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Ascended Master Gautama Buddha through Kim Michaels, January 5, 2025. This dictation was given during the 2025 New Year’s Webinar: Accelerate yourself and the planet with the Masters of the Fourth Ray.

I AM the Ascended Master Gautama Buddha.

The thoughtform for 2025

Let me begin by giving you the thoughtform for 2025. You visualize that there is a tree with a thick strong trunk. At the foot of the tree is sitting a Buddha figure. If you feel comfortable, visualize that it is you who is sitting with legs folded in a Buddha posture at the foot of the tree. If you have difficulty with this, visualize that it is I, Gautama, sitting at the foot of the tree. In front of the tree is a large body of water, the ocean. You know all oceans of the world are connected and they go all around the globe. The water is turbulent. There are waves, some choppy, some frothing. It is chaotic, it is turbulent. The roots of the tree extend into the water and form this very fine net where they become thinner and thinner reaching into the water. The top of the tree are the branches that reach very high into the atmosphere. They do not reach into the heavens, into the spiritual realm, because no trees grow into heaven. But they reach up high and the branches become thinner and thinner forming this very thin net, this filigree of branches.

Now, you visualize that in the spiritual and higher identity realm are the archangels. You can visualize them as human figures that are holding out their hands with a palm downward and radiating light from their hands. Or you can visualize them as spheres of light where perhaps you only see the eyes. This is again up to you. But they are radiating this white Christ light that then goes into this fine filigree net of the branches of the trees, gradually concentrating in the trunk. Going downward, going into the roots and going out through that fine filigree of the roots spreading into the water, where they illumine the water. And as the light spreads, the waves subside. And gradually, the water becomes like a mirror. And what does it reflect? The archangels up there. You see out-pictured in that mirror-like ocean: “As above, so below.” And this is the thought form for this coming year.

The double shock

Now, what can we add on to the many things that have already been given at this conference? Let me reach back to Serapis Bey’s magnificent discourse at the beginning. There was a time before you came to earth where most of you were avatars. You had, as we have said, grown tremendously on natural planets. How had you grown? By being creative. You came to that point where you decided that you would volunteer to descend to this unnatural planet of earth. You did have some idea that things would be different on an unnatural planet compared to a natural planet. But you had not really paid that much attention to it because, as we have said before, you had only experienced on a natural planet that by being creative you could solve whatever problem. You could manifest whatever you wanted to manifest. And you really saw no reason why things should be different on an unnatural planet. It might just require a more creative effort to bring forth something on an unnatural planet, because you knew matter was more dense. But you did not see why it should be fundamentally different.

Here you are, you descend into embodiment and now you experience—which you really could not grasp before, which none of us could grasp before—the density of a physical body, the density of matter on earth. And even that experience was shocking for us, because it was so different from a natural planet. And you felt confined, restrained, oppressed by the density of matter itself. But still, you maintained an optimistic view that you could have a positive impact on this planet through your creativity. Through doing what we have described here. Locking in to your built-in desire to be more. Locking in to the Christ consciousness. Being willing to look at current conditions and conceptualize something more.

In the beginning, you were, of course, shocked by how different current conditions on earth were, compared to a natural planet. But still, you thought: “Well, whatever current conditions are, it is always possible for them to be accelerated and to be more. I just need to visualize, based on current conditions, how to gradually raise them to a higher level.” But then, you were exposed to a double shock. First of all, you had expected that when you showed people on earth who are suffering, who are oppressed, that there is a way out of their suffering, they would grasp it, willingly and thankfully.

And then, even though you had some idea what fallen beings are, you did not realize the extent to which they are willing to go in order to stop you from disturbing status quo. You did not quite realize why they saw you as a threat, because you could clearly see that the fallen beings were suffering, even more than the original inhabitants. And you thought that they also wanted a way out of their suffering. “The more intense the suffering, the more eager beings should be to escape it,” you thought. We all thought. And all this is understandable, and all this is logical. I am not trying to find fault. I am not trying to criticize you. I had the same approach when I came.

