“The ultimate goal of the teaching of the Pure land is to understand the meaning of “Nembutsu,” whereby its followers will be admitted to the Pure Land. …

Numbutsu literally means ‘to think of Buddha.’ Nen (nien in Chinese and smriti in Sanscrit) is to ‘keep in memory.’ In Shin however it is more than a mere remembering of Buddha, it is thinking His Name, holding it in your mind. …

The interpretation the Shin people give to the ‘Namu-amida-butsu‘ is more than literal, though not at all mystical or esoteric. It is in fact philosophical. When Amida is regarded as the object of adoration, he is separated from the devotee standing. All by himself. But when Namu is added to the name the whole thing takes on a new meaning because it now symbolizes the unification of Amida and the devotee, wherein the duality no longer exists. This however does not indicate that the devotee is lost or absorbed in Amida so that his individuality is no longer tenable as such. The unity is therefore as ‘Namu’ plus ‘Amidabutsu,’ but the Namu has not vanished.” ~D. T. Suzuki

The Ultimate Goal

I cannot totally agree with Suzuki regarding the ultimate goal of spiritual studies and disciplines. One does have to learn to understand the meaning of “to think of Buddha,” or “to think of Christ,” but that is an intermediate goal, acting on that understanding and achieving what it implies is the ultimate goal.

The Pure Land

What is called the Pure Land in the Quote is Heaven to most of us, the Place where oneness with God, buddha, and Christ occurs. We cannot dwell in the Pure Land while living in a physical body, but we can make visits to it through the regular use of spiritual development techniques.

Keep in Memory

To keep Buddha or Christ in our memory is indeed a good thing, though not all that is necessary. In Cosolargy, we are taught to keep an image of the Cosolargy Cross, or Cross of Light, in memory at all times. This may be difficult to do in the beginning, but it can be done with practice.

Unification with God

The Shin people have interpreted the idea of understanding “Nembutsu” correctly. While thinking of Buddha or Christ is good, the ultimate goal is unification with God. This requires us to awaken our inner Buddha or Christ, which we do through the regular practice of spiritual development techniques, as well as practicing spiritual disciplines such as humility, generosity, and love for all (we can love the person or animal without loving the behavior by understanding that it is the work of the Demiurge and his demonic minions that lead people ad animals into bad behavior).

In Cosolargy, we use various Spiritual Sun Gazing techniques to get more energy into the body to aawaken and improve the energy flow in our physical energy centers. We then move on to bring energy into the Spiritual Centers and awaken the spirit to full consciousness. It is the fully conscious spirit that is called the Soul. Only the Soul can truly achieve unification with God. That is how to truly “think of Buddha” or Christ.

The giant Earth blobs baffling scientists

They’re among the largest physical structures on the planet – and they’re a total mystery.

In a strange corner of our solar system live two alien blobs.

With sprawling, amorphous bodies the size of continents, these oddities are thought to spend their time lying in wait for their food to rain down upon them – then simply absorbing it.

But their natural habitat is, if anything, even more unusual than their diet. It could be described as “rocky” – all around, there are exotic minerals in unknown shades and forms. Otherwise it’s fairly barren, except for a glittering sea in the far distance – one so large, it holds as much water as all of Earth’s oceans put together.

Every day the “weather” is the same: a balmy 1827C (3321F), with some areas of high pressure – equivalent to around 1.3 million times the amount at the Earth’s surface. In this crushing environment, atoms become warped and even the most familiar materials start to behave in eccentric ways – rock is flexible like plastic, while oxygen acts like a metal.

But this blistering wonderland is no extra-terrestrial planet – and the blobs aren’t strictly wildlife. It is, in fact, the Earth itself – just very, very deep underground.

Read the entire article online at bbc.com.

link submitted by Gene Savoy Jr.

PHOTO CREDIT: Wonders of the Universe

Measuring the expansion rate of the universe was one of the Hubble Space Telescope’s main goals when it was launched in 1990.

Over the past 30 years, the space observatory has helped scientists discover and refine that accelerating rate — as well as uncover a mysterious wrinkle that only brand-new physics may solve.

Hubble has observed more than 40 galaxies that include pulsating stars as well as exploding stars called supernovae to measure even greater cosmic distances. Both of these phenomena help astronomers to mark astronomical distances like mile markers, which have pointed to the expansion rate.

