Conversations about Meher Baba

Late Night Chat with Jeff Wolverton: Self-Effacement part 2, Aug 20, 2023, live on Baba Zoom

We have some informal chat after every arti, the "post-arti party"! But once a week, Jeff Wolverton joins us for some serious mining of the spiritual depths. Join us for conversation, more readings, songs, quotes - you never know what treasures will be uncovered! Topic: Effort and Grace, Self-Effacement, Part 2Dear folks of Baba, This Sunday we will again explore Darwin Shaw’s book, Effort and Grace, which is an in-depth inquiry into the inner life with Baba. It describes one of the major approaches to Baba by one who was devoted to Him for over 70 years, which culminated in a glorious intimacy with Him. Darwin was always so encouraging and optimistic in what we can do to open up to Baba’s immediate loving presence. He asserts that many of the blocks to this intimacy can be removed by our efforts and by inviting Baba’s ongoing intervention and grace. One of you wrote this to me in an email after last Sunday’s Effort and Grace session: "Darwin also talks about self esteem of the spirit. What came up this morning was that as we grow in self esteem of the spirit, it is easier to allow for self effacement of the personality self. We can shift our identities to spirit-connection to Baba—and away from personality self.” This clarifies so succinctly the dynamic of moving from identifying with our personality self (ego) toward experiencing the state of self-effacement in drawing closer to Baba. Baba’s definition of self-effacement is not easy to understand. In most people’s minds, effacing oneself is equated with modesty, shyness, not putting ourself forward. Baba gives an entirely different meaning to the word effacement. It is effacing the totality of the personality self, not just withholding parts of our behavior in some way. In fact, it is possible to be very assertive in some circumstances and still be self-effacing according to Baba’s definition, if we are taking our stand on the Truth. One way of thinking about effacement as mentioned in the email is this: in essence we are the soul or spirit, which is beyond our sanskaras, beyond impressions. We are timeless and beyond space in essence, as Darwin would frequently say. But our consciousness has gotten identified with our personality self (the ego) which is made up of a finite bundle of countless impressions (sanskaras) that we’ve accumulated over lifetimes. It is an imitation self, a false self, that is just mimicking, and masquerading as, our real self. And as we identify more and more with our real self (our spirit or soul)—that is, the Love that we are, Baba Himself—we are automatically effacing ourselves, our false self, our imitation self. As Baba has said, as we turn toward the sun, our shadow is behind us; we are turning away from our shadow self, so to speak. And in doing so, our personality self is being effaced automatically. It is like eliminating weed grass by just not watering it. As we turn more and more to the sun (Baba), we are tuning into our spirit self from which flow our divine attributes or qualities (our better angels) directly from Baba—among them, forgiveness, patience, courage, humor, honesty, empathy, compassion, generosity, poise, enthusiasm and purity. Rather than forever battling the selfishness of our personality self, we are emphasizing our positive nature, our better angels, as we dissolve gradually in Baba’s Love and Light. And as we experience our divine side more and more, we are more amenable to allowing Baba to dismantle our personality self (our ego) and replace it with Himself. Not that this is a painless process, but with Baba as our Companion we know we are not alone in this. Each session evokes invaluable discussion that does not require having attended the previous sessions; each section stands alone and provides a window into the inner life of the lover/Beloved relationship and is virtually independent, like facets of one diamond—Baba. For those who do not have a copy of the book, below is an attachment for following along:https://issuu.com/ompoint/docs/shaw_effort_graceTo join the email list for Late Night Chats, contact AngelaThis event was recorded live. To be first to be notified of a new video on this channel, please hit the red subscribe button, then the notifications bell. To join future live events, see www.babazoom.net. Please join our Facebook group: www.facebook.com/groups/meherbabafamily

Late Night Chat with Margi Connor &Peter Goodman: You and Baba, Aug 17, 2023, live on Baba Zoom

Late night chat centered around our Beloved. A sharing of hearts led by Margi Connor and Peter Goodman.Jai Baba all!We have had a few weeks of discussing and focusing on incredible topics. I am so grateful for the openness and acceptance from all of you. We will soon continue to dive deep into topics that are a bit uncharted. This week we will turn the focus on to you and your Beloved.We all have different phases and seasons of life with Baba. Sometimes He feels ever-present and other times He can feel harder to access. At times, He is helping us work through some BIG, while sometimes He is just a friend going through the day-to-day with you. No matter what it is. We all want to hear it. Looking forward to hearing updates from all of you. In His Love, Margi and PeterTo join the email list for Late Night Chats, please contact AngelaThis event was recorded live. To be first to be notified of a new video on this channel, please hit the red subscribe button, then the notifications bell. To join future live events, see www.babazoom.net. Please join our Facebook group: www.facebook.com/groups/meherbabafamily

