Author´s Preface to the First Edition
“The Decay and the Restoration of Civilization” is the first part of a complete philosophy of civilization with which I have been occupied since the year 1900.
The second part, entitled “Civilization and Ethics” will appear immediately. The third is called “The World-View of Reverence for Life”. The fourth has to do with the civilized state.
That over which I have toiled since 1900 has been fully ripened in the stillness of the primeval forest of Equatorial Africa. There, during the years 1914-17, the clear and definite lines of this philosophy of civilization have been developed.
The first part, “The Decay and the Restoration of Civilization”, is a kind of introduction to the philosophy of civilization. It states the problem of civilization, I come to the pronouncement that this is ultimately ethical. I know that in thus stating the problem as a moral one I shall surprise and even disgust the spirit of our times, which is accustomed to move amidst aesthetic, historical and material considerations. I imagine, however, that I am myself enough of an artist and also of an historian to be able to comprehend the aesthetic and historical elements in civilization, and that, as a modern physician and surgeon, I am sufficiently modern to appreciate the glamour of the technical and material attainments of our age.
Notwithstanding this, I have come to the conviction that the aesthetic and the historical elements and the magnificent extension of our material knowledge and power, do not themselves form the essence of civilization, but that this depends on the mental disposition of the individuals and nations who exist in the world. All other things are merely accompanying circumstances of civilization, which have nothing to do with its real essence.
Creative artistic, intellectual, and material attainments can only show their full and true effects when the continued existence and development of civilization itself on a mental disposition which is truly ethical. It is only in his struggle to become ethical that man comes to possess real value as a personality; it is only under the influence of ethical convictions that the various relations of human society are formed in such a way that individuals and peoples can develop in an ideal manner. If the ethical foundation is lacking, then civilization collapses, even when in other directions creative and intellectual forces of the strongest nature are at work.
This moral conception of civilization, which makes me almost a stranger amidst the intellectual life of my time, I express clearly and unhesitatingly, in order to arouse amongst my contemporaries reflection as to what civilization really is. We shall not succeed in re-establishing our civilization on an enduring basis until we rid ourselves completely of the superficial concept of civilization which now holds us in thrall, and give ourselves up again to the ethical view which obtained in the eighteenth century.
The second point which I desire should obtain currency is that of connection between civilization and our theory of the universe. At the present time no regard is paid to this connection. In fact, the period in which we are living altogether misses the significance of having a theory of the universe. It is the common conviction nowadays, of educated and uneducated alike, that humanity will progress quite satisfactorily without any theory of the universe at all.
The real fact is that all human progress depends on progress in its theory of the universe, whilst, conversely, decadence is conditioned by a similar decadence in this theory. Our loss of real civilization is due to our lack of a theory of the universe.
Only as we again succeed in attaining a strong and worthy theory of the universe, and find in it strong and worthy convictions, shall we again become capable of producing a new civilization. It is the apparently abstract and paradoxical truth of which I proclaim myself to be the champion.
Civilization, put quite simply, consists in our giving ourselves, as human beings, to the effort to attain the perfecting of the human race and the actualization of progress of every sort in the circumstances of humanity and the objective of the world. This mental attitude, however, involves a double predisposition: firstly, we must be prepared to act affirmatively toward the world and life; secondly, we must become ethical.
Only when we are able to attribute a real meaning to the world and to life shall we be able also to give ourselves to such action as will produce results of real value. As long as we look on our existence in the world as meaningless, there is no point whatever in desiring to effect anything in the world. We become workers for that universal spiritual and material progress which we call civilization only in so far as we affirm that the world and life possess some sort of meaning, or, which is the same thing only in so far as we think optimistically.
Civilization originates when men become inspired by a strong and clear determination to attain progress and consecrate themselves, as a result of this determination, to the service of life and of the world. It is only in ethics that we can find the driving force for such action, transcending, as it does, the limits of our own existence.
Nothing of real value in the world is ever accomplished without enthusiasm and self-sacrifice.
But it is impossible to convince men of the truth of world- and life affirmation and of the real value of ethics by mere declamation. The affirmative and ethical mentality which characterizes these beliefs must originate in man himself as the result of an inner spiritual relation to the world. Only then will they accompany him as strong, clear, and constant convictions, and condition his every thought and action.
To put it in another way: world- and life-affirmation must be the products of thought about the world and life. Only as they majority of individuals attain to this result of thought and continue under its influence will a true and enduring civilization make progress in the world. Should the mental disposition towards world- and life-affirmation and towards ethics begin to wane, or become dim and obscured, we shall be incapable of working for true civilization, nay, more, we shall be unable even to form a correct concept of what such civilization ought to be.
And this is the fate which has befallen us. We are bereft of any theory of the universe. Therefore, instead of being inspired by a profound and powerful spirit of affirmation of the world and of life, we allow ourselves, both as individuals and as nations, to be driven hither and thither by a type of such affirmation which is both confused and superficial. Instead of adopting a determined ethical attitude, we exist in an atmosphere of mere ethical phrases or declare ourselves ethical skeptics.
How is it that we have got into this state of lacking a theory of the universe? It is because hitherto the world- and life-affirming and ethical theory of the universe had no convincing and permanent foundation in thought. We thought again and again that we had found such a basis for it; but it lost power again and again without our being aware that it was doing so, until, finally, we have been obliged for more than a generation past, to resign ourselves more and more to a complete lack of any world-theory at all.
Thus, in this introductory part of my work, I proclaim two truths and conclude with a great note of interrogation. The truths are the following: The basic ethical character of civilization, and the connection between civilization and our theories of the universe. The question I conclude with is this: Is it at all possible to find a real and permanent foundation in thought for a theory of the universe which shall be both ethical and affirmative of the world and of life?
The future of civilization depends on our overcoming the meaninglessness and hopelessness which characterize the thoughts and convictions of men to-day, and reaching a state of fresh hope and fresh determination. We shall be capable of this, however, only when the majority of individuals discover for themselves both an ethic and a profound and steadfast attitude of world- and life- affirmation, in a theory of the universe at once convincing and based on reflection.
Without such a general spiritual experience there is no possibility of holding our world back from the ruin and disintegration towards which it is being hastened. It is our duty then to rouse ourselves to fresh reflection about the world and life.
In “Civilization and Ethics”, the second part of this philosophy of civilization, I describe the road along which thought has led me to world- and life-affirmation and to ethics. The root-idea of my theory of the universe is that my relation to my own being and to the objective world is determined by reverence for life. This reverence for life is given as an element of my will-to-live, and become clearly conscious of itself as I reflect about my life and about the world. In the mental attitude of reverence for life which should characterize my contact with all forms of life, both ethics and world- and life-affirmation are involved. It is not any kind of insight in the essential nature of the world which determines my relation to my own existence and to the existence which I encounter in the world, but rather only and solely my own will-to-live which has developed the power of reflection about itself and the world.
The theory of the universe characterized by reverence for life is a type of mysticism arrived at by self-consistent thought when persisted in to its ultimate conclusion. Surrendering himself to the guidance of this mysticism, man finds a meaning for his life in that he strives to accomplish his own spiritual and ethical self-fulfillment, and, simultaneously and in the same act, helps forward all the processes of spiritual and material progress which have to be actualized in the world.
I do not know how many, or how few, will allow themselves to be persuaded to travel with me on the road indicated above. What I desire above all things—and this is the crux of the whole affair—is that we should recognize fully that our present entire lack of any theory of the universe is the ultimate source of all the catastrophes and misery of our times, and that we should work together for a theory of the universe and of life, in order that thus we may arrive at a mental disposition which shall make us really and truly civilized men.
It was a great joy to me to be afforded the opportunity of putting forward in the Dale Lectures, delivered in Oxford, the views on which this philosophy of civilization is based.
I would tender my deepest thanks to my friends, Mr. C.T. Camion, M.A., now of Grahamstown, South Africa, and Dr. J.P. Naish, of Oxford. Mr. Campion is the translator of this first part of the “Philosophy of Civilization”. Dr. Naish has seen the book through the press and translated this preface.
ALBERT SCHWEITZER
Strasbourg, Alsace.
February, 1923
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Preface - The Philosophy of Civilization, Albert Schweitzer
Author´s Preface to the First Edition
“The Decay and the Restoration of Civilization” is the first part of a complete philosophy of civilization with which I have been occupied since the year 1900.
The second part, entitled “Civilization and Ethics” will appear immediately. The third is called “The World-View of Reverence for Life”. The fourth has to do with the civilized state.
That over which I have toiled since 1900 has been fully ripened in the stillness of the primeval forest of Equatorial Africa. There, during the years 1914-17, the clear and definite lines of this philosophy of civilization have been developed.
The first part, “The Decay and the Restoration of Civilization”, is a kind of introduction to the philosophy of civilization. It states the problem of civilization, I come to the pronouncement that this is ultimately ethical. I know that in thus stating the problem as a moral one I shall surprise and even disgust the spirit of our times, which is accustomed to move amidst aesthetic, historical and material considerations. I imagine, however, that I am myself enough of an artist and also of an historian to be able to comprehend the aesthetic and historical elements in civilization, and that, as a modern physician and surgeon, I am sufficiently modern to appreciate the glamour of the technical and material attainments of our age.
Notwithstanding this, I have come to the conviction that the aesthetic and the historical elements and the magnificent extension of our material knowledge and power, do not themselves form the essence of civilization, but that this depends on the mental disposition of the individuals and nations who exist in the world. All other things are merely accompanying circumstances of civilization, which have nothing to do with its real essence.
Creative artistic, intellectual, and material attainments can only show their full and true effects when the continued existence and development of civilization itself on a mental disposition which is truly ethical. It is only in his struggle to become ethical that man comes to possess real value as a personality; it is only under the influence of ethical convictions that the various relations of human society are formed in such a way that individuals and peoples can develop in an ideal manner. If the ethical foundation is lacking, then civilization collapses, even when in other directions creative and intellectual forces of the strongest nature are at work.
This moral conception of civilization, which makes me almost a stranger amidst the intellectual life of my time, I express clearly and unhesitatingly, in order to arouse amongst my contemporaries reflection as to what civilization really is. We shall not succeed in re-establishing our civilization on an enduring basis until we rid ourselves completely of the superficial concept of civilization which now holds us in thrall, and give ourselves up again to the ethical view which obtained in the eighteenth century.
