The Torah of the Current Messiah – XVII

 The New Stage of the Mission

 Turbulent Times

Perhaps after the deep transpersonal, metaphysical and mystical sharings with my close friends, the Invisible World decided to test me. I entered into turbulent times, undergoing the challenges of the four nature elements – earth, water, air and fire. Of course, these challenges were symbolic but the result was a complete change of my situation in Ireland.

In the summer of 1992 I went to the Schweibenalp Community in Switzerland for a month. I became a good friend with the core group of the Schweibenalp Community and entered happily into their community life. The first of my tests was with the element Earth. With two friends from Schweibenalp we decided to climb the closest high Alpine summit to the community premises. The walk to the summit took about five hours. Enthusiastically we reached the foot of the summit and climbed to the top. The day was beautiful, the sun was shining and we even had company – a little Himalayan dog. From the top of the summit the panorama was magnificent.

For diversity we decided to descend from the summit directly to the valley, without any traced path. The beginning was easy enough, but after some time we got into trouble. At some stage we had to stop because we were not able either to descend or return back. At the same time the mountain was steep and we would have not been able to stay in one place for long. We started investigating a few possibilities for our further descent but they were not very promising. The thought of spending hours, even the night on this cliff was not very comforting. Nevertheless, we kept our concentration and positive thinking.

Finally, after much investigation, we, little by little, found our way to the valley. On this descent the owner of the Himalayan dog had to bring it in his arms because the dog was small and was struggling with the terrain. We returned to the community quite late and some friends had already begun to worry. Of course, we were met with joy and relief. Getting stuck on the rocks in the mountains, however, caused a few existential thoughts and feelings, which happen when the person is in danger and before the unknown. Thankfully, this ‘test with the element Earth’ was passed successfully and without any consequences!

When I returned to Dublin, to Montessori premises, I had to pass the ‘test with the element Water’. I was peacefully having my bath in the bathroom when the tap broke and the water burst out all over the place. I tried to fix the tap, but it was not possible. Obviously the water had to be stopped and only then the tap could be fixed. Unfortunately, it was an early afternoon and there was nobody around. In order to prevent flooding, I had to keep my hand on the bursting water. This uncomfortable situation took quite some time – perhaps forty-five minutes, or one hour. Finally somebody came and found a repair person who stopped the water and fixed the tap. Never in my life had I experienced such an incident and probably it was some kind of a test as well.

The ‘test with the element Air’ was a funny one. I was resting in the green at Trinity College. There was a very strong wind. At some stage the wind blew away my new Swiss beret, and it landed in a puddle of water close by. Of course, the beret got wet and deformed, which was not the best thing for me. The funny story however, was that this puddle was a few metres away and the only one around me. My feeling was that some ‘invisible forces’ were playing with me. Fortunately, I was able to smile at my ‘malchance’.

Unfortunately, the ‘test with the element Fire’ was the most serious of all. In September, in the middle of the night, I heard an alarmed voice shouting: Leon, get out immediately! Montessori is on fire! Of course I got up, took my passport, a few documents, a little sum of money and left the building. In front of the Montessori premises there were five or six Fire Brigades, a Garda car, a few Ambulances and a lot of people – the residents of the hostel. Such a picture I had never seen before. We stayed for about an hour in front of Montessori worrying what would happen next. There was a hotel close to the Montessori building which kindly invited us to spend the rest of the night in its reception area.

In the morning people from the Montessori staff called us from the hotel and explained the situation. The fire was at the top of the building and it did a lot of damage. Some people were asked to move from their rooms in the hostel. My room was not affected by the fire but it was obvious that things would never be the same again. After a few days the Director of the Montessori Education Centre apologised sincerely and said that they were closing the hostel in order to do a big renovation of the whole building. Because my room was not affected by the fire and the renovation was not due immediately, I was given two more months to stay in the hostel before finding another place to live.

I understood the situation completely and was deeply grateful for the years which I spent at the Montessori premises. Altogether, I was allowed to stay there for more than three and a half years without any payment. Truly the organisers of the Montessori Education Centre played a very important role in my stay in Ireland and I will always feel deep gratitude to them. Nevertheless, I had to find another place to stay.

Meanwhile, I continued my work on the book The Second Coming as before. As usual in these times, in the afternoons I worked in Galligan’s Café on Westmoreland Street. The workers in the Café knew me very well and I also became friendly with some of the regular visitors. Gradually we even formed a little improvised group discussing all kind of subjects – from daily life problems to living spirituality and metaphysics.

One friend from this group was Alex from Nicaragua. He was a cheerful and charismatic person and I enjoyed our conversations. One day he mentioned to me that he had started a Yoga course and if I was interested, he could introduce me to the Yoga teacher. Of course, I was very interested and he invited the Yoga teacher to come to one of our afternoon gatherings in the Café.

