A Future Life

The clear and precise idea that can be formed of a future life provides an unshakable faith in what is to come. This faith places enormous consequences upon the moralization of Man, because it completely changes the point of view as to how life on earth is regarded. For those who place themselves by means of thought in the spiritual life, which is undefined, bodily life becomes a mere temporary stay in an ungrateful country. The vicissitudes and tribulations of this life becomes nothing more than incidents, which can be supported with patience as they are known to be of short duration and will be followed by a more amenable state. Death no longer has the terror attached to it; it ceases to be a door opening on to nothingness and becomes a door that opens to liberation, through which the exile enters into a well-blessed mansion, and there finds peace. Knowing that the place where we find ourselves at the moment is only temporary and not definite makes us pay less attention to the preoccupations of life, resulting in less bitterness and a more peaceful spirit.

Simply by doubting the existence of a future life, Man directs all his thoughts to earthly existence. Without any certainly of what is to come he gives everything to the present. With the mistaken idea that there is nothing more precious than earthly things, Man behaves as a child who can see only its toys, and is prepared to go any length to obtain the only possessions he judges to be solid. The loss of even the least of these causes pungent hurt, be it a mistake, a deception, an unsatisfied ambition, an injustice to which the person has fallen victim, hurt pride or vanity. These are some of the torments that turn existence into an eternal agony, so in this manner causing self-inflicted torture at every step. From the point of view of earthly life, in whose centre we place ourselves, everything around us begins to assume vast proportions. The harm that reaches us, as well as the good that touches others, takes on a great importance in our eyes. It is like a man, who, when in the middle of a great city sees everything on a large scale, but who, when looking down from a mountain top sees things in only minute form.

This is what happens when we look at life from the point of view of a future existence. Humanity, just as the stars in space, loses itself in the great immensity. We begin to see that great and small things are cofounded, as ants on top of an anthill, that proletarians and potentates are the same stature. So many short-lived individuals give themselves over to so much labor in order to conquer a place that will do so little to elevate them, and which they occupy for so short a space of time. From this follows that the value given to earthly things is completely in reverse to that which comes from a firm belief in a future life.

If everybody thought in that manner, it could be argued that everything on earth would be endangered because no one would bother about anything. But mankind instinctively looks after its own well being, so even if it were known it was to be only for a short while, everyone would still do his or her best. There is no one, when finding a thorn in their hand, will not take it out so as not to suffer. Well then, the desire for comfort forces people to better all things, seeing that we are impelled by the instincts of progress and conversation, which are elements of The Laws of Nature. Therefore, Humanity works not only through necessity but because it wants to, and because of a sense of duty, so obeying the designs of Providence, which placed all people on Earth for that purpose. Only a person who occupies himself or herself more with the future can give relative importance to the present. These people are easily consoled in all of their failings and misfortunes by thinking of the destiny that awaits.

Accordingly, Spirit does not condemn all earthly pleasures and possessions, but only condemns the abuse of the things in detriment to the soul.

Those who identify themselves with a future life are as a rich person who loses a small sum without emotion. Those whose thoughts are concentrated on earthly things are as the poor man whose loses all be has, and so becomes desperate.

A belief in a Future Life opens up and broadens out the thought process, so offering new horizons. In place of a short-sighted vision concentrated only on the present, which makes this fleeting moment passed on earth the unique and fragile axis of eternal future, this belief shows us that life is nothing more than a link in the magnificent, harmonious assembly which is Spirit’s work. It also shows us the solidarity that joins together all the different existences of one being, of all beings of the same world, and all the beings of all the worlds. It offers the base and the reason for universal fraternity, whereas the doctrine of the creation of the soul at the birth of the body makes each individual a stranger one to the other. This solidarity between parts of a whole explains what is inexplicable when only one of these parts is considered.

Remember, It Is All Good!

The Power of Faith

It has been said, if you have the faith the size of a grain of mustard seed, you could say to the mountain. “move from here to there,” and it will move.