The second point which I desire should obtain currency is that of connection between civilization and our theory of the universe. At the present time no regard is paid to this connection. In fact, the period in which we are living altogether misses the significance of having a theory of the universe. It is the common conviction nowadays, of educated and uneducated alike, that humanity will progress quite satisfactorily without any theory of the universe at all.
The real fact is that all human progress depends on progress in its theory of the universe, whilst, conversely, decadence is conditioned by a similar decadence in this theory. Our loss of real civilization is due to our lack of a theory of the universe.
Only as we again succeed in attaining a strong and worthy theory of the universe, and find in it strong and worthy convictions, shall we again become capable of producing a new civilization. It is the apparently abstract and paradoxical truth of which I proclaim myself to be the champion.
Civilization, put quite simply, consists in our giving ourselves, as human beings, to the effort to attain the perfecting of the human race and the actualization of progress of every sort in the circumstances of humanity and the objective of the world. This mental attitude, however, involves a double predisposition: firstly, we must be prepared to act affirmatively toward the world and life; secondly, we must become ethical.
Only when we are able to attribute a real meaning to the world and to life shall we be able also to give ourselves to such action as will produce results of real value. As long as we look on our existence in the world as meaningless, there is no point whatever in desiring to effect anything in the world. We become workers for that universal spiritual and material progress which we call civilization only in so far as we affirm that the world and life possess some sort of meaning, or, which is the same thing only in so far as we think optimistically.
Civilization originates when men become inspired by a strong and clear determination to attain progress and consecrate themselves, as a result of this determination, to the service of life and of the world. It is only in ethics that we can find the driving force for such action, transcending, as it does, the limits of our own existence.
Nothing of real value in the world is ever accomplished without enthusiasm and self-sacrifice.
But it is impossible to convince men of the truth of world- and life affirmation and of the real value of ethics by mere declamation. The affirmative and ethical mentality which characterizes these beliefs must originate in man himself as the result of an inner spiritual relation to the world. Only then will they accompany him as strong, clear, and constant convictions, and condition his every thought and action.
To put it in another way: world- and life-affirmation must be the products of thought about the world and life. Only as they majority of individuals attain to this result of thought and continue under its influence will a true and enduring civilization make progress in the world. Should the mental disposition towards world- and life-affirmation and towards ethics begin to wane, or become dim and obscured, we shall be incapable of working for true civilization, nay, more, we shall be unable even to form a correct concept of what such civilization ought to be.
And this is the fate which has befallen us. We are bereft of any theory of the universe. Therefore, instead of being inspired by a profound and powerful spirit of affirmation of the world and of life, we allow ourselves, both as individuals and as nations, to be driven hither and thither by a type of such affirmation which is both confused and superficial. Instead of adopting a determined ethical attitude, we exist in an atmosphere of mere ethical phrases or declare ourselves ethical skeptics.
How is it that we have got into this state of lacking a theory of the universe? It is because hitherto the world- and life-affirming and ethical theory of the universe had no convincing and permanent foundation in thought. We thought again and again that we had found such a basis for it; but it lost power again and again without our being aware that it was doing so, until, finally, we have been obliged for more than a generation past, to resign ourselves more and more to a complete lack of any world-theory at all.
Thus, in this introductory part of my work, I proclaim two truths and conclude with a great note of interrogation. The truths are the following: The basic ethical character of civilization, and the connection between civilization and our theories of the universe. The question I conclude with is this: Is it at all possible to find a real and permanent foundation in thought for a theory of the universe which shall be both ethical and affirmative of the world and of life?
The future of civilization depends on our overcoming the meaninglessness and hopelessness which characterize the thoughts and convictions of men to-day, and reaching a state of fresh hope and fresh determination. We shall be capable of this, however, only when the majority of individuals discover for themselves both an ethic and a profound and steadfast attitude of world- and life- affirmation, in a theory of the universe at once convincing and based on reflection.
Without such a general spiritual experience there is no possibility of holding our world back from the ruin and disintegration towards which it is being hastened. It is our duty then to rouse ourselves to fresh reflection about the world and life.
In “Civilization and Ethics”, the second part of this philosophy of civilization, I describe the road along which thought has led me to world- and life-affirmation and to ethics. The root-idea of my theory of the universe is that my relation to my own being and to the objective world is determined by reverence for life. This reverence for life is given as an element of my will-to-live, and become clearly conscious of itself as I reflect about my life and about the world. In the mental attitude of reverence for life which should characterize my contact with all forms of life, both ethics and world- and life-affirmation are involved. It is not any kind of insight in the essential nature of the world which determines my relation to my own existence and to the existence which I encounter in the world, but rather only and solely my own will-to-live which has developed the power of reflection about itself and the world.
The theory of the universe characterized by reverence for life is a type of mysticism arrived at by self-consistent thought when persisted in to its ultimate conclusion. Surrendering himself to the guidance of this mysticism, man finds a meaning for his life in that he strives to accomplish his own spiritual and ethical self-fulfillment, and, simultaneously and in the same act, helps forward all the processes of spiritual and material progress which have to be actualized in the world.
I do not know how many, or how few, will allow themselves to be persuaded to travel with me on the road indicated above. What I desire above all things—and this is the crux of the whole affair—is that we should recognize fully that our present entire lack of any theory of the universe is the ultimate source of all the catastrophes and misery of our times, and that we should work together for a theory of the universe and of life, in order that thus we may arrive at a mental disposition which shall make us really and truly civilized men.
It was a great joy to me to be afforded the opportunity of putting forward in the Dale Lectures, delivered in Oxford, the views on which this philosophy of civilization is based.
I would tender my deepest thanks to my friends, Mr. C.T. Camion, M.A., now of Grahamstown, South Africa, and Dr. J.P. Naish, of Oxford. Mr. Campion is the translator of this first part of the “Philosophy of Civilization”. Dr. Naish has seen the book through the press and translated this preface.
ALBERT SCHWEITZER
Strasbourg, Alsace.
February, 1923
“The Decay and the Restoration of Civilization” is the first part of a complete philosophy of civilization with which I have been occupied since the year 1900.
The second part, entitled “Civilization and Ethics” will appear immediately. The third is called “The World-View of Reverence for Life”. The fourth has to do with the civilized state.
That over which I have toiled since 1900 has been fully ripened in the stillness of the primeval forest of Equatorial Africa. There, during the years 1914-17, the clear and definite lines of this philosophy of civilization have been developed.
The first part, “The Decay and the Restoration of Civilization”, is a kind of introduction to the philosophy of civilization. It states the problem of civilization, I come to the pronouncement that this is ultimately ethical. I know that in thus stating the problem as a moral one I shall surprise and even disgust the spirit of our times, which is accustomed to move amidst aesthetic, historical and material considerations. I imagine, however, that I am myself enough of an artist and also of an historian to be able to comprehend the aesthetic and historical elements in civilization, and that, as a modern physician and surgeon, I am sufficiently modern to appreciate the glamour of the technical and material attainments of our age.
Notwithstanding this, I have come to the conviction that the aesthetic and the historical elements and the magnificent extension of our material knowledge and power, do not themselves form the essence of civilization, but that this depends on the mental disposition of the individuals and nations who exist in the world. All other things are merely accompanying circumstances of civilization, which have nothing to do with its real essence.
Creative artistic, intellectual, and material attainments can only show their full and true effects when the continued existence and development of civilization itself on a mental disposition which is truly ethical. It is only in his struggle to become ethical that man comes to possess real value as a personality; it is only under the influence of ethical convictions that the various relations of human society are formed in such a way that individuals and peoples can develop in an ideal manner. If the ethical foundation is lacking, then civilization collapses, even when in other directions creative and intellectual forces of the strongest nature are at work.
This moral conception of civilization, which makes me almost a stranger amidst the intellectual life of my time, I express clearly and unhesitatingly, in order to arouse amongst my contemporaries reflection as to what civilization really is. We shall not succeed in re-establishing our civilization on an enduring basis until we rid ourselves completely of the superficial concept of civilization which now holds us in thrall, and give ourselves up again to the ethical view which obtained in the eighteenth century.
The second point which I desire should obtain currency is that of connection between civilization and our theory of the universe. At the present time no regard is paid to this connection. In fact, the period in which we are living altogether misses the significance of having a theory of the universe. It is the common conviction nowadays, of educated and uneducated alike, that humanity will progress quite satisfactorily without any theory of the universe at all.
The real fact is that all human progress depends on progress in its theory of the universe, whilst, conversely, decadence is conditioned by a similar decadence in this theory. Our loss of real civilization is due to our lack of a theory of the universe.
Only as we again succeed in attaining a strong and worthy theory of the universe, and find in it strong and worthy convictions, shall we again become capable of producing a new civilization. It is the apparently abstract and paradoxical truth of which I proclaim myself to be the champion.
Civilization, put quite simply, consists in our giving ourselves, as human beings, to the effort to attain the perfecting of the human race and the actualization of progress of every sort in the circumstances of humanity and the objective of the world. This mental attitude, however, involves a double predisposition: firstly, we must be prepared to act affirmatively toward the world and life; secondly, we must become ethical.
Only when we are able to attribute a real meaning to the world and to life shall we be able also to give ourselves to such action as will produce results of real value. As long as we look on our existence in the world as meaningless, there is no point whatever in desiring to effect anything in the world. We become workers for that universal spiritual and material progress which we call civilization only in so far as we affirm that the world and life possess some sort of meaning, or, which is the same thing only in so far as we think optimistically.
Civilization originates when men become inspired by a strong and clear determination to attain progress and consecrate themselves, as a result of this determination, to the service of life and of the world. It is only in ethics that we can find the driving force for such action, transcending, as it does, the limits of our own existence.
Nothing of real value in the world is ever accomplished without enthusiasm and self-sacrifice.
But it is impossible to convince men of the truth of world- and life affirmation and of the real value of ethics by mere declamation. The affirmative and ethical mentality which characterizes these beliefs must originate in man himself as the result of an inner spiritual relation to the world. Only then will they accompany him as strong, clear, and constant convictions, and condition his every thought and action.
