Recently in spiritual philosophy Category
Some people go to church to find God. I go within myself and connect with my spirit. A church is a creation of man; my spirit is a creation of God.
How this serves as a segway to what I really want to write about, I have no idea. I'll explain what makes me wonder if a cosmic message isn't sneaking its way onto the doorstep. In the past two months there have been two different religious solicitors who have rang our doorbell. Typically we get one every six months. The first visitor was from the Assembly of God Church. (I attended one of those once. A woman started speaking in tongues. Looking back on that scene in my mind's eye, it reminds me of when Harry Potter started speaking parseltongue and everyone looked at him strangely.) The man at the door asked me if I'd like to learn how to get into heaven. My reply was, "Thank you, but I'm not interested." It felt peculiar saying it that way--yet, I felt like he could have been asking me if I'd like to buy hog bristle brushes from him and would I like to know how they can get my hard wood floors exceptionally spotless?
Yesterday another solicitor came to the door, this time Pooky took duty of answering the door. When he came in he brandished a pamphlet which he handed to me. The lady was about my age, and he passed along that she complimented my flowers. (I have spent a lot of time swooning over my flowers this year, so it was nice to be noticed.) Later on, while taking a break from our marathon reading of Harry Potter, I looked at the pamphlet and see we were visited by the local Baptist Church. Inside the pages read: How to Be 100% Sure You Are Going to Heaven. Again the theme of "getting into heaven"!
I digress for a moment in my story. I inquired with Pooky if he thinks our house is being targeted, that perhaps our house gives off a peculiar vibe that attracts religious solicitations? Could it be that it is time I removed the giant neon pentagram from the roof of the house? (Just kidding on that. The only thing our yard displays is a lush garden of flowers.) I am not certain if our religious visitors knock on anyone else's doors in the neighborhood--then again I don't spy to see if they are going door-to-door.
Being of open and fair mind, I thought I'd read the brochure given to us. Maybe in all of my years of self-study on comparative religions, of studying various spiritual philosophies, dogmas, and practices, I somehow may have missed something essential. I suppose I should state for the record that I don't believe in the notion of heaven as typically set forth by mainstream faiths, nor do I subscribe to the belief that one gains access to the "exclusive club" by who or what they believe in. From what I know of God, God is not exclusive--being that way is the domain of organized religions and of humankind.
I'm reminded of what incited my belief in God. I had been an agnostic most of my life, bordering on atheism, yet I always believed in the existence of the spirit and soul and of the "supernatural" and "paranormal". Perhaps what is confounded me about the message of "getting into heaven" has to with looking at the same thing but describing it differently. The story about the three blind men each touching a different part of the elephant and describing it comes to mind. For me, my elephant came in the form of Mt. Rainier. Those who have lived in the shadow of the mountain know that as you travel from Seattle to Centralia, the view of the mountain dramatically changed. One might think it is two different mountains. In the north, the mountain shows a singular inverted V facet. Where I live the mountain resembles a giant M. If you view the mountain from its lesser known eastern facet, the mountain looks completely foreign, having yet another distinctive appearance.
Perhaps it is just one of those oddball coincidences of life that the religious solicitors have frequently knocked on our door with a similiar message? But then nothing in life is ever truly random. Everything is connected, happens for a reason. I seek to ascribe meaning where none need to be applied; I think that even in the weirdest of ways, in the most seemingly meaningless moments, that is when God (spirit) is trying to tell me something.
A couple of months ago I came upon a show in the Sci-Fi channel that presented three different paranormal oddities and you had to guess which one was true. This is where I first saw the new aura photography invented by a man in Idaho.
In order to "see" the aura, you place your hands on two sensor pads. The camera, along with a computer, interpret your bio-electric field and assign colors based upon the energy signal. It's interesting to me how science is finally catching up to what the ancient sages already knew. That we give off "vibes" (vibrations, which pertains to energy waves of light). I'd have to think that only those scientists who live under a rock would deny the presence of the aura, considering that various means have been invented to detect it.
My person belief is that seeing the aura was something that humans used to be able to do quite readily and easily, but the doubters and skeptics got a strong hold on popular thinking and convinced most people that the aura doesn't exist. In order to see it once again we have to make a machine do it! Well, hopefully we'll realize what we've lost by ditching our "paranormal" abilities on the side of the road out in a desert. Psychic talents are not paranormal, they are totally normal. What is abnormal is the fact we ever doubted them to begin with. My personal rant is over.