Limiting our creativity

I am simply stating the fact that you were exposed to this double trauma that the original inhabitants either ignored you or aggressively wanted to silence you, and the fallen beings aggressively attacked you, attempted to silence you, even destroy you. What was the result of this? Well, we have talked about the birth trauma, the creation of separate selves. But really, what was the result in terms of your creativity? Well, you, we, all of us, went through this shock that caused us to either completely shut down or severely limit our creativity. And the reason for this was that we came to doubt that creativity is the solution, that creativity can bring forth a better situation on earth, that creativity can change the status quo.

And why did we come to doubt this? Well, because we faced what we might call an existential problem that we had never faced on natural planets. And it is a problem that really only emerges after beings go into duality and separation. And the problem can be said to be the tension between the individual and humanity as a whole, between the free will of one being and the free will of the broad population. You came to realize that you thought that your creativity could solve the problems on earth, as they could do on a natural planet. But on a natural planet, you had people who were willing to grow. And who, therefore, embraced your creative drive and your creative solutions. But on earth, you realized that if even the original inhabitants did not want to embrace your creative solutions, how could you use your creativity on earth? There were individual reactions. It was not that all avatars reacted exactly the same way. But all of us made certain decisions, created certain subconscious selves that justified that we either shut down or at least greatly reduced our creativity, our creative drive.

Holding spiritual balance

Now, this does not mean that we became passive. Because we still reasoned that: “If I cannot express my creativity outwardly, I can at least express it inwardly by raising my consciousness. And so, if I cannot bring forth new solutions on earth, I can at least hold the balance.” You see that there are stories in the East, such as described in Yogananda’s book, that there are beings with a high level of consciousness who live in remote locations in the Himalayas. Some have maintained a physical body for hundreds of years. But they are just living there unknown to the people. They are not taking active part in society. They are holding a spiritual balance. And this was the mindset that many avatars went into: “If I cannot do anything outwardly, then I must be satisfied with holding the spiritual balance.”

But what does this mean? Well, it means you are holding a balance so that the fallen beings cannot destroy earth. But if the people are not willing to grow, if they are not even willing to grow when they see the fallen beings out-picture their warfare and conflict and, therefore, intensify the suffering, then you are really only maintaining status quo. And this may allow the earth to continue. It may even allow a slow progression, because the earth is being pulled up by the rest of the universe. But it is not manifesting Saint Germain’s Golden Age. What you need to do here, if you want to ride the wave of this coming 12-year cycle—and I know we have given you a lot. I know that some of you have not really finished working on your birth trauma—but really, what I am saying here is part of your birth trauma. Because what you need to do in order to ride the wave of these next 12 years, is take a look at the subconscious selves you created when you decided to reduce your creativity.

Seeing through the excuse for limiting creativity

What were the reasons for it? There were individual reasons, but they can be grouped into two categories. One was you did not want to be attacked and destroyed by the fallen beings. You decided not to threaten them. Another was you saw that the people just ignored you, felt disturbed by you, did not want to shift into seeing themselves as co-creative beings. You decided that you either would not disturb the people or that instead of being so creative, you would dial down your creativity so you could blend in with the people, thinking that if the people could accept you as part of them, their group, maybe they would listen to you. Maybe you could have some impact. Maybe you could still bring forth creative solutions on a small scale.

And this has had a positive effect. There are many avatars who dialed down their creative vision, their creative drive as a result of facing the harsh realities of the planet, but they have still expressed some kind of creativity that has gradually brought society and humanity forward. That is one of the reasons why you do see a progression towards freer societies, more affluent societies, democratic societies, so that we are at a point where we can even talk about manifesting Saint Germain’s Golden Age, which we could not have done if there were not so many avatars who had been somewhat creative.

If you want to make the most use of this 12-year cycle, you will want to take a look at these subconscious selves you created and the reason you decided on to justify shutting down or reducing your creativity. And you need to look at these selves and see that the reason was just a reason. It was just a reason you decided on. It was not that this was some absolute objective reality. It was just something you decided on in reaction to this traumatic event of coming to earth. As we have said before, the initial birth trauma was a shock because of the contrast. But now, you have been on earth for so long, you have experienced so much here, that you can never again be so shocked. Even if you today unleashed your full creativity, and even if it was again rejected or ignored, you would not be as shocked as you were the first time.

