The Power of the Sovereign Spirit

Neil Kramer, NeilKramer.com,. Jan. 24, 2013

http://neilkramer.com/power-of-the-sovereign-spirit.htm

The common understanding of the word “sovereign” brings to mind images of kings, queens and supreme rulers, with all the associated regalia, pomp and circumstance that we have come to know from our television screens.

It’s hard to get away from, particularly in Britain where Queen Elizabeth II is a mere 31 places removed in the “senior direct royal line” from French-born William The Conqueror (or William The Bastard as he was known before 1066). With such a long, rich history of hereditary royal dominion, it’s understandable that people can’t help but think of sovereignty as something outside of themselves. But that is starting to change.

For a growing number of people focusing on matters of consciousness, sacred knowledge and personal freedom, the reclamation of the word sovereign has become profoundly consequential. Within this paradigm, to recognize oneself as a sovereign being is to acknowledge one’s own total spiritual autonomy and unconditional entitlement to self-determination.

It is a primary avowal of oneself as a free and natural human being – not a serf, a subject, a corporate entity, or even a citizen. No persons or man-made laws have any jurisdiction whatsoever over a sovereign being. This is all very alarming for any empire that secretly prefers its populace to feel toothless.

It’s deceptively tricky for us to comprehend that power is not something that is graciously conferred upon us by the authorities. It is not something that we must work hard to be worthy of. Real power is not something that can be handed over at all: it is something that we already have inside us. It is there from the beginning and it is the ultimate power. It is the power of freewill.

The amount of freewill an individual possesses is directly proportionate to the depth and clarity of consciousness attained. Before it can be fully realized, the very existence of our free will must first be acknowledged. The slumbering mind is not cognizant of the awesome reality-shaping power that lies within its grasp; freewill might just as well be equated with choosing what movies to watch or what shoes to buy. In contrast, the awakened mind is acutely aware of how freewill can transform imaginal visions into manifest things. It is seen as a defining characteristic of the spiritually alive human.

The more integrity, equanimity and honesty we resonate in our thoughts, deeds and conduct – the more honorable we are – the purer our mind. This allows us to deepen and broaden our consciousness and that determines the impact of our freewill upon the world. It is one of the cleverest failsafe devices that the universe has ever implemented. It ensures that only the true soul, transparently operating from a place of honor, can actually changereality.

Honor also serves as a keen instrument of discernment, especially with regard to observing intent and behavior, both in ourselves and others. We have an in-built facility for gauging whether someone’s words and deeds are honorable or not. Honor is one of those rare qualities that transcends the usual social and demographic boundaries; its unique energetic signature is readily perceptible to most humans. We can feel it.

One would think that honor is a highly desirable attribute for any leader who represents large numbers of people. Indeed, it ought to be a mandatory requirement for any sane society, to insist on leaders who naturally radiate honor in their governance. We should never be afraid to look into the hearts of our fellow men to ask these questions.

Think of any prominent personality in the media. You can tell pretty much straight away whether their motivations are honorable or not. It’s not hard to look beyond the veneer of customer-facing geniality. Though we may see the persistent fabrication of sincerity, faith and morality in certain individuals, not all things can be so easily counterfeited. The singular nuances of honor remain decidedly elusive to those who have not actually walked the talk. They can’t quite pull it off.

Honor cannot be stolen or sequestered. Nor can it be read from a script or learned at a government training center in Aspen. You don’t automatically acquire it by rolling your sleeves up to help out at the orphanage, or volunteering at the soup kitchen, or showing up at church on Sunday, or pretending to give a hoot about massacres in distant lands. Observing the famous faces of politics, business and entertainment going through these masquerades has never really fooled anyone.

For the naturally ascendant human spirit, honor is a fundamental impulse. It is what we want to do and it is how we want to be. Even so, it can sometimes be difficult to muster the necessary spiritual courage and self-discipline to make this into a living reality. Things get a little rusty with lack of use. Fortunately, our forefathers devised all kinds of positive frameworks to help us regain spiritual fitness.

One such system – the Noble Eightfold Path – was formulated by Siddhartha Gautama, aka Buddha, about 2500 years ago. It is a simple yet elegant teaching in conscious living, consisting of right view, right thought, right speech, right behavior, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness and right concentration.

The key word here is “right”. At first glance, one might reasonably argue that what is right for one person might be wrong for another. Right? Not quite. Rightness is a reflection of truth. Truth is both universal and relative. How so? When we shift perspective, we affect the universality of our truth. Zoom way out from your own concerns and your sense of truth takes on a more universal aspect. You are compelled to know a truth that is not only valid for you, but for others too. The further you zoom out, the more consciousness and creation that truth has to encompass and respect.

