Jesus said: “To him who overcomes (the ego-world), I will give a New Nature.”–Rev 2:17
“Revelation”, as we know, dramatically covers the seven seals — chakraic awakening leading to Ascension into Christ consciousness.
So what is this New Nature and what are the white stones mentioned in “Revelation?”
Jesus puts it: “A new commandment I give you today: love one and other… as I have loved you.” John: 13.34-38.
The answer of course is, through awakening the seven glands, or stones, (mentioned in part 1) a new “White”/ purified Love nature pulses, or, emerges into consciousness. To him / her who overcomes spiritual ignorance — awakening the seven seals / chakras — Transcendent ”I” will vibrate within that soul AS the eternal “White” Spirit Nature, Agape or, Unconditional Love.
“Asleep” level determines depth of inner hearing
Karmic debt is lived only so long as the conditioned mind remains in place; until everything sub conscious is made conscious, when, through meditation, remaining debt becomes integrated and “White” nature (love-functioning endocrine system) reveals through Higher (Thymus) Heart.
Soul-slumbering depth determines the purity level of inner voice hearing: the flashes of cosmic tangibles beaming subtly onto our brain’s radar screen; for, Herodian (egoistic) nature is incapable of divine perception, of enduring the trumpeting silence of angelic wisdom and inner beauty. For this, Herod must be fully extinguished.
Usually when pain becomes so overpowering — when the senses and nervous system become totally de-sensitized to natural peace and happiness, when natural soul-joy is frozen over and rock bottom experienced — that we consciously begin heeding the flashing signal: “enough is enough”.
Seeking a spiritual way out of the ego-created prison becomes the soul’s sole priority: a surge to wholeness, to integration of the karmic-producing data base. A mission of inner surrendering to the healing of previous incarnations’ ‘hand-me-down’ soul scars.
Herodian or Galilean
When we realize that the Essential “I” is non-created, rather, eternally-existing, and Love, transcendental — beyond egotism — the obvious imperative of humanity is to gain Transcendental Love consciousness.
To knowingly endure transmogrified nature is to deny our soul’s yearning for conscious love consummation with the Divine, deny our inner Christ entry into Jerusalem (Enlightenment), and refuse becoming Galilean — soul progressing in Love Spirit.
Herodian mind-sets deny inner Christ. But, as off-spring of the Whole, we’re each encoded to rise above Herodian sub-standard life and commit to conscious realization of : “who do You say that “I” am”.
Prior to a period of meditational soul-cleansing, the answer to this most profound question would not have been recognized as Christ within, for lower-ego would still be active and claiming credit. Hence, notwithstanding transient thoughts in meditation, mental stillness defuses ego — exposes its corrupt nature.
All who are enjoying Spirit Love are doing so primarily because generations of souls embarked upon similar journeys across the pain-infested domain of spiritual ignorance, to emerge on the other side “saved” from repetitive hell, to enjoy Kingdom consciousness.
Throughout history countless “out-of-control” lives (similar to our own) awoke through this same inner silence dynamic to the Clarion call of Christ within. Pledging their souls as “John” to spiritual progress, they later bequeathed narratives (all Scriptures) born of such trial and adherence to soul-healing practices, transcendence, thereby “knowing” their eternally-existing “I” consciousness — “be still and know…”
Think Moses (moral man / You) who came down from the Mountain (raised consciousness through meditation) carrying the answers (in Heart) to spiritual awakening. The first commandment reads: “I” (eternally-existing Love) am the Lord THY God (within), thou shalt not have strange gods (lower ego / conditioned past / future mindsets) before ME (Present Moment, our own inner Christ, You). Alleluia! Allel-You-ia! Allah-You-ia! — respectfully.
As soul fledglings, we’re each destined to plunge fearlessly into becoming Christ-Love consciousness, thus OUR answer to “who do You say that “I” am”, becomes unequivocal.
Five profound Questions:
1 Why are we here?
2 How did we get here?
3 What is our purpose for being here?
4 What happens after death?
5 Are we simply a random happening?
These amazing questions, (raised on this blog) are interwoven into every soul, and, when perceived through understanding gained in “who do you say that I am” the answers become soul clear. In other words, the answers to these five questions are inherent in understanding “I” as eternally-existing consciousness. This single corner-stone of understanding produces a Temple of Wisdom — a Spiritual Oracle in Self Revelation.
Surfacing as questions, these residual thought patterns originate from a soul desiring wholeness and spiritual evolution. A soul in search of its Love identity, its Motherly instinct of birthing Itself in this present incarnation: “seek (come upon) ye the Kingdom and all else will be added unto you” — come upon the Christ, the Messiah within, and Divine eternal consciousness will birth (metaphorically) the real You — Ultimate Awareness, Pure Love.
For such spiritual growth awareness, focusing needs to be away from physical and labeled identities to instead prioritize Spirit-Nature-Relating daily through dedicated periods of realizing Christ through Thymus Heart Awakening in meditation.
Personal Experience
My own experience — in my early twenties — with these same-nature questions, was that, no set of words, holy or otherwise, ever satisfied me (ego) for very long. My spiritual ignorance, not having any platform in spiritual comprehension, seemed always leading me to yet another overwhelming life-situation which seemed always to require outer orientated solutions, sometimes of a benzodiazepine nature.
This form of resolution rendered “biblical explanation” unnecessary until finally I had to face the benzo dragon. But, for a while, even after a benzo detox, spiritual explanations seemed always completely over my head. And, even when told that the Christ Savior is within, this of itself didn’t satisfy or provide experiential contentment, not to mention enlightenment, for me.
Deep down my confused mind continued searching for answers to why what was happening in my life automatically was happening — searching for tangible relating to something greater than the overpowering “me / “I” / ego-mindset.
In those “lost” years, religious sermons were meaningless at every level of my comprehension: symbolized scripture remained fictional compilations. I needed something OTHER than people’s great words of wisdom and parable stories.
