(Continued from part 1)

Left in the Ashes

As the fire purifies, Franklin writes, the limited self is left in the ashes while the true Self floats gently to full consciousness.

“Only the ash of the personal nature is left behind, while the rest, the best of the personality, is taken up to be conscious, in airy spaces.

“The ultimate state is one of a far, far greater Joy. It is possible for the man passing through the ordeal so to shift his center of self-identity that the pain, instead of being strong, becomes but a shadowy undertone of a Melody that is Joy.” (1)

To identify with the fuel (a.k.a. the limited self) is to suffer when it burns; to identify with the fire is to discover joy and bliss unlike anything the ego can create.

“He who identifies himself with the fuel predominantly suffers much and keenly, but if, on the other hand, he unites himself with the Fire, all is changed.

“The Flame of the Fire is a dance of Joy. There is no pain on this level of Consciousness. The transforming man does not then wait until after the Burning to Know the Joy, but feels It through and through while in the midst of the ordeal, which now has almost completely ceased to be an ordeal at all.” (2)

Free from Pain

The fact that it’s free from pain is perhaps the most important part of the level of awareness the fire unlocks.

The fire effectively brings you to a space free from the internal suffering that prevents the exploration of consciousness, and once the pain is burned away through often difficult circumstances, you’re free to rediscover all the things you’ve been missing.

You’ve only been unaware of them for the blink of an eye compared to how long you were aware before this life and how long you’ll be aware after, but regardless, they’ll be an incredible discovery and you’ll have the fire to thank for it.

“I Clearly Felt the Fire”

Franklin describes his experience with the fire immediately after a transformative spiritual experience involving ambrosia (bliss) and the Current. He also writes about a ‘throttle’ that helps control the Current so it doesn’t overwhelm you and cause fatigue or depression.

“In the days immediately following the Transition, I clearly felt the Fire; and because I did identify myself mostly with this Fire, those were grand days, despite the fact that there were brief periods of reaction when life seemed low in the physical body and it was difficult to assert the will-to-live.

“But now, these periods of reaction are growing less, both in that they are shorter in duration and are less intense.

“There exists a throttle, command of which gives to man the power to control this Current. It is but a due exercise of wisdom so to adjust the flow of the Current that Its action is balanced to meet the strength of the personal man.” (3)

A Balanced Approach

This is another revealing quote that brings awareness to the importance of taking a balanced approach to enlightenment. As much we all want to be overwhelmed with bliss and experience an immediate cessation of all of our problems, too much of this bliss at once can overwhelm us and cause us to feel low at first.

Approaching the fire, as well as the enlightenment it brings about, in a balanced way will allow you to gradually withdraw your attention from what prevents spiritual growth while accessing higher planes of wisdom and bliss.

Or, you can soar into the heavens without a care and you might not have the same results as Franklin. I recommend moderation even with spiritual activities, but as we continue developing these higher senses, the need for moderation will fade.

The bliss we seek will become a constant aspect of life, and one day, we’ll look back on a time when we were just beginning to access it and life seemed dull and void of purpose.

We’ll laugh at the minuscule amount of time we spent in that ‘low’ state of consciousness in comparison to the infinite amount of time we’ll spend in bliss, and we’ll never forget that the fire helped us return home.

Conclusion

As usual, Franklin’s writings have helped me deepen my understanding of a crucial concept that could help a lot of spiritual people who don’t understand why they’re dealing with so much adversity.

I learned more than I expected about the fire today, and we have this force to thank for the difficult but necessary experiences that bring us closer to the Source.

Everything is here to help us grow, and one day, the troubles that are so common now will be destroyed in the fire along with the habits and tendencies that often cause them.

We’ll finally let the spirit into every aspect of our lives, and Source will provide all of the inspiration we need to get out there (while routinely going within) and improving the world in some way.

Knowledge of the fire will spread to those who are unknowingly being purified, and the result will be an awakened society and a global revolution of consciousness.

Footnotes:

1. Pathways through to Space. A Personal Record of Transformation in Consciousness. New York: Julian Press, 1973, 38-9.
2. Loc. cit.
3. Loc. cit.

Scrooge McDuck. Credit: mickey-and-friends.wikia.com

I feel concerned by Archangel Michael’s recent comment that:

“The greed for wealth and the desire for control upon your planet, if anything, are heightened at this moment. And they are also heightened, we are sad to say, on the part of many lightworkers as well and that is very unfortunate.” (1)

Greed and the desire for control heightened among lightworkers?