To put it in another way: world- and life-affirmation must be the products of thought about the world and life. Only as they majority of individuals attain to this result of thought and continue under its influence will a true and enduring civilization make progress in the world. Should the mental disposition towards world- and life-affirmation and towards ethics begin to wane, or become dim and obscured, we shall be incapable of working for true civilization, nay, more, we shall be unable even to form a correct concept of what such civilization ought to be.
And this is the fate which has befallen us. We are bereft of any theory of the universe. Therefore, instead of being inspired by a profound and powerful spirit of affirmation of the world and of life, we allow ourselves, both as individuals and as nations, to be driven hither and thither by a type of such affirmation which is both confused and superficial. Instead of adopting a determined ethical attitude, we exist in an atmosphere of mere ethical phrases or declare ourselves ethical skeptics.
How is it that we have got into this state of lacking a theory of the universe? It is because hitherto the world- and life-affirming and ethical theory of the universe had no convincing and permanent foundation in thought. We thought again and again that we had found such a basis for it; but it lost power again and again without our being aware that it was doing so, until, finally, we have been obliged for more than a generation past, to resign ourselves more and more to a complete lack of any world-theory at all.
Thus, in this introductory part of my work, I proclaim two truths and conclude with a great note of interrogation. The truths are the following: The basic ethical character of civilization, and the connection between civilization and our theories of the universe. The question I conclude with is this: Is it at all possible to find a real and permanent foundation in thought for a theory of the universe which shall be both ethical and affirmative of the world and of life?
The future of civilization depends on our overcoming the meaninglessness and hopelessness which characterize the thoughts and convictions of men to-day, and reaching a state of fresh hope and fresh determination. We shall be capable of this, however, only when the majority of individuals discover for themselves both an ethic and a profound and steadfast attitude of world- and life- affirmation, in a theory of the universe at once convincing and based on reflection.
Without such a general spiritual experience there is no possibility of holding our world back from the ruin and disintegration towards which it is being hastened. It is our duty then to rouse ourselves to fresh reflection about the world and life.
In “Civilization and Ethics”, the second part of this philosophy of civilization, I describe the road along which thought has led me to world- and life-affirmation and to ethics. The root-idea of my theory of the universe is that my relation to my own being and to the objective world is determined by reverence for life. This reverence for life is given as an element of my will-to-live, and become clearly conscious of itself as I reflect about my life and about the world. In the mental attitude of reverence for life which should characterize my contact with all forms of life, both ethics and world- and life-affirmation are involved. It is not any kind of insight in the essential nature of the world which determines my relation to my own existence and to the existence which I encounter in the world, but rather only and solely my own will-to-live which has developed the power of reflection about itself and the world.
The theory of the universe characterized by reverence for life is a type of mysticism arrived at by self-consistent thought when persisted in to its ultimate conclusion. Surrendering himself to the guidance of this mysticism, man finds a meaning for his life in that he strives to accomplish his own spiritual and ethical self-fulfillment, and, simultaneously and in the same act, helps forward all the processes of spiritual and material progress which have to be actualized in the world.
I do not know how many, or how few, will allow themselves to be persuaded to travel with me on the road indicated above. What I desire above all things—and this is the crux of the whole affair—is that we should recognize fully that our present entire lack of any theory of the universe is the ultimate source of all the catastrophes and misery of our times, and that we should work together for a theory of the universe and of life, in order that thus we may arrive at a mental disposition which shall make us really and truly civilized men.
It was a great joy to me to be afforded the opportunity of putting forward in the Dale Lectures, delivered in Oxford, the views on which this philosophy of civilization is based.
I would tender my deepest thanks to my friends, Mr. C.T. Camion, M.A., now of Grahamstown, South Africa, and Dr. J.P. Naish, of Oxford. Mr. Campion is the translator of this first part of the “Philosophy of Civilization”. Dr. Naish has seen the book through the press and translated this preface.
ALBERT SCHWEITZER
Strasbourg, Alsace.
February, 1923
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
13 Verses, and Chapter 13 of the Bhagavad Gita
For some strange reason I felt compelled to extract all of the 13th verses from the Bhagavad Gita. This book came to me, from a friend, totally out of nowhere - in a Spanish speaking country. I am on about my 6th reading. I have felt from the beginning that the 13th Chapter is the most comprehensive and descriptive of the relationship between the ONE and our human experience.
I am just sharing this here because I continue to get evidence that 13 is a very powerful number. Maybe there is some greater weaving of truth from this idea. Otherwise, I guess just because it came to me to do, so I could inculcate the truth of this ancient wisdom more deeply. With Love - Andy
The Bhagavad Gita Translated from the Sanskrit with an introduction by Juan Mascaró, Penguin Classics, 1962.
Krishna speaks to Arjuna on the field of Battle
2:13 As the spirit of our mortal body wanders on in childhood, and youth and old age, the Spirit wanders on to a new body of this the sage has no doubts.
3:13 Holy men who take as food the remains of sacrifice become free from all their sins; but the unholy who have feasts for themselves eat food that is in truth sin.4:14 The four orders of men arose from me, in justice to their natures and their works. Know that this work was mine, though I am beyond work, in Eternity.
5:13 The ruler of his soul surrenders in mind all work, and rests in the joy of quietness in the castle of nine gates of his body: he neither does selfish work nor causes others to do it.6:13 With upright body, head, and neck, which rest still and move not; with inner gaze which is not restless, but rests still between the eye-brows;
7:13 How the whole world is under the delusion of these shadows of the soul, and knows not me though forever I am!8:13 And remembering me he utters OM, the eternal WORD of Brahman, he goes to the Path Supreme.
9:13 But there are some great souls who know me: their refuge is my own divine nature. They love me with one-ness of love: they know that I am the source of all.Arjuna – 10:13 Thus all the seers praised thee: the seer divine Narada; Asita, Devala and Vyasa. And this is now thy revelation.
Sanjaya – 11:13 And Arjuna saw in that radiance the whole universe in its variety, standing in a vast unity in the body of the God of gods.Krishna – 12:13 The man who has a good will for all, who is. Friendly and has compassion; who has no thoughts of “I” or “mine”, whose peace is the same in pleasures and sorrows, and who is forgiving;
13:13 His hands and feet are everywhere, he has heads and mouths everywhere: he sees all, he hears all. He is in all, and he is.14:13 Darkness, inertia, negligence, delusion – these appear when Tamas prevails.
15:13 I come into the earth and with life-giving love I support all things on earth. And I become the scent and taste of the sacred plant Soma, which is the wandering moon.16:13 “I have gained this today, and I shall attain this desire. This wealth is mine, and that shall also be mine”
17:13 And a sacrifice done against the holy law, without faith, and sacred words, and the gifts of food, and the due offering, is a sacrifice of darkness.18:13 Know now from me, Arjuna, the five causes of all actions as given in the Sankhya wisdom, wherein is found the end of all works.
Chapter 13 in totalKrishna
1 This body, Arjuna, is called the field. He who knows this is called the knower of the field.2 Know that I am the knower in all the fields of my creation; and that the wisdom which sees the field and the knower of the field is true wisdom.
3 Hear from me briefly what the field is and how it is, what its changes are and whence each one comes; who is the knower and what is his power.4 This has been sung by seers of the Vedas in many musical measures of verse; and in great words about Brahman, words of faith and full of truth.
5 The five elements, the thought of “I”, consciousness, sub-consciousness, the five powers of feeling, and the five of action, the one mind over them, the five fields of sense perception;6 Desire, aversion, pleasure, pain, the power of mental unification, intelligence, and courage: this is the field and its modifications.
7 Humbleness, sincerity, harmlessness, forgiveness, uprightness, devotion to the spiritual master, purity, steadiness, self-harmony;8 Freedom from the lust of the senses, absence of the thought of “I”, perception of the sorrows of birth, death, old age, disease and suffering.
9 Freedom from the chains of attachments, even from a selfish attachment to one´s children, wife, or home; an ever-present eveness of mind in pleasant or unpleasant events;10 A single oneness of pure love, of never-straying love for me; retiring to solitary places, and avoiding the noisy multitudes:
11 A constant yearning to know the Inner Spirit, and a vision of Truth which gives liberation: this is true wisdom leading to vision. All against this is ignorance.12 Now I shall tell the of the End of wisdom. When a man knows this he goes beyond death. It is Brahman, beginingless, supreme: beyond what is and beyond what is not.
13 His hands and feet are everywhere, he has heads and mouths everywhere: he sees all, he hears all. He is in all, and he is.14 the Light of consciousness comes to him through infinite powers of perception, and yet he is above all these powers. He is beyond all, and yet he supports all. His beyond the world of matter, and yet he has joy in this world.
15 He is invisible: he cannot be seen. He is far and he is near, he moves and he moves not, he is within all and he is outside all.16 He is ONE in all, but it seems as if he were many. He supports all beings: from him comes destruction, and from him comes creation.
17 He is the Light of all lights which shines beyond all darkness. It is vision, the end of vision, to be reached by vision, dwelling in the heart of all.18 I have told thee briefly what is the field, what is wisdom, and what is the End of man´s vision. When a man knows this he enters into my Being.
19 Know that Prakriti, Nature, and Purusha, Spirit are both without beginning, and that temporal changes and Gunas conditions, come all from nature.
20 Nature is the source of all material things: the maker, the means of making, and the thing made. Spirit is the source of all consciousness which feels pleasure and feels pain.
21 The spirit of man when in nature feels the ever-changing conditions of nature. When he binds himself to things ever-changing, a good or evil fate whirls him round through life-in-death.22 But the Spirit Supreme in man is beyond fate. He watches, gives blessing, bears all, feels all. He is called the Lord Supreme and the Supreme Soul.
23 He who knows in truth this Spirit and knows nature with its changing conditions, wherever this man may be he is no more whirled round by fate.24 Some by the Yoga of meditation, and by the grace of the Spirit, see the Spirit in themselves; some by the Yoga of the vision of Truth; and others by the Yoga of work.
25 And yet there are others who do not know, but they hear from others and adore. They also cross beyond death, because of their devotion to words of Truth.26 Whatever is born, Arjuna, whether it moves of it moves not, know that it comes from the union of the field and the knower of the field.
