Posts
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The ego has a place, often, several times, in the incarnational history of the Soul. For It might incarnate several times. It is counterproductive to see the ego as an "enemy," and it is not. It is our friend and teacher. But the ego is not a direct creation of God (Love).
Instead, it develops in response to karma and to earthly environments.
Since both these "mothers" of ego are illusion, so is the ego. It disappears at the death of the physical body, having served its entire purpose. Like the body, the ego is an "instrument" created for dealing with this everyday world of illusion. To use the words of the Docetic Jesus, it is a "phantom in a phantomworld." Just as we work out of Love for our bodies to keep them strong and healthy, even though they are but projections of Mind, we also must strive for psychological wellness, balance, moderation, and a Lovebased mind.
The "ego" in psychology is a little different from the "ego" of spirituality. For in psychology, if you do not have a "strong enough" ego, you suffer. But a major quest of spirituality (not religion) is to weaken the very strong ego.
Why? Because too much, or too strong, ego prevents the Spirit of Love from occupying the mind. Both ego and Spirit cannot dominate or control the mind simultaneously. "Ego" is Greek for "self," or, "I am." In metaphysics and spirituality, the word "self" has also more than one definition. There are, for example, in addition to the egoself (your everyday identity; the name on your birthcertificate and driverslicense), the "higher" Self (Soul) and "highest Self" (Spirit or Lovemind).
The mystic does not simply study the Lovemind or Lovespirit. Instead, pursuing enlightenment, she seeks actually to exchange her ego-identity for full identification with the Lovespirit (God).
Is it the goal of spirituality to "transcend" the ego? Yes, and it is viable. The ego is never the "enemy" of the spiritual being; instead, it is her teacher. As spiritual beings, we must remember that we are minds, not merely bodies. The ego is that part of mind that fully identifies with a particular body in spacetime. But these bodies, although we love, respect, and care for them, are not our true "selves."
For our truest "Self" is the Mind, unattached to any body. NOTE: The "mind" is not the "brain." The brain is within the body and is sustained by it, for it is a physical organ.
But the Mind is your immaterial, nonphysical self. It is your Soul. It existed before this life, and after this life, will continue to exist.
It is birthless, deathless, and timeless. So, once we begin to identify "my Self" as "my Soul," we have entered the "timeless life" promised by Jesus and the other great mysticsaints and masterteachers.
Knowing that you are not this body allows for the creation of powerful detachment. What affects the body need not affect, harm, or hurt, you, or yourself. That explains why, even though we age, we often feel "about the same" inside; the Mind, or Soulmind, does not age, is unaffected by time. but the body is not timeless; only the Soul is.
The ego is often a loud, arrogant braggert. It loves the spotlight, and laps up as much attention and notice as possible. Both Jesus and the Buddha renounced this kind of nonsense, which is the result of selfhatred-- not, as it seems, "too much selflove." Jesus taught that, if we receive rewards (he was speaking here of fame) from human beings, we have no reward with the "heavenly Father." (Mt. 6:1)
That is, the cost of fame is the eradication of all afterlife rewards.
To get earthly fame is like trading nuggets of gold and diamond for clumps of mud!
Why, then, do even "spiritual" people reach for, cultivate, and welcome fame? The truly spiritual do not. For them, fame is the worst possible consequence. So, we want to publicize the Way, but to make sure to keep the self (ego) out of the spotlight and the headlines.:) This can be a tricky and delicate balance. But it is mandatory, not optional, for the truly spiritual person. She wants,for example, for her students to talk about the Way, but not about her personally. Anyone who is eager for, and grabbing, the headlines, or fame, has proved her deep absence or lack of real spirituality. For each being is of immeasurable and limitless value. Anyone crying out for personal attention is trying to find validation in others; when we see this lack, we can be absolutely certain that a person is not enlightened. This is the simple "acid test" that every true spiritual teacher must pass!:)
Again, ego is not "evil." It is simply illusion; it is the dreamself occupying the dreamworld. Ego is part of maya or illusion. So, it follows that, she who takes the ego too seriously, or she who mistakes it for the "self," is not enlightened.
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Showing posts with label lovemind. Show all posts
Showing posts with label lovemind. Show all posts
Sunday, April 27, 2008
Friday, March 07, 2008
The Sermon on the Mount, Parts XXVIII and XXIX of XL
The Sermon on the Mount, Part XXVIII of XL
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TEXT: Continuing with Matthew 6:
COMMENTARY: This is perhaps the "least practical," and most "Taoist" aspects of the Sermon. For Jesus dares recommend unqualified, thought-free faith, or trust, in the cosmic Mind behind creation, and deep within your own mind. To live, literally, just like the birds would be to live in an upside-down bowl of grass in a tree, and Jesus does not ask this of anyone. But one aspect of life that we can and should learn from Sister Bird is how she lives so thoughtfree, and thus, care-freely.
She never worries, never lives in constant fear of death. Instead, she applies each moment to productivity and survival. She does not gather great quantities of food or other necessities, and Jesus also recommended against this. In fact, her mind is so very simple that it is "thoughtfree." This condition or state is the one for which experienced meditators search the mind, for it is utter stillness, utter tranquility.
So, Jesus' intent was that we live every day, or at least, portions of every day, in thoughtfree Mind, and in complete trust of the universal
Mind-- neither questioning, demanding, nor worrying.
The Sermon on the Mount, Part XXIX of XL
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TEXT:
COMMENTARY: Some inquire about Jesus and the simplicity of
the trust (faith) that he recommends. For example, they say, no one can live with the utter simplicity and the thoughtfree state of birdmind.
And it is impossible practically to live with a "flowermind"! And perhaps they are right. But if we cannot live as the birds, our challenge is made even greater by his recommendation that we live as "lilies of the field." So, the implication is, we must strive to move beyond even the birds in our thoughtfree simplicity. Is the person of Love's ideal a catatonic? No, for when she successfully becomes thoughtfree, a greater Mind, the cosmic Spirit, will begin to move, speak, think, and act through her. She will be as Its marionette.
