There are many people who sincerely believe that the imminent effort to remove Saddam Hussein from power is ill-conceived. And then there are many people who sincerely believe that removing Saddam Hussein from power represents the epitome of wisdom, to the extent imperfect human beings can achieve an epitome of wisdom. How can we tell who is actually right?

     I believe that this impending world event presents an important opportunity for all of us to expand our understanding of the underlying forces that drive the formation of our opinions.

     As many of my readers know, I am on record in favor of the effort to use military force to remove Saddam Hussein from power, and because of this, I receive various communications challenging the wisdom of my position, and sometimes I respond to such challenges. Such was the case, related to a challenge, dated February 1, 2003, from a Keeper of the Flame living in the Netherlands, that's a European country, who sincerely believes that this writer, i.e. me, is so blind, and fundamentally misguided, that I couldn't find my way to the bathroom in the dead of night, even if I had a flashlight.

     Now, I devoted a considerable amount of time drafting a personal response to him, which had the effect of coloring my mind, and all of my activities over the course of an entire weekend with the various ins and outs of this particular subject, and it would be no surprise therefore, that any event out of the ordinary that happened to me personally over the course of this weekend, would be seen against this backdrop, and if any such event had any particular relevance to this subject area, this would become quickly apparent. And so it came to pass, that there was a very peculiar event, that had a direct relevance, and so much so, that it offered me a very penetrating insight into the reason why people are opposed to this war, and sincerely so.

     This event occurred on Sunday Morning, February 2, 2003, and it had to do with an encounter with a dog under some very peculiar circumstances. And for the sake of overall understandability, I will need to preface my report on this event, with the confession, that I have a weak point (well, not just one, but there isn't any need to clutter this discussion with more irrelevant detail than it already contains). This particular weak point has to do with a fear of dogs, and a deep mistrust of dogs, especially any that look like German Shepherds. And as I begin to write this, I am thinking that this fear is justified. Really, I am not just thinking, but I am feeling that this fear is justified, even though I am about to make the case that it isn't.

     This event provided me with an opportunity to enter into my own subterranean cavern of fear, and from inside of that cavern, amidst the majesty of all of the dripping stalagmites, I could see some very profound parallels between the operation of my own mind under the influence of this dog-induced fear, and the operation of the minds of those who are similarly influenced by fear, though in a different arena, i.e. war induced fear.

     My own fear (in regards to the issue of dogs) is rooted at least in one childhood event. When I was about 8 years old, I was riding my bike not too far from home, and as I passed the house on the corner, and started to follow the sidewalk around the bend, there was a person with his German Shepherd standing there in the front yard of that house, and that person said to that dog, something like "Go get him!", and that dog lunged at me, grabbed onto my leg, and pulled me off of that bike, crashing me onto the concrete, leaving me pretty shaken up, with scrapes, bruises, and a pretty nasty bite on my right leg.

     So, generally speaking I don't like dogs. Though, I imagine, because nothing ever happens by chance, that this is something that was carried forward from a previous life. In other words, it is possible that this event simply brought to the surface a dislike for dogs that I have carried forward from previous lives. This dislike is certainly at the surface now. And this observation seems the more valid, because I certainly don't carry forward any abundance of love that you would expect might transcend such an experience, i.e. if I had it.

     Of course, some dogs are very well behaved, and friendly, and would never bite anybody, and I have to consciously think about that fact to keep from being a total dog bigot.

     In fact our next door neighbor has three dogs, and describing them in reverse order, I would note that one is a little bundle of constant happiness. If all dogs were like that, I'd love dogs. But not all dogs are like that. Another one of their dogs is very friendly and quite smart, and I've known him since he was a cute little puppy, though he has developed some characteristics that make him a pain in later life. But overall, even if all dogs were like him, I'd think that they were generally ok. Though, not all dogs are like him either. But they have yet another dog, that from the moment they brought her home, and she was full grown when they brought her home, all she would do is bark at me, and I have to admit, that this was a major nuisance and irritation, and that there were times, where I imagined picking up a big brick, but I am not going to say what I imagined myself doing with that brick. Well, needless to say, such imaginations are not a good thing, and I determined that I would make friends with that dog, and after about five years, she is actually a good friend. Her name is Linda, and she enjoys it very much when I come over to visit.

     She barks at everybody else in our household, but she doesn't bark at me anymore, at least not when she can see that I am the one making this or that noise. I think that she was profoundly abused by previous owners, because she is so fearful. If anyone walks near the fence she will scurry back into her dog house, and from that safe little cave like environment, she will bark and bark and bark and bark, and she won't come out. It's not like she rushes out in an aggressive manner to challenge anyone. No, she runs back into her dog house, and barks from there. Though, as I mentioned, after five years of effort, when she sees that's it me, she will stop barking, and come over to get petted, and she enjoys that. But she won't stop barking, or come out and be friendly for anyone else who lives on this side of the fence.

     It's an interesting story, I think it is anyway, on how I made friends with her. Much of the more trying times in this respect are actually documented in the Footprints on the Mountain section on the Homeward Bound Journal website, so I won't go into a lot of detail here, but if you're a real dog lover, you might find those daily reports of some interest.

     Now, Linda was the first dog our next-door neighbors brought home, and during those years when she lived alone in her dog pen area, she never felt comfortable enough to come up to the fence and take a dog biscuit from me. I bought boxes of dog biscuits at the super market just for this purpose, i.e. to bribe her into a condition of friendship. But the only way she would eat them, is if I put them through the fence, and dropped them onto the ground, and then I had to back way off, ten or twenty feet, and only then would she come out of the dog house to get the biscuit. And she wouldn't eat it where she found it. She would pick it up, and she would take it back into the dog house, sniff at it, and only then would she eat it. Because of this, I don't think she ever associated receiving dog biscuits from me, and therefore, she never came close enough so that I could pet her. While she lived alone in the dog pen area, this behavior never changed.

     After a couple of years went by, our neighbors got a new puppy, really cute as all puppies are, and after he was grown up, he kept Linda company, and I am sure that helped balance her psychology somewhat. Though it didn't have any impact on her barking. But the presence of this new dog was important in another respect. He was friendly, and he would always come up to the fence to get petted, and to take a biscuit, and it was this example, that finally got Linda to come out of her dog house and take a biscuit out of my hand. She saw Max do it, so therefore, it seemed ok for her to do it. Though she wouldn't let me get a hand on her otherwise, at least for quite a while. It took several months of feeding her dog biscuits before she become comfortable enough so that she would let me pet her on the head while I was giving her a dog biscuit. And I even made some good progress getting her to let me take the trash barrels in and out without her having a fit, and doing yard work in that area of the yard too. So, to make a long story short, a story that spans about 6 years, it would be accurate to say that today she is my friend.

     Of course, I should make clear, that these dogs were never aggressive, and never invoked any amount of fear in me. Linda was the fearful one, and I got a really good multi-year example from her of how mindless fear mechanisms can keep a creature from receiving the best that life has to offer.

     So, this situation is obviously provided by cosmic serendipity, for me to work out my dislike for dogs. And so, I have made a little progress, because here is a dog, Linda, whose behavior was so atrocious that she evoked brick throwing fantasies in me, but now she is my friend, though not without time and effort.

