PILGRIMAGE

Dear ones,

So, I made my trip to the South of France with a girl friend and another couple of friends (July 9 to July 29), but what happened? I forgot the sole of my right shoe at home and since my left leg is (because of an operation at my hip years ago) longer than my right one, I had to stop walking after some days. My friend Eric walked 300 km from St. Guilhem-le-Désert to Castres.
I cannot tell how many signs of synchronicity I have had while living together with these friends.
Eric is rather Zen-minded and very apophatic in his thinking and living, while I wish to balance this with a more kataphatic/devotional approach.
But I was wondering again, why in the Catholic Church as I know it today, there is so little spoken of many important things you hear in New Age and other spiritual circles time and again.
When I came home, there were some books waiting for me:

[link=http://www.amazon.com/Art-Way-...amaoka/dp/0893463558]http://www.amazon.com/A...-...amaoka/dp/0893463558[/link]

[link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/Gentle...ervand/dp/0954932609]http://www.amazon.co.uk...e...ervand/dp/0954932609[/link]

[link=http://www.amazon.com/Inner-Ch...dition/dp/1570628106]http://www.amazon.com/I...h...dition/dp/1570628106[/link]

Before my trip, as I told before, I had received a harsh reaction of a Christian fundamentalist whom I know, about this so-called 'New Age' book about blessing.
I am reading it now and although I was always very reluctant towards books on 'positive thinking', which I find typically American, this book is different.

What about spiritual laws as the law of attraction, the golden mean, the law of projection, synchronicity and so forth...???

I am also more and more convinced that I have to go on further working with my breath and the so-called chi-point (still beneath the hara) together with visualization (and of course prayer). William Blake and many others spoke of the wonder of imagination and creativity.

I keep wondering, friends, how all this fits in with my being a Christian. What about figures like Ficino, della Mirandola, Fludd, von Bingen and many many others who knew of the importance of the hierarchical and analoguous worlds of cosmos and soul (above is beneath, inside is outside, coïncidentia oppositorum...)

See this:
[link=http://www.getty.edu/art/getty...tDetails?artobj=3278]http://www.getty.edu/ar...y...tDetails?artobj=3278[/link]

[link=http://tars.rollins.edu/Foreig...g/Russian/rutran.jpg]http://tars.rollins.edu...g...g/Russian/rutran.jpg[/link]

and notice this light of Christ spreading out not from the heart but the hara or chi!!!

The alchemists spoke in this respect of two stones. In the so-called pelvic floor, through exercise, there happens to emerge a fusion of energies, which makes up for the so-called 'lower' or 'minor' stone.
 
The second or 'major' stone (second fusion of energies on a higher level, in the heart) is the true 'stone of the wise', which makes possible the birth of Christ in the mystic heart. In terms of 'births' one can say that the Christ child first get created in the bowl/pelvic/womb and later, after a transformation process in the mystic heart.
 
With Mother Mary however this child was first born in her mystic heart (because of her purity), and then from within her womb.

Masters like von Dürckheim, his pupil Hetty Draayer and her pupil (and my teacher) Peter Kampschuur in the Netherlands, knew and know of all this!

Am I talking non-sense?
 
Why doesn't the church ever speak of f.e. the crucial role of the breath as is known in the Orthodox Church and all other traditions? Why all this rationalism and moralism, at least here where I live?

The book by Smoley is insightful but not very practical. It confirms however many things I always thought about.
 
Who read it? Some comment?

Greetings in Christ,
Fred

Am I talking non-sense?

 
Dear Fred,
Welcome back!
 
Yes, you are making perfect sense.
 
I shall have to come back to your post and look at the links etc, but what strikes me is the fact that you are searching in a slightly different way. I can't put it into words, but you sound different.
 
I think the Pilgrimage has been an 'opening' time for you.
 