What the colors mean
I was hoping my aura would be in the blue, purple, and pinks spectrum of colors. I am green and yellow with twinges of orange. Yuck! I hate these colors! I have never liked them. However, these colors mean good things. The green is healing, teaching, and the yellow is intellect and cheerful. The bit of orange/red shows I have a layer of frustration about me.Pooky's aura was all violet, but with bits of blue and red. The violet means he is spiritual and mysterious. His aura is the one I wanted. Perhaps it explains why I was drawn to him—I like his colors and perhaps I subconsciously enjoy looking at them.
For our $25 per picture we received a free 10 minute aura interpretation. The reader was very wise, and I knew she could see auras. She said to me that I am a highly organized person and that I use this for security, but to also hide from people. I have a lot of chatter in my head, she described it—my mind is always thinking, racing, and the thoughts seldom stop. She said I was an old soul who felt out of place in this modern time, that I'd much rather be back in the gentler days. She told me I am looking for something, that I am restless inside. She spoke about my frustration layer and what is the cause—she was dead on that I am frustrated with people in general because of their lack of logic and tendency for drama. However, she spoke about my abundance of compassion and how I need to temper my giving of it. I give my compassion too freely.
Pooky's violet means he's mysterious, spiritual, and protective. He got a longer interpretive reading than I did. He was given some insight on how to better communicate with people at work, since his aura is such a powerhouse, he tends to come on with a lot of energy.
Our reader said that our auras compliment each other, which is why we get along, but that we both need to work on getting out of our heads and into our hearts and the rest of our bodies.
Over all, I think the reading was a great value considering how much information was packed into a short time. It was just an insightful as having a therapist give insight and advice, and more accurate in a lot of ways.
As we were waiting for Pooky's reading, I saw a sign that said you can be filmed with your pets. I wonder how my aura would look if I were to pose with Smee? Would it be obvious how much we share the love with each other?
I was pretty wound up this morning by the unfounded e-mail I received. I decided against being nasty back because two wrongs don't make a right. Since I was going to be near the courthouse anyhow, I stopped in and got a replacement certificate without any problems. It took me longer to find a parking space than to accomplish the transaction.
It got me to thinking about how business is conducted these days. My previous SO worked for a publishing company that specialized in publishing academic journals. (BTW, did you know that there is an academic journal called Turf & Lawn Management? It contains "scientific" articles on how to keep golf courses green and managed.) It was standard policy within that company to lie to anyone calling in to ask how long something was going to take. The answer to always be given was: two weeks.
Now, more often than not, two weeks wasn't anywhere near the time frame that was the truth. The truth was more like two months, sometimes six months, but in order to keep the customer happy, they were always informed it would just be two weeks. My SO hated to lie like this, but since he was a nobody within the ranks, just a rank and file proofreader, he had to follow company policy.
It was felt by management that people would forget their initial inquiry about the time frame and move on and somehow be placated with this response. However, when dealing with PhD's they tend to be wiser than the average bear and realized they were being deceived. On more than one occasion excuses and reasons would have to be supplied when the deception was discovered.
While I think people do want to be told the truth in the business world, at the same time they don't want to hear it. Therefore companies have set policies of "fudging the truth" so that the customer will like what they hear. Are we such delicate creatures that hearing the truth pushes our buttons and pulls our triggers?
When I got home this evening this is what I wrote to the upset bride:
The reason I informed you yesterday about my lack of success with getting an answer from the county auditor is I said I would keep you informed about what was going on. I have always been honest with you, and by doing so I'm judged unprofessional and unorganized. As a person studying business relations, one of the biggest complaints in the business world is the lack of honesty, integrity, and accountability. I was fully aware that if I was honest with you that I could be deemed as unprofessional and unorganized, but it was a risk I was willing to take because I feel being honest with a person is better than being caught in a lie.
Remember how when we were young we were taught not to lie and fib because it was wrong? Why do adults tend to scrap that when doing business? Is profit the motivating factor in all business transactions?
I could have easily compromised my integrity, denied there was any mistake on my part, and pulled the wool over her eyes just to make her happy, to give her that "blissful ignorance" that people want to be coddled with, but I'm the one who has to face myself in the mirror and look into the eyes of a person who could tell fibs and lies to another just because they wanted to be soothed.