     But, overall, in terms of dealing with the root fear associated with potentially aggressive dogs, I have not made as much progress as one might expect.

     About four or five months ago, late summer 2002, I was out taking my walk, and it was very late, like 1 or 2 o'clock in the morning, and I passed this dog who was rummaging around under a bush or something. Now I had passed this same dog before, which was consistently in the same place at the same time, over a stretch of several nights. And even though I passed him without incident before, I was always tempted to take another route to avoid him. This was because, no matter how many times I passed him by without incident, just his presence would evoke fear. What was he doing out so late at night, in that same place? And he was not with anyone. But I wouldn't give into my fear to the extent where I would actually take another route. That would have been a statement of mistrust in Archangel Michael. The only way I could get through such encounters, is by focusing my attention on Archangel Michael. And that's what I did on this particular occasion. Of course I am doing constant Michaels on my walks anyway, not because of dogs, but because I like to do Michaels, but my visualization of Archangel Michael gets really intense when I have to pass by this dog, or any dog, late at night. So, I passed by this dog, and I wasn't overly worried, because I have never had any problems as long as I was doing my Michaels. But after I had passed about 50 feet or so beyond where I first saw that dog, I glanced back, and that dog was coming up on me, and he was only about five feet away. And I instinctively let out a frightened yelp of sorts, something like, "Hey! Get Back!", but the first word didn't even get out of mouth, and you know why? I bit all the way through my tongue! That's right. I can't remember when I had ever been in so much pain. What I mean to say is, that really hurt. That's not just like biting your tongue. This is biting through your tongue. YOW! And with all of the blood to go with it, and I can tell you it was a real pain to eat for a few days after that too. And you can't put a band-aid on it. You can't put a tourniquet on it. You just have to suffer with it.

     What did I learn from this? Archangel Michael's protection is of no use if you are going to break the law. In other words, don't ever express fear. What other conclusion could anyone draw? I had my attention on Archangel Michael. I was in the very midst of doing Archangel Michael decrees. And it was obvious, that his blue flame of protection was nowhere to be seen inside of my mouth at the point where I felt I needed to cry out in fear. Though, you would think, that if you were doing decrees, that's at least one place you could be certain that blue flame protection would be, i.e. inside of your mouth. But no. When you misqualify the blue flame, it isn't blue flame anymore. And when the blue flame isn't the blue flame anymore, it has no protection qualities, as I found out. Actually, when it is misqualified, it has self-destructive or self-injuring qualities.

     Yes, this was rather sharp lesson meant for someone who is supposed to be getting past such flubs. God will be more merciful with those who don't know any better. I knew better. What in the world do you have to fear with the presence of Archangel Michael right there with you? An expression of fear at that point is like shouting out to the world, "Archangel Michael is a big nobody! He doesn't exist, and he's a figment of my imagination!" And that basic principle was outpictured immediately right inside of my own mouth. You have to guard your speech. Don't allow anything, or anyone evoke an expression of fear from you. And especially, when you are with Archangel Michael, which should be all the time, TRUST that he will carry you through whatever situation you are in. Under trying circumstances, don't say anything but his name.

     The dog was probably just expressing some friendly curiosity, though I will never know for sure. He ran away anyway, at least I think he did, though I am not sure, because all of my attention at that point was totally absorbed in the huge wave of pain that flooded through my tongue, mouth, head, and entire body.

     About 20 years previously, when I was fairly new to the Teachings, I was out jogging one day, and this dog came trotting towards me, and I stopped to be nice to him, feeling sort of courageous for some reason, and I bent down, held out my hand, and all of a sudden that dog went into a growling attack mode, and the only thing I could think of was to shout "Archangel Michael!" and that dog dropped out of its mid air lunge, and turned around and ran away. On that occasion I expressed my confidence in Archangel Michael. On another occasion, I came upon this mean looking bulldog on a hiking trail, and there was no way around him. He stood there like a miniature rhinoceros, his body language clearly communicating, "This is my trail." And I certainly didn't have enough courage to walk around him. What I did, was to just stop in my tracks, and I stood there, and said my Michaels, and in about two minutes, the dog turned around, and went off in the other direction, and I didn't see him again.

     I think for those who are afraid of walking in the forest because of the bears, they would do well to adopt Archangel Michael as their friend. Now, I know that this isn't a problem for most people, since most people live in cities, but as long as we are on the subject of animals and fear, I thought I might as well use all of the animal stories I could think of. And anyway, there are people who live in rural Montana, and who walk in the forest, and that's actually where this memory comes from. During a conference in the heart of the Inner Retreat in 1984, I took a hike to the top of Maitreya mountain with a group of other devotees, but instead of returning with them along the same trail that we used to ascend the mountain, I decided to go down the other side by myself. Beyond the fact that there was no trail, and the going was difficult, I was constantly worried about meeting a bear along the way. But the only thing of any note that I confronted were black cattle. That's right. I don't know what they were doing there, but I suppose that I was as uncertain as to what kind of behavior I could expect from them, as I would have been if I had confronted a group of black bears. I kept my Michaels going as I walked through their midst, and none of them seemed to take any significant notice of me. Overall, I suffered no mishaps along the way, and arrived back at camp in the late afternoon, two or three hours after leaving the mountain top. Though I think I will take the regular trail the next time.

     Now, returning to this event at hand, on this Sunday morning, I had gone on my walk during daylight hours, beginning about 8am. I walk south along one main residential thoroughfare that connects two parts of this end of the valley which is subdivided by a range of hills. I follow a long steady and slightly westerly curved and upward climbing grade to an area where the road peaks at a low point in the ridge line, to an area where there are open space hiking trails, and some nice hills to climb both to the east and to the west. On this walk, I turned west, and took a path to the top of Rainbow Hill and then followed Paradise Trail to the top of Tank-Top Mountain.

     I imagine that some of you are thinking, gee, those are interesting names, and you are probably wondering how they came to have those names. Well, as long as you are asking, I just happen to know. I named the first hill "Rainbow Hill" myself, because one day last month, there was a light rain shower in the morning, which is really unusual for Southern California, and as the wall of showers moved to the west, over this hill and beyond, the rising sun which had just come up over the mountains to the east, and which was peeking through a patch of clear sky, sent beams of nearly horizontal morning light into the sheets of retreating rain, creating a brilliant rainbow to the west that appeared nearly vertical. Really. It wasn't an arc at all. It was 95% vertical with the top sort of bending slightly off to the north, and as I was climbing the trail to the top up this hill, that rainbow appeared to be shooting right out of the top of that hill!   And that's why I named this hill, Rainbow Hill. It was an amazing sight, and it has to be a once-in-a-life-time experience. It takes about five minutes or so to climb to the top, and I could see that rainbow shooting out of the top of the hill during the whole climb. And because the top of the hill was so close, most of the climb being quite steep, the rainbow had the appearance of being physically very close. I mean, in most every case where I had ever seen a rainbow before, it was always in the distance. But here, the rainbow appeared to be up close and personal coming right out of the top of the hill which was just steps away.

