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Movie Review: "City of Angels"
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This movie, made way back in 1998, contains some timeless and perennial truths. It is based on the very popular fantasy that "angels" are quite humanoid beings who care very much, and deeply, about the activities on earth-- despite the fact that earth is only a tiny dust-mote circling a small spark called "the sun." Still, even if you do not believe in the pleasant mythology of these angels, this movie will probably make you want to believe!
The movie draws much dramatic content from death and its survival, intact, by the Soul; in fact, its main character, Maggie Rice, is a surgeon who often feels both responsible and guilty for the death of surgical patients. She is the kind of doc who is a true healer, who has a heart.
The being that falls in Love with her is male, but is not a deceased Soul from earth; he is an angel, and so, is totally ignorant of the delights and pleasures of the "dreamworld" that is earth. He knows nothing of the "garden of earthly delights." This part is a little difficult to swallow; and the story might have been richer if he were a Soul who had experienced earthly life and senses, rather than an "angel" to whom human experiences seemed alien.
This is a touching and moving Love-story. Those who know me know how easily and readily I can be brought to tears, and this flick did so several times.
This story symbolically portrays what we all must go through and give up to come to earth-- often, for Love. While the ending could have been happier, it reflected life itself in its many uncontrollable, unpredictable changes, and was, overall, a "happily ever after" film.
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Showing posts with label soul. Show all posts
Showing posts with label soul. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
The Way of Mysticism
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When most people hear the adjective "mystical," they think of something occult, or even magical. They don't quite know what it is, but are sure that it is something "spooky"! Actually, the histories of intercultural forms of mysticism (such as gnosticism, kabbalism, and sufism, in their most generic forms, as well as Buddhism, Hinduism, and Taoism) prove that this Way has nothing to do with the occult or with magic.
The mystic has begun a tentative knowing of the cosmos. She knows that it is not a separate collection of objects, like the universe's largest yard-sale. Instead, she comes to see the entire "material" cosmos as a complex dream. and the mystic knows that it is not her dream; it is being dreamed by a greater, immense Mind through her tiny human mind.
This dream was called by our Hindu sisters and brothers maya, a Sanskrit word meaning "illusion." The entire material universe, together with all of spacetime, are a part of this dreamillusion. When the kabbalists spoke of "creation," they were also referring to this same dreaming Mind.
But if the cosmos is being dreamed into being by a perfect, flawless Mind, why is it so imperfect, even ugly, in some ways? Because the material cosmos, before it can be sensed/perceived, must flow through the "filters" of other mindlevels. One of these Mindlevels is called the "Soul," and it makes sure that the cosmic dream also contains all personal karma. So, the projection of this karma alters the "perfect world" of a perfect Mind. We end up living in precisely the exact "virtual reality" that we need in order to grow and develop.
And if anything is "ugly," the mystic says, the problem is within the "labelmaker" within your head! If, for example, a person truly believes that a rainy, cloudy day is "beautiful," then, to her, it really can be, and is, "a beautiful day."
Every effect has a cause. And there is not the slightest object or event in your world that "just happens" or "comes from nowhere." In a nightdream, if you encounter a fly, there is a reason for it; the mind has chosen it as a symbol, in order to teach you. And so it is with the "real," ordinary or everyday world. There is no such thing as "random chance"; that is simply a cover-up for ignorance, when the causes are not known.
Knowing karma as the ultimate servant of Love, the mystic does not believe in "innocent victims." But the most important aspects of her mind are yearning and longing to "become one," meld, or merge, with Lovemind. This Supermind is deep within her unconscious Mind. So, she takes an interior heartvow always to act and react with the most Love possible. The mystic is not yet perfect; she makes mistakes. But she does her honest best, in all circumstances, to respond with her maximum Love.
She believes in Love. Even more, she believes that "God is Love," as the ancients said. So, she worships Love; it is Number One, all the time, her first priority. This makes her a happy and courteous person who loves harmony, and who renounces actively all violence, egocentricity, and superiorism. She actively contemplates humility and lives in simplicity.
