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ASCENT
AN AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL SPIRITUAL ANTHOLOGY
Dedicated to Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba
Who continues to be my Guiding Light
“You are a child of God, and it is your God-given role to help others to remember that they are also children of God”
[Divine decree received 2010]
‘Energy cannot be created or destroyed;
It can only be changed from one form to another.
Everything is energy and that is all there is to it.
Match the frequency of the reality you want,
And you cannot help but get that reality.
It can be no other way.
This is not philosophy;
This is physics’
[Albert Einstein]
Why these Writings?
On completion of the Labyrinth here at Jacaranda Haven in 2010, I walked it on my own for the first time and then stood – silent and empty- in the centre. A loud voice spoke telepathically to me:
“You are a child of God, and it is your God-given role to help others to remember that they are also children of God”
Sai Baba had gifted me a pen and vibhuti (sacred ash) whilst leaving Puttaparthi in 1999, renowned psychic Joan Moylan had told me in 1998 to write, and psychic Jennifer Starlight conveyed to me from Spirit in early 2022 that I was meant to write…but what ?
And then I realised that all I could write about to assist others on their paths was my own experiences, teachings and learnings in order to “…help others to remember that they are also children of God”. Hence these autobiographical writings…
Modules
This is but one ‘module’ in this collection of autobiographical writings that I choose to call ‘modules’. Each one stands alone, but some cross-reference others. A completed book is a static thing once finished: however, these modules are flexible in that I can add to them at any time should new experiences/information comes to hand, and the reader can pick & choose which particular modules attract them. The collection of modules thereby constitutes an’ anthology’.
The intent of writing these is to share experiences and teachings that I have been blessed with along the way of a human incarnation – the ascent of consciousness – such that the reader may also benefit to illumine their own path/ascent to the ultimate inevitable goal for all humans: that of ‘self-realisation’.
Belief vs Truth
As a precursor to reading any of these Modules, there is a need to clarify the difference between ‘Belief’ and ‘Truth’: one may ‘believe’ eg it is raining outside by the sound on the roof, but when you actually see the rain falling/walk out and get wet, you actually then ‘know’ it is so – ie it is ‘true’, and so ‘belief’ about that instantly ceases.
Many go through life accumulating fixed ‘beliefs’ about people/things, and, as Krishnamurti taught:”… the moment you arrive at a conclusion/form an opinion/a belief, you block the possibility of further enquiry and discovery”.
So, a hot air balloon called ‘Ascent’ awaits: I invite you to climb into its basket with me, throw overboard the ballast of all those accumulated ‘beliefs/opinions’ you have acquired to feel safe, and therefore allow this balloon to rise free and drift to destinations unknown.
Because, otherwise, some of what you read herein may sorely challenge your accumulated beliefs…
Everything recounted within the Anthology is absolutely true, unless I have qualified otherwise.
John Stephen Butterworth
FORGIVENESS
One of many presenters that The Southern Cross Academy of Light over the years had the privilege and pleasure of guesting was Colin Tipping from England with his topic of ‘Radical Forgiveness’.
All of us there that evening sat transfixed hearing his stories of some of the ‘miracles’ that had occurred following people going through the process that Colin described. I was deeply impressed by what I heard but at the time, didn’t think I needed to do anything about it…how wrong can you be!!
Whilst one can readily research his process via the Internet, he outlined that there are 5 stages in his process:
1. Telling the (victim) story
2. Feeling the feelings
3. Collapsing the story
4. Reframing the story
5. Integrating the new story.
What happened for me was that I decided to maybe do things a little differently but, in essence, the same results ensued in at least a couple of cases.
Hearing Colin that night precipitated me into the following process quite some time later:
I waited until I had a quiet, unlimited time and space to myself.
I then thought back over the full span of this lifetime and attempted to bring to mind every single person/group of persons who I felt had ‘wronged’ me…
With each one, I then forgave them from my heart ie sincerely and passionately for whatever had happened,
AND
Asked them with equal sincerity and passion from my heart to forgive me for whatever had happened ie for whatever reaction I’d had eg feeling anger/hatred/whatever towards them…
AND
Then let it all go, and left it to God…
All these years later, I can now recall at least 2 outcomes to this process:
- My landscape design office had been ‘removed’ from a developmental project by the architect on the insistence of the client – using a minor mathematical error in an addition for some plants in our documentation as the excuse. I had felt much bitterness towards the architect who I knew was simply kowtowing to his client without defending us at all…then some years later, I walked into a
restaurant and saw the architect with friends and realised how aged he had become…and my heart went out to him, softened by the forgiveness process I had done. - Those of you who have already read my module entitled ‘Karma’ will recall how, whilst I was temporarily in remand, my legal representatives met with a senior academic from my university asking him for a reference for me to put before the upcoming hearing – attesting to my good character and excellent academic performance – and he illogically refused, saying something about not wanting to have anything to do with the police, about his house being recently broken into? (my solicitors who met with him were totally baffled at his reaction).For the 4 years I was doing my course, he had a reputation from both fellow staff and students for avoiding any kind of responsibility/being spineless (?) – and an occasional comment was “ he won’t shoulder any responsibility”.