It also became apparent that intellectual knowledge alone of divine matters did not substitute for experiential Love.
Divine… whatever, as I understood it from my Catholic upbringing, was the Holy (loving) Spirit. But even those words came across as contrived rather than a possible experience. There was no Aha church-going moment when I could say yes, this is the Holy Spirit as promised by Jesus.
And, like so many, on and on I traversed the wilderness of ignorance in search of that soul-nourishing elixir — Pure Love.
The Miracle
Then, amazingly, and as simple as it sounds, the Miracle to my life-dilemma happened when I began and progressed with regular daily meditation; it was then that experiential awareness came quickly. Finally I could see and hear from a TOTALLY different level of…somewhere, and it felt super!
It must be emphasized, though, persistence of daily practice was key.
At this point I knew that I’d found the missing piece of jigsaw puzzle. Initially it manifested as well-being (the Holy Spirit had finally arrived) which calmed the rapid white-water flow of inner turmoil, which, consisted mainly of non faced-up to conflicts through not knowing how to deal with my dominant lower ego thought processes; not knowing how to handle addictive “temptation” and deal with on-hand responsibilities rather than their suppression and avoidance.
To the egoistic mind, facing up to subconscious conditioning is IMPOSSIBLE, a refusal which, prior to coming upon inner Christ realization, is always learned the hard way: until we “cop-on” that, something of our expressing character needs changing, fixing, healing — which healing is beyond small “I” capability.
In my ignorance realm, names and terms such as Jesus and Christ (within), and Peter, James, John, (mind, body, spirit) made no sense; they meant nothing until becoming (a) Presence — feeling is believing. Then the spiritual earthquakes arrived, the floodgates of “closed” mindedness opened and Revelation came surging through; a different consciousness emerged, blossomed, where love and understanding seemed present IN everyone, everything, everywhere.
Necessity of conscious mind expansion
For anyone experiencing the pain of spiritual ignorance, let me explain, please. If, say, through the ignorance mind-set, the Language of inner Christ had been told to me, I wouldn’t have had sufficiently expanded conscious mind to understand a single word, phrase or analogy at spirit level — my ego would had to have re-invented yet another “lost” route.
It was the daily journeying into transcendental silence, of stilling the conscious, egoistic mind, which lead to my ignorance (lower ego) becoming integrated into spiritual Love nature.
Once Divine Awareness surfaces within, conscious choice, as apposed to automatic subconscious reaction, is right on que. Once natural contentment and well-being present in mind, the whole inner dynamic changes dramatically for our spiritual good.
Normal activity after meditation ensures the cosmic nature experienced in meditation establishes permanently in our nervous system, thus the Heightened senses and Divine glandular activity remain ever-functioning in bliss consciousness.
As the conscious capacity of mind expands, so too capacity to experience, grasp and comprehend from deeper levels of Christ — as old mind-sets fall away a new Thymus-Heart dynamic emerges.
Thus meditation rapidly electorates the process of consciousness adapting present eternally-existing status: the intellect cognizant beyond the five senses range of human perception to cognition in multisensory divine level.
Non-fulfilled heart
The above five questions reflect the inbuilt dynamic of humanity for soul evolution. They surface primarily through lack of natural contentedness due to non-fulfillment in Higher-Heart experiencing.
“Be still an Know…(they Higher Heart)” becomes the standout imperative whereby Divine Heart will lead to a REAL Promised Love Land: a state beyond disillusionment, beyond tears and fears.
Thus, far more important than what happens to the body when it dies, is what happens to the soul, the real You. For, we’re not our physical body, not our brain, not our thoughts, nothing of finite aspect; we’re each a divine soul awaiting conscious birth into the Eternally-Existing Christ consciousness.
As individualized aspects of Spirit, and to facilitate this present incarnation, each soul has been stepped down unfathomable levels of Divine Power — think raindrop / Ocean, atom / Star, same Ingredient Potential but just to scale.
Other than dissolution into cosmic dust (from where we each started out) in affect, nothing happens to the body when it dies; it’s purpose of facilitating the soul’s incarnation is served, fulfilled, bye, bye, thank you, next ‘ body vehicle’ please!
Later in life, consequent of consciousness development, the above questions can seem almost amusing, yet, for the purpose of the soul’s evolution, were vital at the time — justified groan pains of the second Birth.
One conscious Lifetime
From the soul’s perspective — not bound into the time realm — all its personalities or incarnations (anger, rage, jealousy, hatred, addiction, love, joy, happiness), are simultaneous: each lived at once. With this in mind, the soul needs only to make ONE CONSCIOUS lifetime journey, which can be this incarnation should you choose; achieved through regular soul-purifying meditation, thereby neutralize potential of negative karma carryover.
Answers to above questions:
Q1 answer: we’re here for conscious soul awakening to a non physical or spirit nature of cosmic dynamic through Christ within. Evolve from five-sensory human awareness to multisensory Infinite Being status for yet further evolution.
Q2 answer: most of earth’s physical or nervous system-equipped inhabitants have evolved through all of the kingdoms: Animal, Vegetable, Mineral. Other Ascended souls have already reincarnated on earth, and universally I’m sure, as Enlightened Teachers, Angels, Guides, Masters (of their universe); history records and acknowledges such Avatars in all the multivariate cultures and traditions globally.
Q3 answer: Fulfill a divine plan through soul evolution to Higher Kingdoms in varieties of “body” format.
Q4 answer: Should our earth schooling of soul lesson purification not be completed then we come back (in time) in a new body with a new brain / personality for further purification thus leading to a conscious lifetime — soul sufficiently primed for its next leap of evolution thereby know existence on one of the billions of venues of consciousness in the cosmos suitable to our attained level of cosmic vibration.
Q5 answer: The first law of the physical universe is order. Nothing in the physical universe or of Life is haphazard, everything acts from Cosmic Mind, Infinite Intelligence, for Divine purpose.
