William Samuel

This month's Missal takes a look at William Samuel (1924-1996). Samuel was raised in Alabama in the small town of Mountain Brook, near Birmingham. Entering the Army at eighteen, he was commissioned a Lieutenant and fought in WWII against the Japanese in China. He was embedded in the Chinese Army, and experienced the same trials as they, nearly cut off from any supplies from the Allies. He found his translator, a Mr. Shieh, to be a Taoist master, and became his student. They fought side-by-side, but in a strange twist of fate in later years in a later war in Korea, they found themselves opposing each other in battle. Samuel had an experience in the Korean war during a fierce battle that stayed with him throughout his life:

"During the Korean War, an artillery round burst among my men on the left flank. Several bodies were hurled about and I ran to see the extent of the damage and whether the platoon leader was still effective. Sick to my stomach at the sight, I sat down among three of the bodies sprawled along the slope. I became aware of a visual "Presence" hovering beside them. A misty, blue-white light of sorts. A different kind of light, primal, persuasive and powerful. I could not explain what I saw then, nor can I now, but with the sight, and because of the sight, I was absolutely certain within myself I was being shown evidence of the deathlessness of Life -- the survival of the Child, the Soul of men."

" Like Arjuna, in awful combat, I was instructed in certain of the Mysteries and learned the sense of senselessness."

"More significant, that Peace has not forsaken me since those days, at least not when I was mindful of It nor when the chips were down and I called for It. How do I call for It? I bring forth the Child of Me."

Last of the Rearguard - Colonel Charles Waterhouse USMC (Ret)

Returning to Alabama after his time in the East, Samuel found his spiritual experience's born of suffering in the time of war to be lasting and valuable. He used these lessons in helping others. While many speak of the gentleness of Samuel's teaching, he strikes me as direct and forceful.

" It is interesting that I've never written about those days, even though I've told of the learning events to seekers who have come to visit here in Alabama. I especially relished telling such tales to the metaphysical "absolutists" or to the young zealot idealists who arrived expecting only gentle words of peace from a Godly teacher. Since stories of strife, warfare and suffering are the last thing those people expect to hear from a "metaphysician," that's often what they got." -

" Show me a revelation and I'll show you a traumatic event from which that Light emerged. Show me a true vision of heaven and I'll show you a descent into the anguish of hell wherein that vision was tried, tested and found faithful."

Strife is O'er - Colonel Charles Waterhouse USMC (Ret)

Upon returning to the States, he became involved with the Christian Science movement, and became a healer and teacher. By the Sixties, he left the group, no longer wishing to be restricted by the rules of any organization. He continued to write and hold gatherings for willing students in the piney woods near Mountain Brook, and for a time on his houseboat, the Lollygog. "The Universe is my home," he'd say, "but I choose to walk the quiet fields and hills of Alabama."

His writing speaks of a man who learned his lessons through fire and suffering, and later put them to the test in everyday life, and found them true. He speaks directly to the Heart of the listener in a forceful and simple manner, leading them to recognize that their own intuition is the surest path to the Inner Child.

This 'Child Within', Samuel speaks of often. He tells us it is our Real Identity, and its guidance is essential to the true completion of our search.

" The Child and Its guidance are essential in our search. If one thinks his religion, his philosophy, or his theology is the means to finding the FINAL Answer, he is mistaken. The Child of Light and Love is the pathfinder, the guide, the wayshower up the mighty mountain in Kwangse Province. Science, religion and philosophy can take us a great distance, but the Child takes us to Dominion. It is absolutely essential that we actually get in touch with the eternal Child." -

"Now, with absolute assurance, I can tell people, old and young, their lessons can be learned under the most difficult and trying circumstances. Better that we leave our nets after we've learned their lessons. Better that we call on the Child because the Child knows what to do. The Child and the Presence are the same one Presence and It is right here where we are, transcending this world's time and space."

For an introduction to Samuel's writing, including his poem Melody of the Woodcutter and the King, and a free version of Two Plus Two Equals Reality, go to The William Samuel and Friends Web Site, http://www.williamsamuel.com/

"There is a simple and gentle Light within these pages that will change your life and make all things new. It can! It will!