In good conscience, I can't do it. It's not that I fear I'll burn in hell, but I do have this scenario in my mind that goes like this: Upon the day of crossing over into the white light, spirits come around me and I have to begin on that process of accounting for my life, to determine what karma still remains for me to balance. In the beginning of my days, before I knew better, I didn't care that much about such philosophical matters, but as I learned, I changed my behavior to reflect what I feel is true.
I want to be able to look those spirits straight in their third eye and say: I stopped lying to people because I felt that being honest was tied to my integrity as a growing soul and human being. I did my best to own up to my mistake and shortcomings and not deny them or lie about them just to make someone feel good. It did make me sad that I upset them, but I felt that in the end being honest in a polite way was the best policy I could ever adopt. I told the truth without being vicious, thoughtless, rude, or uncaring. I told the truth as I saw it as it felt wrong to do otherwise, and I didn't like feeling wrong inside because I had to live with that feeling and above all be true to myself so that I could be true to others.
When you do business, what would you rather be told: the truth or what you like to hear? How do you feel about an employee or company that you catch in a lie?
Hey, has anyone seen my rechargeable battery cords and/or the second recharging unit? We've scoured the house and can't find them. It's like they disappeared like the lost socks! I wonder if the kittens aren't to blame? I hate not being able to find missing items, especially items that are large and cannot be easily lost. I checked the Olympus website to see how much the power cord costs to replace: $18.95 before tax and shipping. There is good reason to find at least one of the cords!
OK, I went to the surgeon's today and he kindly did the paperwork for me to get a temporary handicapped parking placard. It's good until the end of November. This means Pooky can park me in those coveted spots at Wal-Mart, the grocery store, and other shopping spots. Pooky wanted to push for a wheelchair prescription, but I said the $15 for the rental isn't too bad, and it's just for the one day. I can always use the scooters at Wal-Mart if needed.
My dad stopped by around noon with some veggies from his garden. Fresh corn, more red potatoes, onions, and 18 brown eggs. He said the potatoes will have to get us through until mid-October when his yellow Fins and other white potatoes come into season. We've got 8 ears of corn to nibble through, and a ton of onions. Time to make a soup or something!
I promised to post about the two movies.
When I first saw The Green Mile I loved it because of the "supernatural" aspects of it, but over time the movie has come to mean something more to me. It serves to reenforce my believe in The Divine. Yes, the movie portays one of God's innocents being executed for a crime he didn't commit, and I don't want to get into a debate about is capital punishment ethical and part of a civil society. I personally support execution if the crime committed is severe, but realize that innocent people are mistakenly put to death because our justice system is flawed. I am uncertain because karmically speaking, maybe it is someone's karmic balance to be put to death for a crime not committed, but I also feel that spiritually there is a strong case against killing someone even if guilty, because as Gandhi put it: an eye for an eye only makes the world blind.
Anyhow, in the movie there is some karmic retribution given to the bad characters (Percy and the man who did murder the two girls) and the main character played by Tom Hanks is punished for putting to death one of God's miracles, so the story does touch upon a type of spirituality that jives with my own belief system. I think such people as John Coffey (just like the drink but spelt different) do exist, and sadly our society does wind up killing them for one reason or another. From a Gnostic view, this movie speaks to me in ways I can't quite explain.
I have loved C.S. Lewis since childhood and the 1979 cartoon adaption of The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe was shown on TV. I had to know what Turkish delight was, and was sadly disappointed by it being a bland jelly-like candy. I was imagining it to be this heavenly choclatey substance with caramel, and some kind of magical, secret ingredient that would make it sublime.
There is so much about Shadowlands that speaks to me—it's hard to know where to begin. When I learned that C.S. was an atheist who became a respected Christian, his life story piqued by curiosity because I have travelled something of a similar life path in that for twenty-something years I was an agnostic/atheist struggling to find "proof" of The Divine, and finally one day it all fell into place for me. I just knew that God existed.