That was in 1982, and the years passed following my forgiveness process, until a most remarkable thing happened: in the mid-1990’s, I had a lady landscape architect working in my office who decided to do a Master’s degree. One day, she said to me that her thesis supervisor was none other that this same man who (unbeknownst to her) had refused me a reference ‘in my hour of need ’in 1982, and did I know what had happened to him? No, I answered.
“Oh” she replied” he was riding a bicycle and was hit by a bus which ran over his shoulders …he knows that I work for you and said to tell you that ‘He sees things very differently these days’ and that you’d know what he means”.
I realised in a flash that he had carried the guilt of what had happened to me and his inaction for all those years, and, having had this dreadful accident, had time whilst recuperating to review his response.
And that’s the power of forgiveness in action…empowered even further by accepting karma as a fact of Creation. But it’s also essential to fully understand the very clear difference and possible consequences between ‘pity’ and ‘compassion’, as I clarify shortly …
A Remarkable True Story of Forgiveness
When I was in my first year of high school in 1957 (at North Sydney Boys High School) aged 12, there was an American student, Charles Troutman (actual name), who had polio/possibly other conditions (I think?) when he was younger and bore scars on his face at least. Some of the boys bullied him mercilessly sometimes trapping him in a corner of the playground which I witnessed more than once. Eventually, he left as I believe his father had to return to USA for his business.
The decades went by, and then around 1990, some students from that year started an email group of as many of us as they could get email addresses for; they would have re-unions every 5 or 10 years ( to which I went a couple of times).
And then, one day, one of the group reminded everyone about Charles Troutman and how some of them had bullied him…he also pointed out that one of our group, Admiral Chris Barrie, had instigated a program of eliminating bullying from the Australian armed forces upon being appointed Chief of Defence Forces (ie Australian Army, Navy & Air Force)…and suggested that those that had bullied Charles 43 years prior apologise by email to him as he had just joined our email group. I’ll be quite honest that I was momentarily tearful reading this…
He then revealed that he had located Charles on the Internet and discovered what his life path had been for those 43 years.
He’d gone back to the US and studied law, including a Masters in International Law and had been appointed subsequently to the Attorney General’s Department of the US territory of Guam (where he also reportedly drafted some legislation), also holding the office of Attorney General for a period.
I felt (and still do) that the bullying had very probably caused him to devote his life to the cause of justice. There just happened to be a periodic re-union coming up shortly after the emailed group apology, and we were all then informed that Charles was flying in from Guam to be there. I decided to go to the event (held at The Lane Cove Country Clubhouse in Sydney).
And sure enough, in walked Charles, quite frail by now, but I observed from a distance him spending the afternoon moving around groups of 2 or 3, talking genially with them and undoubtedly accepting their apologies face-to face where relevant.
It was a wonderful, statesmanlike act of gracious forgiveness and maturity on his part to travel that far to meet with his tormentors of 43 years prior, accepting their personal apologies, and the profundity of this stays with me to this day, some 23 years later. It is a story that I have recounted on a number of occasions when pertinent, and has deeply impressed others.
Pity and Compassion
In many societies, one is raised with the conditioning that, if something unpleasant befalls someone, you should ‘pity’ them. With direct reference to my module entitled ‘Entrainment’, what actually may happen is that in doing so, you may well lower the frequencies of your consciousness to sympathetically resonate with/be entrained by that of the affected person. Which doesn’t help them one jot …and which can also have adverse effects on yourself.
“ …Pity has its roots in fear, and a sense of arrogance and condescension , sometimes even a smug feeling of ‘ I’m glad it’s not me’…when you fear touches someone’s pain, it becomes pity; when your love touches someone’s pain, it becomes compassion” [Sogyal Rinpoche :The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying p. 200].
For example, you encounter someone who has eg influenza (the ‘flu’)/COVID etc. If you feel ‘pity’ for
them, you may well be lowering your consciousness frequencies to resonate with their condition, and hence possibly also develop the same infection/condition. On the other hand, many say that by keeping your own consciousness level as high as possible frequencies-wise, may well render one increasingly immune to any illness. Sai Baba has indicated as much.
