DARK CLOUD*
(For texts of Baba's Messages mentioning "the dark cloud", see the footnotes. PS: I wonder if others here have had experiences similar to the one described below and summarized succinctly in part 6?)

1
     I’d been recovering from a case of covid, comparatively mild, but severe fatigue and congestion remained for awhile. I lay in bed with the mindset, “Is it always gonna to be this way?”
     Finally, improvement. I went back to work yesterday. When I got home, Barbara was out. I sat down on the sofa to rest, and turned on MSNBC.

2
     Besides my illness, the Ukraine War has cast a shadow over my life lately. To see brutal destruction as if it were taking place down the block—all of us One, and part of that One experiencing these horrors. Harder to see and feel the Limitlessness of the Spiritual Sky above us. Smoke from missile strikes and burning buildings in the way.

3
     The destruction of buildings, cities, or even worlds would not affect Your Truth, BABA. “Heaven and Earth may pass away, but My Words will not pass away,” You said as Jesus. I persist in remembrance of You, but to witness such things happening to neighbors—I can’t just shrug and say, “Illusion.”

4.
     Back at MSNBC last evening, Rachel Maddow presented chilling scenarios about machinations people are still devising to contest—they say “decertify” now—the 2020 US election, and to refuse to accept the results of the 2024 one, no matter what the facts are, if their candidate loses.

5
     She also narrated a parallel story about Russian disinformation: how Vladamir Putin discredits anyone he chooses. Often, he has child pornography planted on someone’s computer. Not just political enemies. The historian who dug up evidence of mass-murders by Josef Stalin in the ‘30s, which led to the creation of a shrine at the mass graves. Annual memorials took place—until Putin decided he wanted them stopped. Then he had his men plant child porno to discredit both the historian who had uncovered the murders, and another historian who was caretaker of the shrine.

6
     Listening, I began to feel overwhelmed by the nefarious forces of our times—like a black hand of Maya on my throat: inside me, even. For several hours I wrestled with this presence, but it had the upper hand. Finally, I went to sit before Baba’s Picture, then took an antihistamine to help me sleep.
In the morning I awoke, new life in my veins, breath and mind, feeling delivered.

7
     What seems to be is not necessarily so, I recognized with relief, feeling once again my own agency in body, mind and spirit:. The battle is not over yet!
I’d seen and felt such shadows before. Somehow, His Love and Truth have always prevailed in my life, so far.
     I thought again of Baba’s Message about what He called “the dark cloud”. How we are like drops on an umbrella. He warned that the umbrella was going to start to spin. Only those drops that held to the central pin would be able to hold on, He said.** The rest will be spun off. Out of compassion, He kept warning His Lovers at all costs to hold on.

8
     Many of Baba’s Messages about the dark cloud were given in the 1950’s. I’m not privy to Meher Baba’s timetable, which only He understood; but it certainly feels as if the umbrella is spinning, now.
_______
*Search in Lord Meher online to find many Messages from Baba about the “dark cloud”.
**Baba’s actual Message using the umbrella simile is very hard to find in print now! I can’t find it in Lord Meher, or via online Searches. Please Message me, if you know where it exists in print. JAI BABA