The opposite is also the case. Zooming in exclusively on your own personal affairs decreases the universality of your truth. To act with honor, therefore, is to flow with divine ordinance. We don’t learn what is right – we allow our innate knowing of it to arise. We already have it. We are sovereign.

Juxtaposed against the backdrop of the all-encompassing modern media, all this talk of righteous conduct can seem rather fusty. Take in a few consecutive evenings of television and one comes away with the impression that there’s no interest in such things anymore. Self-destructive actors, bigoted politicians, disoriented sportsmen and violent musicians are constantly held up as the sexy anti-heroes of the new millennium.

The media doesn’t even bother to covertly infer the desirability of decadence anymore; they boldly proclaim it in shiny gold letters. Gossipy, half-witted lifestyle magazine covers – unaccountably exhibited at every supermarket checkout – are splattered with the most squalid tales of human lechery. Dishonor makes headlines, for those who like it. But it is when these pollutants are squirted through every orifice of the system that one wonders where we are on the graph curve of civilization? Are we witnessing a rerun of the last days of Rome?

Perhaps Marcus Aurelius (121-180 AD), the last of the “Five Good Emperors”, is well placed to comment. Aurelius’ sharp insights into human nature often helped him to rise above the various negative gravitations of high office. He wrote: “A noble man compares and estimates himself by an idea which is higher than himself; and a mean man, by one lower than himself. The one produces aspiration; the other ambition, which is the way in which a vulgar man aspires.” Such truthful proclamations helped distinguish Aurelius from the madness and debauchery of previous emperors such as Tiberius, Caligula and Nero. As the historian Herodian wrote: “Alone of the emperors, he gave proof of his learning not by mere words or knowledge of philosophical doctrines but by his blameless character and temperate way of life.”

Aurelius highlights the fact that, ultimately, personal ambition is rather a precarious life path, as it serves only to satisfy the fleeting appetites of the ego. When we think of our own modern day emperors, we can see how quickly this can turn sour. It is always such a breath of fresh air when a genuine human soul steps into the fray and exhibits the sort of noble qualities that give us faith in humanity again. In these strange days, I have been reassured to know that such fine people are out there and they are out there in number.

Spiritual sovereignty teaches us that force and power are two very different things. Anyone can exert force, but not everyone is endowed with power. To wield real power, we must be in harmony with our higher purpose, with universal truth. This is the truth that we can feel in our hearts, minds and spirit, and is a compass for conscious growth. When we build that into our everyday thoughts and deeds, we live as honorable men and women.

Pope leads pep rally at Vatican, meets with Merkel

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis lamented that investment losses by banks trigger more alarm in the economic crisis than the struggle of people to feed their families, as he led a huge rally Saturday to invigorate the church's moral conscience, hours after he held talks at the Vatican about the economic crisis with Germany's leader.

Some 200,000 people, from Europe, Asia and the pope's native South America, filled St. Peter's Square and nearby streets to join Francis in hours of prayer, music and speeches aimed at encouraging Catholics to strengthen their faith and making morality play a greater role in everyday life.

"If investments, the banks plunge, this is a tragedy, if families are hurting, if they have nothing to eat, well, this is nothing, this is our crisis today," Francis told the crowd, insisting that the true crisis is one of morale values.

Francis said his church "opposes this mentality" and pledged that it will be dedicated to "the poor people."

Earlier in the day, the pope met privately with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who made a brief visit to Rome, mindful of the importance of Christian voters back home ahead of an election she faces in September. She joined the pope in expressing concern about the many victims of Europe's economic crisis.

Francis, who is Argentine, has picked up on campaigns by the two previous popes, the Polish John Paul II and German Benedict XVI, to reinvigorate what the Catholic church sees as flagging religious enthusiasm on a continent with Christian roots, including dwindling number of churchgoers in much of Western Europe, and a decline in morality.

"I see continuity in the missionary aspect, in becoming aware of the importance of Christianity for our Christian roots," said Merkel, adding that the "simple and touching words" of Francis, who was elected pontiff two months ago, are already reaching people.

The vast cobblestone square outside St. Peter's Basilica is traditionally the boundary for pontiffs greeting the faithful at outdoor Vatican gatherings. But Francis kept going in his pope-mobile past the edge of the square as he waved cheerfully and sometimes blew kisses to the enthusiastic crowd, which the Vatican said numbered some 200,000.

He was driven halfway down the Rome boulevard that leads from the square to the Tiber River before turning back.

