Jesus lived in a world of spiritual realizations far beyond that of which the average person has any understanding. Jesus discerned things of spiritual truth and as spiritual things must be spiritually understood, man has failed.
Jesus said, "Heaven is right here in the midst of you." Yet man thinks that heaven is a reward received in the afterlife for the righteous soul, a place of mansions and streets of gold, and for the Islamic man there will be many virgins and for the Mormon man, he will become a God over his own planet.
Jesus spoke of a Spiritual Reality that is invisible to the human mind. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus makes a prediction that to this day few people have understood. He says, "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth." In modern versions of the Bible, "meek" is translated as humble. Who are the meek or the humble, and what does it mean that they shall inherit the earth?
The meek are those who have awakened to their essential true nature. The meek are the egoless, people who have learned that ego and self is pure illusion, a manifestation of the human brain and thought. Blessed are those who awaken to this true nature of consciousness and recognize the same essence in all "others," all life-forms. They will live in a surrendered state and so feel their oneness with the whole and the Source(God). When life on earth becomes inseparable from the human consciousness that perceives and interacts with the constant Presence of God, then we will undertand what Jesus meant by, "Heaven is right here in the midst of you."
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Monday, June 22, 2009
Nature of Consciousness
One of the fiercest debates in science today: the nature of consciousness. In 1991, Pam Reynolds was found to have an aneurism on her brain stem. Faced with a ticking time bomb, she opted for an experimental operation called a "cardiac standstill." The surgeons put her under anesthesia, taped her eyes shut and put molded speakers in her ears that emitted loud clicks about as loud as a jet plane taking off. When her brain no longer responded to those clicks, the surgeons lowered her body temperature to 60 degrees and drained the blood out of her head, like draining oil from the engine of a car. The aneurism sac collapsed for lack of blood. The surgeons then drilled into her skull, snipped the aneurism and sewed it up, and then reintroduced the blood into her body. Finally, they raised her body temperature and brought her back to consciousness.
When Reynolds awakened, she had a story to tell. She said she floated upward and watched part of the operation. She could describe what the operating theater looked like and how many surgeons there were. She could describe the unusual-looking bone saw that cut open her head, as well as the drill bits and blade container. She heard converations, including one in which a female surgeon observed that Reynolds' left femoral vein was too small for a tube, to which the chief neurosurgeon responded, "Try the right side."
Records from the surgery confirmed all these details. Reynolds neurosurgeon says he is flummoxed by the episode: "From a scientific perspective," he says, "I have absolutely no explanation about how it could have happened." Her story raises the question: Was Reynolds' consciousness operating separately from her brain and her physical body?
The Pam Reynolds case experience -- and that of many others -- is prompting researchers at many institutions of higher learning to investigate that astonishing proposition that a person might have a consciousness(a soul)that can operate without the use of the human brain or body.
To actually witness this type of evidence that supports the belief that we maintain an identity independent of the physical body is proof enough for me that our soul is immortal and the personality of the soul continues after death.
When Reynolds awakened, she had a story to tell. She said she floated upward and watched part of the operation. She could describe what the operating theater looked like and how many surgeons there were. She could describe the unusual-looking bone saw that cut open her head, as well as the drill bits and blade container. She heard converations, including one in which a female surgeon observed that Reynolds' left femoral vein was too small for a tube, to which the chief neurosurgeon responded, "Try the right side."
Records from the surgery confirmed all these details. Reynolds neurosurgeon says he is flummoxed by the episode: "From a scientific perspective," he says, "I have absolutely no explanation about how it could have happened." Her story raises the question: Was Reynolds' consciousness operating separately from her brain and her physical body?
The Pam Reynolds case experience -- and that of many others -- is prompting researchers at many institutions of higher learning to investigate that astonishing proposition that a person might have a consciousness(a soul)that can operate without the use of the human brain or body.
To actually witness this type of evidence that supports the belief that we maintain an identity independent of the physical body is proof enough for me that our soul is immortal and the personality of the soul continues after death.
Friday, June 19, 2009
Immortality
I believe that we are not going to attain immortality when we die, but that we are now and have always been immortal! My contention is not that dead men live again, but that a living man never dies. Jesus revealed himself to his followers after his resurrection, to show them that death is but a passing to a higher sphere of life and action. To know that we maintain an identity independent of the physical body is proof enough of immortality.
Every man and woman is an incarnation of God. The soul can no more be lost than God could be lost. We should not believe that just because we have subscribed to some creed, we have thereby purchased a seat in heaven, nor can we believe in any vindictive or malicious power in the universe, which damns us because we have erred through human ignorance. Salvation comes to us through love, an awakening and a rebirth, not through fear and dogma. We exist only in the Life and Mind of God, therefore, it is all about God, not us. Everything else is a manifestation of man and is not true.
I believe in the continuation of the personal life beyond the grave, in the continuity of the individual stream of consciousness with a full recollection of itself. When physical death comes I believe we will remain conscious of who we are and will know others from this life who have passed before. If personality does not persist beyond the grave, then death would be an event to be longed for because this life would have no real meaning, value or worth.
What about reincarnation? I do not believe in the return of the soul to another life on this earthly plane. The spiral of life is upward. Evolution carries us forward, not backward. Eternal and progressive expansion is universal spiritual law and there are no breaks in its continuity. I cannot believe that nature is limited to one sphere of action or plane and I believe that eternal progress never ends. Every person is an unfolding soul, an eternal destiny
Every man and woman is an incarnation of God. The soul can no more be lost than God could be lost. We should not believe that just because we have subscribed to some creed, we have thereby purchased a seat in heaven, nor can we believe in any vindictive or malicious power in the universe, which damns us because we have erred through human ignorance. Salvation comes to us through love, an awakening and a rebirth, not through fear and dogma. We exist only in the Life and Mind of God, therefore, it is all about God, not us. Everything else is a manifestation of man and is not true.
I believe in the continuation of the personal life beyond the grave, in the continuity of the individual stream of consciousness with a full recollection of itself. When physical death comes I believe we will remain conscious of who we are and will know others from this life who have passed before. If personality does not persist beyond the grave, then death would be an event to be longed for because this life would have no real meaning, value or worth.
What about reincarnation? I do not believe in the return of the soul to another life on this earthly plane. The spiral of life is upward. Evolution carries us forward, not backward. Eternal and progressive expansion is universal spiritual law and there are no breaks in its continuity. I cannot believe that nature is limited to one sphere of action or plane and I believe that eternal progress never ends. Every person is an unfolding soul, an eternal destiny
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Enthusiasm
Ralph Waldo Emerson said that, "Nothing great has ever been achieved without enthusiasm." The word enthusiasm comes from the ancient Greek--en and theos, meaning God. And the related word enthousiazein means "to be possessed by a god." When you focus with enthusiasm on your dreams you will find that you don't have to do it all by yourself. Sustained enthusiasm brings into existence a wave of creative energy, and all you have to do then is "ride the wave." Enthusiasm brings an enormous empowerment into anything you wish to accomplish. When your belief or objective becomes so energized with passion that you begin to believe you cannot fail, you will succeed. In fact, there is nothing of significance that you can do without enthusiasm. You may recall the truth that Jesus pointed out when he said, "I can of my own self do nothing."
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