(Paper #1292-40)

There is another REALITY, which we cannot explain.  We have no words for it.  Yet we can get glimpses of its perfection and its beauty in moments of breath-taking oneness.  These feelings are on the deepest level we can experience and are always without words.

There is a broader TRUTH than that of which this world is aware.  To describe it, all we can say is that TRUTH IS.  Beyond that we can only catch a glimpse of a feeling of an experience, which is only a reflection of TRUTH.

— And here we exist in Borrowed Time to learn lessons that lead to that other REALITY and broader TRUTH.

Our Body has always been there (even if abused a bit).  It is the vehicle that carries us along life’s path, not the goal.

Our Mind, our builder, decides the direction we shall go, and whether we shall think for ourselves or just follow all the “styles” and “trends” set by others without assessment or questioning why.  (Look at all the plywood butterflies and brass mailboxes!)

Our Spirit is the Life Force within us.  It knows the Way and will be our Guide, if we will only be very still and listen.  It will show us the Way back to the Home we never left.

We are not "whole”; we do not have harmony and balance, if any of these three are ignored.

If is concentrated on solely, we become lost in its’ process and “salvation” is not realized.

It is just as important to keep “poisons” away from the mind and the spirit as it is from the body for healthy growth.

You have polluted your rivers and your lakes,
You have cut down your forests
And killed all the fish and the birds and the wildlife.
You have poisoned all the food
And substituted chemicals of your own invention,
Which sooner or later will kill you.
After you have turned your planet into a desert,
Where then will you go for sustenance?

 Anyway, did he really know how to fly the thing?  And did he really know where to go?  At this point, all you could really do was to swallow hard, look around you at the other quiet people and trust.

 Even though you had just passed by the “insurance machine” in the corridor which offered to pay your heirs great sums of money for a very small investment, you tried to remember to forget your own ego which was telling you that the plane might crash simply because you were on it this time, and remember that thousands of people had successfully completed their journeys before you in complete safety.

Well, whether you are taking that flight, or embarking on life, it’s all the same thing.  A great deal of trust has to be employed in Higher Powers beyond our understanding or control, and know that Someone Else is in charge.  So take your place, do your best, fasten your seat belt, show some kindness to your neighbour, and don’t try to take over the job of the Man that’s in control.  When you reach your destination after this trip, it will be time enough to decide what you should do next for the best of all concerned.

In the development of the recognition of this trust, there are six basic steps involved: -

1. “A Period of Undoing”.
This is a period of seeing things differently, which may at first appear as a relinquishment of external values or “changes in what seem to be external circumstances.”  All that this step entails is the recognition that “there must be a better way”, without necessarily knowing what that better way might yet be.

2. “A Period of Sorting Out”.
This step is really a process in which one begins to realize the truly valuable amid all the valueless things he so prized in the past.  Change is usually unsettling, especially to those who have become attached to their “good stuff.”  “It takes great learning to understand that all things, events, encounters and circumstances are helpful” in recognizing the value of the new reality.

3. “A Period of Relinquishment”.
As the valuable is sorted out from the valueless, the valueless is begun to be given up.  In the beginning, it may seem that one will “sacrifice his own best interests on behalf of the truth.”  But as the process is practiced, any imagined feelings of loss are easily and naturally replaced with gratitude by feelings of happiness and light heartedness.

4. “A Period of Settling Down”.
This is a quiet time of contemplation and assessment of one’s progress and position so far.  It is a peaceful time in which true values are seen, the Way is open ahead and strength of purpose determined.  A deep gratitude is felt at having been guided to this point, and a certain awareness known that one will not continue the journey alone.

5. “A Period of Unsettling”.

This stage may seem the most difficult of all.  One begins to see that he does not really know what the willingness is for in judging the valuable from the valueless.  Personal judgment must be laid aside as Help is requested as every circumstance arises.  “Nothing happens by accident” and “Everything is a lesson to be learned” are constant reminders that we are not the pilots.

