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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
HEART CONNECTIONS
I was going on holidays in the early 2000’s and went to the local Council library to hopefully borrow the renowned book ‘Supernature:A Natural History of the Supernatural’ published 1973 by Lyall Watson – a botanist, zoologist, biologist, anthropologist, ethnologist and author of many books.
However it wasn’t available but a librarian offered me another book by him titled ‘The Nature of Things: The Secret Life of Inanimate Objects’ published in 1990.
In this was revelation of an extraordinary phenomenon that I had hereto not come across and which I was later to experience personally.
So to illustrate, I shall firstly briefly allude to a couple of the events he documents in the book – then my own experiences.
* A lady lost her wedding/engagement ring whilst eg gardening. Some time later, she and her husband were sitting on a beach late one afternoon close to the near-still water when she noticed something glinting in the shallow water. She waded in, reached down, and picked up the ‘lost’ ring…
* Another lady lost a ring (I think it fell down the drain?). Months later, she was in a restaurant having dinner with her husband and ordered a fish meal. When she cut the whole fish open, (you guessed it), there was the ‘lost’ ring…
So you get the gist… but there’s more to it than that.
When he collated all the various stories (from Press reports) etc, there was another common theme:
In each/most cases, the item concerned was connected to a very special day for the individual – especially weddings and engagements (I think?).
These were events at which couples made a commitment of enduring love to each other.
I was absolutely fascinated…
Then came the day of my marriage to Rosemary – on 21 November 1998 at Crows Nest in Sydney scheduled to start at 3pm .
Dressed in suit, white shirt and tie, I rendezvous-ed with my ‘best man ‘ on the corner of Pacific Highway and Falcon Street outside The New Orleans Café where we got a cold mineral water (as it was a hot day).
It was about 2.45pm.
I looked at him and then down the Highway to the North where there was a nearby fascinating shop called ‘God’s Artefacts’. I probably said something about that we had a few minutes ‘to kill’ – and we raced along to God’s Artefacts.
As we knew, it was always packed with exotica from all over the world including musical instruments…and there was this magnificent Balinese gong standing at the back.
We went straight to it, and as I put my head around the back, he struck it on the ‘boss’ (ie on the raised centre) with the large padded mallet. The deep resonant ‘boom’ went deep into my beingness… it was fabulous (noting that I work with sound).
Then we checked the time: 2.55pm !!!
We flew up to the traffic lights, raced across the Highway and I arrived at the altar in the Uniting Church just around the corner probably at 3pm on the dot…
Returning from our ‘honeymoon’, I went to ‘God’s Artefacts’ to enquire about the gong…but it was gone.
The lady shopkeeper explained to me that in my absence, a well-known radio announcer had purchased it for his home.
Somewhat crestfallen, I left her my name and phone number in case something similar ever came in again…
Some months later, I happened to be walking past and looked inside to behold that very same gong standing at the back of the showroom (which in retrospect is ‘interesting’ as one would have expected it to be in the front window to attract passing Highway traffic due to its distinctive size and form).
I checked the shopkeeper whether it was indeed the same gong who confirmed yes – saying that the man who had purchased it found it was inappropriate in his house, and had returned it ‘on consignment’. She apologised for not ringing me.
I asked her the price, and rang Rosemary – placing my mobile phone inside the back of the gong and striking it lightly with its mallet. Rosemary knew it was important to me and suggested I offer a lower price.
This I did and the lady said she’d speak to the consignee that night and get back to me.
The next morning, she rang to say that he accepted my offer and, thrilled, I went there on my way home from work to collect it!
I went on to use that gong to eg summon people at ‘Bathed in Sound’ events that it was time to lie down on the Chartres Cathedral Labyrinth pattern canvas replica in a radial human mandala pattern with heads to the centre for the final climactic massed gongs bath, and at the ‘Dolphin Healing & Training Centre’ at Cessnock along with my other gongs at the inaugural ceremony in their central courtyard at which the miracle of the Mother Mary statue suddenly smiling occurred and these days, as part of ‘gong bath’ sessions here at Jacaranda Haven or at Forster Yoga Centre.