Potential of co-creating Divine Will
When we marvel at the multiplicity of varieties that Mother Nature gives a pulse to, do we ever consider that even a rock has energy, life: its pulse cycle is between 1-2 per second compared to the 22-30 cps of the Beta market-place brain speed of Man: which pulse is vibrating the most blissful silence and stillness?
Rock brain speed is achievable through committed daily meditation, thus do we consciously spiritualize our own physical matter: come into spirit-pulsing Nature.
Evolution, under Cosmic Mind, has progressed Man to the most evolved nervous system of the known universe, as such, the potential of co-creating Divine Will is innately present.
Isn’t it almost inconceivable to the imagination, when we consider our species’ evolutionary progress through the Animal, Vegetable and Mineral kingdoms, that, you, me, were once a vibrational color flower, a tree, a blade of grass; once a swan, a cat, an elephant, an ant and an eagle, to name but a few. And, if someone had told you when you existed as a rock, or pebble, in mineral format, on the side of a mountain eons ago, that, one day, you would emerge from that mountain, enter the sea, then, through further species evolution, emerge again to walk along the beach as a person, we’d have ‘rocked’ ourselves silly laughing.
Although a simplified, generalization of how historically we evolved and how we got here, the human nervous system, notwithstanding, has evolved to the highest of the known Creation in preparation for Ascension into conscious non-physical Spirit nature – Pure Love — for further divine excursions. Wow, loosen our soul belt!
Summit of human evolution on Earth.
The pinnacle of this incarnation is to make Ascension a conscious event by way of ego crucifixion, transcendence, thence into Bliss consciousness or Immanence. Thereby, as spirit beings (if we could use creative imagination) without the burden of a physical body, we could “breeze” through a Star, thus transmuting the Star’s core heat into conscious Pure love. While such is beyond finite comprehension, of course, this and other Alchemist feats are not beyond Infinite Intelligence — Ultimate Awareness — beyond “image and likeness” Spirit Nature.
The Sun / Son of God resurrection into Love consciousness now takes on newer proportions: from Fishers of men to Aquarian Star Galaxy Love pollinators thus to Creator of celestial bodies journeyed only to by the divinely-inspired, imaginative Star-Ship Enterprise.
Light Speed ahead Mr. Soul!
As it was Jesus who posed the original question in part 1 of this article, “who do You say that “I” am, it’s fitting he should also answer it.
He stated: “I” [You] and the Father [eternally-existing consciousness] are [of same] One [Creative Potential]”.
How Gloriously Beautiful!
For further reading generally on these subjects, I’ve written two books, here are the links.
Raymond,
Excellent follow-up to part 1. Thank you for posing the questions and answers to what is most important for our lives. Also really enjoyed the information on the human nervous system. You are able to take esoteric information and make it practical to our lives. This goes beyond just knowledge, and your post always do that. Awesome! Blessings.
Josh,
Thank you for your comment. Yes, once we begin to understand that scriptural words of themself are mainly signpostings to a spiritual chore we must each perform here on planet earth, as a species, then, we`re making progress. That, we can´t spend all our life trying to figure out Scripture´s deeper meaning and intention and then try to mentally balance this interpretation in some sort of intellectual way to live our lives by, for these interpretations will be totally different for different cultures and traditions globally.
Such is the need of becoming Cosmic in nature, meaning, become OUR all-embracing, indwelling Christ, no someoe elses Christ. But that, we respect and recognize the other`s divinity, their inner Christ — or whatever title they/we give to this Higher Power — as similar Status to our own inner Christ.
As humans, the one commonality we all share is that we each have the same spiritual mechanisms i.e. mind and endocrine system, and that this duo system is the means by which we each progress spiritually: the outpourings of these glands into consciousness consequent of regular transcendence is the spiritual “mind-intoxication”, Rapture, or the Bliss state which leads to discerning divinely — to include Scriptural discerning.
Scripture is the manual, and while its “authority” is unchallenged implicitly, it´s not intended to give the experience of inner Christ. For that we must practice Presence — go to our room or place of quietude thereby engage inner silence and calmness. At this point all “seeking” ceases, for we´ve found the dooray to Christ, and that´s all we were ever really “seeking”. From here on, through the doorway of silence, we must wave good bye to the old self and prepare, through inner surrendering, for transformation into divine nature — think caterpillar into butterfly. But that this takes place gradually over time, over many practice sessions.
In essence meditation is all about going from gross surface level of thought to deeper level of Being.
The following may further clarify from a different angle.
When we say: “no eye hath seen nor ear heard what God has prepared for him/her who seeks God” What this is pointing out is: the range of ordinary human perception is limited in ability. In other ords, beyond a certain point, without the aid of an instrument, such as a micrescope or PA system for instance, the eye or ear at ordinary human range of perception fails to percieve its object of seeing, hearing and so on, the object fails to register on the sense. Thus to remedy this limitation, and percieve Divinely “..what God has prepared..”, we must transcend (engage mental stilness) through our chosen meditation technique, but that this transcendence (out of lower sensory awareness) “happens”, WE don´t do it — once we have presented child-like at the mental stillness station, It lifts us. This is our practical means of overcoming and bringing to an end the limitation of ordinary five sensory perception — of “no eye hath seen or ear heard”– thus leading to our full humaity in our own cultural tradition to love and express the One Divine Love Nature.
