The FEDERATION FLASH “Exploring the Frontiers of Miraculous Probability” Issue #36; Spring 1997 Published by: Starbuilders P.O. Box 220964 Hollywood, FL 33022-0964 USA Fax: (954) 927-7659 Internet e-mail: starbldr@gate.net http://www.lightwork.dk/Starbuilders ........................................................ What's in This One: * Masthead * Introduction * A Couple Short Quotes * Levels of Immortality * Transcending "I Can" * The Ego * The Higher Dimensions * The Spiritualization of Matter - The Next Regeneration * Being "Special" * The Individual Soul ................................................ Starbuilders publishes The Federation Flash quarterly. Evin writes the articles, Katrina edits them. The periodical is a service for those interested in living a miraculous life and exploring the nature of Truth, consciousness, and practical ways to be more loving. Our view is that everyone is a point of conscious Light living in a human body. We support those on the quest for happiness and to live miraculous lives. We believe that living a miraculous life is the most effective way to serve God, the Force of Evolution, or whatever you choose to call the Creator. Subscriptions: Send email saying "subscribe." Send snail mail (and a donation is you can handle it) to receive a hard-copy subscription. Starbuilders is an outreach project of the ULC. Counseling sessions available by phone or in person. ....................................................... Greetings to all! Everyone believes in someone. Usually, we have a hierarchical setup of those in who we believe. At the top of my list, I believe in God. Although I can't’ prove that He exists, no one can prove that He doesn't. I choose to believe, because the existence of God makes more sense to me than His non-existence. Next in my hierarchy system is me; after God, I believe in myself. I am not a True Believer in myself, though, because I change. Next comes my family and loved ones, then my friends, acquaintances, and then everyone else. I'’m not attached to this order: A stranger may tell me something that I find true, while my loved ones may take a view with which I don'’t agree. I'’m at a point in my life where it'’s more impotant to discard false beliefs than it is to find new ones. I have virtual libraries of inform- ation in my head. As I dust off each volume, I see if it is still has value. What I share with you is my perspective; I don'’t claim to have The Truth and I don'’t think anyone has it. At best, the Truth can use us (and I don'’t claim that I'm being used, either). Life is an experiment. Find ways to make life more miraculous. Remember that happiness and kindness are more important than beliefs. Love to all. Evin, and the Starbuilders Team ....................................................... “It is aid, "‘We should become like children.’ You know, children get angry, then they forget it; they hate someone, then they forget it. All that is so short-lived, but their love is long lived. If you do anything for them, they will remember it forever. Their love will always be there." Gurumayi Chidvilasananda ........................................................................ "“This man said, '‘We al want to change the world.'’ I want to change the world. I like the world the way that it is."” Kayla (4yrs.), while listening to the song "Revolution" by The Beatles. ......................................................................... Levels of Immortality Immortality - to live forever. This sounds straightforward enough. Yet, religious groups and cultures have different ideas about this. The ancient Egyptians spent millenniums exploring this probability. They focused on the resurrection of the physical body. This belief was a dominant theme of their culture. No mummies, however, are yet reborn - not even those of the Pharaohs, the God-Kings. Here's a more current version. After the Rapture, Christ will resurrect the faithful dead, restoring century-old corpses to their previous glory. The Saved, all in perfect health, inherit the earth. The Unsaved, who never fare well in religious sagas, are treated to another kind of immortality. God throws them into hell where demons torture them forever. In this story, the number of Saved is 144,000. It wouldn't take long, however, before the 144,000 would increase to 144,000,000. (Babies are born [unless everyone is sterilized or sex is forbidden], and nobody dies.) Then, in a blink of the cosmic eye, that number would leap to 144,000,000,000. Soon, the Saved would be piling themselves 50 high (and growing) all over the planet. And what about sanitation? To me, this would be hell. Another story exists. It describes immortality from a different perspective. This story is based on two assumptions. The first assumption is that the planetary consciousness designed the physical body to be a temporary vehicle. Spirit uses it to explore form. When we attach to and identify with our body (or any form), we invite the experience of grief and anxiety. The second assumption is that spirit is our true identity, that our Essence is immortal. We can't die, because we were never born. We can only change our face for a moment. (Paradoxically, our face never changes.) Faith in an outside God, religion, or ceremony won't guarantee that your body will live forever. Faith in spirit won't guarantee that you are an immortal spirit. Some are happy to believe in neither probability. Whatever the truth is, be thankful for physical death. If you think over-population haunts humanity now, try to imagine the nightmare of a deathless earth. This image alone should be enough to discourage that wish. ............................ Transcending "I Can" During the first week of August, a major hurricane approached the shores of North Carolina. These storms are nobody's friend. As a Lightworker, my impulse was to help somehow. Ideas streamed through my mind. Should I use Personal Will and try to detour the storm? I've always shied away from this option, though. White magic, however good the intent, suffers from the limitations of the magician. What if the Force of Evolution *wants* the storm to make landfall there? The attempt to detour a hurricane by using white magic causes a clash of astral powers. Here are the players: I'm a point of conscious Light in a human body wanting to divert the hurricane. The planetary consciousness, a point of conscious Light in a planetary body, created and is directing the hurricane. It's my good-intentioned Personal Will against the (apparently) random Impersonal Will of the planetary consciousness. I passed on this option. My next thought was to open myself to higher-dimensional beings. If they desired, they could use me to redirect the hurricane. I immediately realized that these beings (and the Force of Evolution) didn't need my help. Sure, I'm a point through which other-dimensional energies can enter into the material earth plane. But in a pinch, they can use anything as an entry point. A Barbie (tm) doll, the Great Pyramid, a mountain or a tree, even the space between molecules of air will do. They don't need me for this. We live in a miraculous universe. All points are sacred and accessible. My focus shifted to my life's work. I realized that nothing I could do, say, think, or feel would have any eternal significance. Only an ego thinks that it's "helping" the Force of Evolution. Everyone and everything are heading back to the Source. (Paradoxically, we're already there.) Nothing in the universe can stop this. In the big picture, my effort is futile. Is there anything I can do that will stop the universe from completing its course? Conversely, is there anything I can fail to do that would stop it? I think not. I realize that our essence is miraculous, and that we live in a miraculous universe. At the deepest level, our essence and the universe are the same. The universe will unfold without our Personal Wills helping it. As divine essences, we've already written the script of our lives and of the life of the universe. (Or, perhaps we ad lib.) The script is the Divine Plan. The Force of Evolution is the active force that carries out the Plan. Transcending the "I can," we land in the middle of the "I Am." We can't *help* the Force of Evolution; we *are* the Force of Evolution. ......................................... Ego Briefs What's an ego, anyway? Some say that it's an illusion while others say that it's the cause of all our problems. Let's define ego as *the combined pictures of reality that our mental, emotional, physical, and astral bodies produce.* Unbalanced egos, however, don't include the pictures of the spiritual body (although they can use spiritual information to inflate itself). The ego is our mortal consciousness. (A picture of reality is a belief about what is real. We develop these beliefs from our experiences, social training, and religious dogma. Also, we inherit them from our human-animal instincts and past life lessons.) We need an ego to relate to others and to make sense of our lives. It's part of our human equipment. Some groups recommend "ego death" as a way to reach God or become enlightened. The logic is that the ego keeps you bound to a material perspective. If you kill it, then you become free from the vanities of humanity. The catch, however, is that you can't divorce your body from its pictures. You can transcend its pictures, but you can't eliminate them. Because egos are part of the human package, a more positive way of relating to them is this: treat them as a friend. If you, as spirit, are the master, you can train spiritualize it. If you, as ego, are master, you must struggle to gain spiritual enlightenment. Size Egos come in three sizes: under-inflated, over-inflated and balanced. Under-inflated egos are introverted and yin. They are intimidated easily. Over-inflated egos are extroverted and yang. They have huge blind spots and hemorrhage when someone tells them what to do. When an ego becomes too under- or over-inflated, it becomes dysfunctional. Conversely, balanced egos use the yin and yang qualities appropriately. They appreciate themselves, know the importance of integrity, and understand that they aren't perfect. Balanced egos are flexible and porous. They can incorporate spiritual principles and can exhibit the finer qualities of mortal consciousness. (Astral