Theresa van Opstal has compiled an impressive list of Ascended Master Keynotes in MIDI format on her website, a.k.a., The Flaming Sword. The MIDI acronym stands for Musical Instrument Digital Interface.

    The MIDI file format is different from audio file formats that you might be more familiar with, e.g., ".wav" files or ".ra" real audio files. ".wav" or ".ra" files contain a digital representation of the recorded sound, making them quite bulky depending on the length of the sound track.

    A MIDI file on the other hand contains a sequence of instructions that tell the player device what notes to play on which tracks and when. In this respect a MIDI file more closely resembles the digital counterpart to the paper roll (with all the holes in it) that controls a player piano. Because of this, MIDI files are always much smaller than an equivalent audio file.

    MIDI files can be downloaded and saved onto your hard drive and played with the standard Windows media player found at the following path c:\windows\mplayer.exe.

    To use mplayer.exe you will need to associate the MIDI ".mid" file extension with mplayer.exe This association may already be in effect on your computer.

    If you have Internet Explorer 5.0, and the association is in effect, when you click on a MIDI file in in a web page, IE will automatically save the file to the c:/temp directory, and the mplayer.exe will be automatically invoked.

    If you have Netscape Navigator (4.7), after downloading the MIDI file to your hard drive, double click on it, and if the association is in effect, the mplayer.exe will be invoked and the file will play.

    In both cases, if the association does not exist, a dialog box will appear asking you to specify which program to use to open the file. You can type in c:\windows\mplayer.exe, or you can click "browse" and navigate your way to c:\windows\mplayer.exe, or can you choose "mplayer" from the list of programs that is displayed in the list box. Notice the check box that says "always use this program to open this file". This is checked by default, and if you leave it that way, the association will remain in effect.

    (To establish the association before you download a MIDI file, invoke Windows Explorer, click "view", click "options", click "file types", and look for "MIDI sequence" in the file extension list. If you find it, verify that the association is correct. If you don't find it, click "new type" and add the ".mid" extension, and associate the "open" action with c:\windows\mplayer.exe. After that, when you click on a MIDI file mplayer.exe will be automatically invoked.)

    Another and better option is to get a plug-in for your web browser that will automate the MIDI playing process.

    The most obvious choice in this regard is the Crescendo plug-in for either Netscape Navigator or Internet Explorer. The Crescendo basic version will suffice for most people. You can download it for free here . (The advanced version of Crescendo with additional features sells for $9.95 and you can download and pay for it online).

    The advantage of Crescendo is that it will automatically start playing the MIDI file when you click on a MIDI link that you find on a web page. No need to wait for the file to download to start to hear it. Also if a particular MIDI file is specified in a web page as background music the Crescendo player will see it, and automatically play it.

     Imagine that your mind is a rock. Perhaps a ten foot tall boulder of some type of mineral. Perhaps sandstone. Perhaps granite. There are many types of rock. Imagine that your awareness is composed of the characteristics of the rock itself. If it is granite, you are aware of the characteristics of granite, i.e. your awareness reports to you all the characteristics of granite. Or if it is sandstone, you are aware of the characteristics of sandstone i.e. your awareness reports to you all the characteristics of sandstone.

    Get yourself into this rock mind. Feel the rock. Sense the rock. See the rock.

    And then, consider what you would feel like if a vein of gold appeared all of a sudden within the rock, e.g. a vein of gold appears within the very atomic structure of the granite. Your senses report to you, that this new substance is definitely NOT GRANITE. This is what? Gold. Ok. Wow. I have something of extreme value that just appeared with the very internal structure of my mind. Ok... And as you proceed forward with your calls, the entire boulder of your mind takes on the character of Gold. In other words, none of it is granite anymore. Not a single molecule of granite is left. It is all gold. Pure gold. Shining gold. Imagine how that would make you feel.

    That is the appearance of God-Reality within the mind of man, and the Path of Initiation will bring every student to that experience and beyond.

    The Ascended Masters would bring this experience to every soul, because, if every soul knew how to defeat human blindness, and to put on the vision of Divine Peace, the world would soon enter into a Golden Age.

    It's important to grasp the idea that the planet wide activity of dismantling human purpose is just as important an activity as the dismantling of human purpose within the sphere of individuality. In fact, and I bet most people don't realize this, that the planetary mess in this respect always has a personal dimension. This is worth thinking about.

