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Beauty
| Inner
focus |
throat |
| Outer
focus |
stone beings |
| Color |
yellow |
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Welcome
Report from Vermilion Cliffs, Arizona
Los Angeles, California, &
Shelton, Washington
Dreams of Beauty
Why the Throat?
Film and Book Recommendations
Beauty in the News?
Who’s Who in Beauty
Poetry
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From the Editors |
Beauty is the featured Principle for the month of July. As with many of the Principles, the ordinary understanding of this Principle is turned on its head. There is a saying “Beauty is only skin deep.” In Connie’s teaching Beauty is actually the deep resonance of cosmic reality. Beauty is available underlying all solid structures. In a sense Beauty is in the eye (or ear or throat) of the beholder not as a psychological projection but as a luminosity waiting to be invoked.
Robin Moore & Tamar Frankiel, Editors
If you would like to discuss the ideas and teachings in this newsletter, please go to http://www.generositydreams.blogspot.com/ and post your question or comment there. We look forward to hearing your thoughts!
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Reports from Vermilion Cliffs, AZ, Los Angeles, CA, and Shelton, WA |
This month's principle is Beauty. We're happy to share some comments from a few of our dream sisters: |
Although I’m not contracted with Beauty, my life in Arizona has brought me close to the earth and the mineral realm. The outer focus of the principle of Beauty is the Stone Beings – the denizens of the mineral kingdom that have their own internal structure, usually crystalline forms as in gemstones. Since ancient times, humans have fashioned jewelry from them – turquoise was the first – in order to have them close to their bodies.
The stone beings remind us of different realms of creation. Turquoise, for example, reminds us of the most beautiful colors of sea and sky. Amber, which comes from the resin of trees, but then becomes hard as stone, creates a connection between plants and the realm of gemstones. Coral bridges the mineral and animal worlds. Some gems, such as opal, appear in many colors; others, like tanzanite, take on different colors when heated. They bring all the colors of the rainbow’s spectrum, even many shades, hues and full colors which are 'between' the rainbow colors as blends.
Because gemstones have crystalline structures, they are describable mathematically, in abstract terms – mother earth speaks in numbers as the universal language. Yet in the realm of physical form, each stone is a unique individual. This merging of the universal and the particular reflects the way Beauty underlies and connects everything in the universe.
--Maggie Sacher
I always wondered why, of all the sciences, I liked astronomy the best. I chose it over geology as ‘best choice for a humanities major’ in college. I wished I could be an astronaut, and I still catch my breath at pictures from outer space. My favorite thing about getting out of the city is a potential opportunity to stargaze. I love archeoastronomy, the study of astronomical knowledge in ancient civilizations. I can contemplate in my mind’s eye the revolutions of the planets, the signs of the zodiac, and the aspects of the moon. I’m fascinated by earthly geography as well, especially it’s geometric and mathematical aspects like longitude, latitude, and time zones.
Then one day it hit me – of course, Beauty is my MidHeaven principle! The mathematics, the geometry, the sheer artistry of the heavens and the earth draws me like a magnet. It plays little part in my practical everyday life, it’s part of what points me toward our Divine source.
--Tamar Frankiel
I have Pluto in Beauty. So often after awakening from "my" dreams, I can remember the exact dimensions of where the action took place. Quite literally, I could fill a paragraph giving the relative distance of the objects, people, plants and animals therein. Unless an exact number or ratio really comes through, I just don't bother to copy them down. If I pay attention, the dimensions of places really jump out and I can remember them for months and months after. In my waking life I do not have awareness of such detail.
--Rachel Thoe-Schechter
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Dreams of Beauty |
From the dreams of Beauty we found this month, you can see the various dimensions of this principle quite clearly:
I am floating up in the air. At first I think I have taken a helium balloon up by myself and now I am wondering how I can possibly get down without my husband. I wonder why I took such a risk to go so far out on my own. As I look around I realize I am in a satellite in outer space. I look out the windows and it is dark, yet I can see a huge black/indigo form – like the rectangular form in the movie 2001-- it is really indigo with black sky around it. I am in great awe. I keep feeling BEAUTY being infused into me. Beauty, such beauty, beauty, beauty, I say as I inhale and receive. I feel the Presence of this form and it is communicating with me… It is inhabiting the very cells of my body.
The dreamer encounters an energy which is elevating, spacious and which stretches her beyond the egoic comfort level. Beauty comes out of the blue/indigo sky as gift. Beauty in this dream is not something which is seen by the eye but is infused into the cellular body level. It is a gift, a resonance, to be received and integrated into form.
