Why so much suffering?

It always gives me the goose bumps every time I read Jane Roberts’ various Seth Materials. I just recently discovered ‘Seth’ yet it ‘scares’ me that we share the same thoughts and beliefs. And I even wonder where I got these ideas from. But I admit, after reading some of Jane/Seth’s books, it helped me widen my perspective about our ‘consciousness’. It made me re-member better.

One interesting discourse was about the state of the world in general. Jane and her husband, Rob, discussed that “What real sense or purpose is behind it all? Granted some part of us knows what we’re doing, still we seem hell-bent on destroying the planet, if not through war, then pollution.”

The following text is lifted from Jane Robert’s Seth Material, Chapter 20. No copyright infringement is intended but I am sharing it so that perhaps, we will understand why suffering and destruction exist.

November 6, 1968. 446th Session.

Among  other things, Seth Two said:

“The human race is a stage through which various forms of consciousness travel. Before you can be allowed into systems of reality that are more extensive and open, you must first learn to handle energy and see, through physical materialization, the concrete result of thought and emotion. As a child forms mud pies from dirt, so you form your civilizations out of thoughts and emotions, and then see what you have created.

When you leave the physical system after reincarnations, you have learned the lessons – and you are literally no longer a member of the human race, for you elect to leave it. Only the conscious self dwells within it in any case, and other portions of your identity dwell simultaneously within other training systems. In more advanced systems, thoughts and emotions are automatically and immediately translated into action, into whatever approximation of matter there exists. Therefore, the lessons must be taught and learned well.

The responsibility for creation must be clearly understood. To some extent, you are in a soundproof and isolated room. Hate creates destruction in that ‘room’, and until the lessons are learned, destruction follows destruction.

In the terms of other systems, that kind of destruction does not exist – but you believe that it does, and the agonies of the dying are sorely felt. A vivid nightmare is also sorely felt, but quickly over. It is not that you must be taught not to destroy, for destruction does not actually exist. It is that you must be taught and trained to create responsibly. Yours is a training system for emerging consciousness.

The training will serve you for existence in a variety of interrelated systems. If the sorrows and agonies within your system were not felt as real, the lessons would not be learned. The teachers within your system are those who are in their last reincarnation, and other personalities who have left the system but have been assigned to help those still within it.

You are dealing with the transformation of emotional energy into action and form. You then manipulate within the system which you have yourselves created, and by its effects learn where you have succeeded and failed. The system includes some fragment personalities who are entering for the ‘first’ time, as well as those in later reincarnations.

Humanity dreams the same dream at once, and you have your mass world. The whole construction is like and educational play in which you are the producers as well as the actors. There is a play within a play within a play. There is no end to the ‘within’ of things. The dreamer dreams, and the dreamer within the dream dreams. But the dreams are not meaningless, and the actions within them are significant. The whole self is the observer and also a participator in the roles.”  

Namaste.

What Dreams May Come

It was five in the morning. I was lying down on my bed while staring at the window, perhaps waiting for the sun to rise. But my eyes still felt heavy. I gave in. Few minutes passed, I was already standing outside a public school building then I saw my sisters accompanied by my aunt passing by and went into a classroom. They were looking for a teacher. But she was not there. They were told that the teacher was on the second floor. They went up, then I woke up.

On that same day, my sisters were scheduled to enrol in Mabolo Elementary school. I told my aunt that when they get there, their teacher is not available and that they have to go to the second floor to find her, which she confirmed at the end of the day.

Could this be possible? Being able to see what will happen? Is this a gift of foresight? I asked. This was the beginning of my self-experiment. I have had several dreams which actually came true but I am never able to distinguish which dreams are ‘prophetic’ and not, to the point that some dreams give me the jitters. Who would not be afraid if there are times you see yourself in a coffin?

This started in my college years. There are times that I would know that a package will arrive or a relative will visit us. The dreams were totally random, yet deep inside I would know which ones bear meaning.

