Introduction by Colin Whitby
I first met Alice at one of Soleira and Santari Green’s workshops in Wales, where we were all looking at Corporate Soul, how we relate to each other at a Soul level in the corporate world. Following that we were both on another of Soleira’s courses, but this time over email, and we became aware that we were doing something very similar with energy.
Alice has studied dreams and uses the Lightning Dreamwork Process in her practice in New Brunswick. In her book she uses dreams to help explore where our beliefs have taken us and how duality and differences have been misconstrued, and explains a biblical perspective on our oneness with God.
Here she offers the life of Jesus as an example showing how abundance is not a far-off wait-until-heaven experience, but a here and now, dirty feet and sunburned reality. For those with a Christian background this may help to bring the experience of the new energies into perspective, and for those who have a different belief, some insight into the teachings of Jesus.
The Glory of Being: A Biblical Journey into Abundance
by Alice Finnamore
Epilogue - The Battle is Over
July 18, 2002 - The Battle is Over!
The battle was over. We had won. I moved with the others into the dark barn. It was night, without a hint of colour, yet I could see the evil demon cows where they stood in their stanchions. On closer inspection we discovered they were not living, but merely skeletons, standing. Although I had a sword in my hand, it was not my sword which dealt the final blow, to send them falling into heaps of bones. One of these beasts was semi-alive, insisting it was neither dead nor evil. We let it go. Suddenly the sky was bright, and I was in a store. All the stores were selling cards of pressed flowers, large cards and small. The small ones, I was told, were available because some people were still afraid, too afraid to appreciate the fullness of the beauty and freedom of the large cards.
Waking, I was intrigued that creatures as placid as cows would be seen as evil. As symbols, I think of cows as nurturing emblems of contentment, chewing their cud in careful contemplation. On the other hand, in my childhood dreams, cows chased me. I would run for the house, in slow motion, with that familiar terror of having my legs move only with great effort. Cattle have been part of my life forever. My mother was afraid of them, and would not go into the field without a broom. I learned from her, and carried on the same practice. I finally let go of those fears after seeing my three-year-old son walk safely through the field, with the cows following him in curiosity. (He was afraid of the flies instead, being a little Manitoban city boy transplanted back to the New Brunswick family farm.)
In this dream about the evil demon cows, I felt no fear. The cows, evil or not, were in their stanchions, secure and lifeless. We had won. Peace reigned. The one cow still alive could be freed. When I woke, I was rejoicing. While in our waking world the appearance of evil continues, if we look with the eyes of the spirit we can see that the battle is over, and the celebration can begin.
Perhaps these cows were not evil at all, just different. Perhaps in our waking life, our enemies are but peaceful people with distinct appearances and cultures. Throughout history, and still today, tribes or nations label others as less than human, alien. If these others occupy valuable territory or hold precious commodities such as gold, water, or oil, they are seen as enemies, and wars of acquisition erupt.
As long as humanity lingers within a belief system which supports lack instead of abundance, wars will continue. The wars may be localized in our families, as sibling rivalry, where the perceived lack is about parental attention. At the workplace, hostility grows out of what people see as a shortage of advancement possibilities, career recognition, or pay increases. In Canadian politics, party leaders and their followers wage combat in skirmishes of words, vying for seats in parliament, as election campaigns turn personal instead of focussing on the good of the country. On the world stage, carnage continues. In these conflicts, one wonders who is the aggressor? Who took the first antagonistic step?
When my children were small, I could not tolerate their attention-seeking squabbles. Because I usually could not surmise who "started it", both would be sent to their rooms for time out. Eventually they were too big for that, and I was the one who went into timeout, locking myself into my room with headphones on, while the children sorted out their problems on their own. With my attention withdrawn, and the goal of their dispute unreachable, they learned to compromise. I overheard them once, years later, remembering how they had agreed on a rule, in which, if they stopped watching television for a snack or a bathroom break, their seats would still be their own on their return. I wonder if that is what God has done, if he too has stepped back to allow humankind to make our own rules and to end our own conflicts, until we find a middle ground where everyone wins.
Perhaps the cows represent the belief systems which have nourished us and the fears which have kept us safe for so long. Some of us have recognized that these belief systems have been our enemies instead, barring the way to abundance. Now at last the battle is over. The veil of beliefs, under which humanity has lived, is obsolete, dead.
Gradually we are growing up. Despite appearances to the contrary, more of us are looking at our belief systems with new eyes. We inherit our convictions just as I inherited my mother’s fear of cows. The fear of lack, the ingrained belief that we must take from others to have our needs met, this deceptive sense of individuality, is the only thing which prevents any one of us from having abundance. Each person’s fear may be different, and what each sees as evil varies. Nevertheless, we have come to the point in our evolution where we can look fear in the eye, brush aside fearful belief systems, and move on in the power of unity into abundance.
Only when that one living cow was set free did the darkness flee and the sky brighten. When that "enemy" was forgiven and released, the celebration began. The cards of pressed flowers flooded the market place. Freedom and abundance were available to all. Nevertheless, some could not enjoy the grace of the large cards because, I was told, they still had fear. They had not heard the clatter of the bones. They did not believe the battle was truly over. For them, the beauty of the smaller cards was all they could accept.
I hope this book has helped open your hearts so you will be able to receive the large cards, and know overflowing abundance. The choice is yours, still, between the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, and the Tree of Life, between grasping for your individual needs or slipping into the fullness of the One, where there is always enough, and more than enough, for all.
Alice’s book ‘The Glory of Being’ can be ordered or downloaded from Lulu.com
http://www.lulu.com/content/236590
Her website is :- www.DreamBringersStudio.byregion.net
Over the last three years Gill and myself have been visiting our friend Myra who gives us a wonderful Indian Head massage, a very special treat we give ourselves every two weeks or so. We have found them really beneficial so if you have not tried one yet, why not find a local practitioner and give it a try, it usually takes about half an hour.
The Magic Of Being