In the quest to understand how quickly our universe expands, astronomers already made one unexpected discovery in 1998: “dark energy.” This phenomenon acts as a mysterious repulsive force that accelerates the expansion rate.

And there is another twist: an unexplained difference between the expansion rate of the local universe versus that of the distant universe right after the big bang.
Scientists don’t understand the discrepancy, but acknowledge that it’s weird and could require new physics.

Read the entire article posted May 29, 2022 online at cnn.com.

link submitted by Gene Savoy Jr.

HEAD OVERSEER’S WEEKLY MESSAGE

Wednesday, November 23, 2022

The Twenty-fourth Saying (Part 1)

“On the fortieth day following his return from the Emerald Isles, The Man sat in company with a gathering of Mariners and Companions of The Way in his study at the Rectory of the Abbey in the Sierra Nevada. On this day, he considered revealing the Twenty-Fourth Saying of Jamil, which he had kept to himself for a number of years since he had been inspired to write down the tenets given by The Child during his brief earthly sojourn.

“And The Man looked upon the disciples of The Way knowing that the changes taking place in the world were testimony to the heavenly influence of the manifesting Image and Word of God. The earth was being drawn into the future. The pangs of birth of the new were already evident: the old was dying. It was apparent to the Teacher and Disciple of the Holy Infant that humankind was witnessing the coming into being of a new and final religion, and that its doctrines had to be revealed and put into practice so it would not die aborning.

“When the devout followers had settled themselves before the speaker, The Man took in hand the document containing the words of The Child and, drawing the red ribbon girding it, began to read.

“And these are the words of the Twenty-Fourth Saying:

Not all world religions teach of the True God, as I have said. There are religions born of the human mind and the human urge to worship the powers that shape and nurture the earth. Fearing the forces of nature, humankind has given names to these powers and forces, worshiping them as gods, sacrificing to them, and attempting to calm them through appeasement.

Created in the image of nature and in the image of the world, the gods, by whatever name, are cruel and demanding, as are the religions that profess to worship them. Fear, judgement, law, injustice, punishment, terror, war, and calamity follow.

There is no enduring peace for either the faithful or the disbeliever. The innocent suffer, as do the workers of bad deeds. Vanity, passion and hatred, envy, lust, greed, pleasure-seeking, selfishness, desire, anger, jealousy, violence, and delusion dominate those who believe the world created Man and that nature controls him.

Man imitates nature, holding to life, wealth, and power for the strong and enslavement and sorrow for the weak. The human drama simulates the drama of nature. All things are transitory – life perishes, as does matter.

Man, ever seeking the knowledge of his pre-existent form, being, and self, penetrates into the deep roots of his psyche and there finds a forerunner to which he attributes creative powers. Not knowing that he has entered a world of terrible Darkness wherein is found his early origins, Man is confronted with incorporeal entities who become ephemeral gods of newborn religions. Malevolent spirits gain control over Man’s actions, and he surrenders to powers beyond his control. Because there can be no reward or lasting success by serving Evil, the adherents succumb to grief, pain, misery, and disillusion.

There is but One True God, just as there is but One Way to God taught by the One True Religion revealed by His Word. There cannot be different ways to God, nor different truths, nor different religions. The One Image of God is the Divine Presence. All other images are those of lesser things or lesser gods.

The world is ignorant of this Teaching. The world is unstable and confused. Instruction is the sole means of its salvation.

“And when he had completed his reading, The Man looked again at the devotees, awaiting their response.”

We will continue our review of the Twenty-fourth Saying of Jamil next week. In the meantime, for those of you in the United States, I wish you a very happy Thanksgiving with family and friends.

Again, if I may be of any personal service to you, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Very truly yours in Light+,

Gene

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Saturday, November 26, 2022
10:00 AM COMMUNION
Chapel of The Holy Child
RR Gene Savoy Jr.
Lector: Rm Rebecca Willis
Cantor: Dea. Shane Grady
Reader: Dea. Marilyn Taylor

Sunday, November 27, 2022
6:24 AM SUNRISE DIVINE SERVICE
Church of New Epiphany
Leave: 5:45
Gate: 6:35
Sunrise: 7:04
RR Gene Savoy Jr.
Concelebrants:
RC Robert Petrovich
Rev. Bruce Kanzelmeyer
Assistant: Rev. Barbara Whitney

OPEN-AIR COMMUNION

Church of the Golden Age of Light   Rev. Greg Klinedinst

Church of the Universal Theocracy  Rev. Gary Huss, Jr.