When it’s here at home, both Rosemary and I strike it side on with our closed fists as we walk past it each morning from bedroom to kitchen to start the day by toning ‘Aum’ in tune with its wonderful deep note…that may lead into the Gayatri Mantra…
I now understand that this was a classic case of (what I term) ‘heart connection’ as postulated and documented by Lyall Watson in that book – as it had all occurred/started on my wedding day, in fact immediately prior to the ceremony.
Having experienced that ‘heart connection’, that gong simply HAD to eventually come to be in my care…
Other Heart Connection Experiences
Whilst Lyall Watson’s examples were exclusively/mostly phenomena connected with marriage including engagement commitment, I have experienced other cases of ‘heart connection’/so-called ‘coincidences’ – a few of which I’d like to share…
* When we bought the property we now call ‘Jacaranda Haven’, we naturally went through the process of getting an independent valuer to provide an opinion of fair market price, making the offer (which happened to be the asking price), the conveyancing procedure with estate agents and solicitors, paying a deposit and then paying the outstanding balance as ‘settlement’.
We first saw the property in October 2004, then this process took until March 2005 to ‘settle” – in fact, the day that I handed over the settlement cheques to the vendor’s solicitors in Forster as 8th March 2005 which just’ happened’ to be my 60th birthday!
So ‘Spirit’ arranged that we become full owners on my 60th birthday…!
* In 2007, we raised a mortgage to owner-build our present octagonal house on this land (ie with the land as equity), and for the next 3+ years, paid the monthly instalments on that mortgage by drawing down from my superannuation fund.
By early 2010, I had just enough in that fund to permit us to discharge of the mortgage and instructed the bank to initiate the process to do so. Finally the bank contacted me with the date to go to them to complete the paperwork.
The date?
Well… 8th March 2010, of course, the date of my 65th birthday!!!
So, for a second time, Divine guidance stepped in – as we were henceforth 100% owners of land and house!!
‘Coincidence’? I hear you postulate?
I think not (and can hear Robin Miller in Sedona USA in 1996 once again looking up at me with a smile, saying emphatically: ”There are no coincidences”).
* As part of the purchase of this land, the vendor gifted us an old tractor and slasher. Over the years, the tractor experienced problems plus was physically too large for our small scale commercial garlic growing operations. Still working & renting in Sydney Mon-Fri, I would in latter years go supermarket shopping every Wednesday night and admire the small New Holland tractor that they used to bring all the shopping trolleys back from the large open air carpark. I didn’t just admire it, I affirmed that this/similar was what we needed for our farm…
Then I discovered that I could withdraw part of my superannuation fund if needed for any purpose…
So we went tractor shopping on the Lower NSW Mid North Coast, looking at all models available for what we had set as an acceptable upper $ limit…and then found what we felt was ideal…
Need I tell you?
Sure enough, it was a New Holland 38hp new tractor with 4 in 1 bucket and sunhood – which we call ‘Trevor’. (that goes back to Findhorn days, where all vehicles/appliances etc had a ‘name’).
Our next door neighbour commented that you have to be careful what you wish for as she recognised the ‘heart connection’ process in operation!
* When I was a double bass player, my first teacher used to send all his students along to practice with The National Youth Orchestra. Most of us were very much beginners, so,when in1968, the internationally-renowned concert pianist Hepzibah Menuhin (sister of the great violinist Yehudi) agreed to perform with this orchestra in Sydney Town Hall, the music director understandably had a few very competent classical bass players augment our section as a front row in the section. One of these was a friend of mine David who eventually went on to join The Sydney Symphony Orchestra: for this concert, he happened to be immediately in front of me. At one point, we had to play a particular lower pitch sustained note, and my old hand-crafted German bass had a wonderful resonance as we played it… decades went by, until one day, about 1999 (ie about 30 years later), David contacted me wondering if I was still playing this instrument. He then confessed that he had never forgotten that particular sustained note from 1968, and had yearned to one day acquire that instrument !! This was indeed a true ‘heart connection’ for him – just like I had experienced from the Balinese gong on my wedding day.
