ON BECOMING A HOLLOW REED 
By Samuel Baseler 

What is there about a reed that an aware human would want to emulate?  Generally reeds stand with their feet in the water.  Would continued standing in water somehow lead to webbed feet, enabling each of us to more easily enter the world of the dolphin?  No, not at all. 

Perhaps the red-winged blackbird’s song and sight would thrill us as we provided home and habitat for these bejeweled birds.  That can happen right now any time we are in the world of the cattail and marshland.  Even in our high desert environment marshland is to be found, usually near a water source of some kind. 

Early spring breezes provide an unheard yet sinuous symphony of grasses and reeds in synchronous rising and falling with the occasional absolutely still great blue heron providing counterpoint.  Is it our turn to be ever on the move, gracefully bending together with an unseen conductor creating the dips and swells?  Grace is the goal of the classical dancer and we who move on two legs can achieve grace and ease as we train our bodies to reflect flow. 

Listen and remember how often you have lived the words of Teilhard de Chardin :  “Joy is the most infallible sign of the presence of God.”  Think how you feel as you live your joy.  Or if not in joy at the moment, how did your body feel the last time you remember being in joy? 

My assumption is that in truth, everyone wants to be in joy.  If you had your druthers, you druther do joy than anything else.  Joy just plain feels better than almost anything.  In joy I find that I don’t have to think, plot, scheme or manipulate, just react and follow the flow where joy takes me.  In joy I am wholly in this moment, not yesterday, not tomorrow.   

Joy differs from happiness in direction of the flow.  Happiness is often the result of an experience: a friend hands you an unexpected gift; your eyes light up and mouth turns up at the ends.  You win the game, be it Scrabble or basketball.   Your invitation to the party appears in the mail; once again you have been included.  Happiness comes from out there into your conscious awareness and you are pleased as the result. 

Likewise unhappiness comes as a result of an event “out there.”  You are excluded when the expectation was to be included.  Your friend receives “bad news” and because you are a caring person, you commiserate with your friend.  

Joy, however, bubbles up from somewhere inside, barely affected by events of the day.  Joy moves from inside the self to the world “out there” through eyes, mouth, body language and behavior.   Just thinking about reactions to events I am reminded of an event that took place at the Horn O’Plenty, a health food store where I worked for ten years.  The owner of the store, the manager and I processed the same information in dramatically different ways.  A non-customer had dropped by with his irritating nature.  After he left the owner was angry, red in the face and I expect his blood pressure was skyrocketing. 

That same information caused the manager to begin to cry; tears came to her eyes and her normal upright posture drooped, just as a flower that is wilting.  Now, my reaction elicited out-loud laughter and some serious grins.  This was not a case of misunderstanding or someone being right and someone else being wrong.  This was a case where some part of the event was being taken seriously and considered a threat to one’s well-being.  Another choice was also possible: “This does not affect me in any negative way, so I choose joy and happiness.” 

Some individuals place their joy very close to the surface; when apart from them, the mind pictures their eyes crinkled in laughter, cheeks rosy with blood flow, mouth is open and head held back as joy and happiness are expressed in every fiber of that person.  The standard empty greeting, “How are you?” becomes even more meaningless when meeting the person who lets joy flow through constantly.It is obvious that life for them is a banquet from which they are taking the very finest tasting morsels and enjoying every bite. 

Teilhard de Chardin lived the truth of his statement that joy is indeed the MOST INFALLIBLE sign of the presence of God.  Jean Houston, a modern day philosopher and thinker, had run headlong into him while racing to school in New York City.  After that they became fast friends even though he was elderly and she a schoolgirl.  She recounts how “Mister Teyer” would get excited and wax eloquent at the sight of sun sparkling on the microschist in the rocks and boulders of Central Park.  “Jean, look how the rock gleams when you stand here, but not when you stand there.  Isn’t it wonderful?  We can choose whether we want to see the light or the shadow.”

 We can allow ourselves to be the hollow reed, for it is the hollow quality that allows that Creator-Light to flow through the reed with ease.  Perhaps we can even allow ourselves to turn that reed into a magical flute enabling Creator’s breath to become our song.   III Perhaps a good question to ask self is, “How hollow am I?  How much of my breath is God breathing through an untrammeled passage with perhaps just a few notes to add my own melody to the breath of God?  How much do I place in the way of that pure God essence? 

In other words, what gets in the way of the pure expression of God through me, My  Joy?  There may be many answers:  unfulfilled expectations, worry, pain, stress of any kind, patterns of all kinds, anxiety, frustration, fear, grief, guilt and on and on.  And how can we reduce the stumbling blocks?  Trust.

 We can trust that all is unfolding in perfection, no matter how it may appear in the moment.  We can daily make the call to our own Higher Self:  I ask that my will be aligned with the Will of my Divine Self for my greatest good this day.

 I ask that a shaft of golden/white Light surround me each and every moment as I go out into the third/fourth dimensional world.  

And in the words of Archangel Michael, “I now place my ego-self under the control of my Higher-Self, and through our unified efforts, henceforth, we shall create only beauty, harmony and balance within and around us.” We can intend to live in Joy and choose happiness at every juncture. 

We can daily invite the Spirit of Prosperity to enter our lives.  We can recognize that we are sovereign and invite the Spirit of Freedom to replace any bondage.  We can change.  We can become that Hollow Reed, graceful, still, providing a home for others singing their song in harmony with ours.  It is our choice. 

Now join me in an experience of pure joy with the HA! Mantra.  Place left hand flat in the air, palm facing up.  Place right hand on belly.  Begin slowly repeating the word “Ha!”  repeat, over and over, gradually speeding up.  Watch what happens with the group. 

Thank you for your attention.