THE TALE OF THE TWO SISTERS

Greetings!
Yes, I am back...its been exactly two months since my last post and I must first apologize, as I've promised

http://reconnections.net/blue_star_children.htm

to make bi-monthly posts, but I've been so caught up in researching and writing Book IV of the White Bird Series that I put all of my writing efforts into it and by the end of the day, there's nothing left in me.
It's been a wonderful spring-turned-summer so far. Here in the Northland spring was slow to start, but it finally arrived and summer's knocking at the door. When I can pull myself away from Crystal and her latest journey, I've tended my gardens which survived one of the coldest winters I can imagine, jumped on my bike and attempted to find my 'biking' legs, wandered around the gardens at the MN Landscape Arboretum (one of my favorite spots of all time) and other household sundries I need to pay attention to. Yes, I'm a writer, but this is such a lovely time of year, I have to pay attention to it!
For those of you who have read the first three books, I know you're anticipating Book IV and I'm putting all of my efforts into making sure it is perfect and complete and ready for publication as promised. So, here's what I've decided to do. I'm going to share with you a story that I've included in the beginning of my new book, due for release fall 2014..."Blue Crystal Mountain."
Now, I don't want to tell you where Crystal is, because that would spoil a wonderful surprise, but I will say this: the being sharing the story with Crystal that you are about to read is a goddess, well-known throughout Asia, known by various names. She shares this story with Crystal because, well, I cannot tell you that either, but it's really not important at this point. Important for Crystal, yes, but for you right now, let's just say, the story can stand on its own. So, I now present to you, the Tale of the Two Sisters, as told to Crystal by a goddess whose beauty and compassion is beyond compare.

The woman eyed Crystal curiously. “Has no one told you the tale of the two sisters?”

Crystal shook her head.

“Then before we continue, I must tell you and then you will understand the importance of your sister.  The story is this: Long ago when new worlds were being created, there were two sisters of royal birth, each known for their extraordinary gifts. The older sister was a great warrior whose skill in battle was unmatched. Her spirit was like the moon, dark and elusive, filled with powerful, mystical qualities, and her intuition, heat and passion in battle were legendary. When enraged, her anger was explosive and everywhere she went, a large snake with blue shiny scales would follow, a warrior in its own right.

“The younger was her opposite. Her spirit was like the sun, filled with powerful qualities of light. She was full of life with a strong clarity of mind, a warm open heart and possessed great wisdom. After heavenly battles were fought, many would seek her out to sit by her side—just being near her light would heal their bodies and their minds. And she was never seen without a glorious white bird at her side. The sisters were inseperable, spending hours in each others company, desiring no other.

“One day the younger sister was called away and told by her father, the king, that she must leave. A new planet was being birthed, a world where the angels could pretend to be human, and the galactic council needed her help in overseeing its construction. To make it complete, they needed her warmth, wisdom and light. The news distressed her when she learned her sister would not be joining her, but she had to obey the king. She and the white bird left that day. The sister left behind went into deep despair, speaking to no one, taking her grief out on unsuspecting foes in battle, and more elusive than ever. She soon discovered why her sister had left and vowed to someday leave her kingdom to search for this new blue planet and the only being she ever loved.

“Finally the day came when she wasn’t needed in battle and she left, bringing the blue snake with her, spending untold years searching for her sister and the planet in the vast universe. When she came upon a blue star she was immediately drawn to it. Tired after eons of searching for her sister, she settled on the star, establishing a strong connection with the light beings upon it and became their leader, remaining there until the day she decided to once again begin searching for her sister. However, this time she didn’t travel alone, she brought with her twelve beings from the blue star, hoping their special gifts could help.

“And so they set off, soon discovering a small cluster of stars and a council of six sisters. Without telling them why, the warrior sister asked them if they knew of this blue planet and they told her of a place that was newly born and how their sister, a warm compassionate creature with a sunny nature and open heart had traveled there to plant the seeds of compassion into the race of beings who were given the planet as a place to live. But she’d become trapped by an evil reptile who’d hoped to claim the planet as its own and who feared her light.