I continue to think from what’s probably a false degree of confidence that lightworkers will escape such things as greed for wealth and the desire for control.

But I see them in myself so why would they not be in others?

I watch myself at subtle levels, stirred by the desire to amass wealth – I’m definitely not exempt.

And “the desire for control”? The desire that I should have the ability to have things the way I want them, when I want them, also runs deep. And that desire as well will quite conceivably be energized by the addition of wealth to the equation.

The addition of wealth could turn what is subtle now to what is explicit later. So I have my work to do.

Let’s combine the two urges: Both the desire for wealth and control are at heart the desire to command any and all of the Earth’s resources that we wish to draw on, to have supreme ease and satisfaction: to have whatever we want – to eat, drink, drive, live in, see, experience, etc. – when we want them.

Of course, that ignores the fact that humans are much more than just the life of the body. Satisfying any of its desires doesn’t bring deep or lasting satisfaction. It proves at best temporary and then the desires return.

Andrew Cohen once pointed out that the deep peace that comes from having something we want doesn’t come from having it but from the momentary cessation of desire. So it’s desire and attachment that deprive us of the deeper states of satisfaction and completion, not not having the thing in question.

And desire and attachment are not addressed by increasing the extent of our possessions. They’re addressed by experiencing these states of being through to completion without acting on them.

How does one remain in service to others in the face of something probably more intoxicating than booze, more addictive than drugs – sudden wealth?

How does one sidestep selfishness and the self-serving bias when one has what so many people want and the temptation to control increases as a result? And the feeling that our wealth will protect us from attack because we have what others want?

All of that simply induces us to burrow deeper and deeper into what’s far removed from the divine qualities.

Are these urges that Archangel Michael points to something that will flare up and pass? Or will we allow them to influence, shape, and even determine our lightwork after the Reval?

Let’s look at some of the other advice AAM gives us on how to handle financial wayshowing, this most difficult of assignments.

We were discussing how much currency is enough when he said:

“You have pointed to this and it is something that people have need to be vigilant of. There is such a burden that comes with ‘ethical’ wealth and the practise of integrity – yes, of sharing – but really of one’s ability to manage and stay in balance.

“We don’t desire anybody’s life to be obsessed with the management of currency, of abundance, of anything other than spiritual currency. And so, enough is enough!” (2)

Again there’s that phrase “stay in balance.” Not being seduced by wealth to lean either to the left or the right, to go to extremes; not allowing wealth to tempt us from our path of service. That’s the big challenge, isn’t it?

Are lightworkers not tasked with the one main challenge: to remain balanced while administering these sacred funds that come from the Divine Mother?

AAM cautions us against being super-irresponsible with wealth. But, in another place, he also counsels us against being super-responsible. Again balance is what’s at issue.

AAM: There will be a tendency on your part to feel that with all this money that you are super-responsible.

Do not panic. And simply know that there is a place and a plan and everything is in order and will fall into place. It does not need to happen in one day. And you are being mightily (and I use that word very specifically) mightily protected (3) and that this is a long-term project. So there is no rush. Everything will be in place.

And do not allow other people’s sense of urgency or need, their own need, to unduly influence you or make you sick, dear heart. … Adequate rest, healthy food, a great deal of laughter, rest and breathing room, and even an arm’s length from those who would like to have access to you for immediate results.


Steve: I don’t understand that last comment.


AAM: So in other words, let me call up Steve and get my mortgage money. You cannot do this day in and day out. It is too stressful. You are not the spiritual or the literal ATM. (4)

I pay a price for having these discussions. The conventional wisdom is not to identify oneself as being in the position we’ll be in. It causes the email to increase. The pleas that come in are heart-breaking but there’s nothing I can do about them at this moment. Scam artists and frauds can latch on to us. The wiser course of action would be to remain silent, to be “prudent” and “cautious.”

But we lightworkers have not only agreed to be financial wayshowers; we’ve also agreed to model financial wayshowing. The second is important too.

So discussions such as this become important. And the price that’s paid becomes a part of the job.

As with so much else, no user’s manual comes with a currency exchange. Hence the advice that the “Mighty Ones” give us assumes importance.

Footnotes

(1) Archangel Michael in a personal reading with Steve Beckow through Linda Dillon, March 23, 2016.

(2) Ibid., April 24, 2015.

(3) The “mighty ones” are the Archangels.