Church of the New Covenant  Dea. Radheka Savoy

Wednesday, November 30, 2022
12:00 NOON COMMUNION
Chapel of The Holy Child
Rev. Shinobu Fuelling

Friday, December 2, 2022
9:00 AM PRAYER & FELLOWSHIP
Chapel of the Roses
Rev Noriko Roy

Inside every significant philosopher, astronomer or scientist is a geometer trying to get out. First principles of geometry taught atomic material is formed out of nested platonic solid spinning and that the spiral is a core structure. Witness the whirlpool—part of worldwide folklore and symbol for origins of life and energy.

For example, we observe octaves, as well as harmonies of sound abiding scalar laws. Wave nested within wave behavior is called a Dougherty set. In a universe of electromagnetic induction, could the Dougherty set be a master key to the EU Model?

Cartographer, Interdisciplinary Geometer, and EU advocate Buddy James presents a primer on how geometry is embedded within the EU Model of Cosmology.

Watch the video at youtube.com. (14:43)

link submitted by Robert Petrovich

Our Sun sits in the middle of an enormous void called the local bubble containing million degree, ionized hydrogen gas, surrounded by a wall of colder denser neutral gas. Mainstream astronomers keep describing it as neutral gas deficient rather than simply stating that it is highly ionized.

Galaxies are composed of a network of filaments that carry slow moving ions which form magnetic fields holding the structure together. Hannes Alfvén pointed out these structures are capable of transferring energy over vast distances and dissipating the energy across a double layer with a voltage drop.

Gareth Samuel, EU advocate and creator of “See the Pattern”, identifies and explains the Milky Way’s plasma bubble network in our local galactic neighborhood.

Watch the video at youtube.com. (10:13)

link submitted by Robert Petrovich

“He who has just begun to follow a holy way of life, and has received instruction about how to act righteously, devotes himself wholly to the practice of the virtues in all obedience and faith, nourishing himself, as if on meat, on their manifest aspects. The inner principles of the commandments, which constitute the knowledge of the perfect, in his faith he leaves to God, for he cannot yet embrace their full magnitude.

“The perfect person, who has passed beyond the category not only of beginners but also of those who are advanced, is not ignorant of the inner principles of the actions he performs. … On the contrary, he first spiritually imbibes those principles and then by means of his actions feeds upon the whole body of the virtues. In this way, he transposes to the plane of spiritual knowledge actions which take place in the sensible realm.

“The Lord said, ‘First seek the Kingdom of God and His righteousness (Matt 6:33). That is, seek the knowledge of Truth before all things, and therefore seek training in appropriate methods of attaining it.” ~The Philokalia

The Beginner

One thing that some beginning spiritual students find difficult to accept, especially in this age of instant everything, is that spiritual truth and spiritual development techniques must be revealed to the student gradually. This is for the benefit of all, but especially for the benefit of the student. If you try to give a new student advanced teachings, they may be misunderstood and misused. The student may become disappointed and quit studying. So the teacher or master teaches only as much as the student is ready to understand, and can use safely.

Practice of Virtues

The practice of spiritual development methods is required for spiritual growth, but that involves more than just practicing the virtues. Most spiritual masters know this but are reluctant to say it in a publication available to the general public. Some spiritual knowledge must be protected from those who would misuse it and harm others or themselves. And some would try to use such knowledge for material purposes which can also cause serious problems. Hitler and the Roman Emperor Nero are examples of people who gained such knowledge and used it improperly. Eventually, they lost those powers, as always happens to those who misuse them.

Leaves it to God

While I can partially agree with the author that there are things we should leave to god and have faith that they will happen, I think that in most cases, if not all, God wants us to do what we can along with Him. We are, after all, meant to be co-creators with God.

Not Ignorant of Inner Principles

The Spiritual Master is indeed not ignorant of the inner principles and of the effects of their deeds and thoughts. The Master knows that his deeds affect not just himself and those in the immediate vicinity, but also the rest of the world. For example, what foods you buy helps determine what farmers will grow. But probably even more important is our thoughts. Thoughts are energy and energy does work. When you are filled with thoughts of hatred, jealousy, or fear, what work do you think those thoughts are doing? They affect the behavior of other people, animals, and even the weather. Most significantly, thoughts reach the sun and are reflected back to us amplified. If we are mainly sending negative thoughts, that is what will reflect back to us. So the Spiritual Master makes the effort to avoid negative thinking. It isn’t that difficult for such men and women since they understand what causes people to have angry and negative thoughts and animals to behave aggressively. They know that if all negative thoughts stopped, all animals would soon be friendly and there would be no poisonous plants.