“The warrior sister, trying not to fly into a rage, calmly asked if this sister, like her, had traveled to them from the stars and when they nodded, she told them the truth of who she was, asking them to help her find this planet, promising them anything if they did. They told her they could help upon one condition: if she could release her sister, she must return to them for it was necessary for their number to remain seven. Without hesitation she agreed and the sisters sent her off.

“Finding the blue planet was easy compared to finding her sister so she sent the twelve beings in different directions. She had just begun to despair of ever finding her sister when she saw a white misty bird hovering over a mountain’s top exuding a light brighter than anything she’d yet seen on the planet. Overjoyed at finding her sister, yet suspicious of the reptile that had trapped her, she told the blue serpent to stay behind, instructing it to find the other twelve and return to the blue star if anything happened to her.

“She fled to the mountain, encountering a large bronze serpent that reared up, attempting to strike her down but she fought bravely until the wicked one bested her, dragging her to its lair, entrapping her like it had her sister. When she found her sister sitting like a regal queen of light in a golden cage deep beneath the mountain her heart broke. Her sister had always been filled with joy, her smile lighting up the stars, her warm spirit boundless and free. Now she was a captive, sad and confused with no sign of recognition in her blue eyes when they laid upon her.  The warrior sister knew her sister could not survive like this and called for the bronze serpent, making him a promise.

“’If you release my sister,’ she said,  ‘I will remain and share my warrior qualities with you and any that you choose. But if you do not, I will escape and use every means to destroy you.’”

“‘Very well,’ it hissed having witnessed her skills and realizing her request could make him stronger. ‘But once released, the light can never return. If it does I will destroy every creature upon this planet. And you must remain here forever, returning even after you die, using your skills to do whatever I wish.’”

“Satisfied that her sister would be safe, she agreed, and the bronze serpent released the light, sending it into the heavens along with the white bird where the light sister remained, becoming the seventh sister once again, vowing to return, knowing her sister had sacrificed everything for her. And the blue planet, without the warmth and compassion of the light, suffered and moved into centuries of battles and death. The twelve beings from the blue star, along with the blue serpent, decided to stay and hid deep within the earth, each caring for the planet in their own way, attempting to maintain its energies until the light could return.

“Lifetime after lifetime kings and queens of great wealth sought out protection from the bronze serpent who used the warrior and her skills to betray and corrupt Mankind. But the warrior sister separated herself from him and began protecting those who loved the planet, sharing the sacred information she’d brought from the blue star, knowledge they’d once had but forgotten, showing them loyalty and compassion, becoming more legendary every time her spirit returned.

“All the while, the seventh sister watched, sending the white bird to the planet every thousand years to gather information, becoming a witness to every life and event, recording with detail and great care everything that happened, witnessing the destruction of one age and the rebirth of another, placing the information into a blue stone. She even witnessed the contract made between her sister and the twelve caretakers of Earth, ensuring Mankind could regain their inheritance, their divine knowledge, if they did not destroy it by the year 2000. 

“Not until the great event of 1987 occurred when 144,000 lightworkers joined together in peace, raising the vibration of Earth and setting it on a new course, was there hope that the light return. Because of this shift, the bronze serpent no longer had power over the earth and its people and for the first time since the planet was born, the sisters from the stars would spend their first lifetime together—one fulfilling the contract, unveiling the sacred information she’d once shared with those who loved the planet, and the other called on to witness the first days of the Fifth Age, bringing her light and the white bird with her to herald the coming of a new world where compassion and love will once again prevail on earth.”

Crystal stroked Wyndon’s head, letting the story sink in. Even though the last few months were surreal and she’d done and seen things only the wildest imagination could dream up, the story of the sisters took the prize. 

Crystal closed her eyes, seeing her sister’s sweet, beautiful face, missing her and loving her now more than ever. No one, other than her grandfather, had loved her more than Claire, even in their youth when she’d tormented her, stolen her things, lied to her face, shut her out after their grandfather death, even growling when she’d stopped her from planting her fist in the moronic Luke Cob’s face. Her sister had stepped in stopping her from doing stupid things time and again, but she’d never thanked her, only ignored her more, but the love in Claire’s eyes had never dimmed. All because she’d been so jealous of Claire’s goodness. Claire was good and she’d always felt rotten, rotten to the core. Claire was like the sun, always bright and happy, she like the moon, dark and elusive. Her sister was her hero and she had to save her.