Late Night Chat with Jeff Wolverton: Self-Effacement, Aug 13, 2023, live on Baba Zoom

We have some informal chat after every arti, the "post-arti party"! But once a week, Jeff Wolverton joins us for some serious mining of the spiritual depths. Join us for conversation, more readings, songs, quotes - you never know what treasures will be uncovered! Dear folks of Baba, This Sunday we will again explore Darwin Shaw’s book, Effort and Grace, which is an in-depth inquiry into the inner life with Baba. It describes one of the major approaches to Baba by one who was devoted to Him for over 70 years, which culminated in a glorious intimacy with Him. Darwin was always so encouraging and optimistic in what we can do to open up to Baba’s immediate loving presence. He asserts that many of the blocks to this intimacy can be removed by our efforts and by inviting Baba’s ongoing intervention and grace.There are two major paths that Baba describes on our way to the Goal. There is the path of realizing our spiritual potential, going up through the planes of consciousness from the gross to the subtle to the mental (the planes of the saints) on to God Realization. The other path that Baba is taking most of the mandali and His lovers on is the path of self-effacement in which the personality self is vacated to make room for Baba to move in. Gradually, He takes over, and more and more, we become "the pure witness". Darwin spoke extensively about this path. There is the line from the Bible that Kitty Davy, one of the women mandali, used to often quote, “Not I, but Christ liveth in me.” Darwin would say that while using our consciousness or awareness, most of us look at life through the lens of our personality self, and so everything is colored and distorted by our past impressions (our sanskaras or conditioning accumulated over countless lifetimes). Consciousness, he would explain, is riveted to the personality self and can only see everything through the personality self. From this perspective, to all intents and purposes, we ARE the personality self. In the path of self-effacement, we seek to detach ourselves from seeing through our personality self and instead to see only through pure awareness or consciousness (the soul). Always with an amused and enigmatic smile on his face, Darwin used to say, “Sooner or later, you discover you are nobody, and that is not an unhappy discovery!” It is possible through Baba’s grace to set the personality self aside and see with the eyes of pure awareness. We become the witness, and as such we are “nobody". It is an entirely new perspective, very liberating, and very gradually everyone and everything is seen in its immediate and timeless freshness. It leads eventually in its highest aspect to what Mani, Baba’s sister, used to say, “You have to see things through Baba’s eyes.” I take this to mean that when we witness life through the eyes of empathy and compassion, we are moving toward seeing things through Baba’s eyes. Until Mani shared this, I didn’t realize there was such an option!Here is a poem by Bill Ramsey, a dear friend, entitled, “Renovations”I sit, gutted and dazed.You have broken down my drywall, Ripped out the insulation,Mangled the wiring and plumbing, Split open the rafters beams, And bulldozed my foundation.Divine Beloved, thank You for moving in.Each session evokes invaluable discussion that does not require having attended the previous sessions; each section stands alone and provides a window into the inner life of the lover/Beloved relationship and is virtually independent, like facets of one diamond—Baba. For those who do not have a copy of the book, below is an attachment for following along:https://issuu.com/ompoint/docs/shaw_effort_graceTo join the email list for Late Night Chats, contact AngelaThis event was recorded live. To be first to be notified of a new video on this channel, please hit the red subscribe button, then the notifications bell. To join future live events, see www.babazoom.net. Please join our Facebook group: www.facebook.com/groups/meherbabafamily

Late Night Chat with Margi Connor &Peter Goodman: Gender& Sexuality, Aug 10, 2023, live on Baba Zoom