In one sense it is certain that confidence in one’s own strength gives Man the capacity to carry out material things which would not be able to do if he doubted himself. However, here I wish to deal exclusively with the moral sense of these words. The mountains which faith can transport are the difficulties, the resistances, the ill will, in fact all those things which Mankind has to face, even when I refer to good things. The prejudices, routines, materialistic interests, selfishness, the blindness of fanaticism and prideful passions are but a few of the mountains that block the way of those who work for human progress (our ascension). Robust faith gives perseverance, energy and resources that allow us to overcome these obstacles, be they large or small. From wavering faith results only uncertainty, and the kind of hesitation those adversaries (old energies & thought patterns) we need to combat take advantage of; it does not even try to find a means to win because it does not believe it can.

Another acceptance of the term gives us to understand that faith is the confidence we have in the realization of something, and the certainty of attaining a specific end (the sacredness of our transition-our evolution-our purification-our ascension) It gives us a kind of lucidness, which permits us to know in our minds the goal we wish to reach and the means of getting there. So those who have faith go forward, in a manner of speaking, with absolute security. In either one of these cases, it can give place to the realization of great things.

Faith which is real and sincere is always calm; it permits patience which knows how to wait, because having its foundation in intelligence and the understanding of life, it is certain of reaching the objective it aspires to. Vacillating faith feels its own weakness; when its interest is aroused it becomes frenzied and thinks it can supply the force it lacks by using violence. Calmness during the struggle is always a sign of strength and confidence, whereas on the contrary violence denotes weakness and self-doubt.

It behooves us not to confuse faith with presumption. True faith is linked to humility; those who have it deposit more confidence in Creator/God than in themselves, as they know they are but simple instruments of Divine Purpose and can do nothing without Spirit/God. This is the reason why the Good Spirits (angels, saints, guides, ascended masters etc.) come to their aid. Presumption is less faith than pride, and pride is always punished sooner or later by deceptions and frustrations inflicted upon it.

The power of faith can be demonstrated in a direct and special manner in magnetic action. Through the intermediary of faith, man acts on the fluids (Grace-thoughts from God), which are a universal agent, modifying their qualities and giving them, in a manner of speaking, irresistible impulsion. From this it follows that whoever joins a normally great fluidic power to that of ardent faith can, solely by the strength of their will power directed towards goodness, operate those singular phenomena of healing and other occurrences known in the olden times as miracles. This is because they are nothing more than the consequences of a Law of Nature. This is the reason our dear friend and wondering Rabi said to His apostles that if they did not cure it was because they had no faith.

From a religious point of view faith consists of a belief in the special dogmas that constitute the various religions. All of them have their articles of faith. From this aspect faith may be either blind or rationalized. Blind faith examines nothing and accepts without verification both truth and falsehood, and at each step clashes with evidences and reason. Taken to the extreme it produces fanaticism. While sitting upon error, sooner or later collapses. Only faith that is based on truth guarantees the future, because it has nothing to fear from the progress of enlightenment, seeing that what is true in obscurity is also true in light. Each religion claims to have possession of the exclusive truth. But for someone to proclaim blind faith on a point of belief is to confess themselves impotent to demonstrate they are right.

It is commonly said that faith cannot be prescribed, from which many people declare it is not their fault if they have no faith. Beyond doubt, faith cannot be prescribed, and what is even more certain, it cannot be imposed. No, it cannot be prescribed but only acquired, and there is no one who is prevented from possessing it, even amongst those who are the most refractory. I am speaking of the basic spiritual truths and not any particular belief. It is not the part of faith to seek these people out, but they should go and seek faith, and if they search with sincerity they are bound to find it. You can be sure that those who say "There is nothing I should like more than to believe, but I cannot", only say this with their lips and not with their hearts, seeing that while the are saying it they it they close their ears. However, the proof is all around them, so why do they refuse to see? On the part of some it is indifference; of others the fear of being forced to change their habits. But in the majority there is pride which refuses to recognize the existence of a superior force because they would then have to bow down before it.