I hope you enjoyed this story! Some of you  might have a bit of deja vu...thinking I might have touched on this story once already in another book. But I will not say where, when, or how, I will let your own imaginations and intellect take you on that journey.
And so with a fond farewell, I bid you adieu. Crystal is calling me back to the page and I must heed her call for she is at another impasse and needs my help!
Have a lovely day
Namaste
PB 
 

COMPASSION FOR THE SUFFERING: HONOR OR AID?

Over the last few years, I've buried myself in my writing, my research, my family and my friends, all the while keeping one eye on current weather patterns, political uprisings, and trends in technological research and

science, doing the best I possibly could not to get emotionally involved as that often proves toxic to my sanity and ability to deal with my own life.  The world is much smaller than it was twenty years ago, subsequently it's much easier to be fed news about events occurring one hundred miles away or all the way on the other side of the world.  It's often extremely difficult not to get emotionally charged and dragged into another's heartbreaking drama when it often times seems the world is going to 'hell in a handbasket.'   The world is filled with humans of all types; those who harm and those who do not, those who watch others harm without interfering, turning away, not wanting to become involved; and those who interfere, who work tirelessly to expose and shut down, arrest and incarcerate those who should be held responsible for their harmful actions, and those who allow another to experience their full potential of suffering by not interfering. Many claim we are in the greatest compassionate shift in human history, but why does it seem that everyday more and more people are suffering?

Billions of souls on planet earth experience suffering in some way or another.  The Masters, those who've walked the earth with elevated consciousness, declare that we are here to experience life in all its dimensions and struggling makes us stronger.  E.A. Bucchianeri, in his book, Brushstrokes of a Gadfly, says this about Jesus's suffering:"If Christ is God, He cannot sin, and if suffering was a sin in and by itself, He could not have suffered and died for us.  However, since He took the most horrific death to redeem us, He showed us in fact that suffering and pain have great power." The bible verse, James 1:2-4 says this about suffering. Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.  And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. Helen Keller, a tragic, yet powerful figure who overcame huge obstacles said this: "Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience, through trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved." Kahlil Gibran, author of the infamous book, "The Prophet" says this: "Out of suffering has emerged the strongest souls; the most massive characters are seared with scars."

So my dilemma is this: If I see a homeless man or woman, should I have compassion and feel sorry for him or her? Should I try to help if they have not asked me to? Should I look upon them with pity because I have a home to go to? Or, should I honor them for their choice? Should I let them evolve in their own way into that most massive character with scars? Should I acknowledge the fact that they are learning what they came to earth to learn? Should I take home their worries? Do I even know what their worries are? Can I presume to know them better than they know themselves? How about the millions of souls in Japan after the tsunami? How do I as a compassionate human being fall asleep at night knowing how they suffer? I live thousands of miles away, yet the media coverage brought it into my living room and it was extremely difficult not to be moved by the devastation.  As a compassionate human, what can I do for them?  They are experiencing trials and suffering, and according to Helen Keller, their souls are strengthened because of the tragedy. Millions of animals a day lose their lives in kill shelters, by hunters, poachers, brutes who gain pleasure in torturing and killing innocent animals.  How can I stand by and let this happen? How can I not inflict the same atrocity upon them, as I am sometimes want to do? Children suffer at the hands of adults who should be protecting them, not hurting them, exploiting them, destroying their chance at ever having a normal life.  How do I as a compassionate human being allow these horrors to happen? Are they seared with scars, making them massive characters? Does their pain and suffering have great power? I don't know about you, but if I am alerted to anyone, especially an animal or a child, who is being harmed in some fashion or another, I cannot stand idly by and let them gain a greater understanding of themselves at the hands of a brute even if it means placing myself in danger.  Compassion for their suffering compels me to act, to alleviate their suffering, to save them.

