The Ancient Taoist Sage stopped by for a visit, and to juice-up my personal Chi. As he was leaving for the day he leaned into my ear and said "Only the mind can be healed ! Physical changes may or may not take place as a result of this mental healing, but perfection can never be found in the body anyhow ! Think of it my dear friend, beneath the shell of tragedy is the pearl of GOD, the Creative and Sustaining Power of the Universe !" Friends Dr Alan and the Renzai Priest Teja remind me of what many people call "Buddha Consciousness", and of the experience St. Paul (of the New Testament) describes when he writes : "Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ." My friends, instead of practicing getting there, why not practice being there ???"

"Within the rain is the bloom" says the Ancient Taoist Sage, and within the thorn is the Rose; and within all our stumblings are the arms of God, into which we fall !

Yes, yes, Indeed yes ! Before the birth of the physical, our incarnation, there was the birth of Potential. Before potential, something Primal. A Beingness - one life, silent, unmoving, unchanging. This has been called by various names, GOD, Tao, Divine Mother, Universal Mind, etc. It feels good for this old Chi Gung Teacher to call it what I call Chi...Love ! You are free to call it what you will...it resides ! Yes, resides...just beyond the limits of our abilities to describe it; so I call it Love.

If we listen to the silence. We can hear the Heart of the Universe - singing an ancient melody of truth and wisdom.

I experienced this Song of the Tao at the Wall in Jerusalem, this past January; and again walking the ancient streets as dusk descended, and again while viewing Jerusalem from atop it's many hills. I also have experienced this Stillness and Silence at Shenoa, and in the forests of the Pacific Northwest, and the rushing streams near our secret place on Mt. Hood, near an energy vortex, my student Mark shares with me, so I can rest with a friend and absorb, and for me to simply be.

I have of late been especially intimately engaged with Healing and Wholeness - especially as I look past the body and focus on the compassion of the heart, and the healing that takes place when we open our heart and invite Love in. Life - is it not about giving and receiving , loving and forgiving...and simply being ?!! I know life is not about keeping score or analyzing or judging ourselves or others...or engaging in that game we each always lose at...the "Comparison Game"! Guess What ? He / She who dies with the most toys is still dead; it's only a question of when they actually died, and when we got to bury them.

The Grace and warmth of the every day has taught me the grace and beauty of the unfolding Rosebud. I have learned that each day is a page of our lives, and like a beautiful flower, it stands on its own magnificence, giving forth its own fragrance. ·Oh, we miss so much with all our strivings and to have to be so much.

When I was first diagnosed , I had no inkling of the journey upon which I was about to embark. WAKE-UP and Embrace Life, came the call with my Cancer operation in August , 07. WAKE-UP and Smell the Roses came the call in November, 07, with the Heart Attack and two subsequent heart surgeries. WAKE-UP and Smell the Coffee came the call with the diagnosis of Multiple Myeloma this past April...but now that I am on this journey of discovery, I find it personally a journey that is gradually exposing the layers of fear housed within this body.

KNOW WHAT ? Beneath our shells of pain, fear and darkness lives a Light that transcends description, and all it takes to unite this Light with our mind and our spirit is our intention to do so. This Light / Love is who we really are, and true healing, on every level, is simply remembering this simple yet greatest of truths.

Oh - and when I use the name "GOD" I am referring to the "Creative and Sustaining Power of the Universe, Tao, God. I am referring to the essence of being, the Creator.

I employ the term / name "GOD" because I believe that, beyond its current social and so-called spiritual controversy, the sound of the name, "GOD" carries a very real vibrational meaning for our collective consciousness, similar to "I AM", "OM" (in healing and meditation circles pronounced "OOOOOOOMMM"), and/or AMIN.

OKAY...now even more importantly, I think it is time to stop projecting our fear and rage on "GOD", and take personal responsibility for our own inner-separation, and to finally heal this relationship between the Creator and ourselves. !

Know what else ? As for our concepts of "GOD and GODDESS"...they are just that, only concepts. Truth has no gender or division !

Be at Peace

· Fred