Thursday, May 21, 2015

A Flower’s Essence by Michael Mamas



Image Source: wonderslist.com


Do you know that little aura that is around a flower? When you sniff a flower, you take that in. You take it away from the flower. The personified correlate to that, the astral correlate to that, is called a “fairy.” A fairy is the soul of a flower.

When I first bought the land for Mount Soma, there were places where people hadn’t set foot for a very, very long time. I noticed that if we drove by in a truck, even 100 feet away, something was lost. In that space, something wasn’t quite the same. It got disturbed. Not a big deal, but it subtly was there. The same is true with flowers. When you take the essence from a flower by sniffing it, you are certainly compromising a component of the flower.


Image Source:srisomesvara.org



During a Vedic ceremony, I noticed the pandit (Vedic priest) had many flowers around a statue of the Divine Mother.  He had done several pujas to that statue for a long period of time. When he took the flowers off, the quality that was held by the mantras and imbibed into the flowers, was taken away too. It wasn’t as strong. Essences of flowers are similar. They have the capacity to hold some energy, and they also have the capacity to take a ‘charge’, so to speak. I haven’t worked enough with it to say how much it would take to put that energy back into a flower essence, or even if it is a pragmatic thing to do. However, the potential is there.

Now I know sometimes when a friend of mine visits, he likes Mount Soma water. He takes it and puts it in the moonlight. The water picks up some value. So, there are ways to increase the energy of things.

That fineness, that very subtle fineness, is everywhere. It is more evident in some things than others. It is more effervescent on superficial levels of existence in some things than others. Everything is the Transcendent. The liveliness of the Transcendent wells up through a natural flower more so than through an alley in downtown Manhattan. But, they are both the Transcendent.

The more deeply you understand the subtleties of life, the better you are at looking. It is not so much about knowing where to look, as it is about knowing how to look.

Dr. Michael Mamas is the founder and the CEO of the Center of Rational Spirituality. To know more information about his work, visit this Facebook page.

Excerpt from Unconditioned Spirit, Chapter 23, page 98: When light shines through different filters, a broad range of color is displayed. Similarly, when the knowledge within the Transcendent wells up through different cultures, a diverse range of natural laws emerge. Over the ages, unique cultures developed based upon the laws of the land where those cultures existed. Corresponding spiritual, moral, and legal codes emerged.

Truth is universal. But expressions of truth diverge, just as flowers, born of the same soil, come in many types.

So too, the traditions appropriate to each culture are unique. The religious teachings then, unique to each great culture, are something very precious. They are the expression of the light of the Transcendent in the form appropriate for each culture. They are to be cherished and honored. However, at the same time, we must not forget that the moment those words are spoken, they are misunderstood by the listener.

Because times change and people change, the appropriate expressions of truth must also change. So here we have a double-edged sword. On one hand, we have something precious to be protected and upheld—cultural integrity. On the other, we need to adapt to the times which are ever-changing and eternally in flux. Navigating those waters is a delicate craft. Individuals must simultaneously uphold tradition, while all the while breathing new life and new ways into those traditions.