But what touches me in this movie is a line from Joy Gresham's character, that we can't have the joy without the pain. And even C.S. himself has a line or two that speaks to pain being our greatest teacher in life. I appreciate how he says we are God's children, but that God wants us to grow up. I think that is why many people of a fervent religious nature "screw up" the teachings of their faith—is that they aren't attempting to grow up, they are stuck in childhood wanting God to step in like a parent and save the day. Remember how growing up was so painful and hard? And some of us are still trying? I think spirituality is the same, no matter how you depict God, be S/he blue with many arms, wearing a robe and sporting a beard, or a beautiful woman with flowing long hair.
Today I really stubbed my little toe on a chair in the bathroom. Normally I don't cry with such injuries, but with this one, I buckled over. Later I checked the toe and it's swollen and bruised. I'm amazed that I haven't ripped off both little toes during the course of my life. I've been so abusive to both.
Must go now. That new TV show on FOX, "Bones" is about to start, and I'm going to record it for Pooky to see later. I hope that some of the shows this season that look promising do turn out to be worth watching.
ok, my brain has had too much time to ponder stuff, so I get into these thoughts which are my mental lint. what exactly does it mean to balance one's karma? Karma translates to mean deed or action, so it is the application of the basic spiritual principles in which to live by, e.g. the golden rule, unconditional Love and Goodness, etc.
So, it would seem that the point then to balancing out our karma is to either (a) have a 50/50 mixture of good and bad deeds or actions; or (b) nearly 100% good deeds or action. I am stuck trying to figure out what the whole 'balancing act' (ha, pun intended) is supposed to be about. Somewhere in my mind I've picked up the idea that in order to return home to the Divine (that is, become a completed soul and break free of the birth-death cycle) that we must become pure again. Would this mean being as totally 'good' as possible, or is it simply enough to be about 50/50? If the Divine created all that we see and hear, then it is logical to conclude that She is both Good and Evil, Love and Hate. Does that mean we are to also be in this seemingly contradictory state of existence in order to go home?
Another thing is, karma isn't exactly like Newton's Third Law, that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. If in this life you are a hateful, angry person who likes to sling verbal insults that doesn't mean that in the next life you'll be on the receiving end of such abuse. As how I understand it, you can 'balance out' such karma in this life through 'good' actions or deeds, or perhaps in the next life you will be a person who is dedicated to helping people not be angry assholes who sling verbal assaults. There seems to be the notion that through karma we have the potential to learn life lessons if our free will permits us to, and often it seems the reason we don't permit ourselves to learn these life lessons has to do with Ego being so full of self that it won't permit anything that will in any way diminish Its importance.
Is the real culprit then our Ego and not our free will? The spiritual philosophy of surrender to a higher power, to your higher self, or to become the no-self in Eastern thought, all points to the abandonment of the Ego and a return to the One. Does then karma prepare us to release ourselves from the grip of the Ego/Self? I think that it does, that by doing kind acts and by being kind and loving, the Ego can't help but to dissolve away leaving our purest state of being: a Light of the Divine.
The book I bought that answers pithy questions about life by way of citing Edgar Cayce's readings has proven to me to ring with a lot of Truth. The concept of Christ consciousness was what I read about last night, and it is a type of consciousness innate to us all, even if we aren't aware of it, it resides within us. This would mean that even an athiest can tap into this consciousness and lead a spiritual sound life. I've come to the conclusion that a belief in the Divine is not necessary to balance out karma or live in Love. In fact it would seem to be that if a person lived truly in a state of Unconditional Love and Kindness that they would naturally be alignment with the Divine and through that alone come to know the Christ consciousness.
Back in my agnostic (and sometimes almost atheistic) days of spiritual exploration, I believed in the existence of a soul and that I also knew that to be spiritual meant to live kindly and to do good. I wasn't yet aware of the Love aspect, but I was aware of the Golden Rule and did my best to follow that ideal. I was most attracted to Buddhism because it spoke of living spiritually without having to praise any god figure, and the whole singing of hymns and the preaching of fire and brimstone was something that was repulsive to me—it didn't reflect how my internal spiritual being felt.
Zen Buddhism is like trying to solve a brain-teaser, and the harder it seemed to be the more I liked the challenges it presented. The whole concept of Buddha-nature enchanted me, for I really didn't understand what it meant and so I let it go. It wasn't until I had my major epiphany that I came to the understanding that one's Buddha-nature is the same as Krishna consciousness and Christ consciousness.
