In describing one of his most liberated moments, the contemplative Thomas Merton wrote: “Then it was as if I suddenly saw the secret beauty of their hearts, the depths of their hearts where neither sin, nor desire, nor understanding and knowledge can reach—that core of reality—the person that each one is in God’s eyes. If only they could see others that way all the time, there would be no more need for war, no more need for hatred, for cruelty or greed. I suppose the big problem would be that we would fall down and worship each other.” This quote reveals what will become Humanity’s normal vision when the Aquarian Age is in full swing. Aquarius will use science to get us there, and its core science will be the same science that allowed Merton the revelation in the first place—the Science of Meditation.

One of Arcana’s long time meditators, Gloria Wilson, who certainly did her part to ensure our Aquarian future, was promoted to the Inner Side of the Ashram recently. She transitioned just after the absorption period of the Capricorn full moon, when the Sun had just slipped into Aquarius. Her soul’s timing means, according to D.K., that she will next be born under the sign Aquarius.

I want to take some time to talk about Gloria’s death process, as there is no time when a meditative life can be of greater service than at that peak point of purificatory and transformative power. At the point of death, the bodies are losing their grip on us and the Conscious Soul Incarnate has an unparalleled opportunity to control “the outer form and life and all events.” If not impeded, it can expedite dramatically not our personality’s evolution but can serve Humanity’s progress as well. Over and over, too many of us miss this once in a lifetime opportunity, because we are overwhelmed by the suddenness, pain and emotional strain that dying can entail. If you do not want to miss your greatest chance at Life while in form, start to meditate regularly on the reality of your death now. If through meditation, we learn the art of dying to the outworn and unworthy while alive, we can discover the great creative power we have in determining what lives and dies in us at any time. Such knowing will allow a truly joyful death when the time for surrendering the bodies comes.

Gloria spent her life contacting and radiating the Aquarian virtues of humor, harmlessness and harmony. Her Aquarian bent led her to Arcana’s founders, Marguerite and Fred Rompage, when she joined a group to support the United Nations that met in their home. They introduced her to the Bailey work. Eventually, Gloria saw both Fred and Marguerite through their deaths. When Marguerite awoke one morning and could not get out of bed, she called Gloria to her side and told her to pay attention—she was going to teach her how to die.

Marguerite proceeded to show several of us over the next weeks how to let go of the form with graceful equanimity. No matter what travails her bodies experienced, she displayed that good-humored nonchalance that we call “divine indifference.” A couple of days before she transitioned, her body became unmistakably translucent. Several of us, including Gloria, saw this phenomenon and hypothesized that it was the Soul beginning its exit from the body. The strength and steadiness of Marguerite’s meditative life radiated enough that at that special point, we were allowed to see that what was dying, was not what was brilliantly alive in her.

When Gloria found herself in a nursing home, she deeply pondered Marguerite’s last teaching. She wanted to live up to Marguerite’s example, and drew on her memory repeatedly to get through the tough times. For the last year of her life, Gloria experienced paralysis on her right side. She also coped with congestive heart failure, deterioration of her spine, failing eyesight. On top of these challenges, were all the joys of a nursing care facility funded solely by Medicare payments, including cramped space, old equipment, lousy food, diapers, incessant noise and all the astral turmoil of the other residents and staff. In that year, Gloria had to let go of almost all of her belongings and to living in the privacy of her own home. She had to accept that she could no longer move when she pleased and that even grasping a cup could be an iffy proposition. If something dropped she had to act as if the ocean had swallowed it up, as she could not get down to get it or remember it had dropped by the time a nurse was making rounds. She had to give up any control of whom she would see and when, what she would eat or even when she would bathe.

About a month before she passed, after a determined Christmas Eve adventure to hear a midnight music recital, she contracted pneumonia, and even breathing became difficult. She faced fear and depression regularly in those last months, but never let them affect her graciousness, wit and good will to all those around her. The nursing staff used to hang out in her room, buoyed up by her wry commentary on their surroundings and her compassionate appreciation for what they were having to balance.

When reading and concentration became more difficult, she took her refuge in what had been the deepest meditation of her life—classical music. Her favorite composer was Prokofiev. When I asked her why, she said it was because the lines of his compositions were never predictable, but always full of surprises. She said that had she lived in Russia, she would have married him. Gloria’s blissful focus on such music likely lightened the atmosphere of the entire nursing home. Since D.K. states music will be our next language, such contemplative activity in this life should prove a real boon in Gloria’s next chapter of service.

In spite of some very real dweller issues that last year, Gloria progressively freed herself from any aversion to negative experiences and any grasping after positive ones. She had endless opportunities to further refine her capacity for patience and detachment in her new home and rose to the challenge. Surrendering all need for control, she spent her last energies refining her receptiveness to Beauty. At the point of death’s transformational opportunity, she was, thus, well poised to help us lasso our Aquarian destiny.