Late night chat centered around our Beloved. A sharing of hearts led by Margi Connor and Peter Goodman.Jai Baba!I want to thank of you those who joined in on the late night chat last Thursday night. It was a conversation filled with so much openness and insight. I appreciate all of you.This week we have a special guest to lead the discussion. We will be joined by David McKeever, who lead multiple conversations and discussion groups at the Youth Sahavas regarding gender and sexuality in life with Baba. David has attended the YS as a camper as well as staff, always making a tremendous impact with their open-heartedness and love. David uses them/they pronouns and takes on the concept of gender norms with enthusiasm. They do this not just from an academic lens, but marrying the inner spiritual life with it. For all who don't recognize the last name, they are the younger sibling to one of my best friends and podcast co-host, Michelle McKeever.I have asked David to come on and lead this discussion for a number of reasons. Personally, I feel underqualified due to my inexperience; David has grown up with Baba as a part of their life while living in the world as a queer person. They spent many years hiding and not accepting themselves fully, but this shifted for them in high school when they took their first women's studies class. David then continued on to college where they completed their bachelor's of arts in women's, gender, and sexuality studies. They have spent much of their adult life researching concepts of gender norms, etc.They are knowledgeable beyond belief and I encourage you all to ask David as many questions as you can. David lead these discussions at the Youth Sahavas with such poise, openness, and acceptance that all shame or confusion that may go along with this conversation just disappeared. Along with their academic work and research, they are deeply connected to Baba and extremely knowledgeable about what Baba said regarding male and female incarnations, homosexuality, etc.We are a lucky bunch to have David as a guest, and even luckier to have them lead this conversation that is so important. The intention is to create a space to have a conversation that allows for deep sharing, openness, and curiosity. Looking forward to seeing all of you there.In His Love, Margi To join the email list for Late Night Chats, please contact AngelaThis event was recorded live. To be first to be notified of a new video on this channel, please hit the red subscribe button, then the notifications bell. To join future live events, see www.babazoom.net. Please join our Facebook group: www.facebook.com/groups/meherbabafamily

Late Night Chat with Jeff Wolverton: Spiritual Flow (Effort& Grace), Aug 6, 2023, live on Baba Zoom

We have some informal chat after every arti, the "post-arti party"! But once a week, Jeff Wolverton joins us for some serious mining of the spiritual depths. Join us for conversation, more readings, songs, quotes - you never know what treasures will be uncovered! Topic: Maintaining Our Spiritual FlowDear folks of Baba, This Sunday we will again explore Darwin Shaw’s book, Effort and Grace, which is an in-depth inquiry into the inner life with Baba. It describes one of the major approaches to Baba by one who was devoted to Him for over 70 years, which culminated in a glorious intimacy with Him. Darwin was always so encouraging and optimistic in what we can do to open up to Baba’s immediate loving presence. He asserts that many of the blocks to this intimacy can be removed by our efforts and by inviting Baba’s ongoing intervention and grace. We are starting on a new chapter, Maintaining Our Spiritual Flow, on page 81. Darwin often spoke of consciously keeping up our inner momentum of dissolving in Baba’s loving presence and resisting the tendency to give in to inertia, the conventional way of the world. It requires great sensitivity to tune into our inner current at the level of the heart: Is it flowing toward Baba and our life in the world or is it stalled and even receding. Because, Darwin would say, once we get trapped in spiritual inertia, it has a way of sabotaging our efforts to draw closer to Baba. It puts off our efforts till tomorrow; it causes us to get too caught up in duties that drain our inner vitality, distracting us from remembering Baba. Returning again and again to Baba in our thoughts and heart center is ever available to keep our inner vitality alive. As Baba said, “Don’t go anywhere without Me.” There is a lovely quote from Rumi where he says,Faith is the sail hoisted above the shipof your being. When there is a sail,the wind of the Beloved’s Love can carry youto place after place of grace and wonder. Without a sail, your ship will only driftwith the tide of the world.These lines highlight Darwin’s emphasis on momentum. Each session evokes invaluable discussion that does not require having attended the previous sessions; each section stands alone and provides a window into the inner life of the lover/Beloved relationship and is virtually independent, like facets of one diamond—Baba. For those who do not have a copy of the book, below is an attachment for following along:https://issuu.com/ompoint/docs/shaw_effort_graceTo join the email list for Late Night Chats, contact AngelaThis event was recorded live. To be first to be notified of a new video on this channel, please hit the red subscribe button, then the notifications bell. To join future live events, see www.babazoom.net. Please join our Facebook group: www.facebook.com/groups/meherbabafamily

Late Night Chat with Margi Connor &Peter Goodman: Role of Women, Aug 3, 2023, live on Baba Zoom