There was one time when my friends and I went to some island resort for an overnight stay. I had a dream that there was some girl knocking on our window informing that they are waiting for us at a funeral and that seats are already reserved. When I woke up, I felt that the dream was not for me so I told my friends about it. One of them freaked out. He actually promised someone that he will go with him to visit a friend’s funeral but decided to go with our island getaway instead.   

But like I’ve said, these things rarely happen during those days until lately when I have discovered how to ‘tap’ into it. Sounds weird, but hey! I don't have anything to lose. 

I have this habit of meditating almost every night before I sleep. I have realized that every time I ask a question before I hit the sack, my dreams tend to provide me the answers. Answers that you don’t actually need to interpret since they are plain and obvious.  To illustrate, I give you one dream I had.

I had this long distance relationship with a guy but deep inside I felt that it is not going to last. I meditated and popped a question, “Can you tell me about my relationship with him?”

And the dream/answer was,

It was early morning. There was a guy whom I haven’t even recognized walking across the street. He looks tired coming from a party. A huge blackboard (which is not actually black but green) was facing me and situated across that street. It looks like a billboard but empty. No ads yet. As he passes by the blackboard, words seem to have automatically written on it with a chalk. The exact words were ‘Option ka lang.’ (you are just an option). I woke up.”

I didn’t want to believe it and even reasoned to myself that probably the dream happened just because I was thinking too much about our situation. Fortunately/unfortunately, the next day, his best friend told me everything that he has another partner. Naturally, we broke up.

Here is another dream which is giving me goose bumps too.

The night before my final road test, I asked “what will happen tomorrow? Will I pass?”, then my dreams were,

First Dream. I was running on a hill carrying a flag on a short pole. There was one guy ahead of me also carrying another flag. He reached the top first and planted the pole on the ground claiming his victory.  I was next to him and was glad that I have reached the goal even though I barely made it.

Second Dream. We were four in the car. It was a lady’s turn to take the wheel. She was wearing red but I was a bit surprised since road tests takers are not supposed to be mixed. It should either be all women or men.

I was on the back, seated on the right side of the car. I was done and a bit anxious about the results. The examiner on the front keeps on talking to me while instructing the lady who is taking the wheel. I ignored the examiner while I was staring at the window. Suddenly, I was outside the car and saw the car crashing to an oil tanker truck. There was a huge explosion and I can even see bodies thrown all over. Interestingly, I was just looking at them without feeling scared. Then I woke up.

I figured that the first dream answered my question that I will pass. However, there is still a feeling of uncertainty. It’s just a dream. I might have just dreamt what I wanted to see, but definitely not the accident. I was even trying to convince myself that everything is going to be alright.

It was 7AM. I was already at the driving school’s office waiting for my road test. Then a guy wearing a red shirt came in. “Oh! Shit!”, I whispered. “If he is going to be in the same car with me, this is going to be interesting.”, I told myself. Fortunately he was not.

I passed the test and there was no accident. “I told you Allan. Your dream was just simply exaggerated.”, I said to myself.

On the same day, when I was about to process my driving license, the evaluator asked me to get my clearance first from the branch where I enrolled. It is a 15 minute taxi ride so I did not hesitate to rush to it immediately. When I was in the cab, I was sitting at the back, on the right side. Then I recalled, “This was exactly my view when the explosion happened in my dream." Right there and then, the Mitsubishi Pajero in front of us (around 15 meters ahead) suddenly swerved to the right, almost smashed into another car, hit the gutter and destroyed it, and went into the dessert sand. There was dust all over the place and my cab driver was so scared that he can’t stop swearing. Fortunately, no one was injured and my cab just moved on. “That was freaky!”, I said to myself still perplexed of what has happened.