27 He who sees that the Lord of all is ever the same in all that is, immortal in the field of mortality – he sees the truth.28 And when a man sees that the God in himself is the same God in all that is, he hurts not himself by hurting others: then he goes indeed to the highest Path.
29 He who sees that all work, everywhere, is only the work of nature; and that the Spirit watches this work – he sees the truth.30 When a man sees that the infinity of various beings is abiding in the ONE, and is an evolution from the ONE, then he becomes one with Brahman.
31 Beginningless and free from changing conditions, imperishable is the Spirit Supreme. Though he is in the body, not his is the work of the body, and he is pure from the imperfection of all work.32 Just as the omnipresent ether is pure because intangible, so the Spirit dwelling in matter is pure from the touch of matter.
33 And even as one sun gives light to all things in this world, so the Lord of the field gives light to all his field.34 Those who with the eye of inner vision see the distinction between the field and the know of the field, and see the liberation of spirit from matter, they go into the supreme.
Sunday, June 27, 2010
A JOURNEY THROUGH THE LIGHT AND BACK Near-Death Experience Story of Mellen-Thomas Benedict
Normally I will only be posting my stuff, but when I find something great, that I want to share, I will. This message resonated so much with because for many years I was coping with understanding what had happened to my sister Laurie after she committed suicide. At one point I was led to the book, "Closer to the Light", (that´s the title I remembered). Which included a series of case studies like the one that follows. There is Mellen´s story, at several levels. - Andy
Mellen-Thomas Benedict speaks:
In 1982 I died from terminal cancer. The condition I had was inoperable, and any kind of chemotherapy they could give me would just have made me more of a vegetable. I was given six to eight months to live.
I had been an information freak in the 1970s, and I had become increasingly despondent over the nuclear crisis, the ecology crisis, and so forth. So, since I did not have a spiritual basis, I began to believe that nature had made a mistake and that we were probably a cancerous organism on the planet. I saw no way that we could get out from all the problems we had created for ourselves and the planet. I perceived all humans as cancer—and that is what I got.
That is what killed me. Be careful what your world view is. It can feed back on you, especially if it is a negative world view. I had a seriously negative one. That is what led me into my death. I tried all sorts of alternative healing methods, but nothing helped.
So I determined that this was really just between me and God. I had never really faced God before or even dealt with God. I was not into any kind of spirituality at the time, but I began a journey into learning about spirituality and alternative healing. I set out to do all the reading I could and bone up on the subject, because I did not want to be surprised on the other side. So I started reading on various religions and philosophies. They were all very interesting and gave hope that there was something on the other side. I ended up in hospice care.
I remember waking up one morning at home about 4:30 AM, and I just knew that this was it.
This was the day I was going to die. So I called a few friends and said goodbye. I woke up my hospice caretaker and told her. I had a private agreement with her that she would leave my dead body alone for six hours, since I had read that all kinds of interesting things happen when you die. I went back to sleep.
The next thing I remember is the beginning of a typical near-death experience. Suddenly I was fully aware—and I was standing up but my body was in the bed. There was this darkness around me. Being out of my body was even more vivid than ordinary experience. It was so vivid that I could see every room in the house. I could see the top of the house, I could see around the house, I could see under the house.
There was this Light shining. I turned toward the Light. The Light was very similar to what many other people have described in their near-death experiences. It was so magnificent. It is tangible; you can feel it. It is alluring; you want to go to it like you would want to go to your ideal mother’s or father’s arms.
As I began to move toward the Light, I knew intuitively that if I went to the Light, I would be dead. So as I was moving toward the Light I said, “Please wait a minute; just hold on a second here. I want to think about this. I would like to talk to you before I go.” To my surprise, the entire experience halted at that point. You are in control of your life-after-death experience. You are not on a roller coaster ride.
So my request was honored, and I had some conversations with the Light. The Light kept changing into different figures, like Jesus, Buddha, Krishna, mandalas, archetypal images and signs. I asked the Light, “What is going on here? Please, Light, clarify yourself for me. I really want to know the reality of the situation.” I cannot really say the exact words, because it was sort of telepathy.
The Light responded. The information transferred to me was that during your life-after- death experience your beliefs shape the kind of feedback you are getting before the Light. If you were a Buddhist or Catholic or Fundamentalist, you get a feedback loop of your own stuff. You have a chance to look at it and examine it, but most people do not. As the Light revealed itself to me, I became aware that what I was really seeing was our Higher Self matrix.
We all have a Higher Self, or an oversoul part of our being. It revealed itself to me in its truest energy form. The only way I can really describe it is that the Being of the Higher Self is more like a conduit. It did not look like that, but it is a direct connection to the Source that each and every one of us have. We are directly connected to the Source. So the Light was showing me the Higher Self matrix. I was not committed to one particular religion. So that is what was being fed back to me during my life-after-death experience.
As I asked the Light to keep clearing for me, to keep explaining, I understood what the Higher Self matrix is. We have a grid around the planet where all the Higher Selves are connected.
This is like a great company, a next subtle level of energy around us, the spirit level, you might say. Then, after a couple of minutes, I asked for more clarification. I really wanted to know what the Universe is about, and I was ready to go at that time. I said, “I am ready, take me.”
Then the Light turned into the most beautiful thing that I have ever seen: a mandala of human souls on this planet. Now I came to this with my negative view of what was happening on the planet. So as I asked the Light to keep clarifying for me, I saw in this magnificent mandala how beautiful we all are in our essence, our core. We are the most beautiful creations.
The human soul, the human matrix that we all make together, is absolutely fantastic, elegant, exotic, everything. I just cannot say enough about how it changed my opinion of human Beings in that instant. I said, “Oh, God, I did not know how beautiful we are.” At any level, high or low, in whatever shape you are in, you are the most beautiful creation.
The revelations coming from the Light seemed to go on and on. Then I asked the Light, “Does this mean that Mankind will be saved?” Then, like a trumpet blast with a shower of spiraling lights, the Great Light spoke, saying, “Remember this and never forget; you save, redeem and heal yourself. You always have. You always will. You were created with the power to do so from before the beginning of the world.”
In that instant I realized even more. I realized that WE HAVE ALREADY BEEN SAVED, and we saved ourselves because we were designed to self- correct like the rest of God’s Universe. This is what the second coming is about. I thanked the Light of God with all my heart. The best thing I could come up with was these simple words of total appreciation: “Oh dear God, dear Universe, dear Great Self, I Love My Life.”
The Light seemed to breathe me in even more deeply. It was as if the Light was completely absorbing me. The Love Light is, to this day, indescribable. I entered into another realm, more profound than the last and became aware of something more, much more. It was an enormous stream of Light, vast and full, deep in the Heart of Life. I asked what this was.
The Light responded, “This is the RIVER OF LIFE. Drink of this manna water to your heart’s content.” So I did. I took one big drink and then another. To drink of Life Itself! I was in ecstasy.
Then the Light said, “You have a desire.” The Light knew all about me, everything past, present and future. “Yes!” I whispered.
I asked to see the rest of the Universe, beyond our solar system, beyond all human illusion. The Light then told me that I could go with the Stream. I did, and was carried through the Light at the end of the tunnel. I felt and heard a series of very soft sonic booms. What a rush!
Suddenly I seemed to be rocketing away from the planet on this stream of Life. I saw the Earth fly away. The solar system, in all its splendor, whizzed by and disappeared. At faster than light speed, I flew through the center of the Galaxy, absorbing more knowledge as I went. I learned that this Galaxy, and all of the Universe, is bursting with many different varieties of LIFE. I saw many worlds. The good news is that we are not alone in this Universe!
As I rode this stream of consciousness through the center of the Galaxy, the stream was expanding in awesome fractal waves of energy. The super clusters of Galaxies with all their ancient wisdom flew by. At first I thought I was going somewhere, actually traveling. But then I realized that as the stream was expanding, my own consciousness was also expanding to take in everything in the Universe! All creation passed by me. It was an unimaginable wonder! I truly was a Wonder Child; a babe in Wonderland!
At this point, I found myself in a profound stillness, beyond all silence. I could see or perceive FOREVER, beyond Infinity.
I was in the Void.
I was in pre-creation, before the Big Bang. I had crossed over the beginning of time/the First Word/the First Vibration. I was in the Eye of Creation. I felt as if I was touching the Face of God. It was not a religious feeling. Simply, I was at one with Absolute Life and Consciousness.
When I say that I could see or perceive forever, I mean that I could experience all of creation generating itself. It was without beginning and without end. That is a mind expanding thought, isn’t it?
Scientists perceive the Big Bang as a single event which created the Universe. I saw during my life-after- death experience that the Big Bang is only one of an infinite number of Big Bangs creating Universes endlessly and simultaneously. The only images that even come close in human terms would be those created by super computers using fractal geometry equations.
The ancients knew of this. They said God had periodically created new Universes by breathing out and recreated other Universes by breathing in. These epochs were called Yugas. Modern science called this the Big Bang. I was in absolute, pure consciousness. I could see or perceive all the Big Bangs or Yugas creating and recreating themselves. Instantly I entered into them all simultaneously. I saw that each and every little piece of creation has the power to create. It is very difficult to try to explain this. I am still speechless about this.
It took me years after I returned from my near-death experience to assimilate any words at all for the Void experience. I can tell you this now: the Void is less than nothing, yet more than everything that is! The Void is absolute zero, chaos forming all possibilities. It is Absolute Consciousness, much more than even Universal Intelligence.
The Void is the vacuum or nothingness between all physical manifestations. It is the SPACE between atoms and their components. Modern science has begun to study this space between everything. They call it Zero point. Whenever they try to measure it, their instruments go off the scale, or to infinity, so to speak. They have no way, as of yet, to measure infinity accurately. There is more of the zero space in your own body and the Universe than anything else!
What mystics call the Void is not a void. It is so full of energy, a different kind of energy that has created everything that we are. Everything since the Big Bang is vibration, from the first Word, which is the first vibration. The biblical “I AM” really has a question mark after it. “I AM—What am I?” So creation is God exploring God’s Self through every way imaginable, in an on-going, infinite exploration through every one of us. I began to see during my near-death experience that everything that is, is the Self, literally your Self, my Self. Everything is the great Self. That is why God knows even when a leaf falls. That is possible because wherever you are is the center of the Universe. Wherever any atom is, that is the center of the Universe. There is God in that, and God in the Void.