Seek God, Seek Truth

The fact is, if you want to find Truth, you must seek to awaken and develop your connection with God and Heaven. And if you want to know God, you must seek universal Truth by going to the source, which is God. You won’t find God by clinging to beliefs that have been passed on for generations but nonetheless are either totally false or only partially true. And the lantern we hold to seek Truth is the Light of the Spiritual Sun that awakens our spirit and Soul.

Saturday, November 19, 2022
10:00 AM COMMUNION
Chapel of The Holy Child
RR Gene Savoy Jr.
Lector: RC Peter Foust
Cantor: Rev. Larry Cousins
Reader: Sabrina Savoy

Sunday, November 20, 2022
6:24 AM SUNRISE DIVINE SERVICE
Church of New Epiphany
Leave: 5:45
Gate: 6:30
Sunrise: 6:56
RR Gene Savoy Jr.
Concelebrants:
RC Robert Petrovich
Rev. Bruce Kanzelmeyer
Assistant: Rev. Barbara Whitney

OPEN-AIR COMMUNION

Church of the Races of Man   Rev. Harold Boulette

Church of the Americas  Deacon Stephan Fuelling

Church of the New Covenant  Rev. Shinobu Fuelling

Wednesday, November 23, 2022
12:00 NOON COMMUNION
Chapel of The Holy Child
Rev. Barbara Whitney

Friday, November 25, 2022
9:00 AM PRAYER & FELLOWSHIP
Chapel of the Roses
Rev Noriko Roy

HEAD OVERSEER’S WEEKLY MESSAGE

Wednesday, November 16, 2022

The Twenty-third Saying (Part 13)

“Following this discourse, a female Companion of The Way addressed The Man thusly, ‘May I ask for a further explanation of the statement that affirms that this world is not the True Creation and the Evil One could not exist without God.’ The Man replied to the disciple, ‘God created the world as Good, where there was no death and His creatures lived on His Presence. In speaking, we need to express these concepts in words and speak in terms of God and Him and His Presence to explain a point. But in the beginning, God was a Presence, and Man and Woman lived off that Presence. Over a period of time, Man and Woman became tempted, as you know from the allegorical story of the Garden of Eden, and they fell away from God and began to live, not off God’s Presence as nourishment, but by the taking of the lives of other things. The allegory does not answer all the questions concerning their evolution to the stage when they, or at least their descendants, began to eat meat, to the act of killing, and living off the Creation and not God, which led to our suffering, disease and death.

“‘Therefore, when God’s True Creation is restored – when He reveals Himself through the Image and the Word – all the existing creation will be burned up by the Presence of His Light. God must reach out to the souls of men and women by revealing His Image and speaking to them in His Word so that they will be restored. Thus, the new Creation is already in the process of becoming.

“‘As ministers, as the pre-ordained, as a Church, we are caught in the phenomena of space and time. God’s World has already been restored, and we are already immortal. As humans existing in space, we naturally think in terms of time – a beginning, a middle and an end – and as a consequence, we live out our lifetimes on the physical level, in the physical world, and we will die as this world will die, but we will be restored eventually. The concept of time is such that it does not explain to us when this will be; because space and time are an illusion, as it were, an unreal state of the present, not of the future; nor was this illusion of the past, except recently.

“‘As we evolve, we will see that, as ministers, we are being trained for a great undertaking. This Church is gearing itself to introduce religion as a revolutionary force in the world beyond politics, beyond economics, and beyond the civil state, to create a religious State in the world. And the world must give us the place to do that. We cannot predict when that will be, but that is our goal.

“‘Unlike other churches, the Church of the Second Advent is not interested in merely existing within the status quo and being governed by the State, responding to the State. We are not interested in allowing our children to enter the military when the time comes, paying taxes, and getting involved in the life of this senseless, aborted, perverted physical world. We are only concerned with the evolvement and evolution of man and woman and society. In essence, we represent that very religion promised by Jesus Christ to come when the world would be changed for Good. We have picked up the cross that was laid down two thousand years ago. We are the Second Church of Christ – the restored Church of the Second Advent in which God’s Image and Word motivate and animate us to do His Will.’”

Again, if I may be of any personal service to you, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Very truly yours in Light+,

Gene

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