Unleashing full creativity

And when you acknowledge this, you can take a neutral look at the reason you decided on for shutting down your creativity. You can see that it was just a reason. There was no cosmic necessity. There was not even a material necessity. It was an illusion. And therefore, you can dismiss it and let the self die. And you can decide that you are willing to be creative. Some of you will still limit your creativity in order to avoid standing out too much. Others are at a point where you can see this is your last embodiment on this planet—why not unleash the full creativity in the time you have left? What do you have to lose, as they say? If this is your last embodiment, why be afraid to question status quo, to challenge status quo? And if this is your last embodiment, why would you want to look back with regret, wishing you could have been more creative?

Why not let those barriers dissolve, disintegrate, tumble? And just be the open door for your I AM Presence and the ascended masters. Why not dissolve those subconscious selves that make you think you have to limit yourself, you have to adapt to people, to society, to what they can accept or not accept?

You look back at my time as the Buddha and you will say: “But Gautama, this was your last embodiment. Did you unleash your full creativity?” And the answer is: “No, I did not.” I adapted to current conditions, to the collective consciousness. And this was partly because it was my task to bring forth a new philosophy, a new approach. And obviously, it had to start where people were at in consciousness and take them somewhat higher. We have talked many times about progressive revelation. There was a limit to what could be brought forth 2,500 years ago because of the collective consciousness. I decided to fill a certain role. Could I have been more creative? Yes. Does that mean I look back with regret? No. Because when you ascend, you give up all sense of regret. Otherwise, the demons of Mara would have had something in me that would have caused a reaction. And I would have had to take another round on earth to bring forth that creativity.

Stop adapting—just be creative!

Today, you are facing a different situation. The collective consciousness is higher. Things can be brought forth that could not have been brought forth back then. Just look at what has been brought forth through this messenger. It is far beyond anything brought forth in recorded history, in some ways beyond anything ever brought forth. The collective consciousness is higher. And I am only saying this because I encourage you to consider what it would mean for you to just let it all flow and be as creative as you can be. Perhaps you can look at your upbringing, your path in life, and see how you have adapted to other people, to situations. And then say: “Maybe it is time to stop adapting and just be creative. What is my wildest dream? What would I really like to do in this final lifetime?” And then, deal with the selves that come up challenging your ability to do this. Dismiss the selves.

I am not asking you here to decide with the outer mind: “Oh, I am going to quit my job and sell my house and become a painter who paints impressionistic paintings.” I am not asking you to decide with the outer mind to do this or that. I am asking you to stop deciding with the outer mind to not do anything creative, to dismiss those selves. And therefore, become an open door. What does your I AM Presence want to express while it still has a platform here in the physical realm?

You may look at the messenger and say: “Well, he has decided to be a messenger. He is the open door for bringing forth these teachings. Surely the teachings are creative, but is he personally creative?”

Well, the book, My Lives, was certainly a book that, although inspired by ascended masters as well, was really what his I AM Presence decided to bring out, desired to bring out. There are other things that his I AM Presence desires to bring out. The same for all of you. I am simply asking you, do not worry about what other people should do or should not do. Look at yourself. Clear out the obstacles to your creativity. Let them fall by the wayside one by one and then go into this neutral, pure awareness, where you are willing to let the I AM Presence express something through you.

Your I AM Presence is a creative being. And the highest form of creativity for the Conscious You is to blend with the I AM Presence, so that the creativity of the I AM Presence is expressed through the Conscious You and your four lower bodies here on earth. What would creativity look like for you that you may never have really dreamt about, that you may never have really dared to envision or conceptualize? What might it look like? It does not have to be something wild and crazy. You do not have to become one of these bohemian artists. But what would it look like that you dare not really envision today? I am just asking you to ponder this and use these tools to deal with the subconscious selves that are limiting your creativity.

[sustained silence]

What is silence? When I am not speaking, what happens in your minds? Is there not a process that wonders: “Why did he stop speaking? Is the dictation over? But it did not last that long.” Is there not an aspect of your mind that has trouble dealing with silence?

