Raven Books


Sample Pages 5 I was aware of movement in one direction, of many parallel columns or channels of energy, as if water were moving slowly through many translucent, colored tubes. The tubes converged until they all ran together at one point, forming a huge bundle, and as the tubes came together, the waters mixed and intermingled and all flowed into the others. The vision of the multicolored tubes of fluid shifted and evolved to become the trunk of an enormous tree, with columns of growth where the tubes had been. The columns merged and became a single massive trunk, and at their bottom ends they branched again and again, spreading out in all downward directions, growing smaller with each branching and becoming roots, and finally rootlets, millions of them reaching out and down to provide a secure base for the massive tree. It was similar to huge banyan or mangrove trees, and all through it I sensed the movement of fluids, or energy, motion left over from when I could see it flowing through the tubes. As the energy flowed upwards, the million channels grew together, becoming larger and joining each other until they all flowed slowly upward into the trunk, which seemed as huge and substantial and solid as the Earth itself, with a tremendous vitality and sense of life within it. As in my mind I followed the energy flow upward again, I was aware that there was constant movement all through the tree, constant growth and change, with the rootlets writhing and searching for nourishment as they grew. With the upward flow the energies eventually began to branch out again, each branch dividing itself again and again until there were as many or more branches and twigs as there were roots. The energy flow here in the crown of the tree was in both directions, inward and outward. The branches eventually grew into a billion leaves, all moving toward and away from each other without any wind. The leaves were conscious, and they were stroking and caressing some of their neighbors, avoiding contact with others. This leafy canopy was huge, unbelievably complex, and in constant movement, searching and yearning for stimulation, for contact with energies from outside, from the atmosphere and the outside world. The leaves were all different; different sizes, colors, textures, shapes, with different styles of movement and what seemed to me to be different degrees of consciousness. Even the branches and twigs were all different, with even different textures and types of bark. It was completely natural to me that even though the growth was diverse in so many ways, they were all fitting parts of one organism. This tree was as huge and complex and intertwined and, above all, alive, as my imagination could conceive. To say the least, I was very impressed with this organism. Then, suddenly, a flash of insight…I realized that my vantage point in all this had changed. I was experiencing it all from the outside surface of the leafy canopy; in fact, I was a beautiful blossom at the end of my very own branch, which was an extension of myself that connected me directly to all the other parts of the tree. I noticed now that there were millions of flowers out here at the outside surface of the canopy. This was the growing frontier of the massive organism, and I was thrilled to be a conscious, living, exploring part of it all. Everywhere I could see was movement, reaching, searching, exploring, growing, and changing! There was a sense of joy, of expectancy, of reaching and yearning for contact with the leaves, with other flowers especially, and with the living wind which I could now feel. I had always a sense of connectedness with the rest of the huge organism; I felt that by taking my consciousness down through the flower stem, through the twig from which it grew—which was a natural extension of me as a flower—through the branches—still a constant, continuing extension of myself—through the larger branches, and down into the trunk and eventually all the way to each tiny rootlet, I could be there, too. It was a knowledge that all the intricate, complex, diverse parts of this incredible organism were different expressions of one living, conscious being. I felt my personal self, as a distinct and beautiful flower, and I also felt my larger Self, the whole organism. I was as much the whole tree as I was its flower; the difference was only one of where my consciousness was focused. The tree was unbelievably complex and diverse, but it was ONE! It was one life, from a single seed, but with a billion magnificent expressions of itself in a billion different ways, all directly connected with tissues and energy flow to all the other parts. My vision, of course, was of the Tree of Life. I knew that it represented the Earth, or even the entire Universe, with its billion outward expressions and its one inner connectedness, one life. The blossoms were the highest, most magnificent manifestation of its consciousness: the humans. Leaves and branches and roots represented the animals, plants, waters and soil, all conscious and participating expressions of the One Life. It was clear to me that everything in the Universe is connected just as all parts of a tree are connected. What affects a part must in some way affect the whole. And I knew that the outside surfaces of this organism were the many expressions of individuality, and the inside of it all, the common part, the Unity, was God. God is the One that is the substance and the heart of all. God is the inside and I am the outside, two aspects of a Unity. Home