    Over many many past lives we have woven our own peculiar webs of human purpose across vast stretches of the planetary body. We must employ the Science of the Spoken Word to bring about the dismantling of all structures of human error that we are responsible for creating around the world. And this is one of the first points of integration with God's purpose and plan required of the student.

    If we refuse to do that, we refuse the first order of what amounts to self-less and compassionate assimilation into one aspect of God's Plan, for it is clear, that the after effects of our actions over many lifetimes are carried as burdens of one sort or another by many people. These people must be set free as a part of our service.

    Of course at the same time we are invoking the violet flame for the dismantling of these structures of human error, that violet flame will also go into our own electronic belt and consume much of the error generating mechanisms that produced the errant thoughts and feelings in the first place.

    Each of us must become part of the planetary activity of dismantling human purpose. The importance and centrality of this service before the Altar of God cannot be underestimated.

    Become part of the planetary cleanup crew today.

    Here's a very interesting way to tune into the Ascended Master's retreat focused in and around the Grand Tetons. We have found three different web cams that provide different views of the Grand Tetons.

    (FYI: A web cam is a digital camera whose output is posted on a web server from which everyone who has the URL can access it. By going to the web cam URL you can see the latest update of that particular view of the Grand Tetons. The immediacy of the image will vary from web cam to web cam. Some web cam operators will enable regular updates, like every 15 minutes. Others will post updates once a day, or every couple of days.)

    The first Grand Teton web cam is maintained by Trails Wilderness School in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Their view of the Grand Tetons is taken from the window of their lodge, and represents the most classic view. It appears to be updated once a day, or once every couple of days. To see it, go .

    The second Grand Teton web cam is maintained by James Patton Neeley III providing a view of the Grand Tetons from the Idaho side (from his backyard!). The image is updated every 30 minutes during daylight hours. If you visit during the night, he has an archive of the ten most recent images you can look at, giving you a sequence from full sunlight in the late afternoon until well after sunset. If you visit in the mid-morning you should be able to see the sunrise sequence too.

    Mr. Neeley also has his own little store set up to sell photographic quality images of the tetons which are suitable for framing. One item he has for sale is a composite of the 40 best images taken by the web cam from his backyard. Even if you don't bring along your wallet, the thumbnail view of this composite gives you an idea of the dramatic range of beauty that his web cam has recorded in the past and is sure to record in the future.

    To see the current image go . To see the ten most recent images go . To visit his store to look at his 40 image composite go .

    The third Grant Teton web cam is maintained by the Resorts Sports Network. This web cam appears to be mobile. In other words they have a person that goes from place to place to get different shots of the Grand Tetons from various perspectives. This web cam appears to be updated once every couple of days. They maintain an archive of past photos. All of the photos are very good, and definately worth the time too look at. To see the current image, go . To see the archive go .

     In the winter, spring, summer and early fall of 1985, the author had the opportunity to join the community and staff members at Camelot each and every morning in the Chapel of the Holy Grail for the morning decree service. After the decree service, which ended about 9am if memory serves, he would greet each Saint depicted in the photographs that adorned the rear wall of the chapel, and then depart from the chapel and enter into his daily communion with the Roses of Camelot. The rose garden of Camelot was located just outside, and in front of the Chapel of the Holy Grail.

    After a period of communion with the roses, he would drive to a Carl's Jr. restaurant in Agoura (California) and over a cup of coffee and a cheese omelet, inside of which was a green chili pepper (mild), he would record his thoughts and observations about the roses in his journal. This was his daily morning ritual for many months.

    In this work, which was originally self-published as a small pamphlet, he offers those thoughts and observations, transcribed from the original entries he made in his journal at the time.

     Would you like to be notified via email when major new things are added to Homeward Bound - The Journal of Ascended Master Devotion? No problem. Just type in your email address in the box below and click the Notify button just below that. Then, from time to time, wonderful things will arrive in your email box!

    O God, My Beloved Father, I AM THAT I AM, please allow the sacred fire that you have placed within the fabric of my consciousness to radiate out into the world, great beams of light, to bring hope, and the promise of God-Victory, to the hearts of your children in every nation.

    The Ascended Masters are the official sponsors of the Path of Initiation. The Path of Initiation is the golden brick road that leads to the emerald city --- the step by step process of self-transformation through which the soul is returned to the full glory of its Divine Estate. After the soul has passed all of its tests, only then can the Path of Initiation culminate in the ritual of the Ascension. For those of you who arrive here without an awareness of the Identity of the Ascended Masters and their Teachings, you can get more information on that subject at the official site of Church Universal and Triumphant.