implants carry pictures of reality, however, and can be removed.) Seekers and Deniers We can further sort egos into two categories: Seekers and Deniers. Seekers crave love and acceptance. Love and acceptance motivate them. Deniers are dry and withhold love and acceptance, using denial as a control tool. Both groups manipulate and have unspoken demands. You can see this interplay between Seekers and Deniers everyday. Defense Egos must defend themselves, and the more extreme or entrenched the picture of reality, the greater the need to defend the picture. By identifying with our mortal consciousness, we mistakenly believe that we are defending ourselves rather than our pictures. Offense Egos take events personally and need to prove themselves right: They fight, and behave self-righteously. And they're critical and cynical, to boot. Mostly, egos are nobody's friend. They have a high need to control everything. Astrological archetypes shape how they express this control. A mortal consciousness feels secure when everything is predictable. That's why if you present them with something new - try to force it on them - you become the enemy. Battle Each picture of reality that our bodies produce is an identity in itself. We have hundreds of these self-contained fragments, and each fragment insists that its view is real. At times, these pictures of reality clash; internal conflicts arise. Moving On When we officially die, our ego dies. The astral body, a time-based entity, keeps the ego's memories, and it carries them into other lives. Eventually, however, the astral body with its lifetimes of experience dies as well. But if time is an illusion, then ego is no more than memories. Timeless spirit collects these memories and keeps them on file. ("There is nowhere to go and nothing to do but collect experience.") There is Here In the library at the end of time, spirit has recorded the experiences of all creatures that have ever lived. When this universe has run its course - the library is full - we leap back into the Source. In this place, we rest and wait to begin another adventure. The drama of today is but one poignant, distant memory. From a divine (and paradoxical) perspective, we're at that resting and waiting place, now. ....................................... Tenth-, Eleventh-, and Twelfth-Dimensional Entities. You can view a dimension as an entity. For instance, in one cosmology, you can see the Tenth Dimension as the living spirit of the universe. (In part, we can merge Catholic theology with this model. The "Holy Spirit" is equivalent to the Tenth Dimension. The "Father" is equivalent to the Eleventh Dimension. Similarities between the models end here, though, because Catholic theology lacks an equivalent for the Twelfth Dimension.) Viewing other dimensions as entities and attributing being-like qualities to them help us fathom how they function. Because they are riddled with paradox, however, the odds of our rational mind understanding their true nature is about 1 to infinity. Life Cycle of a Universe Let's describe the life cycle of a universe using the above example of the Tenth Dimension (the spirit of this universe). We also can give the spirit of this universe a name, like "Sandy." (For clarity, I don't use the name "God." Any of these higher dimensions would qualify for that name.) The Big Bang, as science calls it, marked Sandy's birth. Because this entity was born, it must die. Where did this being come from, and where will it go after it dies? (Or, where is its source?) The source of the Tenth Dimension is The Eleventh Dimension. More than a place, however, the Eleventh Dimension is an entity who we'll call "Pat." Imagine that this entity, Pat, could breathe. For every breath that it took, it gave birth to a universe. Cosmologically, the first moment of inhaling represents the Big Bang. As the entity's lungs fill, the universe expands. At the half-way point, when its lungs are full, a short pause takes place. The creatures who live in the universe grow silent. (Apprehensive, they wonder, "What's happening?") Then the exhaling begins. Sandy (the universe) begins to fly back to the Source. After that breath is complete, eleventh-dimensional Pat rests for a moment. Pat, however, is more than human. Let's count . . . one, two, three, ten, ninety-six . . . this entity has more than 5.2 gazillion metaphorical lungs, all operating simultaneously. This capacity allows a countless number of Sandys (universes) to exist, rushing around at once. Beyond Universes What is the source of eleventh-dimensional Pat? In this story, Pat's source is the twelfth-dimensional entity, "The-All-That-Is-And-Isn't -And-Then-Some" or "Chris" for short. (Note: The only "Isn't" that exists is "Isn't.") Twelfth-dimensional Chris doesn't have lungs and doesn't breathe out Pats (although an untold number of Pat-like beings exist. No one knows, however, how Chris produces them.) This twelfth-dimensional entity is mind-boggling unknowable. The more we talk about it, the more we blabber, moving us further from the Truth. Here, in Chris' Twelfth Eye, all infinities meet and become hopelessly tangled in knots. Then, like fireworks, they