I met with an energy worker the day before yesterday, and we were talking about my money issues. He cleared out some of my issues relating to making money. If you don't know what I'm talking about, imagine someone who could take limiting thoughts or "programs" and help you get them out, all the while replacing them with new, empowering ones.
Anyways, we got to a point where he told me to start thinking about what I want - to imagine my life as though I had a genie in a bottle. He encouraged me to set my goals without limits. At one point, I stopped him and said that my dreams felt too big. His immediate response was, "maybe you were put on this world to accomplish those dreams." That sentence hit me like a bullet, and all of a sudden those dreams that felt too big seemed like very little - maybe even inevitable.
I was driving to Seattle after the energy work was done with many thoughts flying through my head. Some of the most interesting were concerning the imagery I've been using in my own body. Just recently, I've started to come up with my own images along with the Franklin ones. The most important is a sort of golden ray of light - it looks most like a ray of sunlight shining through dust, although it's more substantial. It bends simply and freely, and has a lifting effect. It runs from my pelvic floor to the top of my skull. It's what I'm using to work on my posture. It then occurred to me that in the past weeks, I've been using a certain image of lights in my chakras. I will meditate on them before social dancing. In the car, however, it occurred to me to link the two images, one strengthening the other. Then I suddenly saw that the images I use in my body must be beautiful, because the image will become manifest. I saw that even in the way I shape my body, I must seek the highest goals I can imagine. I must work on my body until it becomes nothing but light.
I may have gotten this idea from Morihei Ueshiba. He talked about things being light. When he had his enlightenment (for lack of a better word), he said that everything turned to a sort of light. The last piece of calligraphy he wrote before dying was the symbol for "light."
-------------------
A closer examination of Master Ueshiba's enlightenment in the spring of 1925 may clarify things. Morihei Ueshiba was well-known in Japan as a master of several prestigious samurai arts. A naval officer, who also happened to be a well-known kendo master, sought Ueshiba out and challenged him to a duel. Unarmed, Master Ueshiba defeated the swordsman without harming him, letting him attack until the officer became too exhausted to continue. Unscathed, Master Ueshiba walked to his garden and rested under a persimmon tree. According to his own account (K. Ueshiba, 1985, p. 155), the ground quaked and he felt a golden spirit engulf his body, changing it into a golden one. He suddenly became enlightened, freeing himself from the illusion of personal desire, including ambition and the desire to be strong. As tears streamed down his eyes, he came to realize the true meaning of Budo: the source of Budo is God's love, the spirit of loving protection of all things (ai love or the maternal amae love); Budo is not about defeating opponents with force, nor is it a means to lead the world to destruction; true Budo is to accept the power of the universe, maintain peace, and to protect and cultivate all life; and training in Budo is to take God's love, assimilate it, and use it in the mind and body. (Stevens, 1987 and K. Ueshiba, 1985)