Blessings,
Raymond
hi everyone here at SoS ! finally i have gathered the courage to comment (can i say that ? ). i have been reading artircles from various contributors here for a year plus now, and i must admit that i have learned a lot . some articles i understand straight forward, some are like Greek or Japanese to me (i speak neither ) i suppose its my level of what awakening ? Joshua, Raymond, Annie, Robert, Paul Young, Verney, just to name a few, i thank you all and appreciate the stuff you write and as well as the comments. i write from Kenya and i have been searching for quite sometimes for i felt that theres was more to the bible than what i was taught in my early years, i embraced salvation and a few years ago and even that didnt last long for the questions kept knocking, for some reason after i came across the lesser key of solomon and other related materials i felt that there was more to what i think i am ! that maybe some elite people were hiding certain info from the “commoners” ? nevertheless i kept…–>
…digging for answers, but i always ended with more question than i begun with, at one point i did try talking to the Angels and asking questions and guidance, apart from always getting a parking space whenever i drove into (a car would/did always pull out regardless of how full the place was ) the Angel stuff did not last for long i did abandon it more out of fear that i might end up worshipping them, i believe i had made some sort of contact real or perceived; i’ll never know. but what i lacked most was inner peace, i was in turmoil with mostly my inner-self, prayers, fasting,laying of hands from preachers, brought only a temporary relief, it was like a high, would last for a certain period then a long hangover, sending me back searching again. Amazingly i came across one of Lao Tzu quotes-He who conquers others is strong. He who conquers himself is mightier- it was then that i started to actually look within self. finding SoS has indeed/word helped me a long way in doing this. greetings All. raffmoja
Really enjoy reading your posts! Blessings.
Hi Nicole,
Thank you for taking the time to comment, delighted you enjoyed the post. Look forward to hearing from you again soon.
Blessings,
Raymond
Hi Raffomoja,
Thank you so much for this amazing comment. Gosh, our “growing up” years had so much in common: we kept digging for the ansers that literal scripture didn´t afford us at any comprehensible level. Delighted that you found the articles here on SOS, including my own, helpful in this regard. Thanks for sharing this.
Yes, you´re absolutely correct, Raffomoja, that there is more to outer life once we discover the innert Christ Life. In this pursuit, I do hope meditation or, periods of inner silence, forms part of your daily routine.
Look forward to reading more of your comments, and thanks again fo this one.
Blessings,
Raymond
Hi Josh , Awesome blog and site Brother , I have searched the same questions as you have but in a different directions as I’m a spiritraul healer and have had many ufo experiences with what’s out in the cosmos and the feeling of ALL THAT IS .
Yes there are many Christ’s on the planet which are connected to the 12th Dimensional beings the Golden Ones and the Ancients who are the true founders of human beings.
We are connected to the stars of Pleadies in the 5th Dimension which is our future .
I feel this will be what you are looking for Brother.
Love n Light
Sam
Hi Samual,
Nice to hear from you, and thanks for this most insightful comment.
Just for the record, Sam, it was myself, Raymond, who wrote this article — Josh mistakingly put his good name to it, but has now corrected that.
Blessings,
Raymond
Hi Rob , Thanks Brother , your welcome
Peace
Sam
Raymond,
Describing your personal search for meaning and peace helped me understand your perspective much better. I agree with you that solutions which many church organizations offer just don’t seem to work well for some people. It does seem to work for some though, as far as I can tell. Like you and many others, I’m not one of them. So I was looking for something else and, like you, meditation had a beneficial effect on me.
I can understand that as a Catholic, you might be inclined to define the mystical, peace-generating source as coming from an inner “Christ” rather than an inner “something else.” And having discovered it, you may be trying to find a connection to it and the sacred scriptures that you grew up trying to respect, but the way they were taught didn’t do it for you. What you have found is working for you now and it is interesting that it also keeps you engaged with the scriptures.
Right now, I am trying to figure out for myself whether meditation and practicing mindfulness is simply therapeutic in itself and that some people can apply it without over-spiritualizing it; while others are not able to obtain as much value from it without living and breathing it, and attaching to it the meaning and purpose of everything. I guess if meditation saved me from self-destruction, then I would look at it as my savior. What if meditation was brought into our lives by a Savior other than ourselves? What if the big “I” sent us a Savior.
I don’t see meditation being treated as a savior in Buddhism, Hindu religion, or in the monasteries of the desert monks. It is instead an essential practice that works in harmony with other rules and practices. So, although I value the lessons learned and sense of empowerment and protection gained from gazing inward, I am leery of gazing too far inward too long, becoming so spiritually internalized that we get lost in a comfortable bubble we build for ourselves in there, thinking that we are filled with purity, love, and egolessness, and shut ourselves off from the divine energy and guidance that flows externally around us and in community.
You have inspired me to think a lot about this. And I am not able to definitively answer my own questions. I am drawn to acknowledging the existence of a literal Christ, and at the same time increasing my meditation to three 20 minute periods a day. I put a blanket over me to keep the dogs from jumping on me. And there I stay for 20 minutes. I probably spend less than 10 minutes actually quiet. The rest I pray, or reflect. I just show up under the blanket. And whatever happens, happens.
Hi Robert,
Really enjoyed this comment and your insights on your own meditation practice and how it´s conducted in conjunction with the dogs — so much different from my own practice sessions. My own practice of transcendental meditation, or TM, was taught to me back in 1978 by a qualified teacher of the TM system — which uses specific mantras, or sounds, for their viberational qualities. TM is a systematic way of leading the conscious mind to stillness, calm, then into transcendence: I´ve been practicing TM ever since and can saftely say that it works brilliantly for me everyday.
When we consider, that, inumerable are the laws of Nature, and, this being so, it is not possible for the conscious mind to fathom all of these laws which govern our daily lives. But, what we can do — and is what TM achieves through its practice — is bring the full mind into conscious harmony with all the laws of Nature without having to “know all about” the laws of Nature at intellectual level. In other words, our minds become automatically attuned with the cosmic laws which govern this universe, to in turn govern the activity of our bodies at cellular level. This is a process of leading the mind to knowing bliss consciousness.
Now, when I read almost any scripture, I see this meditational process, or its outcome, being highlighted and referenced throughout at some coded level.
Meditation starts wwhen thought stops. But, having said that, the conscious mind, or ego, will drift the moment it encounters silence. This is normal: for, without noticing the drift we wouldn´t notice that we´re actually back in thought and OUT of meditation. So, it´s the restarting after every drift which deepens our meditation — we never restart from the same point. Thus, it is said in Yoga, meditation never finds us where it leaves us. In other words, our restarts are always from a deeper level after the drift. Drift and restart in meditation signify progress.