6. “A Period of Achievement”.
This stage is the consolidation of learning.  The total process has been one of “honest learning, consistency of thought and full transfer” equalling a “stage of real peace; for here is Heaven’s state fully reflected”.  So, we have brought the illusion to the truth.  Heaven is here.

And so is the “tiny mad idea” of what could be more than everything, or better than perfect, answered and we are ready for the Final Step.

 Oh, we protest the injustices and perhaps donate a few relief dollars, as long as it doesn’t distract from our normal comfort and pleasures.  The peopled looked something like us, it could have been us, so we feel certain empathy.  Not because it was them, but because it reminded us that it could happen to us.  So let’s be honest and admit that the nucleus of each of our own worlds is us.  As contact with others, either physically or mentally, fans outward, the intensity of our attachment and concern is less and less.  We are god, the centre of our universe, and really the only thing that matters.

 Most people cover this up most of the time.  We do meet (and have known) super-egos who simply do not recognize that there is anyone in their world with them, in any subjective way, others merely being objects and themselves the “only” subject.  Usually, they can be recognized through their conversations which are almost totally dominated by the “Me, I’s”; “I would arrange my house like this, I like this, it has to be just like this,” and on, and on.  These people are very often early risers and hard workers, dictators marching to their own drum.  The rest of us are subtler, but our egos still lead the way in our thinking and in our actions.  Why else do accidents, and predictably bad results (from smoking, over-eating, sickness and death, etc.) always happen to the “other guy.”

So maybe, it’s time to consider our real size, and importance in relation to time and the universe.  Since it seems we really are here, there must be a cause or reason, direction, purpose and destination.  Because we are, at this point in our intellectual evolution, only capable of thinking in a linear fashion (because of that, then this; because of this, then that), then we must approach the situation from this standpoint to see if any reasonable, logical (if necessarily limited) deductions can be arrived at.  As the only constant known to us at this point is change, our observations, which we usually call truths, will have to be subject to change as our human, fallible intelligence changes into greater understanding.

In trying to understand ourselves, it would seem that there are two main areas of factual information to be explored and considered.  Firstly, there is personal history, which would include family history, genealogy, heredity, personality, environment, and a lifetime of associations, situations, abilities and creations.  This area (the personal) would be different for each individual, although past boundaries might criss-cross back and forth as social situations suggest.

 Astrology is a big indicator of personality and ability as the same forces that control the planets and the universe control every part of it, including us.  It’s not wise to say that the planets actually control, but rather that they are controlled by the same force that controls us over the same periods and in the same manners, therefore, they (the planets) can be “read” as indicators to us, both of ourselves and of the land, conditions and universe we live in.

 It would be very much more propitious, if, when a child is born, the proud parents would provide him with a personal horoscope rather than a silver spoon or an insurance policy.  Then, that child, as he grew up could always consult “his chart.”  He would know what he was, why he did or liked or was capable of doing certain things, would not fight against his natural self and be happier in pursuit of things that were his true interests.  Not to pay attention to this is paramount to forcing a left-handed child to live in a right-handed world, and seriously damaging his mind and personality in the process.

So, in this regard, the first great step in answering the Why, Who,  Where, is to Know Yourself.  This requires a fair amount of research and a great deal of honesty.  The main headings for a personal chart of “Who Am I, Right Now?” could be built from: -

1. Heredity - ancestral background
2. Environment - what has affected my life
3. Astrology - personal horoscope
4. Restrictions      - paths taken & not taken
                           - ideas and ideals formed & not formed
                           - relationships formed & not formed
5. Training - Education, Work, Abilities, Activities, Preferences (Choices)

= HEART - These build the HEART of You.

The chart will expand as drawn up and as ideas, memory and ideals suggest, but if we are honest with ourselves, will present a fairly good picture of us, as we see ourselves at this time.

The second great step in recognizing our True Size, Purpose and Progress in life, is to look at some history and theory in the beginnings, path and purpose of our universe and in particular, planet earth upon which we live.  As much as has been written and postulated on this subject, infinitely more has been lost, so a great deal of our history has to be reconstructed and theorized from the bits of physical and astral evidence available.