Why am I telling you this? I believe that our dreams do convey some messages. Perhaps, this is one of the ways our inner consciousness communicates to us. And the best interpreter is actually you since you have your own set of unique symbolisms which are utilized in your dreams. What I am trying to say is, if you dream of a snake, assess what your actual feeling towards it. If you are afraid of it, then in your dreams, it might symbolize as fear but if you are fond of it, then perhaps, it might mean opportunities, etc.  

For most of us, dreams are just simply dreams, nothing more. But have you asked yourself, why do we have dreams? I am not asking for a physiological answer. I mean, what do you think is its purpose and why are we having them?

Namaste.

PS: Yes, I have tried to ask for a lottery number, bet on it but didn’t win. LOL. 

The Alternative Story of Creation

Note: This is taken from my book, 'Theology of a Modern Heretic'. You can download a copy from this link. 

In the beginning-less time, there is the ONE, that WHICH IS. It is the NOTHING and EVERYTHING. It is the DARKNESS and the LIGHT.

It is PURE ENERGY. It is the CONSCIOUS and the UNCONSCIOUS. It is called the UNIVERSE.

And in order for it to experience more of WHAT IS from WHAT IS NOT, out of nothing, the UNIVERSE, in its consciousness, generates forms of different sizes, shapes, colors, and of different conscious levels, yet, all are of the same source, the same energy, yet its consciousness is still part of the collective whole ~ the UNIVERSE.

It was pleased of what it sees and feels, for it is good.

And as boundless and as infinite as it is, the UNIVERSE continues to generate forms of different energy levels. And this time, shapes capable of feeling joy & sadness, healing & pain. Some walk on four legs, others swim.

It was pleased of what it sees and feels, for it is good.

The UNIVERSE continued to generate a different shape of higher energy level. Walks on two legs and has its own free will, a creative life form able to decide on its own, able to show love, and be loved in return. HUMANS as they call themselves.

It was pleased of what it sees and feels, for it is good.

HUMANS ~ They were full of love, full of joy. But in the difference of being WHAT IS from WHAT IS NOT, they tend to identify themselves as BETTER than WHAT IS NOT. Hence, the birth of EGO.

They begin to set varied VALUES on things even though they are of the same source, the same energy. They now hoard things that WHICH THEY HAVE NOT for they believe that having them makes them BETTER. Hence, the birth of GREED.

They wage war to other beings, to harbor things which they do not have. They destroy those whom they think are INFERIOR. They invent government to organize themselves, religion to organize their beliefs, politics to organize their opinions. They invent technology to make their lives BETTER. Yet in the quest to gain superiority among others, they give birth to PAIN, HATRED, JEALOUSY, & ANGER.

Though there are few who still remember that ALL IS ONE and that EVERYTHING IS OF THE SAME ENERGY and of THE SAME SOURCE and that NOTHING IS ABOVE OR BELOW for EVERYTHING IS THE SAME, yet, most have forgotten. 

The world is now engrossed with WHAT IS and despises WHAT IS NOT, and it is all because of EGO. However, once you have conquered oneself, you have stopped defining yourself that you are BETTER than the rest. And now with your ego-less consciousness, you have communed again with the SOURCE and reverted back to your TRUE SELF: THE UNIVERSE, that which you are part of.

Namaste.

42

A very good friend of mine was reading my book (yeah I wrote one out of boredom. LOL. you can download it  here) and threw an interesting question about the Universe. We had an excellent discussion about our seemingly negligible existence. Here goes.

Friend: I find it a bit hard to connect "The Universe conspires in Helping you Achieve It" and "It should not interfere with other person's free will". I think even with mundane request to the universe, that within our frame of mind, will not in any way interfere with the free will of others, but by the causality of things, a small change, insignificant as it might seem can have dire/major consequences/effects on the future state of things. One can argue using chaos theory or the butterfly effect, that any requests made can ultimately be connected to free will of another person/entity within the universe. We know for a fact that there exist free will. Therefore the Universe can only function in one way, it cannot in any way conspire, or better put, suspend its laws for benefit some lifeform's mundane requests/orders, it can only be indifferent. What do you think? Care to enlighten a humble reader?