Merkel's Christian Democrat party depends heavily on support from Protestant and Catholic voters in Germany, and the 45-minute chat and photo opportunity in the Apostolic Palace could be a welcome campaign boost for a leader largely identified by Europe's economically suffering citizens as a champion of debt reduction, including painful austerity across much of the continent.

For its part, the Vatican is eager for allies in its campaign to anchor European societies more solidly in their heritage of Christian roots. The church also seeks support on behalf of Christians who face persecution in the world.

During the rally, Francis embraced one of the speakers, Paul Bhatti, whose brother Shahbaz, a Pakistani government minister, was assassinated in 2011 after urging reform of a blasphemy law in Pakistan that had targeted Christians.

But the suffering of Europeans caught in the continent's grip of joblessness and other economic woes also dominated the pope's concerns. On Thursday, Francis blasted what he called a "cult of money" in a global financial system that ends up tyrannizing, not helping, the world's poor.

"It's not just an economic crisis," but an existential problem depressing morale, Francis told the rally Saturday. "It's a deep crisis. We just cannot worry about ourselves ... close ourselves in a sense of helplessness." The pontiff urged people to help the needy, especially on the margins of societies.

Merkel, asked by reporters about the pope's scathing criticism of the global financial system, said they had spoken about regulation of financial markets.

"The regulation of the financial markets is our central problem, our central task," Merkel said. "We are moving ahead, but we are not yet where we want to be, where we could say that a derailment of the guard rails of social market won't happen again."

Merkel added: "It ought to be like this: The economy is there to serve the people. In the last few years, this hasn't been the case at all everywhere."

Italy, Spain, Ireland, Portugal and especially Greece have seen governments concentrate on debt reduction while slashing state spending. With growth stymied, unemployment, especially among young people, has soared. Businesses, many of them family-run in southern Europe, have failed as bank lending dried up.

The chancellor said the pope had stressed that the world needs a strong and just Europe.

Merkel is campaigning for re-election in September's general election. Half of Germany's population is Catholic. In Bavaria there is a strong conservative and Catholic tradition.

According to a Vatican statement, Francis and Merkel also discussed safeguarding human rights, the persecutions faced by Christians and religious freedom.

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Church must help the poorest, not dissect theology, pope says

Pope Francis waves as he leads a Pentecost vigil mass in Saint Peter's Square at the Vatican May 18, 2013. REUTERS/Stefano Rellandini

By Philip Pullella

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Francis shared personal moments with 200,000 people on Saturday, telling them he sometimes nods off while praying at the end of a long day and that it "breaks my heart" that the death of a homeless person is not news.

Francis, who has made straight talk and simplicity a hallmark of his papacy, made his unscripted comments in answers to questions by four people at a huge international gathering of Catholic associations in St. Peter's Square.

But he outdid himself in passionately discussing everything from the memory of his grandmother to his decision to become a priest, from political corruption to his worries about a Church that too often closes in on itself instead of looking outward.

"If we step outside of ourselves, we will find poverty," he said, repeating his call for Catholics to do more to seek out those on the fringes of society who need help the most," he said from the steps of St. Peter's Basilica

"Today, and it breaks my heart to say it, finding a homeless person who has died of cold, is not news. Today, the news is scandals, that is news, but the many children who don't have food - that's not news. This is grave. We can't rest easy while things are this way."

The crowd, most of whom are already involved in charity work, interrupted him often with applause.

"We cannot become starched Christians, too polite, who speak of theology calmly over tea. We have to become courageous Christians and seek out those (who need help most)," he said.

To laughter from the crowd, he described how he prays each day before an altar before going to bed.

"Sometimes I doze off, the fatigue of the day makes you fall asleep, but he (God) understands," he said.

CRISIS OF VALUES

Francis, the former Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio of Buenos Aires, said the world was going through not just an economic crisis but a crisis of values.

"This is happening today. If investments in banks fall, it is a tragedy and people say 'what are we going to do?' but if people die of hunger, have nothing to eat or suffer from poor health, that's nothing. This is our crisis today. A Church that is poor and for the poor has to fight this mentality," he said.

Many in the crowd planned to stay in the square overnight to pray and prepare for Francis' Mass on Sunday, when the Catholic Church marks Pentecost, the day it teaches that the Holy Spirit descended upon the apostles.

On Saturday morning, Francis met German Chancellor Angela Merkel and discussed Europe's economic crisis.

Apparently responding to his criticism of a heartless "dictatorship of the economy" earlier in the week, Merkel, who is up for re-election in September, later called for stronger regulation of financial markets.

On Thursday, Francis appealed in a speech for world financial reform, saying the global economic crisis had made life worse for millions in rich and poor countries.

(Editing by Robin Pomeroy)