We’re arranging tables, putting on tablecloths and decorations. I pick up unusual decorative objects, colorful stiff-cellophane things that stand by themselves, like frozen animation. Light shines through them in bright colors. One is an old-fashioned locomotive train, a yellow-gold engine and a few cars, which I place on a mantle. Another is a dog, Marmaduke-type, grey, next to the corner of a light yellow house. He’s sitting down and settling himself into his comfortable watchdog place.
Then I’m at a central location at this camp, where an elderly man is playing a majestic pipe organ. The organ is in the center of what seems to be a hexagonal wood frame building, rather dark (few or no windows) and the pipes are along one wall, enormous, glowing a kind of ivory with a gold tint. The music is stupendous; I’ve never heard anything like it. We have a little girl with us, too small to see anything (maybe 3-4 yrs) even though she’s good at clambering up on the seats. So we go to the back. The seats are all around the walls, tiered bleacher-type. There’s an old piece of furniture, like a piano but closed up, at the back; it also has shelves that pull out, more like a desk. We climb part way up on it, and she climbs up further to where she can see the pipes and almost see the organ maestro.
The luminous yellow-gold engine of the train suggests a soul contract engineered by the principle of Beauty, while the colorful figures may be other aspects of the dreamer’s contract. The significance of Beauty is amplified by the dreamer’s vision of the pipe organ, the gold-tinted pipes, the stupendous music, and the girl perhaps 4 years old – 4 being the number of Beauty. The shape of the building is hexagonal and inside there are tiers, enabling the ascent so that the Master can be seen.
I’m showing videos to someone and talking about & listening to music. It seems I’m hearing so much music – all of it but each very quickly. Then I hear a certain piece and I see my grandfather (Dad’s dad) just as he is in a certain photo, sitting on a porch swing. Then he becomes younger and is sort of swaying back and forth in the yard. Then I realize he’s getting to hear/see my daughter’s performance work and he would love it. Then I wake up to more music, especially the piece from their play, ‘Light for Grey Towers,’ and the lyrics are very moving: “I will find you, no matter where you are, / I will find you across the sea; / I will find you, no distance be too far; / Please trust in me.”
Generations are connected through this Beauty dream using the thread of music: the grandfather, the mother, the daughter. No distance is too far to make a soul connection.
Look
in your dreams for references to the throat
... to math or music. . . . to gemstones ... to the colors yellow, amber or gold.
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Why
the Throat? |
The throat contains the vocal cords, where the most dramatic experience of resonance takes place in human awareness. Animals certainly use their vocal cords in growls, purrs, or shrieks, but humans have the ability to create stunning effects from the work of the breath in the throat. Yet this is hidden within – from the outside, looking at a person’s neck, you simply cannot tell what a person’s vocal capacity is. This reminds us that Beauty also is within.
-TF
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Film and Book Recommendations |
Book: Beauty, The Invisible Embrace by John Donohue.
This book is a rich texture of poetic, wise observations about Beauty in ways that serve as a companion the information which Connie received. Donohue writes: “When we awaken to the call of beauty, we become aware of new ways of being in the world.” He suggests: “In difficult times one should always carry something beautiful in your mind.” “To behold Beauty dignifies your life.” This book is a wonderful companion on the spiritual journey of transformation. --RM
Film: Composing Beethoven
released on DVD. This movie, starring Ed Harris and Diane Kruger, provides a story in which to explore the relationship of the principle of Beauty with musical creativity. Beethoven, in his deafness, remarks about the vibrations he picks up in the air. He comments that to be deaf to external noise and to hear the resonance of music in the mind's ear all of the time brings one as close to God as one can be. The story certainly affirms the cosmic resonance which is the music found in inner silence. ---RM
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Beauty in the News |
Let's commit this month to going beneath the surface, to see and sense Beauty in the world.
- Headline: The Body Never Gets Used to Noise
Rick Weiss, The Washington Post: A growing body of evidence confirms that the chronic din of construction crews, road projects, jet traffic, and yes, those ubiquitous leaf blowers, is taking a toil on our health and happiness…Community noise is interrupting our sleep, interfering with our children’s learning, suppressing our immune systems and even increasing .. our chances of having a heart attack.
Eds note: Is the constant noise around our physical bodies diminishing the ability of our more subtle bodies to resonate with the cosmic harmonic? Are you aware of the need for your own body to habitually re-align with the basic vibration of the universe? What spiritual practices help you to awaken to the awareness of Beauty within the fabric of creation?
- In the daily Space news:
For visually stunning images of Beauty through the eyes of science, check in occasionally with the latest news from NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) website - especially the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (is that an old name or what?!) section which has various sections on stars, the solar system, the earth. It reminds us of the Elegant Universe in which we live. The web address: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/
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6.
