Years ago, my father, who was a great fan of U.S. history, told me that President Abraham Lincoln chose not to end the Civil War because he knew if the pressure were off, the amendment to the U.S. Constitution abolishing slavery would not happen.
I never fully understood what my father meant until I saw the movie Lincoln. One doesn’t have see the movie to appreciate the beauty of this example. I can simply look to my own journey.
How often I wish for just a breath of peace, a moment when the war of life might calm. But it doesn’t. My work, my health, my family, my house—always within those realms, battle rages. These days they are more quiet wars than in years past, and yet they still persist.
Of course they originate within me, each skirmish illuminates yet another place where I’m holding to some idea of finding safety in the lower worlds.
In the movie, Lincoln, who is said to have been a saint, rides his horse through a battlefield strewn with bodies. His great tall figure bows with the weight of those deaths, which really are upon his shoulders.
In that image I see my own Beloved observing the carnage of my life. That Divine power knows how the war hurts me. And yet if the pressure were to abate even for a moment, if a peace were declared, all my incentive to reach higher within myself, to stretch beyond my limited beliefs—to fly—would die.
And thus would die my spiritual journey.
I am here to ratify the amendment to my own constitution that abolishes my slavery. Such an act ends my reliance on the dual worlds, worlds that distinguish between black and white, rather than admitting to the great Oneness that we all are.
And so, each day I wake, do my spiritual practice, and enter the battlefield with my Beloved at my side. I am a great soldier of love, fighting in every moment for my freedom. (Read more about this in We Are Gladiators.)
And with each moment that I stay in the Divine now, I win.
Like star in the sky I sit high above all duality, all condition.
It is no tragedy that President Lincoln left this plane just two months after his great victory. His mission was complete, just as one day my sojourn in the lower worlds will be.
Then and only then can peace come, can I merge back into God’s limitless love.
Until then, let the war rage.
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Such insight of Truth, as seen and felt by a devoted chela of Truth and our Path.
You are blessed to share this image of the bigger picture, which does encourage me to raise my “sword” in His Nam.
Thanks for the courage to share this beautiful message.
Onward and Homeward!
Yes, Deb, onward and homeward really is our great battle cry. Thank you for that. Your courage inspires me as well.
Lesley, that was one of the most powerful analogies I have ever read! Thank you, for I also can see all from this point of view and your beautiful channeling gave me exactly what I needed at the perfect moment! I too say let the war rage as I and all of us Chelas’s fight for spiritual freedom here and now! You are are true blessing as a pure and open channel in your writing for the Divine Shabda Master!
Thank you, Michael. It is wonderful to be surrounded by others who understand the poignancy of the everyday battle, so that we can encourage each other when our spirits are low, bolster each other up when we have been knocked down, and most of all, celebrate when we win another day’s victory.
Just after I this post, I got the call from my brother that my dad just died. At last for him at least a temporary release from this lower world battle after 92 years. Reading this was a good preparation for hearing this news; as was my own morning contemplation of renewal to be more vigilant on my own battlefield.
Sheila, wow, I send you much love on this day. This time of year brings so many transitions for us all, whether to a new state of consciousness or to a new plane of existence. I am happy that your father gets some respite before starting anew. Before my father translated a few years ago at this time of year, I went to a dance performance and saw a young boy who reminded me of a young version of my father. The boy danced and danced. At that time my father was bedridden. I had an image of my father back in a body like that child’s, living his glorious joy.
Perfect – Baraka Bashad xxx
Yes, Debbie, as you say, “Let the blessings be.” And they are all blessings.
Lesley, the Master has a fined tune instrument in you and he brings me to my knees as your words flow. How does one so precisely break into my heart, where thought is absent and all I feel is the love and simultaneous pain associated with all the ways I am holding on? Only the Master through such a surrendered and perfect channel, can restore my sight when my vision fails me. For all the love that you have shared and for all the times that you have helped me to remember who I truly am and the reason I am here, I thank you from the bottom of my heart. I too sign the amendment to my own constitution that abolishes my slavery! I stand beside you as a kindred soul and soldier of love to face the battlefield I encounter everyday with the Master at my side. Lesley, your passionate and resolute heart inspires me beyond words.
Jamie, your spiritual heart inspires me as well. So often I am touched by your eloquence in sharing your journey. You have a very subtle and yet strong touch as you bring the love into the world, and I learn a great deal from it. Thank you for encouraging me in this endeavor. We truly are a great love army charging across the battlefield slaying our own illusions with every swing of the sword.
Sweet Lesley, earlier this week while researching a certain issue I received a flash of something I have read before but was now graced to understand to a finer degree. It feels similar to this week’s blog. I got to see how we are constantly being fed upon or broken down in the lower worlds, no matter what we try to do this cannot be eliminated for it is a part of the lower life. Our bodies continually breakdown however regenerate until as Lincoln and everyone else are time is done.
Seeing this was/is a blessing for it helps me to continually seek the imperishable that ironically is always Here.