In some people faith appears to be inborn, a spark being enough to cause it to unfold. This case of assimilation of spiritual truths is an evident sign of previous progress. On the contrary, in others there is difficulty of assimilation that is a no less evident sign of their backward natures. The first already believe and understand, having brought with them on being reborn the intuition of what they know. Their education is complete. The second still have everything to learn; their education is still to come. Nevertheless, come it will, and if it is not completed in this existence then it will be in another.

The resistance of the unbeliever is almost always due less to himself than to the manner in which things have been put to him. Faith needs a base, one that gives complete understanding of what we are asked to accept. In order to believe it is not enough to see, but above all else it is necessary to understand. Blind faith is no longer of this century, so much so, that it is exactly blind dogmatic faith which produces the greatest number of unbelievers today, because it tries to impose itself, demanding the abdication of the most precious prerogatives of mankind, which are rationalization and free-will. It is principally against this kind of faith that the unbeliever rebels, so showing that it is true to say that faith cannot be prescribed. Due to the non-acceptance of any proofs, blind faith leaves the Spirit with a feeling of emptiness that gives birth to doubt.

Rationalized faith, when based on facts and logic, leaves no doubts. then the person believes because that are certain; and no one can be certain unless they understand. This is why they are unshakable, because unshakable faith is that which can stand face to face with reason in all epochs of humanity.

Duncan Center - John of God Meditation Healing Circle

My Dear Beloved Ones,

It is with deep appreciation and gratitude that I thank you for the opportunity to share with you my experiences and the healing energies of the Casa de Dom Inacio. I want to thank Gini Rebata for sponsoring this John of God Meditation and Healing Circle . Her time and effort is valued as well as her support.

For several people tonight night, it was their first time at a John of God Meditation and Healing Circle , especially one facilitated by me. It is important to stress that your presence was an integral part of last night’s events. Of course, I do want to emphasize and acknowledge the entities and healing spirits that came forth to assist us with our ceremony.

We had individuals from a 10 years old to retirement age, from all walks of life, as well as different ethnic backgrounds. We all experience the presence of being one. We honored the god within each and every one of us. The sacred energy that manifested itself connected us not only to our god-self but to Creator, the Source of All That Is, the magnificent unconditional love of God!

My next event will be on Wednesday October 21 at Heart Space from 7-9:00 PM. Please go to my web site for further information www.spiritual-practitioner.com/ Also, I will be posting articles and testimonials on my blog and web site. I would appreciate any of your comments concerning your experiences from last night or previous experiences with me. I would like to post them as testimonials.

Remember my friends, It Is All Good !

I look forward to seeing soon.

Love & Light

Calvin

Thank You Friends!

My Dear Friends,

I want to express my gratitude for your participation and support for last night's John of God Meditation and Healing Circle. I would like to emphasize that your presence, specifically your energy, was very instrumental in creating an incredibly sacred setting for the evenings activities. Many of you expressed a very soft and loving sensation and the awareness of many powerful and benevolent spirits. While others had a very deep and moving experience with spirit. I want to accentuate that whatever you experienced is exactly what was for your higher good. That no one's experience is better than someone else. IT IS ALL GOOD!

In addition, I would like to thank Cynthia Poole for allowing us to use HEART SPACE (her home) and Kris Stephan's generosity for last night's John of God Meditation Healing Circle. Kris Stephan is the care taker and is responsible for last night's gathering. Thanks Kris!

Many of you have asked about my next event that I will be facilitating. It will be next Thursday, October 1, at the Duncan Center from 7:00 - 8:30 PM. I have attach a flier with directions in emails I sent out. Visit this link for exact directions. I look forward to seeing you next week!