This, Robert, is an expose on my own meditation technique, on how TM works for me — and countless others, I´m sure, globally. Hope this little insight helps in some way.
Blessing, my friend,
Raymond
Raymond,
If my information about TM is correct, the founder imported this from India as a Hindu religious system that could be assimilated by Westerners in the 1950s and then progressively widened its appeal by offering more secularized versions of it. However, it is still predicated on a fundamentalist Hindu doctrine that spiritual evolution of the soul occurs in the form of enlightenment from practicing a certain form of meditation that unites the identity of the seeker with the identity of a pantheistic cosmic source of mystic divinity. It is also usually tied to the doctrine of transcending the karmic cycle of suffering through multiple reincarnations that purify the soul.
It costs about $700 to sign up with TM these days, for which you obtain some initial instruction by a certified instructor who selects for you a personal “silent mantra” suited to you, followed by a brief formal Hindu ceremonial initiation, and a few follow up sessions. Then you are own your own, although you become a life member of TM and can ask questions and get some free advice.
There are also more advanced practices besides meditation.
Even though you may be told that you can apply TM to any religion or secular worldview, you are taught various stages of transcendence, the release of the Kundalini energy, and bliss consciousness as major milestones in transcendence. These are all ancient Hindu practices and principles that are taught and reinforced in the TM culture throughout your journey. In other words, these are TM doctrines that are learned by intellectual interaction, not by personal revelation. TM is an “off the shelf” self-help religion of its own. When people say they discovered this, they mean they were not having much luck in trying to help themselves by other ways and gave this a try and it helped them. Research at major universities has substantiated that it is beneficial to psychological and physiological health. Many celebrities swear by it.
The TM meditation technique is supposed to be easier for most people to learn, compared to, say, Zen Buddhist mediation, because the silent mantra you are given resonates passively through your body and assists you in slowly and more naturally phasing into becoming quiet minded. The sound, if you were to pronounce it, is actually similar to “om” but one of a set of variations of it, so that you transition slowly towards “om” resonance and mental quietness. The mantras have been developed experimentally.
The Zen Buddhist breathing technique provides a focal point of sensing your breath to bring your thoughts out of drifting. This is harder to do than using a “silent mantra”, because the mantra provides more active momentum.
Scientists believe that the action of returning to the focal point is what gradually changes your brain network to becoming calmer, more integrated with your intuition, and able to develop self reflective skill as an impartial observer.
TM doctrine reinforces the idea in its practitioners that the secret of life is found by unlocking your own divine nature, that everything you will ever need is found within yourself when you are quiet, that it was always there. You never needed to be saved from sin. You never needed any help from anyone or any external form of divinity to rescue you or make you more complete. This is the TM worldview.
Such a worldview would have no need for a literal Jesus Christ. In fact, the idea of being saved by a literal Jesus Christ would severely conflict with the idea of finding the secret of life by unlocking the divine nature within yourself. It might seem that you have to invest everything you have in what happens due to practicing an altered state of consciousness, to really get the benefit of it, so that you really buy into it and believe the doctrine, and feel the calm and bliss. This is perhaps one reason why people who become influenced by those kind of circles are easily persuaded to deny the existence of a literal Jesus Christ, and to feel strongly about it. The way these doctrines associated with meditation have been set up, you have to choose to accept meditation and deny the literal Christ, or the other way around. I do not accept these artificially imposed limitations. You can meditate, evolve, transcend, be calm and blissful, and unite with the higher power without any of some of these limiting doctrines borrowed from eastern religions. Christians, Jews, and Sufi Muslims have done this without rejecting the primary tenets of their religions.
I would think that after finding TM so successful for you and investing so much of your life into it, that over the years your conscious and subconscious mind would be conditioned to it. So that might explain why when you read the bible, your mind automatically seeks out and focuses on a personal interpretation of scripture that is consistent with your conditioning. I think this might be the Holy Spirit interacting with your conditioning, helping you to find things that are meaningful to you as you have been conditioned. When this happens to you, me or anyone else, I think we should embrace it and explore it as a possible personal revelation, but I also think we should be careful not to override or discount the plain meaning of the scriptures.
There is another application of “conditioning” that we use to talk about growing up in our culture becoming too dependent on run-away analytical thinking, becoming depressed by dwelling on worst scenarios, not knowing when to stop hustling and instead to relax, have some faith and confidence to flow with the spirit. The solutions and approaches presented by the modern church are often not effective in dealing with this for some people. Some of the church doctrines boost people’s egos at the expense of hurting other people. And people do this without really being aware of it. So teaching meditation and mindfulness in the church would certainly remedy some of this.
Robert,
When I posted my last comment to you mentioning the meditation technique I personally practise, I was not offering this to you as a suggested practise for yourself — I merely mentioned it by way of conversation with some detail included.
Your comments here to me come across as if I asked for your opinion on TM but which I most certainly did not. While you do make a couple of good observations on the benefits of TM meditation, however, they´re soon lost amidst the other amazing inaccuracies of your stated understanding and assumed facts. In fact, in places you took unfounded libereties on certain points such as your term “TM condition”. You seemed to have researched for results which suite your counter argument, or anger, to literal scripture. For someone who has not practised TM you´re amazingly well versed, considering I´ve been practicing it for nearly 40 years.
You write:
“TM doctrine reinforces the idea in its practitioners that the secret of life is found by unlocking your own divine nature, that everything you will ever need is found within yourself when you are quiet, that it was always there. You never needed to be saved from sin. You never needed any help from anyone or any external form of divinity to rescue you or make you more complete. This is the TM worldview.”
This type of remark, Robert, sadly, I feel, highlights your ignorance and bias about TM. I have never heard anyone of my TM friends speak like this.
