As any of you who have followed the inner call to work with us know, the teachings of the Essential Light Institute come—essentially—from “Those Guys”; the non-physical guides and healers who come to our circle when we unite in the heart and in sincere, prayerful intention. We who have been given the responsibility to convey what they inspire and organize the collective holding of the space for all of us to increase our connection with our guides and our in-built gift of intuition, do the best that we can to embody the central teachings of compassion and discernment, so that what they bring is as accurately imparted as possible.
When the inspiration for the Circles of Compassion came to me, it was in response to the larger collective prayer to be of use in this time of great challenge on earth. Almost everyone one earth and on other planes sees and feels the urgency and delicacy of this time on earth. The “off-gassing” of darkness and its companions of hatred, vengeance, violence and judgment, is enormous and increasing, as well as the responses of compassion, courage and inspiration towards unity and a new way to live. The forms of the response to these challenging times vary greatly, from the practical to the political to the inspired by Light to the fearful to the hateful to the religious. And to the spiritual. All of the responses are the varied expressions of humans in the long, twisting process of awakening to our inherent divinity. We’re just in a super-strong moment of the working out of the details of the transition from the third to the fourth chakra—from separation to unity.
The question I asked in my prayer was: What can we in our particular corner do to help hold on a larger level that same space for healing that we are learning to do for each other in the small circles that we create in workshops and spiritual ceremonies? How can we both be true to our growing understanding that living through the heart is the goal and the method for healing and for following a spiritualized life, and be of grounded use to each other and to those passing through the most difficult trials of this time on earth?
The response from “Those Guys” was, and is, the Circles of Compassion. When I received it, the inspiration came with a feeling that I have come to recognize over the years of learning this inner art of living through the heart as one worth following. It is a feeling that combines excitement and certainty, joy and determination. It activates my higher will to make the inspiration into manifestation. And it came with beautiful transmission from a calm, compassionate, loving source that I can only pray to embody in my daily life one day. That transmission is below.
And yet, as much as I have learned to trust that feeling in my heart, the proof, as they say, is in the pudding. My job is to put it out. It is your job to try it out. Which some you have done, including a small group in my hometown of Ashland, Oregon, where I went to a Circle of Compassion in mid-December.
Here I want to convey that the circle is meant to create a space that serves both the healing and spiritual development of the participants and the greater good. That combination is in itself one of the teachings we have received-we do not have to choose between our own individual healing and helping others. When we pray for what is in the highest good of all beings, we understand that we ourselves are among them. The trick then is to follow and do what we receive through our developing intuition with courage and faith.
This session of the Circle of Compassion lasted a little over an hour. Its form was simple and relaxed. One of the people read the aforementioned transmission. Then we meditated for some minutes. Then each person had the chance to bring into the formed circle an issue, a person, or a situation. It could be personal to them, to their family, and/or to the larger world. We were reminded that we were not there to “fix” anything or anybody. We were there holding a hospitable space of compassion for Light to be able to come and illuminate what we brought into the center of the circle.
Here’s what I want you to know. The literal, un-metaphorical, universal, exquisite, healing and freeing vibration of compassion was palpably present in that small circle. It was, as you’ve heard me say many times, for real. I was seriously blown away. It’s one thing to receive the inspiration, even to trust it. It’s another thing to feel it, to get it vibrationally in your bodies and understand from the inside out what the purpose and potential of the thing is. I walked away from that hour a more whole person, a more calm person, a more faith-full person: certainly a more grateful person. Maybe even a little more humble person in the seeing and feeling of what we have been so generously given to help ourselves, each other and the greater good.
Organizing and making use of a Circle of Compassion does not in any way preclude other levels of helping, either personal or general. We are each called (if we pay attention), to the places and work that most serve our prayers to be of use and to heal ourselves. It’s all useful when it is inspired through the heart. And I have seen and felt with clarity now that the Circles of Compassion are a practical, beautiful and easy way to both continue our own development as healers and spiritualized people, and help the subtle but most necessary securing of compassion and Light on earth. And that is a good and real thing to do.
My goal for this new year is that by this time next year there exist 50 active Circles of Compassion. I’d encourage you to organize one of them if you aren’t already doing so. I can tell you with no doubt that it’s way worth it on lots of levels.
We will be making the Circles of Compassion a main thrust of our work at ELI in this next year, along with our ongoing Gift of the Body Healer’s Training on both coasts, the preparing for new trainings to begin in 2017, and the four chances for us to work together in various places and settings and for folks who are new to this work to check this work out and receive some healing and teaching.
I send each of you Light. Remember that the Light and the Universal Compassionate Heart that holds the space for that Light to manifest in every place are neutral, ubiquitous and non-personal. You have the right and the responsibility to learn to unite your own heart with that grand one, and then call that Light specifically to your bodies, your health, your work, your decisions, your thought forms, your karma, your life and to those to whom you are inspired to do so. You are the co-creator of all that. It’s a tough job sometimes. That’s what friends and the Essential Light Institute are for.
Jonathan Goldman
January 3, 2016