It/She/He will guide her thoughts, words, and actions. And the more that she relaxes into Its guidance, and surrenders to It, the more that this profound Lovemind will "use her" to express Its creativity, brilliant intelligence, and Love. So, the enlightened being of Love PLAYS her way through life. This is an acronym for: Permits, Lets, Allows, Yields, and Surrenders. She renounces all illusion of any personal control of her life, and relaxes into the cosmic Flow. She does watch her life, to make sure that she always responds with a blend of noninjury (ahimsa) and Love; she dare not be careless. But she lets go of rigid control and micromanagement of her life. For "her" life is no longer "hers"; she belongs to Love!
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TEXT: Continuing with Matthew 6:
26. Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 And which of you by being anxious can add one cubit to his span of life?
COMMENTARY: This is perhaps the "least practical," and most "Taoist" aspects of the Sermon. For Jesus dares recommend unqualified, thought-free faith, or trust, in the cosmic Mind behind creation, and deep within your own mind. To live, literally, just like the birds would be to live in an upside-down bowl of grass in a tree, and Jesus does not ask this of anyone. But one aspect of life that we can and should learn from Sister Bird is how she lives so thoughtfree, and thus, care-freely.
She never worries, never lives in constant fear of death. Instead, she applies each moment to productivity and survival. She does not gather great quantities of food or other necessities, and Jesus also recommended against this. In fact, her mind is so very simple that it is "thoughtfree." This condition or state is the one for which experienced meditators search the mind, for it is utter stillness, utter tranquility.
So, Jesus' intent was that we live every day, or at least, portions of every day, in thoughtfree Mind, and in complete trust of the universal
Mind-- neither questioning, demanding, nor worrying.
The Sermon on the Mount, Part XXIX of XL
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TEXT:
28. And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin; 29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O men of little faith?
COMMENTARY: Some inquire about Jesus and the simplicity of
the trust (faith) that he recommends. For example, they say, no one can live with the utter simplicity and the thoughtfree state of birdmind.
And it is impossible practically to live with a "flowermind"! And perhaps they are right. But if we cannot live as the birds, our challenge is made even greater by his recommendation that we live as "lilies of the field." So, the implication is, we must strive to move beyond even the birds in our thoughtfree simplicity. Is the person of Love's ideal a catatonic? No, for when she successfully becomes thoughtfree, a greater Mind, the cosmic Spirit, will begin to move, speak, think, and act through her. She will be as Its marionette.
It/She/He will guide her thoughts, words, and actions. And the more that she relaxes into Its guidance, and surrenders to It, the more that this profound Lovemind will "use her" to express Its creativity, brilliant intelligence, and Love. So, the enlightened being of Love PLAYS her way through life. This is an acronym for: Permits, Lets, Allows, Yields, and Surrenders. She renounces all illusion of any personal control of her life, and relaxes into the cosmic Flow. She does watch her life, to make sure that she always responds with a blend of noninjury (ahimsa) and Love; she dare not be careless. But she lets go of rigid control and micromanagement of her life. For "her" life is no longer "hers"; she belongs to Love!
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
The Sermon on the Mount, Part XX and XXI of XL
The Sermon on the Mount, Part XX of XL
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TEXT: Continuing with Matthew 6:
COMMENTARY: Again, the "Father" is watching "in secret," from the interior depths of deepest Mind (the Unconscious). It is He/She, and She/He alone Who gives true rewards, as good karma. In that, the spiritual can and do rejoice. So, a spiritual person should exercise great caution never to pray in public!
For this "public prayer" betrays a deeply uncertain person, not sure of God, not trusting God in faith. For Jesus says that all real prayer is private and "in secret." Any act of public prayer displays a lack or absence of true spirituality or enlightenment.
The Sermon on the Mount, Part XXI of XL
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TEXT:
COMMENTARY: We have all, at one time or another, been the "victims"
of hyperverbal prayers that pretend, rather ignorantly and shamefully, to "educate" God. This kind of embarrassing "prayer" is a sermon in disguise. It is not accepted by God (deepest Mind) as "prayer" at all, but is a hollow, superficial, artificial excuse for selfdisplay-- unacceptable to Jesus, and thus, to God.
TEXT:
COMMENTARY: If this is true-- and it is-- then, we have no real need for the "prayers of request," or supplication. We do not need shamefully to beg God to love us, or to act on our behalf. To ask God for special favors displays a real lack of faith, for God already knows what we need. This revelation by Jesus revises and alters the very definition of prayer!
The true prayer is about God ("Our father,… hallowed be thy name."), not all about the self. It also concerns the welfare of the world ("Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven"), and never selfabsorbed. We can ask for necessities, but need not "inform" God of what is happening ("Give us this day our daily bread").
And, most of the time, the very best prayer is silence. For in that profound state, we can immerse ourselves selflessly in the ocean, the galaxy, of Lovemind-- the most profound intent of the deepest prayer or meditation.
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TEXT: Continuing with Matthew 6:
6. But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
COMMENTARY: Again, the "Father" is watching "in secret," from the interior depths of deepest Mind (the Unconscious). It is He/She, and She/He alone Who gives true rewards, as good karma. In that, the spiritual can and do rejoice. So, a spiritual person should exercise great caution never to pray in public!
For this "public prayer" betrays a deeply uncertain person, not sure of God, not trusting God in faith. For Jesus says that all real prayer is private and "in secret." Any act of public prayer displays a lack or absence of true spirituality or enlightenment.
The Sermon on the Mount, Part XXI of XL
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TEXT:
7. "And in praying do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do; for they think that they will be heard for their many words.
COMMENTARY: We have all, at one time or another, been the "victims"
of hyperverbal prayers that pretend, rather ignorantly and shamefully, to "educate" God. This kind of embarrassing "prayer" is a sermon in disguise. It is not accepted by God (deepest Mind) as "prayer" at all, but is a hollow, superficial, artificial excuse for selfdisplay-- unacceptable to Jesus, and thus, to God.