At the age of 10 my perception changed. I was an awakening to something outside
of myself, that there was a larger scope to the world than just my being. In
looking back at this experience, I realize that what I was sensing was the
collective consciousness of the people who comprise this planet. I have since
felt a much greater consciousness beyond the Earth, as well as more of my own
consciousness, but for now I'll focus on just that first awakening.
My awakening caused a flood of curiosity about the world and how it
works---meaning how and why people act, think, and feel the way they do. I began
questioning the way things are, wondering why about everything.
My asking why at first was a purely mental quest for information and knowledge,
but the more facts I loaded into myself, the more I was able to define that what
I was yearning for was not of a mental or physical nature. My questioning was
coming from my spirit. The answers around me in the society were not satisfying
to me. Something was missing in the Christian philosophy and practice that was
ubiquitous in my surrounding environment. Thus began my spiritual quest to find
'something' that gave me an answer, which would be equated to a sense of
satisfaction.
In my desire to find Truth, harmony, and fulfillment, I was drawn to the
emerging sense of spirituality that was entering into the mainstream. It started
off as New Age, but this is a broadly applied term just as Paganism is a broadly
defined term for any religion or spiritual philosophy that is non-Christian.
I began meditating and practicing the methods put forth by Eastern and New Age
philosophies. I really liked Zen!
As I worked on exploring Reality and my own consciousness, things started to
happen that left the realm of the mainstream. I had entered the realm of the
spiritual where the rules no longer necessarily apply.
One of my first experiences that is still with me today took place in a dream. I
was 15 yo at the time and I had a boyfriend. He was a Native American and was
very much into exploring his ancestral roots of shamanism and NA spirituality.
I awoke from this dream feeling very peculiar. It left me with a very intense
feeling that I could not rationally explain. In the dream I was riding in a
carriage, it was the 1700s, and I was in Europe, the country look liked France,
but it may have been anywhere on the European continent. In the carriage with me
was a man who sat opposite to me, and I looked at him, and I knew him, not just
in the Biblical sense, but much more complex. There was this intense feeling of
love between us, the kind of pure love that you can only feel when you aren't
weighed down by a physical body. It's pure love energy, and there is nothing
like feeling this, because it fills you all up and it's just wonderful to
experience because there is room for nothing else.
I felt guilty for feeling this love for this man, because my mind thought back
to my current boyfriend. My logic said, you shouldn't be feeling this way about
this man because he isn't your boyfriend, and you're only supposed to love one
person. Until that thought entered my mind that I had a boyfriend, I was this
other person---the person in the carriage traveling back to our home that was a
chateau.
I couldn't shake the feelings of this dream, nor the intensity of it, so I told
my boyfriend about it, wondering if he might know what had happened. His
response was that I had dreamt of a past life. I was incredulous at first. No,
that couldn't be the answer. I wasn't totally sold on the idea of reincarnation,
it was something that I entertained as a possibility, but felt that it was a bit
hoaky because the New Agers that always talked about it always claimed to be
famous people of the past. How many Cleopatras, Caesars, and other assorted
historical figures could there be?
He explained to me that a past life, especially if there was an intense feeling
or experience, will work its way into your active consciousness. The feelings
that I had for my previous husband were very intense, and in that life I was
very happy. There was a need for this past life to be remembered, which was why
it was revealing itself. He encouraged me to contemplate this previous life to
find out more, and so I did work on it. I was able to uncover that this
particular life ended unpleasantly, and unresolved issues from that life were
manifesting in this current incarnation.
How they menifested themself took a number of years to come full circle, so the
dream I had was only the begining of the journey. In my next post I will
continue with what happened next, and I will give the conclusion.
It's true when wise people say that we all take our own path to God. My own path
has been an interesting journey. I started off in life not having a religion
crammed down my throat. My mother was raised in the Holy Roller church, and her
negative experiences with that turned her off to religion, but she still
maintained her spirituality. My father---the closest he came to anything
remotely religious is when he'd shriek 'goddamnsonofabitch' like it was one
syllable.
My mother would share her spiritual outlook if asked, but the whole topic of
religion and spirituality was left up to us to decide. We weren't discouraged or
encouraged either way. This approached proved to be rather helpful in that
ultimately I found my own path to follow.