As for the things you say the church doesn't teach or speak of. Probably they did in the early church, at least in some parts of the world. As with all things, religion gets interpreted and misinterpreted over time, and different thinkers put their own interpretations on it too. Nothing remains the same and that is why things have to be put to our hearts, or intuitive selves, and not just taken as true because someone says it is.
Personally I think the teachings of Christ are the essence of the Christian church, and more important than ritual, rules and dogma, which can be changed in what ever way present leaders think fit.
 
I think we forget that people in biblical times were just like us! No better or worse.
 
Blessings, Fred,
Jude

Love is the only way

P.S.
 
After a quick glance, the Smoley book looks very interesting.
 
As I've said before, I've no idea why Amazon are charging so much for Pierre Pradavand's book as it is freely available at a MUCH lower price. Between £6 and £7 here in Britain.

Love is the only way

http://www.victorykarate.com/articles/Chi.html !!!
 
Fred

Dear Fred,
The last link is an interesting one.
 
I'm not sure though, what they are saying about spirit.....or what they are meaning by spirit.
 
Every living thing has an energy field around it, even buildings because the materials used were once living things taken from the earth.
 
I'll go back and read some more later.
 
Jude

Love is the only way

Welcome home Fred . . .
I hope to hear some more of your pilgrimage
when you have time
with love . . .
sparrow

everything counts... ♥

Dear Sparrow,
 
I have written a diary, but it is not so extensive as my diary (in Dutch!) of my trip to India 3 years ago. I'll try to make something of it if I find the time. Our talks were very interesting and as I said everyone received lots of signs underway.
Do you know of interesting material on synchronicity?
I read Jung, Bolen... before.
 
Greetings,
Fred 

Dear friends,
 
This is a message I received from a very kind man, Pierre Pradervand. I intend to go to one of his seminars, maybe in December. I wish to share it with you all.
 
Dear Freddy,
Thank you for your long informative mail
For me, authentic spirituality means one simple thing: love, love, love and love still more.
ALL the rest is secondary.
That is why my utlimate prayer is:
SHINE AS ME, AND MAY I BE SO THEE
THAT ALL THOSE I ENCOUNTER MAY EXPERIENCE ME AS THY RADIANT PRESENCE THY UNCONDITIONAL LOVE.
MNAY THEY NO LONGER SEE ME, BUT
ONLY, ONLY, ONLY
THEE.
"Qu'il croisse et que je diminue" (St. John the Baptist), The rest is peanuts.
"He who DOETH the truth cometh to the light."
I am utterly uninterested in what school of thought a a person belongs to, only how they love and what quality of BEING they express.
I ignore many if not most of the references you mention.
As neither my time, the money that comes into my life, my energy, relationships and belongs, etc do not belong to me but to my aim of a world that works for all, I do not feel it right to spend a great deal of time discoursing intellectually and replying at that level to your honest, sincere mail which deeply touched me. I hope you understand. It is no lack of interest. Just that the Spirit tells me I need to invest the time in a way that will better forward the above goal.
However, if you come to a mountaintop workshop (see. www.vivreautrement.ch
) we will be able to talk more. This summer, people came from as far away as Tunisia and the States. One woman stated it was the most important experience in her life. All felt they had lived unconditional love in a totally judgement free space for a week
See for instance a video put on YouTube by the US participant of the last workshop:
http://www.youtube.com/user/CYI2009
 
With the gentlest rain of blessings on you
Loving thoughts
Pierre
PS: Pure love energy
 
 

Dear Fred,
I couldn't access the first link, but the video was beautiful! It looks like the perfect place to soothe the spirit and nourish the soul.
 
I like the way that Pierre Pradavand has cut right to the heart of what he believes, and concentrates of that.
 
My friend Jinny, I believe, has met Pierre and says he is a charming and gentle soul, as you would expect.
I hope you will get to one of his seminars, as I'm sure you are being led there.
 
Thank you for sharing this with us.
 