TEXT:
8. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
COMMENTARY: If this is true-- and it is-- then, we have no real need for the "prayers of request," or supplication. We do not need shamefully to beg God to love us, or to act on our behalf. To ask God for special favors displays a real lack of faith, for God already knows what we need. This revelation by Jesus revises and alters the very definition of prayer!
The true prayer is about God ("Our father,… hallowed be thy name."), not all about the self. It also concerns the welfare of the world ("Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven"), and never selfabsorbed. We can ask for necessities, but need not "inform" God of what is happening ("Give us this day our daily bread").
And, most of the time, the very best prayer is silence. For in that profound state, we can immerse ourselves selflessly in the ocean, the galaxy, of Lovemind-- the most profound intent of the deepest prayer or meditation.
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Shining the Love-nature
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Arguably, no one has ever lived up to her "best vision" of her best potential Selfexpression. The very best for which we can reasonably hope is that Love will use us as Its (Her/His) "vessel". At its brightest, this might occur only periodically, since no one is perfect. We might allow the Lovespirit, Lovemind, or Love-nature to "come through" with crystal clarity only some of the time. To selfcriticize for this natural condition, in which a lower (humanimal) nature also exists within, is to suffer from the fearbased spiritual "disease" of perfectionism. The wise and enlightened do not demand perfection from themselves even in Lovexpression. But instead, as Zen teachers say, they continue to "polish" the interior "mirror" of Love, continuously "wiping away" the "dust" of the lower (humanimal) nature. It is our purpose to bring, to shine, Love into this often-dark world. Perhaps no human being can do this one hundred percent of the time, but that is not our mission, assignment, or "calling" from the Holy Spirit of Love. Instead, we are called to do the best that we can, and to know that our honest "best" is always enough.:)
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Arguably, no one has ever lived up to her "best vision" of her best potential Selfexpression. The very best for which we can reasonably hope is that Love will use us as Its (Her/His) "vessel". At its brightest, this might occur only periodically, since no one is perfect. We might allow the Lovespirit, Lovemind, or Love-nature to "come through" with crystal clarity only some of the time. To selfcriticize for this natural condition, in which a lower (humanimal) nature also exists within, is to suffer from the fearbased spiritual "disease" of perfectionism. The wise and enlightened do not demand perfection from themselves even in Lovexpression. But instead, as Zen teachers say, they continue to "polish" the interior "mirror" of Love, continuously "wiping away" the "dust" of the lower (humanimal) nature. It is our purpose to bring, to shine, Love into this often-dark world. Perhaps no human being can do this one hundred percent of the time, but that is not our mission, assignment, or "calling" from the Holy Spirit of Love. Instead, we are called to do the best that we can, and to know that our honest "best" is always enough.:)
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Friday, December 07, 2007
Love
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What makes people "decent" is the Presence of a Lovemind or Love-nature deep within the (unconscious) mind. So, it is Love that is the root of decent behavior, decency being the flower of Love. Could a hypothetically loveless being-- totally without Love -- behave decently?
I do not think so. For one important consideration, she would lack the motivation, provided by Love.
This, of course, defines "Love" in its broadest and most universal definition, as intrinsic compassion, producing empathy, for the self and for all others. I should clarify that, when referring to "Love" in a conversation such as ours, I mean the Love that is universal, unconditional, and consistent. This is the cosmic Love that is God itself, a very special and widely vast Love that swallows, and includes, many subsystems within it, including decency, kindness, goodness, empathy, sympathy, tolerance, and dozens of other factors.
Deep within the Mind-- at a level so deep that it is collective (shared)-- there exists the Lovemind. This is the "mind of God." Unifying with It is a powerful healing (wholing) experience, and the reason that we were created (emanated) as "separate" Souls.
You may choose, of course, to define "Love" differently, and that is, of course, your right. But if so, then, we are on very different "pages," my friend. For if "Love" is defined as a lesser reality, then it is not the Love that is ultimate, supreme Reality ("truth" or God). And, to be honest, I have little to no interest in discussing this "lesser Love."
The Love to which we refer is the very highest expression of mind and heart. It is very vast and immense, and includes many lesser subsystems.
This is the glory of the human condition; indeed, it is the glory of the cosmos!
What makes people "decent" is the Presence of a Lovemind or Love-nature deep within the (unconscious) mind. So, it is Love that is the root of decent behavior, decency being the flower of Love. Could a hypothetically loveless being-- totally without Love -- behave decently?
I do not think so. For one important consideration, she would lack the motivation, provided by Love.
This, of course, defines "Love" in its broadest and most universal definition, as intrinsic compassion, producing empathy, for the self and for all others. I should clarify that, when referring to "Love" in a conversation such as ours, I mean the Love that is universal, unconditional, and consistent. This is the cosmic Love that is God itself, a very special and widely vast Love that swallows, and includes, many subsystems within it, including decency, kindness, goodness, empathy, sympathy, tolerance, and dozens of other factors.
Deep within the Mind-- at a level so deep that it is collective (shared)-- there exists the Lovemind. This is the "mind of God." Unifying with It is a powerful healing (wholing) experience, and the reason that we were created (emanated) as "separate" Souls.
You may choose, of course, to define "Love" differently, and that is, of course, your right. But if so, then, we are on very different "pages," my friend. For if "Love" is defined as a lesser reality, then it is not the Love that is ultimate, supreme Reality ("truth" or God). And, to be honest, I have little to no interest in discussing this "lesser Love."
The Love to which we refer is the very highest expression of mind and heart. It is very vast and immense, and includes many lesser subsystems.
This is the glory of the human condition; indeed, it is the glory of the cosmos!
