August 2003

I greet you from that place of oneness that is your own. It is not separate or apart from you, because it is you. It is more within than without, because there is a greater or more substantive truth carried within you than that which is expressed without. Long ago it was customary when encountering another being, to greet them by honoring their inward momentum as much as their outward motion, because both were considered equal. "Namaste", accompanied by a gesture such as a warm embrace or a respectful bow is recognition of the depth and the oneness of the spirit that enfolds all. Namaste is not Good Morning, Good Afternoon, or Good Evening. It is not Hello or Good-Bye, it is much more than that. It is a total and complete acknowledgment of the in-dwelling spirit that expresses itself within and without form. Namaste is as profound as the deepest well and as golden as sunshine, but many consider it out of date and as a consequence it has fallen from favor. Reduced in rank, it has been replaced by more common and superficial greetings, such as those that acknowledge what one has been doing with oneself of late, rather than simply being the living word of All That Is.

So let us greet one another in the ways and words of another time and another place. Namaste, dear ones! I salute the beingness that resides within and demonstrates without. I bow deeply before you as you are among the mighty that speak truth and stand before it, even as others would hide behind it. You are the ones who effect and affect change while others stand idle and wait to see if and when the world will change. Those who read these words now know that they are agents of change, and to that I say, Namaste, dear ones.

We gather here as if in timelessness, a placeless place where we meet and greet one another. It is nothing more than a portal used to access a state of conscious awareness. It is both a circle and a spiral within your own matrix, and even if the experience seems quite physical to you I would argue that it is not. It is a grounding of energy, a form-a-lizing of energy in which energy takes the form of words with the intent to insist that you are more than your physical form, so I have used form to show you that you are not form, but formlessness, which is why I call this a spiral within your own matrix, do you see?

An acknowledgment of your existence as form within formlessness is a very potent thing, because it immediately opens a portal, or at least the possibility of a portal, but a portal into what or where? Is a portal a simple doorway? For some it is nothing more than an entrance to or an exit from, but it can also be much more than that. A true portal is a way to something greater than the self or at least greater than the self's consistent reality. A portal is the manifestation or doorway that confirms the desire to experience something beyond (not outside) the self; it is an energetic door of intent. When one desires to move beyond a certain threshold, a creative act called desire (or need) invites energy to participate and interact in new and different ways. An invitation does not always result in an experience, it is an invitation after all, not a commitment. Sometimes a glimpse into, through, or beyond a portal can be very satisfying, even if only temporarily so. Contemplation upon the threshold of experience can also be quite fulfilling. For some it is enough to say that they have stood upon the precipice, they need not leap from it to make the experience more real, and for others it is well enough to say I will return tomorrow or the next day because today I am not ready.

Another example of a portal is that which is created when a being chooses to transition from this world into the next without their physical body. Many call this experience death, and that is sometimes the result, but such a profound transformation deserves richer words if nothing else. Opening this portal or lifting its veil reveals more realities and possibilities, crossing its threshold accepts an invitation to witness and participate in experiences beyond the ones offered in this world. The proverbial tunnel of light that has been described over and again is but one manifestation or confirmation that reality as one has known it (or memorized it) has shifted. Experiences that include one's angels, guides, teachers or other emanations of Source are similar examples of conditional transition. All explorations, experiments, and experiential forays into or through portals are through individual choice. One cannot be forced through a portal or even coerced into one. A creative act such as desire is the energetic key for attaining success in this model. Without this key, energy can become dense and sluggish, true creative energy is fluid, mobile and light.

What is the purpose of exploring the energy of a portal? It is to experience a moment, a purpose or a lifetime that is greater than what is available in the current reality or experience. It is to be in choice regarding one's reality and experience. Near death experiences (NDE's) are just that, they are opportunities to experience the self in a reality that seems greater than the present reality or the present self. If the perspective within a given reality shifts as a result of the portal experience, does the Self shift, too? Interestingly enough, no, it does not. Why? Because the self is eternal while a reality is only ephemeral; it lives only as long as the perspective it relates to. True growth is accomplished when the self relates to the Self in all perspectives and in all realities in the same way. In other words, when this ceases to be better than that, which is still worse than the last, but not as bad as the next, the self can relate to the Self, which recognizes itself as All That Is in all realities.

A near death experience is a severe example, but it is one that everyone can relate to. In terms of ready examples it is but one of many, and the universe is adept at supplying as many examples as need be. A portal is a crossroads of energy that enables a creative sequence or string of opportunities, which in turn manifest different realities and experiences. Portals are one of the ways in which the universe invites you to participate with your Self. When you chose your present life you accepted an invitation to express yourself in certain ways, but that was only the beginning.

A creative moment does not become less creative if it is temporarily set aside in favor of a non-creative moment, it continues to be what it is. Likewise, you do not become more of what you already are when you cross a threshold or pass through a portal, because you already are All That Is. Why bother, then? Because, for the soul, the joy is in the experience of understanding itself as Itself and in the expression of Itself as itself. The parent sees itself in the child and the child expresses itself through the parent. They mirror to one another the relevance of the creative act of self-expression; they reflect the joy and the sorrow, the excess and the lack.

Can one create a portal to self-expression at any time and in any moment? Yes, but in order to activate the portal, which is to say have something on the other side of its threshold, one must also have purpose. So, purpose plus creativity equals experience. Those who stand upon a creative threshold, but find themselves unable or unwilling to cross it must first find purpose within them, and then make it their companion. What is purpose? Purpose is active intelligence, and it is a byproduct of creative desire. It is the yeast that makes the bread rise, the coming together of form and formlessness and the ideal that becomes the idyll.

What if purpose or active intelligence is not present? Is all for naught? Certainly, one may think so and many often but just as a fine wine cannot be rushed divine timing responds only to the soul's call. The soul will sometimes offer a glimpse of a new reality, a new paradigm, or what lies beyond a threshold in lieu of a full experience if the timing is not divine (perfect). A glimpse can encourage creativity or it can engage active intelligence, it can also increase desire in physical and non-physical ways. Your soul will not tease you, but neither will it simply appease you.

Purposeful, creative desire is not need. Need is based upon survival whereas the soul understands that it is eternal. A soul upon the threshold of a portal has surpassed the need to define itself by its doing or its undoing. By contrast, it acts upon influence rather than reacts to stimuli. To be in beingness is to be in choice, to be in doingness is to act or react to a choice that has already been made. To a certain extent all doingness is the past tense of beingness, but if that is the case, are you simply going through the motions? Is everything predetermined? Where is free will in this unkind equation? Free will exists within and as your consciousness, it is what you are not what you have, do you see?

A portal can take you to the past, to the future, or even to another day within your present. It can take you to another paradigm within your current reality so that you can experience it differently. If you are uncertain as to a given direction or decision and wish to experience it from a different perspective a portal, or in this case a window, can help you do just that. A portal can also be experienced as energy without expression, because experience does not require form, only context. A contextual portal has the advantage of allowing you to experience whether it is the thought of having or doing something or the experience that you really desire.

There are many realities from which to choose from and there are many dimensions to explore. Densities within dimensions offer even more variety and infinite ways in which to explore and experience life. Portals are opportunities to experience yourself as beyond your everyday self. They activate expansion within and without, and allow you to choose a reality rather than have one chosen for you. Experiences beyond the third dimension are best accomplished when desire, creativity, active intelligence and participation are all present. These conscious, transformational experiences are available and accessible by you, but remember, they are possibilities not requirements. They are not prerequisites that you must accomplish on your way here or there. They cannot gain you entry or reentry to that which has always resided within.

Copyright © 2003 Pepper Lewis, The Peaceful Planet