    Our most recent addition to the Journal is the Cosmic Clock Calculator in the Tools for the Path section of July 2000. Just a little bit behind schedule. But worth the wait for those of you who have Word Perfect 7/8/9. Full description of the features can be found on the download page.

     Don't water down the Teaching. Don't try to be popular. Speak the truth. The truth is the only thing that will galvanize those light bearers who are ready to enter into the work of the ages.

    In other words, Maitreya's clipper ship is not looking for passengers. It is looking for people who will man the oars.

    It is the light streaming from the chakras of the students of the Ascended Masters that will in the end dissolve the layers of darkness that entrap so many souls in the various systems of materialistic confusion. This light drives back the darkness, holds it back, and allows souls to emerge from the shadows into the light.

    Those who are in the position on the periphery of the sphere of light, are those who are ready to step out from the shadows and into the fullness of the light. These are people who are ready to serve at the altar of the Holy Grail, giving forth the word, to invoke more light. And as they add their momentum, and remain constant in that momentum, the light expands, the darkness is driven further back, and more souls can then step out of the shadows into the light.

    Is the teaching for everyone? Of course the teaching is for everyone, but not all at once. The teaching is for those who can grasp it now, and use it to set another layer of lightbearers free, not free to jump onto Maitreya's Clipper ship as passengers, but as invocators of the Word.

    The movement does not need to attract, through sweet words and soft promises, those who are several layers back, for they will not be in the position to recognize the value of the Science of the Spoken Word.

    The dedication to the Science of the Spoken Word must be ever expanding within the community of Ascended Master students. In fact as the years roll by, we become more convinced, not less, of the essential nature of our daily service in this regard. If any student looks forward to the day when his service before the altar will stop, that student has already slipped off the path.

    Those who enter the path on the assurance that the teachings are "politically correct", are looking for a comfortable seat on the princess cruise lines. When they are asked to pick up their oars and row, they become offended, enter into the work grudgingly, and dream of the day when the rowing will stop. These dreams are a burden upon the community.

    When considering the utility of judgment calls, we need to think about the astral plane, and the contents thereof, apart from the impact of the call upon any particular person.

    We need to think about the power it takes to bind and neutralize forces on the astral plane which are always on the lookout for individuals they can work through to create additional discord and chaos in the world. And of course in most instances there are no lack of candidates in this regard.

    Remember, it is the points of rebellion people carry within their electronic belts that interlock with these astral forces. When these forces become interlocked with a particular individual, that person has no practical hope of transcending the condition in as much as the person considers the astral energy working through him to be part of his personality, part of his identity. But, if the forces on the astral plane can be bound, separated out, so as eliminate the possibility that they can interlock with the individual, while the individual still retains its momentum of rebellion, the person will at least be dealing only with that personal momentum, opening up the possibility of transcending the condition.

    It is important to understand that the Ascended Masters wield the power that accomplishes this. The student who gives the judgment call is not the source of the judgment power. We must use the call given to us. If we refuse to do so, well, that defiance, that doubt, that hesitation, is our own rebellion interlocked with the larger astral momentum.

    The quality of life within the city foursquare cannot reflect a high level of development and progress if the hordes of darkness are allows to lay siege to the city, threatening, and accomplishing incursions on a daily basis, and lobbing missiles over the walls that start little fires on various straw roof tops.

    There is a vast difference between the calls that reinforce the walls of light around our city foursquare, e.g. our Michaels, our Tubes of Light, etc., and calls that transmute astral focal points within the city foursquare, e.g. Violet Flame, and calls that remove the astral hordes from their siege camps outside the walls, e.g. judgment calls.

    Consider the fact that there are certain challenges that we must face, and that no amount of prayer will deliver us from those challenges. Prayer will help us to meet those challenges. But prayer will not remove those challenges. It is the law of our karma that requires that we face these challenges, which means that our personal development requires that we face these challenges.

    But the forces of darkness throw in our way a host of additional obstacles, obstacles that we are not required to face, i.e. our divine plan does not require that we face them. The judgement call is the tool provided to enable us to remove this unnecessary clutter from the path. And the call is focused in this sense on the centers of darkness that are the source, the centers, the origin, the generators of this mischief making.

    It is true that it appears that we must face these additional obstacles because it is also a requirement of our karma that we face them. But this is a very thin form or layer of karma, in as much as the forces of darkness have convinced the Children of God that judgement calls are not necessary. When the judgement calls stopped, the forces of darkness were allowed, by our freewill choice, to move into the vacuum created, and to fill it with additional mischief making. This can be immediately remedied by picking up the judgement calls again.