“Love (The Master) is always the first and final answer” Here is where the war gets swallowed up.
As always I enjoy when you share your truth and love of Deep Truth. Awkward but I usually get the feel or knowing of when you have posted your latest blog. Must have a spiritual subscription to your blog.
Canta conmigo, muchas bendiciones, y como siempre AMOR. 🙂 <3 LJ
Logan, I am happy that you have a spiritual subscription–definitely the best kind, so you’ll never miss it.
What you said above struck me deeply. It is so true that when we create with the mind, we will be fed upon and broken down. When we form the creation, we look for the opposite. Usually the ego wants to feed upon something or someone, but with the nature of karma, we must then be the food. Whew! I can feel the maggots on my very skin!
Yes, the best creation is in our surrender to the Master power. With that comes only freedom as consequence. Thank you for that wonderful WOW, dear friend. And yes, we can sing, sing, sing.
Thank you Lesley. What a beautiful reminder.
You are so welcome, Lisa. Thank you for reading and commenting!
Beautifully stated as always, Lesley. Without that war I would never stretch beyond the limitations of my old stories and attachments. This seems to be one of the reasons the Beloved encourages me to keep working on the world of online business instead of staying in the comfortable, known, and “safe” world of the business I’m leaving behind. And you are so right, my life will always be full of war until I’m done. Then I get to go Home, and what a gift it is to know that every skirmish brings me closer.
Thank you, Sage. I like your mention of the “old stories.” I’m coming to see how much I live from dead imagery, those old stories. It takes a war to open me up to the new, and most of all for me to let go and step into the unknown. As I surrender to the new life the Beloved wants for me, life becomes effortless.
Just this week I’ve been shown that even the battles become love skirmishes in which I lob love bombs and receive love bombs back.
Very nice analogy! How true it is…
“Until then, let the war rage.” That is the Lesley I know. I so appreciate that you can look your war in the eye and tell it to give you its best shot; you know that no matter how painful the wound it renders, your personal growth will be exponentially greater. That is the courage of the journey and you Masterfully illustrate it here in this blog.
Your strength gives strength to your readers. I very much identify with what you say, “each skirmish illuminates yet another place where I’m holding to some idea of finding safety in the lower worlds.” I am discovering that no matter how divested I might feel about my attachments, there is always another leech just below the water line having a great meal at my expense.
Your work is a wonderful inspiration for us all. Before hitting Submit, I just now read all the comments. How your blogs are magnified!! I resonated so much with Jamie’s assessment of how your work inspires her. These little reminders are SO powerful. Joel’s insight bowled me over, especially after writing the little leech analogy above. But he expands the work with the insight that all of the lower world feeds upon itself.
I have said it before, but I want to re-state that this blog is unique to the internet. I didn’t think there was anything new under the sun in the world of the cyberspace, but your blog is charting a new course. And just in time for the greatest Winter Solstice in 2,000 years. You are a gift to us all. Thank you for the gems you share. I look forward to the day these blogs will become a book I can purchase and take with me on my journey, both on the outer and the inner :o) Many blessings!
Rudy, I love your leech analogy. Ah yes, we do invite many parasites upon ourselves on our journey, and what is amazing to realize is that they too are God. Always, His magnificence manifests to push us toward our next higher manifestation.
I am so touched by what you say about this blog. I really do create it anew every day with our Beloved and I’m so happy that that freshness shines through. I posted this on Facebook recently:
“All you have to do is write one true sentence. Write the truest sentence that you know.” – Ernest Hemingway
It is what keeps me going. For so many years I hinted at truth as I wrote restaurant reviews and road trip stories, but here I get to unleash fully, and it is a complete joy. Thank you, dear friend for supporting and, most of all, contributing to the creation.
Lesley,
Thanks for your reflection on this powerful movie. Given the destruction that war inevitably brings, one must be certain that the ends can truly justify the means. How did Lincoln find the courage to perservere amidst so much death and distraction? How can we be so certain that our own battles are being fought for the right purpose, that something good will eventually emerge from the chaos?
John
John, I really appreciate your viewpoint on this. I imagine with your background, you have learned a great deal about the art of war. Your questions are so poignant. What I have come to see in my journey is that the outer battles can be confounding; I constantly ask myself, Should I do this or that? What is my best action here?
Fortunately, we can be sure that Truth guides all, so that even if our outer choices are poor, we will get the opportunity to make better ones, until that day when we are surrendered enough to choose the highest outcome and the situation dissipates altogether.
Of course I am speaking of personal battles, but I must imagine that the larger wars are the same, since all is a micro of the macro. And history’s repetition illustrates this as well. However, in order for all of this to make any sense, I have to know that no one ever dies and we are all eternal.
Thank you, Lesley. I truly needed this today and I’m glad He put us in touch with each other. There are so many places I look to receive His message and you’re always spot on and it hits me right in the bullseye every time!
Thank you, Kate. I’m so glad to hear that. It is so true, when we ask we definitely do receive.