The First Sphere
The doorway to the practice of Ascension is the First Sphere course as taught by the Ishayas. It gives the fundamental intellectual understanding of Ascension and it gives the opportunity to directly experience the Ascension Attitudes. This is an experiential teaching and hence personal experience of the Ascension Attitudes is extremely important.
It is very helpful to start in a setting that is supporting the inward movement and also with the competent guidance there to help and clarify any misunderstandings from the get go. In that way the student has the maximal opportunity to benefit from Ascension from the very beginning and start to integrate it into the normal daily life right after being in the course.
Everyone has a personal story of coming to Ascension and a unique way of experiencing the teaching and the Ascension Attitudes. For myself one of the striking and very enlivening aspects of Ascension was the fact that I can do it all the time. After the first evening on Friday I drove home and could hardly contain my joy for the fact that I could Ascend while I was driving.
To me this meant that there was no time lost ever again in my life if I remembered to use the Ascension Attitudes eyes open and eyes closed. To me this resonated so much with how I believed a spiritual practice that is based on Reality should work. And the fact that there is no order of difficulty in practicing Ascension. The only difficulty in our life appears when our minds and perceptions become colored with stress and unreality, namely fear. If it is our choice to see beyond that, then a different and easier way of living life opens and becomes available.
The First Sphere is like a foundation in the house that we are building. If the foundation is solid and strong then so will be the house that is structured on top of it. The First Sphere is designed specifically to be used both eyes open and eyes closed. With the simple choice to Ascend we can structure our human nervous system and our consciousness to align with the original pure state of being, what the Ishayas call the Ascendant.
Even the first Attitude can do that for us. For the sake of speed and comfort the Ishayas have been very gracious in giving us a series of Ascension Attitudes even all the way up to the Seventh Sphere. It is not the amount of Attitudes, however, but our application of
them that matters. With commitment even one Attitude of Praise could take us to the goal of human life. Without commitment even the Seven Spheres won’t get us there. Choice is what matters and the First Sphere Ascension Attitudes can be the way that we approach everything in our life. That has power and especially when that becomes a personal, enlivened and real experience of the present moment.
Nataraja Ishaya
The Basic Three
“…We need this Teaching; without it, I can’t see much hope for our survival.”
“Believe in it that much, do you?”
“Yes, I guess I do.”
“That is pretty impressive, especially since you’ve only received the first three techniques, you said? There are supposed to be twenty seven, are there not? Seven Spheres, with each Sphere more powerful than the one before? Well, I wonder if your Ascension is all that special. I’ve heard the first three techniques are pretty obvious. Simple little things everybody already knows.”
“They are simple, and everybody does have some idea of them, but I don’t think anyone else uses them as we do, or focuses on them much. These three are basic, which is why a deep focus on them is so transforming. I’ve found Ascension to be extremely enjoyable, peaceful and restful; it is radically changing my entire life. I used to get worried all the time; I’d get stuck in pointless cycles that kept running, endlessly, on and on and on. That’s almost stopped now – whenever I find myself caught by the old way of thinking and feeling, I just slip in one of the Ascension Attitudes; the old feelings break up almost immediately; my mind switches back to innocence, leaving me free, no longer stuck in my past.”
MSI, First Thunder
Remember than we never strain in Ascension.
When you are doing your eyes closed Ascension practice choose a comfortable place and a comfortable position whether that is sitting up or lying down.
The purpose is to be comfortable enough so that you don’t have to put attention on the physical body too much.
On the other hand if you need to change your position or scratch an itch feel free to do that. It will not adversely affect your Ascension.
It will be a greater hindrance to try to keep your self in a certain position or in a certain type of feeling or experience.
As long as we are completely simple Ascension will work for us.
|
|
 |
The Four Feet of the First Thunder
“And tell all the others of the Earth, all the good and sincere people of all nations, Ascension is real, Praise and Gratitude and Love and Compassion are the four feet of the First Thunder, the four syllables of the first Word of God.
Ask them to experience Ascension for themselves, to learn to share the knowledge of these four with everyone they know, with everyone who is ready for them.
A new sun will dawn for those who flow with these four in each and every moment; these are the master keys to unlock all the mysteries of Creation. To those who can board the swiftly moving ship of Ascension, they will be carried to the glory of heaven. We will rejoice together again under the new Sun of love and manifest splendor.