    Now, the mischief making of the astral hordes is associated with corresponding records within the individual electronic belt, i.e. how a person reacted to the mischief making, reacting in a manner that created more karmic debt, related specifically to that mischief, and a lot of these records are excess and can be taken when the judgment calls resume.

    Our duty, and obligation is to walk the path, point by point, on those issues on which the soul originally fell; to retrace those fundamental steps of weakness, only God knowing exactly what those points are. But a lot of excess stuff can be at least bound (neutralized) through the call, so greater progress can be made on the more fundamental points.

    If you want to set yourself, and other lightbearers free from those distractions that keep you, and them, from making progress on the path, include the 20.07 judgment calls in your daily decree work.

    The Ascended Lady Master, the Goddess of Liberty, maintains a spiritual focus at the etheric level over the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor. Unfortunately many people will not have the opportunity to travel to New York City to visit this shrine during this life time. So, up until now, a still photograph, or perhaps a movie clip, was as close as they can get to physically visiting this shrine. But now, with the advent of web cams, the immediacy of our visits to the Statue of Liberty has been tangibly multiplied to a very great extent. I think that everyone will understand what I am mean when they visit the site of this web cam that looks out over New York Harbor, and Ellis Island, even from a distance of 2 miles.

    This web cam is updated at least every 30 minutes, even during the night, though you can't see much at night. The operator maintains a list of answers to frequently asked questions that are superbly informative about many details of the statue that are not widely known.

    To see the current image being taken by the Statue of Liberty web cam from the 17th floor of a Manhattan office building, go . To see a representative photo of the camera setup in the office in which the web cam is setup click here. For a representative wide angle shot out of the office window through which the web cam is looking, covering a very large view of the New York Harbor, and showing where the Statue of Liberty is situated, click here. To read the Liberty Web Cam FAQ click here.

    The Editor has kept his feet firmly on the path of initiation for more than 20 years, finding the teachings of the Ascended Masters in 1979, becoming a Keeper of the Flame in 1981, and attending Summit University at Camelot in 1983. The labor of the Messengers, Mark and Elizabeth Prophet, the teachings they delivered into our hands, and the ongoing opportunity to employ the science of the spoken word in service to St. Germain's mission for America, becomes ever more valueable and precious as the years roll on.

    Just as the famous conservationist and wilderness explorer John Muir kept a journal and recorded his observations of the most interesting and beautiful points of interest as he explored the Sierra Nevada, and Yosemite especially, so too has the Editor kept his own daily journal for more than two decades, recording those internal events and observations of particular and profound interest experienced during his own ongoing journey up the mountain. Ninety-nine percent of these journal entries are recorded during the Editor's daily service before the Altar. The subject matter therefore is primarily spiritual in nature.

    Each Sunday, the Editor sets aside a block of time to transcribe those recordings made over the course of the preceding week, presenting them to you in the format of the Editor's Notepad. The Editor's Notepad for each month begins with the first recordings of the month, and additional transcriptions are made as they are recorded in chronological order. Priority is given to keeping the Editor's Notepad for the current month up to date, and it will always appear on the Journal Table of Contents page. Editor's Notepads for past months and years will be posted as time permits. At the beginning of each new month, the Editor's Notepad that appears on the Journal Table of Contents page will be moved to a separate file, making way for the posting of the recordings for the new month.

    The nature of these recordings are not in the manner of intellectual meanderings. The worded forms are wholely an attempt to describe something that has been experienced in the region of divine power.

    Editor's Notepads are now posted for June 2000, July 2000, August 2000, September 2000, October 2000, and November 2000.

    A reader responded to a previous statement made in the January 2000 issue of Fireside Briefs on the subject of the Vietnam War Memorial as follows:

    "... the over-zealous, rather twitty pique expressed in your condemnation of the memorial and of those who experience some release of the pain, sacrifice and loss it evokes, shows me that you lack an awareness of the master's care for those who survive such conflict, whether widow, orphan or soldier..."

    After having gone back and re-read the statement, I can say some nine months after it was written, that the only changes I would make to it now, would be to polish some of the rough edges off of the prose. I can find no flaw in the principles or sentiments expressed. In fact, those principles and sentiments can be, and of a right should be, expanded upon.

