- Can St. Francis of Assisi Save Our Divided World Today?Continue reading →
Are You Willing to Take Up the Shepherd's Staff -- and Help Spread Love & PeaceÂBy James TwymanSet aside your computer for a moment and see if you can guess who wrote these words: "I made a mistake. Without doubt, an oppressed multitude had to be liberated, but our method only provoked further oppression and atrocious massacres. What was really needed...were ten Francis of Assisi's."I love asking this question and I'm not surprised when people give credit to revolutionary characters like Gandhi or Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. When I tell them they're wrong their answers become even more interesting - Napoleon, George Washington, etc. "How about John Lennon?" someone recently asked.
"You're close," I said, "but only because their names sound similar. The answer is Lenin, not Lennon - the architect of the Russian Revolution, Vladimir Lenin."
Lenin? Is it possible that the communist leader who referred to religion as "medieval mildew" and called the clergy "gendarmes (French policemen) in cassocks" had fallen in love with a twelfth century Italian mystic who gave everything he owned to the poor in order to live the Gospel of Jesus as perfectly as he could? Clearly St. Francis has inspired millions of people for more than eight hundred years, to the point that statues of the saint occupy gardens everywhere you look today, but how did an atheist like Lenin become so enthralled?
Maybe Lenin has something to teach all of us in this regard. The end of the quote is: "What was really needed in Russia were ten Francis of Assisi's," but we could just as easily substitute that in our own world today - and it would be just as true.
Does it sound like a ridiculous dream in the world of bullying, fake news and racist attacks? When you know a little about the history of Europe, especially at the time of St. Francis, you realize things weren't that different - the pope was at odds with the Holy Roman Emperor, city states were constantly at war with other city states, and tension between the very rich and the very poor was at an all-time high.
Which leads to the question Vladimir Lenin seemed to be asking - Are we trying to solve the problems of the world with the same thinking that got us into trouble? If so, maybe ten radical people like St. Francis of Assisi are enough to turn things around.
Margaret Mead famously said: "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has." Was Mead's thinking influenced by St. Francis when he wrote: "Pure, holy simplicity confounds all the wisdom of this world?"
When you examine the current direction of the world -- especially politically -- it's easy to agree that the current wisdom isn't so wise, so maybe thinking outside the box isn't such a bad idea.
Presidential candidate Marianne Williamson has taken considerable heat for challenging the status quo. She encourages us to "love with conviction" and "wage peace," the same ideas St. Francis would have expressed if he was alive today. But at least she is willing to stand for these ideas on a national stage, inching these concepts forward, planting seeds in the minds of people who may not have viewed the world from this perception.
So I've decided to throw my hat into the ring, but not as a Presidential candidate. I want to take up the challenge issued by Lenin and become one of the ten St. Francis's needed to turn the world around.
Here are a few things I'll need to do if I'm to accomplish my goal: Be willing to give everything for love; think less about my own comfort and more about the wellbeing of others; and finally, challenge my own limiting beliefs and be willing to see everyone through the eyes of love. If I can do that, even in some limited way, maybe others will make a similar decision and step forward in their own way. All I need are nine more.
St. Francis's example directly challenged the powers that ruled Europe eight hundred years ago, and yet his vision is celebrated today. He lived at the end of what we now call the Dark Ages, but he was also one of the inspirations that initiated the Renaissance, an era of great light and creativity.
Is it possible that hundreds of years from now people will look back at this time in a similar way, calling it another Dark Age? And if they do, will they also celebrate the few dedicated people who stepped forward just as St. Francis did? Are we on the cusp of a New Renaissance?
James Twyman, bestselling author of Giovanni and the Camino of St. Francis, will bring his stirring new musical on St. Francis Brother Sun, Sister Moon to Broadway on February 20-March 1, 2020. And with the beloved saint as his model-he will travel a continent penniless, on foot and with whatever food, housing and further transportation that God will provide to get him there, presenting the play in 10 cities along the way. Twyman is also the NY Times bestselling author of 15 other books including The Moses Code and Emissary of Light. He has also recorded more than 18 music albums including the Billboard chart bestseller I AM Wishes Fulfilledalong with Dr. Wayne Dyer; as well as produced or directed seven feature films. For more information on Twyman, and the Brother Sun, Sister Moon Musical Tourstops and performances-- and Giovanni and the Camino of St. Francis--visit: www.JimmyTwyman.com
- Double Vision: Can Someone Choose to Become a Medium?Continue reading →
I was told by a psychic that I am meant to become a medium. This feels really exciting to me, but I don't know where to turn to learn what I am supposed to do. I thought that mediums were born that way. Can one become a medium? If so, how do you go about it? I try to meditate, but I don't see how that will make me a medium. Thanks for your wonderful work, you two!