*******
This article was written by a franciscan taoist who has been exploring the Path for thirty years. If you have any questions about the Way of intercultural (universal) mysticism, which is not a religion, please write: rmfrancis@juno.com
************
When most people hear the adjective "mystical," they think of something occult, or even magical. They don't quite know what it is, but are sure that it is something "spooky"! Actually, the histories of intercultural forms of mysticism (such as gnosticism, kabbalism, and sufism, in their most generic forms, as well as Buddhism, Hinduism, and Taoism) prove that this Way has nothing to do with the occult or with magic.
The mystic has begun a tentative knowing of the cosmos. She knows that it is not a separate collection of objects, like the universe's largest yard-sale. Instead, she comes to see the entire "material" cosmos as a complex dream. and the mystic knows that it is not her dream; it is being dreamed by a greater, immense Mind through her tiny human mind.
This dream was called by our Hindu sisters and brothers maya, a Sanskrit word meaning "illusion." The entire material universe, together with all of spacetime, are a part of this dreamillusion. When the kabbalists spoke of "creation," they were also referring to this same dreaming Mind.
But if the cosmos is being dreamed into being by a perfect, flawless Mind, why is it so imperfect, even ugly, in some ways? Because the material cosmos, before it can be sensed/perceived, must flow through the "filters" of other mindlevels. One of these Mindlevels is called the "Soul," and it makes sure that the cosmic dream also contains all personal karma. So, the projection of this karma alters the "perfect world" of a perfect Mind. We end up living in precisely the exact "virtual reality" that we need in order to grow and develop.
And if anything is "ugly," the mystic says, the problem is within the "labelmaker" within your head! If, for example, a person truly believes that a rainy, cloudy day is "beautiful," then, to her, it really can be, and is, "a beautiful day."
Every effect has a cause. And there is not the slightest object or event in your world that "just happens" or "comes from nowhere." In a nightdream, if you encounter a fly, there is a reason for it; the mind has chosen it as a symbol, in order to teach you. And so it is with the "real," ordinary or everyday world. There is no such thing as "random chance"; that is simply a cover-up for ignorance, when the causes are not known.
Knowing karma as the ultimate servant of Love, the mystic does not believe in "innocent victims." But the most important aspects of her mind are yearning and longing to "become one," meld, or merge, with Lovemind. This Supermind is deep within her unconscious Mind. So, she takes an interior heartvow always to act and react with the most Love possible. The mystic is not yet perfect; she makes mistakes. But she does her honest best, in all circumstances, to respond with her maximum Love.
She believes in Love. Even more, she believes that "God is Love," as the ancients said. So, she worships Love; it is Number One, all the time, her first priority. This makes her a happy and courteous person who loves harmony, and who renounces actively all violence, egocentricity, and superiorism. She actively contemplates humility and lives in simplicity.
*******
This article was written by a franciscan taoist who has been exploring the Path for thirty years. If you have any questions about the Way of intercultural (universal) mysticism, which is not a religion, please write: rmfrancis@juno.com
************
Sunday, April 27, 2008
The Ego
*******
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.
*******
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.
*******
Sunday, January 06, 2008
God and Society
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It has recently been suggested, by a mind shallow and in darkness, that "God" permitted the horrors of Katrina, the notorious and nightmarish hurricane, because American society "rejected God." This portrayal of immortal and infinite Love as a spiteful, petty monster absorbed in trivial pursuits demonstrates a complete absence of the knowledge of God.
It is sheerest darkness to portray the Almighty Blessing and Blissing of Love as a grumpy, moody, grumbling wretch that can be directed and controlled by ignorant human responses. This, of course, arises partially from the ancient misunderstanding of "God" as a very human-like "person," which She is definitely not!
God does not "punish." Natural laws take care of that. These laws are collectively called "karma."
If a person becomes sick after exposure to the flu, she does not think that she is being "attacked" or "punished" by "God." Indeed, the idea is ludicrous and absurd, rejected by all reasonable people Similarly, if she steps off a ten-story building, she does not think of God as "punishing" her by her fall to the ground. These results occur due to natural laws. Karma, like viral or bacterial contamination, and like gravity, is also a natural law.
It is a law of mind-operation; and it works continuously upon us whether or not we believe in it. And since it comes from your own mind, there is no way, and no where, to "escape" it! The world unfolds around you as the dream of the deeper Mind, called the "Soul." So, you must live in your Soul's dream, and must experience every event that It brings to you.