Late night chat centered around our Beloved. A sharing of hearts led by Margi Connor and Peter Goodman.Jai Baba!This is a topic I have been wanting to do for some time, but didn't quite know how to spearhead it properly. With the help of Jeff, and some other lovely folks I am gonna give it a try. I do want to preface it with my intention for this topic. I hope to make this a safe space where all feel comfortable expressing their own speculations or intuitive feelings about the work Baba was doing with the women. I know there are no particular answers to these questions, but feel there is much to be contemplated and discussed. I encourage everyone to share any feelings or thoughts they may have and ask that all accept these with love as just personal observations. It cannot be argued that women played a tremendous role in Baba's work. In this Avataric advent, he spent a large chunk of His time and attention focused on the women. There are so many levels to this. I am often fascinated with all the various ways Baba divided the women up or the work delegated to them. I want to give you all a list of some of the things I have noticed just to get your minds spinning. Feel free to stray off of what I come up with here.Mehera: -"She is my very breath without which I cannot live". Baba lifted Mehera and highlighted just how important was to Him. -Keeping Mehera away from any male contact for a large majority of her life. -Her suffering was equal to His in the accident in OK. At the accident site, when the ambulance arrived Baba told them to go to Mehera before Himself. -Mehera's unrelenting grief after Baba dropped the body -Baba having Mehera stand on the porch and greeting the men mandali for the first time in 1968 -Baba referring to her as the representation of Maya -purest soul in the UniverseMani: -chairwoman of the trust -her balance of feminine and masculine energy -said to have her last life before being one of the perfect masters -her role to care for mehera -her childlike cheerfulness -the least injured in the OK accidentThe Western Women: -most of the western women were heavily involved in the world in some way or of some high social status -women were appointed to find, establish, and run His home in the west(Meher Spiritual Center)The Eastern Women: -Baba lived in the house with them, rather than with the men -thoughts on the women in the early days(Gulmai, Shireen, etc)The Women in General: -the women's shrines are on upper Meherabad hill with Baba while the men in lower meherabad -the accident in the west was only with women -some traveling in Baba's life was exclusively with the women while others with the men -the exclusivity of the guest house or mehera's bed in meherazad and no such places for any of the men, etcThis is just a short list of some of the things that interest me. This is something that takes up much of my focus and fascinates me deeply so I cannot wait to hear all you feel or speculate about Baba's work in the world and empowerment of the feminine.In His Love, Margi and PeterTo join the email list for Late Night Chats, please contact AngelaThis event was recorded live. To be first to be notified of a new video on this channel, please hit the red subscribe button, then the notifications bell. To join future live events, see www.babazoom.net. Please join our Facebook group: www.facebook.com/groups/meherbabafamily

Late Night Chat with Jeff Wolverton: Margi Connor, July 30, 2023, live on Baba Zoom

We have some informal chat after every arti, the "post-arti party"! But once a week, Jeff Wolverton joins us for some serious mining of the spiritual depths. Join us for conversation, more readings, songs, quotes - you never know what treasures will be uncovered! Topic: Interviewing Margi ConnorDear folks of Baba, This evening we have the pleasure of hearing from Margi Connor, one of the younger generation who amazingly happens to be at home with all generations. From an early age, she began coming to the Center in Myrtle Beach with her father and her younger sister. Later as a teenager, she moved to Myrtle Beach where she has spent so much time in the Center, receiving her higher education, you might say, in Baba’s loving atmosphere. Over the years, she has been a part of the cabin crew helping in cleaning cabins, a main force for volleyball and a warm presence in greeting the Center guests, from toddlers to children to teenagers to young adults and the older generation--she connects with them all! This experience opened up her inner life with Baba and awakened her intuitive side that has been so helpful to others, especially to people of her generation. She has a podcast which she does each month, and on Thursdays she hosts a late night chat in which she leads invaluable open discussions on important topics on the challenges and breakthroughs in living for Baba. She has just played a major role in the Youth Sahavas that was held at the Center and was recently a guest speaker at the LA sahavas. She is a delight, a great companIon and she creates a lively world around her wherever she goes. As always she is open to any questions you might have. In His love, JeffTo join the email list for Late Night Chats, contact AngelaThis event was recorded live. To be first to be notified of a new video on this channel, please hit the red subscribe button, then the notifications bell. To join future live events, see www.babazoom.net. Please join our Facebook group: www.facebook.com/groups/meherbabafamily

Late Night Chat with Margi Connor &Peter Goodman: Baba in World, July 27, 2023, live on Baba Zoom