burst into countless sparkling pink and green, iridescent patterns. Behind the Beyond The human tendency is to think that this cosmic-scale creative action takes place somewhere "up there" past our receding sky ceiling. The barriers between dimensions, however, are in our cells, emotions, and thoughts. The whole Brobdingnagian drama happens right here. From this perspective, only one dimension exists. And right now, Pat, Chris, and Sandy are within your heart, waving. Welcome to eternity. ............................................. The Spiritualization of Matter: The Next Regeneration - and Then Some The model "The Spiritualization of Matter" portrays spirit as totally evolved. Further, it says that matter "needs work." Spirit does this work by pouring spiritual energy into the material plane, enlightening matter. To call this process "spiritual evolution" is a misnomer, because spirit is already totally evolved. If it evolved any further - if it went back to the Source - the universe would disappear. Instead, "material evolution" more accurately describes the process. (For details about the Spiritual ization of Matter, see Issues 32 and 33 of "The Federation Flash.") In the original model, spirit uses Lightworkers as instruments to evolve matter. It pours spiritual energy through them, allowing them to serve in a divine capacity. Yet, you can look deeper and see a different reality operating, as well: Spirit doesn't need our help to enlighten matter. The composition of the universe is porous, allowing spirit to do the work by itself. It can flood transformational energies into the material plane through any point it wishes, not limited to Lightworkers. This presents a paradox: Are Lightworkers enlightening matter? At one level, they are. Spirit, however, doesn't need their help, right? That depends. To say that spirit can do the job by itself implies that someone *needs* to enlighten matter. Yet, from an even deeper perspective, this isn't true either: *Matter has always been spiritualized.* It's our senses and mental body that make us believe otherwise. If we know that the world is already spiritualized, then we struggle less and live more effectively. We see unity in the apparent chaos. We under- stand the multidimensional character of the One dimension. For instance, at one level, we need to fix the world. ("I'm on a mission.") If reality was a democracy, this model would be The Truth. On another level, spirit effortlessly fixes everything. ("Use me if you need me.") At a deeper level still, nothing has ever been, or will ever be, broken. ("I AM.") "All Aboard!" However, the universe rearranges itself to accommodate your picture of reality. Within the logic of each paradigm, each version is true. The reality that you are living is real for you. Similarly, you can say that each version is false. You know that the universe is energy. At the sub-minuscule level, probability waves or "Maybe Dots" link hands and dance. As they do the Subatomic Shuffle, they believe that they are a person reading these words. They dance so well, they have forgotten that their hands are linked: separate readers are illusions. And their forgetfulness continues. Entranced, they convince themselves that a past and future exist. They can even think that they're cool, lonely, or limited! This dancing miracle, however, isn't true either. Gods dream this universe, dancing Dots and all. But, wait, there's more! We *are* the dreaming gods . . . no, God! Oops . . . no, we're not. We're not dreaming, but wide awake. We've fooled ourselves into thinking we're dreaming! Yikes! Where do you get off this train?! "Next, stop, Article's Point," shouts the conductor. ("Phew!") We have an identity as *points of conscious Light in human bodies.* From this state of cosmic consciousness we send light, grace, and awareness into chaos, organizing it. Also, we have an identity as *spirit.* From this state of unity consciousness we *are* the Truth and Light. We act in, watch, and *are* the drama of the Spiritualization of Matter. The Greatest Show on Earth Arranged on the table before the cloaked magician, a group of nut shells rests. The magician gracefully holds an orb of the purest Light between his slender left forefinger and thumb. With the slightest smile, he clearly says, "I'm placing the Orb of Truth under one of these shells." He does so, and effortlessly rearranges them. The audience fixes its eyes on the shell covering the Truth. They are sure that they know which form contains the precious Light. The magician's hand, however, is always quicker than the eye. ................................................. Being Special Everyone needs to be. Whether it's a function or a desire of the ego, everyone needs to feel special. Perhaps this compensates for a belief that we are unworthy or incapable of love. Whatever the reason, we derive our "specialness" from belonging to a certain group. One group's relationship to another is what establishes this kind of specialness. Specialness, therefore, is relative. (In this model, "special" is different from "unique.") For instance, say you are a Christian. You believe in Jesus. You are saved. What