How about his scenario, much less graphic than the a fore mentioned, but sometimes tragic all the same.  Let's say, for instance, my son/daughter makes a decision that I am quite aware will place them in danger, or if not danger, the consequence will most likely be unpleasant.  If I am a compassionate human being, should I let them suffer? What if they don't ask for my help or advice? If I know they will suffer as an outcome of their choice, should I step in? Or should I allow them the greatest gift one can give to another; the gift of experiencing what they came to earth to learn.  Oh, it's a tough call and riddled with uncertainties, especially if a loved one is in trouble, begging for help as they've done dozens of times before, saying they promise they'll change if you help them one more time, and, you know they won't.  Maybe compassion for the suffering in this scenario is to allow them to feel the nip of the wringer, to experience their consequence, live their choice, otherwise you've taken away their opportunity to learn, you've stepped in and become their higher power.  Maybe compassion is honoring another's choice even if it interfere's with yours. Maybe compassion is honoring yourself enough to allow another human to struggle. Didn't Buddha say: "If your compassion does not include yourself, it is incomplete?" In Buddhism, the ideal of practice is to selflessly act to alleviate suffering wherever it appears.  We may argue it is impossible to eliminate suffering, and maybe it is, maybe people are supposed to suffer, yet, according to Buddhism, we're to respond anyway.  And, according to Buddhism, having compassion for oneself is paramount to having compassion for others and puts oneself on the road to enlightenment. We should not ignore our own suffering.

Being a compassionate human, I suppose, does not mean standing idly by and watching another suffer if something can be done.  The key here is understanding if another is suffering.  Is the homeless man or woman suffering? Is the teenager stealing and selling drugs suffering? I know I cannot and should not be the arbiter of another's suffering, yet on the other hand, I cannot and should not be the arbiter of another's choice in how they wish to experience their life.  Compassion for myself has led me to this understanding.  Honoring another's choice, not interfering unless asked, understanding that if I do help it will not hinder my serenity, is the greatest  gift I can give myself and another.  Helping in service, not in servitude is how I determine when it's appropriate to step in.  Honoring another, lending a hand, offering aid is offering compassion, but not when it interferes with my or my family's safety, health or well-being.  These are things I must consider if I wish to practice compassion for there is often more at stake than offering a friendly hand.  Compassion is first and foremost something I must give to myself in order to be effective.  If I cannot help, I can honor the sacrifice others have made when they struggled with their suffering such as the victims of the tsunami tragedy in Japan and the victims of the recent earthquake in the Phillipines.

Humans are the highest form of life in the universe, so I believe.  There are no other beings with higher consciousness than a human being.  Seems a bit convoluted when there's so much drama, heartache, heartbreak, and sadness happening around the world.  But since we're in the greatest compassionate shift in human history I can only strive to believe that this shift is an inner shift contrary to what the media presents to us daily.  Around the world there are huge uprisings by those tired of the heavy hand of tyranny.  The compassion millions are beginning to feel for themselves has thrust them from their homes, demanding better treatment from officials and employers, cleaner water, higher wages, fair trade practices, democracy.  Compassion is not just about offering aid to the suffering, it is believing with your whole heart that you deserve better and you'll do anything to see it done.  Maybe the brutes of the world, those who harm, will begin to feel compassion for themselves and stop their brutality. A compassionate person does not inflict harm.  Buddhism is built on compassion and complete harmlessness.  My hope is this: One day, soon, humanity will have fallen in love with themselves so completely it would be impossible to inflict harm on themselves or anyone else, then, peace will surely come to planet earth.

And so, I go forth from today with compassion for myself first and foremost.  Knowing this to be true, I will do my best to alleviate my own suffering so that I might alleviate someone else's.  I will strive to hone my passion, for with this comes compassion.  I will honor other's for their choices and help if they ask if it doesn't interfere with my family's safety, health, or well-being.  I will honor and put into the highest light those who've chosen a life of struggle, of pain, and of lack.  I will not feel sorry for them, this will only dishonor their choice, but I will, if asked, attempt to alleviate their suffering to the best of my ability.  If I have to 'stand behind the short fence' when struggle and strife happen on the other side of the world, or even in my own neighborhood, I will if it means honoring another.  I will not become emotionally involved in the drama, rather I will infuse the situation with light and compassion and understand the outcome as appropriate to their life's plan.  This is not easy, but I will do my best not to add fuel to the fire.  My job, this time around on planet earth, is to anchor light, anchor love, and anchor compassion by being a match holder, a lightworker, a light house.  The light house does not get involved in the drama of the sea, it shines its light so that others might see.  I will do my best and hope I do not let myself or anyone else down.

Namaste,
Paula