Love is unconditional. Love loves people without measuring or evaluating
("judging") them. Love is God. It is therefore only cranky insanity to believe that God, the all-loving, could ever be affected, or changed, by the weak power of human ignorance. For that which alters human minds has no effect on the stable, dependable, reliable Mind at the Center of all things. This is super-stable Love, and is trustworthy. It will not betray us at the sight of our imperfections, even stupidities.
What people say about "God" has zero effect on God Herself. This is like the "power" of an ant trying to stop a long freight-train roaring down the tracks.
So, let the foolish say whatever they will. The foolish who want to ban "God" from America are resisted fiercely by the foolish who think that God is taking "vengeance" on these pitiable creatures. Both are equally lost.
Katrina, like 9-11, and other catastrophes, had absolutely nothing to do with the "will of God" (desire of Love). This was an act of nature, and of karma. God did not even make an appearance until the rescuers showed up, and those who tried to rebuild the devastated areas. God was not in nature, but, as always, in restorative, recuperative Love. God is simply not present until Love dawns within the heart.
*******
It has recently been suggested, by a mind shallow and in darkness, that "God" permitted the horrors of Katrina, the notorious and nightmarish hurricane, because American society "rejected God." This portrayal of immortal and infinite Love as a spiteful, petty monster absorbed in trivial pursuits demonstrates a complete absence of the knowledge of God.
It is sheerest darkness to portray the Almighty Blessing and Blissing of Love as a grumpy, moody, grumbling wretch that can be directed and controlled by ignorant human responses. This, of course, arises partially from the ancient misunderstanding of "God" as a very human-like "person," which She is definitely not!
God does not "punish." Natural laws take care of that. These laws are collectively called "karma."
If a person becomes sick after exposure to the flu, she does not think that she is being "attacked" or "punished" by "God." Indeed, the idea is ludicrous and absurd, rejected by all reasonable people Similarly, if she steps off a ten-story building, she does not think of God as "punishing" her by her fall to the ground. These results occur due to natural laws. Karma, like viral or bacterial contamination, and like gravity, is also a natural law.
It is a law of mind-operation; and it works continuously upon us whether or not we believe in it. And since it comes from your own mind, there is no way, and no where, to "escape" it! The world unfolds around you as the dream of the deeper Mind, called the "Soul." So, you must live in your Soul's dream, and must experience every event that It brings to you.
Love is unconditional. Love loves people without measuring or evaluating
("judging") them. Love is God. It is therefore only cranky insanity to believe that God, the all-loving, could ever be affected, or changed, by the weak power of human ignorance. For that which alters human minds has no effect on the stable, dependable, reliable Mind at the Center of all things. This is super-stable Love, and is trustworthy. It will not betray us at the sight of our imperfections, even stupidities.
What people say about "God" has zero effect on God Herself. This is like the "power" of an ant trying to stop a long freight-train roaring down the tracks.
So, let the foolish say whatever they will. The foolish who want to ban "God" from America are resisted fiercely by the foolish who think that God is taking "vengeance" on these pitiable creatures. Both are equally lost.
Katrina, like 9-11, and other catastrophes, had absolutely nothing to do with the "will of God" (desire of Love). This was an act of nature, and of karma. God did not even make an appearance until the rescuers showed up, and those who tried to rebuild the devastated areas. God was not in nature, but, as always, in restorative, recuperative Love. God is simply not present until Love dawns within the heart.
*******
Monday, October 29, 2007
A Spiritual View of Death
*******
The spiritual being is not morbidly or chronically obsessed with death. She does not yearn or long for it. She does not fantasize about it. Nor is she always speaking or thinking of it. But, realistically, neither can it be ignored, nor can anyone successfully flee from it. And she does accept it as a natural part of every life-cycle. It is as natural as the sun-kissed dew upon the dawn rose.
Some are so terrified of death that they lie to themselves. They claim that their physical bodies will never die! Others are fanatics of nutrition and exercise, seeking to prolong biological life. These people are living in sheerest fantasy, rejected by the spiritually enlightened. Instead, she seeks to cultivate an accepting view of death. Although it is clearly an apparent "enemy" to biological creatures, it can be a "friend" to spiritual beings. For it leads to a life, or "afterlife," of beautiful and wonderful freedom, a life without pain, suffering, agony, or frustration.