Thursday, August 09, 2007
Jesus' Transfiguration
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The "Mount of Transfiguration" was not a phrase used by Jesus, but was a later description used by others. This describes an event in the Gospel accounts of the Life of Jesus. This is perhaps a symbolic or representative account of a radical shift in the mind (consciousness) of Jesus.
In a clearly altered state of consciousness, Jesus was granted a vision one night upon a mountain. In the vision, he was apparently glowing, which is a symbol of the interior Light. He apparently encountered several light-phenomena. In the vision, he saw two beings who were later interpreted to be "Moses" and "Elijah," two of the more famous "prophets" in the Jewish tradition. So, he was obviously in touch with the profound area of the Superconscious Mind (Lovemind, Godmind, Coremind) called the
akasha. This contains the spacetime history of our world.
Although, historically, there is usually a clear distinction between the visionary and the mystic-- and mystics generally do not "see visions"-- this is a rare synergic unity of a visionary and mystical experience in one single event.
"Transfiguration" means major transformation, transmogrification, or spiritual rebirth. So, this was likely one of the major mystical experiences, of which Jesus experienced many.
This type of experience occurs in the lives of mystics, although not to this extent, or this powerfully, all throughout the spiritual history of every enlightened being. As is often the case, Jesus here is an "archetype," or universal model, of the mystically illuminated kind or type of human being. But why would the experience include encounters with the famous Jewish sages?
Probably because most of his disciples, and, in fact, most of the first early Christians, who would learn of the story and make use and application of it, were from a Jewish genetic, cultural, and geographic background. So, this event, like so much in Jesus' life, was not prepared for only Jesus, but for his followers as well. The Jewish historical component was included, not because it was necessary to the spirituality of the event, but because the people of the time could easily relate to the event as deeply "spiritual." For in that situation, culture and history were closely interwoven, in their minds, with spirituality.
It is perhaps historically significant, some literalist scholars point out, that Moses had a breath-taking experience similar to that of Jesus, and so did Elijah. These historians are reasoning from the premise that these accounts represent actual, literal experiences with extraordinary power-- not symbolic events or descriptions. They believe that the same power returned to earth and created the transfigurative experience. This also is a real possibility, but, at this late date in human history, we cannot know the whole story. So, all that we have is speculation.
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The "Mount of Transfiguration" was not a phrase used by Jesus, but was a later description used by others. This describes an event in the Gospel accounts of the Life of Jesus. This is perhaps a symbolic or representative account of a radical shift in the mind (consciousness) of Jesus.
In a clearly altered state of consciousness, Jesus was granted a vision one night upon a mountain. In the vision, he was apparently glowing, which is a symbol of the interior Light. He apparently encountered several light-phenomena. In the vision, he saw two beings who were later interpreted to be "Moses" and "Elijah," two of the more famous "prophets" in the Jewish tradition. So, he was obviously in touch with the profound area of the Superconscious Mind (Lovemind, Godmind, Coremind) called the
akasha. This contains the spacetime history of our world.
Although, historically, there is usually a clear distinction between the visionary and the mystic-- and mystics generally do not "see visions"-- this is a rare synergic unity of a visionary and mystical experience in one single event.
"Transfiguration" means major transformation, transmogrification, or spiritual rebirth. So, this was likely one of the major mystical experiences, of which Jesus experienced many.
This type of experience occurs in the lives of mystics, although not to this extent, or this powerfully, all throughout the spiritual history of every enlightened being. As is often the case, Jesus here is an "archetype," or universal model, of the mystically illuminated kind or type of human being. But why would the experience include encounters with the famous Jewish sages?
Probably because most of his disciples, and, in fact, most of the first early Christians, who would learn of the story and make use and application of it, were from a Jewish genetic, cultural, and geographic background. So, this event, like so much in Jesus' life, was not prepared for only Jesus, but for his followers as well. The Jewish historical component was included, not because it was necessary to the spirituality of the event, but because the people of the time could easily relate to the event as deeply "spiritual." For in that situation, culture and history were closely interwoven, in their minds, with spirituality.
It is perhaps historically significant, some literalist scholars point out, that Moses had a breath-taking experience similar to that of Jesus, and so did Elijah. These historians are reasoning from the premise that these accounts represent actual, literal experiences with extraordinary power-- not symbolic events or descriptions. They believe that the same power returned to earth and created the transfigurative experience. This also is a real possibility, but, at this late date in human history, we cannot know the whole story. So, all that we have is speculation.
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Saturday, June 16, 2007
Pervasive Meditation
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For thousands of years, deeply spiritual people have longed and yearned to get in touch with the Soul, Spirit, and Unconscious generally. They have developed, over centuries, various forms of meditation or "silent prayer."
You must still the busy-ness of the conscious (thinking) mind and open yourself to the deep Love-nature (Christ-spirit or Buddha-nature) profoundly in the mind of all people. To clear the mind, many use a mantra, a simple phrase repeated. Some effective ones include: "God is Love and..." "Jesus Christ and..." "I am at peace," "aAhmitabha" (Lord of Light), "Loving Mary," "Gentle KwanYin," "Does not matter," etc.
There are literally hundreds of variations and possibilities.
A phrase of four syllables falls very easily into a rhythm, and that is why it is used in "pervasive meditation" (acognitive therapy). As this name for meditation indicates, clearing the mind is very therapeutic and healing to both mind and body.
Whenever you have a spare minute or two, start to "run" (repeat) the phrase in your mind. Relax as deeply as possible, centering your whole being on pure Love, and excluding everything else. Gently push all other thoughts and mind-pictures out of your mind. Take some deep cleansing breaths, and you might also want to visualize your body surrounded by a beautiful blue or golden light.
Do this as often as possible during the day. This will get you in touch with the Lovemind, Coremind, or Godmind within. In time, without any effort, your thoughts, words, and actions will begin to change for the better. You will find yourself happier, more joyful, more contented, satisfied, and fulfilled. You will find yourself speaking, thinking, and acting with greater patience and Love. You will express healthy and healing compassion, goodness, and kindness. You will find self-forgiveness pouring from the interior "Fountain" of God (Love)inside you.