     And so, after I had given this hill a name, the largest hill then said to me, I need a name too. And I called him Tank-Top Mountain, because it is the highest hill on the ridge line trail, and it's the last one, and when you climb to the top, and look north, you can look down and you can see the top of a large water tank that serves the community below. Thus, Tank-Top Mountain. Because you can see the top of the big green water tank from the top of this mountain. But it really isn't the size you would normally associate with something that is called a mountain. Actually, just to the south we really have something that you can call a mountain, because I think it rises to more than 3,000 feet, and it has huge rock faces, and looks quite majestic. That mountain I have recently renamed Mt. Luminosity. Tank-Top Mountain is quite modest by comparison. But I incorporated the term mountain into its name anyway because it sounds more substantial. And as far as the hills go that are positioned in the middle of this valley, it is the highest. And from its top, you can actually see the ocean (through a saddle in the perimeter hills to the west).

     And since these two hills finally had a name, then the ridge line trail which connected them, wanted a name too. And because of all of the wild flowers that were coming out, big bushes of large bright yellow daisy like flowers, and lots of smaller trumpet shaped blue flowers, and purple flowers, and some white ones too, and the many new tufts of emerald green grass here and there, and all of the new and fragrant sage brush, and the general effulgence of the greenery, which seemed to express an unusual level of exuberant happiness as a result of the recent rains, it seemed to me, that it wanted to be called Paradise Trail. And so that's the name I gave it.

     The reader may wonder what this has to do with fear, and I will admit it has nothing to do with fear. I figure that if one has an opportunity to add some color to an article, the author might as well do it. I hope that most readers will find it only a brief, but pleasant, distraction.

     After walking and climbing to the top of Tank-Top Mountain on this Sunday morning, I returned along the same route, along Paradise Trail, back to the top of Rainbow Hill, where the trail descends along a sharp incline to a dirt road a few hundred feet below, to where the parking lot, and civilization begins again.

     Now, as I descended along this trail, down the eastern side of Rainbow Hill, I noticed something very peculiar. There was a man standing on the dirt road below, and he was watching his dog, who was standing about 20 feet away, at the bottom of this hill, and most importantly, smack dab in the middle of the trail I was on.

     As I continued to descend along this trail, being quite careful, because it is quite steep, looking mostly at where I was placing my feet, I would glance up once and while, and I would see that the situation at the bottom of the hill had not changed. The man was still there, and so was his dog, who again was standing at the beginning of the trail at the bottom of the hill. Now, there are not two trails. There is only one trail. And to the left and right of this trail is thick waist-high sage brush, very fragrant if you would stop and crush some of the foliage in your fingers. But that's not what I was thinking about. I was thinking that there was no way around that dog. And of course, I was wondering, what in the world was going on down at the bottom of this trail? I had never confronted a situation like this on this trail before, and I have been hiking this trail for over 20 years. What was that dog doing? Why was it just standing there at the bottom of the hill, and most importantly, right in the middle of the trail? You would think, that as I approached, the dog would back off, and run over to where his master was. But he didn't. There was no way to get around him, i.e. to give him a wide birth. And why was this guy just standing there watching that dog? He was not even in a position that would make you think that he wanted to walk up this trail. No, he was standing on the dirt road, somewhat up the grade and beyond where this trail begins to climb the hill. That was really odd. What was this about? I couldn't go back up the trail. Well, I could, but that would be really cowardly now wouldn't it? Or I could have just stopped, and asked the man to call his dog, and to get him off the trail and out of my way. But I didn't think of that.

     Fortune would have it, that over the last few weeks, our hiking time was being used to focus on rejoicing in the Providence of God, and because it was very clear that I needed help keeping my mind on this subject area, even while I was doing my Michael calls, I found it quite useful to hold the hand of Jesus with my left hand, and the hand of St. Germain with my right, and we would walk along as this threesome (in my imagination), and this assisted me considerably in keeping my mind on target. So, as I carefully made my way down the trail, getting closer and closer to this dog, and feeling the same old fear coming alive within me, I was able to squeeze the hands of the Masters tighter, and that was really what allowed me to walk right past that dog, within just a couple of inches. And the dog's reaction to this was unusual to say the least. The dog did not move an inch. It showed no fear, and not even the normal sniffing kind of interest that most dogs show when people pass by them. As I approached the dog, coming within perhaps four or five feet, the man on the road below said, "She's sweet". Yeah, right. That's not what I saw. As I approached and passed that dog, I noted that it was the worst kind, because it was a husky German Shepherd mix, similar to the kind of dog that bit me when I was eight years old, with a very dark complexion, not black, but very dark grey, with no light markings. The only thing I could sense as I passed, was that just under the surface of its expressionless demeanor, was this horrible savageness that at any moment was about to erupt and tear my arm off. Though I was certain that the Masters would not let that happen. As I passed I said something fairly neutral like "Hello little dog". I mean, I tried to be civil.

     I walked past, down the dirt road to the parking lot, and onto the sidewalk that runs along the residential street that would take me home, and I didn't look back. Anybody watching this scene would not have been able to discern any particular drama in it. All of the drama was inside of me. I had just passed through a very traumatic event.

     And as I continued on my walk in the direction of home, this was the question that was before my mind. What was the truth? Was that really a sweet dog? Or was there, just below the surface, this savage beast ready to tear my arm off as I feared? This was the essential question: Was my fear justified? Depending on what the truth was, that would indicate who was in a state of abject delusion, i.e. the dog owner, or me.

      Admittedly, the animal made no move at all. It remained stationary. It didn't growl, or show any aggressive tendency, nor did it appear friendly. Could it be that this dog was simply waiting at the bottom of the hill there so she could be friendly to me? Nothing in my experience suggested that as a possibility. And there was no tail wagging that is usually associated with friendliness. Everything within me argued against any conclusion that this dog was friendly.

     And moreover, how could that guy be so insensitive to other people, that he would allow his dog to directly confront another hiker? Most people have their dogs on a leash. That's what the law requires. In this respect, not only was this guy insensitive, he was also disobedient, qualities that are perversions of the 1/7 axis of the cosmic clock, which are two strikes against his clarity of vision, and his potential blindness when it comes to understanding what really resides inside of his own dog.

     Well, I could revolve this around and around and around, piling up ever more convincing reasons and indications which would further testify to the veracity of my fear. And I would always come back to the same place anyway. When I passed by that dog, I felt what I felt. And the reader would be startled to see, if you could climb inside of my head, the distinct impression of savagery that I sensed in that dog. And my conclusion would be, that my fear was justified, except for one important fact.

      Hovering over this whole internal evaluation process, was the principle, that perfect love casts out fear. If you had perfect love, you would have felt no fear. Ok. That sounds right in theory, but what does it mean in practice?

     Perfect Love has two equal parts. And if they are not both resident within the consciousness of the soul, then the love cannot be called perfect. First, there is the love that God the Father has for the son (or daughter). Second, there is the love that the son (or daughter) has for God the Father.

      Parenthetically, I would just note, that as we enter the region of genuine affection for the God who created us, and who maintains us, and who continues to provide us with life and opportunity, we will find that our Creator, is both Father, and Mother, and that the son (or daughter) develops, on sort of a parallel track, an affection for both. But for the sake of simplicity in our discussion here, I will use the soul's relationship to the Father to illustrate these principles.