As I was exploring the Void during my life-after- death experience and all the Yugas or creations, I was completely out of time and space as we know it. In this expanded state, I discovered that creation is about Absolute Pure Consciousness, or God, coming into the Experience of Life as we know it. The Void itself is devoid of experience. It is pre life, before the first vibration. Godhead is about more than Life and Death. Therefore there is even more than Life and Death to experience in the Universe!
When I realized this, I was finished with the Void and wanted to return to this creation, or Yuga. It just seemed like the natural thing to do. Then I suddenly came back through the second Light, or the Big Bang, hearing several more velvet booms. I rode the stream of consciousness back through all of creation, and what a ride it was! The super clusters of Galaxies came through me with even more insights. I passed through the center of our Galaxy, which is a black hole. Black holes are the great processors or recyclers of the Universe.
Do you know what is on the other side of a black hole? We are; our Galaxy, which has been reprocessed from another Universe. In its total energy configuration, the Galaxy looked like a fantastic city of lights.. All energy this side of the Big Bang is Light. Every sub atom, atom, star, planet, even consciousness itself is made of Light and has a frequency and/or particle. Light is living stuff. Everything is made of Light, even stones. So everything is alive. Everything is made from the Light of God; everything is very intelligent.
As I rode the stream on and on, I could eventually see a huge Light coming. I knew it was the First Light; the Higher Self Light Matrix of our Solar System. Then the entire Solar System appeared in the Light, accompanied by one of those velvet booms.
I could see all the energy that this Solar System generates, and it is an incredible Light show! I could hear the Music of the Spheres. Our Solar System, as do all celestial bodies, generates a unique matrix of light, sound and vibratory energies. Advanced civilizations from other star systems can spot Life as we know it in the Universe by the vibratory or energy matrix imprint. It is child’s play. The Earth’s wonder child (Human Beings) make an abundance of sound right now, like children playing in the backyard of the Universe.
The Light explained to me that there is no death; we are immortal Beings. We have already been alive forever! I realized that we are part of a natural living system that recycles itself endlessly. I was never told that I had to come back. I just knew that I would. It was only natural, from what I had seen during my life-after-death experience.
I don't know how long I was with the Light, in human time. But there came a moment when I realized that all my questions had been answered and my return was near. When I say that all my questions were answered on the other side, I mean to say just that. All my questions have been answered. Every human has a different life and set of questions to explore. Some of our questions are universal, but each of us is exploring this thing we call Life in our own unique way. So is every other form of life, from mountains to every leaf on every tree.
That is very important to the rest of us in this Universe. Because it all contributes to the Big Picture, the fullness of Life. We are literally God exploring God’s Self in an infinite Dance of Life. Your uniqueness enhances all of Life.
As I began my return to the life cycle, it never crossed my mind, nor was I told, that I would return to the same body. It just did not matter. I had complete trust in the Light and the Life process. As the stream merged with the great Light, I asked never to forget the revelations and the feelings of what I had learned on the other side.
There was a “Yes.” It felt like a kiss to my soul.
Then I was taken back through the Light into the vibratory realm again. The whole process reversed, with even more information being given to me. I came back home, and I was given lessons from my near-death experience on the mechanics of reincarnation. I was given answers to all those little questions I had: “How does this work? How does that work?” I knew that I would be reincarnated.
The Earth is a great processor of energy, and individual consciousness evolves out of that into each one of us. I thought of myself as a human for the first time, and I was happy to be that. From what I have seen, I would be happy to be an atom in this Universe. An atom. So to be the human part of God—this is the most fantastic blessing. It is a blessing beyond our wildest estimation of what a blessing can be. For each and every one of us to be the human part of this experience is awesome and magnificent. Each and every one of us, no matter where we are, screwed up or not, is a blessing to the planet, right where we are.
I went through the reincarnation process expecting to be a baby somewhere. But I was given a lesson on how individual identity and consciousness evolve. I was so surprised when I opened my eyes. I do not know why, because I understood it, but it was still such a surprise to be back in this body, back in my room with someone looking over me, crying her eyes out. It was my hospice caretaker. She had given up an hour and a half after finding me dead. My body was stiff and inflexible. She went into the other room. Then I awakened and saw the light outside. I tried to get up to go to it, but I fell out of the bed. She heard a loud “clunk,” ran in and found me on the floor.
When I recovered, I was very surprised and yet very awed about what had happened to me during my near-death experience. At first all the memory of the trip that I have now was not there. I kept slipping out of this world and kept asking, “Am I alive?” This world seemed more like a dream than that one. Within three days I was feeling normal again, clearer, yet different than I had ever felt in my life. My memory of my near-death experience came back later. I could see nothing wrong with any human Being I had ever seen. Before that I was really judgmental. I thought a lot of people were really screwed up. In fact, I thought that everybody was screwed up but me. But I got clear on all that.
About three months later a friend said I should get tested, so I went and got the scans and so forth. I really felt good, so I was afraid of getting bad news. I remember the doctor at the clinic looking at the before and after scans, saying, “Well, there is nothing here now.” I said, “Really, it must be a miracle”’ He said “No, these things happen; they are called spontaneous remissions.” He acted very unimpressed. But here was a miracle, and I was impressed, even if no one else was.
During my near-death experience I had a descent into what you might call Hell, and it was very surprising. I did not see Satan or evil. My descent into Hell was a descent into each person’s customized human misery, ignorance, and darkness of not knowing. It seemed like a miserable eternity. But each of the millions of souls around me had a little star of Light always available. But no one seemed to pay attention to it. They were so consumed with their own grief, trauma and misery. But, after what seemed an eternity, I started calling out to that Light, like a child calling to a parent for help.
Then the Light opened up and formed a tunnel that came right to me and insulated me from all that fear and pain, That is what Hell really is. So what we are doing is learning to hold hands, to come together. The doors of Hell are open now. We are going to link up, hold hands and walk out of Hell together. The Light came to me and turned into a huge golden Angel. I said, “Are you the Angel of Death?” It expressed to me that it was my oversoul, my Higher Self matrix, a super ancient part of ourselves. Then I was taken to the Light.
Soon our science will quantify spirit. Isn't that going to be wonderful? We are coming up with devices now that are sensitive to subtle energy or spirit energy. Physicists use these atomic colliders to smash atoms to see what they are made of. They have got it down to quarks and charm, and all that. Well, one day they are going to come down to the little thing that holds it all together, and they are going to have to call it...God. We are just beginning to understand that we are creating too, as we go along. As I saw forever, I came to a realm during my near-death experience in which there is a point where we pass all knowledge and begin creating the next fractal, the next level. We have that power to create as we explore. And that is God expanding itself through us.
Since my return I have experienced the Light spontaneously, and I have learned how to get to that space almost any time in my meditation. Each one of you can do this. You do not have to die or have a near-death experience to do this. It is within your equipment; you are wired for it already. The body is the most magnificent Light Being there is. The body is a Universe of incredible Light. Spirit is not pushing us to dissolve this body. That is not what is happening. Stop trying to become God; God is becoming you. Here.
I asked God: “What is the best religion on the planet? Which one is right?” And Godhead said, with great love: “I don't care.” That was incredible grace. When Godhead said, “I don't care,” I immediately understood that it is for us to care about. It is important, because we are the caring Beings. It matters to us and that is where it is important. What you have is the energy equation in spirituality. Ultimate Godhead does not care if you are Protestant, Buddhist or whatever. It is all a blooming facet of the whole. I wish that all religions would realize it and let each other be. It is not the end of each religion, but we are talking about the same God. Live and let live. Each has a different view. And it all adds up to the big picture; it is all important.
I went over to the other side during my near-death experience with a lot of fears about toxic waste, nuclear missiles, the population explosion, the rainforest. I came back loving every single problem. I love nuclear waste. I love the mushroom cloud; this is the holiest mandala that we have manifested to date, as an archetype. It, more than any religion or philosophy on Earth, brought us together all of a sudden, to a new level of consciousness. Knowing that maybe we can blow up the planet fifty times, or 500 times, we finally realize that maybe we are all here together, now.
For a period they had to keep setting off more bombs to get it in to us. Then we started saying, “we do not need this any more.” Now we are actually in a safer world than we have ever been in, and it is going to get safer. So I came back from my near-death experience loving toxic waste because it brought us together. These things are so big. As Peter Russell might say, these problems are now “soul size.” Do we have soul size answers” YES!
The clearing of the rain forest will slow down, and in fifty years there will be more trees on the planet than in a long time. If you are into ecology, go for it; you are that part of the system that is becoming aware. Go for it with all your might, but do not be depressed. It is part of a larger thing.
Earth is in the process of domesticating itself. It is never again going to be as wild a place as it once was. There will be great wild places, reserves where nature thrives. Gardening and reserves will be the thing in the future. Population increase is getting very close to the optimal range of energy to cause a shift in consciousness. That shift in consciousness will change politics, money, energy.
After dying, going through my near-death experience and coming back, I really respect life and death. In our DNA experiments we may have opened the door to a great secret. Soon we will be able to live as long as we want to live in this body.
After living 150 years or so, there will be an intuitive soul sense that you will want to change channels. Living forever in one body is not as creative as reincarnation, as transferring energy in this fantastic vortex of energy that we are in. We are actually going to see the wisdom of Life and death, and enjoy it. As it is now, we have already been alive forever.
This body, that you are in, has been alive forever. It comes from an unending Stream of Life, going back to the Big Bang and beyond.
This body gives life to the next life, in dense and subtle energy.
This body has been alive forever already.
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Mellen-Thomas Benedict speaks:
In 1982 I died from terminal cancer. The condition I had was inoperable, and any kind of chemotherapy they could give me would just have made me more of a vegetable. I was given six to eight months to live.
I had been an information freak in the 1970s, and I had become increasingly despondent over the nuclear crisis, the ecology crisis, and so forth. So, since I did not have a spiritual basis, I began to believe that nature had made a mistake and that we were probably a cancerous organism on the planet. I saw no way that we could get out from all the problems we had created for ourselves and the planet. I perceived all humans as cancer—and that is what I got.