Do not give up. Keep on trying. Keep returning to your phrase, no matter how many times the mind gets distracted. For you are opening the interior "door" to the Holy Spirit, your highest Self or nature.
*******
For thousands of years, deeply spiritual people have longed and yearned to get in touch with the Soul, Spirit, and Unconscious generally. They have developed, over centuries, various forms of meditation or "silent prayer."
You must still the busy-ness of the conscious (thinking) mind and open yourself to the deep Love-nature (Christ-spirit or Buddha-nature) profoundly in the mind of all people. To clear the mind, many use a mantra, a simple phrase repeated. Some effective ones include: "God is Love and..." "Jesus Christ and..." "I am at peace," "aAhmitabha" (Lord of Light), "Loving Mary," "Gentle KwanYin," "Does not matter," etc.
There are literally hundreds of variations and possibilities.
A phrase of four syllables falls very easily into a rhythm, and that is why it is used in "pervasive meditation" (acognitive therapy). As this name for meditation indicates, clearing the mind is very therapeutic and healing to both mind and body.
Whenever you have a spare minute or two, start to "run" (repeat) the phrase in your mind. Relax as deeply as possible, centering your whole being on pure Love, and excluding everything else. Gently push all other thoughts and mind-pictures out of your mind. Take some deep cleansing breaths, and you might also want to visualize your body surrounded by a beautiful blue or golden light.
Do this as often as possible during the day. This will get you in touch with the Lovemind, Coremind, or Godmind within. In time, without any effort, your thoughts, words, and actions will begin to change for the better. You will find yourself happier, more joyful, more contented, satisfied, and fulfilled. You will find yourself speaking, thinking, and acting with greater patience and Love. You will express healthy and healing compassion, goodness, and kindness. You will find self-forgiveness pouring from the interior "Fountain" of God (Love)inside you.
Do not give up. Keep on trying. Keep returning to your phrase, no matter how many times the mind gets distracted. For you are opening the interior "door" to the Holy Spirit, your highest Self or nature.
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Friday, May 25, 2007
How the Ego Blocks the Divine Mind
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Enlightened people call the usual human identity the "ego." When a person says, "I am Mary Smith," she is identifying her social and recognized human self, her ego. The ego is the person (identity) that we have always thought ourselves to be; it is the name on your birth-certificate and driver's license. It is whom everyone, including parents, assumes you to be.
But spiritual tradition has always held that we have a "secret identity." This identity is not conscious, but is hidden deeply within the Unconscious.
This secret identity is based on the spiritual premise that "our" minds are all part of a greater Mind-- a Mind that is a galaxy of infinite Love, joy, beauty, wisdom, and truth. Deep down, these traditions hold, we all "grow out of" this great shared Mind, as a thousand million flowers all grow out of the single earth. This beautiful and magnificent shared Mind, you might have guessed, is the "Mind of God."
What Jesus said about Himself, then, applies to all of us. For He said, "The Father [God] and I are one." (Jn. 10:30) Deep within the Unconscious, we are all in touch with a vast Mind that is pure Love. (This is called "Lovemind," "Coremind," or, "Godmind.")
The ultimate goal of enlightenment is to fuse, meld, merge, unify, or unite with this Mind of pure Love. This is the highest human act of worship. If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, the attempt to "become one" with this perfect Mind is the sincerest form of Love for God.
For to see God as a part of one's own mind is to have a transformative effect. This God cannot be "distant," or "gone," relative to His/Her human children. For, by definition, wherever they go, He is.
The spiritual tradition teaches that this entire world is the dream, or "virtual reality," created by this one Mind. So, this God is everywhere, and within all hearts, and within all things. For just as when you dream of a blue ball and a red wagon, you are "in" the ball and the wagon, for they are part of your dream (and thus, of your mind), so, in an analogous way, God "indwells" all creation. This makes the entire world beautiful, and sacred.
When you identify strongly with the ego, or lower human nature, you are in essence denying the higher nature, the indwelling Holy Spirit. You are turning away from your own higher nature, your Love-nature, and identifying with the time-bound, terribly limited, and merely human, identity. People who make a career out of their egos, who spend all their time trying to inflate them, to get attention, praise, notice, accolade, approbation, and "strokes" for their ego are denying their deep interior higher Self, the God-Self. So, people in our society, whose goal is almost always to inflate, and gain attention for, the ego, are sabotaging their deepest spiritual plans. For the ultimate reason that we incarnate on earth is to overcome the illusion that we are merely animal-bodies and merely egominds. We come here to vanquish, overcome, and conquer ego-dominance and also ego-identification ("I am only Mary Smith").
The Scriptures make it clear that Jesus was not a freak, but a "model...for you to follow his footsteps closely." If Jesus was a model, this means that he was not a different species than are we. He truly was, asthe old formula said, "true God and true man." He had become a full incarnation, not of "another person," but of Love. He had fully "traded in" his old human identity for the realization, "I am a temporary incarnation of the principle of Love."
To become Love incarnate, we must fully de-identify with the ego. Mary Smith must say, "I am not only Mary Smith, although that is a small part of my mind. For I am also a vessel for the Holy Spirit of Love." Gradually, with the passage of time, and with the continued consistent practice of humility, Mary Smith's ego begins to disappear into her fuller identification with God (Love). This is the final and ultimate destiny of all living beings, to fulfill the words of Paul, writing about a time when "God will be all in all."
*******
Enlightened people call the usual human identity the "ego." When a person says, "I am Mary Smith," she is identifying her social and recognized human self, her ego. The ego is the person (identity) that we have always thought ourselves to be; it is the name on your birth-certificate and driver's license. It is whom everyone, including parents, assumes you to be.
But spiritual tradition has always held that we have a "secret identity." This identity is not conscious, but is hidden deeply within the Unconscious.