Whilst your immediate reaction to such propositions may be one of scoffing disbelief, I simply ask that you let go any traditional beliefs you may have, and be open to discover anew…
So let’s now consider what ‘compassion’ truly is and what. if any, consequences may arise by adopting a compassionate approach to the same situation…
Equipped with a clear understanding of what ‘karma’ is, you firstly can observe that this is part of someone else’s karmic journey(knowing that each of us have our own unique karmic journey), and you can send them loving support, make soup, tend to any other physical needs etc WITHOUT the slightest trace ever of ‘pity’… that is the path of ‘compassion’ which benefits both the physically ill person and attracts/generates positive/beneficial karma for yourself for this act of selfless service ie of love. Take Mother Teresa as an example…
Tonglen
Quite some years ago, I discovered all about this ancient Tibetan healing technique of ‘tonglen’ via Sogyal Rinpoche’s splendid book:’ The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying’(still readily available to purchase, and highly recommended reading for any committed spiritual aspirant) which I go into more detail about in my modules entitled ‘Healing’ and ‘’Death and Dying’)’.
I practice this on a regular basis wherever I see a need. In brief, the way I do it comprises visualising the breathing in (fearlessly) of discordant/disharmonious/physical pain from the affected person (visualized as black, sooty, hot smoke), transmuting that energy internally in one’s Boddhicitta heart, and projecting it back to that person as cool, blazing, golden-white, blue, violet light. Done with fully focussed intent as an act of selfless service, it can be very powerful and effective. Sogyal recounts that many lepers were healed by this process in Tibet by
the man who first came up with it.
It is hence an act of loving compassion (devoid of emotion – and hence of any pity) performed with the awareness that each has their own karmic journey… On p. 207 (ibid), Sogyal concludes:
‘The Holy Secret’
‘…if I take in the suffering and pain of others, won’t I risk harming myself?…the one thing you should know for certain is that the only thing that Tonglen could harm is the one thing that has been harming you the most: your own ego, your self-grasping, self-cherishing mind which is the root of suffering. For if you practice Tonglen as often as possible, this self-grasping mind will get weaker and weaker, and your true nature, compassion, will be given a chance to emerge more and more strongly’.
A Deeper Understanding of Forgiveness
My wife Rosemary (as a ‘medium’) once shared with me that, following her previous incarnation and immediately prior to coming into this present incarnation, she went before a Council of Elders for them to lovingly assist in advising her what she(in this next earthly life) still needed to learn spiritually and what was the foremost quality she would focus on – to which she replied ‘compassion’ (and indeed has lead a life of service ever since).She described the Elders as standing in a semicircle before her garbed in primarily red robes with varying chains/pendants around their necks and some holding what appeared to be documents.
Her experience of going before a ‘Council of Elders’ is consistent with the findings of deep hypnosis research carried out by Dr Michael Newton (‘Journey of the Souls’1994; ‘Destiny of Souls ‘2000 ),Ian Lawton, Andy Tomlinson and others. Subjects under deep hypnosis were sometimes taken to their previous life, then questioned about their ‘life between lives’ experience before being born into their present earthly life. This is explained with great clarity and thoroughness by Gordon Lindsay in Part 1 of his landmark book:’The Occult Diaries of R. Ogilvie Crombie‘(Lorian Press 2011).
A key issue that comes out of such research is that the individual is lovingly guided as to the type and nature of their next incarnation by the Elders that they need to experience to advance spiritually – without any ‘judgement’ by God/others whatsoever. They, as individuals, appraise the way they have lived and acted and hence what situations they need to encounter in this next life to learn what they spiritually need to.
Comprehensive research into ‘near death experiences’ also reveals guidance by a spirit guide/light being about how the individual has conducted their life and as to what extent they are serving others and acquiring spiritual knowledge. (Refer eg ‘The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying’ by Sogyal Rinpoche). Returning to life, all are invariably changed people from that point onwards.
So why are we exploring this under the subject of ‘Forgiveness‘?
At an ‘everyday ‘ level in Western society, if someone assaults/offends another, they get criticised, and it is up to the recipient of the offence/attack to decide how to respond. The culturally-accepted norm (at a tribal level) is one of revenge : ‘get one’s own back’ – and it goes right up to nation against nation in open warfare…
However, a more spiritually – aware person may simply step back and compassionately send forgiveness to the attacker … and, additionally, in light of what has been outlined above, perhaps ‘gratitude’ is also appropriate ie gratitude that the ‘attacker/offender’ has carried out an act that might have been agreed on pre – current incarnation so as to permit the recipient to be able to choose how they respond… and hence the resultant propitious or otherwise karmic consequence…surely worth contemplating.
In March 2024, Rosemary & I just happened to see a ‘COMPASS’ program on ABC TV here in Australia that revealed a remarkable movement for peace between many Israeli and Palestinian citizens who continue to suffer family deaths,fear,terror , destruction and displacement from their homes. Spearheading this movement were 1 Israeli and 1 Palestinian man who individually told their stories about how hostilities had affected them & their families, and how each had come to the realisation that the suffering on both sides was identical. In what were quite frankly electrifying personal revelations and subsequent decisions, they decided henceforth to work openly together as leaders for peace for both nations in the name of humanity. Forgiveness and surrender to love was mutual. Highly recommended to watch if you can on ABC Iview.