Creative solutions in a tough economy
January 30, 2009 San Miguel de Allende

Lecture
David R. Barrow
Mon, Feb 2, 1pm
Sala Quetzal
Biblioteca Pública
Insurgentes 25
Voluntary donation

Tough times call for tough and creative solutions when financial situations such as those that currently exist in the US appear. Assets may have diminished or disappeared, and those that remain require creative strategies and aggressive management and protection. International attorney David R. Barrow addresses this and other economic issues and possible solutions on February 2. 

Barrow practiced international law in the US for over 25 years before moving his government-sanctioned practice to San Miguel de Allende. Although he is a resource for most of the legal issues that US expats living in San Miguel might encounter, his areas of expertise are international estate planning and business law.

Although the primary topic for the February 2 presentation is asset management and protection, Barrow will answer questions from the audience on any aspect of international law that might concern them. For more information about this presentation or other issues, contact Barrow at 154-8975 or smalawyer@gmail.com.  There is no cost for the presentation; however, donations to the Biblioteca Pública are welcomed.

The fresh breath of Aquarius
By Lauren Lesko

Lecture
Astrology Forum
Mon, Feb 2, 3pm
Sala Quetzal
Biblioteca Pública
Insurgentes 25
50 pesos

The days are lengthening as the Earth moves through its ecliptic around the Sun and the vernal equinox slowly approaches. The Sun is awakening from a deep sleep, and when it enters Aquarius we too are awakened from our deep winter sleep into conscious clarity.

 Whether we take advantage of this awakening depends on our willingness to look at our lives with fresh vision.

Aquarius represents that tendency in all of to seek security in our own beliefs to the exclusion of others’ ideas. Under the influence of Aquarius we may feel unwilling to credit the accomplishments of others. The bright face of Aquarius encourages individuals to contribute the best of their creativity, but the dark face of Aquarius heartlessly demands sacrificing individuals for a collective ideal. 

This coming month we have a celestial mandate, a chorus line of planets in Aquarius, suggesting that we need to open our minds and hearts to the ideas of others if we are to contribute our individual efforts to benefit humanity. The critical warning offered by Aquarius is that no man or woman is an island; we need the love and support of one another if we are going to express our full potential.

February begins in the shadow of a solar eclipse in Aquarius, emphasizing emotional needs and ushering in a month during which our individual lights can shine forth if we resist the temptation to confuse emotional security with national security. This month emotions run deep and can be disturbing, but luckily they are harmoniously coupled with a discerning eye for detail, allowing individuals the opportunity to create practical solutions for the emotional needs of humanity. February is a month of fresh ideas and unexpected insights that can be used to service humanity if we have the courage to break from the ideas of the past. 

Interested readers can visit www.LaurenLesko.com to read additional commentary on the relevance of astrology in daily life.

Liberating the blessed essence
By Alejandro Negrete

Lecture Series
Teachings from Spirit
Alejandro Negrete 
Eight-week series; fifth class:
Heart of Light
Fri, Feb 6, noon–1pm
Sala Quetzal 
Biblioteca Pública
Insurgentes 25
50 pesos

“What is it that hardens the heart? Anger, gluttony and desperation make the soul inanimate, they solidify it, yet those are only conditioning factors imposed by the “I.” Within those solidified walls, the monad, the blessed essence is being shrouded. We must allow the spirit to awaken it from its dream so that it may be liberated. When the monad awakens, everything becomes different. By coming close to the heart every day, in each moment, the monad, the essence will awaken.

Believing that life is only destructive dulls the essence, for in thinking this way, one imitates the world of suffering and transforms the illusory into reality. To be able to act from the spirit that dwells within you is desirable and ideal. Though that effort at the beginning is clumsy, that should not stop you, only make you advance a little more each day, so that in the end you will be closer to your true self, and finally one with it.

Do not despair if you see that you have a hard heart. Many do, and yet the spirit has the power to touch all hearts and return them to the light; it ignites them and reconstructs them. Return through love; leave behind your rancor, cease expressing your words tinged with evil, and you will see your heart’s light shine more brightly every day.

The “I” is the factor within the psyche that hardens the heart. This “I” is fundamentally the belief in a separate, self-existent self. It is this “I” which all esoteric traditions speak of as the illusion, for though we believe its many manifestations within our psyche to be real, in truth, they are purely ephemeral and insubstantial. 

That is why the path of return, of awakening our heart from its sleep, has to do with the transcendence of these illusory aspects within the mind. But we must first be able to establish a connection to that which is true within us. By having a direct experience of love, of the light within us, we establish a point of reference through which we can undertake to deconstruct the illusion within our minds. It is this process that awakens our essence and liberates it.

This teaching reminds us that it is only through love that we can come to know, experience and express love. We must stop enacting the “I’s” ways of thinking, feeling and acting. We must stop feeding the negativity within our minds, the belief that life is destructive, empty, or meaningless. Instead, the purpose of life is to experience happiness, love and peace. We don’t reach this through repressing ourselves; we reach it through penetrating deeply within and discovering that what we have believed to be real, is not. The illusions we have acted out in the past which have created our suffering are dispelled through wisdom, clarity and true vision. We may be clumsy in our efforts at the beginning, but through determination we eventually come to experience life as our true self does; to think, feel and act as it does, and thus we come to witness our heart’s radiant light shine more brightly each day.


Alejandro Negrete is a certified facilitator and teacher of the Pneuma System. He offers spiritual counseling, Christic Reiki Healing and Pneuma Breathwork sessions in his private practice. He also teaches the second module of the Pneuma System called The Transpersonal Universe during January and February. Info: alepneuma@yahoo.com.  Pneuma System: www.inkarri.org.  




 


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