I will be at the HEART SPACE for the next John of God Meditation and Healing Circle at (Kris Stephan Home) on Wednesday October 21, November 11 and December 9, 2009 from 7:00-9:00 PM. Email me for directions.

If you would like to have a more focused and in-depth experience please contact me to schedule an appointment and review my services that best suit your needs.

Many Blessings.

Love & Light

Calvin

For further information contact Calvin at ccates3747@aol.com or 954-200-5741.

Cates Ministry Services

Cates Ministry Services provides a safe, warm and sacred environment for healing mentally, emotionally, physically and spiritually. The ministry is facilitated by Rev. Calvin Cates, who for the past 15 years has developed a unique and gifted method of assisting individuals in restoring harmony, balance, happiness and well being into their lives.

As an Ordained Interfaith Minister, Reiki Master, Matrix Energetic’s and Shamanic Practitioner, Medium and Channel, Calvin has incorporated contemporary as well as time honored approaches in identifying and releasing unhealthy attitudes, behaviors and energies. Calvin channels an ancient language called Layooesh or Language of the Light. This channeled language when spoken carries a very high vibration. This high frequency elevates or increases the energy vibrations within the bodies awakening cellular memories stored within one’s DNA matrix of who and what we truly are…radiating light beings possessing everything necessary for our earth walk, evolution and ascension process. When the individual’s higher self embraces this event it instantaneously connects with Creator or Spirit and through this communion a healing occurs. Hence the individual understands they are the healer. Calvin’s work is individually designed to dissolve those patterns and energies that prevent this process as well as those that have created sickness, depression, pain and unhappiness. His practice includes individuals who are dealing with a range of physical conditions, difficult life situations, emotional trauma, as well as those who are seeking stress reduction and balance in their lives.

In addition, Calvin’s experiences include living and working in Brazil as a medium, guide and son of the Casa de Dom Inacio. Where the world renowned Brazilian healer and medium Joao Teixeira de Faria known as John of God who has been healing individuals through spiritual intervention for over forty five years. His experience with the casa has contributed to his knowledge and healing practice. Recently, the entities (healing spirits of the casa) gave Calvin permission to use in his practice a “Crystal Bed,” which is used by the entities for cleansings and healings at the casa. The use of the Crystal bed is meant as an extension of the work of the entities to the people who come to the casa for treatment and healing. The experiences on the crystal bed (which have been blessed and energized by the entities) range from a calming and relaxing session (balancing the chakras) to a life altering healing experience.

Calvin facilitates each session with hands on healing treatments, which include Crystal Bed Therapy, Intuitive Readings, Matrix Energetics and other modalities to bring clarity to one’s experience, processing and transformation. He works with crystals, aroma oils and music to enhance the atmosphere and your experience.

For further information contact Calvin at ccates3747@aol.com or 954-200-5741.

A Doctor for Disease, a Shaman for the Soul

By PATRICIA LEIGH BROWN

MERCED, Calif. —

The patient in Room 328 had diabetes and hypertension. But when Va Meng Lee, a Hmong shaman, began the healing process by looping a coiled thread around the patient’s wrist, Mr. Lee’s chief concern was summoning the ailing man’s runaway soul.

“Doctors are good at disease,” Mr. Lee said as he encircled the patient, Chang Teng Thao, a widower from Laos, in an invisible “protective shield” traced in the air with his finger. “The soul is the shaman’s responsibility.”

At Mercy Medical Center in Merced, where roughly four patients a day are Hmong from northern Laos, healing includes more than IV drips, syringes and blood glucose monitors. Because many Hmong rely on their spiritual beliefs to get them through illnesses, the hospital’s new Hmong shaman policy, the country’s first, formally recognizes the cultural role of traditional healers like Mr. Lee, inviting them to perform nine approved ceremonies in the hospital, including “soul calling” and chanting in a soft voice.