I do remember reading in the Bible somewhere Jesus saying: the kingdom of God is within”. TM did not teach me this, or anyone else that I know, it´s some thing I came upon consequent of meditation. For your information, Robert, I have trained in a number of places around the world in mind technology and Self-development, not only TM. I have also taken the advanced TM-Sidhi course, also known as “Yogic flying”, which I also practise daily and find it absolutely brilliant for left/right brain coordination.
What we´re saved from is our subconsciousness, or subconscious repetitive thought patterns — through meditation this generational programming becomes integrated. Thus the inner Christ is our Saviour.
You further write:
“I would think that after finding TM so successful for you and investing so much of your life into it, that over the years your conscious and subconscious mind would be conditioned to it. So that might explain why when you read the bible, your mind automatically seeks out and focuses on a personal interpretation of scripture that is consistent with your conditioning. I think this might be the Holy Spirit interacting with your conditioning, helping you to find things that are meaningful to you as you have been conditioned. When this happens to you, me or anyone else, I think we should embrace it and explore it as a possible personal revelation, but I also think we should be careful not to override or discount the plain meaning of the scriptures”.
What do mean by saying “you think this might be the Holy Spirit” — who gave you the authority to make this assumption, I didn´t ask you what you thought, I don´t need your qualification or validation in this area! I must say, Robert, lately here on SOS you seem to want to control the entire conversation at times with your excessively researched opinions. While some are valuable, yes, of course, others come across as downright insulting — sorry to have to say that, my friend, for I do respect your standard education in the field of science. But, on the subject here in question –TM — respectfully, it´s I who has the qualification.
Blessings,
Raymond
Raymond,
My apologies. I am not experienced personally in TM except for a brief training I obtained when I was 25 and attending college. I did not stick with it. I know a little bit about how mantras are selected, which is not supposed to be public information. I know that Oprah had her entire staff undergo some intensive training here in the United States. We agree that it is an excellent method for deconditioning harmful repetitive thought patterns, like excessive guilt, fear, hopelessness, depression, blaming others, fear, avoidance, etc. I never meant to insult you, your accomplished practice of it and other related advanced kinds of training and certification to train others. You yourself mentioned in your candid comment that after a long history of practicing TM, that now when you read the bible you perceive encoded messages in it which, according to your article, reinforces your worldview, which, I think I was accurate in pointing out, is that of the underlying religious doctrines of TM, which is more or less synonymous with Hindu beliefs in enlightenment and reincarnation. This did not take a lot of research to figure out because these things are commonly understood by people who know a little bit about Hindu from either being a Hindu or following articles about it. I would not call this excessive research. It can never compare with your 40 years of practicing the disciplines and teaching them to others. But I think it allows me to have some amount of basic insight about the effect that following some of these disciplines would have on a person in terms of accepting certain esoteric interpretations of the bible and rejecting other interpretations of it. I am seriously concerned why many schools of esoteric spirituality are so adamant about rejecting a literal Messiah and convincing others to do the same. I think I am entitled to make a statement that the undercurrent of Hindu spirituality in TM leads in that direction. I didn’t get that just from doing a little research. I got that from monitoring one of the major streams of argument by other SOS authors over the last three years … that there is no literal Messiah. The little research I did was after the fact, trying to find out why people might be led to this assumption. I thus have been doing most of my focusing on SOS authors and commenters, and am responding mostly to that.
I regret that I might have come across too personally offensive. I found it hard to articulate my thoughts on this subject clearly. Intuitively, I sense something amiss about there being so much energy expended by so many people to discredit the historical Christ. When I try to put that into organized thoughts, I only have a diffuse idea of why this is so, and I have been trying to make a stab at reasons why, perhaps without realizing I am stabbing others in the process. I should be more sensitive and try to avoid stepping on others toes. Or they are going to have to get steel-toed ones. In any case, I have to learn to be more careful about others feelings. I have a weakness here. I do a lot better in compensating for it when I have had a chance to think longer about it, when I have consolidated my own position, and have more energy left to practice my later evolved diplomatic skills. I think that’s what happened here. Sorry.
Raymond,
This may be something that can help resolve our disagreement. It is an article by a Christian yoga instructor which was interesting to me because she offers the therapeutic benefit of healing and inner peace through yoga and meditation without treading on the sacred tenants of any particular religion. It allows placing the instruction and benefits in a smaller perspective within the larger perspective of one’s own religious preference.
http://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-16352/just-because-im-christian-doesnt-mean-i-cant-practice-yoga.html
Raymond,
Here is another article I found interesting, by a Buddhist reflecting on whether Christians can practice many aspects of Buddhism without denying their religious tenants. http://appliedbuddhism.com/2010/08/18/can-you-be-a-buddhist-christian/
“…. no eye has seen….”
It is also valuable for some people to engage with the simpler implications of these scriptures first. As I have mentioned, the plain meaning is the golden setting which contains the precious esoteric gems, and gives them an undergirding perspective.
The Hebrew Scriptures (OT) which Apostle Paul might have been referring to are from the prophet Isaiah exhorting and encouraging backslidden Israel to prepare them for the trials that were about to befall them.
“When You did awesome things which we did not expect, You came down, the mountains quaked at Your presence. For from days of old they have not heard or perceived by ear, Nor has the eye seen a God besides You, Who acts in behalf of the one who waits for Him. You meet him who rejoices in doing righteousness, Who remembers You in Your ways. Behold, You were angry, for we sinned, We continued in them a long time; And shall we be saved?…”
(Isaiah 64;3-5).
Paul lifts this out of its context to apply to the wisdom obtained through the Spirit in connection with the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.