Lost Monk: There is what they call an individual consciousness and a universal consciousness. Your consciousness and my consciousness, these are all individual consciousness but it can also be a collective consciousness which is called the Universal Consciousness. To put in an analogy, you are like a cell inside a body. perhaps, you are a red blood cell and I am the white blood cell. The totality of the parts becomes the whole physical body, the Universal Consciousness. As a red blood cell, you have your own 'purpose' driven by your own 'will' and your own 'consciousness'. As a white blood cell, I too have my own will and consciousness. However, your physical body, as the totality of the parts, is not able to directly command the red and white blood cells to do this and that. It cannot tell these cells to heal this first and do that last. These cells are completely independent. Yet, the Universe, in this case the physical body, is able to help these cells achieve their goals by perhaps nourishing the body, but still these cells act independently.

As a white blood cell, there are times that I need reinforcements to boost the physical body's immune system, hence, i may send a 'request' to the body, perhaps through signs of imminent weakness thus will signal the physical body to nourish itself. In its request, the white blood cell has not tampered other's free will (e.g. red blood cell), and in the fulfillment of it's request, the physical body (the universe) has not interfered with the red blood cell's independent will.

In short, the universe helps you by creating a suitable environment that will aid you in achieving your purpose/goals.

In addition, 'free will' is a matter of perspective. Individually, we are independent of each other. But if you believe that we are driven by a collective consciousness, then there is no such thing as my will and your will since we are just one.

Friend: Honestly, it is a bit hard for me to process an idea in which the universe is given some sort of deeper, dare i say 'supernatural' dimension cause i believe that what is there is just what it is, the universe (no purpose and no meaning for its existence), and I can but only marvel in awe at its grandeur. I don't bother myself with assumptions, celestial teapots, invisible pink unicorns, the great flying spaghetti monster and the invisible, intangible dragon in my garage. Unsubstantiated assumptions like those only serves to add a layer of complexity over my quest to understand the universe as it is.

Lost Monk: It doesnt matter what others think. What matters most is what you believe in.

Below is a quote i lifted from one of the greatest teachers i consider. It's about the Universe.

“Amid the mad scramble, you DO make your own reality. I admit that sounds too simple, but you will not be caught in an earthquake if you do not want to be, and no one dies who has not decided to do so. You make your own reality, or you do not. And if you do not, then you are everywhere a victim, and the universe must be an accidental mechanism appearing with no reason. So that the miraculous picture you have seen of your body came accidentally into creation, and out of some cosmic accident attained its miraculous complexity. And that body was formed so beautifully for no reason except to be a victim. That is the only other alternative to forming your own reality. You cannot have a universe in between. You have a universe formed WITH a reason, or a universe formed WITHOUT a reason. And in a universe of reason, there are no victims. Everything has a reason or nothing has a reason. So, choose your side!” - Seth

Friend: But i think im on the NO reason side but still i dont see any victims.

Feeling like a victim of a harsh and totally indifferent universe is just an illusion. We feel like that because we place so much value on ourselves and our blue dot in space. But amidst the enumerable intertwined events in the universe, we dont really matter. We are not special, we dont have a special place in the cosmos. In fact, it could be that tomorrow, a rogue black hole can suddenly swing our way, or gamma radiation from the constellation Saggitarius hits us, which i think is an ironic tale as the mythical being is welding a bow, and sadly enough it might be aimed our way, or even our own sun which has nourished us and has been a constant in our days can suddenly turn and wipe us off the face of the planet. I then can ask, if we are gone, will the whole universe suffer an inconvenience or weep of the loss of a race? I dont think so. I fact is, of the vastness of the cosmos, at this very breath, i can say with an amount of certainty that out there, entire races or conscious lifeforms are going out of existence, but i ask, did the universe even pause to shed a tear, no, as with a battery commercial it keeps going and going for eons. Our view that the universe has a pupose and a reason, or even a meaning is just ourselves projecting our desires to matter on it and humanizing it. It stems from our thinking that we have a special place in the universe.