     When the son (or daughter) knows the Father's love, the son (or daughter) also knows that the Father will never allow any harm to come to the soul. In the midst of this knowledge, the soul is free from any tendency to be fearful. And moreover, the soul is free to extend the abundance of love that it holds within the container of identity, into whatever condition or situation it confronts. When the son (or daughter) actually knows the Father's love, that son (or daughter) also knows that the love is all-powerful. Here, even if the soul is confronting a situation wherein malintent is being projected at it, the flow of love into that situation will consume that malintent, or it will turn it back. There is a certainty built up within the very structure of the soul's identity, born of direct experience and knowledge, that nothing can stand against the power of perfect love, and that malintent can never penetrate through the power of perfect love.

     Many people purport to know what love is. In most cases I believe that they have fabricated within their minds a definition for love that they believe that they can meet, without actually going to the effort to find out what perfect love is really all about. Such a definition, would not be a definition for perfect love. There is only one definition for perfect love, and that is the love that God the Father has for the son or the daughter.

     The power of perfect love, is the love that flows from the Father to the son (or daughter), and the flow of love that the son (or daughter) returns to the Father. The container of the Divine Identity is characterized primarily by the constancy of this flow in both directions. But this is not just the flow of an impersonal power, but the flow of consciousness itself, the consciousness of God the Father on the one hand, and the consciousness of the son (or daughter) on the other. It is a consciousness impregnated, and fully saturated with the quality of mutual affection. In this regard, the perfect part of perfect love is the wholeness, or the completeness, of the soul's sense of identification with God as the Father, and the self as the son (or daughter). The Path of Initiation is dedicated to the process of establishing those geometries of consciousness within the container of identity which will enable the son, or the daughter to resonate with this all-important pattern of identification, and thus to be a vessel for the exchange of that love.

     I know that we all have a special keynote, but in regards to the flow of love between the soul and God, we also all share some very fundamental universal chords that are systematically re-established within us as we walk the Path of Initiation. In other words, we will all come to stand in the most profound posture of respect before God, as our Father, in terms of everything that genuine Fatherhood implies. We will all come to stand in the most profound posture of esteem before God, as our Father, in terms of everything that genuine Fatherhood implies. We will all come to stand in the most profound posture of honor before God, as our Father, in terms of everything that genuine Fatherhood implies. We will all come to stand in the most profound posture of appreciation before God, as our Father, in terms of everything that genuine Fatherhood implies. We will all come to stand in the most profound posture of gratitude before God, as our Father, in terms of everything that genuine Fatherhood implies. (And these are all inner postures, having nothing to do with standing on our physical feet with our attention focused on some outer physical phenomena). And as we work in the here and now to anchor these fundamental postures of divine sonship (or daughtership), and as all of these postures of soul geometry coalesce into patterns of constancy, we will all stand in the most profound posture of love before God, as our Father, in terms of everything that genuine Fatherhood implies.

     When we understand that this is the standard of consciousness that God our Father desires every one of his sons and daughters to rise to, and when we can come to understand that every strand of awareness, within the totality of consciousness, is meant to participate in this flow of perfect love, then we can see that there is no situation in which fear can be justified. I think that most of us even have the capacity to understand this even in the abstract. When fear is seen against the backdrop of perfect love (and perfect love is not supposed to remain forever a theoretical backdrop), we can see that every form of fear represents a fraudulent state of consciousness. Of course, we can understand how souls come to various conditions of fear. And we can extend compassion, and we can feel empathy. But we can never believe that any form of fear represents a valid state of consciousness. Moreover, we can see, that where there is fear, then obviously the soul is in a state of blindness, for the soul is not seeing God, and the reality of his love, and the reality of its power. In this respect, fear blocks the true vision of the heart (the pure heart) and the third-eye chakra is closed down tight. Therefore, whatever anyone sees in a state of fear, can never be taken as valid. It will always be a corrupt fabrication of an imagination steeped in darkness.

     Until the son (or daughter) enters into the knowledge of this perfect love, he or she will remain susceptible to various fear invoking circumstances. Not everyone will have the same fears of course. But we can say that fear is a universal state of consciousness that requires elimination wherever, or however it manifests itself. And while the act of recognizing fear for what it is, is not the same thing as being free from it, that recognition is nevertheless the first step towards freedom.

     Now, it was clear enough, that when I passed by that dog on the trail, that I had no love for that dog. But not only that. More importantly, it is clear that I was not thinking about God. I was not feeling any love for God our Father. And I was not feeling any return current of love. The one and only thing that I felt, was the fear that this dog was about to tear my arm off (even though it gave no outer indication of any sort that that's what it was predisposed to do. And even though the owner assured me that she was "sweet". Remember, that's what he said, "She's sweet".)

     The more I think about this, the more solid is the conclusion, that any state of fear, represents a state of divine disobedience, because the soul is willfully looking away from the power of God's love, and the relevance of that love in a particular situation.

     For these reasons, I must conclude, that the fear that I felt could not be justified, and the creations of my imagination during the time I was under the direct influence of that fear, cannot be relied upon.

     I make note of my weakness in this regard, and I look forward to that day, wherein I will be able to extend perfect love to every dog that I meet, instead of extending fear.

     And how does a person grow in terms of the capacity to embody perfect love? And how does the person grow in terms of the capacity to embody that abundance of perfect love where he or she will have enough left over to extend to other parts of life? Within the structure of the Path of Initiation, we must work on developing our relationship with God our Father. That is the source of the power of love and our knowledge of it. We must work with the Master Jesus Christ, and St. Germain, to return to a consciousness of genuine sonship (or daughtership), wherein we understand that we are intended to receive the Father's love, and that we are intended to return our love to Him as well, and that this giving and receiving can occur in a balanced manner, when the soul has agreed, by freewill, to occupy its special place in the overall machinery of the divine plan. This begins, for every devotee, without exception, when the soul chooses to take its place on the front line of the battle between the forces of Light and the forces of Darkness, in its daily decree work before the altar of the Holy Grail. Avenues of additional integration with the divine plan expand beyond the work at the altar, but the work at the altar is the place where this integration begins. All must understand of course that it can be quite a complex process, both internally, and externally, to reposition the soul in this manner, and that this will take time, and the soul should be on guard when it comes to the temptation to exhibit impatience. But it should also be clear, that if the soul decides it does not want to contribute to the Father's plan, that choice represents a consciousness of non-love, and non-respect, for both the plan, and the author of it, which keeps the soul outside of that all-important flow, and likewise trapped in the web of fear inducing experience.

      It's not that the goal is to love dogs. In this respect, this particular circumstance is just an indicator that my relationship with God our Father is not strong enough, in terms of the flow of love exchanged, to defeat this particular fear pathology. To defeat this particular fear pathology, that exchange of love must be increased, until there is so much of an abundance of it, that there will be enough radiant intensity to consume all fear, and enough left over to extend to every dog that I meet, whether it snarls at me or not.

     Now, how does this relate to the situation regarding the imminent war to remove Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq, and especially to those people who oppose it? It's simple.

     From this experience, I can understand how fear can lead a person to imagine the existence of a threat, that does not in fact exist. Those who are against this war are in a state of fear, and they are allowing that fear to raise up within their own minds, various illusions, various disaster scenarios, all of which appear to be eminently justifiable. After this experience, I can really empathize with that. That's what all of the foregoing discussion was all about.