Blessings,
Jude

Love is the only way

Indeed Fred,
this man,
Pierre Pradervand,
sounds like a very kind and wise person.
yes . . .
it is not really so complicated at all,
is it?
"love, love, love and still more.
ALL the rest is secondary."
   ♥

everything counts... ♥

JESUS CHRIST!!!
 
Pierre Pradavan:
 
'Do you know the book my Mary Baker Eddy, Science and health with Key to the Scriptures? It is by far the best I have read on spiritual healing. Not always easy (written in 1875) but the last 100 pages are simply healings of people who were healed solely by reading the book.'
 
And this???
http://www.christianway.org/
 
http://www.watchman.org/profile/ChrSciProfile.htm
 
[link=http://www.carm.org/religious-movements/christian-science]http://www.carm.org/rel...ements/christian-science[/link]
 
http://www.atheists.org/Mary_Faker_Eddy_--
Christian_Science
 
Again in troubles, my God...Why?

Please friends, read this:
http://www.christianway.org/Personal%20Stories/testimony_of_Phil_Moser.htm
Fred

Dear Fred,
I long ago stopped looking at these different Christian  sects, and instead, look for things that ring true for me, whether they be Christian or not. My roots are Christian and I try to be a follower of Christ. In the past I have been both a Protestant and a Catholic, but it no longer bothers me to be anything in particular.
Some of these different sects actually make me angry, so it does me no good to go into them in any depth. Each to his own, so long as they are not harmful or hurting anyone.
 
I still like to visit churches, especially old ones, but not for services. I've nothing against them, they just do nothing for me anymore.
 
So, I'm not sure what you are worried about regarding these links. People have always had, and always will have different opinions about everything. It's what is true for you that counts.
The fact that Pierre Pradavand has said something about the Christian Science movement, means nothing really, as he says, he isn't interested in which ideology you follow. He is a deeply spiritual man dedicated to Love and Peace among all of mankind.
 
I, as you know, am a Healer. The Spiritual Healing art was begun by the Spiritualist Church, but is no longer affiliated to it or any other Church. They too are of all faiths and none.
 
Perhaps you could explain what it is that prompted you to post all the Christian Science links.
 
Blessings,
Jude

Love is the only way

http://www.cygnus-books...erre-pradervand-t45.html

Love is the only way

Dear Jude,
 
I don't really know why I get upset. Is it this old wound of having been in the sect of Jehovah's Witnesses, is it my perfectionism, is it fear of judgment or of life? Or is it the fact that I have read very widely and that I am convinced that people make themselves a lot of so-called 'spirituality' now more than ever while ignoring any objective standards for discernment (listen to St. Paul!).
If Christ is the Logos, the Word, the Savior... then it is not our own subjectivity that is the ultimate standard for our living. See Phil. 1;21 and Rom. 14: ⁷For none of us lives to himself alone and none of us dies to himself alone. If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord, and Col. 2;8 8Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ......
Please read some texts from the Holy See.
I aqree that there are sometimes different interpretations, but I know enough of the Bible to see the harmony of it. Christ is the Logos, the Cosmic Christ, yes, but you cannot seperate this from his being also the incarnate, historical, human-divine Son of God who came to us in order to redempt us. As you cannot separate the Holy Spirit from the Faher and the Son! There is such a confusions as to these matters! From the beginning of Christian history the sacraments have been essential, so I ask you: can we judge according to our own standards: I don't need this, I need that. They wish t o decide what they believe and if rituals or dogmatics are to their feeling not right, they reject it. Jer. 17;9 says
9 The heart is deceitful above all things 
  and beyond cure. 
  Who can understand it?
The desert fathers knew this and they had a bitter fight. But now people say: 'Follow your heart'...
 

http://www.verhoevenmarc.be/_Pradesh.doc (conversion of a Hindu to Christ). (English text available?)
At the same time, I am bnot a fundamentalistI think that Patristics and medieval theology were broad and humanistic. I am not a scholar, but I am getting more and more interested in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esoteric_Christianity.
Great figures like Ficino, de Cusa, Bonaventura, Llull, von Bingen were esotericists but they were before and above all Christians. Therefore, there is Christian esotericism but also non-Christian esotericism.
And: God is certainly Love but Love is not God!
So far some thoughts, if you can understand.
 
