Beloved Students:

I greet you once again as a Teacher Who loves you dearly and so deeply desires your liberation. As One who has traveled the path before you, I do have some idea of what is needed to accomplish this spiritual goal. It is truly My joy to share with you the things I learned while a physical being, in order to benefit you in your own personal journeys. Indeed, you ultimately discover that our journeys are not separate in any way. If you so choose, you can walk in My footsteps, creating them as your own. And in truth they do become yours, and you will likely make them available to someone who comes after you. Such is the very nature of spiritual becoming. In the earlier stages, the path may seem like a singular effort. But as one graduates, or even nears graduation, one discovers (s)he was walking in the footprints of all those who have gone before.

What does it mean to walk in the footprints of One who has gone before? Does doing so make you a carbon copy of the One you follow? Well, I am happy to tell those of you who fear such, that there is nothing in Creation that can make you a carbon copy of any other being - particularly at the physical level. Your path will always feel and appear to be your own, even though the notion of “you” will change as you grow, and your definition of the relationship you create with the One you follow will go through many transitions.

In one of the large snowstorms that hit the Midwestern U.S. last winter, I observed an incident that might be helpful for some of you. A man in his early thirties, who happened to be a rural farmer, had been housebound with his family for two days. Aside from doing a few outside chores, tending to some of his animals, he had spent most of the time indoors with his wife and two children. On the third day, the snow had stopped falling, and the big job of plowing out began. The county road, some quarter-mile away, had been plowed, so movement was beginning to happen again. However, there still remained a lot of snow between his house and the county road. He thought he'd use the tractor with his hydraulic blade to clear a way to the main road as he had done so many times in similar snowstorms. However, as he began to work, a crack in one of the hydraulic lines broke open enough to let some of the fluid drain out, and he lost the use of his tractor blade. He returned to the house, cold, red-faced and upset by the course of events. To his family he stormed, “Why, of all days, did she have to break down today?” He flopped down into a kitchen chair and accepted the cup of coffee his wife handed him.

His five-year-old daughter sat beside him, looking up at him curiously. He explained that after the county plowed the main road, he had seen the mail carrier's van, and wanted to get the mail, since it had been three days since there had been any contact with the outside world. Looking into her small, sweet face, he smiled and said he’d just walk to get the mail. She asked if she could go with him, and he told her to get her coat and boots.

The two of them left the house, father leading, daughter following. Since he was cutting the trail, his concentration was focused on picking his way among the snowdrifts and ridges at their shallowest points, his quick, sure pace inspiring confidence in the young girl. As he neared the end of the driveway, he heard behind him a small voice crying, “Daddy, wait!” When he turned, he saw his small daughter some 50 feet behind him, ardently stretching her stride, trying to step into the footprints he had made in the snow. She spoke again, saying, “You have to go slower, Daddy—I haven't grown into your footsteps yet!”

How like the spiritual journey! What each aspirant is learning to do is “grow into” the Teacher's footsteps. Like the little girl, you must have faith that the Teacher knows the way to the goal, and knows how to get you there, as well. If these two elements are in place, then all that remains to be done is to follow the instructions of the Teacher. But often, this is where things seem to become a bit more complicated. While most of you are confident that I know how to get you to the goal (or at least you think I can), you may not challenge yourself enough to actually do the work to get you there. Like the little girl, you must take the steps, and sometimes, you have to stretch your stride (maybe even yourself) to negotiate the demands of the path. While this may seem an obvious point, I do notice the level of collective resistance to this fact. It is one thing to enroll in a seminar, and quite another thing to actually do the work—have you noticed? Many of you think the meditation that I have given you probably is quite beneficial for you, but you don’t do it. You may say to yourself that you really want to be free of suffering, but you do not let yourself negotiate the path that will take you there. Oh yes, I know well (I hear from numbers of you regularly) how busy you are. Sooner or later (and I hope for your dear sakes it is sooner) you will discover your busyness to be your “cover” for your resistance. It is the little lie your ego mind uses to hoodwink you. And most of you buy it, as they say, “hook, line and sinker.” Like the poor fish, you take the bait, not noticing the hook. Or, you see the hook, but tell yourself it’s not really a hook. Either way, the results are the same.

Perhaps it is time to ask yourself why I would make these practices available to you. Do you think I am trying to rob you of your precious time? Indeed not! I am trying to show you how to go free from the tyranny your mind imposes on you. Such will open a door in consciousness for you to experience the depth of time in a way you cannot possibly know while you are enslaved to time. Actually, you're not enslaved to time. You are enslaved to your mind and the ways it makes you jump through hoops it labels “time pressures.”

I recognize that many of you are trying to handle more in the course of a day than you ever have, previously. Thus you can easily see the karmic imprint that is being addressed by all of you who feel time deprived. It is but the ego shrieking at you loudly through the mind. You do have a choice: you can become yet another rat in the spinning cage, running faster and faster, but alas, going nowhere, or you can cultivate renunciation for the ways of the world, and get out of the spinning cage! Frankly, you don't have much to lose, and perhaps a lot to gain. You may even get your life back.

There is another matter, as well, that we must address. It is the matter of spiritual depth, and how the group vehicle is developing on behalf of Earth. Many of you have asked Me to give you the deeper Teachings—those that are likely to help you cut through the collective illusion, and see your mind for what it really is. The meditation that I have given for you in these lessons is the foundation for entry into the deeper realms. However, to enter these realms, you must have the ability to stabilize your minds in the work. That is to say, you must be able to accomplish holding the focus for the half-hour, or so, it takes you to do the meditation. To those who have asked for the deeper Teachings, I have promised to offer them, but not until we create a strong enough group vehicle to adequately hold the energy in an appropriate way.

Since most of you say (and actually believe) you want to cut through the grand illusion, it is time to (as the Native Americans say) “walk your talk.” The Earth needs your dedication and willing participation at this time, and what I know from my own experience is that you will never regret having made the commitment to yourself to go deeper in your spiritual journey. Perhaps this is a good time to create a spiritual “buddy system” to aid your personal progress and enhance the group vehicle. Consider working with a spiritual friend (or friends) to whom you can (and do choose to) be responsible for taking those steps—even if it sometimes feels that the stride you must manage is too wide.

Have you stopped long enough today to consider how fortunate you are to have gained the human birth you did? After all, in much of the world, human life is worked out in tremendous hardship and struggle. If you look at the areas where the highest birth rates are for humans, you will note that life there may not be so good. Have you stopped long enough today to actually realize that your time in your current physical form is running out? Likely there are issues and matters that still need to be addressed in your relationships. How much time do you really think you have? What needs your energy and focus to end this life well? How much of your time are you making available for those about whom you care the most?

Please consider well these questions. Your future lives depend on it. You are, right now, creating your future lives. Why not create them free of the karmic imprints that drive you to despair in this current life? You can do that, but you will have to stretch your stride and put limits on the petty despot who rules from the ego mind. Know that I will aid each of you in this work.

Please join me for the month of September in listening to a lecture I did in Alaska on June 19th of this year, entitled The Last Frontier. May this talk encourage you and support you on your journey.

Your loving friend and Teacher,
Djwhal Khul