transformation | Alisa Battaglia

By Alisa Battaglia

Contrary to what some people might believe, there is nothing wrong with having pleasures and enjoyments. What is wrong is the confused way we grasp onto these pleasures, turning them from a source of happiness into a source of pain and dissatisfaction. ~Lama Thubten Yeshe, “Introduction to Tantra”

Whenever a nation stands aloof from virtue and ethics as its epicenter it is beguiled by sense reality. And to the extent that materialism succeeds, humanity becomes inwardly weak from focus on the externals. A preoccupation with buying, selling, loss and gain prevails in the absence of love and goodness. This is a major factor in deterioration, as vested interests lurk around with selfish motives and ambition. Materialism is a fraud against humanity since it masquerades as something virtuous.

As the world of the senses takes over wisdom is clouded. This enfeebling is happening all over the world today as pressures to conform echo borrowed thoughts. What influence will today’s controlled multitude have on the new generation? Wisdom is required to turn the tide. “Wisdom avoids going through the experience of trial and error; it is awakened by the clarity within that sets one free from illusions and deceptions” (J. Krishnamurti).

Very few of us work on piercing through our projected deceptions and save ourselves from the commotion of a wasted life—duty bound and irresponsible at the same time. Education prepares to teach us how to fit into a job quashing the potential to be more humane and connected to the living world. We are taught to solve problems and go through the motions without realizing that there are no problems at all apart from the mind. Problems always relate to fear and self-centeredness. Insecurity is a permanent stamp upon humanity and self is an abstraction manufactured by thought. So, do we really have problems or are we just in doubt, fearful and self-centered? Where is the “clarity” that dissolves all problems and the duality of thought itself?

When interpretation is based on opinion and assumption, it has little to do with reality and fragmentation continues to thrive. Through questioning, we can free ourselves from opinions, assumptions, beliefs, conclusions, and consequences. Self-discovery, not efficiency leads to new action founded on the need to express truth and love within, rather than ambition and motive. This is where transformation takes place.

Society will not change, but we can govern the law of our own being as we rise to the heights and relate with the reality within. We may not be able to do anything about government, but we can be aware of what is not ethical and then build our lives with self-responsibility for our own ethics and virtues. This is each our responsibility, to love one another as ourselves. To accept that responsibility is life transforming. And no-thing can defeat this inner shift.

The Kingdom is perfectly united and perfectly protected, and the ego will not prevail against it. Amen. ~ A Course in Miracles, I, pg 54.

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Fortified By the Flame

By Alisa Battaglia

We enter the earth plane fortified by the waters of life. Their magnetic forces imprint into our bodies a stream of beliefs carried from the past, vows and future contracts. Our minds are impressionable and conditioned by the part of the world we live in with its religious and cultural mores. Education or the lack of resources partakes in creating an external image of self. These factors and more shape our world, but none actually authenticates who we really are. Our faulty beliefs about self and the world we live are outgrown and ineffective as we dawn into a new awareness, a new world.

The tensions of inner and outer conflict are felt more than ever before as the world we once knew crumbles around us. As the Earth body reacclimatizes and the human family enters a reorganization of mind erecting new ideas, innovation and opportunity, we are each called to enter into a new heart of being. Linking the mind and the heart is the healing balm for humanity. It is the gateway to the fiery corridor in the purifactory process. A radical cleansing that none can escape. To walk through the corridor we must claim our courage. The level of our courage or resistance is directly proportional to how much we are liberated.

Friction between two opposing forces creates fire. Fire is the element of purification. When we consciously choose to no longer oppose ourselves, we forgive and surrender to the fire. First, dissolution must occur to allow for healing reorganization. As we surrender to the embers layers of our resistance burn away – we let go of attachments to our faulty beliefs that bind us in fear and pain. Once the smoke has cleared, we feel a congruency in what we think, feel, say and do. Healing reorganization aligns us into a freer, more truthful expression of self.

With a spirit of commitment, persistence, and focused action, we are encouraged to deepen, to remove yet another layer of resistance. The fires of purification rage as the primal ego demonically thrashes in a final attempt for control in dissolving the illusions of the false self. A new face emerges – exuberant, self-accepting, creative, and abundant in compassion and love. Out of this purified space, the will of the personality and the Soul desires integrate into creative union.

With freedom to cultivate, the all-consuming sacred flame burns brighter within. Fortified by the flame we initiate into the connective force of love and compassion to serve world cause via the embodiment of our Greater Self.