Greetings,
Fred 
 

http://www.aatmik-sandesh.com/as/pradesh_testimony.html
 
Fred

God is certainly Love but Love is not God!

 
I believe it is!
 
Fred, you will probably hate me for saying that I believe we are all "Sons (and daughters) of God", and that there was not just one. This belief doesn't mean I can't be a follower of Christ.
The Bible was written by human beings.
I well remember, when my children were small, the most devout man and Christian teacher I've ever met, (biblical scholar, altar server, lay preacher, teacher of Catholic Christianity and more) said to me, "Take the Bible with a pinch of salt. It's a wonderful history book, full of wisdom and good stories, but it was written by human beings."
It was what I'd always thought myself, but it was a shock to hear it from someone so dedicated to the Catholic church and to Jesus.
 
Anything can be proved or disproved by quoting from the Bible.
What is important is how I treat my fellow man and how much I Love him.
 
Now, I wonder who said that?
 
Stop worrying!!
 
Love,
Jude

Love is the only way

Dear Jude,
 
Thanks. I was upset yesterday and again I fell in this pitfall of reading and more reading.
http://bible.cc/ecclesiastes/12-12.htm !!!
 
Please pray for me that I have the courage to get out of my head.
 
I don't worry anymore, this will be one of my mantras!
I will do my breathing work in the chi-point as last evening and tomorrow
and every further day of my life.
 
This one is all I need: http://www.marktplaats.nl/index.php?sref=http%3A//www.google.be/search%3Fhl%3Dnl%26q%3Dvon+d%25C3%25BCrckheim+meditatie%26btnG%3DZoeken%26meta%3D&url=http%3A//boeken.marktplaats.nl/esoterie-en-spiritualiteit/262234032-k-von-durckheim-meditatie-doel-en-weg.html%3Fxref%3D1
 
It is all so beautiful but with our mind not to grasp.
 
Sorry,
 
Fred
 

Hi Fred,
 
Your Pilgrimage sounds like it was very good for you.
You have a zest in your writing here that I too agree with Jude is a reflection of change ocurring that is so full of lifting just in reading your words.
 
I think it astute of you to see the difference of New Age and ancient texts and teachings and works of many others on spirituality. There is much in about following your heart these days...and their is much written on the heart wants what the heart wants. Only I do feel that some are reflecting back about the spiritual heart center of mystism when they refer to follow the heart and are in practise with certain disciplines and rituals that they do each day. Often it is hard to really know many things except through our own spirtual experiences that give us an inner knowing for our path in to our center or inner alter. All one can often say is you will know it when it arrives for you. Or you may recognize it already but not yet be fully ready to accept it all the way. You are doing well and I can tell you will receive your answers and your new questions. You always amaze me with your need to read remember all have their unique way there. Some read scriptures and writings to get there others choose differently for they find the way to their own shining life. I hope you do go see this friend of yours...I am sure he will be very good for you as you deserve to surround yourself with love and love is his way. What beauty you have opened up on this thread and I will check them out when I have the time and need to. Thanks for the inspiring spirit you have shared on this thread.
 
Peace, Love and Joy,
Diane

Grateful to be here!
What a gift and connection builder!
Love and Gratitude,
Love who You Are

Dear Lovewho/Diane,
 
Many thanks for these kind words. I still feel quite isolated and lonely, however. Please pray for me that I also can get out of my head and be vigilant about this reading stuff (and I admit drinking, though this is not that serious...). I wish to stop drinking alcohol, because with my medication it is not good. It eases temporarily the pain but this is a tricky thing, as we all know...
Send me your deepest love, please.
I also wish and pray that I may find a woman soulmate within the near future. 
 
PAX,
Fred