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May Salon

May 21, 2004

Here are a few paragraphs from the Caroline Myss May Salon

MAY SALON: CHANNELING GRACE

It seems that I’ve been away for a long time and for more reasons than, in fact, I HAVE been away for a long time. Last autumn, as many of you know, I sent out a request for “acts of service” that you have received from or provided to another person. I expected that perhaps 100 to 150 of you would take the time to submit a story, but in the end, about 1,400 arrived. I read each one of them – and that’s when my life began to change. I realized that I needed to share these stories in a book and rapidly made arrangements to write a book based on these marvelous examples of human compassion and kindness. We’ve all had experiences in which our ideas seem simple at first and then evolve into something either magnificent or disastrous that we didn’t see coming. In my case, this idea unfolded into a magnificent journey. The unforeseen part of it was that it also led me into a deeply needed spiritual retreat and I would very much like to share some of this journey with you in this Salon.

First, let me say again and again how endlessly grateful I am to all of you who sent me your stories. Having read so many, I also realize that many of you probably wanted to send a story in, but perhaps didn’t have the time or find writing a bit overwhelming. Even to you, I am grateful because I know you are a part of the soul-group that has become my web site family.

How do we enter change? What makes us ready for a soul-level epiphany? I have lectured for years on the nature of the spiritual and how the heavens interact with us – all of which I believe is true. I would never even consider lecturing on something I don’t believe; still, we can become “detached” from the power of a truth and not even realize it. Or we can realize it, but not recognize that such a detachment has consequences. This is what happened to me during these past five months. Somewhere late last year, I was reading in bed and the thought occurred to me that I did not have a genuine spiritual practice. My prayer life had become routine, habit --.but not insightful. My introspective periods, which are many, had taken the route of psychological as opposed to spiritual, and by spiritual, I mean entering into soul-excavation on a somewhat regular basis – not for problem solving or healing or with any specific agenda, but just because your interior is a space you want to invade fully.

Shortly after that little moment’s pondering on my anemic prayer life, I began the writing of Invisible Acts of Power, compiling and organizing all those letters into some kind of order that would eventually convert into book chapters. After all these years, like most people, I suppose, I’ve adapted ways of thinking and perceiving the exterior world that have become so second-nature that I don’t realize that I am “behaving archetypally” until afterwards. So applying that to this book, I began the organization of these many stories by category: food for the homeless, financial support, creative support, angelic intervention, etc. etc. Somewhere in the middle of this, I noted that I had separated these letters into seven stacks. So I did what now comes naturally to me – archetypal being that I am – and dropped in the chakras on top of the seven stacks of letters, along with the sacraments and the Tree of Life. The harmony, the natural weave of the content of these letters and the human struggles and triumphs they described matched up. Homelessness and hunger are every bit a first-chakra crisis; financial stress in absolutely a second-chakra crisis, and so on. That was my first moment of awe.

My second moment of awe occurred a bit later. As a result of expanding the weave of this text on service and generosity to include the significance of the chakras, sacraments, and Tree of Life, I decided to include passages from world scriptures and insights from the great spiritual writers, philosophers, and mystics throughout the text of my book. Unlike the kind research that I had been doing for my American history book, which is academic in scope and feeds your intellect, immersing yourself in sacred writings feeds your soul and then your intellect. Some days I would spend as many as ten hours reading these profound writings, and re-reading many of the books I had read long ago as a grad student in theology. I read the biographies of who knows how many saints, from Christian and other traditions. I consumed the sacred writings of John of the Cross and Teresa of Avila and Rumi and Thomas Merton and the Qur’an and on and on. Somewhere in the midst of this, I began to crave this time like a starving person craves food and water. I couldn’t wait to get to my office each morning, which had, in fact, become a sanctuary of sorts. At one point, I actually paused and wondered if I was on this reading binge just for myself, or if my book really did require all this research. I dismissed that question in short order, and just kept reading.

