On the physical level, everyone that embodies here is subject to the conditions of this world. Nobody is exempt. No matter how highly involved a person becomes, we’re all still subject to what’s here in this world. Spirit can intercede on our behalf and provide for a greater protection so that we’re allowed to pass through this level with only the kind of interference that’s necessary for our learning and growth as Souls.

When we call ourselves forward into the Light, we ask for Spirit’s protection and for the Light to fill and surround us. The Light places an energy with us so that we can open up to our experiences with a kind of immunity. We can know we are walking in the Light of Spirit’s protection while we navigate our way through life’s challenges.

This physical level is designed for us to do things, to be involved. If we didn’t do things here, we’d start decreasing. Consider what would happen to us if we didn’t move physically, not just for hours but for days. We would experience atrophy.

When we exercise our physical attributes, we experience our abilities. We feel good. We strengthen. And if we do it too much, we experience over-exertion. We can get sick and stressed out. So there’s a balancing needed. We seek to balance ourselves.

Some recent storms, including hurricanes and cyclones, resulted in a lot of physical damage to areas on the planet. Yet in the very center of the storms, which we call the “Eye of the Storm,” there is a perfect calm. As you move from the outer edges of a storm and closer to the center of that energy, what’s referred to as the vortex, the energy gets very powerful. Then the further away you get, the energy decreases. But in the actual point of the greatest power which is in the very center of the storm, it’s calm and peaceful.

One of the ways you can recognize your connection with the Spirit is right in the very core of your being, in the very center, it’s calm and peaceful. It’s also silent. It can seem as if nothing’s going on because of how still and peaceful it is in that center. Within each of us is a vortex where all of our levels of consciousness incorporate. That center is the force of life. If scientists attempt to dissect us physically in order to find that force of life, they won’t find it physically because that center is not physical. That vortex, our spiritual center, is in the invisible. Yet, it is the vortex of energy that creates all of who we are.

As you move out and away from the center, it gets very powerful. We’re all like storms or hurricanes depending on the power of our force. It’s important to learn how to balance yourself so you can manage all the power that surrounds you. The more you learn to balance this presence inside, then the more powerful you become.

In terms of storms, typically a storm doesn’t become so powerful that it ruins things. With most storms, something comes along that breaks it up and decreases its power before significant damage can be done. It’s unusual to have the kind of storms that we experienced recently. If we looked at these storms from a different view, a higher view, remembering that it’s all good when we see through the eyes of the Lord, what could we consider to be the positive direction?

We usually associate a hurricane with destruction. Such a storm is bringing together powerful forces of nature. We can learn to see that power in a way that is a blessing rather than a point of destruction. That’s also a way we can look at the human condition.

As there are cycles in nature, there are cycles in our own consciousness. There are cycles that appear mentally, emotionally and physically. When someone asks, “How are you today?” your answer reflects a composite of all the levels of our awareness. To answer, you might reflect on ways you’re feeling really good. You might also realize that in other ways, you’re not doing so well. All of that is about balancing our levels.

One of the things that the weather teaches us is that as powerful as we are in this level, we are not in control. Nobody knows how to stop the hurricanes and the forces of nature. Often, what happens when faced with those types of conditions, people become engaged in more religious practices or more focused on their spirituality.

During major storms, we often hear about how people find they can worship together regardless of their religious differences. Sometimes they didn’t have much choice and other times they chose to be together in their worship and prayer. On the news, at any given time, we can hear about terrible conditions and conflicts occurring based on religious differences around the planet. We hear about places where it isn’t safe to worship openly at any time. Yet, the adversity of weather conditions often results in bringing people together in ways they hadn’t done before, including worshipping openly, side by side. That’s a blessing.

When adversity shows up in your life, when you’re in the midst of a storm, look for the blessing. Focus on what God is doing for you. One of the primary teachings in the Movement of Spiritual Inner Awareness is to use everything for your upliftment. Why do you suppose we would say such a thing? Because we can use everything for our upliftment.

Finding the Humor
Why does a dog lick himself in a place we can’t? There are probably two answers: One, because he can, and two, because he likes to. One of the ways to weather the storms with Spirit is to find a touch of humor. I don’t know of any single way that is more effective and lifting than humor. It’s like instant relief from God.

Have you ever noticed that if you’re in pain, whether it’s physical, emotional or mental, and you laugh, the pain diminishes or even vanishes? Or sometimes you laugh with so much strength it hurts, but it hurts in a good way?

It’s amazing that when we’re in a state of being disengaged from the severity of what’s happened, we’re able to see things we hadn’t considered before. We can laugh in the face of our suffering even though humor and suffering may not seem as though they go together. I find that when we listen to comedians, their subject is primarily human suffering. They somehow find a way of laughing at the negative aspects of human conditions.