I have always held a respect and reverance for Nature. I got this from my mother
would point out the beauty of Nature, and remind us we had to respect Her. There
would be many times that my mother would sudden pause us at the end of the day,
saying "Stop a moment," in a very serious tone, as if something were amiss. Then
she'd continue, "Do you smell that?" and she'd take in a long breath. "That's
the smell of spring," she'd say. For a moment our minds would turn away from
whatever thoughts we had, and we'd breathe in that smell that is truly spring.
All of the seasons have a smell, and so does the time of day. Through her
influence she taught me to notice the little details about Nature.
Every year I love watching the seasons cycle, and I try to stay attune to the
phase of the Moon. When my sister and I were close, we'd often go outside in the
summer, late at night, and just watch the sky. Seeing all of those stars is like
being in a time machine. All of that light takes so long to reach us, we only
see what once was and not how it is. One special night we saw the northern
lights.
For me, God was not a pleasant concept or word. While my family didn't promote a
religion, the community around me knew of only one religion,
Christianity---fundamentalist at that. Catholics were scarce creatures, and
there was only one family of Jews, and they kept to themselves. I could not warm
up to the concept of God being presented to me by the Christians around me
because it had no room for Nature, for tolerance, for spirituality, for
intellect, for Love, Peace, and Acceptance. Their God was the spiteful, killing,
and angry masculine God. It annoyed me that they wouldn't practice what they
preached, and condescended toward you if you weren't part of their church.
Mother Nature was real to me, She sustained all Life, was not judgmental. She is
accused of having wrath and fury against people (whenever a hurrican hits its
the wrath of Nature), but She does not have 'right' or 'wrong'. At the higher
spiritual levels the concepts of 'right' and 'wrong' no longer apply. It just
becomes either action or thought.
The Eastern philosophies agreed with my inner voice, and when I stumbled upon
the loosely used term 'Pagan' to describe the Goddess-based religions that
existed before Christianity, I felt like I was connecting to a religion that
echoed what I felt within me. Yet, I still did not uphold a belief in a God,
Goddess, singular Diety or creative power.
The word "agnostic" best applied to me. I simply did not know. Nothing in my
life had happened to me that made me feel like there was a God, but nothing had
happened either to make me feel like there wasn't a God, either. While I respect
and admire the Wicca/Pagan concept of the Triple Goddess (Virgin/Mother/Crone),
it just didn't mesh with my inner being. Neither did a strictly masculine god.
Then something happened that changed it all for me. I was reading Mary Summer
Rain---it had been years since I had picked up one of her books and I was
catching up on all that she had written. The way that she wrote about God, and
her relationship with God and the Universe and with Nature, got my soul
stirring. Maybe what I needed to do was simply stop doubting about their being a
God, but that didn't seem right either. It couldn't be forced, it had to be
felt.
My mind began to think about Nature, and how when I look at something so
beautiful like Mt. Rainier, I feel like I belong, that I am part of something
more than just my own being, and that feeling extends beyond the limitations of
the Earth or physical realm. This thought suddenly flashed in my mind: When I
look at the mountain, I am looking on the reflection of God.
Everything opened up inside of me, and I felt this presence like none other, and
it was within me and without me, it extended forever. It knew no time, it just
was and always has been. It is the All of Everything, the Essence of Nothing. In
that brief moment I had a glimpse of the Divine, the Creatrix of all that we
know. It is a feeling more than it being a faith, and from the feeling comes a
certain knowlegde and understanding.
Thus, for me Nature is God, and God is Nature. The creative force that gave us
life/existence also created the Reality in which we live. This physical state of
being resonates with the beauty and love of the Divine. To more accurately
describe how I see the physical realm is that we are a reflection of the
Creatrix. The trees, the mountains, the oceans, rivers, flowers, plants,
creatures, stars, and outer space are but a glimpse---an echo---of what God is.
Originally posted to a Yahoo group, Mary Summer Rain
My mind has been mulling over a few things, basically how everyone is feeling
anxious about both the dream posted that mentioned the date of July 17th, and
the impending major Earth Changes (and the fate of 2004). Some of you have
expressed your thoughts and feelings on the matter, and I am disheartened by
what I've read. I think that what Mary has been trying to convey to us is
getting confused and mixed up. I shall be using statements from Mary in
Pinecones to address what I am talking about or referring to.