     In the midst of this debate over the wisdom of using military force to set the Iraqi people free, I was given a direct confrontation with my own dweller of fear, in a situation where I could experience and reflect upon the sincere illusions that the dweller of fear can create within my own mind. And I could see, feel, and experience how difficult it was to actually see through those illusions.

Note: For those readers who will jump to the conclusion that the reasons set forth to justify the war against Saddam Hussein are fear-based as well, and that those who support the war effort are operating out of a certain fear pathology, there are two responses that should help the reader to set such a conclusion quickly aside. First, Saddam Hussein's track record of building weapons of mass destruction, and his track record of working with terrorist organizations allows us to reach a wisdom based conclusion (stop him now before those weapons are used in America) that when acted upon, will save lives. Second, when we understand that Saddam Hussein is a brutal dictator who commits horrendous crimes against his people, and who forces his people to live in a bowed down condition of fear and terror, this allows us to reach another wisdom based conclusion (The Iraqi people will be better of living in a condition of freedom), that when acted on, will save many innocent lives within Iraq itself, and provide many future generations of Iraqi's with the benefits of freedom and all the opportunity freedom affords. And in this we can see the essential difference between fear and wisdom. Fear will always prolong a condition of slavery and oppression, and result in the death of far more innocent people over the long term. Wisdom will always cut short the reign of slavery and oppression, and result in the death of far fewer innocent people over the long term.)

     For those whose fear pathology relates to the subject area of war, their path into the truth, is the same as my path into the truth. Just as I had to admit to myself that I felt no love for that dog, though more precisely, while I was in the midst of that fear pathology, I was clearly outside of any kind of love flow with God our Father, they will have a similar opportunity to admit to themselves, that while they are in the midst of their own fear pathology, that they too have an equal deficit of love, when it comes to God our Father, his principle of freedom, and the freedom of the Iraqi people.

     Now, it may appear presumptuous of me, to come to a conclusion that anyone might have a deficit of love for God their Father. But I would say, this is not really a presumptuous conclusion in regards to 99% of the entire population of this planet. It's not anymore presumptuous than calling a desert dry. That's why we are all here. We have all left off of our First Love, and we have gone after other gods. And the way back into a condition of genuine love for God our Father, is not a quick and easy path. No, the Path of Initiation is not quick and easy. Rebuilding the geometries of consciousness required to reinitiate and maintain the soul's relationship with God the Father, i.e. a relationship of genuine sonship (or daughtership), is a long and complex process. And so, we all have our deficits in this regard. And we all have our fear pathologies to overcome along the way.

     But let me just say here, perhaps at a level that does not cut so deeply into the soul's sense of pride, that the soul's relationship to the principle of freedom, is a good indicator of the soul's relationship to God the Father. Those who do not worship liberty, are well outside of the geometry of consciousness wherein there is any affectionate contact between the soul and God. That is because, God our Father is for freedom, and he is for freedom, because freedom is the basis of the Path of Initiation. Where there is no freedom, there is no Path of Initiation, and where there is no Path of Initiation, there is no possibility of redemption. What this means is, that without the Path of Initiation, and without the victory of redemption that path offers, the flow of love between the soul and God cannot be reestablished. So, one can see why God loves freedom so much. For his earthbound children, it is the only path that will lead them into a reunion with love itself. Therefore, if one feels any amount of genuine affection for God their Father, over the bridge of that affection, God's love for freedom will actually rub off on them, and because of that, they will always have a corresponding affection for the quality of freedom. So, there is a direct link between the soul's passion for freedom, and the soul's genuine affection for God.

     And those who find that they do not have a genuine affection for God, I would say to them, that that's what the Path of Initiation is for. The Path of Initiation is all about bringing souls who harbor significant amounts of animosity towards their heavenly Father (and their Heavenly Mother for that matter), back into a genuine state of affection. It can be a long process, that requires much diligence in pursuit, much purification, and finally repeated inner contact with divine reality, that will finally instill within the character a genuine affection for God once again.

     And in this respect, and this is very telling, that those who find themselves polarized against this war to remove Saddam Hussein from power, will have the concomitant opportunity to discover, that the statement made by Patrick Henry, "Give me liberty, or give me death," is something that they don't relate to in the slightest degree, and that fact indicates a significant deficit when it comes to the love for liberty (and thus the love for God and his purposes) which Patrick Henry has expressed in this statement.

     Of course, it would be a mistake to say that this indicates a total deficit of affection for God. In other words, the forgoing should not be taken as categorical statements. Did my reaction of fear in the foregoing situation represent a total deficit of affection for God? Of course not. It was just that in that circumstance, where the fear pathology was operating, that my affection for God, my love for God, my trust in God, was nowhere to be seen. And so it is in every case where we are vulnerable to fear. It is just like a blob of cancer in the body. The cancer is in one place, and where the cancer is not, in those other places, the body still operates in a nearly normal manner. Though, if the cancer is allowed to spread too far, it can affect the health of the whole body.

     Now, there appears to be a certain fear that is invoked in these individuals, when it comes to the battle, and the sacrifice associated with every meaningful struggle for freedom. And when that fear is triggered, when that particular dweller is triggered, all of the disaster scenarios that play upon the screen of their minds will appear completely and seamlessly justified. I can relate to that. There will be nothing at all within the inner experience of the individual that will tell them that what they fear, is not real. When someone tells me how they see only disaster when it comes to this effort to set the Iraqi people free, I can now see how it is possible for them to thoroughly believe it. That fear will appear very real, and that fear will invoke disaster scenarios within the mind, and there will be present a certain tendency to desperately grasp after every possible straw, to prove that the fear is justified. I saw myself doing exactly the same thing when it came to justifying the fear I felt towards that dog.

     The only way out of this illusion, for those who are trapped in it, is to be honest with themselves, and admit, that while they are within the context of their particular fear pathology, that they have no love for liberty. Just as I had to admit, that I had no love for that dog. And I didn't. Even though every law in heaven says that I should have had an abundant love for that dog, I had zero love for that dog. In a certain respect I had abundant love for the arm that that dog was about to tear off, but no love for that dog. These people likewise, need to be brutally honest with themselves, and admit that, within the context of this fear pathology, they have zero love for liberty, and in a more practical sense, zero love for the liberty of the Iraqi people.

     And out of the midst of that honesty, they must abandon their fear, or at least abandon their allegiance to that fear. They must stop feeding it. They must stop justifying it. And they must choose to cleave to what may be a completely new found love for liberty, or perhaps for some, a love for liberty that they had simply forgotten about.

     In the abstract, they need to consider the opposite side of the coin, that the principle of love is the key that unlocks every facet of the vision of victory in this effort. Our affection for God, allows us to relate to God's love for liberty, and as we relate to God's love for liberty, we are able to relate to the Ascended Master's love for liberty. This allows us to tune into the depth of allegiance that the Master's have for liberty itself, and how the treasure chests of heaven, are sure to be opened, whenever the battle for liberty is joined. In America, our traditions undergird this, because in 1776, the power of Great Britain, militarily, was a thousand times greater than anything that the colonies could bring to bear upon the fight for liberty and independence, and yet we won. We won our independence from British tyranny, not by virtue of our own efforts, though effort was required, and sacrifice too, but because God our Father supports all movements towards freedom. That's why our national motto is "In God We Trust."