makes you special, though, is that unsaved non-Christians exist. Without them, you can't think, "I'm doing it right, and they're not. [Therefore, I'm special.]" This polarity is evident in all cases of specialitis. Specialitis, a normal mental disorder, is epidemic. (Some say that it can't be cured, only kept somewhat in remission.) God picked the Jews to be the Chosen People. If you're not a Moslem, you're the infidel. Hindus are enlightened, while everyone else is dipped in Maya. New Agers proclaim the truth about e.t.s, ascension, and earth changes; disbelievers need not apply. Even loners think they're cool, because they don't belong to a group. (They do, however; they belong to the loner group.) Some scientists are smug with their "I know the facts, and I can prove it" attitude. Also, we have political activists, artists, racists, and masters of all kinds. And there's more: lightworkers, vegans, body builders, old souls, truth tellers, atheists, channellers, walk-ins, criminals, the rich, and the beautiful. Members of each club may imagine that they are special, because what they are doing is, well, special. Infighting, of course, takes place within each club - some members are more special than others. We must be careful; a multi-horned dilemma awaits to gorge us. Each group claims to be superior in some way. (Some are overt about it, while others imply it.) This means that other groups are inferior - either damned, dumb, out-of-touch, or useless. Or, the others may be The Problem. We must ask, then, which of these groups is *really* the right and true one? Groups can be vehement about how right they are. Some say that God's Word makes them right. Others point to philosophical systems, moral tenets, scientific method, or genetic theories to support their claims. To some degree, groups may pressure you to join them. They say that if you don't, something bad - maybe even eternal damnation - will happen to you. You must decide. With any luck, you will choose the "True Belief System." With these threats pricking our brain, no wonder people give up and become True Believers. Yet, *all* belief systems are relative. There is no prefabricated True Path. What if you don't have to find "The Real and True Religion" (or God, political movement, diet, philosophy)? How about relaxing and discovering what *your* beliefs and preferences are, instead? Maybe life is an experiment. (Some would call this "creating your own reality." More accurately, however, you would be "creating your own picture of reality.") Because the group identity that we take on is relative, so is the specialness that goes with it. We are only relatively special; it's only brain deep. (What would happen if everyone believed the same as you? The world would be a better place, right? And then you would be happy?) But, uh oh; we're only special in our minds. Because most identify with their ego, the idea of being just another human is unacceptable. Consider, though, the idea of not being special. If it's true, eventually you'll have to come to terms with it if you want to be whole. Coming to terms with not being special has its rewards. First, you become free from the barriers that most True Believers impose on themselves. You become free to explore areas of life that previously were off limits. Second, you have less "buttons" that others can push. ("I'm angry with you, because you acted in a way contrary to my [True] beliefs.") Third, you join the human race. If specialness is an ego need, then you should be glad to transcend it. To do this, however, you must be willing to search within and closely examine even your most treasured beliefs. Doing this, you may find greater treasures: you are special, but not in the hollow way that you once imagined. ..................................... The Individual Soul: The Ego's Best Friend? or - Understanding the "I AM Universe" We usually don't scrutinize our most basic beliefs. Picking them up as we journey through life, they become woven into our picture of "how it is." We take them for granted. These programs run continuously in the background of consciousness, coloring our experience in subtle ways. Let's look at one of these beliefs, the belief in the soul. We'll look at the soul's functions, its relationship to ego, and the realities that it implies. We'll consider some questions that the soul's existence answers and the paradoxes that it creates. Most religions believe in the existence of the personal soul. Two notable exceptions are the Jehova's Witnesses and, in a sense, the Buddhists. The Jehova's Witnesses say that the Savior will return and restore the physical bodies of the saved dead. You don't need a soul for this to happen. The Buddha was an Impersonalist. He didn't believe in a personal soul. Yet, he included it in his cosmology, because his parents raised him as a Hindu. The influence of our time and culture shapes us all. Some Hindus tidied up this Impersonalist glitch, at least in their own minds. Buddha, they explained, was an incarnation of God, trying to save the Impersonalist's souls by tricking them into worshiping a personal God. We know that the idea of the soul existed long before the