Birth has always been a guarantee of death. Every creature ever born has died. So, death is not some "unnatural" or "astonishing" tragedy. It is an aspect of natural life, its final "crown" or glory. Those who have actually died have, for the first time in human history, been resuscitated by the thousands by biotechnology. They tell a surprisingly beautiful story of death as a survivable experience.
And those who remember anything at all tell essentially the same story: And all agree that, amazingly and contrary to philosophy and expectations of so many, the mind (consciousness or awareness) does survive after the physical death of the body.
However, spiritual beings are compassionate. We do not laugh at funerals, but cry with those who cry-- for their sakes. We are also partly biological, and we too feel the enormous, immense, vast sense of pain and loss (to our world) when any beautiful living creature leaves our world.
But the accounts of survival, brought back by those who have actually died, are just another verification of what spiritual people have taught for centuries, from Jesus to the Buddha.
So, the spiritually wise seek to embrace death in their "all-embracing" mind. They erase all fear of death, and hatred of death. In embracing God as the "all good," without negativity, they seek to expand even their Love, a gift of God's grace, to encircle even death. In this "Love of death," they can lead more peaceful and trusting lives. Jesus tells his followers to live as the birds, flowers, and nursing infants-- none of whom ever worry about, or fear, personal death.
Spiritually, as Jesus demonstrated, death is the release from this current highly imperfect, often terribly painful, life. With it, the mind soars into immeasurable freedom-- free from worry, anxiety, tension, guilt, fear, and the many assorted agonies caused by biological bodies. That deep subconscious aspect of the Mind that lived before this life, and that survives afterward, is called the "Soul," "Soul-level," or "Soulmind." Non-biological, It lives in a world of pure Mind-- of much greater beauty, balance, tranquility, bliss, and ecstasy. When we leave this world, our real life has just only begun!
*******
The spiritual being is not morbidly or chronically obsessed with death. She does not yearn or long for it. She does not fantasize about it. Nor is she always speaking or thinking of it. But, realistically, neither can it be ignored, nor can anyone successfully flee from it. And she does accept it as a natural part of every life-cycle. It is as natural as the sun-kissed dew upon the dawn rose.
Some are so terrified of death that they lie to themselves. They claim that their physical bodies will never die! Others are fanatics of nutrition and exercise, seeking to prolong biological life. These people are living in sheerest fantasy, rejected by the spiritually enlightened. Instead, she seeks to cultivate an accepting view of death. Although it is clearly an apparent "enemy" to biological creatures, it can be a "friend" to spiritual beings. For it leads to a life, or "afterlife," of beautiful and wonderful freedom, a life without pain, suffering, agony, or frustration.
Birth has always been a guarantee of death. Every creature ever born has died. So, death is not some "unnatural" or "astonishing" tragedy. It is an aspect of natural life, its final "crown" or glory. Those who have actually died have, for the first time in human history, been resuscitated by the thousands by biotechnology. They tell a surprisingly beautiful story of death as a survivable experience.
And those who remember anything at all tell essentially the same story: And all agree that, amazingly and contrary to philosophy and expectations of so many, the mind (consciousness or awareness) does survive after the physical death of the body.
However, spiritual beings are compassionate. We do not laugh at funerals, but cry with those who cry-- for their sakes. We are also partly biological, and we too feel the enormous, immense, vast sense of pain and loss (to our world) when any beautiful living creature leaves our world.
But the accounts of survival, brought back by those who have actually died, are just another verification of what spiritual people have taught for centuries, from Jesus to the Buddha.
So, the spiritually wise seek to embrace death in their "all-embracing" mind. They erase all fear of death, and hatred of death. In embracing God as the "all good," without negativity, they seek to expand even their Love, a gift of God's grace, to encircle even death. In this "Love of death," they can lead more peaceful and trusting lives. Jesus tells his followers to live as the birds, flowers, and nursing infants-- none of whom ever worry about, or fear, personal death.
Spiritually, as Jesus demonstrated, death is the release from this current highly imperfect, often terribly painful, life. With it, the mind soars into immeasurable freedom-- free from worry, anxiety, tension, guilt, fear, and the many assorted agonies caused by biological bodies. That deep subconscious aspect of the Mind that lived before this life, and that survives afterward, is called the "Soul," "Soul-level," or "Soulmind." Non-biological, It lives in a world of pure Mind-- of much greater beauty, balance, tranquility, bliss, and ecstasy. When we leave this world, our real life has just only begun!