This secret identity is based on the spiritual premise that "our" minds are all part of a greater Mind-- a Mind that is a galaxy of infinite Love, joy, beauty, wisdom, and truth. Deep down, these traditions hold, we all "grow out of" this great shared Mind, as a thousand million flowers all grow out of the single earth. This beautiful and magnificent shared Mind, you might have guessed, is the "Mind of God."
What Jesus said about Himself, then, applies to all of us. For He said, "The Father [God] and I are one." (Jn. 10:30) Deep within the Unconscious, we are all in touch with a vast Mind that is pure Love. (This is called "Lovemind," "Coremind," or, "Godmind.")
The ultimate goal of enlightenment is to fuse, meld, merge, unify, or unite with this Mind of pure Love. This is the highest human act of worship. If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, the attempt to "become one" with this perfect Mind is the sincerest form of Love for God.
For to see God as a part of one's own mind is to have a transformative effect. This God cannot be "distant," or "gone," relative to His/Her human children. For, by definition, wherever they go, He is.
The spiritual tradition teaches that this entire world is the dream, or "virtual reality," created by this one Mind. So, this God is everywhere, and within all hearts, and within all things. For just as when you dream of a blue ball and a red wagon, you are "in" the ball and the wagon, for they are part of your dream (and thus, of your mind), so, in an analogous way, God "indwells" all creation. This makes the entire world beautiful, and sacred.
When you identify strongly with the ego, or lower human nature, you are in essence denying the higher nature, the indwelling Holy Spirit. You are turning away from your own higher nature, your Love-nature, and identifying with the time-bound, terribly limited, and merely human, identity. People who make a career out of their egos, who spend all their time trying to inflate them, to get attention, praise, notice, accolade, approbation, and "strokes" for their ego are denying their deep interior higher Self, the God-Self. So, people in our society, whose goal is almost always to inflate, and gain attention for, the ego, are sabotaging their deepest spiritual plans. For the ultimate reason that we incarnate on earth is to overcome the illusion that we are merely animal-bodies and merely egominds. We come here to vanquish, overcome, and conquer ego-dominance and also ego-identification ("I am only Mary Smith").
The Scriptures make it clear that Jesus was not a freak, but a "model...for you to follow his footsteps closely." If Jesus was a model, this means that he was not a different species than are we. He truly was, asthe old formula said, "true God and true man." He had become a full incarnation, not of "another person," but of Love. He had fully "traded in" his old human identity for the realization, "I am a temporary incarnation of the principle of Love."
To become Love incarnate, we must fully de-identify with the ego. Mary Smith must say, "I am not only Mary Smith, although that is a small part of my mind. For I am also a vessel for the Holy Spirit of Love." Gradually, with the passage of time, and with the continued consistent practice of humility, Mary Smith's ego begins to disappear into her fuller identification with God (Love). This is the final and ultimate destiny of all living beings, to fulfill the words of Paul, writing about a time when "God will be all in all."
*******
Saturday, April 28, 2007
Jesus and Immortality
*******
Jesus was an awakened, illuminated, and enlightened man. The great psychologist Dr. Carl Jung believed that the Gospel-stories were allegory, not literal history. As fundies, of course, we were dogmatically locked into the straight-jacket of insisting that every word was literal history.
But legends grow like weeds, especially around amazing or unusual people. Sometimes, these mythologies have nothing to do with "real" or literal events. It is not necessary to be dogmatic about this issue. Personally, a "middle of the road" approach is preferred here: Certain events and descriptions in the Gospels might well be symbolic legends, and others might well be literal, or have had a foundation in an actual event.
But still, it would be a terrible mistake (often made by fundies) to confuse Gospel writers with the modern definition of the word "historians." They often wrote, not to be "accurate" in the literal and scientific modern sense, but to get across spiritual lessons. At times, most ancient writers could not have cared less whether a described event actually, literally occurred. The important thing to them was not historical accuracy, but the lessons.
We know for certain that legends grew up around other "celestial" or spiritual messengers and teachers. It is said that the Buddha, for example, was "born of a virgin," and that he wrestled with Mara, the tempter, for forty days and nights before his enlightenment. But Buddhist scholars and experts universally agree that these were symbolic statements. They indicated a special being of light who recognized that he was not a body, but a mind (Soul). That is why great teachers are often divided from the rest of us by a story re parthenogenesis (birth from a virgin).
So, we need not believe in the literal virgin-birth to follow, understand, or love Jesus as a master, a "son of God." Nor, by the way, need we disbelieve. We can simply keep an open mind. Unlike the cults, people of sophisticated spirituality do not need "black and white," simple "yes or no" answers to every question.
In fact, recognition of Jesus' full humanity actually brings him closer to "home," as he was truly "one of us." The very ancient Christian formula said that he was "true God and true man." He was a man who realized that his true or higher Self was an immortal, non-physical Soul. At Its core, this Soul was the Spirit, God, or Love. In fact, he directed this Soul to become an incarnation or perfect reflection of Love
(God).
He was not a freak, a one-of-a-kind forever being. Instead, his early disciple got it right when he said, "Christ died for you, leaving you a model to follow his footsteps closely." So, our most active Love for Christ lies not in worshipping his human form, but in trying honestly to follow him, as he called upon people to do. In fact, he had a habit of saying, "Follow Me."
So, as he said, "The things that I do, you also will do-- and even things greater than these." So, do we see Jesus as God?
Yes, for he said the perennial statement of the mystic. He said, "I and the Father are one." But if Jesus is a model, not a freak, it implies that, deep down, in our minds, in the deep Unconscious, we are also unified with the great perfect Mind (Spirit) called "God." Indeed, like Jesus, we all have a Lovemind or Love-nature "buried" deep within the "unconscious" Mind. Our challenge is to tap this interior Christ-nature, this Christ-spirit, and to manifest Its Love in our world.