I thought of one way to think about your or our place in the cosmos. Its called "The Universe and The Toilet". The thought experiment goes this way. Think about the size of the earth, and how its endlessly doing laps around that sun accompanied by the moon. Think about all the things revolving around our local star, the planets, comets and asteroids. Now zoom back even further that you see the entire galaxy, at which point you can’t with any amount of careful attention make out the light from our local star, you begin so see huge stars being swallowed by the massive blackhole at the center of the galaxy. Now zoom back even further, to our local group, you will see about 5 or 6 galaxy seeming dancing and around each other some are even heading for a collision. At this point if you look around, you see points of light and each point you make out is not a star but an entire galaxy filled with billions of stars, billion upon billions of terrestrial planets, and possibly trillions of life forms all going about their existence and probably some entity out there is thinking about the same thing are you are. Now once you are in awe of the vastness of the universe and the countless objects within it, suddenly zoom back at where you are. You are sitting in the TOILET BOWL taking a crap thinking about the universe. Then ask yourself, out of all that, do i really matter for the universe? You will surely learn your place in the cosmos. And for those who believe that the reason for the universe's existence is us, its should be a humbling experience.

Lost Monk: I am so loving this discussion. J

The suffering and pain that we are experiencing right now are just a fraction of the experiences that our physical reality is undergoing. The physical reality is just one of the multidimensional personalities that exist. The pain/suffering is only a function of this physical reality and and may/do not exist in other realities. You are a personality which is a part of an entity. And this entity has several personalities that exist in a multidimensional universe. The physical reality that which we are in focus now, is, like i said, just a fraction of the entity.

The Universe grows as it's individual components grow. Similarly, the universal consciousness grows as the individual consciousness grows. The Universe is always in a state of becoming, so are we. It grows through the experiences of each entity and by which these entities have several personalities, and one of which is our personality in this physical reality. And death, as we know it is only a reality based on this physical existence. Thus, even if the world we live in will be sucked by a blackhole or will be totally destroyed this 2012, the Universe will never mourn for it is only the physical reality that seems to end.

All that we see is just a camouflage. The stars, the planets, and all that you think that exist are just merely illusions. You are not your body, and i guess you know that. The person you see in the mirror is a mere reflection of your physical existence. But we are far greater than that for our true self goes beyond physical existence. We do not cease to exist when our physical reality ends.

Perhaps these questions arise because we have 'lost' our connection to our true self/identity/entity since we are too focused on our physical existence. W thought that we are just a mere pebble along the shore yet we have forgotten that WE ARE the Universe. I am not referring to the physical universe but to the inner vitality / energy in the totality of things.

Friend: The disconnect here is that you have a deeper and mysterious force behind all of us and the universe, whereas i see it as only an only matter and energy. Conciousness for me is just synaptic firings in our brain and when we die, we die our conciousness ends and the universe could not care less. The universe sheding a tear is only a metaphor due to the lack of words to describe what would happen. The universe weeping is basically means that our disappearance from the face of this dot in space has to have some effect on the universe as a whole. I opted to use the weeping methaphor as the play on word can strike emotions making this a lot more interesting. But for me the way it could be if say i assume that the universe accept orders and wishes from us puny creatures, is that if it actually have the motions and the positions of the stars in the heavens are connected to our inidividual choices.

I think if my idea of the universe tries to make room for our wishes and whims, chaos theory dictates, one could say that to accomodate a choice i made, a star in heavens needs be moved. Remember no matter how mundane my request is it will eventually lead a disorder on the later state of the universe. But as it is we dont see stars moved or the laws of physics suspended at the huge parts of the universe, because I ordered the universe for some toilet paper. Hahaha.  