Late night chat centered around our Beloved. A sharing of hearts led by Margi Connor and Peter Goodman.Jai Baba!I hope all of you are doing well and I have missed you all while I was at the Youth Sahavas. It was an intense beautiful week filled to the brim with Baba's Love!For all who did attend the Youth Sahavas, there is a bit of a post sahavas blues that happens when reentering the world, which sparked the idea for tonight's subject. After we have spent time in the fragrance of His Love it can be very difficult to go back to our regular everyday life. This is a feeling that isn't exclusive to the Youth Sahavas but applies to all sahavas or pilgrimages. I have been chatting with my fellow sahavasees about the challenge of how to bring that Love into the world. I thought a perfect topic for tonight would be exploring all the ways you keep the feeling of sahavas alive. Maybe you all know this, but the definition of sahavas is the give and take of love or togetherness. How do you keep this feeling alive in your life?Another theme is the tendency to uproot your life after an event like that with Baba. Why is that? Is it an attempt to find that feeling in the world? Has Baba shaken up your life to make more room for Him after one? I once heard Jeff compare our trips home to Him like a dog sniffing His clothes. He brings His fragrance into our lives to remind us of what we are searching for.Is our longing to be back in sahavas just a micro experience of how we are to long for God? Does He give us a hit of bliss to remind us what the real goal is?I am really looking forward to hearing all the ways you bring the feeling of sahavas into the world and keep it alive within yourself.In His Love, Margi and PeterTo join the email list for Late Night Chats, please contact AngelaThis event was recorded live. To be first to be notified of a new video on this channel, please hit the red subscribe button, then the notifications bell. To join future live events, see www.babazoom.net. Please join our Facebook group: www.facebook.com/groups/meherbabafamily

Late Night Chat with Jeff Wolverton: Effort and Grace, July 23, 2023, live on Baba Zoom

We have some informal chat after every arti, the "post-arti party"! But once a week, Jeff Wolverton joins us for some serious mining of the spiritual depths. Join us for conversation, more readings, songs, quotes - you never know what treasures will be uncovered! Topic: Effort and Grace: Beyond ParadigmsDear Folks of Baba, This Sunday we will explore Darwin Shaw’w book, Effort and Grace, which is an intensive probing into the inner life with Baba. It describes one of the major approaches to Baba by one who was devoted to Him for over 70 years, which culminated in a glorious intimacy with Him. Darwin was always so encouraging and optimistic in what we can do to open up to Baba’s immediate loving presence. Darwin asserts that many of the blocks to this intimacy can be removed by our efforts and by inviting Baba’s ongoing intervention and grace. Darwin shared with us that at the mental level, we are unconsciously governed by many different paradigms, those of gender, ethnic identity, nationality, social class, the constructs of time and space, but according to him the most predominant one is the paradigm that we are our limited personality self separate from the unlimitedness of God. The goal is not about perfecting the personality, but about detaching ourselves from our personality self. Baba says that we are in essence Love itself which is beyond personality, although Love uses our personality as a vehicle for its expression. We, as love, are beyond form; our home is in the realm of the spirit. I’m reminded of the lines of the French mystic Teilhard de Chardin, “We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience.” How do we give up the addiction to our personality self as the be-all and end-all of life? It requires Baba’s grace as Darwin would say again and again. As we strive to obey Him more and more, to make Baba’s personality and being our focus, we begin to turn away from giving so much importance to our own personality and its immersion in the time and space paradigm. We begin to dissolve into His eternal and formless being, which is our destiny and our birthright. Each session evokes invaluable discussion that does not require having attended the previous sessions; each section provides a window into the inner life of the lover/Beloved relationship and is virtually independent, like facets of one diamond—Baba. Everyone is invited to ask questions and share examples from their own inner life. We left off on page and we will begin with the section onFor those who do not have a copy of the book, below is an attachment for following along: https://issuu.com/ompoint/docs/shaw_effort_graceTo join the email list for Late Night Chats, contact AngelaThis event was recorded live. To be first to be notified of a new video on this channel, please hit the red subscribe button, then the notifications bell. To join future live events, see www.babazoom.net. Please join our Facebook group: www.facebook.com/groups/meherbabafamily

Late Night Chat with Margi Connor &Peter Goodman: Daniel Stone, July 20, 2023, live on Baba Zoom

Late night chat centered around our Beloved. A sharing of hearts led by Margi Connor and Peter Goodman.Jai Baba, all! Laurent Weichberger will be facilitating the late-night chat for the next two weeks. Here is his email introducing his guest, Daniel Stone.July 20th at 10:00 pm (EST) We will have a special guest: Daniel J. Stone. He was born in Washington DC, and came to Baba in 1972. Daniel has served the Meher Baba community in many roles including on the Board of Directors at the Meher Spiritual Center, and for the Avatar Meher Baba Trust. He is currently working on a very special project, in his role as President at the Heartland Center, in Prague Oklahoma which we will hear about as well. Daniel brings decades of experience on the spiritual path, and we are thrilled to have him as our guest. There will be an open Q&A after some initial introduction questions. Laurent Weichberger will be the facilitator/host for this evening. Jai Meher Baba!To join the email list for Late Night Chats, please contact AngelaThis event was recorded live. To be first to be notified of a new video on this channel, please hit the red subscribe button, then the notifications bell. To join future live events, see www.babazoom.net. Please join our Facebook group: www.facebook.com/groups/meherbabafamily