Carol Houst and I saw Gloria 2 days before she passed. Despite a very trying morning where she had barely been able to get her breath, by the time we arrived in the late afternoon, she looked absolutely radiant and utterly serene. We suspected her new glow was probably the Soul letting its travel plans be known, but thinking there would still be a little more time, we did not share our supposition, but just said how beautiful she looked. I was delighted to hear later that another Arcana member had talked to Gloria her last night, and shared our comments of how radiant she looked. I knew Gloria would have known what we were thinking.

In retrieving Gloria’s belongings and reviewing what had been her focus in those last days, it became clear that despite fairly bleak surroundings and without so much as two dimes to rub together, she had nonetheless attracted and nurtured a whole treasure chest of Aquarian seeds for Humanity’s future culture. From displaying esotericists’ artwork including a powerful healing deva by Georgia Lambert, or relishing the imaginative power and good will of the Harry Potter tapes, or immersing herself in the music of the radio station K-Mozart, or taking flight on a Milarepa poem encouraging a student to greater heights in meditation, she regularly experienced the refining power of soul-induced art. She utilized the liberal commentary of the radio station KPFK, and a whole array of meditation and lecture tapes by various spiritual teachers to purify and rightly direct her mental body. From lively discussions in support of the antiwar rallies and the United Nations, to being deeply moved by the architect Daniel Libeskind’s spiritually uplifting design for the new World Trade Center complex, to resolving with Arcana to say the 1935 first stanza of the Great Invocation to invoke the Spirit of Peace, Gloria’s heart, mind and speech naturally resonated with the Aquarian possibilities in “the happenings of the time.”

In my last visit with Gloria, we listened to an autobiographical sketch of a Buddhist monk named Shinpan Young, who was born here in Los Angeles, and definitely seems connected with the Heart Center work of this area. Gloria was very moved by his insight that one could have pain without suffering, if one infused it with enough meditative mindfulness and equanimity. When Gloria was ready for bed that night, she did not even want her music. With a gentle smile mirroring the Buddha poster beside her bed from the Heart Shrine Relic Tour, she nestled under the covers saying she wanted to ponder Shinzen’s words a bit longer.

In later collecting her things and making sure her body was not disturbed, I happily discovered that Gloria had begun Shinzen’s 12 tape series on meditation called The Science of Enlightenment. This may have been the last material she contemplated. These tapes are profoundly inspiring and synthetic. They proffer a roadmap to the one world religion with meditation as the touchstone, and envision a converging of the scientific and meditative paths. When I first listened to where Gloria had left off, I was disappointed she did not get to hear the rest of that tape, given her lifelong interest in peace and right human relations. Then it occurred to me that her soul may have stopped it just at that breaking point, as a clue to her next life’s service focus, and as an invitation for us to join in that focus by listening to this last portion of the tape together.

(To hear only this section of one tape will not do the series justice, but perhaps it will whet your appetite. The full 12-tape set is on the table at our entrance if you wish to peruse it further, and can be purchased by calling 1-800-333-9185. These tapes include some of the mindfulness and equanimity techniques used by the Buddha to tame the restless mind and resolve unconscious conflicts. If there is any part of your personality that seems stuck, despite your meditative and service efforts, you might want to consider adding some mindfulness techniques to your contemplative repertoire. After all, Aquarius is the Age of Synthesis and when the Christ puts on the Buddha’s vestures at the Reappearance, such techniques will become part of His repertoire. In a group setting, with an experienced instructor and other meditators, these techniques can give uncannily quick and life-changing access to even deep aspects of our recalcitrant shadows.)

On the first side of Tape 1, Shinzen explores the Buddhist concept of mindfulness. On side 2 he details various of the individual benefits of meditation including the ability to experience “happiness independent of conditions”—that “peace that passeth understanding.” Where we are going to pick up the thread, he is about to discuss how learning to meditate serves others and helps to “crack” Humanity’s core problem. (At this point, the designated portion of the tape was played for those attending the meeting. Unfortunately, due to copyright laws we cannot reproduce the tape transcript in Thoughtline, but refer you to Shinzen’s website if you would like to get more of a feel for his work: www.shinzen.org)

Miki Webb, Aquarius, 200

Let the Forces of Light bring illumination to mankind.
Let the Spirit of Peace be spread abroad.
May men of goodwill everywhere meet in a spirit of cooperation.
May forgiveness on the part of all men be the keynote at this time.
Let Power attend the efforts of the Great Ones.
So let it be and help us to do our part.

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