Then one day, as I was reading a prayer written by the Trappist monk Thomas Merton, the thought occurred to me that to read a prayer was to say that prayer. I wasn’t reading history – a subject whose power depended on the clever facts and well written recall of battles, biographies, and events. I was reading prayers, sacred revelations, and the spiritual experiences of those whose lives led them into the intimate embrace of the Divine. In the privacy of my office one day, I felt as if I had crossed over a line somewhere deep in my psyche and soul. Something cracked open in me; something else melted; something else was born. Everything in my life – in one instant – suddenly became more precious to me than I had ever experienced before. I felt overwhelmed, absorbed, contained in a field of . . . of what? Love is not the right word. Maybe conscious-love-gratitude-here and now awareness such as I had never known. Those teachings that I fully believe – such as “there are no accidents” and “we do have Sacred Contracts” -- became animated for me like electrical truths that bore a hole right into my soul. I took full advantage of this heightened state of consciousness, because I knew enough to realize that it wasn’t going to last. And so I imaged every single person close to me, from my family to my closest friends and colleagues, Michael and David and Judy and Les and Mary and Peter O. and Meryl and Lynn B -- all of them -- as well as all those I am connected to through my work and teaching. And the immensity of the sensation of transcendent gratitude, love, and Divinity blasted through those images as if that energy was a blessing-in-motion. If I had to be honest – and this is no place not to be – doing this imaging of someone I love and then observing white, high-voltage, sacred light rush through them like wind through a cheese cloth was a blast, like having a squirt gun filled with grace.

Continued……………………………………in the May Salon

Which brings me full circle (more or less…actually less) and back to you. How do you know when heaven has come to call? Can you tell? Can you feel when a new sense of grace has been introduced into your soul? And then there is your relationship to generosity and your comfort level with how clearly and deeply you are willing to intuit what another person really needs. So let’s just start here – with introspective direction on generosity and you.

What motivates you to be generous?
Do you need thanks?
Is it important to you that at least one other person know that you have helped someone?
Who wouldn’t you help if they asked you? Why not?
What are the limitations of your generosity?
Is it easy for you to empower another? (Don’t even consider saying yes in two seconds.) It is NOT easy for you to empower everyone, so pick the one person who annoys you. And what if you were the one person who could help that person out -- what would you do, especially knowing the rules of the spiritual game??? Would you cling to your wounds as an excuse not to have to honor the higher spiritual rules of life?
Imagine that everything you do, say, and think is a channel for grace, because it is. As an exercise, for one day, live and think and act as if you really KNEW you were channeling grace, and observe – and absorb – the exquisite difference of the energy of that day. Oh, and don’t go thinking that such a mindset will make your life easy that day, as if you should be rewarded for good spiritual behavior. If anything, the day you do this exercise, expect at least one, good challenge, cuz heaven loves a showdown.
Thank you so much for your patience during my absence these past months. I have shared part of my journey with you because I really wasn’t playing hooky. As a part of my “new life,” if you want to call it that, I am directing almost 90 percent of my energy toward my CMED Institute now and writing more books. There comes a time when life gets shorter than longer, and one has to go the direction of her heart. I have waited so long for the time and place to create CMED, and my work with Sacred Contracts, archetypes, and now a new CMED program on “Intuition and Mysticism.” I just feel so called to nurture that work.

God bless all of you….
Caroline

To register for the Myss Salon

Checklist of Health Issues and Illness The purpose of the CHII is to allow you a fast and easy way to identify your own personal blocks and to allow you to work on removing these blocks should you care to do so. You will receive an individual profile that shows your score for each chakra as well as for three themes: vitality, relationships, and spirituality. You will be given specific ways to address issues for each chakra.

Personal Nutrition Provider The purpose of the PNP is to allow you a fast and easy way to identify your personal chemistry. You will receive an individual profile that shows you your score for each area and then a food plan with selected foods that support your well being on all levels: physical, emotional, psychological and spiritual. We sampled over 500 adults in the United States, both people who are familiar with Susan's work and people who know nothing about it. We will continue to work on researching the PNP based upon the information we receive from this web site. Your individual responses will, of course, be totally confidential and held in strictest confidence as with a counselor or doctor.

THE CMED INSTITUTE 2005-6

Since the publication of Sacred Contracts, I have received inquires from many readers asking for my personal guidance with the selection of their 12 archetypes. Many people have also asked for my help, or the help of someone intimately familiar with my work, in casting a Chart of Origin, interpreting the placement of their archetypes in the Chart, and using the Archetypal Wheel for additional readings regarding health, career, finances, counseling, or spiritual guidance. Still others wanted to know if I could teach them how to lead focus groups on the Sacred Contracts material. This would require studying with me on a more advanced level of archetype and chart interpretation, such as casting an Archetypal Chart to gain greater insight into the unfolding of global events.

To register for the CMED Institute

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