*******
Saturday, September 22, 2007
The Cross
*******
The cross is a very ancient and pre-Christian symbol. As the symbol of the four directions, the cross appears among the spiritual symbols of many native Americans, including both the Mayans and the Aztecs. It also appears in Buddhism, Hinduism, and both ancient Egyptian and ancient Greek religion, among many others. It is perhaps the one universal symbol among the human spiritual movements throughout the ages.
But when Jesus came, this symbol of the yin and yang forces of the cosmos changed. (The receptive energies of the cosmos were symbolized by the horizontal bar of the cross, the active by its vertical bar.) After Jesus, the cross took on its most popular form in the west, with the long vertical bar and the short horizontal bar, lifted high. (In other cultures, the equilateral cross was more popularly used, and there were also other forms. In many forms, it was combined with a circle.)
After Jesus, it became the ultimate symbol of "dying to the world," or being conquered by, surrendering to, the Spirit. To "die" to this world, in mystical and general Christian symbolism, was to die to full dominance by sensuality or materialism.
The cross also signified survival of physical death as a Soul. The Soul is intrinsically immortal. This is why translations of the Bible that say that Jesus offered "everlasting life" are incorrect. For when God creates a life, a mind, it is already everlasting. (Jesus used the Greek adjective aionian, meaning "timeless.") So, he did not promise his disciples "everlasting" life, but "timeless" life-- a life outside the flow of spacetime altogether (in only the now). So, the cross became the
symbol also of this special altered state of mind called "timeless life."
In time, the cross grew to represent the Holy Spirit, Christ-spirit, or God. Thus, it became a beautiful symbol of Love. Its symbolism also includes balance, similar to the Chinese Tai Chi Ch'uan, or "yinyang" symbol. The point at which its two bars converge is the point of Tao, the Origin of the cosmos.
There is so very much more that could be said about this fascinating subject. Years ago, a book was written here about the symbolism and complex history of the cross. But, no matter how multiple were its ancient meanings, its modern significance is that it is the ultimate symbol of the life and death of Jesus Christ.
*******
The cross is a very ancient and pre-Christian symbol. As the symbol of the four directions, the cross appears among the spiritual symbols of many native Americans, including both the Mayans and the Aztecs. It also appears in Buddhism, Hinduism, and both ancient Egyptian and ancient Greek religion, among many others. It is perhaps the one universal symbol among the human spiritual movements throughout the ages.
But when Jesus came, this symbol of the yin and yang forces of the cosmos changed. (The receptive energies of the cosmos were symbolized by the horizontal bar of the cross, the active by its vertical bar.) After Jesus, the cross took on its most popular form in the west, with the long vertical bar and the short horizontal bar, lifted high. (In other cultures, the equilateral cross was more popularly used, and there were also other forms. In many forms, it was combined with a circle.)
After Jesus, it became the ultimate symbol of "dying to the world," or being conquered by, surrendering to, the Spirit. To "die" to this world, in mystical and general Christian symbolism, was to die to full dominance by sensuality or materialism.
The cross also signified survival of physical death as a Soul. The Soul is intrinsically immortal. This is why translations of the Bible that say that Jesus offered "everlasting life" are incorrect. For when God creates a life, a mind, it is already everlasting. (Jesus used the Greek adjective aionian, meaning "timeless.") So, he did not promise his disciples "everlasting" life, but "timeless" life-- a life outside the flow of spacetime altogether (in only the now). So, the cross became the
symbol also of this special altered state of mind called "timeless life."
In time, the cross grew to represent the Holy Spirit, Christ-spirit, or God. Thus, it became a beautiful symbol of Love. Its symbolism also includes balance, similar to the Chinese Tai Chi Ch'uan, or "yinyang" symbol. The point at which its two bars converge is the point of Tao, the Origin of the cosmos.
There is so very much more that could be said about this fascinating subject. Years ago, a book was written here about the symbolism and complex history of the cross. But, no matter how multiple were its ancient meanings, its modern significance is that it is the ultimate symbol of the life and death of Jesus Christ.
*******
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
Happiness and Money
*******
The text quoting Jesus as asking, "what shall it profit a man, if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul?" is a warning. It is telling us that life with only material riches ("the whole world") is a dead-end life. For riches cannot bring happiness, joy,fulfillment, contentment, or real satisfaction.