Most of you probably smiled as you envisioned a dog licking himself. But maybe it’s not a laughing matter for some of you. If you consider it a disgusting matter, that wasn’t the intent. My intent was to give an example of how we can break through the seriousness and gravity of looking at challenges in the world. We can take ourselves far too seriously.

Consider how often you’ve associated Jesus with laughter. Do you suppose Jesus was capable of laughing? Do you think Jesus would have a good sense of humor?

It’s interesting that Jesus’s humor didn’t seem to find its way into the Scriptures, unless of course it’s sitting there for us to discover. Perhaps instead of taking the Scriptures always in a serious way, some of them were meant to be humorous. Wouldn’t it be interesting if I gave you all some homework and said, “There are lots of jokes in the Holy Scriptures. I want you to find the Holy Scriptures that are jokes.” What do you think you would discover?

Now somebody might consider my suggestion blasphemy. Many people see worshiping the Holy Scriptures as something that must be done very seriously, like “dead serious.” That’s not my experience of Scripture, and that’s not my experience of the presence of Spirit.

One of the key signs of the presence of Spirit is joy. When we are in the Spirit with one another, we find things to be joyful about. We find the lightness in the situation. Sometimes it becomes very sacred and solemn out of the profundity of what we’re experiencing. It can become quiet and still, but the joy remains even in the silence.

There’s a Scripture that says something to the effect of, “You are to have joy and have it more abundantly” [John 10:10]. If we are following the Spirit, then we must be about joy. We are to steer away from faultfinding, criticism, what we call “back-biting,” judgments, fears, and doubts. Those choices have a downward movement. Choosing the Spirit is an upward, uplifting joyful movement.

Weathering Karma
The nature of our karma is like the weather. It changes and shifts. Have you ever noticed there are times when no matter how good yesterday seemed and even though you were in a blissful state when you went to sleep, you woke up feeling terrible? You might wonder, “What happened? Am I living with demons? Is everybody and everything out to get me?” That’s a hellish state to experience. But is it real?

One of the qualities of those things that are real is they last. What is real endures. We refer to them as eternal truths. Those are the things to choose as your focus, the things that last day in and day out.

You might say, “But it seems no matter how good or wonderful I feel, it’s not too long before I start feeling down. Happiness and joy don’t seem to last. ” Instead you might choose to shift so you can realize, “No matter how bad I feel, at some point it changes. I start feeling better. I get to smile and laugh again.”

What do you choose? That’s an important decision because it’s a declaration of choosing an upward movement or a downward movement, a positive movement or a negative one. It’s a decision you make on this level in each moment. There’s plenty of evidence for both sides. It’s up to you to decide which side you’re playing on, which movement you’re choosing.

In the Movement of Spiritual Awareness, we decide for the uplifting side. We choose for the eternal truths. This is the path that leads to God. It’s a heavenly path in the greater and greater states of reality. Our perceptions to the higher reality may seem hidden. But while they’re hidden, we still have choices to make. We don’t get to sit on the fence. We must take a stand, and one of the stands is neutrality which is a position of balancing. Neutrality is a powerful position. It allows you to be in the middle of the storm, in the neutral, calm center, while things around you are lifting and descending.

Weather changes. Karma shifts. Some days are up. Some days are down. Some days we feel up. Some days we feel down. But in the center, where God lives with us, it’s always in balance. A state of peace reigns.

If we are measuring the strength of a hurricane, as it gets further out from the center, it becomes less powerful. It’s much more powerful when it’s close to the center, the perfect calm where it seems as though nothing’s happening there. Yet, right in the center, in the eye of the storm, is the source of the power.

Often when people come into a spiritual movement, they are looking for the force and the power. Perhaps as you get close to the physical center, you find things that are powerful. But the true power is the place where it is silent and peaceful. So a person could come in looking for the power, thinking “Oh, I found it! I found it!” as they near the center. Then when they come into the center, they say, “Nothing’s really happening!” And they go right out the other side and miss the blessings of Spirit.

When you’re going inside, the process we refer to as Spiritual Exercise, be careful that you don’t judge that presence of the silence and move right on by it. There’s a transformational quality about this presence, but it’s also in the Spirit, so it’s invisible. You must move your awareness to the invisible levels to be aware of it, and it may take great, great patience to hold with the silence and calm.

If you had to balance yourself on one toe on top of a stake in the ground, do you think that would be pretty difficult? Maybe for an instant it would be manageable. But what if you had to do that for two hours, just standing on one toe, maintaining your balance? That would take tremendous effort and intention. Is it possible? Sure, it’s possible. There are plenty of people in circus acts to show us it is possible. But it takes great strength, focus and determination.