The Yoga teacher was called Bernadette and we established very good spiritual contact.  She joined our afternoon gatherings, but because the time for me to leave Montessori was approaching, I asked her: Bernadette, if you have space in your centre, could I store some important documents and materials in it. She agreed and when we continued our conversation, I explained to her the whole situation. Fortunately, she had a spare room in her centre and said if the landlord agreed, she would allow me to have the room. Thankfully the landlord agreed and most importantly Bernadette agreed too, and on November 13, 1992, I moved to her centre. With my move to Bernadette’s centre a new stage in the development of my spiritual activities in Ireland began. I was and I am still very thankful and appreciative to Bernadette for her kind offer in one of the most difficult periods of my life in Ireland.

For my move to Bernadette’s centre, I felt the hand of destiny. The fire in the Montessori Centre was the prime cause, but strangely enough it was started deliberately with a very silly reason: one of the students living in the hostel did not get ready for his exam and decided to cause a ‘little fire’ as an excuse; unfortunately, a much bigger fire developed. Then by chance, I met Alex from Nicaragua, who had just started Bernadette’s Yoga classes, and Bernadette was willing to accommodate me in her centre. Too many strange coincidences indeed, but again, unknown are the ways of the Lord!

Style of Life in Bernadette’s Yoga Centre

With the move to Bernadette’s centre, a new stage in my life and in the development of the mission started. She was a well-prepared Yoga teacher and we found many things in common: the Yoga tradition, vegetarianism, living spirituality and the search for Truth. In her centre I felt welcome and we began to share spiritual ideas and to work together. I appreciated her Yoga classes; she appreciated my manuscript of the book The Second Coming. I moved to her centre on November 13,  and soon after – on December 9, we attended the performance of Handel’s Messiah in St. Patrick’s Cathedral. Two weeks later I had a very friendly and joyful Christmas celebration in Bernadette’s centre with her and some members of the family. I was very optimistic about the coming new year – 1993.

One of the main themes in our discussions was the balance between the spiritual and material values. Now, the main goals of life on Earth are to have family, children, home, food, work, friends and so on. The main goals of the spiritual life are to realise the ‘Divine Wedding’ between the Soul and the Spirit within; to have ‘spiritual children’; to build our life as a Divine Temple; to receive the living bread for eternal life; to receive a spiritual mission and to establish spiritual friendship with others (let us remember that ‘there is a friend closer than a brother‘). One could imagine what a great rich synthesis we could have as a result of the ‘Divine Wedding’ between the earthly and the heavenly streams of life. Then, inevitably, the dynamic wholeness of our lives (with all its aims, values, impulses, understandings, motivations and tendencies) will change dramatically.

The work on the manuscript of the book The Second Coming was coming to a close. In Bernadette’s centre I wrote the Conclusion and later on the extended Bibliography. Bernadette helped me to form the Bibliography which is a very important and organic part of the book.

Gradually Bernadette got more and more involved in the process of editing and correcting the book. In summer she finished the Yoga courses which she started at the beginning of the year, and consecrated her efforts on preparing the book for publication. It was a great sacrifice and commitment which I appreciated tremendously. At the same time, we started a new type of weekly friendly gatherings at the National Gallery of Ireland which contributed significantly to the process of finalising the conception of the book and preparing it for publication.

Gatherings in the National Gallery of Ireland

At some stage in my spiritual activities in Dublin, I met the notable TV presenter, painter and writer Don Conroy. I was having regular meetings with Don and in one of our gatherings he introduced me to a good friend of his – Jerry Crowley. With Jerry, I also felt a very strong connection and altogether, Bernadette, Don, Jerry and I, began our weekly gatherings in the National Gallery of Ireland. The gatherings were open and almost every week we had interesting guests around the table.

These friends in general, and Jerry in particular, were very interested in my understanding of living spirituality, of the state of contemporary religion and philosophy, of the coming new spiritual reality. For instance, one of the key themes was the ascent of human consciousness to the reality of the new living mythology, where the two main streams of time – the historical, as a chain of actual events, and the mythological – as an expectancy of the return to the Kingdom of God, will merge. The myths and prophecies about the Second Coming had to become actual spiritual events, while the sacred books and prophecies have to provide plans and ‘scenarios’ for action. In the light of the ‘Second Coming Consciousness’, the mythologies in all spiritual traditions have to be activated and have to introduce us to an immense field of spiritual work.

Now, in earthly existence, human beings have to work very constructively within the society in all areas of life in order to survive. When humanity enters into the reality of the Kingdom of God, just as it now works in the material world, it has to work very constructively in the spiritual world as well. There the tasks are enormous indeed: to transform our lives, to embark on the Nine-Fold Rainbow Path, to heal, purify and illuminate the Earth, to transform the earthly culture into a celestial culture, to participate in the Divine services in Heaven, and so forth. So, in the coming new Epoch of Aquarius we have to reach a critical mass for transcendence and shift the paradigm to the new ways of existence!