Ancient Christians such as Marcion (about 140 CE) clearly distinguished between "Jesus" the man and "Christ" the Spirit. Jesus the historical man was born, lived, and died. But Christ the everlasting Spirit lived through that death; as a Soul, he proved that death is a survivable experience. It was among his more important lessons: "I will die," he said in effect, "and I will come back to my friends and prove that you -- and we all -- survive death. Death is not the end."
And of course, his body (Jesus) did die. But his enlightened Soul (Christ) did not. (Indeed, in his Soul he had become the Mind of God, deep within him as It is within you and me, and all beings of Love.)
So, in our lives, "Jesus Christ" is a human image of the God beyond ordinary imagination, and beyond even symbols. In Jesus, we can see the "face of God," the full human and divine expressions of Love.
As you can see here, the knowing that God is Love changes everything. Then, we do not have the traditional difficulties of the history of theology. We do not have to explain how Jesus and God-- two different "persons"-- are "one," as Jesus declared. Love lives in your heart, as It did in the heart of Jesus. A human mind can "become one" with Love by living Its principles, for Love is not "another person." This very simply explains such profound mysteries as the "oneness" of Jesus and God.
Since Jesus was a model, we are expected to "follow" him, to live as he lived, and to act and behave with Love towards even our "enemies," again, as he said. For we, like him, are potentially "one with" God. God is not another "person" (this word means "mask") in outer space. God is the very deep Lovemind (Mind filled with only Love, overflowing with Love) at the core of all minds. It is a shared or collective Mind, the very deepest Unconscious. The entire "material, external, physical" universe is an expression of the Mind of God.
We usually live our everyday lives in a kind of sleep, or unawareness of spiritual ideas. That is why, in the symbolic book of Genesis, "Jehovah" (the principle of ignorance) put "Adam" to sleep, and the record never says that Adam ever woke up. Human history begins after Adam is put to sleep by the god of ignorance, Jehovah. Only later does the God of Love come to us, and awaken us. ("Awakening" is a synonym for "enlightenment.")
Again, a whole library could be written to answer your most profound inquiry. Several books have been written here about the deep mysteries of God and human minds, and the many relationships and interactions among them.
Your second question concerns the afterlife. That there is an afterlife is what gives deeper meaning to our actions and lives here on earth. For earth is a place of visitors, but no one really "lives" here.
For years, we were in total denial of death. As Jehovah's Witnesses, we suffered from a severe form of "thanatophobia," or death-terror. But, for the first time in history, tens of thousands of people have actually died, and biomedical technology has made it possible to literally bring them back from the dead. (See the breakthrough work, by Dr. Raymond Moody, Life After Life. It can be found at any bookstore, in a used paperback edition.) Medical interviews have proved, beyond the shadow of any reasonable doubt, that these people continued as minds after their bodies were heart-dead and brain-dead. (They were truly clinically dead. To say that they had a "near-death experience is simply a way of giving in to sixteenth-century materialism, which denies survival.) Of course, Jehovah's Witnesses and materialists dismiss the afterlife because, for other reasons, they do not want to believe in it. They say that it is all brain-induced hallucination. But this idea must be wrong, for if you give ten people a powerful drug, such as lsd, you will have ten very different experiences; for the cells and structures of different brains are very different. But many thousands have died and returned with accounts of exactly the same experience. I can attest to this truth, for I have died twice.
How many people would have to return from a country called "Russia," where you have never personally visited, before you would believe that this country really existed? It is similar with the afterlife.
Antique materialism, and Jehovah's Witnesses, claim that all thought, and consciousness, originate in the physical brain. Modern medicine and science now question this dogma. The famous neurophysiologist Sir John Eccles said that the brain was merely the "switchboard" for a non-physical mind (Soul). People have been able to think even after huge portions of their physical brains have been destroyed in accidents.
Immortality is one of the clearest teachings of the Christian Scriptures. To limit this to 144,000, based on a literal interpretation of a verse in Revelation (14:1), inside the teaching that the entire book of Revelation is symbolic, does not make consistent good sense.
Again, entire libraries have been written on this most captivating subject, so they cannot all be adequately summarized here. Since cults keep their members in enforced ignorance, discouraging reading, I take the opposite tact: Read everything! As a free and independent adult, you can choose what you want to believe, and know, and need not fear "influence" by books. Books cannot harm you; that is simply a superstition designed to keep people in ignorance.
Much, much more to come later, my friend. In fact, would you like to read one of my other books? If so, simply say the word, for teaching and learning were the two reasons that I was born.:)
*******
Jesus was an awakened, illuminated, and enlightened man. The great psychologist Dr. Carl Jung believed that the Gospel-stories were allegory, not literal history. As fundies, of course, we were dogmatically locked into the straight-jacket of insisting that every word was literal history.
But legends grow like weeds, especially around amazing or unusual people. Sometimes, these mythologies have nothing to do with "real" or literal events. It is not necessary to be dogmatic about this issue. Personally, a "middle of the road" approach is preferred here: Certain events and descriptions in the Gospels might well be symbolic legends, and others might well be literal, or have had a foundation in an actual event.
But still, it would be a terrible mistake (often made by fundies) to confuse Gospel writers with the modern definition of the word "historians." They often wrote, not to be "accurate" in the literal and scientific modern sense, but to get across spiritual lessons. At times, most ancient writers could not have cared less whether a described event actually, literally occurred. The important thing to them was not historical accuracy, but the lessons.
We know for certain that legends grew up around other "celestial" or spiritual messengers and teachers. It is said that the Buddha, for example, was "born of a virgin," and that he wrestled with Mara, the tempter, for forty days and nights before his enlightenment. But Buddhist scholars and experts universally agree that these were symbolic statements. They indicated a special being of light who recognized that he was not a body, but a mind (Soul). That is why great teachers are often divided from the rest of us by a story re parthenogenesis (birth from a virgin).