The monkey mind

You see, what happens to most people on earth is that over many lifetimes, and certainly in this lifetime as well, there has formed these structures in the mind that look at what should or should not happen. It is the standard of the fallen beings that has crept in. And you have, especially at the mental level, this constant thought process that is evaluating everything. Is this okay? Is it not okay? Is it the way it should be? Will I be punished for this? Will I be rewarded for this?

There is this constant evaluation process. Some of it comes from subconscious selves that you can deal with by using our tools to resolve them. But some of it is just the mind at the mental level. Buddhists have called it the monkey mind, because a monkey has trouble sitting still in the tree. It is always jumping around. And likewise, what has happened on earth, especially since the advent of science and what has been called the age of reason, is that the mental mind has become so active for most people that their attention is always pulled into all of these thoughts.

Going into silence

I have before talked about ways to still the mind. But still, I want to talk somewhat about this. Because what has actually happened, and what happens on all unnatural planets—there is that in the collective consciousness forms these beasts, these entities, that are afraid of silence. And that project this fear of silence into people’s emotional bodies, their mental bodies, even their identity bodies. And why is this? Well, it is because the key to being creative is to tune in to the creative drive, to look at current conditions. To realize that the creative drive shows you that they could be more. Then, you use the conceptual mind to conceptualize what could be created that is more. But then, before you project it out, it is preferable, it is optimal, if you do not rush into projecting. But instead, you go into a state of silence.

And silence really means that you withdraw your attention from the world. In other words, normally your attention is going out. Even when you are observing current conditions, your attention is going out. When you are conceptualizing what could be done better, your attention is going out. But when you withdraw your attention away from the world, you can go into that point of stillness, as Saint Germain has called it, which is another way of describing what we have called pure awareness. The Conscious You steps outside the four lower bodies and now directs your attention upwards to the I AM Presence. And the Conscious You can then receive an impulse from the I AM Presence that gives you a frame of reference for evaluating the concept that you have formulated. You might say that you are reaching for the “As above, so below.” You bring your creative drive into alignment with the I AM Presence. But for this to happen, you need to withdraw your attention from the world, not direct it out. And go into the silence, so there is room to receive.

The silent mind: a chalice for creativity

This is the holy grail, the chalice raised up where something can be poured into from above. And that chalice, contrary to what students of previous dispensations have reasoned, is not a sophisticated mind. It is the quiet mind, the silent mind. Certainly, it helps to have knowledge of the world. If you are seeking to bring forth a creative solution in the field of education or medicine, you need to have knowledge of what is already there in the scientific field. But as many scientists have proven, having all this outer knowledge is not the source of creativity. It is something that the creativity can be expressed through. But to really receive a creative impulse from your I AM Presence, you need to go into that silence, so there is room for it to enter your mind. For as long as the mind is busy monkeying around, there is no room for the impulse from the Presence or the ascended masters to enter.

Then, of course, you project out an impulse upon the Ma-ter light, upon society, and you receive a return current. In the ideal scenario, when you receive the return current of your creative drive, you again go into silence. The Conscious You goes into neutral and you reach up to the I AM Presence: How do you look at this? What most people do is—they are observing current conditions through their subconscious selves. They are reacting to current conditions. They often have a compulsion to change things. Or they are seeking to escape some kind of suffering. They are so focused on current conditions, they cannot really be creative in a qualitative way. They may be able to try and change things at a quantitative level, but they cannot be creative.

Why? Because the subconscious selves cannot be creative. They are created in response to current conditions. They cannot conceive of transcending current conditions. They can only continue to react to them in the same way. You can, of course, dissolve the selves. But in order to really be creative, you need to reach that moment of silence. Now, many times the selves are what prevents people from going into silence, so you need to resolve a critical mass of them. But many of you have done this, so you can still benefit from taking this teaching I am giving you. And once in a while taking the time to at least attempt to go into silence, so that you can receive a creative impulse from the Presence.

And then, when you are facing situations in your life where you get a reaction from the world, from other people, from society, you can make an effort to not react through the subconscious selves, this constant evaluation of what should or should not be. But instead strive to go into silence and ask the Presence: “How do you look at this?” And when you get the frame of reference of how the Presence looks at your creative efforts, you can use that to evaluate the reaction from the subconscious selves you have left, or from other people. And you can, therefore, avoid reacting to it through those outer selves. You can react like the Presence would react which means, in many cases, that you are not moved, and so you dare to be creative again.

