Agape Inner Visions Magazine

Y'shua said to them [...] I have told you that you are Elohim. ~Yochanan (John) 10:34 , Aramaic New TestamentAll ageless wisdom traditions tell us that everything is part of the Divine. The Tibetans refer to it as the “net,” the Navahos call it the “web,” for the ancient Hawaiians it is the “aka grid,” and our modern day society uses terms such as the “quantum hologram” or the “Divine matrix.” All of these descriptions are pointers to the inter-connectedness of all things.The ......

I belong to the beloved, [and] have seen the two worlds as one! ~RumiThere are two Arabic words that refer to the play and intersection of the human spirit with the Divine: Fana and Baqa.Poetry, especially Rumi's poetry, plays in that doorway. Fana describes the stream that moves from the human out into the mystery and Baqa is the attempt of describing God-becoming-human.Many times I sat in mediation not wanting to get up and re-integrate myself back into this time and space continuum. Yet, it i ......

We must first Be before we can Do, and we can Do only to the extent to which we Are. ~Thomas Troward, The Law and the WordJust recently I was on a trip to China. It was the experience of an entirely different language, of unrecognizable letters, and being immersed in a completely different culture overall. From a human perspective it was simply stepping into uncharted territory. There was the initial feeling of uneasiness, of fear and worry until I realized that my thoughts about things are not ......

My view of our planet was a glimpse of divinity. ~Edgar Mitchell, AstronautInitially I did not expect much of the space shuttle Endeavor coming to Los Angeles last month. Yet the moment the spacecraft appeared in the sky carried on the back of a mighty 747, all that changed. Suddenly I saw myself looking fascinated at a picture in a newspaper of exactly that sight about 30 years earlier.The feeling of wonder, mystery, fascination, ingenuity, and the longing for knowing that which lies beyond the ......

Elmo loves you. No matter what! ~Kevin Clash, PuppeteerYou might have heard about Elmo, the cute, little, red, fluffy character from Sesame Street. For sure someone you know, especially a child, will know Elmo. To observe Kevin Clash, who is the puppeteer behind Elmo, is an amazing treat. As Kevin brings Elmo to life, all eyes and hearts in the room undividedly focus on the loving creature, and suddenly no one notices the puppeteer anymore. Kevin is Elmo.What a beautiful metaphor for our own lif ......

Few and mean as my gifts may be, I actually am, and do not need for my own assurance or the assurance of my fellows any secondary testimony. ~Ralph Waldo EmersonWatching the Olympics last month brought up excitement, tears of joy, thoughts about perfection and images of worldwide unity while the world's best athletes competed with each other.Taking a closer look at these athletes who are able to take the human body across boundaries previously believed to be impossible to cross also reveale ......

And you will know the truth, and that truth will set you free. ~Holy Bible, John 8:32 (Aramaic Bible in Plain English)The above verse from the Bible contains a wonderful choice—a choiceless choice. Yeshua, the name of Jesus in Aramaic, says that you and I, we all, will know the truth. He does not say that he, or anyone else, will know the truth for us. We all will know the truth for ourselves, and that truth sets us free.The truth Yeshua speaks of is the eternal Truth that the kingdom of ......

God sleeps in the minerals, dreams in the flowers, is awake in the animals, and in mankind knows that [It] is awake. ~Paramahansa YoganandaIn Jewish mysticism I always find it a wonderful idea that each and every blade of grass has an angel hovering over it whispering, “Grow! Grow!” This is an extraordinary image expressing the individuality of every thing and its connectedness to all, the unity-consciousness, at the same time. Oneness holds within itself the multiplicity of all of creation, ......

I seek new levels of awareness of the meaning of the commonplace. ~Howard ThurmanSituations, objects, words or sacred teachings can be examined from at least three different points of view: the intellectual, the metaphorical and the universal, or the mystical. The first viewpoint considers the face value, the literal meaning. The second viewpoint looks at how something can present a metaphor for one's life, or the lives of friends or our community; yet the third viewpoint allows us to touch that ......

And they were begging him that they may touch if only the hem of his garment, and those who touched were healed. ~Matthew 14:36 (Aramaic Bible in Plain English)As a child growing up I had a vision that, as I went through my day, I left a trail behind, something that is colorful and solid as a rope. As I met other people, who created their colorful rope as they moved through their day, a knot was woven into both ropes where they met. It did not have to be an actual conversation, a simple smile al ......

Life is a mirror and will reflect back to the thinker what he thinks into it... Prayer is a thought, a belief, a feeling, arising within the mind of the one praying. ~Earnest HolmesSometimes the question still crosses my mind: Why does prayer work?And so I remind myself that everything that I perceive with my human senses and beyond is made out of energy and all energy is vibrational. This is also true for my thoughts. All thoughts are mental units of energy. In prayer, and especially in Spiritu ......

You are the self-choosing center in the Mind of God. ~Michael Bernard BeckwithMany times on my spiritual journey I contemplate the question: “What is it in me that causes me to experience this rift between my human beingness and my Divine origin?”In meditation I often find myself being a drop of water in a vast ocean. I experience the deep, calm, slow moving waters. Closer to the surface I find myself being moved by waves on a choppy surface where the temperature gets warmer. As things heat ......

My teachings are a finger pointing to the moon. Do not get caught in thinking that the finger is the moon. It is because of the finger that you can see the moon. ~The Buddha Everything is impermanent. Our physical presence is impermanent, our thoughts are impermanent and our emotions are impermanent. This also means that all feelings of anger, fear, anxiety and not-enoughness are impermanent as well. All of our perceptions are impermanent. I used to treat my thoughts and feelings as if they were ......

This Moment does not exist in time, but time exists in this Moment. ~Ancient WisdomImagine this moment as a frame on an infinitely long filmstrip. As on a traditional piece of film, its image starts out being black. It carries within itself all the infinite possibilities and the light of consciousness exposes it! What am I going to carve out of the realm of the infinite? Is it worry, doubt, lack or limitation or is it Joy, Happiness, Peace and Abundance?Imagine this filmstrip with all the images ......

We have fallen into the place where everything is music. ~RumiI love world music with its great diversity of styles and nuances. Each country, each region has its own vibrational soundscape that reveals its topology and contours. The unique spirit of the different mountains, valleys and rivers is expressed in its typical melodies. Music is the ink flowing through the fountain pen of time through which Spirit itself lovingly embeds its feelings into its own consciousness. Listening to the tunes o ......