    The fact of the matter is that the Vietnam War Memorial was built as an act of self- justification for those who originally abandoned the spirit of freedom in Vietnam. It was not built to honor anything but their belief that the Vietnam War was a mistake. It was not built to honor anything but their belief that fighting for freedom in Vietnam was a mistake. It was built to honor the idea that virtue required abandoning the Vietnamese people, our friends and allies in Southeast Asia, to Communism. And therefore, the Vietnam War Memorial was built primarily to make a virtue out of the act of betraying the spirit of liberty.

    To make a virtue out of the act of betraying the spirit of liberty, one has to propagate a number of falsehoods. And the Vietnam War Memorial propagates a number of falsehoods very effectively, at least five right on the surface and easy to identify:

    Each one of these ideas represents a false and erroneous premise. First and foremost, the the wrong turn made by America was leaving Vietnam without a victory, not entering into the struggle for freedom from the onset. Secondly, the struggle for freedom in Vietnam was no less noble, no less honorable than the struggle for freedom in Europe during World War II.

    This is a very important principle that can be most clearly illustrated by restating the above five points in the context of World War II as follows:

    The extent to which these last five statements represent an outrageous distortion of the truth can be seen and understood most clearly by comparing and contrasting the Vietnam War Memorial with the new World War II Memorial slated for a building site in a prominent location on the National Mall between the Washington and Lincoln Memorials in Washington D.C..

     The new World War II memorial was given final approval by the Capitol Planning Commission on September 21, 2000. Ground breaking ceremonies are scheduled for Veteran's Day, November 11, 2000. The World War II Memorial website has color illustrations of the approved design in both thumbnail and larger formats. Please take the time to study these illustrations and the other information that the design team has placed on the web site. Click here.

     This is the memorial's statement of purpose taken from the website:

    The World War II Memorial will be the first national memorial dedicated to all who served in the armed forces and Merchant Marine of the United States during World War II and acknowledging the commitment and achievement of the entire nation. All military veterans of the war, the citizens on the home front, the nation at large, and the high moral purpose and idealism that motivated the nation's call to arms will be honored.

     Symbolic of the defining event of the 20th century in American history, the memorial will be a monument to the spirit, sacrifice, and commitment of the American people, to the common defense of the nation and to the broader causes of peace and freedom from tyranny throughout the world. It will inspire future generations of Americans, deepening their appreciation of what the World War II generation accomplished in securing freedom and democracy. Above all, the memorial will stand for all time as an important symbol of American national unity, a timeless reminder of the moral strength and awesome power that can flow when a free people are at once united and bonded together in a common and just cause.

    Most people will realize as they study the illustrations that the design team has successfully captured in form the "high moral purpose" and the "spirit of idealism" to which the memorial is dedicated. Notice the palatial ambiance of the memorial. Everything about it speaks of noble uprising virtues.

    Take note especially of the "Wall of Freedom". The men and women who gave their lives in WWII for the "triumph of democracy over tyranny" will be symbolized by a huge field of gold stars that stand out in relief across the entire expanse of this white marble wall. Each star will represent 100 of the more than 400,000 men and women who gave their lives in this great cause.   (source)

    The message communicated by these golden stars couldn't be any more clear. Gold stars have a special place in the hearts of all Americans regardless of their ethnic origin. It is the universal symbol of a job well done. A gold star is the universal symbol of a good deed.

see War Memorial next column ...

Vietnam War Memorial continued ...

    From our earliest days, i.e. as children, as we were growing up, we are given a gold star for each job well done and for every good deed. Most people did not get a lot of gold stars. That is because they represent extraordinary effort. And because of this, a gold star is something to be proud of. No one touches a gold star and weeps, or feels sad. You touch your gold star, and you feel proud. The spirit is uplifted. Self-esteem is amplified.

    In regards to the Vietnam War Memorial, exactly the opposite occurs. There is nothing uplifting about visiting the Vietnam War Memorial because there is nothing uplifting honored there. It is a vortex of national depression, the intensity of which is amplified by its below ground-level construction. The very structure symbolizes death. Touch a name, and you feel sadness for a life lost in a foolish and unworthy cause. The Vietnam War Memorial represents an intense forcefield of falsehood in this regard.

    The feelings and emotions and thoughts of each soul who enters therein are twisted and distorted to mirror the spirit of defeatism that the memorial represents. It is like a tar pit that attracts and holds unsuspecting little feet. Those who enter therein, and who thereby become immersed in its aura of defeatism, depart from it as defenders of its sticky self-pity and sorrow, as if these were a part of their own personality. But this is no part of anyone's divine personality.