But it is a message only the Heart can find. Search with the Heart and you will find it. "

- All quotes by William Samuel -

- Related Sites -

William Samuel & Friends:

Beloved, well-known William Samuel (1924-1996) was a prolific writer of truth, science, religion, and spiritual awakening. Those who knew him best considered him a humble, soft-spoken teacher who communicated truth in a unique, powerful way that revealed the presence in the here and now-and brought healing on its wings. Many who listened to Samuel speak, who read his books, or who visited him in Alabama awoke to the truth of their own selves. Even after he died, Samuel's extraordinary teaching has continued to resonate deeply with students. He was one of those rare people who could synthesize teachings from both east and west to offer a clear explanation of the nature of enlightenment. He taught using simple language best summed up in this, one of his well known sayings: "There is no way there, but to be there." - from the William Samuel and Friends website, http://www.williamsamuel.com/

William Samuel: Tranquillity & Awareness: review of Samuel and his work from The Self-Discovery Portal. http://www.selfdiscoveryportal.com/WmSamuel.htm

William Samuel: Modern Mystic and Truth Teacher - William Samuel was a prolific writer of metaphysics, Truth, religion, science and Self-discovery. He was a beloved, humble, soft spoken, gentle light and spiritual teacher to many who were led to him. Those who listened to his words and read his books have experienced for themselves genuine spiritual awakening. http://williamsamuel.wwwhubs.com/

Tricks and Traps

Trap: Bound in the brain box. Our attention is often stuck in less than desirable places, such as the visualizing part of the brain. We can be caught in a continuous loop of worry or daydreaming when our attention is unconsciously fixed in these thought-patterns. We forget that this is a movie of a movie, being formed by our reactions to daily life, and are hypnotized into the forebrain's endless imaginings.

Trick: Use the body, stop the brain. Focus on the senses to stop the loop of thoughts. Look at where you are in the present, what are your muscles doing? Is the thought-pattern in your head causing your body to react just as if the thought-dreams are real? Are you then identified with the feelings this brings up? Be careful here, the point is not to be sucked into a reaction to the body, and become lost in yet another reaction pattern such as sensuality or feeling-worship, but to learn to free one's attention. Where is the true value, in identification or discrimination?

Commentary ___________________ Mystic Missal Monthly Missal meditation philosophy zen religion

Intelligent Spontaneity

Any wine will get you high.

Judge like a king, and choose the purest,

the ones unadulterated with fear, of some urgency about "what's needed ".

Drink the wine that moves you

as a camel moves when it's untied,

and is just ambling about.

- Rumi

I've spoken before about how the listening attention is the gateway to within. This can be also spoken of as the link between the real and unreal, the manifest and unmanifest. The Christian mystics refer to the Son who is the link to the Father. William Samuel speaks of the Child as the pathfinder, and tells us it is essential to actually get in touch with this Child of Light. These refer to an essential part of us, a part that is free from the world, yet sees the world, and can lead us back to our Home in the Father. What is this Child, this intuitive light, this innocence somehow imbibed with wisdom?

One thing it is not, is childishness. It is not needy and wanting its own way, nor dependent on the things of this world for its satisfaction or existence. In fact, the Child is much better described by what it is not, than what it is. Jesus once remarked that we should become as innocent as doves, but also as wise as serpents. We do not use the Child for the further purposes of the ego, but become it. The listening attention is not the problem solving or even the categorizing mind, but that which simply sees or listens, and can link to a higher intelligence. Many of our problems are better solved by asking for an answer from within, then practicing patience until the answer appears. The saying, 'I'll sleep on it' refers to this in a simple way; we ask, then wait until we receive.