The policy and a novel training program to introduce shamans to the principles of Western medicine are part of a national movement to consider patients’ cultural beliefs and values when deciding their medical treatment. The approach is being adopted by dozens of medical institutions and clinics across the country that cater to immigrant, refugee and ethnic-minority populations.

Certified shamans, with their embroidered jackets and official badges, have the same unrestricted access to patients given to clergy members.

Shamans do not take insurance or other payment, although they have been known to accept a live chicken.

A recent survey of 60 hospitals in the United States by the Joint Commission, the country’s largest hospital accrediting group, found that the hospitals were increasingly embracing cultural beliefs, driven sometimes by marketing, whether by adding calcium- and iron-rich Korean seaweed soup to the maternity ward menu at Good Samaritan Hospital in Los Angeles, on the edge of Koreatown, or providing birthing doulas for Somali women in Minneapolis.

In Merced, about 120 miles southeast of San Francisco, the Mercy hospital shaman program was designed to strengthen the trust between doctors and the Hmong community — a form of healing in the broadest sense. It tries to redress years of misunderstanding between the medical establishment and the Hmong, whose lives in the mountains of Laos were irreparably altered by the Vietnam War. Hmong soldiers, Mr. Lee among them, were recruited by the C.I.A. in the 1960s to fight the covert war against Communist insurgents in Laos and afterward, to avoid retribution, were forced to flee to the refugee camps, with most resettling in California’s Central Valley and in the Midwest.

During a seven-week training program at Mercy Medical Center, 89 shamans learned elements of Western-style medicine, including germ theory. They visited operating rooms and peered through microscopes for the first time. Looking at heart cells, one shaman, an elderly woman, asked the pathologist to show her a “happy heart.”

Designed to defuse the Hmong fear of Western medicine, the program has “built trust both ways,” said Dr. John Paik-Tesch, director of the Merced Family Medicine Residency Program, which trains resident physicians at Mercy Medical Center.

Since the refugees began arriving 30 years ago, health professionals like Marilyn Mochel, a registered nurse who helped create the hospital’s policy on shamans, have wrestled with how best to resolve immigrants’ health needs given the Hmong belief system, in which surgery, anesthesia, blood transfusions and other common procedures are taboo.

The result has been a high incidence of ruptured appendixes, complications from diabetes, and end-stage cancers, with fears of medical intervention and delays in treatment exacerbated by “our inability to explain to patients how physicians make decisions and recommendations,” Ms.. Mochel said.

The consequences of miscommunication between a Hmong family and the hospital in Merced was the subject of the book “The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and The Collision of Two Cultures” by Anne Fadiman (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1997). The book follows a young girl’s treatment for epilepsy and the hospital’s failure to recognize the family’s deep-seated cultural beliefs. The fallout from the case and the book prompted much soul-searching at the hospital and helped lead to its shaman policy.

Hmong believe that souls, like errant children, are capable of wandering off or being captured by malevolent spirits, causing illness. Mr. Lee’s ceremony for the diabetic man was a spiritual inoculation, meant to protect his soul from being kidnapped by his late wife and thus extending his “life visa.”

Such ceremonies, which last 10 minutes to 15 minutes and must be cleared with a patient’s roommates, are tame versions of elaborate rituals that abound in Merced, especially on weekends, when suburban living rooms and garages are transformed into sacred spaces and crowded by over a hundred friends and family members. Shamans like Ma Vue, a 4-foot, 70-something dynamo with a tight bun, go into trances for hours, negotiating with spirits in return for sacrificed animals — a pig, for instance, was laid out recently on camouflage fabric on a living room floor.

Certain elements of Hmong healing ceremonies, like the use of gongs, finger bells and other boisterous spiritual accelerators, require the hospital’s permission. Janice Wilkerson, the hospital’s “integration” director, said it was also unlikely that the hospital would allow ceremonies involving animals, like one in which evil spirits are transferred onto a live rooster that struts across a patient’s chest.

“The infection control nurse would have a few problems with that,” Ms. Wilkerson said.