- Dana
Dreamchaser:
When a psychic or a reader of any kind tells you that you are to become something, it doesn't usually mean that you are to rush right out the door and chase it down. Instead, it's just an alert to open your mind to the possibility.
Right now you don't even believe that you can become a medium. You don't believe you have the gift. You wrote, "I thought that mediums were born that way." Well, why couldn't you have been born that way too?
There are quite a few people who don't recognize, accept, or allow their gift to come out until well after they are adults. I personally did not start this journey until just after my 30th birthday. I think that many of us have to do some living, learn some lessons, and come to some realizations before we discover that there is something BIGGER around and inside of us than meets the eye.
Being a medium is simply hearing the Otherside in your head. That is basically what all genuine readers do everyday, anyway. Sometimes I will just hear words from Source that I'm to tell the client. Sometimes I hear clients' loved ones in the form of my own thoughts.
I do not hear voices outside of my head, or see shadows of the dead standing on the other side of the room talking to me. I don't know how other "mediums" do it, but I just hear spirits in the form of my own thoughts. I then say what I "think," and it is always the person on the Otherside. I find it incredibly fascinating whenever it happens, because it seems so amazing that it is that easy, let alone even possible!
I suggest you stop trying to make this so hard and so mystical. Just listen to your own thoughts. Learn to turn off the endless yakking that goes on constantly in your head so you can hear past it.
Meditation can help you become a medium by quieting down your mind to a great extent. You "go away," the constant chatter stops, and then you can begin to hear words from Source and from your guides and spirits on the Otherside.
We all meditate in our own ways. I don't sit in a lotus position with Buddhist monks chanting in the background. Sometimes I go sit outside and just listen to the sounds of nature. Find the way that best calms your mind, and then do it regularly.
I also suggest that you talk to "God"/The Universe/whatever name you use, and ask that you be led in the direction that you should be going in. Then follow the signs that are clear to you. Sometimes it takes leaps of faith to change your life. Are you prepared for that?
I wish you power-full psychic hearing.
*****
Astrea:When you were growing up, did you have lots of "imaginary friends?" People who had lots of imaginary friends as children are almost always natural mediums. Most of the time, this is accompanied by awareness that one has some ability, though it may hibernate for long periods of time.
Many people don't want such gifts, however, and avoid related experiences due to fear of the unknown. Others accept their gifts as essential aspects of their Karma. Even people who aren't born mediums can develop their abilities via years of study and practice.
There are hundreds of books written by real mediums, and many are available at your public library. Your first step is to explore what mediums really do. Read about the lives of other mediums for a while before you make up your mind. Once you've studied how the process works for others, you can decide if this is something you want to pursue.
Being a channel for the Departed is a full-time and sometimes very sad pursuit. I have never known an honest medium to say, "Oh yes, all of my life I have wanted to see and speak to dead people! What fun!"
The majority of spirits who work through me are considerate folks who didn't get to say a proper goodbye, or want to reassure the people left behind that they are all right. However, spirits are not always "normal" or "nice." They can be scary and intimidating, pushy, bossy, demanding and controlling. Sometimes they are downright rude, intrusive and inconvenient. Death doesn't instantly fix personalities or mental illnesses.
Many souls who are stuck speaking through us aren't the brightest who ever lived. Some speak only in languages we don't know, or with accents that are difficult to understand. Some hold grudges for hundreds of years towards family members out of sheer stubbornness. Remember that this is not something you can turn off and on like a lamp or TV - once you open that channel, it isn't easy to close it again.
On another note, if everyone believed what "some psychic told" them, we would ALL be psychics and/or mediums! This has become a popular thing for phony or inexperienced psychics to tell clients. Maybe they're projecting, since they're new to psychic matters themselves. So just because some "psychic told you" that you were "meant to become a medium," that doesn't mean it's true, or that it will be easier for you to achieve that goal.
If you weren't born a natural medium, and you know that's what you want to do, then I guess you've got some hard work ahead of you.
Good luck!