows the visions of sustainability and cooperation to give shape to your emerging communities. This is not hard to understand. All the resources and skills needed to address their profound imbalance are already fully accessible to you. What we hope is that this vision of their fundamental interconnectedness may release you all from your narrow little systems of blame and rage and fear, of us and them, of all those binaries which prevent you from powerful creative thinking. It must seem like an impossible conceptual leap, and for some it will be. But not for the students. The work now is to open to this great flow of Spirit and expand deep recognition of your interdependence and interrelatedness with all beings. From compassion and wisdom will emerge the necessary vision and determination to resolve the dangerous over-heating of your planet and its atmosphere. It is really simply a question of timing: CO2 emissions got way ahead of the natural flow of compassion in human hearts. This can and will resolve itself. The students must hold the long view.
Energy is energy is energy. It is neutral. It is itself. It is life, and it is non life. It is really all there is. This is not about good and evil, not at all. It is not a time for judgment. It is a time for profound healing, for individuals, for communities, for your world. This is well within your reach, truly. Open to this downpour of Spirit and let it energize and guide you. It is the greatest call imaginable to fullness of life.
This message IS universally KNOWN by ALL! WE MUST REMEMBER!
Fabulous, dearest Penny! I know exactly what you are talking about and am with you 100% on this! You are spot-on.
And I think what you are referring to is what Sri Aurobindo and Mother defined as “the Supramental”…
We must give each other and ourselves a little ‘grace’ each day. It won’t solve world problem but it’s a start.
Thank you Penny and Manjushri