Maurice Nicoll speaks of the puer eternus, Latin for eternal boy or child. He calls this the intermediary, the one who connects us with the higher centers within. He refers to our organism as composed of different 'centers' or minds, each having its own purpose. These centers are divided into higher and lower, the lower being what we are ordinarily aware of as mind. The higher centers are said to be constantly trying to reach us, but cannot get through due to the wrong working of the lower ones. This is likened to static, negative unnatural patterns taking up most of the energy of these centers, so that they can no longer hear the higher ones; there is too much interference. Nicoll tells us that " The object of the Work is to cleanse our lower centers, to clear them out, to open their windows, so that they can begin to transmit these ideas and directions coming from higher centers." We cannot hear the Child, who hears the Father, for the mind has become lost in the static of the world, outward turned and saturated with useless worry and dreams, broadcasting its static miasma so nothing else can get through.

This brings us to the first step to the listening attention; the clearing out of this static. Much like a radio which must be tuned in order to pick up the desired station, we must tune our machine, our lower centers, in order to pick up the constant but unheard signal of our higher self. As Rumi says, we have become obsessed with 'what's needed' and have thus lost our innocence. We can no longer sit in silence and listen to what may be speaking to us; a still small voice from within.

Samuel also speaks of the value of trauma or suffering in weeding out the ego's insistence that it is the only source. For most of us, it takes a shock to turn us within. To become aware that there is something higher than ourselves permits the Child to come forth, for we begin to listen in another direction, with other ears. We come to see that there is another source of wisdom other than that of memory or the brain. We learn what intuition is, and how it works.

This clearing out of the 'old man' gives room for the new, the Child. A new kind of intelligence becomes possible, one that is spontaneous, yet wise. We use our attention to not only view the world and its problems, but to also turn back within and connect with our innate intelligence. This double-pointed arrow of attention lends a certain realness. We are no longer lost in the world, for now we have become superior to it, not just in word, but in fact. The ego is seen for what it is through the eyes of the Child, and is no longer our identity or sole reference. Peace blossoms from within. The Child is born, and the Father now sees His world through the Child.

Bob Fergeson

Jesus said, "If some say to you,"Where have you come from?' say to them,

'We have come from the light,

where the light came into being by itself,

established itself,

and appeared in an image of light.'

'If they say to you 'Are you the light?' say,

'We are its children,

and we are the chosen of the living Father.'

"If they ask you, 'What is the evidence of your Father in you?' tell them,

'It is motion and rest.' "

saying 50, Gospel of Thomas

- Quotes of the Month -

" The Child and the Presence are the same one Presence and It is right here where we are, transcending this world's time and space."

" For all of us there comes a time when we finally get down to brass tacks, living and being the Spiritual Life. Usually, adversity of some sort, health, business, grief, loneliness or boredom, drives us to this decision. Oftentimes it is fear of one kind or another. Perhaps we simply yield to the prodding of others, or to the urge of an intangible feeling within--the "divine discontent"; but whatever the reasons for our action, one fact is certain: the decision that brings it about is very personal. It is an alone experience that takes place within. "

" All have discovered that, from the moment we act on the decision to discover Reality, we begin to find it. The moment we sincerely begin a determination of the Absolute, it continues of its own accord until Reality is disclosed!"

" The world is not as it appears to the busy, troubled mortal. Behind every appearance--overspreading everything--is a pure and perfect harmony. There is an unseen Perfection-before-words permeating everything. Concrete and tangible confirmation of this fact awaits everyone willing to acknowledge this presence as real and as all in all. How does this confirmation appear? As inner light, as illumination, as understanding, as Self-discovery, as a continuing and expanding sense of all-rightness! " - William Samuel

" If we become spiritual agents, then our meaning makes us spiritual beings." - Richard Rose

" I don't believe in destiny. We are not born to become one thing or another, left to follow helplessly a course that was chartered for us by some unseen hand.... The only fate we cannot escape is immortality." - John McCain

" Wipe out imagination. Stop the pulling of strings. Confine thyself to the present. " - Marcus Aurelius

" How happy are the wild birds, they can go where they will, now to the sea, now to the mountain, and come home without rebuke." - 17th century Welsh epigram

Comic Philosophy

Madness: Madness does not always howl. Sometimes, it is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, "Hey, is there room in your head for one more?" - http://www.despair.com/indem.html

"When we remember that we are all mad, the mysteries disappear and life stands explained." - Mark Twain

01/14/07