Julie goes into trance and Micciah starts the session suggesting... Prepare yourselves, changes coming. Separateness doesn't heal. You are all connected to oneness. Cultivate oneness. Make connections to others. Come from compassion. Take care of yourself and others.

   Julie: So, I ask that I be guided, that I be open to whatever information is most useful for all of us at this moment, for the people who may watch it. And let’s know that the work is blessed. It’s always an exploration.
    Umm, it takes me a moment to shift.

   Micciah: So we greet you dear friends. And we are most pleased to be invited to be with you. And as we say so often, many energies come to learn about the physical realm. As they say in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition and in the Bon tradition, there are entities everywhere, the room, the space… The space you share with interwoven realms; and we represent a portion of one realm.
   Oh, and Judith, you had a question. Yes.
   First, in light of what you have asked about these times which you have talked about so often for so many years, prepare yourselves, there a changes coming. Wars do not heal. Separateness, the illusion of separateness, which is very prominent in this culture, does not heal. To feel separate, disconnected form yourself, from other people; to feel separate from other people, from other beings, the animals, the plants, the rocks, the weather, the stars is tragic. Just a taste of that connection will change your life forever.
   There is only one of you. You are profoundly connected to other beings of all kinds, including the ones you cannot see. And healing arises through your connection to oneness. The apparent other, that other person, that bad person, or the earth as other, not as a body, leads that sense of separation leads, has led, to the situation in which you find yourselves at this time on this planet. As the I Ching says, “No blame.” But the teaching, internal and external, is to move toward oneness. Towards the joyousness of connection.
   What was the line in the Beatles song? I am you and he is me and we are all together? Words to that effect.
   So in your own lives, in your practices, in everyday, ordinary, sacred, ordinary life, look for the connection, bless your food, water, your breath. Share what you have. Share what you have. Notice where you feel separated. “I am not like that person.” As we said, particularly in recent sessions, the political situation has become as it is, “If there is no other, then, who are those people?” What part of you is represented by the people who seem most other? Without going into self-blame, criticism, or, “How could I possibly have those feelings?” And we have said this before as well, most of you, we would say all of you in this room have aspects of the feelings that are so difficult to tolerate, particularly in the current political situation. You have them internally. Internally. Intra-psychically. So, that you are not unkind to other people, but you are willing to be unkind to yourselves. To be critical, to be less than compassionate.
   So, that is a kind of separation. It is a separation from the core of the self which is love. Look for where you experience separateness from other people and from your own goodness. And we are not saying, at all, pretend to be good, but to be interested and curious about the feelings of separation, about the places where you are not compassionate towards yourself. “That’s interesting. What is that? What does that mean?”
   So, let’s look at the questions because they are relevant to what we are saying. Is this clear so far?

   Class: [murmurs Yes.]

   Sue: So the first one is: how to thrive in this current world and how not to feel guilty asking for good for ourselves when there is so much tragedy in the world?

   Micciah: Well, we think we have, in part, addressed how to thrive. Through cultivating oneness. Cultivating, first, you connection to the inherent goodness in your own heart. The precious sweetness of your own being. Cultivate it. Be curious about the feelings that pull you away from it. Be compassionate toward them if you can. “Ah, here is a place of real caring, pain, injury. A place where I have developed contractions. Let me see if I can open to those.” Cultivate your connection to other people. You don’t have to like them at the personality level. You can cultivate in the larger sense, love, understanding in a personal sense, you may not want to be around that person. As Stephen Levine, the great Buddhist teacher says, “I can hold you in my heart, but I do not want you in my house.”
   To make the inquiry about the people who seem so other… Joy, we were talking about this with you, particularly with your family and Sue, with you… Going into a family situation where the people in your very own family voted for our current president. How to manage that? Can you find your closeness to them, can you hold them in your heart even disagreeing violently with the choices they have made? Not so easy.
   A very important journey. One of your inquires is how to survive in these present times. Look for connection within yourself, to yourself. “Whoa! I was so angry. I feel so mean. I am being so mean to myself. Whoa! Where can I find the part of myself, can it open enough to hold it compassionately?” That’s suffering. When you are cruel to yourself it is suffering. You are suffering. By connection and by action that represents kindness… You know, this one has a running joke about the peace movement of the 60s and 70s which she was involved with and called the “kill for peace” movement because there was so much anger. So, your actions come from compassion, or not from compassion but you’re doing the best that you can. Marilyn has developed wonderful mode. We hope it is all right if we speak for you. “Do one thing every day.” Give a little bit of money, make a call, do whatever you can do, whatever is accessible. Do one thing every day because action is called for. Action is called for. Action that comes from the compassionate desire for healing as well as hating the S.O.B.s.
   And we will say again what we said right after Trump’s election. How do you prepare for chaos? Like the great Tonglen prayer, “May I be happy…” Take really good care of yourself, really loving care; really kind-hearted to your body. To the play of your own feelings take really good care of yourself. That will give you strength. Neglecting yourselves will not help anything, and when you are good to yourselves, meaning kind, conscious… If there is only one of you, looks like a lot of you, you will share that in the stream of oneness. So, this also addresses the next question, we think. “How not to feel guilty asking good for yourself when so many suffer.” So, when you are in that belief: “I must not ask for good for myself while so many suffer.” You are contributing to the problem. Your good comes from an unlimited source. And as you ask it for yourself you ask it for others. “As I feed myself dinner, blessing my food, I ask for all people to be fed, and I share what I have with others. Whatever I can give.” Because to be in that consciousness, “If I ask for myself, I should be guilty and punish myself in some way.” That’s the consciousness of separation, yes? “Good for me means not so much good for you.” Or, “Good for me means I diminish the supply of available good for you.” That is not the consciousness… You are not living in the consciousness of the immensity of what is available. Beyond your imagining. So, is your guilt going to disappear because we said this? No. Notice that you’re guilty. Ask yourself, “Where am I holding on to this? What is my history with it? How did I become… How did this arrive in my being?” Notice it. And then see if you can shift it a little. “As I ask for good for myself, I ask it for all beings.” And you have to add to that, “to the extent that I can. I behave compassionately to other beings.” Does that mean you don’t have any boundaries and you just let everybody walk all over you? No. You can have compassionate boundaries. Boundaries, not in the sense of separation, but… hmm… Permitting other people to mistreat you does not do them a favor. Does not do you a favor, does not do them a favor.
   So, how to proceed. If you are someone who meditates, meditate. You can meditate for five minutes. But you can meditate by being silent. You can meditate by dancing. You can meditate on the people you see on the street, on the subway. Bless them. If you don’t like the word “bless”, think of some other word that you like. “I wish you good. I wish you good. I wish you good, sister. I wish you good. I wish you well grandmother.” Just as you pass along in the street. So, then you are a moving blessing, an active blessing. What did Ma say? “Just do it.” Great healer and teacher in India. “Just do it. Just do it.”