First, I'd like to share what my understanding is of how visions (prophecies) of
the future work. There is actually some scientific theory behind my train of
thought. In physics, scientists have realized that at the quantum level (that
would be the subatomic level) that an observer "creates" reality in the sense
that when someone observes an atom/particle they make the wave function of it
collapse into one pathway out of an infinite number of probabilities. This is
what is meant by probabilities. That before the observation is made, there are
an unlimited number of ways for this particle to go. But when we observe it, we
make it pick one. With that being kept in mind....
Let's say you are standing at point A. At this point there are certain
probabilities (or potentials) that occur at point B. You see how things could be
at point B from point A from the vantage point of A. However, traveling to point
B will affect the end result, because as you progress through space-time to
point B, you have made all of these probabilities take a certain pathway (become
reality), whereas at point A they were only potential based upon what you had
already set in motion at point A. I hope I haven't lost anybody here, but the
upshot is, we can see glimpses of the future, but the future is yet to be
decided, which means that as we travel in time to that given point, we can
affect changes to either make that future come to pass, or we can make choices
to avoid that future.
Mary says two things that I think are relevant to this.
"Many of the Earth Changes may never have been a Probability if earthly mortals
had lived and loved for All instead of living and loving for self."
"Part of the message was Hope, so that everyone was given, right up to the last
moment, time to believe and...time to change their ways."
I interpret Mary to be saying in the first statement is that because of how we
have previously lived, we have caused certain Probabilities to manifest, whereas
if we had lived in a true state of Love, these probabilities would not have come
about. However, this does not mean that these probabilities are decided. They
are still a choice, a path to be determined by how we choose to live. In the
next statement she says, we have right up until the moment before the
probability is decided to change our ways. Which leads me to my next point. >
Why are we acting like the Earth Changes are a done deal? Why are we waiting
around for them to happen and not working toward either avoiding them all
together, or working toward lessening the severity of them? Yes, I agree that we
should prepare for the worst, but simultaneously work toward making choices that
will result in the most favorable outcome.
I've heard this sentiment by many who call themselves spiritual and follow a
non-Christian path that "the Earth needs cleansing anyway". To me this is no
better than the Christians wanting Armageddon so that all of sinners can be
cleansed, or the Muslins wanting Jihad so that all of sinners can be cleansed.
Mary says to that:
"Fatalism is the False Womb of the lazy, the irresponsible, the fearful.
Fatalism is Escapism for the weak and insecure."
That is rather harsh, but is she not stating a truth? I will not deny that the
earth does need a cleansing, but why must this "cleansing" come in the form of
horrible disaster, catastrophe and loss of life? This is a narrow interpretation
of what a "cleansing" is. To me, this cleansing is something that first happens
internally, and those internal changes then radiate outward, affecting all that
we encounter so that our external environment then becomes cleansed as well. We
need to clean out our old, harmful ways of thinking, of living, of being with
each other. We need to stop living the insane way that we do that harms and
kills our environment. We need to start living today the way Mary outlines in
Earthway, and the way that others have suggested that would result in our living
in harmony with our environment. These changes can be rendered now. We just have
to be determined to carry them out. Why do we need total devastation in order to
start living the way that we should? How is that going to change our hearts, our
minds, and our souls---that is, cause us to realize how we should be living?
This ties in with Mary's next statement:
"Humankind's harmful arrogance, prejudice, and intolerant ways created the
powerful negative vibrations serving as direct causal factors behind many
geological cataclysms, weather devastations, and catastrophic accidents.
Humankind's harmful arrogance, prejudice, and intolerant ways frequently create
the dynamic impetus---Negative Catalyst of Force---which may well yet destroy
this beautiful, innocent Earth."
I interpret Mary's words hear to serve as a wake-up call. The way we think, and
likewise, the way we act as a result of how we think, is what is destroying our
world. But she adds in the clause that although in the past we have caused all
of this harm and devastation, we haven't destroyed it all---yet. See, we have
this very important choice to be making about how we think and feel, and if we
continue on this path of how we think and feel, then yes, we will see mass
destruction, but if we stop it and go on the path of love and acceptance and
toleration, sending out positive vibrations, then we can start healing and
restoring the earth---and I would bet lessen the Earth Changes effects.
Lastly, while prophecies can come to fruition as envisioned, Mary states twice
in Pinecones two things that agree with each other about visions.
"The key to recognizing fulfilled prophecies is to look for their manifested
Spirit, not the letter of them."