Tell them – the future will be beyond imagining in glory and wonder. Ask each of them to do what he or she can to share this information. Never underestimate the importance of this Teaching; never miss an opportunity to help spread it. Tell them! Tell them all!”
MSI, First Thunder
|
The Supporting Attitudes
It will be most difficult to make love, Praise, or gratitude a permanent quality if you fail to brake to habit of judging by appearances. The problems and sorrows on the human level cannot be ignored as though they were non-existent. It is only by keeping your eye single to the glory of my presence, the glory lying underneath appearances, that you are able to become familiar with the “everlasting arms” of Holy Spirit.
All the while the web of appearances may be there to contend with. But let your troubled heart be still in the midst of this great storm while the three Ascension Attitudes wake up your Father consciousness. The Father has dominion over any storm that rages.
If you keep looking at appearances and judging difficulties to be my will, it is the same as closing off the avenue through which I help you.
Ruby Nelson, The Door of Everything
Root Stresses
Praise. The Praise Ascension Attitude corrects the fundamental stress of the modern world, that something is wrong with the individual life. This Attitude by itself is sufficient to generate full enlightenment, but because of most individuals’ life-long habit of strain and divided minds, more techniques will usually be required to perfect growth, nevertheless, the first Attitude is sufficient unto itself and will usually prove the most useful for transforming the grossest levels of beliefs and judgments about life. This Attitude above all others can be used any time of the day or night when it seems that individual life is not progressing as well as it could.
Gratitude. Similar in power for transforming the root stresses of modern life is the Gratitude Attitude. The focus here is on the objective world; this technique is designed to cure all erroneous beliefs and concepts about the body and the external Universe. It is the master key for unlocking belief in limitations of the body, in sickness and in death; it is also the first stage in mastery of the outer world. As such, it is invaluable for healing disease of any and all kinds.
Love. For many, the Love Attitude is the sweetest of the first three; it is designed to heal all the misconceptions about our relationship with the Ascendant itself. Together, the first three techniques are capable of removing all beliefs and judgments about the limited nature of the three primary divisions in human life: subjective, objective and spiritual. These three Attitudes together are sufficient for anyone to climb to enlightenment. Further techniques are for greater acceleration.
Compassion. The Fourth Technique clarifies the relationship of the individual with all other human beings and animals. Invincibility in human life is the result of mastery of consciousness; this is based in harmlessness. (Harmlessness is called ahimsa in the ancient literature. Mastery of ahimsa means that no creatures ever have the enmity toward you or will knowingly harm you.) Harmlessness is established by the full development of compassion; which is the automatic by-product of this technique. Universal Compassion is the requirement for enlightenment from the standpoint of the Ascendant. Only those who have proven they will not abuse their power are given the key to the Door of Everything.
MSI, Ascension!
Stepping Into the First Sphere
As for me and the First Sphere, I couldn't not do it. While listening to the teachers recommend 20 minutes 3 times a day, I was sure there was no way.
After practicing at home, it was more than 20 minutes for sure. Within three minutes of repeating the Love Attitude for the first time, I was hooked.
I realized that it was true....for the first time in my life, I believed it. I knew that this was not an ordinary thing to do, it was the real thing.
Using the practice with my eyes open, the road rage was gone. Normally I would awake in the middle of the night, then be angry that I could not fall back asleep and be very tired the next day. When I learned to Ascend, I would use the Ascension Attitudes when I awoke, there was no anger, I would Ascend most of the night and still be rested in the morning.
Again I could not believe how easy it was with such profound effects. When I heard puja for the first time, I knew I had heard it before.....tears streamed down my face, unconditional love blew me away.
Isvari Ishaya
--------------------
I never attended a First Sphere when I learned to ascend in '95, but then there weren't any being taught until after I learned the 1st praise attitude and the second gratitude attitude. In fact when I first learned to Ascend it took about a month for me to get the first four attitudes.
There were three teachers teaching Ascension when I learned the first 4 attitudes that collectively make up what we call "The First Sphere," MSI, and two others that he taught.
I didn't know anything about MSI or the teachers, and what I knew about Ascension was only what I had read in the four books, Ascension, Enlightenment, and, First and Second Thunder.