That is what killed me. Be careful what your world view is. It can feed back on you, especially if it is a negative world view. I had a seriously negative one. That is what led me into my death. I tried all sorts of alternative healing methods, but nothing helped.
So I determined that this was really just between me and God. I had never really faced God before or even dealt with God. I was not into any kind of spirituality at the time, but I began a journey into learning about spirituality and alternative healing. I set out to do all the reading I could and bone up on the subject, because I did not want to be surprised on the other side. So I started reading on various religions and philosophies. They were all very interesting and gave hope that there was something on the other side. I ended up in hospice care.
I remember waking up one morning at home about 4:30 AM, and I just knew that this was it.
This was the day I was going to die. So I called a few friends and said goodbye. I woke up my hospice caretaker and told her. I had a private agreement with her that she would leave my dead body alone for six hours, since I had read that all kinds of interesting things happen when you die. I went back to sleep.
The next thing I remember is the beginning of a typical near-death experience. Suddenly I was fully aware—and I was standing up but my body was in the bed. There was this darkness around me. Being out of my body was even more vivid than ordinary experience. It was so vivid that I could see every room in the house. I could see the top of the house, I could see around the house, I could see under the house.
There was this Light shining. I turned toward the Light. The Light was very similar to what many other people have described in their near-death experiences. It was so magnificent. It is tangible; you can feel it. It is alluring; you want to go to it like you would want to go to your ideal mother’s or father’s arms.
As I began to move toward the Light, I knew intuitively that if I went to the Light, I would be dead. So as I was moving toward the Light I said, “Please wait a minute; just hold on a second here. I want to think about this. I would like to talk to you before I go.” To my surprise, the entire experience halted at that point. You are in control of your life-after-death experience. You are not on a roller coaster ride.
So my request was honored, and I had some conversations with the Light. The Light kept changing into different figures, like Jesus, Buddha, Krishna, mandalas, archetypal images and signs. I asked the Light, “What is going on here? Please, Light, clarify yourself for me. I really want to know the reality of the situation.” I cannot really say the exact words, because it was sort of telepathy.
The Light responded. The information transferred to me was that during your life-after- death experience your beliefs shape the kind of feedback you are getting before the Light. If you were a Buddhist or Catholic or Fundamentalist, you get a feedback loop of your own stuff. You have a chance to look at it and examine it, but most people do not. As the Light revealed itself to me, I became aware that what I was really seeing was our Higher Self matrix.
We all have a Higher Self, or an oversoul part of our being. It revealed itself to me in its truest energy form. The only way I can really describe it is that the Being of the Higher Self is more like a conduit. It did not look like that, but it is a direct connection to the Source that each and every one of us have. We are directly connected to the Source. So the Light was showing me the Higher Self matrix. I was not committed to one particular religion. So that is what was being fed back to me during my life-after-death experience.
As I asked the Light to keep clearing for me, to keep explaining, I understood what the Higher Self matrix is. We have a grid around the planet where all the Higher Selves are connected.
This is like a great company, a next subtle level of energy around us, the spirit level, you might say. Then, after a couple of minutes, I asked for more clarification. I really wanted to know what the Universe is about, and I was ready to go at that time. I said, “I am ready, take me.”
Then the Light turned into the most beautiful thing that I have ever seen: a mandala of human souls on this planet. Now I came to this with my negative view of what was happening on the planet. So as I asked the Light to keep clarifying for me, I saw in this magnificent mandala how beautiful we all are in our essence, our core. We are the most beautiful creations.
The human soul, the human matrix that we all make together, is absolutely fantastic, elegant, exotic, everything. I just cannot say enough about how it changed my opinion of human Beings in that instant. I said, “Oh, God, I did not know how beautiful we are.” At any level, high or low, in whatever shape you are in, you are the most beautiful creation.
The revelations coming from the Light seemed to go on and on. Then I asked the Light, “Does this mean that Mankind will be saved?” Then, like a trumpet blast with a shower of spiraling lights, the Great Light spoke, saying, “Remember this and never forget; you save, redeem and heal yourself. You always have. You always will. You were created with the power to do so from before the beginning of the world.”
In that instant I realized even more. I realized that WE HAVE ALREADY BEEN SAVED, and we saved ourselves because we were designed to self- correct like the rest of God’s Universe. This is what the second coming is about. I thanked the Light of God with all my heart. The best thing I could come up with was these simple words of total appreciation: “Oh dear God, dear Universe, dear Great Self, I Love My Life.”
The Light seemed to breathe me in even more deeply. It was as if the Light was completely absorbing me. The Love Light is, to this day, indescribable. I entered into another realm, more profound than the last and became aware of something more, much more. It was an enormous stream of Light, vast and full, deep in the Heart of Life. I asked what this was.
The Light responded, “This is the RIVER OF LIFE. Drink of this manna water to your heart’s content.” So I did. I took one big drink and then another. To drink of Life Itself! I was in ecstasy.
Then the Light said, “You have a desire.” The Light knew all about me, everything past, present and future. “Yes!” I whispered.
I asked to see the rest of the Universe, beyond our solar system, beyond all human illusion. The Light then told me that I could go with the Stream. I did, and was carried through the Light at the end of the tunnel. I felt and heard a series of very soft sonic booms. What a rush!
Suddenly I seemed to be rocketing away from the planet on this stream of Life. I saw the Earth fly away. The solar system, in all its splendor, whizzed by and disappeared. At faster than light speed, I flew through the center of the Galaxy, absorbing more knowledge as I went. I learned that this Galaxy, and all of the Universe, is bursting with many different varieties of LIFE. I saw many worlds. The good news is that we are not alone in this Universe!
As I rode this stream of consciousness through the center of the Galaxy, the stream was expanding in awesome fractal waves of energy. The super clusters of Galaxies with all their ancient wisdom flew by. At first I thought I was going somewhere, actually traveling. But then I realized that as the stream was expanding, my own consciousness was also expanding to take in everything in the Universe! All creation passed by me. It was an unimaginable wonder! I truly was a Wonder Child; a babe in Wonderland!
At this point, I found myself in a profound stillness, beyond all silence. I could see or perceive FOREVER, beyond Infinity.
I was in the Void.
I was in pre-creation, before the Big Bang. I had crossed over the beginning of time/the First Word/the First Vibration. I was in the Eye of Creation. I felt as if I was touching the Face of God. It was not a religious feeling. Simply, I was at one with Absolute Life and Consciousness.
When I say that I could see or perceive forever, I mean that I could experience all of creation generating itself. It was without beginning and without end. That is a mind expanding thought, isn’t it?
Scientists perceive the Big Bang as a single event which created the Universe. I saw during my life-after- death experience that the Big Bang is only one of an infinite number of Big Bangs creating Universes endlessly and simultaneously. The only images that even come close in human terms would be those created by super computers using fractal geometry equations.
The ancients knew of this. They said God had periodically created new Universes by breathing out and recreated other Universes by breathing in. These epochs were called Yugas. Modern science called this the Big Bang. I was in absolute, pure consciousness. I could see or perceive all the Big Bangs or Yugas creating and recreating themselves. Instantly I entered into them all simultaneously. I saw that each and every little piece of creation has the power to create. It is very difficult to try to explain this. I am still speechless about this.
It took me years after I returned from my near-death experience to assimilate any words at all for the Void experience. I can tell you this now: the Void is less than nothing, yet more than everything that is! The Void is absolute zero, chaos forming all possibilities. It is Absolute Consciousness, much more than even Universal Intelligence.
The Void is the vacuum or nothingness between all physical manifestations. It is the SPACE between atoms and their components. Modern science has begun to study this space between everything. They call it Zero point. Whenever they try to measure it, their instruments go off the scale, or to infinity, so to speak. They have no way, as of yet, to measure infinity accurately. There is more of the zero space in your own body and the Universe than anything else!
What mystics call the Void is not a void. It is so full of energy, a different kind of energy that has created everything that we are. Everything since the Big Bang is vibration, from the first Word, which is the first vibration. The biblical “I AM” really has a question mark after it. “I AM—What am I?” So creation is God exploring God’s Self through every way imaginable, in an on-going, infinite exploration through every one of us. I began to see during my near-death experience that everything that is, is the Self, literally your Self, my Self. Everything is the great Self. That is why God knows even when a leaf falls. That is possible because wherever you are is the center of the Universe. Wherever any atom is, that is the center of the Universe. There is God in that, and God in the Void.
As I was exploring the Void during my life-after- death experience and all the Yugas or creations, I was completely out of time and space as we know it. In this expanded state, I discovered that creation is about Absolute Pure Consciousness, or God, coming into the Experience of Life as we know it. The Void itself is devoid of experience. It is pre life, before the first vibration. Godhead is about more than Life and Death. Therefore there is even more than Life and Death to experience in the Universe!
When I realized this, I was finished with the Void and wanted to return to this creation, or Yuga. It just seemed like the natural thing to do. Then I suddenly came back through the second Light, or the Big Bang, hearing several more velvet booms. I rode the stream of consciousness back through all of creation, and what a ride it was! The super clusters of Galaxies came through me with even more insights. I passed through the center of our Galaxy, which is a black hole. Black holes are the great processors or recyclers of the Universe.
Do you know what is on the other side of a black hole? We are; our Galaxy, which has been reprocessed from another Universe. In its total energy configuration, the Galaxy looked like a fantastic city of lights.. All energy this side of the Big Bang is Light. Every sub atom, atom, star, planet, even consciousness itself is made of Light and has a frequency and/or particle. Light is living stuff. Everything is made of Light, even stones. So everything is alive. Everything is made from the Light of God; everything is very intelligent.
As I rode the stream on and on, I could eventually see a huge Light coming. I knew it was the First Light; the Higher Self Light Matrix of our Solar System. Then the entire Solar System appeared in the Light, accompanied by one of those velvet booms.
I could see all the energy that this Solar System generates, and it is an incredible Light show! I could hear the Music of the Spheres. Our Solar System, as do all celestial bodies, generates a unique matrix of light, sound and vibratory energies. Advanced civilizations from other star systems can spot Life as we know it in the Universe by the vibratory or energy matrix imprint. It is child’s play. The Earth’s wonder child (Human Beings) make an abundance of sound right now, like children playing in the backyard of the Universe.