A turning point in the skepticism of staff members occurred a decade ago, when a major Hmong clan leader was hospitalized here with a gangrenous bowel. Dr. Jim McDiarmid, a clinical psychologist and director of the residency program, said that in deference hundreds of well-wishers, a shaman was allowed to perform rituals, including placing a long sword at the door to ward off evil spirits. The man miraculously recovered. “That made a big impression, especially on the residents,” Dr. McDiarmid said.

Social support and beliefs affect a patient’s ability to rebound from illness, Dr. McDiarmid added, pointing out that over half of the people who respond to antidepressants do so because of the placebo effect.

One of the goals of the new policy, Ms. Mochel said, is to speed up medical intervention by having a healing ceremony coincide with a hospital stay, rather than waiting days for a patient to confer with family and clan leaders after a ceremony at home.

Attitudes toward Western doctors have begun to loosen as young, assimilated Hmong-Americans assume more powerful roles in the family. Dr. Kathie Culhane-Pera, the associate medical director of the West Side Community Health Center in St. Paul, home to the country’s largest concentration of Hmong, said she worked informally with shamans, obtaining permission from the hospital to turn off the smoke alarms for incense, for example. Signs of the growing movement in cross-cultural health care can be found on the Navajo reservation in northern Arizona, where the federal Indian Health Service has three medicine men on staff and recently instituted a training program similar to Mercy’s.

At White Memorial Medical Center in Los Angeles, Dr. Hector Flores, the chairman of the family medicine department, refers patients to, traditional Hispanic healers, curanderos, on a case-by-case basis. The facility also trains community members as “promotores de salud,” or health promoters. Dr. Flores called it a “low-tech approach in which the physician is not the end-all, but part of a collaborative team geared toward prevention.”

At the hospital in Merced, Dr. Lesley Xiong, 26, a resident physician, grew up as the granddaughter of two distinguished shamans. Though she chose to become a doctor, she said there was ample room for both approaches. “If I were sick, I would want a shaman to be there,” Dr. Xiong said. “But I’d go to the hospital.”
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About the Crystal Bed

The Crystal Bed is a healing system using an array of specially cut and lighted quartz crystals. A session consists of lying on the bed for approximately 20 to 60 minutes while listening to soothing music. The individual receiving the session rests face up with eyes closed. Seven quartz are positioned in a fixed array over the Chakra centers at a level approximately 12 inches above the body. The crystals radiate color to the respective chakras to cleanse them and to balance their energies. Light and color shine through each crystal in alternating patterns creating a spiraling amplification of energy from the root Chakra to the crown Chakras.

The Crystal bed Healing has an inter-dimensional effect and the vibrational patterns manifest higher and higher levels of awareness, harmony and peace. The use of the Crystal Bed is meant as an extension of the work of the entities (healing spirits) to the people who come to the Casa de Dom Inacio for treatment. The experiences on the crystal bed (which have been blessed and energized by the entities) range from a calming and relaxing session to a life altering healing experience.

To see more photographs and information visit Rev. Cates site.
spiritual-practitioner.com/crystal_bed

For further information contact him at 954-200-5741 or ccates3747@aol.com

John of God

John of God with Calvin after a long day at work!

Clients Testimonials

Visit web site spiritual-practitioner.com/testimonals

Rev. Calvin Cates in the Surgery Room

Here Rev. Calvin Cates is in the Surgery Room in deep meditation. He is working with other mediums channeling the healing energy of the casa entities in preparation for the spiritual operations or interventions as well as passes (cleansings) for individuals who have just been seen by the entity.

Click on the image to supersize view

Group visting the casa in Brazil

Group Picture - As a Guide Rev. Cates take groups and individuals to the casa. He assists in the preparations, accommodations, the protocols, interpreting and the processing of the experiences and the energies. There are many more photographs visit his site.
spiritual-practitioner.com/trips_past