He then ‘courted’ me to slowly but surely pass it on to him in a truly delightful fashion: firstly borrowing it including some minor repairs, then negotiating a fair $ price, followed by a Sunday afternoon performance in our home loungeroom by himself (on that instrument), a flautist and her cellist husband (both also very fine classical musicians)! And that was not all: he then invited Rosemary and I to The Sydney Opera House for a performance of a concerto for 2 double basses and orchestra before which we dined with some of the musicians in the ‘green room’ and then David took me with him into the room where the double basses were stored in their huge wooden traveling cases; the players were taking out their instruments, adjusting their black bowties & tails, and getting ready to walk on.
I was greeted with wry grins and chuckled comments from a couple who knew me by sight: ”So David finally succeeded in getting your bass!!” And then I re-joined Rosemary to enjoy the virtuoso performance.
Precious special memories and all utterly delightful!! Thank you David !!
And just a couple of other cases to finish: years ago, I ‘fell in love’ with (on 2 separate occasions) both a T shirt and a necktie that a friend was wearing ie different times) and commented to that effect to him quite intensely… there followed him gifting each to me gift wrapped, saying that these just had to come to you…
For decades, I have loved the sight of Koi carp and other goldfish swimming in ornamental pools but discovered that keeping Koi carp required constantly-aerated water conditions etc.
Since we realistically don’t have the means to provide that to our two large ornamental ponds I created around the living area of our octagonal house, I surrendered years ago to not being able to have such…
But I’d made the ‘heart connection’…
So as Lyall Watson might postulate, it may well/has to come to be…
Some months ago, one of Rosemary’s sons released some tiny goldfish into the smaller of the 2 ponds.
And a few of them grew….and they grew…and they grew…
And even though he’d bought them as just ‘goldfish’ ie the ones that stay small that people put in glass tanks in their living room, some of them just happened to become Koi Carp!!
And so my heartfelt wish has been granted by other circumstances. To oxygenate the pond, we simply immerse a garden hose partly below the surface for a while on a regular basis…
I’m smiling! But the population grew…and grew…and grew, and just as we started asking aquarium shops whether they would take some back, God intervened in the form of both a Cormorant and a Grey Heron which visited a few times to eat the fish, and once the population was more balanced, have, to date , not returned …
And to finish with what is probably a Sai Baba ‘leela’
In the Hindu tradition, there is day in February every year called ‘Mahashivarartri’ – the day upon which there is 24hour intense focus on Lord Shiva by devotees singing sacred songs/bhajans and praying that they achieve enlightenment in this life – if I understand correctly.
At the peak of the intensity of that concentrated focus by devotees around the world (usually in the early hours of the morning) and in full view of thousands of massed devotees, Sai Baba would manifest a solid gold lingham via his mouth and hold it up for all to see. This astonishing phenomenon has then been carried on by Sadguru Sri Madhusudan Sai who Sai Baba trained to take over from Him after his physical death in 2011 and can be further researched on the Internet.
We grow Giant Elephant Garlic and market it widely including people coming to our home/farm to collect.
On the morning of Mahashivarartri 2022, an Indian customer drove up and, to my astonishment, introduced himself as ‘Shivalingham’! We talked animatedly about this remarkable ‘coincidence’ and taking his garlic, he left – explaining he had bought a property in our area but only visited on weekends. I then realised I had omitted to get his contact details and so had no way of re-connecting … or so I thought…
And then, 12 months later, on the morning of Mahashivarartri 2023, we were selling our garlic at the local markets when Shivalingham suddenly appeared out of the crowd!!
And, as they say, there are no ‘coincidences’!!
Perhaps you may have had such ‘heart connection ‘experiences’ and/or witnessed others having such…?