    If we remember that the word "America" stands for the "I Am Race," we cannot help but conclude that anyone who visits the Vietnam War Memorial leaves the memorial feeling less like an American than when they arrived.

    If you want to feel sad about something concerning the Vietnam War, build a huge black mourning obelisk for the political leaders who didn't have the spine to lead their men to victory. Grieve for them. Pity them.

    But honor and revere those who gave their all for the cause of liberty.

    If you want to feel sad about something concerning the Vietnam War, build a memorial to the blindness of those who demonstrated in opposition to the war. Pity them. Grieve for their loss of determination, grieve for their loss of vision, a loss of vision that certainly allowed the hopes of the Vietnamese people to perish at the departure of the American Armed Forces. Grieve for the cowardice of so many American civilians, for their shirking of duty. If you want to feel bad, feel bad for the corruption of the American soul that gave America her first loss on the battlefield of freedom.

    Any of the five points spoken about World War II is anathema to the memory of those who gave their lives in that noble cause. Perhaps the idea that they were fighting for the freedom of the entire planet, is a bit more tangible in regards to their sacrifice, especially in hindsight.

    But the jewel of freedom is no less valuable, whether it is mined and polished on the shores of Normandy, or mined and polished in the trenches of Khe San. Freedom is freedom. And those who went to Vietnam fought for freedom.

    With the World War II Memorial, we honor those who achieved the "triumph of democracy over tyranny."

    But those who served in Vietnam had the same goal in mind. And when America pulled out, all of Vietnam became awash in tyranny. This was no fault of the soldiers who were winning the battles up to that point. It is the fault of those Americans who lost the capacity to appreciate the value of liberty.

    To debase our collective memory of their sacrifice, by indulging in the five aforementioned lies about the true worth of that sacrifice, continues to be a corrupting influence upon the moral character of the American people. The Vietnam War Memorial helps to program the collective mind of the American People to believe that the fight for freedom in Vietnam was not an honorable endeavor. The practical effect of this corruption means that those who will man the front lines in any future struggle for liberty will look behind them and find very few reinforcements.

    That prospect is not good for America.

    Moreover, as students of the Ascended Masters we have a more than ordinary obligation to resist the temptation to bow down to what is advertised as being politically correct as far as the popular culture goes. We a have duty to make a more than ordinary effort to apply the standards that we know are extent in the courts of heaven.

    For example, we know that those who gave their lives in the quest for freedom in Vietnam, are honored by the Ascended Masters. Not only have they balanced a large chunk of their personal karma in service to the principle of liberty, avenues of greater opportunity are opened up before them as a result of their sacrifice. The Masters have perfect memories, and they will not forget those who gave their all to the cause. It should be clear that there is nothing about their sacrifice and the rewards they have earned from that sacrifice to warrant indulgence of any of the five previously mentioned falsehoods.

    Moreover, we must understand that any nation dominated by Communism will be cut off from any widespread knowledge of the path of initiation, which means that such a nation becomes an outpost of darkness, and a stumbling block for the whole planet that must enter into the light in its entirety.

    Would the path of initiation become known throughout Vietnam at the appropriate time? Or would the Vietnamese people continue to labor under the lash of their fallen taskmasters? That was the issue at stake in the battle for freedom there. Of any group of people on the planet, it is the students of the Ascended Masters who ought to be keenly aware of the value of liberty everywhere, no matter what the color of the person's skin, and no matter what the culture or nationality into which that divine soul has been born. In truth, fighting for liberty in Vietnam, has just as much cosmic and universal value as fighting for liberty in Kansas.

    We do the cause of the Ascended Masters no good by taking the posture of a doormat when it comes to any effort to debase the cause of liberty.

    The Vietnam War Memorial debases the cause of liberty. It fosters spinelessness, not courage, not sacrifice, not honor. It memorializes the cut and run mentality. And their is no virtue in that.

    What would be the result if we built a memorial for the Vietnam War that truly celebrated the righteous sacrifice of those who fought for freedom in Vietnam, a memorial of the same stature as the World War II memorial? It would force those who opposed the war, those who resisted it, those who demonstrated against it, those who fled from it, to come face to face with their betrayal, allowing them for the first time to feel the deep shame that is always associated with betrayal.

    Understanding this, we reach the ultimate conclusion in regards to the raison d'etre of the Vietnam War Memorial. It was not built to honor courageous men and women who gave their lives in the quest for the freedom of another people. It was built to help those who betrayed them to hide their faces from their shame.