Who's Who in Beauty |
We were surprised – but shouldn’t have been! - to find this month a larger number than usual of musicians, including some of the most remarkable in their fields of specialty. In addition, three biologists turned up, all of them interested in immunology! What might these teach us about the principle of Beauty? (We did also find a couple of examples of the ordinary meaning of beauty – Julia Roberts, Anita Bryant (once a Miss America runner-up), and – in his time – John Wayne!
Famous
people through whom Beauty came to life – these
have sun in Beauty:
- Bela Bartok, 1881-1945
Hungarian composer, pianist, and collector of Eastern European and Middle Eastern folk music. Besides being one of the greatest composers of the 20th century, he was also one of the founders of the field of ethnomusicology.
- Ella Fitzgerald, 1918-1996
With a vocal range spanning three octaves, she was noted for her purity of tone, near- faultless phrasing and intonation, and extraordinary improvisational ability.
- Aretha Franklin, 1942-
Gospel, blues, and jazz singer known as Queen of Soul and Lady Soul, the second most honored female singer in Grammy history, and holder of a record 11 Grammys for best female Rhythm & Blues singer.
- Jimi Hendrix, 1942-1970
A self-taught guitarist (who played his guitar upside down), one of the most influential guitarists in his generation. He headlined the 1969 Woodstock Festival shortly before his death at the age of 27.
- Arthur Toscanini, 1867-1957
The greatest conductor of his era, with a phenomenal ear for orchestral detail and sonority, and a photographic memory which gave him extraordinary command over a vast repertoire of orchestral and operatic works and allowed him to correct errors in orchestral parts unnoticed by his colleagues for decades. The NBC Symphony Orchestra was created for him in 1937.
- Jonas Salk 1914-1995
American physician and researcher best known for the development of the first successful polio vaccine.
- Candace Pert 1946-
American neuroscientist who discovered the opiate receptor, the cellular bonding site for endorphins in the brain.
- Louis Pasteur, 1822-1895
French chemist, one of the three main founders of bacteriology, known for the germ theory of disease, the first vaccine for rabies, and pasteurization.
- Flannery O’Connor, 1925-1964
Southern writer known for her ironic plots and grotesque characters. A Catholic living in a heavily Protestant, Bible-belt culture, she conveyed her deep faith in the sacramental quality of life through her fiction.
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Poetry |
SATURN‘S RINGS
©Betty Luceigh, September 2006
The rings of Saturn appear as a rotating LP album
centered around the spindle of a hydrogen-enriched planet,
with grooves of matter, not vinyl,
and bands separated by recordings of its history,
not hit songs of the sixties.
The Beauty within the rings can never escape
as they transmit their reflections through space
into our electronic receivers and onto the paper we hold.
Intrinsic within the form,
Beauty is in the symmetry of the rings around the planet’s axis,
in the multiple hues of the ringlets,
and in the varying densities accenting the geometric design.
In our desire for knowledge, we postulate the rings’ origins,
perhaps moons pulverized by collisions with incoming comets
or moon-dust spewed by internal eruptions from its many satellites.
Meanwhile in our desire for meaning, we created a secret myth
that the rings of Saturn are its haloes,
displaying at the planet’s waist
its timeless participation in the Divine expression.
Like symbols of sainthood bestowed by a cosmic pope,
the rings are now portrayed on holy cards
used for bookmarks in the bibles of astronomy.
Again, in our desire for knowledge, we calculate the complex forces
holding the icebergs and rocks of the rings
in their self-organized positions.
Nearby moons and mini-moons offer their gravity
to the equations and speculations of the mystery.
Meanwhile in our ongoing desire for meaning,
we look through the telescope of imagination,
and see a mystic planet with an ice-formed skirt
whirling in a transcendent dervish dance
exuding the centrifugal force of its inherent Joy.
In our desire to reach this white dot in the night sky,
we evolved centuries of science to a refined precision
and launched our space-cameras to follow a path
dictated more by the laws of physics than desire.
Relentlessly staying on course, they returned stunning images
that have expanded our vision of our solar system.
But has the success of those transmissions
also blinded our egos so that no one has yet noticed
there is one true photo missing from the collection?
In our desire for meaning, would we dare change our sideways stance
to a new position far above Saturn’s bluish cranium?
If we looked back along its axis, would we not see
the rings appear as an iris surrounding a planetary pupil of light
to form a great Cosmic Eye?
Would we sense this Cosmic Eye returning our gaze
to tell us we are known by that which we know?
Would one of the lessons returned to the small white dot of Earth
be that the questions of science can direct us to the answers of spirit?
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