Sample Pages 5

I was aware of movement in one direction, of many parallel columns or channels of energy, as if water were moving slowly through many translucent, colored tubes. The tubes converged until they all ran together at one point, forming a huge bundle, and as the tubes came together, the waters mixed and intermingled and all flowed into the others. The vision of the multicolored tubes of fluid shifted and evolved to become the trunk of an enormous tree, with columns of growth where the tubes had been. The columns merged and became a single massive trunk, and at their bottom ends they branched again and again, spreading out in all downward directions, growing smaller with each branching and becoming roots, and finally rootlets, millions of them reaching out and down to provide a secure base for the massive tree. It was similar to huge banyan or mangrove trees, and all through it I sensed the movement of fluids, or energy, motion left over from when I could see it flowing through the tubes. As the energy flowed upwards, the million channels grew together, becoming larger and joining each other until they all flowed slowly upward into the trunk, which seemed as huge and substantial and solid as the Earth itself, with a tremendous vitality and sense of life within it.

As in my mind I followed the energy flow upward again, I was aware that there was constant movement all through the tree, constant growth and change, with the rootlets writhing and searching for nourishment as they grew. With the upward flow the energies eventually began to branch out again, each branch dividing itself again and again until there were as many or more branches and twigs as there were roots. The energy flow here in the crown of the tree was in both directions, inward and outward. The branches eventually grew into a billion leaves, all moving toward and away from each other without any wind. The leaves were conscious, and they were stroking and caressing some of their neighbors, avoiding contact with others. This leafy canopy was huge, unbelievably complex, and in constant movement, searching and yearning for stimulation, for contact with energies from outside, from the atmosphere and the outside world. The leaves were all different; different sizes, colors, textures, shapes, with different styles of movement and what seemed to me to be different degrees of consciousness. Even the branches and twigs were all different, with even different textures and types of bark. It was completely natural to me that even though the growth was diverse in so many ways, they were all fitting parts of one organism. This tree was as huge and complex and intertwined and, above all, alive, as my imagination could conceive. To say the least, I was very impressed with this organism.

Then, suddenly, a flash of insight…I realized that my vantage point in all this had changed. I was experiencing it all from the outside surface of the leafy canopy; in fact, I was a beautiful blossom at the end of my very own branch, which was an extension of myself that connected me directly to all the other parts of the tree. I noticed now that there were millions of flowers out here at the outside surface of the canopy. This was the growing frontier of the massive organism, and I was thrilled to be a conscious, living, exploring part of it all. Everywhere I could see was movement, reaching, searching, exploring, growing, and changing! There was a sense of joy, of expectancy, of reaching and yearning for contact with the leaves, with other flowers especially, and with the living wind which I could now feel. I had always a sense of connectedness with the rest of the huge organism; I felt that by taking my consciousness down through the flower stem, through the twig from which it grew—which was a natural extension of me as a flower—through the branches—still a constant, continuing extension of myself—through the larger branches, and down into the trunk and eventually all the way to each tiny rootlet, I could be there, too. It was a knowledge that all the intricate, complex, diverse parts of this incredible organism were different expressions of one living, conscious being. I felt my personal self, as a distinct and beautiful flower, and I also felt my larger Self, the whole organism. I was as much the whole tree as I was its flower; the difference was only one of where my consciousness was focused. The tree was unbelievably complex and diverse, but it was ONE! It was one life, from a single seed, but with a billion magnificent expressions of itself in a billion different ways, all directly connected with tissues and energy flow to all the other parts.

My vision, of course, was of the Tree of Life. I knew that it represented the Earth, or even the entire Universe, with its billion outward expressions and its one inner connectedness, one life. The blossoms were the highest, most magnificent manifestation of its consciousness: the humans. Leaves and branches and roots represented the animals, plants, waters and soil, all conscious and participating expressions of the One Life. It was clear to me that everything in the Universe is connected just as all parts of a tree are connected. What affects a part must in some way affect the whole. And I knew that the outside surfaces of this organism were the many expressions of individuality, and the inside of it all, the common part, the Unity, was God. God is the One that is the substance and the heart of all. God is the inside and I am the outside, two aspects of a Unity.

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