The Light explained to me that there is no death; we are immortal Beings. We have already been alive forever! I realized that we are part of a natural living system that recycles itself endlessly. I was never told that I had to come back. I just knew that I would. It was only natural, from what I had seen during my life-after-death experience.
I don't know how long I was with the Light, in human time. But there came a moment when I realized that all my questions had been answered and my return was near. When I say that all my questions were answered on the other side, I mean to say just that. All my questions have been answered. Every human has a different life and set of questions to explore. Some of our questions are universal, but each of us is exploring this thing we call Life in our own unique way. So is every other form of life, from mountains to every leaf on every tree.
That is very important to the rest of us in this Universe. Because it all contributes to the Big Picture, the fullness of Life. We are literally God exploring God’s Self in an infinite Dance of Life. Your uniqueness enhances all of Life.
As I began my return to the life cycle, it never crossed my mind, nor was I told, that I would return to the same body. It just did not matter. I had complete trust in the Light and the Life process. As the stream merged with the great Light, I asked never to forget the revelations and the feelings of what I had learned on the other side.
There was a “Yes.” It felt like a kiss to my soul.
Then I was taken back through the Light into the vibratory realm again. The whole process reversed, with even more information being given to me. I came back home, and I was given lessons from my near-death experience on the mechanics of reincarnation. I was given answers to all those little questions I had: “How does this work? How does that work?” I knew that I would be reincarnated.
The Earth is a great processor of energy, and individual consciousness evolves out of that into each one of us. I thought of myself as a human for the first time, and I was happy to be that. From what I have seen, I would be happy to be an atom in this Universe. An atom. So to be the human part of God—this is the most fantastic blessing. It is a blessing beyond our wildest estimation of what a blessing can be. For each and every one of us to be the human part of this experience is awesome and magnificent. Each and every one of us, no matter where we are, screwed up or not, is a blessing to the planet, right where we are.
I went through the reincarnation process expecting to be a baby somewhere. But I was given a lesson on how individual identity and consciousness evolve. I was so surprised when I opened my eyes. I do not know why, because I understood it, but it was still such a surprise to be back in this body, back in my room with someone looking over me, crying her eyes out. It was my hospice caretaker. She had given up an hour and a half after finding me dead. My body was stiff and inflexible. She went into the other room. Then I awakened and saw the light outside. I tried to get up to go to it, but I fell out of the bed. She heard a loud “clunk,” ran in and found me on the floor.
When I recovered, I was very surprised and yet very awed about what had happened to me during my near-death experience. At first all the memory of the trip that I have now was not there. I kept slipping out of this world and kept asking, “Am I alive?” This world seemed more like a dream than that one. Within three days I was feeling normal again, clearer, yet different than I had ever felt in my life. My memory of my near-death experience came back later. I could see nothing wrong with any human Being I had ever seen. Before that I was really judgmental. I thought a lot of people were really screwed up. In fact, I thought that everybody was screwed up but me. But I got clear on all that.
About three months later a friend said I should get tested, so I went and got the scans and so forth. I really felt good, so I was afraid of getting bad news. I remember the doctor at the clinic looking at the before and after scans, saying, “Well, there is nothing here now.” I said, “Really, it must be a miracle”’ He said “No, these things happen; they are called spontaneous remissions.” He acted very unimpressed. But here was a miracle, and I was impressed, even if no one else was.
During my near-death experience I had a descent into what you might call Hell, and it was very surprising. I did not see Satan or evil. My descent into Hell was a descent into each person’s customized human misery, ignorance, and darkness of not knowing. It seemed like a miserable eternity. But each of the millions of souls around me had a little star of Light always available. But no one seemed to pay attention to it. They were so consumed with their own grief, trauma and misery. But, after what seemed an eternity, I started calling out to that Light, like a child calling to a parent for help.
Then the Light opened up and formed a tunnel that came right to me and insulated me from all that fear and pain, That is what Hell really is. So what we are doing is learning to hold hands, to come together. The doors of Hell are open now. We are going to link up, hold hands and walk out of Hell together. The Light came to me and turned into a huge golden Angel. I said, “Are you the Angel of Death?” It expressed to me that it was my oversoul, my Higher Self matrix, a super ancient part of ourselves. Then I was taken to the Light.
Soon our science will quantify spirit. Isn't that going to be wonderful? We are coming up with devices now that are sensitive to subtle energy or spirit energy. Physicists use these atomic colliders to smash atoms to see what they are made of. They have got it down to quarks and charm, and all that. Well, one day they are going to come down to the little thing that holds it all together, and they are going to have to call it...God. We are just beginning to understand that we are creating too, as we go along. As I saw forever, I came to a realm during my near-death experience in which there is a point where we pass all knowledge and begin creating the next fractal, the next level. We have that power to create as we explore. And that is God expanding itself through us.
Since my return I have experienced the Light spontaneously, and I have learned how to get to that space almost any time in my meditation. Each one of you can do this. You do not have to die or have a near-death experience to do this. It is within your equipment; you are wired for it already. The body is the most magnificent Light Being there is. The body is a Universe of incredible Light. Spirit is not pushing us to dissolve this body. That is not what is happening. Stop trying to become God; God is becoming you. Here.
I asked God: “What is the best religion on the planet? Which one is right?” And Godhead said, with great love: “I don't care.” That was incredible grace. When Godhead said, “I don't care,” I immediately understood that it is for us to care about. It is important, because we are the caring Beings. It matters to us and that is where it is important. What you have is the energy equation in spirituality. Ultimate Godhead does not care if you are Protestant, Buddhist or whatever. It is all a blooming facet of the whole. I wish that all religions would realize it and let each other be. It is not the end of each religion, but we are talking about the same God. Live and let live. Each has a different view. And it all adds up to the big picture; it is all important.
I went over to the other side during my near-death experience with a lot of fears about toxic waste, nuclear missiles, the population explosion, the rainforest. I came back loving every single problem. I love nuclear waste. I love the mushroom cloud; this is the holiest mandala that we have manifested to date, as an archetype. It, more than any religion or philosophy on Earth, brought us together all of a sudden, to a new level of consciousness. Knowing that maybe we can blow up the planet fifty times, or 500 times, we finally realize that maybe we are all here together, now.
For a period they had to keep setting off more bombs to get it in to us. Then we started saying, “we do not need this any more.” Now we are actually in a safer world than we have ever been in, and it is going to get safer. So I came back from my near-death experience loving toxic waste because it brought us together. These things are so big. As Peter Russell might say, these problems are now “soul size.” Do we have soul size answers” YES!
The clearing of the rain forest will slow down, and in fifty years there will be more trees on the planet than in a long time. If you are into ecology, go for it; you are that part of the system that is becoming aware. Go for it with all your might, but do not be depressed. It is part of a larger thing.
Earth is in the process of domesticating itself. It is never again going to be as wild a place as it once was. There will be great wild places, reserves where nature thrives. Gardening and reserves will be the thing in the future. Population increase is getting very close to the optimal range of energy to cause a shift in consciousness. That shift in consciousness will change politics, money, energy.
After dying, going through my near-death experience and coming back, I really respect life and death. In our DNA experiments we may have opened the door to a great secret. Soon we will be able to live as long as we want to live in this body.
After living 150 years or so, there will be an intuitive soul sense that you will want to change channels. Living forever in one body is not as creative as reincarnation, as transferring energy in this fantastic vortex of energy that we are in. We are actually going to see the wisdom of Life and death, and enjoy it. As it is now, we have already been alive forever.
This body, that you are in, has been alive forever. It comes from an unending Stream of Life, going back to the Big Bang and beyond.
This body gives life to the next life, in dense and subtle energy.
This body has been alive forever already.
This E-mailing Newsletter is a sharing from:
Patricia Diane Cota-Robles
New Age Study of Humanity's Purpose
a 501 (c) 3 nonprofit educational organization
Website: http://eraofpeace.org
New Age Study of Humanity's Purpose
PO Box 41883,
Tucson, Arizona 85717
Friday, June 25, 2010
Two more poems
Witness
peace
tranquility
balance
harmony
flow
life
abundance
divinity
expansion
inclusion
expression
beauty
quiet
silence
patience
persistence
cooperation
sharing
exchange
cycle
these are words,
that describe,
the teachings,
of Gaia
Presence
how can it be
that my presence, my Being
can experience so many
different sensations, perceptions
feelings, thoughts
like an ever flowing river
braided typologies
transitions, expressions
combined within this beautiful temple
the vessel where I reside
the presence which I re-cognize
as I AM
Preparation for Re-Creation
This essay is included in the Introduction to my book "Vision - We are Re-Creating the World", which outlines a variety of strategies for revitalization of regions and empowerment of individuals, stimulated through grass-roots initiatives and the utilization of technologies but protecting the natural environment.
Preparation for Re-Creation
I don´t think it is any mistake that we call our leisure time recreation, “re-creation”. The way that we come to transform our lives is through fun, laughter, enjoyment. We have become as adults to take things so seriously. But the Truth is that the pleasure of existence and experience is our greater purpose. The serious issues are just a story. A fabrication.
We have an opportunity to re-create the world. And we do that with our relationship with the “present”. Do you think it is just coincidence that these words that are used for these things? “Recreation”, “Present”. And we are not supposed to spend the majority of our time serious, stodgy, miserable to get a few moments of joy or a week or two per year of paid vacation. Jesus said we will BE in the new earth if we become like children again. This is partially what it means to be “born again”.
What if we could start all over again, creating the world of our dreams?
Experience is a pointer, something to be learned from. Don´t regret mistakes, take them as lessons learned.
No regrets! Guilt from past events is a prison.
Have Fun!!!!
Be like a child!
At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them and said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 18:1
At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them and said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 18:1
“Let me spring up from the ashes of your ignorance like the flame that burned brightly in the simplicity of your childhood. Look to the bible of love, my living presence in your heart, rather than to the wordy debates of little minds on the written word of old.” – Ken Carey, Starseed Transmissions.
“All who receive their impressions of the world as a small child receives them, without judgment, with love and acceptance, will receive my awareness. And all who receive me, receive as well, the consciousness of the one who sent me, the consciousness of the Creator himself. This is the greatest gift.”