If you strive towards something, you gain the ability. John-Roger has said, “The willingness to do gives the ability to do.” We are all students learning, and we have a range of abilities. This classroom of the Traveler always makes us students.

You may be learning or working through something much more subtle than someone who’s sitting next to you or vice versa. What’s interesting is the spiritual learning rarely shows up outwardly. It’s very difficult to determine how involved in their spiritual growth someone may be based on their looks or their expression. There are qualities that express the Spirit, and that’s what’s important for you to look upon as a reference. As you take on the intention to go to God, that’s an inner intention. It’s registered inside with the God that dwells in you.

He is Greater Within You
Do you consider you have direct communion with God? If you do, then choose to act like it. That means consulting and communing with your God within. Whatever form that takes outwardly, how you practice your worship, whether it’s in some kind of an edifice, a church, a synagogue, a temple, a field in nature, the floor beside your bed, in the shower, through your crying or your pleading, the communion with God inside is still present.

I suggest that one of your prayers be, “To better hear You and know You, Lord.” Strive with that intention. Whatever any of us are doing, as great and wonderful as it might be, the greater presence is inside. “Greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world [1 John 4:4].

There’s part of a storm that manifests itself in the world. It blows the trees and brings the rain. But the greater part of the storm is in the center, in the calm. That’s where the power is, and it’s in the silence of your being. That’s the greater presence of who you are.

Don’t be so concerned with your expression and the forms that things take around you. Keep your eye on the calm and peace that is present. Allow it to extend as that force of the Spirit. When you do, you’ll find your expression is uplifting, first in your own being and then extending out to those in your world.

When a force that is uplifting meets a force that is in a downward movement, there’s a confrontation. It’s as if we can sense a change is in the air. There’s a balancing of those forces. If you’re uplifting, you may find that upliftment is decreasing in confrontation with a downward force. That’s all right. Keep your balance. The vortex of energy that’s in the center of your being is incorruptible.

When the storm dissipates, the vortex is still present although it may be taking another form. Where does that force come from in the first place? Out of God. So be careful in what confronts you. Don’t become that nature of downward energy. Choose to become a calming, uplifting force for those who are disturbed and angry. Does this happen in an instant? Not likely. It’s gradual, so you have to maintain your course and allow those that will confront you to decrease.

Have you ever had someone who is angry and has upset you then follow you around, maybe from room to room? When that comes to you, it takes great patience along with the understanding that somehow this is your level of concern. It’s not important to have the answer to why. Just figure the answer is “because.” There is a cause. There is a reason, but you don’t have to know what it is. Just know enough that you maintain your course and you hold your loving and your calm present. As you learn to connect to the peace and calm within, then that is what can be extended to you and outward from you.

You may realize that the greatest way to handle a confrontation is to steer clear of it. Just as sunny weather may move in as a storm moves away, you can move too. Sometimes you just endure. If I was to look at a singular quality that maintains M.S.I.A., I’d consider it’s our endurance — the willingness to endure and maintain our intention on Soul Transcendence no matter what challenges we face.

You probably know by now that you don’t have all the answers. If you’ve attempted to understand everything, you’ve been frustrated. If you make your understanding something validated by outer circumstances, you may get very frustrated. Understanding is not found out in the world. It’s found inside.

If M.S.I.A. as an outer movement was no longer here, the Movement of Spiritual Inner Awareness would still exist. You would still have the connection because you know it inside yourself. You have the experience with the Presence. You have the inner transformation, and you know it’s good. However, as soon as you go out into your life, that’s when it’s challenging because your karma more directly meets up with you.

Karma occurs when we choose to move away from the Spirit within. That’s the law. Karma will take you into your debts, into what you’ve done incorrectly, and show it to you. And you must overcome it eventually.

The Movement of Spiritual Inner Awareness is a path of grace. We can choose to bypass the karma by not reacting to those things that are negative and by not entering into things that are unnecessary. My prescription for clearing karma is to stop doing unnecessary things. It may seem as though you’re turning away, and you are. But as you turn away, you are turning in. You’re eliminating those things that you are not. You are eliminating the untruths and the illusions. You cannot eliminate who you are. You cannot eliminate the truth of your divinity.

The Spirit endures through it all. So when things endure, you’re in line with who you are. Do your best to eliminate those things that are unnecessary. Clean up your life. Ask to get closer to the Lord. Spend time in that calm, peaceful center within. Remember, through whatever challenge you’re facing, “This too shall pass.” And what stays with you, what endures throughout the storms of your life, is the Beloved of God.

Baruch Bashan