Very poor people often fantasize that, if only they had enough money, all their problems would be solved, and they would be completely happy. This perspective reflects only the desperation of their poverty. It does not reflect truth. As evidence, most winners of the lottery selfdescribe their lives as "unhappy" all the way to "utterly miserable."
If money cannot "profit" one, create real happiness, what can? The very question betrays our spiritual lack. For we all already know, deep down, that happiness arises from friends, Love, companionship, interaction, work, and play. A person who is truly happy does even work, not simply to earn money, but to better herself and the world.
Finding the "Soul," the deepest personal Mind, creates true peace and happiness, for it is this that we are designed to do. For the same reason that water satisfies thirst ("we were made to drink water"), only wisdom and spiritual understanding (gnosis) can make human beings content.
*******
The text quoting Jesus as asking, "what shall it profit a man, if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul?" is a warning. It is telling us that life with only material riches ("the whole world") is a dead-end life. For riches cannot bring happiness, joy,fulfillment, contentment, or real satisfaction.
Very poor people often fantasize that, if only they had enough money, all their problems would be solved, and they would be completely happy. This perspective reflects only the desperation of their poverty. It does not reflect truth. As evidence, most winners of the lottery selfdescribe their lives as "unhappy" all the way to "utterly miserable."
If money cannot "profit" one, create real happiness, what can? The very question betrays our spiritual lack. For we all already know, deep down, that happiness arises from friends, Love, companionship, interaction, work, and play. A person who is truly happy does even work, not simply to earn money, but to better herself and the world.
Finding the "Soul," the deepest personal Mind, creates true peace and happiness, for it is this that we are designed to do. For the same reason that water satisfies thirst ("we were made to drink water"), only wisdom and spiritual understanding (gnosis) can make human beings content.
*******
Friday, May 25, 2007
Sin and Death, Love and Life
*******
The text that says, "The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord," states a couple of great truths.
"Sin"-- imperfection, error, mistakes-- bring us into this world, literally. We would not even be in this particular world (dimension, universe) but for our past imperfections. So, "sin" is what brings us to the world wherein the only possible "end" of life is death.
Actually, of course, death does not destroy the higher Self (Soul) or the highest Self (Spirit). It destroys only the body, which is a complex dream-pattern within the Mind.
In the second part of this text, the word "eternal" renders a Greek adjective more accurately translated as "timeless." So, this "timeless life" of Love (enlightenment) is the "gift of God (Love)," exactly the same as is grace.
The life of time must end in death. But the timeless life of the Soul does not end in death. That is why the two make such a perfectly symmetric contrast. When God (Love) grants us access into the deep Unconscious, we discover timeless, time-free life. This is an everlasting, endless life completely outside the borders or boundaries of time. It is not limited by time, ending in death.
This occurs "through Jesus Christ." We cannot experience this higher life, even though it lives potentially within us, until we discover, and try to identify with, the deeply interior Spirit of Christ (Love or enlightenment).
*******
The text that says, "The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord," states a couple of great truths.
"Sin"-- imperfection, error, mistakes-- bring us into this world, literally. We would not even be in this particular world (dimension, universe) but for our past imperfections. So, "sin" is what brings us to the world wherein the only possible "end" of life is death.
Actually, of course, death does not destroy the higher Self (Soul) or the highest Self (Spirit). It destroys only the body, which is a complex dream-pattern within the Mind.
In the second part of this text, the word "eternal" renders a Greek adjective more accurately translated as "timeless." So, this "timeless life" of Love (enlightenment) is the "gift of God (Love)," exactly the same as is grace.
The life of time must end in death. But the timeless life of the Soul does not end in death. That is why the two make such a perfectly symmetric contrast. When God (Love) grants us access into the deep Unconscious, we discover timeless, time-free life. This is an everlasting, endless life completely outside the borders or boundaries of time. It is not limited by time, ending in death.
This occurs "through Jesus Christ." We cannot experience this higher life, even though it lives potentially within us, until we discover, and try to identify with, the deeply interior Spirit of Christ (Love or enlightenment).