Even tho I read the books I still didn't really have any idea what Ascension was.
How could I? We really don't understand something until we begin to master it.
I had a hunger inside me, one that was moving me toward a discovery about my relationship with everything. I couldn't live in the world any longer and ignore everything around me, somehow it was all calling out to me, and because of it I was reading books and listening to new age dialogue and thinking to myself, "This is crazy, everyone talks like they know something and yet the more I hear the less I know."
By the time I found the flyer that described the course, I was still trying to settle myself in everything that I had heard from others, tried to live my life the way the books, the channelers, the psychics and even the psychologist that was trying to help my marriage had told me.
What I wanted was a cure for all that was wrong, and a ticket to instant salvation or an end to the mystery and fear of not knowing or understanding something and sometimes everything.
My first Ascension attitude was given to me after I had ignored the information that was taught and I had already read in the Ascension book. What I read in the book made sense but what I read in the thunder books inspired me to think the techniques were going to drive my mind into an alternate universe and have God himself give a discourse into the meaning of life. I wasn't really listening to what Sarah (the teacher) was telling me, because I was too busy thinking about what was going to happen as a result of the techniques when I got them. I think everyone has some expectations about what their enlightenment is about. We dream of possibilities and explanations to answer questions we have about the way the universe works and how we are supposed to fit into it.
First off when teaching the first sphere, we emphasize that this is an experiential teaching, that regardless of what we say in the First Sphere you do not have to believe anything we say, we only encourage you to apply Ascension into your daily lives and reap the benefits. I guess I applied this unconsciously since I wasn't really paying attention to the lecture but dreaming of experiences.
The benefits are so many and they actually lead us full circle, back to where we were when we started. We don't change who we are because we are always experiencing what we believe is real, and even as we become aware of the consciousness behind relative reality, the experience of that and relative reality continues and evolves as we become less attached to it through the ego. So where we began is where we end so to speak because we really don't go anywhere.... There is a Self witnessing the thoughts and the experiences, and an ego which correlates the experiences into something, and or nothing.
Mahadeva Ishaya
--------------------
Before I had all the money, a house and a good job. I did a lot of spiritual stuff and meditated. But I was still seeking for deeper freedom inside. I go to the 1st sphere because my friend pushed me into it. She told me I can’t lose anything, but I can gain a lot. I went because of her and I didn’t understand most of the course, but what I liked was the simple tools and especially the last technique. When I received that I felt I came home and all my seeking ended.
Dharaman Ishaya
New Ishaya's Ascension Browser Toolbar
We now have an Ishayas' Ascension themed browser toolbar! The toolbar has many great features including a pretty graphic, a link to our website, feeds from the new Ascension blog (ascendingcurrent.blogspot.com), plentiful customizable gadgets, and when searches are run through it's search portal it generates revenue (2500 active users would equal $7,000!).
Downloading it is free and easy and it works for P.C.s and Macs (install the firefox version). Just click on this link www.theishayatradition.OurToolbar.com, then click to download either the Windows version or the firefox version, once is has downloaded then allow it to be the primary toolbar. If you have other toolbars they won't be removed. If you have any questions feel free to email ishtarishaya@hotmail.com.
Teacher Training 2009
Oct. 1st, 2008 – April 1st, 2009
A $2,200 non-refundable deposit will reserve your space for this course.
The course fee is:
$10,800 USD, if paid in full by June 1.
$12,800 USD, if paid in full by August 1.
$14,800 USD, if paid in full by Oct 1.
($2,200 of the above fee is nonrefundable).
Space is limited
Call 1-888-474-2921 for application
The minimum requirement
to attend Teacher Training is the First Sphere of techniques,
and a one week Ascension retreat.
Our Websites
The Ishaya Foundation
http://www.theishayafoundation.org
Hong Kong website
http://www.theishayafoundation.asia
European website
http://www.theishayafoundation.eu
-------------------------------------------------
This is the 38th edition of the Ishaya Foundation newsletter.
If you wish to unsubscribe please email mailinglist@theishayafoundation.org.
To contact us, please email contact@theishayafoundation.org or
phone 1-888-ISHAYA1
|
|
|
|
