Stop being the bean, be the beanstalk

I often ask my unseen guides and teachers, light beings that walk with me, “Do you have any word, guidance, or vision for me today?” at the end of a practice or meditation. Two days ago I asked, and up came this vision of a beanstalk, and a voice clear as day that said, “Stop being the bean.” Sometimes spirit has a sense of humor. I used to think it was me, projecting, but I don’t think that anymore.

I understand that some imagery and messages that come to me are to be shared, and this is one.

I was digging around in research looking at Jack and his beanstalk, and came upon a pretty piece of writing by a lady named Jessica Soward. She was writing about an episode of “Storyteller” by the Jim Henson studio, called “Jack and the beanstalk, the real story.” It has an all-star cast, was beautifully produced, and as Ms. Soward says, slipped past the radar of even Henson enthusiasts. It was produced after the tragic and seemingly premature death of Jim Henson.

In this version of the story, the giant is a gentle, kind and intelligent creature, who watches over and tends the upper world. The golden goose, along with a magical harp, were required to keep that land green and alive. Without them, the land would die and its inhabitants would be miserable and starve.

Jim Henson was a creative genius who created magical worlds that still radiate love and possibility and light to all who watch his work.

Brian Henson, who produced the work, conveys his father’s conviction that everything is connected. In Jim Henson’s Fraggle Rock, three worlds (Doc’s work shop, Fraggle Rock, and the Gorg’s garden/home) were all connected. What happened in one place affected the others. This is a direct allegory to what has taken place, and what is taking place now in such an alarming way on the planet. It’s not possible to cut down vast tracts of trees and not affect every living thing. If we cause thousands of species of the animal world to go extinct, pollute the water and the air, and suck the living resources of the earth and exploit them, no good thing can come of it. It’s a closed system, the earth. If the air clears a bit in New Dehli, we will be breathing some form of that desperately polluted air in days. There’s no “their air, and my air. Their water, my water.” If the contaminated water from the compromised Japanese reactor is not contained, and continues to pour into Pacific waters, in time all the waters of the earth and the creatures in them will mutate.

It’s a race to the finish now, can enough humans wake up and start helping instead of hurting before mother boots us off altogether? I remember a spiritual message I received years ago that said, “There is no fence sitting anymore. You help or you hinder. Which will you do?”

This is where the bean comes in. We are told, and accurately I think, that what we plant is what comes up. If you want carrots, don’t plant lettuce. If we plant in ourselves spiritual wisdom, love, compassion, service, humility, and light, then that is what comes up. We gradually see that frequency coming up in ourselves, but spiritual planting is sometimes so amorphous, so unseen.

“We do not need more intellectual power, we need more spiritual power. We do not need more of the things that are seen, we need more of the things that are unseen.”

Calvin Coolidge

When I saw the beanstalk in that vision, it was actually a little daunting, the plant was huge! And moving! Growing taller and thicker, more vigorous by the moment. Is it possible that when we plant a bean of spiritual possibility, it might take off like a giant bean rocket? Are we ready for that? I hear people say, “Step in to your power”. I think even more helpful might to actually recognize our own power. Sometimes we think because we offer a blessing, and nothing seems to happen, that it does not have power. Or that we are not good enough, big enough, worthy enough, enlightened enough to be effective.

I often tell my family and clients, one thing that we do not know, is how things would look if I had NOT offered the blessing. It would be a good thing to write it down when you have an immediate success with a blessing, which does happen all the time. This does two things. You are saying,

“Yes! this works. I saw it with my eyes, my client said they experienced relief.”

It also points up that if you don’t see results, there are layers of karma and blockages that sometimes take time and repeated applications to show movement. There are also blockages that may be above the energy and frequency of your healing arts, and that is when it’s vital to have a powerful teacher that can see this, and help you. My own beloved teacher, Dr. and Master Zhi Gang Sha, is such a one, who so liberally gives of his time, gifts, and teaching, making sure his students do well.

So let’s acknowledge the true power of whatever we have been blessed to receive, that helps us be healers in the world. Like the particle in physics that only appears when it’s being observed, (that still boggles my mind…) our healing gifts, whatever they may be, want us to pay attention to them, so that they can serve. Talk to them, give thanks for them, USE them. Offer love and gratitude to them. This is true power.

Not long ago I was working with a Tao Calligraphy that has been blessed to my experience, and closed my eyes for a few minutes, to trace from memory. I at once perceived that I was drenched in a pouring light, that I stood on light, traced with light. I was wearing the most beautiful clothing. When I can get to that place it’s the most precious time. I think that is my real self, my Divine self, my power self. We can all do this, and then set out to bring that light to the world in every moment.

I recall a retreat where one of Master Sha’s Master Teachers was giving a teaching on the Buddha, Ah Mi Tuo Fo, Buddha of infinite light, infinite life. This teacher was asked, how does Ah Mi Tuo Fo see us? I thought it was a brilliant question! In our sleeping state, we might assume that the holy ones see us as people, but perhaps not. His answer was, “He sees you only as light.” How sweet and liberating is that! If we could form a habit to see ourselves as light, power beings of love, can you imagine what that would bring to our funny, fractured, turbulent and beautiful world?

So when the bean sprouts, run with it. Let’s strive to see ourselves as this vigorous, growing, spiritually potent shaft of light. Remembering, the higher we go on that journey of waking, the more we need to embody true humility. It’s a dance, surely! But it beats struggling along in the sleeping dark.

May the bean be with you! :)

Kristin Strachan compassionbuddha.net

This is not actually the direction I intended when I started out to write this, but it often happens that when I give up the reins, the writing horse goes its own way and it’s generally better.