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Esther's
Story Continues
When the king extended his scepter to her, granting her life, she did not immediately ask him for what she wanted.
No, she invited him (and his advisor - the one who had schemed against her people) to dinner. At dinner that night,
she invited him to dinner again the next night. And then, she invited him to dinner once again.
The king knew that she had something on her mind. Clearly, she did not put her life at risk in order to
invite him and his advisor over for a little dinner party. But she drew out the dramatic tension of her request...
How did Esther ... cultivate the personal discipline that let [her] carry through these challenges?
This self-discipline kept Esther from falling apart in the midst of harem intrigues, and from blurting
out a bald and panicked request when she first saw the king. Esther ...
had more than an ability to "keep it together" under stress. [She] had not only personal
discipline and emotional self-control, but also spiritual depth.
At their very core ..., we see the essence of stillness.
Esther had this. She was already deep into her spiritual practice, because when the challenge arose,
she didn't fuss or flail. She didn't go into emotional spasms, or consult with her advisors.
Instead, she meditated, fasted, and prayed. (According to the story, she not only went without
food for three days, but without water as well! This pushed her to the limits of human endurance.)
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How Does Esther's
Story Relate to Our Lives
Esther opted for stillness, along with fasting and prayer, when she had to decide how she would
respond to the annihilation threat to her people. Then, once her answer emerged, she took action.
The means by which we deal with not only big life crises, but a whole range of challenges,
is to is to develop our spiritual core. This includes challenges that pragmatically arise
as we cultivate our High Priestess life-integration. Our solution, in advance of these challenges
arising, is to practice stillness in our souls. Then our "outer expression,"
whether our inner energy is fully evoked or carefully subdued and banked, becomes powerful and effective.
This is because our "outer expression" resonates against a backdrop of stillness.
Esoteric Judaic studies revere the feminine presence of God as Shekhinah.
This was carried into the Gnostic tradition of Sophia. While revering the feminine aspect of God has been
devastating to many (the annihilation of the Cathars is one example, the Inquisition which followed is yet another),
honoring Mother God is still common throughout the world, and is the oldest form of religion within our European-based culture.
Nevertheless, in our Judeo/Christian/Muslim cultures, we have only limited access to a tradition honoring the Divine Feminine.
And thus, we are rarely brought into the stillness that comes through knowing Her.
Tune in at the end of this week (Friday, March 25th) for the next installment of
Chapter 8: The Essence of Stillness. In honor of the Persian New Year, Nowruz,
we'll learn how the "essence of stillness" helped Scheheredaze subdue a king who was
bedding and then killing a virgin each night!
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