Carey, Starseed Transmissions. p. 83
Carey, Starseed Transmissions. p. 83
“I will come to you first with the consciousness of a child, for it is thus that you will learn again of your world. Whoever receives this child-consciousness for my sake, will receive he who has sent me later when the child is grown in spirit. Receive as little children and enter my life.”
Carey, Starseed Transmissions.
Carey, Starseed Transmissions.
Being vs Doing
This book gives a plethora of ideas that show different ways that we can come together and “Be the change you want to see in the world” (Mahatma Gandhi), but it starts with you.
This book is the result of experiential education. Extension education, which you will learn more about later in this book, has the motto “Learning by doing”. This is a wonderful idea and really is a better model for education than sitting in a classroom learning from books about obscure topics. But I had a realization while preparing this Prelude.
I think we have gotten the cart before the horse in much of our philosophies and understandings. Before we can “Do”, upon an adequate basis, we have to know who we are and how to “BE”. Thus, a new learning model might be “Being” then “Doing”.
We´ve somehow gotten to the place where “doing” has taken the place of “being”. It´s kind of like running around in a hamster wheel. What are we really doing with all of this work we are doing? Have you ever thought about your work? Who benefits? Does it make you happy? Are there negative repercussions? Do you experience joy with your work? Do you feel alive?
Then the important question arises, how can you “BE” if you don´t know who or what you are? By the way, you are not your name, nor your job title, nor even a human – we made all this stuff up, these are just words, and you are more than a word, and even the ideas of these things are minuscule compared to who and what we really are.
We are limited by our thoughts. We can only go as high as our beliefs about ourselves allow. Our fears, thoughts, beliefs are like the walls of the building that we exist within. If we are to experience a new life, or re-create the world we have to start here.
"Nurture your mind with great thoughts, for you will never go any higher than you think."
Benjamin Disraeli
1804-1881, British Prime Minister
Benjamin Disraeli
1804-1881, British Prime Minister
“I am not doing any work”, thinks the man who is in harmony, who sees the truth. For in seeing or hearing, smelling or touching, in eating or walking, or sleeping, or breathing, in talking or grasping or relaxing, and even in opening or closing his eyes, he remembers: “It is the servants of my soul that are working”,
Bhagavad Gita 5: 8, 9.
Bhagavad Gita 5: 8, 9.
Know Thyself
Gnothi Seauton—"Know Thyself". These words were inscribed above the entrance to the temple of Apollo at Delphi, site of the sacred Oracle.
Gnothi Seauton—"Know Thyself". These words were inscribed above the entrance to the temple of Apollo at Delphi, site of the sacred Oracle.
The first Thinking Rule from “When Love Guides Your Thoughts” is “Know Thyself”. This would merge nicely with Shakespeare´s famous quote “To thine own self be true”. But do we really know who and what we are? That is an important part of this process, as preparation for this book. We have to be willing to ask the big questions, and really desire to get the answers.
One, truth, that is at least relative to this planet, is that human beings are not a separate organism from the Earth. If you think this is the case consider this. If you went out in space, without a space suit or ship, how long do you think you would survive?
And it is up to each individual to go on this discovery process themselves. A few books to help in the process have been recommended to achieve that end, but these are just suggestions, there are innumerable sources that will help people find their way along this path. One way to describe this path is the pursuit of “Truth”. The following provides an introduction to possibly the most important process that we could ever endeavor upon, to discover who and what we are, and to learn how to think.
“Only if you know who you are, your biases, etc., can you apply equal emphasis in an opposite direction when you know you are dealing with an area you tend to be biased in so that a balanced perspective can be attained. But this is only a temporary solution, you must rid yourself of all biases, prejudices, complexes, and emotionally immature motivations. You did not get the way you are in a single day, nor can you undo the person you are in a single day. Nevertheless you can get where you want to go much quicker if you know where you want to go and are not hindered by false conceptions of the world. Your life thinking up to now has been mostly haphazard and undirected. Start directing your thoughts toward the person you wish to be and you will see as the years pass you have become that person. You are what you think. The cumulative effort is great but the rewards are even greater. I say with the greatest intensity of my being that it is well worth the effort to know thyself.”
Skadberg, When Love Guides Your Thoughts p. 25
Skadberg, When Love Guides Your Thoughts p. 25
Thinking Rule #I. To think correctly the first step is to KNOW THYSELF (44).
The Truth
“It is the author’s very careful observation that only if the Will has as its desire to see the truth above all, can the intelligence of man be used properly.”
“It is the author’s very careful observation that only if the Will has as its desire to see the truth above all, can the intelligence of man be used properly.”
After this, and this applies to this book because I have claimed many of the ideas to be based on “common sense”, we move into the area of how we begin to live this process of seeking the truth.
“The above explains the phenomena of common sense. Common sense is intellectually understood by all but the most dense. Yet very few are able to use that common sense because they must make it seep through the subconscious or change the Will in order for it to have any effect. This occurs when a man has chosen as his Will to know the truth above all. Then to understand common sense and apply such is child’s play. To quit smoking can be done overnight, but only if the Will is properly oriented.”
“The Will and ego can be compared to a shark which knowing what it wants will stop at nothing to get it. It has no sophisticated reasoning powers, only crude desire. The sad part of all of this is that if the Will would allow itself to be ruled by the intellect it would in fact get much more gratification than otherwise. It really is in the best interest of the Will to submit to discipline and order so that the whole body can enjoy the benefits of stopping harmful habits. By acting upon common sense and from the higher perspective of restraint, now new possibilities arise heretofore that were not able to be seen. But alas, the Will requires great efforts to tame, but the rewards of such are also great.
Thinking Rule #2. Unless the Will has as its most important desire the desire to know truth above all, then all observances will have as the prime motive the self-gratification of the Will, which always leads to distortions of facts.”
Skadberg, “When Love Guides Your Thoughts”
Skadberg, “When Love Guides Your Thoughts”
Another truth, beyond being connected to Mother Earth, we are a collective being. The extent of this really boggles the mind. But for our purposes, and for the context of this book, this relates to humans on this world. In our current status, the following quote points to our collective state of being, but then also points to the only true solution to our dilemma.
“Mankind is like an intelligent beast spiritually undeveloped. Because the intelligence is not balanced by LOVE insanity prevails.”
Skadberg, “When Love Guides Your Thoughts”
Skadberg, “When Love Guides Your Thoughts”
Coping with insanity only requires one thing.
“The only really sure way to avoid insanity is to cultivate your LOVE. LOVE in its deeper sense. Related to love you have for a child, a puppy, or flower, or magnificent sunset, remember a time in your life when you were filled with your highest ever aspirations, or your greatest happiness, a moment when life was most wonderful when you were like superman because of your happiness, think of these when you seem defeated. There is no failure, there is only learning, correcting miscalculations. Believe like Abraham Lincoln “I will work, and when I am ready, my time will come.” There is not one of you who cannot make the world better in some way.”
Skadberg, “When Love Guides Your Thoughts”
Skadberg, “When Love Guides Your Thoughts”
“He who sees that all work, everywhere, is only the work of nature; and that the Spirit watches this work—he sees the truth.”
Bhagavad Gita 13: 29.
Bhagavad Gita 13: 29.
Tap into the Now!
Our lives, and thus the world, change when we step outside of the past and avoid venturing into the future where we really have no business. We live now. We can take all of the lessons learned, from our past experiences, without the drama, trauma, and emotional baggage and they can help guide us, to learn from our “mistakes”, which really don´t exist except to lead us away from the experiences that we might want to avoid. It happens on an individual and collective basis. But we have to share the joy with others.
The Now is where we exist and can tap into the power behind All That Is.
“The most important, the primordial relationship in your life is your relationship with the Now, or rather with whatever form the Now takes, that is to say, what is or what happens. If your relationship with the Now is dysfunctional, that dysfunction will be reflected in every relationship and every situation you encounter.”
Tolle, The New Earth p. 200
Tolle, The New Earth p. 200
“It has been said: “Stillness is the language God speaks, and everything else is a bad translation.” Stillness is really another word for space. Becoming conscious of stillness whenever we encounter it in our lives will connect us with the formless and timeless dimension within ourselves, that which is beyond thought, beyond ego. It may be the stillness that pervades the world of nature, or the stillness in your room in the early hours of the morning, or the silent gap between sounds. Stillness has no form—that is why through thinking we cannot become aware of it. Thought is form. Being aware of stillness means to be still. To be still is to be conscious without thought.”
Tolle, A New Earth p. 256
Tolle, A New Earth p. 256
As a preparation for making the most of this book (reference to VISION: We ARE Re-Creating the World, by Andrew Skadberg), and its suggestions I have one recommendation. Spend enough time in nature for it to touch you. At first it might seem boring but that is because most of us are over stimulated, or addicted to “doing” – whether it be watching TV, shopping, working, spending time on the computer, etc., etc.
There is a lot going on in nature but you have to quiet down enough to appreciate.
Finally, a quote that points to the truth of what can be discovered as one communes with the most clear, or unclouded for most people, expression of the One—Nature.
“In times when fear patterns predominate, the laws that humans require are many and complex. But when those patterns are broken up, as is shortly to be, all human laws shall be abolished. In the presence of my spirit, there is but one law, and that is the law of love; love all, love what is, love yourself as you are, and love me as I express through you. No matter how diverse expressions appear to be, realize that they are all differentiations of your own essence in various contexts. Love them all. See the unity of life.”
“The law of love is more than a law, it is the way of life. What do you think causes the sprouts in the spring? What do you think brings fruit to the branch? It is all love, all life, calling out the potential of this planet. Be in and of this love, and the many confusing laws of old will be absorbed in the glorious expression of life on Earth.”
Carey, Starseed Transmissions
Carey, Starseed Transmissions
“Collective human consciousness and life on our planet are intrinsically connected. “A new heaven” is the emergence of a transformed state of human consciousness, and “a new earth” is its reflection in the physical realm. Since human life and human consciousness are intrinsically one with the life of the planet, as the old consciousness dissolves, these are bound to be synchronistic geographic and climatic natural upheavals in many parts of the planet, some which we are already witnessing now." – Tolle, A New Earth p. 23
"And when a man sees that the God in himself is the same God in all that is, he hurts not himself by hurting others: then he goes indeed to the highest path."
Bhagavad Gita 13: 28
Bhagavad Gita 13: 28