Paris In Spring

Spring time is in full bloom. Trees are blossoming everywhere and while we missed that in Tokyo, Paris is embracing us sweetly amidst all of its flowering. And today temperatures definitely moved up another big notch.

The last two days we were working at the center near Montmartre, giving individual sessions. After we were done, Raylene wanted to go shopping, so we hit one of the major shopping areas in Paris; it being Saturday afternoon and a gorgeous spring day, it was immensely crowded. This was immediately forgiven, because after all, we are in Paris.

After we were done, we drove along the Seine and I could not stop marveling how much this city is feeding everyone with its all-pervading beauty.

As I keep mentioning the seeming deep impact of the soul tools that we are providing, it must also be said how deeply this process of teaching in these high-intensity settings is affecting us also. While the people are changing through the retreats, workshops and individual sessions, we remain in the center of this continuing work. This keeps us at an unusually high practice level, which opens us to new vistas of consciousness also. We deepen, we grow and we learn.

After another string of individual sessions again I was reminded how all pervasive suffering is, even in a city as beautiful as Paris. Right now I simply cannot imagine doing anything else but continuing to disseminate tools that have the power to alleviate some of that suffering.

I remember standing in front of a large group in Tokyo. I found myself saying that I am well aware that the experience of Satori represents the ultimate form of healing. But to insist on that when a person is before us bleeding and starving, physically, emotionally or psychologically, actually is a form of spiritual arrogance, even ignorance. True and powerful healing modalities include the capacity to address the respective suffering that is before us and to provide the appropriate response.

If various levels of suffering can be successfully addressed, then it is possible to say Oh, by the way, what about this business of spiritual awakening?