Saturday, September 21, 2024, 8:50 PM, [A Day Interconnected by Divinity] Japan time
Dear all Zoom Prayer Meeting attendees,
Theme: "Embracing All of Ourselves Unconditionally"
The time is fast approaching when all of us striving to manifest the divine in our thoughts, words, and actions will attain enlightenment and reach the oneness of God and self in both name and reality. In this context, we sometimes hear people say, "I'm stuck at the last hurdle..."
It is a state where, even though you are on the verge of becoming one with God, you are unable to see yourself objectively because you are looking at yourself through a filter. In other words, it is a state on the verge of graduating from ego consciousness. In such a situation, we find ourselves in a state where our evaluation of ourselves is either extremely high or extremely low without us even realizing it.
This kind of state can manifest itself in various ways, but the following four are typical examples:
- Judging oneself and branding oneself as negative, thinking "so-and-so is capable, but I'm not."
- Shutting oneself off and closing one's eyes and ears, thinking, 'I can't bring the divinity back to life, it's impossible."
- Mistaking oneself, thinking I don't need to improve myself because the divine has been brought back to life."
- Being conceited, thinking" everyone should respect me"
If you look closely at these four characteristics, you may feel a sense of déjà vu with at least one of them, even if you don't identify with them all. This is because these characteristics are a path that everyone passes through in response to their karma from past lives, on the way to returning to the state of "doing without doing" that Lao-tzu talks about.
In this way, the state of blaming oneself for being caught between ideals and reality, or of retreating into the recesses of one's mind thinking "I'm nobody," or of trying to act more than one is capable of, is like a pendulum swinging from side to side before converging at the center. We can say that we are on a journey of returning to a state where life shines forth as it is while swinging from side to side.
In the world of psychology, Maslow's hierarchy of needs is present, but I guess there are seven levels of needs common to humanity, adding two more levels. They are as follows:
1. Physiological needs - basic, instinctive needs necessary for survival
2. Need for safety - a basic, instinctive need to live without anxiety
3. Social need - a need to feel a strong connection with the people around you
4. Need for approval - the desire to be recognized, to be praised, to be liked, to be respected, to advance in life, etc.
5. Need for self-actualization - the desire to be fulfilled based on one's view of the world and of life (the desire to take action that one would be willing to do even if one were not paid for it, as opposed to the desire to take action that one would not be willing to do even if one were paid for it)
6. Spiritual Development Desire - The stage where you want to develop your own soul, not just your physical body
7. Divinity Development Desire - The stage where you want to develop the essence of life, transcending your physical body
We live in the sixth stage while aspiring to the seventh stage. The fact that we want to "develop our souls" can also be reworded as meaning that we want to "reveal the nature of the great life that created the universe in our thoughts, words, and actions."
Even in this situation, there are times when some of the thoughts of the disappearing forms of the seven stages mentioned above, 3 to 5, are still lurking in our minds.
In that way, the reason why, while aspiring to develop our divinity, we find ourselves craving desires that only apply to a world of duality and opposition is because we have not yet forgiven or loved ourselves. Depending on the degree of this situation, the fading away of the desire to be "recognized" by others in our relationships with them manifests itself outwardly.
However, even if others recognize you, if you have not solidified the foundation of your heart, such as "having the breadth of mind to accept and recognize any aspect of yourself and the determination to do so," you will not be satisfied with being recognized by others. You will not be able to graduate from these stages of desire.
As long as we each guess that "our physical body is who we are", we will have the habit of demanding that others fill the void we feel. These situations can be resolved by truly forgiving ourselves and loving ourselves wholeheartedly.
In the process of doing this, we sometimes find ourselves feeling low or being controlled by feelings of pride. That is not unrelated to the fact that, whether we are aware of it or not, we become victims or perpetrators at some point in our lives. The inward-looking vector of your thoughts is causing you to become either self-deprecating or arrogant in your relationships with others.
That doesn't mean you should try to eliminate self-deprecation and arrogance because they're bad. Even if you suppress self-deprecation and arrogance, as long as the disharmony in your heart that is causing them remains, your state of divinity will remain distant.
What is important is to look closely at and embrace the disharmony in your heart that is causing you to feel humble or proud. If you can harmonize your heart this way, humility and pride will naturally disappear.
In the special program on Saturday, we will shine a light on the parts of ourselves that we have not yet discovered, and we will make this a time to unconditionally forgive, love, accept, and embrace all of ourselves, no matter what they are.
By doing this, we will be able to focus all our energy on what we need to do in the sixth and seventh stages of the seven stages mentioned above, and the path to oneness with God will accelerate.
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[Zoom URL] https://us02web.zoom.us/j/6980729270?pwd=nW9HgFrjw71kpe38gTNS-rdtnvZ3Rw.1
[YouTube URL] https://en-zoom.peace51.net/youtube-url/
Password: peace
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[PROGRAM]
*All the stories I speak in Japanese are written in the PDF.
1. Prayer for World Peace - About three and a half minutes
(Japanese)
Sekai-Jinrui ga, Heiwa de arimasu-youni
Nippon ga, Heiwa de arimasuouni
Watakushi-tachi no Tenmei ga, mattou saremasu-youni
Shugo-rei-sama, arigatou gozai-masu. Shugo-jin-sama, arigatou gozai-masu.
(English)
May peace prevail on Earth.
May peace be in our homes and countries.
May our missions be accomplished.
We thank you, Guardian Deities and Guardian Spirits.
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2. Time to embrace all of yourself
I will read Goi-sensei's lecture aloud in Japanese for about 20 minutes. If you are participating from overseas, please use this email as an opportunity to read the relevant part of the PDF file attached to this email and embrace yourself as you are.
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3. Divine Spark IN
We, Divine Beings, send Universal God's light as we embrace all nature, all living beings, and humanity.
[Divine Spark IN seven times in a row]
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That’s all.
May Peace Prevail on Earth.
Masaharu SAITO
Saturday_September-21_2024_A-Day-Interconnected-by-Divinity_Detailed-contents-on-the-day-of-the-session.pdf