“..the wisdom which none of the rulers of this age has understood; for if they had understood it they would not have crucified the Lord of glory; but just as it is written, “THINGS WHICH EYE HAS NOT SEEN AND EAR HAS NOT HEARD, AND which HAVE NOT ENTERED THE HEART OF MAN, ALL THAT GOD HAS PREPARED FOR THOSE WHO LOVE HIM.” For to us God revealed them through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God.…” (1 Cor 2:8-10)
Note that it states that if they knew what was revealed in the depths of God they would not have engaged in this crucifixion process of God’s messenger. (In other verses, Paul talks about crucifying one’s own flesh, which amounts to refraining from baser desires which conflict with living righteously, which is equivalent in some respects to what many SOS writers refer to as “crucifying the ego” in that one of the many baser desires is self-centeredness. But is self-centeredness which is decreased by meditation, the only baser desire we should put to death. What about unbelief? What about associating with religious practices that Paul considers “pagan”, and some of which work to denounce the legitimacy of the Gospels, the literal Christ, and Paul’s Christianity?)
It is interesting to see how Paul seems to have modified the Hebrew Scriptures slightly to apply it to the Gospel message. So it seems he has taken some liberty with the plain meaning written in Isaiah, and given it a new twist.
Becoming unblocked so as to experience the spirit of God is a big step. The church may have done a disservice to this by institutionalizing the process it recommends for unblocking and mixing that experience with some corrupted features of religion. In that case, it would be very important for each individual to pursue whatever alternate methods liberate them to experience the spirit of God. But can people who do not follow the alternate methods also experience the spirit of God? One thing for certain, meditation and mindfulness by themselves are purifying. They let you see the “mini-me” in the big picture of everything else, and to make less selfish decisions. I personally believe that some of the attachments from practicing meditation in an “Eastern religious” context can be impure, particularly the ones that try to deconstruct Judeo-Christianity and denounce the literal Christ that Paul alluded to in his statement about “no eye has seen”.
Hello peoples!
I found this website at the very beginning of the year and just wanted to say how much I love reading the articles and all of your responses. I learn so much here. Thank you Joshua for creating a unique website like this. I can honestly say that my interest in the bible has been reactivated again as I read it anew with a fresh perspective after all this time. I feel like Neo from the Matrix when he woke up and truly used his eyes for the first time.
In the very late 90’s early 2000’s when I was still a young, green Jehovah’s Witness, I remember watching this film with friends from my church and afterwards thinking that WE, the Jehovah’s Witness organisation as whole we’re just like Neo, Morpheus and Trinity because we alone had “the truth”. Our religion alone out of all the thousands of religions in the world was somehow the only one that was truly spiritual and Awake! (just like their magazine title). We had taken the symbolic “red pill” and our eyes were opened and it was our responsibility to wake everybody else up to this reality by giving them the “truth”. I shake my head now laughing at my old self, and think how naive, blind and asleep I was.
I love this film because it has so many Gnostic, Buddhist and Jungian references in it. It’s myth without the psychodrama. I hope someday by the end of my life or lives (how ever many it takes), I’m able to attain true “Bodhisattva” or “union with the divine” or “enlightenment” or “resurrection” whatever name we give it (sorry if I’m getting these descriptions wrong. I’m not an academic, just a very eager student) and realise my own true nature to become whole which is possibly the message the Wachowski brothers were trying to transmit via their initially reluctant hero – Neo.
I too, like many of you, have brushed up against that “thing” we call God. Many times over the last 2 years I’ve experienced full body vibrations/tingles from head to toe. The sensation is like a painless surge of electricity running up and down my spine followed by tremendous pressure inside my head. Other times I would hear loud, thunderous roaring sounds. On 3 occasions I heard heavenly music accompanied by extraordinarily vivid dreams of detaching from my body. On at least 3 separate occasions I have felt myself “go” somewhere distant and unknowable and then felt myself “return” to my bed. As time passed and I was able to somewhat calm and settle my fears, the loud sounds that would often startle me, transformed into a high pitched tone similar in sound to rubbing a wet finger along the rim of a wine glass. A single, high-pitched frequency tone would enter my head and last about 20-30secs. I was very aware of the symptoms and sensations. When this happened, I instinctively knew it was a signal that I was transitioning into a different state or trance and I would feel myself falling or dropping. On a few of those occasions I experienced absolute silence in my head. It was as if somebody grabbed the remote control and hit mute! Like a door had suddenly sealed itself tightly and all sound had been sucked out of the room. I’d never experienced such profound silence like this before. One time, in that pure silence, I saw beautiful colours changing like a mood-ring and I myself felt as if I was pulsing like a jelly fish in the air. Then, a glowing hand appeared and pointed to the word “conflicted”. I took notes in my diary of all this phenomena, which only occurred when relaxing in bed or on the verge of sleep.
I didn’t know it at the time, but, with the help of a wonderful psychotherapist I was made to understand that what I was undergoing was a kundalini awakening. I don’t have a history of meditation at all (unless prayer is counted as meditation? I did that as a JW, but, that felt more ritualistic and robotic to me). The mentality I grew up with was very much against meditation and went as far as calling it dangerous and possibly opening the mind up to demonic influences. Of course I do not believe this anymore. Still, it took me years to de-condition myself and now, finally at the age of 40, I can truly say I’m beginning to learn stuff.
The general effect of this kundalini arousal has been positive albeit scary at times. Confrontation with the unconscious is humbling and can be very overwhelming too especially when you don’t feel relaxed about what is happening. You might doubt and question your sanity. You might feel alone with nobody to relate to until you’re able to integrate your experiences with your daily activities. My spiritual baby legs and eyes are just taking their first steps and it’s exciting!
I can’t tell you all how wonderful finding like-minded people like yourselves really is.
Sincerely,
Claudine
Hi Claudine,
Nice hearing from you. Thanks for this very interesting and detail-filled comment. Comments like this, I feel, have a really positive effect on other SOS readers who may also be thinking of responding to published articles.
You write: “My spiritual baby legs and eyes are just taking their first steps and it’s exciting!”
Wow, beautiful expression, Claudine, I love it! Thanks again.
Blessings,
Raymond
Hello peoples!
I found this website at the very beginning of the year and just wanted to say how much I love reading the articles and all of your responses. I learn so much here. Thank you Joshua for creating a unique website like this. I can honestly say that my interest in the bible has been reactivated again as I read it anew with a fresh perspective after all this time. I feel like Neo from the Matrix when he woke up and truly used his eyes for the first time.
