Plane-to-Plane Memorandum | |
| To: | My Beloved Students |
|---|---|
| From: | Master Djwhal Khul |
Subject: | November 2009 Lesson |
| Date: | October 29, 2009 |
Beloved Students:
I greet you this month in the wonder of Mother Nature, who has been playing tricks on all her children in the past few weeks. In some places it has unseasonable warm, in others unseasonably cold. In a few areas it has been both unseasonably warm and unseasonably cold in the same week! May your seasonal shift (however it appears) be filled with pure wonder at the power of Nature. May you celebrate Earth’s beauty and enjoy all the gifts She sends you. Appreciate these gifts for how they compliment life on earth. Indeed, her gifts should allow you freedom from boredom and grumpiness. Please use as intended.
I have noticed that some of you are becoming alarmed at the recent actions of the big banks. Congratulations! This is a sign of wakefulness on your part. They are once again making news in the conventional reality by raising the interest rates on credit cards to new highs up to 30%. To a sane world, this would be considered “loan sharking” at best, and extortion at worst. Some bank card companies are even adding provisions that allow for continuing escalating rates as they see fit, providing no ceiling on the top. These banking institutions (who got bail-out funds, let’s not forget) claim that it is now so risky for them (who just got “bailed out”) to do business that they need extra protection. Further, while they will not impose a cap upon the high end of new rates, some are now capping the low end, claiming rates will never fall below 24%. How’s that for a holiday surprise!
This behavior shows a distinct lack of concern for the general economic health of the nation (and world), but does reveal the presence of more greed and corruption to be overcome for planetary well-being. Do not fail to notice this is coming at the time of holiday gift-giving, when spending tends to rise. Fearing a holiday season that is much more modest this year, these banks will simply make their money by charging you more for the privilege of using your credit cards.
For example, say you charge a total of $800 for holiday gifts this year, and plan is to pay the debt down over the next few months. When the bill comes is January, you pay $300, with the intention to pay off the remaining $500 at $100 per month over the next five months. This would mean that on each $100 payment, only $70 would go toward debt elimination, and the remaining $30 would simply be income for the bank that issues your card(s). Although it won’t look this way on your statement, after paying an extra $100 for five months, you will still owe another $150 ~ for the “privilege” of using the credit card(s).
Big banks, you see, are scrambling to push the envelope as far in their favor as they possibly can, fearing the Obama administration will turn up the heat on regulating their lending practices. Well, that’s part of it. The other part is that U.S. money barons are counting on Obama to continue vesting power (i.e., money) in financial institutions, as have all post-Carter administrations. Raising interest rates thus becomes a way of “testing the water” for the big banks. After all, the present U.S. Treasury Department is loaded with past officers of Goldman Sachs, and these “brethren” have no intention of giving up the power to control the money of the United States.
Some of you may be wondering just what all of this may have to do with your spiritual path. After all, these are just issues in the projected conventional reality, right? You certainly are not subject to this agreed-upon “reality” that afflicts all those other people. I have, in fact, noted that some of you naively believe that if you just don’t think about the conditions of the conventional reality, you will not be touched by the problems that come to all those “others” who, perhaps unaware, participate in the conventional reality you have learned to reject as your primary reality.
Don’t forget that all those “others” are simply pieces of Yourself, and that the real test of your spirituality is demonstrated by how you live, behave, contribute to, and learn from, that conventional reality. You are not immune to the impact of lessons that arise in the collective experience. Indeed, they arise in your awareness so you can evaluate and measure your own growth. Thus, simply avoiding or denying the problems of the masses does not place you at a higher spiritual level than those you may deem to be less aware than yourself. Rather, these grand collective experiences are part of your personal evolution, as well as that of the planet.
Are you daily monitoring your compassion for those whose karma generates a more in-your-face experience with the recession than does yours? While at a spiritual level the recession can be seen as a collective projection, at a practical level, such a massive projection has brought about (and continues to do so) tremendous ramifications for those who, perhaps completely unaware, play out their lives in the conventional reality. What commitments are you making to bring enlightenment to those who most suffer in the current conditions?
As you know, there are many ways to view any arising situation. In the end, it is probably less important how you see it than that you see it. In other words, because this global experience is unfolding before you, it is part of your spiritual path. In truth, it can be a great illusion-breaker for those who show up for the experience but refuse to be defined by the experience. How shall you bear high witness to a global shift if you are avoiding or denying the events that usher forth a new reality? Indeed, this is your experience, and this is true even if you are determined not to be bound by the conventional reality.
This consideration brings us right back to the practices of large banking institutions and Wall Street. What commitments are you setting in place to deal with the hypocrisy, greed and corruption that are wreaking havoc in the conventional reality? Oh yes, this is a significant lesson for the entire world, but such does not call for a laissez-fair detachment on your part. Rather, it calls you to demonstrate your compassion for those who suffer most by becoming engaged in the solutions (as opposed to just watching the problem to see how far it will go).
As spiritual “agents” for the transformation of Earth, you might want to discover how to beat the unscrupulous financiers at their own game. These heightened interest rate extortions only work if people carry unpaid balances on their credit accounts. When you refuse to let loan sharks finance your personal life, you do send a statement to unscrupulous lenders that you are not playing their game; a game, it turns out, that is aimed at further compromising those who can least afford to bear the weight of it.
With the interest you save, you may be able to help others who depend on credit cards to manage a mere existence from month to month. (I need to add a word of caution here, since recessionary times tend to bring out desperation levels in otherwise honest and well-deserving people, you will need to sharpen your paying-attention skills.) Perhaps you, along with some others, could create a cooperative fund for those who could borrow from the fund at a more reasonable rate (say, 10%) as opposed to supporting unscrupulous bankers at 30%. If you (or your group) is inclined, half the interest could be split proportionately among the lenders, and the other half could go right back into the fund to help those who are truly worthy of help in an uncertain time.
In setting up such a project, you will learn something about banking that many of you have never previously understood. Of course, you will need to have policies in place so as not to err by “throwing good money after bad,” as the saying goes. While this is not the only way to take a stand against the greed and corruption now presenting, I hope it is at least an example that allows you to see that your spiritual commitment can provide service to Earth’s beings and can facilitate the cleansing of greed and corruption from the collective experience.
Please join me this month in listening to Finding Balance in the World. As you will learn, there are multiple ways to see arising situations. May this teaching stimulate you to greater service and generosity, and as an off-shoot of this teaching, may you all learn to pay off those credit cards! Try more modest holidays this year ~ you may enjoy them even more than the more costly ones.
Walk in kindness and grace,
Djwhal Khul
Copyright 2009, Vajra Flame Foundation, Ltd.
Reprint prohibited without permission.