We both could not be more on opposite sides of our understanding of the universe, i think you deal more on giving the universe a deeper dimension. I on the otherhand take as i see and what i learned it is. For me their is no metaphysical dimension to this universe.

When my time runs out, it runs out not because i choose to, but my cells have degraded through entrophy and decay, my consciousness ends. In short, my epoch has ended. Now that i still exist i can only hope that i leave behind something i can be remembered for.

It is on discussion like this that we can tell that despite our daily routine that can make even a rock loose some IQ points. Im glad to see our brains cells still are able to fire and come up with brain farts.

Lost Monk: The interesting thing about this discussion is that we can neither prove/disprove each point since in this existence, most of us only accept facts if they are confirmed by our physical senses. If indeed there exist a greater dimension beyond what we see, smell, touch, hear, and taste, this can only be substantiated by the inner senses. Unfortunately, in this reality, this faculty is not well-tapped and is underdeveloped.

Perhaps these questions will still linger as humanity continues to search for the meaning of life and its existence, whether it is futile or not. Yet it can not be denied that as we live each day, we grow not only physically but consciously, and that we are always in a state of becoming.

Friend: I agree.. I don't doubt your sincerity on your beliefs because i know that it is as real for you as what i know is real for me. But this does not stop people from discussing hard questions, which i may say lead brain twisting things. In fact, i applaud your view on spirituality as i find it unorthodox and not that scripture rich or is it too early to say that since i'm barely clear the half way point on your book?

Lost Monk: If that book was published 100 years ago, I will surely end up tied to a stake with kindling piled around my feet then burned to death. Hahaha.

Friend: It is pointless to argue about these things, i find it much more fruitful to discuss

Lost Monk: I definitely agree with you. Truth is relative. That's why there are/were jihads and crusades. Unfortunately, death to those who do not share their beliefs.

Namaste.  

I Am What I Am

“Hey! Did you go to the Halloween party the other night?”, a friend asked.

“Nope. Did you?”

“They invited me but didn’t go because of work. I don’t have a costume too. I am poor.”

I was taken aback by his last statement. Though the phrase “you are what you think” is a cliché, yet it still holds true. When he said I am poor, it seems to me that he felt he is stuck there for good and can’t do anything about it.

It saddens me to think that we have forgotten that we choose the life that we live in. We have never been damned or condemned with a miserable life. Yet, sometimes, we blame it to ‘destiny’ and believing that we can’t do anything about it. When you say you are poor, it is because you have chosen to be one. When you say “I can’t do it!”, you always had an option to say, “Yes! I can do it!”.

Perhaps, some people would argue that there are those who are just lucky enough to be born in a privileged environment. I say, there is no such thing as luck for believing in such means you believe in an accidental universe. As what Seth has said,

“Amid the mad scramble, you DO make your own reality. I admit that sounds too simple, but you will not be caught in an earthquake if you do not want to be, and no one dies who has not decided to do so. You make your own reality, or you do not. And if you do not, then you are everywhere a victim, and the universe must be an accidental mechanism appearing with no reason. So that the miraculous picture you have seen of your body came accidentally into creation, and out of some cosmic accident attained its miraculous complexity. And that body was formed so beautifully for no reason except to be a victim. That is the only other alternative to forming your own reality. You cannot have a universe in between. You have a universe formed WITH a reason, or a universe formed WITHOUT a reason. And in a universe of reason, there are no victims. Everything has a reason or nothing has a reason. So, choose your side!”

Steve Jobs, who just died recently, was one of the richest men in the world, inventor, businessman and co-founder of Apple. He was not born rich. He was an adopted child. He has to return coke bottles for the 5 cent deposits to buy food, walk seven miles across town to get a good meal from a Hare Krishna Temple. The difference is Steve BELIEVED that he can change. He BELIEVED that HE CAN DO IT.

Thus keep in mind that the world is your stage and the life you live is your chosen role. Remember that it is just a role. If you don’t like it, you can always change it.

Namaste.