*******
Sunday, March 18, 2007
Psychomodification and Homeworld Education
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I must agree that the sweet and kind Susan [pseudonym] does not "deserve" her life as it appears to be right now. But we should never forget that a life-pattern for any life is designed by the immense intelligence/wisdom called the "unconscious Soulmind," so her tests and exams are not happening "at random."
A few souls incarnate on earth, from time to time, to accelerate vastly their spiritual growth. Many wise mysticsaints suffered, in their human manifestations (and dream) from incurable, often complex, challenges. These challenges were never easy or fun for them, or for the souls to whom they were so solidly bound in Love.
Trials of this nature can be quite trying. But, in the end, they can drive one to the very limits of human spirituality, and even beyond those apparent limitations, pushing one into the interior realms of the superhuman.
These things barely ever occur to "evil" people. So, they also drive all of us to seek their deeper, practical, and more realistic meanings and origins. Far, far too many childish minds simply dismiss the entire cosmos as "unjust," blind, or even evil. These shallow thinkers cut themselves off from God (Love), "eat of the tree of good and evil," and get whacked out of "paradise" (Eden means "pleasure.") All joy is sucked rom their heartminds, leaving them to die of spiritual thirst on a superheated desert. This dreamed "separation from Love" can never be real; but it is the very definition of the psychogenic state of "hell."
On the other hand, it can take some fancy footwork, as well as profound cognition (combined with acognitive therapy) for us to develop the hypersensual awareness of the meaning of Love in all this. The "easy way out," the lazy "cop out" is simply to deny that the cosmos has any meaning, and to die a horible, selfchosen, agonizing death in that spiritual desert.
Love is not "joking" with these earthlives. Before incarnation, at special classes in the Homeworld, we are prepped for the horrors and nightmares that earthlife might well bring us. In that preincarnational life, we are quite thoroughly grounded in the single fact that Love is in control of our life-designs, and never, never to forget this one fact, no matter how "terrible" our lives seem to become. This deep spiritual
education is also designed, precisely, by experts thousands of years old, to keep us from falling into hopeless panic. And blessed is she who can remember, and know.
You, like us, are being forced down the ghastly road to soulical memory, to recall your own powerful education, to call upon, and draw upon, every single interior resource to which your Soul has access.
*******
I must agree that the sweet and kind Susan [pseudonym] does not "deserve" her life as it appears to be right now. But we should never forget that a life-pattern for any life is designed by the immense intelligence/wisdom called the "unconscious Soulmind," so her tests and exams are not happening "at random."
A few souls incarnate on earth, from time to time, to accelerate vastly their spiritual growth. Many wise mysticsaints suffered, in their human manifestations (and dream) from incurable, often complex, challenges. These challenges were never easy or fun for them, or for the souls to whom they were so solidly bound in Love.
Trials of this nature can be quite trying. But, in the end, they can drive one to the very limits of human spirituality, and even beyond those apparent limitations, pushing one into the interior realms of the superhuman.
These things barely ever occur to "evil" people. So, they also drive all of us to seek their deeper, practical, and more realistic meanings and origins. Far, far too many childish minds simply dismiss the entire cosmos as "unjust," blind, or even evil. These shallow thinkers cut themselves off from God (Love), "eat of the tree of good and evil," and get whacked out of "paradise" (Eden means "pleasure.") All joy is sucked rom their heartminds, leaving them to die of spiritual thirst on a superheated desert. This dreamed "separation from Love" can never be real; but it is the very definition of the psychogenic state of "hell."
On the other hand, it can take some fancy footwork, as well as profound cognition (combined with acognitive therapy) for us to develop the hypersensual awareness of the meaning of Love in all this. The "easy way out," the lazy "cop out" is simply to deny that the cosmos has any meaning, and to die a horible, selfchosen, agonizing death in that spiritual desert.
Love is not "joking" with these earthlives. Before incarnation, at special classes in the Homeworld, we are prepped for the horrors and nightmares that earthlife might well bring us. In that preincarnational life, we are quite thoroughly grounded in the single fact that Love is in control of our life-designs, and never, never to forget this one fact, no matter how "terrible" our lives seem to become. This deep spiritual
education is also designed, precisely, by experts thousands of years old, to keep us from falling into hopeless panic. And blessed is she who can remember, and know.
You, like us, are being forced down the ghastly road to soulical memory, to recall your own powerful education, to call upon, and draw upon, every single interior resource to which your Soul has access.
*******
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