So, we need not believe in the literal virgin-birth to follow, understand, or love Jesus as a master, a "son of God." Nor, by the way, need we disbelieve. We can simply keep an open mind. Unlike the cults, people of sophisticated spirituality do not need "black and white," simple "yes or no" answers to every question.
In fact, recognition of Jesus' full humanity actually brings him closer to "home," as he was truly "one of us." The very ancient Christian formula said that he was "true God and true man." He was a man who realized that his true or higher Self was an immortal, non-physical Soul. At Its core, this Soul was the Spirit, God, or Love. In fact, he directed this Soul to become an incarnation or perfect reflection of Love
(God).
He was not a freak, a one-of-a-kind forever being. Instead, his early disciple got it right when he said, "Christ died for you, leaving you a model to follow his footsteps closely." So, our most active Love for Christ lies not in worshipping his human form, but in trying honestly to follow him, as he called upon people to do. In fact, he had a habit of saying, "Follow Me."
So, as he said, "The things that I do, you also will do-- and even things greater than these." So, do we see Jesus as God?
Yes, for he said the perennial statement of the mystic. He said, "I and the Father are one." But if Jesus is a model, not a freak, it implies that, deep down, in our minds, in the deep Unconscious, we are also unified with the great perfect Mind (Spirit) called "God." Indeed, like Jesus, we all have a Lovemind or Love-nature "buried" deep within the "unconscious" Mind. Our challenge is to tap this interior Christ-nature, this Christ-spirit, and to manifest Its Love in our world.
Ancient Christians such as Marcion (about 140 CE) clearly distinguished between "Jesus" the man and "Christ" the Spirit. Jesus the historical man was born, lived, and died. But Christ the everlasting Spirit lived through that death; as a Soul, he proved that death is a survivable experience. It was among his more important lessons: "I will die," he said in effect, "and I will come back to my friends and prove that you -- and we all -- survive death. Death is not the end."
And of course, his body (Jesus) did die. But his enlightened Soul (Christ) did not. (Indeed, in his Soul he had become the Mind of God, deep within him as It is within you and me, and all beings of Love.)
So, in our lives, "Jesus Christ" is a human image of the God beyond ordinary imagination, and beyond even symbols. In Jesus, we can see the "face of God," the full human and divine expressions of Love.
As you can see here, the knowing that God is Love changes everything. Then, we do not have the traditional difficulties of the history of theology. We do not have to explain how Jesus and God-- two different "persons"-- are "one," as Jesus declared. Love lives in your heart, as It did in the heart of Jesus. A human mind can "become one" with Love by living Its principles, for Love is not "another person." This very simply explains such profound mysteries as the "oneness" of Jesus and God.
Since Jesus was a model, we are expected to "follow" him, to live as he lived, and to act and behave with Love towards even our "enemies," again, as he said. For we, like him, are potentially "one with" God. God is not another "person" (this word means "mask") in outer space. God is the very deep Lovemind (Mind filled with only Love, overflowing with Love) at the core of all minds. It is a shared or collective Mind, the very deepest Unconscious. The entire "material, external, physical" universe is an expression of the Mind of God.
We usually live our everyday lives in a kind of sleep, or unawareness of spiritual ideas. That is why, in the symbolic book of Genesis, "Jehovah" (the principle of ignorance) put "Adam" to sleep, and the record never says that Adam ever woke up. Human history begins after Adam is put to sleep by the god of ignorance, Jehovah. Only later does the God of Love come to us, and awaken us. ("Awakening" is a synonym for "enlightenment.")
Again, a whole library could be written to answer your most profound inquiry. Several books have been written here about the deep mysteries of God and human minds, and the many relationships and interactions among them.
Your second question concerns the afterlife. That there is an afterlife is what gives deeper meaning to our actions and lives here on earth. For earth is a place of visitors, but no one really "lives" here.
For years, we were in total denial of death. As Jehovah's Witnesses, we suffered from a severe form of "thanatophobia," or death-terror. But, for the first time in history, tens of thousands of people have actually died, and biomedical technology has made it possible to literally bring them back from the dead. (See the breakthrough work, by Dr. Raymond Moody, Life After Life. It can be found at any bookstore, in a used paperback edition.) Medical interviews have proved, beyond the shadow of any reasonable doubt, that these people continued as minds after their bodies were heart-dead and brain-dead. (They were truly clinically dead. To say that they had a "near-death experience is simply a way of giving in to sixteenth-century materialism, which denies survival.) Of course, Jehovah's Witnesses and materialists dismiss the afterlife because, for other reasons, they do not want to believe in it. They say that it is all brain-induced hallucination. But this idea must be wrong, for if you give ten people a powerful drug, such as lsd, you will have ten very different experiences; for the cells and structures of different brains are very different. But many thousands have died and returned with accounts of exactly the same experience. I can attest to this truth, for I have died twice.
How many people would have to return from a country called "Russia," where you have never personally visited, before you would believe that this country really existed? It is similar with the afterlife.
Antique materialism, and Jehovah's Witnesses, claim that all thought, and consciousness, originate in the physical brain. Modern medicine and science now question this dogma. The famous neurophysiologist Sir John Eccles said that the brain was merely the "switchboard" for a non-physical mind (Soul). People have been able to think even after huge portions of their physical brains have been destroyed in accidents.
Immortality is one of the clearest teachings of the Christian Scriptures. To limit this to 144,000, based on a literal interpretation of a verse in Revelation (14:1), inside the teaching that the entire book of Revelation is symbolic, does not make consistent good sense.
Again, entire libraries have been written on this most captivating subject, so they cannot all be adequately summarized here. Since cults keep their members in enforced ignorance, discouraging reading, I take the opposite tact: Read everything! As a free and independent adult, you can choose what you want to believe, and know, and need not fear "influence" by books. Books cannot harm you; that is simply a superstition designed to keep people in ignorance.
Much, much more to come later, my friend. In fact, would you like to read one of my other books? If so, simply say the word, for teaching and learning were the two reasons that I was born.:)
*******
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