In brief
• This week in focus: On Freedom, Truth… & bits and pieces
• Spiritual Awakening
Spiritual Formation - one-on-one deepening work
• Meditation
Balingup Wednesday evening - 6 - 7:30 pm
Winter sessions resume in August
• Education
Home Schooling (teens) Balingup area - 9:30 - 2:30
Nannup - proposed new community school
• TAROT
RECORDED series: Tarot, Ascending the Sefirot
Aligning Mind Body and Soul - Russell Sturgess
Kat’s Sage tarot reading offerings (and more)
Youtube - David’s interview with myself
A beautiful CONVER Marseille deck reprint
Purchase my book…
• Yoga
Balingup - Thursdays 10am and 6pm
Yallingup - see below for details
• ASEA Supplement and Renu28 - information and ordering
• Share - and subscribe - sage.fourhares.com
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This week in focus
on Freedom, Truth and bits and pieces
Perhaps I should start with the bits and pieces first! Or rather, the foundational core of freedom… for freedom has to include, in some for or other, an inner autonomy that is itself deeply connected to love and to wisdom.
Those ‘bits and pieces’, inevitably include the means through which we engage in the world: not only developing an Innenwelt that specifically allows the world to truly (even if only ever partially) unveil itself to consciousness, as well as the development of inner virtues that are more than simple guiding principles, but rather an inner way of being that radiates (and not simply reflects) love for that to which behold.
Freedom from compulsion (whether internal or external) is of course perhaps an obvious consideration when speaking of freedom in general. However, freedom towards an action or towards an inner response (not ‘reaction’!), brings with it the capacity to direct one’s life in a meaningful way.
Truth, of course, here has a vital role to play. Yet it is so all too common to consider truth as complete. I am reminded (again) of the story of the blind who describe, by analogy, an elephant:
A group of blind men heard that a strange animal, called an elephant, had been brought to the town, but none of them were aware of its shape and form. Out of curiosity, they said: "We must inspect and know it by touch, of which we are capable". So, they sought it out, and when they found it they groped about it. The first person, whose hand landed on the trunk, said, "This being is like a thick snake". For another one whose hand reached its ear, it seemed like a kind of fan. As for another person, whose hand was upon its leg, said, the elephant is a pillar like a tree-trunk. The blind man who placed his hand upon its side said the elephant, "is a wall". Another who felt its tail, described it as a rope. The last felt its tusk, stating the elephant is that which is hard, smooth and like a spear.
Each felt a genuine, a real, element of the real elephant. The connection to existing understanding, however, lead each, to some extent, astray. Or did it? In the experience as-it-is, the correctness of their respective insight remains truthful and correct. Our difficulty is that we are ongoingly inwardly committed to understand an experience (even more so new ones) through reference to existing or past experiences and, importantly, existing insights. Think of how to describe the taste and texture of a ripe pear. It is uniquely as-it-is. And only love unveils as only it may unveil.
As Steiner writes in the introduction to his most important work The Philosophy of Freedom,
It is said that love makes us blind to the failings of the loved
one. But this can be expressed the other way round, namely, that it is just for the good qualities that love opens the eyes. Many pass by these good qualities without noticing them. One, however, perceives them, and just because he does, love awakens in his soul.
He writes this as, virtually, a preamble to describing the very possibility of freedom. Love is an essential characteristic. Love opens the inner eyes, opens conscious awareness, precisely to the existing qualities of that which is beheld.
To act in freedom, an awakening, a sensing into the moral qualities of that with which one has to engage, a sense of purpose or direction, a deep inner knowing, have to be present….
In a different context, Laura Aboli recently wrote (in referencing the relatively recent fiasco of the covid-19 response):
The awakening journey has tested all of us in ways we never imagined.
For most of us, there was very little praise and plenty of ridicule. We were mocked, dismissed, censored, labelled, and isolated for daring to question the narratives we were told to accept. We lost friendships, opportunities, and sometimes even the approval of those closest to us. Yet we kept going.
Why? Because deep down, we knew this was never simply about being right. It was about being true to ourselves.
Freedom always comes at a price in a world where everything has been commoditised, where conformity is rewarded and authenticity is often punished. The real battle was never against governments, institutions, or media narratives. The real battle was against the pressure to betray our own conscience in exchange for comfort, acceptance, or convenience.
Every one of us knows what it feels like to stand against a current determined to mould us into something we are not. To remain silent when every instinct tells you to speak. To surrender your convictions so you can fit in. To trade your integrity for approval.
Many chose that path, but we did not. And in refusing to bend, something remarkable happened. We did not merely preserve who we were, we became more of who we were meant to be. Stronger, wiser, more resilient. More capable of standing alone when necessary.
Freedom is never given. It is reclaimed, often at great personal cost.
Looking back now, I think the greatest victory was not exposing lies or predicting events. It was remaining true to ourselves through praise and insult, through gain and loss, through certainty and doubt.
Not only did we endure the journey, we evolved because of it.
And I think we’ve passed the test.
Freedom, as Laura writes, is never given, instead it is reclaimed… a reclaiming that may only ever be achieved through truth, through love, through awareness towards the good and the beautiful, undertaken with virtue and wisdom, developed and nourished through inner strength and temperance, aware of that which is just, having faith, and shining our own inner light of hope.
Dive in to your own inner journey
Spiritual Formation
Personal Development has traditionally focussed on spiritual formation. In the manner that I work, I include practices inclusive of imagery and meditation. If you are interested in finding out more, please be in contact.
Following an initial consultation, deepening work requires commitment for a once-a-month meeting for either 6 or 12 months (renewable if desired).
Wednesday evening
Meditation
Balingup - Balingup Yoga Studio
opposite Tinderbox on Brockman Street
Wednesdays 6 pm - 7:30 pm (last session for this set)
Resumes 5th August
Term 3 2026 - 5th August - 23rd September (8 weeks)
Home schooling 12-17 y.o.
Text: Richard Bach’s Jonathan Livingston Seagull
9:30 – 11:30 BOOK – Richard Bach Jonathan Livingston Seagull
12:30 – 2:30 ART – focussed on Labyrinths
Please obtain a copy of the book.
You will also need, for the art, a drawing book (ideally A4 or larger).
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Also in the pipeworks:
Tarot News
Tarot
My recorded series tarot-course is now available in English and Italian (more languages coming):
to keep in mind
Yoga
Yoga
KYWA 2025 Summer solstice celebration
Balingup - Balingup Yoga Studio
opposite Tinderbox on Brockman Street
Thursday 10 am - with Jean-Michel
Thursday 6 pm - with Jean-Michel
Injidup - Kundalini Yoga Southwest
Thursday 6:00 am - DM Devi on @kundalini_southwest
Friday 6:00 am - DM Devi on @kundalini_southwest
Saturday 8:00 am - DM Devi on @kundalini_southwest
Contact form, share the newsletter subscription, and read through my older website!
ASEA
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