 As science is ever expanding at an increasing speed and competency, theories can be better defined as evidence is brought in.  However, ancient life forms and civilizations can be rediscovered as their fossilized, frozen or altered compositions are discovered.  The age of ancient man can now be established back many hundred of thousands of years by radio x-ray technology from orbiting space - science laboratories and archaeological discoveries.  Obviously, the later years, say back 10,000 or so are more easily seen as archaeological, and written history is prolific.  But possibly the best way to realize our own personal, individual size and importance in all this is to look at some numbers.

Whether we subscribe to the origin of our universe in either the Big Bang, Steady State or the Pulsating theory, it’s true physical beginning is of little consequence in light of the known facts:-

     Our Earth is 8,000 miles in diameter.

    There are approximately 6 billion of us that live here now, up from 340,000,000 in the year 1,000.

    Almost all of us think our Earth is the centre of the Universe.  Almost all of us think he is the centre of our Earth.  Almost all of us think that our present civilization is the first, single, and only culmination of an additive expanding and perfecting existence on planet Earth.  We are the result of several thousands of years of progress to our present lofty position.

    Our sun is a star of 865,370 miles diameter with a volume 1,300,000 that of Earth.  Yet it is only a medium sized star among billions in our Galaxy (the Milky Way).

    Earth is by comparison, just a speck of dust on the edge of our Galaxy.

    It takes light 100,000 years to travel from one end of our Milky Way to the other.

    There is up to ten billion stars in the Galaxy, tens of millions of which each support a system of planets, as does our sun.

    There are at least a million on which some form of life exists.

    Our Galaxy is about 4 billion years old; there are countless other Galaxies “outside” ours.

    Our nearest galactic neighbour, Andromeda, is about 700,000 light years away.  It appears to be almost an exact copy of our Milky Way.  In other words, it is so far away that it would take light (at 670 million miles an hour), 700,000 years to get there.  And Andromeda is only our nearest neighbour.  There are many other neighbours too numerous to count.  “Outside” of them are the recently discovered “quasars,” which cannot be classified or explained by our present understanding.  Some quasars are 8 billion light years away and flying away at a fantastic speed.

 And yet we persist in our naive egotism in believing that we, and our earth are the centre in our universe!  Hardly anyone realizes that five other complete Earth Ages have already begun, developed to their own stages of advanced sophistication and perished by great global natural catastrophe to almost total extinction.  Some by flood, some by rapid freezing, etc.  We are now in the sixth, which some believe is nearing its end.  Also some believe that there are to be a total of Seven Earth Ages before the total and final destruction of the planet.

 So perhaps it would be wise at this time to step back and consider these facts and re-assess our lives and ourselves.  All about us we see “wars and rumours of wars.”  The world is “torn by the winds of hate” among the “turmoil of clashing dreams”.  Everyone is rushing along but on his own errand with little thought of others along his path.  The goal is to get more and more to make up for some imagined lack, or at least attempt to quiet the questioning voice within.  There is something wrong with this script.  There has to be a better way.

 It is important to know that your mind is what you truly are and not your body or your world, which you have made, and come to worship.  You have chosen to be where you are (in mind) and can choose another way, if you can only see or remember it.  The value in understanding your own body, personality, and world is to know how these things will carry your mind along in your present situation.  Having established these boundaries, you can now deal with the real problem in your own mind, where it really is.

 If one will show a little willingness, look just the shortest distance imaginable, the answer will be found.  The answer is waiting in infinite patience where it always was.  It’s only a matter of remembering and choosing to see things differently.  Perfect peace and happiness awaits the one who chooses it.  It is not a matter of penitence, pilgrimage or payment, because it already belongs to you, all you have to do is look in the right way to see it.  The way is open, the destination sure.  It is time to awaken to reality just as easily as you chose the dream.  It all depends upon how you want to see it.  You have to remove the dark blankets of beliefs, opinions, pet ideas, etc, to allow your mind to expand and see the “big picture”, not your little world, and come to the full realization of just exactly who and what you really are and where you have always been.

• Previous Paper
• Return to Home
• Index
• Next Paper