Challenging status quo: the silent mind vs. the separate mind

There is, when you look at artists, creative people—there is a tendency for them to become very eccentric, very bohemian, very rebellious, rebelling against society and rebelling against status quo. And it could be legitimate to ask the question: “Does being creative on planet earth necessitate you becoming a narcissist or a sociopath where you have no sensitivity to other people and you just do whatever you want?” But it does not. The alternative is that you resolve the psychology. What are some of these artists doing? They do not know how to resolve their psychology, so they go into a state of mind where they think that it is epically important that they rebel against society, that they challenge status quo. And they create such a strong subconscious self that it suppresses the other subconscious selves that are afraid of being creative or that are sensitive to other people’s reaction.

In other words, they become insensitive. And that is why you see them many times bringing forth something in art, for example, that is completely disharmonious, that does not have any beauty in it, that really is not creative. It is just disruptive. But they think that this somehow serves a purpose, and in some cases it does, by challenging status quo. I am not saying that there are not some of these so-called bohemian artists who have not had an effect on challenging status quo. But it has not been done from the Christ mind. It has been done from the separate mind. What you can achieve, as spiritual people, is to resolve enough psychology that you are able to go into this silence and tune in to the Presence. And bring forth something from the Christ mind that is truly creative, because it frees people from the prison.

You see some of these artists that have been famous artists, have been known for their rebelliousness. How they have been so agitated, so disturbed in their minds, because their minds were always so active. It was an obsessive compulsion for them to paint or sculpt or do whatever they did. Some of them have been so disturbed in their minds that they have expressed something that really has no value, is not really art. It is just chaos. Some of them have gone into drugs or alcohol to have some relief from the intensity of their minds.

I am not asking you to become like these artists. I am actually asking you to consider an entirely new view of what it means to be an artist or a creative person, in general. And it is that your creativity does not spring from a disturbed mind, an overactive mind, but from a mind that is so resolved that it is able to go into silence. And instead of bringing forth something from inside the mind itself, you are bringing forth something from a higher realm, the I AM Presence, the ascended masters. Therefore, instead of being here below and doing whatever you want here below, you become “As above, so below.” And this is true creativity, because this is the only way to bring forth something truly new on a planet like earth, something that will help people, society, transcend the current conditions that are so limiting.

Riding the wave through stillness

I know that few people will look at the Buddha and connect the Buddha with creativity, but the stillness of the mind is truly the source of higher creativity. It is also a key to riding the wave of these next 12 years. For if you cannot go into the stillness, how can you avoid being pulled into the turbulence, reacting to the turbulence? We have used the image of surfing a wave. But when a surfer is up on the board, is inside this barrel roll of the wave, there is actually stillness, there is balance. It is the only way to stay upright. And many surfers feel that the greatest value of their activity is that they go into that stillness. For it is the only way to maintain the balance.

And it is the same for these next 12 years. The only way to maintain balance in the turbulence is through stillness. For in stillness, there is not room for the evaluations, right and wrong, good or bad, this or that. There is just stillness. And I am, of course, the ascended master who represents stillness for earth, so I simply offer you my Presence, my Being, as a help for these next 12 years. You can give my decree, you can give invocations, but I encourage you to learn gradually to just tune in to my Presence in the stillness.

The Buddha’s assistance in stillness

We can say that tuning in to the Buddha is not an activity of the mind. It is through ceasing activity in the mind that you tune in to the Buddha. And that, when you experience this stillness is how time loses its hold on the mind. As you see how this dictation has lasted almost a full hour, even though the messenger, at one point, wondered if it would fill up the time. And suddenly his mind was so focused on the stillness of my Presence that he did not realize that time had passed and time is up.

With this, I wish to express the gratitude of all of us who have been part of this release. As always, many more Masters have been involved than have spoken. And we are all grateful that so many of you have participated and been part of the flow “As above, so below.” With this, I seal you. I seal this conference, which has been a tremendous breakthrough from our perspective. And I seal you in the stillness of the Buddha. Gautama, I AM.