     Perhaps some will be able to muster the inner honesty necessary to expose their fear as an imposter of reality, and fear is always the quintessential imposter of reality, and to take the action required to cast it out, perhaps not overnight, but over the remaining years they have in embodiment. Though the sooner they can find it within their hearts to fan the flame of love for liberty, the better off the cause of liberty itself will be, not just for the Iraqi people in the short term, but for the planet as whole.

     Now, in this regard, it is interesting to note, that if we take this truth, that perfect love casts out all fear, and we bring it into union with the fact that Jesus Christ gave us the 20.09 I Cast out the Dweller on the Threshold decree, then it is easy to see that the use of that decree can be considered a genuine expression of perfect love. This is true in the following three ways.

     First, in the flow of perfect love between Jesus the Son, and God the Father, this particular decree emerged. In other words, the very fact that we have it in our hands, represents the crystallization of the perfect love that actually exists between Jesus the son, and God the Father.

     Second, just giving this call does not cast out the dweller. What actually casts out the dweller, is the power that Jesus Christ directs in response to the call. And the power that he directs for the casting out of that dweller, is a power that is expressed out of the flow of perfect love between Jesus the Son, and God the Father. The exact thing that pries the dweller out of the consciousness of the student, and binds it, is the power of perfect love.

     Thirdly, our use of the decree, the actual will power that it takes to actually use it, is also an expression of perfect love. Some may be surprised to find out that they actually have perfect love resident within them. If they are using this decree, then this is evidence that they do. This is because whatever affection we have developed for God our Father, is in itself an expression of perfect love. This is true in the same manner that one atom of pure gold, is just as much gold, as is a whole bar of pure gold. In the latter case, there's just more of it. And just one atom of pure gold (our affection for God our Father) allows us to pick up this decree and use it. Why? First, every atom of pure gold has the inherent desire to attract additional atoms of pure gold, and what that means is that if we have a little bit of affection for God our Father, we will always want more. Second, every atom of pure gold has the power to illuminate the mind with the understanding of what it is that opposes the accumulation of additional atoms. And in this case, a little bit of affection for God our Father, will make it clear in our minds, that the dweller on the threshold generally, and the dweller of fear in particular, stands in the way of attracting additional atoms of affection. Therefore, that one atom of pure gold (affection/perfect love) stands forth with the 20.09 decree in hand, and says, I will sweep away all obstacles (all aspects of the dweller) that stand in the way of accumulating additional atoms of pure gold (affection/perfect love). And so it comes to pass as the decree is used.

Note: Some may conclude from this, that those who continue to resist using the 20.09 decree, i.e. after they have been adequately informed as to the importance of it, don't even have one atom of genuine affection for God their Father. I believe that this is probably a correct conclusion. Remember, the fallen soul is fallen, because the soul left off from its First Love. And as we have been informed, the fallen soul, over the course of many lifetimes, has built up a certain amount of animosity towards God their Father (and God their Mother). So, it is not a stretch to reach such a conclusion. In other words, not only do they not have a single atom of genuine affection for God their Father, what they actually have is quite a storehouse (in the electronic belt) of animosity, dislike, and even hatred for God their Father. If any of my readers fall into this category, I would encourage you to take up the use of this call, regardless of whether you feel like doing it or not. The fact is, that you will probably never feel like doing it, i.e. until after you start using it. I think that it could quickly become one of your best friends. And I think that the Masters will be very quick to reward any student who will have the courage to set aside his or her reluctance to take up this call, and simply use it, based not on an affinity for it, which they don't have, but based on at least an affinity for the understanding of why the Master gave us the call in the first place.

     For the rest of us, who do not have that particular problem, but we have our own problems, this understanding can help us to have compassion for those who find themselves in opposition to this war. We don't need to agree with them. We don't need to sympathize with their arguments. And most importantly, we can stand firmly upon the ground of freedom, and refuse to be drawn into their vortex of fear. But we do need to understand the sincerity of the fear that they feel. And perhaps through our own compassion, we can find the right words that will help them to achieve their own freedom from it.

     And finally, just one more reality check for those who are under the influence of this fear, yet are still convinced that it is real. Look at the arguments that are offered up in opposition to this war. Every single argument takes the form of a disaster scenario. In other words, the fear pathology produces scenarios, that are sent into the minds of other people, and for what purpose? To illuminate their minds with understanding? No, these disaster scenarios have only one effect, and that is to produce more fear.

     If your opposition originates in the flame of wisdom, you would be able to take each disaster scenario, and you would be able to explain why God our Father cannot be trusted to mitigate it, given the fact that this effort will result in setting 25 million of his people free from the fear and terror imposed by a brutal dictator. If you believe you are operating out of the purity of your heart, then you would be able to explain to us why God our Father will in no way support an effort to set his children free. You would be able to explain to us why the freedom of the Iraqi people is of no interest to God. You would be able to explain to us why God our Father would rather have the Iraqi people continue to live under the brutal oppression of Saddam Hussein. If you are honest with yourselves, you will see that you have no such explanations, and moreover, that within the context of this fear pathology, that you are really not interested in what God wants at all. And when you realize that, I hope you will realize that you are not in the place of pure wisdom that you think you are, but rather, in what is actually a very dangerous place, where you are allowing your mind to be used to add up reasons why God cannot be Trusted to secure the liberty of his people.

     If a brutal thug invaded your next door neighbor's house, and all you could hear day and night were the screams of the family members he was torturing, how could you stand by and say that diplomacy is the only valid way to set that family free? In fact, it is a certain sort of cruelty to place barricades of all descriptions in front of the heavily armed SWAT teams that have gathered around the house to set those people free. Every moment of delay is simply more opportunity for the thug to continue his abuse of the occupants.

     To man such barricades, either physically or intellectually, is a dangerous place to be, because it represents a state of consciousness that will always find a reason to surrender to the tactics of violence and intimidation that the fallen angels always use to enslave God's children. At some point, the soul must stand up in defense of freedom, and the only place the soul can find the courage to do that, is within a heart that resounds with affection for our Heavenly Father, and which glows with an effulgent Trust in the Truth, that God our Father will be there to ensure the victory of our efforts.

     It is not wise to further contribute to a state of mind that represents mistrust in the desire and the ability of God our Father to move in support of those who stand for liberty. It is not wise. To contribute to that mindset, is to contribute to the environment where the fallen angels can rule unopposed. And in an environment where the violence and intimidation of the fallen angels rule unopposed, that is where you will find the killing fields, where the precious souls of God, have been, and will continue to be, systematically destroyed.

     And finally, I will leave you with what is an actual vision of the heart. That's right. An actual vision of the heart. And I will share not only the vision, but the reason I believe that it is a vision of the heart.

     The population of Iraq is roughly about 25 million people, including those who live in exile. These are God's Children. And amidst that population there are millions who pray to God our Father for freedom. God's Children do not pray, "O God, please allow us to live under the brutal tyranny of Saddam Hussein, for the next 1000 years." This is not the prayer of a Child of God. A Child of God will pray, "O God please set us free. Please allow us to live in freedom. Please remove this murderous thug from the throne of leadership. Please give us a peaceful and prosperous country where our children will have abundant opportunity to live happy and prosperous lives." As the years roll on, and as the suffering of the people continues to mount, these prayers become more and more frequent, and they add up, and at a given point, God our Father makes the decision to answer them. Here God our Father has made the judgment, that the suffering of the people has born some substantial fruit in terms of a more than ordinary determination to use their freedom according to his purposes and plans. And world circumstances coalesce, and it comes to pass, that the United States of America, the planet's preeminent champion of liberty is on their doorstep, and she (Lady Liberty) is ready to come in and give the people the answer to their prayers.