"Controversy arises when one cleaves to the letter of how something is written
rather than seeing beyond to understand the spirit of same. Aesops' Fables and
Jesus' Parables are stories that teach the spirit of the law. Supposedly, St.
Paul said many things. Some statements were not aligned with the Truth, but one
of the statements attributed to him holds as true today as it did two thousand
years ago when he said, "The letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life."
Many things in the Bible and the Gnostic Gospels (Nag Hammadi) are not to be
taken literally. They were written on many different levels. The same holds true
for all spiritual writings. Prophecies can come true, but I like to think of
them as warnings---of giant wake-up calls that tell us---be warned, you can
still divert or avoid this from happening. That is our gift of the prophecy.
As I step down from my soapbox, thinking of how to end this...I just want to
emphasize how Mary reminds us we have the choice to make. The choice is still
ours. There is still time.
I've been thinking too much about Starhawk's proposal to wage a war on the
battlefield of consciousness. Let's review the history of violence (read: war)
as a "solution" to social problems that arise between differing peoples.
We all know that if someone threatens your life, that is, they point a gun at
you, or they shoot your loved one, or your dog or cat, or whomever you feel love
for, you are going to eventually give into their demands because nobody wants to
die or suffer loss of life. It's simple enough, and somewhat effective. But the
problem lies in that the permanance of this type of solution is only temporary.
It is temporary because more people can be created, and if they are all brought
up to think differently than you do, and you find their way of thinking to be
offensive, you have more people to eventually kill again. The cycle keeps
repeating itself over and over.
Let's say we talk about Saddam Hussein. Everyone says he is a madman that can't
be dealt with rationally because he is insane. I don't know if suffering from
megalomania is a form of insanity---I think he is just out of control with ego
that was poofed up by his unlimited power in his country. Killing such a person
as him is only a temporary solution until the next despot comes into being. And
with the way patriarchal society fawns and praises ego-maniacal men, you could
say that society in general fosters the development of such crazy power-hungry
lunatics.
So if war doesn't solve the problem (it just adds to it) then what would bring
about lasting change? A different way of thinking. But that isn't easy to
accomplish. It takes years, patience, and determination. It is somewhat like a
battle of wills, but it's different than that.
Changing the way a person or a group of people or a society THINKS is hard work.
People generally like the way that they think and persuading them is going
against the grain.
Now, I would have to add the proviso to this train of thought that changing
consciousness and way of thinking doesn't mean converting, coercing, or forcing
ideas. The ideas or causes should be those that are just or noble. For example,
I would think most people would feel that changing mind-sets to end sexual
inequality is a just and noble cause, and that enforcing a particular religious
dogma onto people is not. Why is this so? Equality among the sexes is one of
those fundamental things that should not be denied. Even though many of the
world's religions teach a positive, loving message, I think a person's spiritual
journey is their own, one that they must take by themself. I'm not saying there
shouldn't be people to guide them and provide them with the wisdom of the ages,
but it's not something you need to have your mind changed about. The right to
choose which religion you want to practice, and religious tolerance/acceptance
would be noble and just causes or ideas worth changing minds for.
But how does one determine what is just and noble? It's a bit tricky, that's for
sure, but I think in our hearts and minds we know what is "right" from "wrong"
in such matters.
I think the best thing to do with the Iraq situation, and the entire middle
east, and the rest of the world is to start understanding who these other people
are. We shouldn't feel we're some puffed up better society of people just
because we are Americans. If we can understand them, and if they could
understand us, I think we could then reach a point where we see we are all
basically in the same situation, only a few trivial things are different in our
lives.
I guess it all sounds too Pollyannish, like something out of a happy Disney
cartoon or episode of the Brady Bunch. Yet, no one has tried this because we
still have this deep-seated testerone-driven leadership that feels the only way
to settle the score, to effectively handle matters is to blow someone's brains
out.
Maybe it's just we're afraid that if we can identify with "the enemy" we'll come
to realize that they are human, just like us. And maybe in the process of coming
to understand their position, and how and why they think they way that they do,
our own consciousness and treasured thoughts will change. Oh my! Change our own
thoughts?!?! How threatening indeed!
I can't count how many times my own beliefs have been threatened and challenged,
but I found a way to still hold onto my core sense of self and yet see the other
person's side of things.
Well, there's my mental lint for the day. Holiday is tomorrow and I probably
will not be too linty.
