by
Mary
Montgomery- Clifford

  A lot of you have contacted me via e-mail and by phone. The topics were varied and interesting, so I'm using this month's column to share some of your information and thoughts with your fellow readers.

Dave Davis from Naperville, Illinois responded to my column about C-Span's Great American Think-Out Debate about the dangers of religion versus science. In that column, I mentioned that some of the panelists seemed to be referring to spirituality rather than religion. Dave sent me an e-mail with two of his favorite definitions:

From a t-shirt available through Northern Sun: "Religion is for people who are going to Hell, Spirituality is for people who have been there."

From his favorite author, Alan Cohen: "Heaven and Hell is a shift in consciousness between living in Love or living in Fear."

One of the keys in both of these quotes is that spirituality transcends religion. The good news these days is that many of those involved in the world's religions are catching on to this fact. True "saints" and "ascended masters" always seemed to get this point - now more and more of the rest of us are starting to get it, too.

In June, I had the privilege of taking the course, Spirituality: Eastern and Western Paths with Joe Mannath, SDB, a native Indian Catholic priest and professor in the Christian Studies Department at the secular University of Madras. The course explored the spiritual gifts of the Hindu, Buddhist and Christian traditions. It was all part of the new inter-religious field that is beginning to build momentum. "This is the first time that humans can reach across boundaries," said Joe. "The task of spirituality is to expand the heart."

In July, I attended a Christian Zen Retreat with Zen Master Dae Kwang, abbot of the international Kwan Um School of Zen and Rev. Robert D. Morin, OMI. Again, the emphasis was on spirituality transcending religion. Perhaps you've heard the story of the fingers and the moon, which was told during the retreat, but it bears repeating:

Spirituality, God, etc., is like the moon. Religion is like a finger pointing the way toward the spirit or God. Which is more important, the finger or the moon? There are many fingers pointing at the moon. People often focus so hard on the fingers that they forget that it's the moon that's really important. They start to think their finger is better than those other fingers over there. Sometimes they even begin to finger fight.

I've received a number of requests about the companion CD for James Twyman's upcoming book, The Secret of the Beloved Disciple. There are a lot of people who want to hear the Mary music. I sent an e-mail request for information and received information indicating that the CD is almost ready.

Twyman states that the CD is imprinted with Mary's (or Maria's) energy and will include pictures of the miraculous candle, a rendition from the actual photograph of Maria in Medjugorje and the painting by Jacqueline Ripstein. Here's how to get the CD.

Request the CD by sending an e-mail to Belovedcd@aol.com. Include your postal and e-mail address. The CD will be mailed to you along with a bill for $16.00 U.S. plus postage.

NOTE: You should go through this procedure even if you already visited the site earlier and requested a CD.

Speaking of Beloved Disciple, you can pre-order the book and save 40% on the retail price through Findhorn Press (http://findhornpress.com/order.html). To get the discount, orders must be received before November 15, 1999. The book will be available in late 1999.

Another e-mail I received was from one of my favorite web sites, www.worldpuja.org. Site organizers are in major regroup and reorganize mode and, quite frankly, they need our help in order to keep bringing the people of the world together in a focus for peace.

WorldPuja web events have been seen and heard in 83 countries and on all five continents by millions of visitors. The revised plan is to have a Peace Wave once a month. This 30- to 60-minute live program features a synchronized on-line guided meditation and prayer for world peace with over 140,000 participants. The first wave took place on August 21st during the 9th Annual World Peace Festival in the World Peace Sanctuary near Amenia, New York. Check out the WorldPuja site for future dates.

Here's how we can help make these Peace Waves succeed:

Be there: Whether you tune in via the Internet or just join in via your own private meditation, your participation counts. WorldPuja organizers point out that mystics and saints throughout the ages have told us that it takes a relatively small percentage of the world's population to change the world.

Prayer and Intent: By using the connectivity of the Internet and combining it with the group focus of prayer, these Peace Waves can be extremely powerful.

Step Up and Support Peace Wave: The WorldPuja site and events are run by three people - that's right! They do it all. So far, they've said no to things like banner ads on the site. But let's face it, running an operation like this costs money. Here's the plan: Commit to donating $5 per Peace Wave for the next six months. That's a $30 commitment to a great cause. Peace Wave contributors will be listed on the site. To donate, click on www.worldpuja.org and follow the directions.

Grand Cross Planetary Alignment

It's interesting to note that the first WorldPuja Peace Wave took place on August 21st. According to an e-mail that was forwarded by Marva, the planet and all living creatures experienced an "imprinting" of stellar Light codes between August 11th and 21st. The source for the e-mail message is listed as the Master Illuminari Thoth & the Akashic Record of Thoth. Apparently, with the "imprinting" we received a wave of light codes from a unified field of the Universal Hierarchy created by the Brotherhoods of Light. This is supposed to correspond to a solar eclipse and grand cross planetary alignment that occurred in August.

Hey! We need all the help we can get! And, if there is an influx of positive energy alignment and we amplify it through things like the Peace Waves, so much the better.

So, the question is: Does anything feel different - better - now that it's September? Remember, although you are reading this column in September, I wrote it at the beginning of August. Let me know!

Please feel free to contact me via my e-mail address (monty764@aol.com) or via my web site (www.montymedia.com). For example, let me know if you have a favorite (or not so favorite) site that you'd like me to review. I love hearing from you.

Mary Montgomery-Clifford is a certified web author and developer. Her company, Montgomery Media Enterprises ("Freelancing with Finesse!"), specializes in public relations, events, promotions, writing project and web authoring, development and publicity. Contact her via e-mail at Monty764@aol.com, by phone at 773-235-8821 or at her web site at www.montymedia.com.