     The desire to answer the prayers of the Iraqi people, to remove Saddam Hussein from power, and to give the people of Iraq an opportunity for self-governance, free from the shroud of terror and fear they have known over the last 30 years, is a desire that originates in the heart of God our Father. And those who constitute the leadership of America are chalices, and instruments for that divine desire. This is as it should be for those sons and daughters who still harbor an affection for their Heavenly Father. Within their hearts, they take note of His desires, and they honor those desires, and make them their own.

     This is why we can safely set aside all of those disaster scenarios that populate the fearful mind.

     To be the instrument of God our Father, when it comes to implementing his answer to the prayers for freedom on behalf of an entire nation, guarantees the support of the Heavenly Host.

     Now, as I noted above, I want to explain why I believe that the above vision, is a bonafide vision of the heart, and not a product of an overactive (war-mongering) imagination.

     And I think the explanation will be fruitful, because I think there is a need to disabuse some people of the illusion, that if a person would simply place their attention upon the physical location where the heart is, that everything that then comes into their mind would be pure gold. I don't believe that this is the case, especially when you consider the fact that the heart chakra can be just as corroded and encrusted with misqualified energy as any other chakra. Of course, consistent use of the violet flame over a period of years should do much to remedy that situation. Though even this is not enough unless the soul has done the necessary work to cast out the dweller on the threshold. Remember that there is an aspect of the dweller on the threshold associated with the misqualification of energy at each chakra level, including the heart. If you have not been assiduously faithful to the work of casting out the dweller on the threshold generally, how can one be sure that the particular dweller associated with the misqualification of the heart chakra itself has been cast out? You might meditate on the heart all day long, but what action have you taken to make sure that you are not meditating on the dweller on the threshold associated with the misqualification of the heart chakra itself? In this regard, one must be honest with oneself. If you have the knowledge of the 20.09 dweller call, but you feel so much resistance to using it, that you never use it, but you can alternately think that you can mediate on your heart and expect to receive knowledge that glows with the light of pure gold, I think that there is a basis to believe, that what you are meditating on, is that which justifies your overall resistance to casting out the dweller generally, and that is not wisdom.

     Of course, I suppose that there are some people who come into embodiment, having quite a momentum in regards to the purification of the heart, and when they mediate on the heart, the radiance of pure gold fills their mind. But would such people, even though they have already transcended the need to use the 20.09 call for themselves, feel great resistance to using it anyway, especially when it comes to the important work of casting out the planetary dimensions of the dweller on the threshold? I think not. I think the radiance of the heart testifies to the importance of using this call no matter what your level of attainment might be.

     But I think that it is interesting to note, that the more pure the heart becomes, even though the heart is definitely in a certain physical location, that the student's relationship to the heart, at least initially, in terms of what is important about the heart, is seen more in terms of a quality of being, than the actual location of the chakra.

     The point here, is that the stairway into the heart, is not defined in terms of the physical path that the outer awareness takes to supposedly enter in, but is defined most importantly by the quality of being that the soul endeavors to integrate itself with, prior to entering in, and in this respect, if the soul has not attuned itself to, and integrated itself with those qualities, there will be no entering into the heart.

     Now, this particular vision of the heart, which I have just outlined in terms of God's desire to answer the prayers of the Iraqi people, was built upon a previously laid foundation. It is very important to come to an understanding of the building blocks that went into the construction of this foundation. This foundation was composed primarily of an effort to develop a strong determination to extend to God our Father the respect, esteem, honor, and appreciation, that He so richly deserves. The importance of this foundation was discussed at length in a previous dissertation, "No Matter What the Subject, Let our Words Reflect the Beauty of Yosemite Valley, which was written over the course of year, and published in the Fall of 2002. The pertinent part of that dissertation, having to do with this foundation, will be reproduced here. Yes, that's right, I am going to quote myself. Instead of re-inventing the wheel, we'll just attach it to the wagon, and roll on.

     I offer this here with great assurance of its value, for in hindsight, I know what the Masters have added to that foundation, and while I may not say with any specificity what it is that they added, other than to say that it doesn't have anything to do with any outer circumstance, I can say, that it is a cherished jewel that they would give to every student without exception, and they would have you wear that jewel in your own crown of Christhood, long before the day of your ascension.

     For those of you who have skipped over the above material, I would just remind you, that you will not fully grasp and appreciate what I have to say in the following paragraphs until you have read the above material.

     At this writing (February 2003), I would estimate that I have been working on building this seamless womb of determination for about three years. And the focal point for the effort is still in the midst of my violet flame decrees. And actually, it was only two days ago (February 4, 2003), that my level of determination in this regard exhibited a significant increase. And this vision (given three days later), concerning God's desire to answer the prayers of the Iraqi people through the efforts of the United States of America, was associated with that increase.

     There are many factors that went into bringing about that increase, but I don't think it would be useful or proper to talk about that here. But the form that the increase took is important. And here I get to talk about another one of my weak points. I have always considered myself very weak when it comes to visualization. And so, I have never in all the years I have been on the path put any effort into visualizing anything concrete. I always figured if God wanted to show me something, he would just show me. And in a certain respect that was true. What God reveals to the student, in terms of what he thinks the student needs to see for the student to make progress, this is not related to the development of any power of visualization on the student's part.

     But two days ago, various factors coalesced inside of me, and I finally decided, that now was the time to actually try to visualize a perfect yellow rose. And not just to try. The idea was to try, and to succeed.

     I needed a concrete symbol to help me anchor in a more concrete manner, the quality of respect for God, the quality of esteem for God, the quality of honoring God, the quality of appreciation for God, and the quality of gratitude for God. Various other things were happening in my life that increased my awareness even more, of how much God our Father deserves to be respected, esteemed, honored, appreciated, and how much more He deserves our most profound Gratitude. And I think more to the point, it was becoming more and more clear to me, that the first dimension of our real identity was completely defined by our capacity to properly anchor these qualities. In other words, it was becoming increasingly clear, if we are not in state of dynamic respect unto God our Father, that we were outside of the definition of what is real in terms of our divine identity. In other words, there are a gad-zillion number of things that we can be, but if we can't enter into a condition of dynamic respect unto God our Father, who after all is pouring his life into us at every moment, all the rest of it is pointless. I mean, how could I justify in my own mind, remaining blind and unappreciative regarding the most fundamental truth in the universe? I mean, the lowliest angel in heaven has that much figured out. There must come a point, where each one of us will simply not put up with our past patterns of human laziness in this respect anymore. In other words, in the simple act of opening just our physical eyes, we are actually met with an infinite number of tangible reasons to be deeply appreciative to God our Father. And it was just unacceptable to me, that I remain as some inert blob of insensitivity amidst this abundance of evidence. So, something new had to be tried to help move me into a more dynamic mode of appreciation. And I have always loved yellow roses, and now was the time to put that love to work.