In the very late 90’s early 2000’s when I was still a young, green Jehovah’s Witness, I remember watching this film with friends from my church and afterwards thinking that WE, the Jehovah’s Witness organisation as whole we’re just like Neo, Morpheus and Trinity because we alone had “the truth”. Our religion alone out of all the thousands of religions in the world was somehow the only one that was truly spiritual and Awake! (just like their magazine title). We had taken the symbolic “red pill” and our eyes were opened and it was our responsibility to wake everybody else up to this reality by giving them the “truth”. I shake my head now laughing at my old self, and think how naive, blind and asleep I was.
I love this film because it has so many Gnostic, Buddhist and Jungian references in it. It’s myth without the psychodrama. I hope someday by the end of my life or lives (how ever many it takes), I’m able to attain true “Bodhisattva” or “union with the divine” or “enlightenment” or “resurrection” whatever name we give it (sorry if I’m getting these descriptions wrong. I’m not an academic, just a very eager student) and realise my own true nature to become whole which is possibly the message the Wachowski brothers were trying to transmit via their initially reluctant hero – Neo.
I too, like many of you, have brushed up against that “thing” we call God. Many times over the last 2 years I’ve experienced full body vibrations/tingles from head to toe. The sensation is like a painless surge of electricity running up and down my spine followed by tremendous pressure inside my head. Other times I would hear loud, thunderous roaring sounds. On 3 occasions I heard heavenly music accompanied by extraordinarily vivid dreams of detaching from my body. On at least 3 separate occasions I have felt myself “go” somewhere distant and unknowable and then felt myself “return” to my bed. As time passed and I was able to somewhat calm and settle my fears, the loud sounds that would often startle me, transformed into a high pitched tone similar in sound to rubbing a wet finger along the rim of a wine glass. A single, high-pitched frequency tone would enter my head and last about 20-30secs. I was very aware of the symptoms and sensations. When this happened, I instinctively knew it was a signal that I was transitioning into a different state or trance and I would feel myself falling or dropping. On a few of those occasions I experienced absolute silence in my head. It was as if somebody grabbed the remote control and hit mute! Like a door had suddenly sealed itself tightly and all sound had been sucked out of the room. I’d never experienced such profound silence like this before. One time, in that pure silence, I saw beautiful colours changing like a mood-ring and I myself felt as if I was pulsing like a jelly fish in the air. Then, a glowing hand appeared and pointed to the word “conflicted”. I took notes in my diary of all this phenomena, which only occurred when relaxing in bed or on the verge of sleep.
I didn’t know it at the time, but, with the help of a wonderful psychotherapist I was made to understand that what I was undergoing was a kundalini awakening. I don’t have a history of meditation at all (unless prayer is counted as meditation? I did that as a JW, but, that felt more ritualistic and robotic to me). The mentality I grew up with was very much against meditation and went as far as calling it dangerous and possibly opening the mind up to demonic influences. Of course I do not believe this anymore. Still, it took me years to de-condition myself and now, finally at the age of 40, I can truly say I’m beginning to learn stuff.
The general effect of this kundalini arousal has been positive albeit scary at times. Confrontation with the unconscious is humbling and can be very overwhelming too especially when you don’t feel relaxed about what is happening. You might doubt and question your sanity. You might feel alone with nobody to relate to until you’re able to integrate your experiences with your daily activities. My spiritual baby legs and eyes are just taking their first steps and it’s exciting!
I can’t tell you all how wonderful finding like-minded people like yourselves really is.
Sincerely,
Claudine
Claudine, thanks for your thoughtful comment. Many Blessings.
Hi Raymond,
Thank you! I enjoy your blogs very much. All of the writers and readers on this blog are obviously intelligent, deep thinkers. I enjoy reading everything – even the stuff that I’m not going to fully comprehend perhaps until years from now.
It honestly does feel like I’m taking spiritual baby steps for the first time. I felt unprepared charting through unknown waters at the beginning with no map except my own gut/intuition and not knowing if I was doing it correctly or not. We all remember the first time we learned to drive a car, the first job interview we had or the first date we went on. Those events are loaded with excitement, but, there is also fear of some sort involved.
This website is a bit of a “lighthouse” and people who feel curious or even alone or lost (and there are many) are drawn to find comfort, understanding and guidance about their own process of self discovery. You guys have such noble purpose and it really gives others strength and conviction to overcome their fears – like me!
Sincerely,
Claudine
Claudine,
Thanks again for these cmments, you express youself very well and clearly.
Yes, as integration of the subconscious mind patterns — conditioning — begins to take place, in-tuition, or divine awareness, begins to emerge into consciousness.
Blessings,
Raymond
Raymond,
I have found a wealth of enlightenment in your two blogs, especially your recent part 11.
Having familiarity with Joel Goldsmith’s “THE MYSTICAL I” your knowledge makes good companionship for integrating the different perspectives about realizing the greater I within. I hope to see more of your work in SOS.
Hi Vern,
Always great to hear from you, and thanks for your comment and author reference here — must check it out. Hope you´re keeping really good.
Blessings, my friend,
Raymond
Raymond,
Thanks a lot. When I was reading your part 11 I heard this beautiful song on the oldies station, and just had to share it with you. It’s a song about the beauty and wonder of higher consciousness. Hope you enjoy it. Blessings to you too Raymond. Your style WORKS. – Vern https://youtu.be/B412Ij9IAnc
Vern,
Thanks for the links, have just listened to the song….you´re spot on, wow, it´s absolutely beautiful. Thanks also for your creative comment, nice to hear it put that way.
Blessings,
Raymond
Hi Robert,
Sorry about delay in replying to your earlier reply, and, while I wasn´t seeking an apology, it´s fully accepted of course without saying, my friend. Thanks also for the links, enjoyed reading them.
Blessings,
Raymond