     So, in the course of giving my 15 minutes of violet flame decrees, instead of just trying to engage my feeling world with the quality of respect, esteem, honor, appreciation, and gratitude unto God, what I determined to do, was to hold up the precipitated visualization of a perfect yellow rose as a symbol of how much God deserves my respect, as a symbol of how much God deserves my esteem, as a symbol of how much God deserves to be honored, as a symbol of how much God deserves to be appreciated, as a symbol of how much God deserves my gratitude. And I was quite surprised in regards to how well this worked. It is fair to say, that my ability to anchor these qualities showed measurable improvement during the first violet flame session in which I tried this new approach. And in some very interesting respects, in some instances the self-willed visualization of the yellow rose would sort of dissolve, and you could see beyond into an even grander space of majesty, which was helpful too.

     Today (February 6, 2003), i.e. the day of the aforementioned vision, was my third day working with this yellow rose visualization. And the important point here is, that I have spent about three years now training myself to focus only upon these qualities of respect, esteem, honor, and appreciation unto God during our 15 minute Violet Flame sessions. During my violet flame sessions, I just don't think about anything else. I don't go into any violet flame session with the idea that I am going to be enlightened on any particular subject. In other words, suppose you are going into a particular room, and your intent is to put wall paper on the walls. Before you enter the room, you have already decided what wall paper patterns you are going to use. When I go into this room, I have five rolls of wall paper under my arm. One roll depicts the pattern of respect. The next roll depicts the pattern of esteem. The next roll depicts the pattern of honor. The next roll depicts the pattern of appreciation. And the last roll depicts the pattern of gratitude. When I go into this little room, these are the rolls of wall paper that I have to work with, and this is what goes up on the walls. Nothing else goes up on the walls. And I have been doing it long enough now, where I can say definitively, that this is the case. When it comes to my own efforts, nothing else goes up on those walls. Of course, I give my preambles and inserts, and I expect the violet flame angels to go forth and pour out that violet flame into those situations. I basically just put that into the hands of St. Germain, and trust that the angels will do what they have been asked to do. For my part, as I give my violet flame decrees, there is only one idea, and that is to improve my attunement with these qualities. To make them more seamless, more real, more dynamically alive. And when we added this yellow rose visualization, this had the effect of amplifying my sense of awareness of these qualities, making it even more difficult for extraneous ideas to wedge themselves in.

     And this effort is the more all-encompassing in terms of engaging all the energies of being, because it is not an effort to visualize a single dimensional pattern on the screen of the mind, but it is an effort to align the feeling world to these qualities. So essentially, the great majority of one's attention resources are not directed into the arena of the mind or the intellect at all.

     And as I was giving my violet flame calls, with my attention focused on bringing forth a solid and tangible visualization of a perfect yellow rose as the quintessential symbol for how much God deserves my respect, my esteem, my honor, my appreciation, and my gratitude, right there, at the level of the third eye, where all of my attention was focused on bringing together this yellow rose, came this vision, of the Iraqi people praying for freedom from Saddam Hussein, and God our Father, answering that prayer, through the United States of America.

     Perhaps this explanation is not enough to actually convince the reader that this was actually a vision of the heart. But I hope the explanation will suffice to explain why I sincerely believe, with no room for doubt, that it is a genuine vision of the heart that deserves my absolute and total allegiance.

     As noted above, I can understand how people can be fearful of this impending war situation, in much the same way that people were fearful of the war scenario faced by our ancestors prior to the onset of the Revolutionary War, and how that fear can appear so real. But, if Jesus were here now, I am certain that he would say, "Fear not little flock, it is the Father's good pleasure to give you what you need to succeed in this courageous endeavor." But since he is not here, at least not in embodiment with a physical voice that you can hear, let me try to assure you, as best I can, that it is the desire of God our Father for America to set the Iraqi people free. He will help us. He will turn back all of those disaster scenarios. Fear not. Trust in his love for liberty, trust in his love of the Iraqi people, and trust in his gratitude for the sacrifice that the American people will make to bring that vision of freedom to fruition.

     It's all about God. If you can focus on that, you can see the victory.

Post Script: Today is February 12, 2003, so that would make it February 10, 2003, when I had another fear-of-dog experience. I was walking and climbing towards the south up the grade towards the open space area where the aforementioned hiking trails are situated. About 50 yards to my left, which was to the east, there was a dog busily loitering about half way up the thoroughly grass covered hill. And I would note here, as I noted at that time, that Southern California hills can be quite beautiful when they are covered with that bright emerald green grass. As I walked past, continuing with my Michael calls, I observed my mind and feeling world registering this fear that this dog would all of a sudden bolt in my direction. The dog looked in my direction, but did not make any move towards me, and I passed, crossed the street to the west, and continued on with my climb up the dirt road that circles around the base of Rainbow Hill, and beyond into the open space area. On my return, along the same dirt road, and back onto this residential street heading north, and towards home, I again noticed this same dog, in the same place, though I was looking to my right from the other side of the street, which put the dog another 30 yards away, for a total of 80 yards. The very instant I saw the dog, again I could feel the fear in my feeling world, and in my mind, that this dog was about to bolt in my direction. And I marveled at this, especially considering the big deal that I made about this subject area in the foregoing text which I had written days before. And here I was again, seeing another dog, and this one was 50 yards away on the first encounter, and 80 yards away on the second encounter, and I was still feeling this fear. And I noticed that I could not will it away. In this respect, it appeared within me, as a very stubborn and aggressive presence within the fabric of my awareness. Because of the aggressiveness of this presence, I am wondering whether this is like a crack in my armor wherein the false hierarchy can actually project a more than ordinarily strong force of fear. This is something to consider. As I continued on my way home, I did formulate a response to this, which I will try to remember during my next fear-of-dog encounter. My response was this, actively formulating these words in my mind, "Dear dog, forgive me for putting onto you a false conception of meanness. I am sorry. I extend to you, in the name of Jesus Christ and St. Germain, the infinite goodness, and the infinite love of God my Father, and God my Mother. Bless you. And peace be unto you. I pray that one day I will learn to love you as much as God my Father, and God my Mother love you. Let us begin climbing this learning curve, at least in some small measure, today." And this I repeated a few times. (I have embellished it a bit here in the reporting). I end with these observations, to make the point, that if one has an ingrained fear pathology on a particular point, from my own experience I can see that one cannot expect for it to simply disappear, even if one is intellectually aware of it, and aware of the falsehood of it. One must actively build a conscious momentum of perfect love on that point, using the science of the spoken word. And here I need to stress that it is perfect love that we need to develop, not just some fuzzy generic love that is conceived within the human imagination. One must plug the hole with real gold. Every time I come into contact with a dog, I will have to actively engage with the formulated response. In regards to those who fear the battle associated with the liberation of nations, I believe they will have to take similar active measures if they are ever to be free from their particular fear pathology. For example, this might be a useful starting point: "Dear Iraqi people, forgive me for underestimating your desire for freedom, your right to live in freedom, and the desire of God our Father to see you liberated. I pray for your freedom, and to that end, I support the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, and the American effort to bring that about. How much more I love America today, for her willingness to stand up and do the right thing."

     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!