birth of Buddha. How did it develop? Soul as a Mechanism We have unanswered questions about life, death, justice, and our relationship to God. Pondering this, our Neanderthal ancestors probably developed the notion of soul. (They performed religious-like burial rites.) As different cultures developed, religions pinpointed where in the body the soul lived. For example, Western Christianity figured that the soul lived in the heart. Others, like the Druids, decided that it lived in the head. Modern science, too, believes that the soul exists in our heads, but as an hallucination, not as anything real. The soul, besides being a spiritual idea, developed sentimental and even romantic connotations. "She's a kind soul" and "Pray for her soul" reflect its blue, sentimental side. Emotionally, we want our loved ones to live forever. The idea of a soul makes this possible. "Soul mates" are an example of its romantic side. Traveling through nobody-knows-how-many lifetimes together adds a cosmic dimension to a relationship. Some soul mates consider themselves "old souls." Old Souls; Learning An old soul is one that has existed for many ages, learning lessons. It has attained a fair degree of wisdom. Reincarnation is an integral part of this process. Pythagoras subscribed to this evocative notion of the transmigration of souls, as did most religions sharing a common Indo-European root. Much New Age thought (borrowed from Hinduism) says that learning, over many lifetimes, equals soul growth. The logic is that you don't have enough time in one life to learn it all. (Learning it all is impossible, despite the number of lifetimes that you live.) You discover the practical value of learning in everyday life. When you're an infant, you find that crying brings you milk. In school, teachers praise you for knowing the right answers. (The report card.) On the job, the more you learn, the better your chances of advancing. In church, you earn the respect of your peers by your knowledge of Scripture. And unless you buy into the "dumbing down" movement, the more you know, the more rich your social and inner lives become. Nature itself favors species that learn (how to adapt to their environment). Those who don't, join the dinosaur parade. Because learning is so important, it's natural to apply this principle to spiritual progress. You have to learn your way out of here. Consider, however, that as spirit - your true identity - you already know it all. Spirit is already fully developed. Besides, learning is a natural process. It happens. In this model, learning applies to mundane affairs, but not to the soul. Old souls don't fit into this model. [Western Koan #537: Did God create the universe so we can suffer in order to learn? And learn what? That we are one?] Speculating like this invites a thorny question: "If there are no old souls, why are some people masters while others die as students?" Western esoteric tradition provides the idea of Providence: God "made it that way" - made some people masters and others students - and that's the way that it is. Arthur Edward Waite in "The Pictorial Key of the Tarot" states: "[In] a mysterious order of Providence . . . it is possible for certain men to conceive the idea of dedication to the highest things. The operation of this is like the breathing of the spirit where it wills, and we have no cannon or criticism or ground of explanation concerning it. It is analogous to the possession of . . . the high gifts and the gracious gifts of the poet: we have them or not, and their presence is as much a mystery as their absence." Providence answers related questions, too. "Why is there common grass and mighty oaks or breathtaking crystals and lackluster rocks?" (Sure, we can defend the beauty of grass and rock by saying that you can find beauty in everything. And you can. But would you rather have a sparkling blue-white diamond or a piece of gravel? Even if you didn't consider the monetary value, you'd probably choose the diamond.) Some consider Providence a cheap attempt to explain away old souls. Perhaps, though, you don't have to learn Beingness, which is eternal. In contrast to the "many lives" view of reality, Western religions don't believe in old souls. They preach that you have only one lifetime to prove yourself. At best, you can be a saint. Sainthood requires that you perform miracles, (usually) suffer, and serve Christ and others selflessly. You do this in *this* life. War Besides religious applications, the idea of a soul has practical uses. Say that a man is charging at you. He's screaming. He has a spear. You, too, are screaming and have a spear. Both of you are probably *afraid* (or possibly crazed). It doesn't take a genius to understand that this is a life threatening situation. If death means the end of the individual, generals need to be very charismatic. They have to charm and inspire their soldiers into risking their lives. (For added encouragement, deserters were usually put to death.) Military leaders also found that soldiers, when "fighting for God," fought more valiantly. Additionally, soldiers fought more fiercely when they believed "dying in the service of God" bought them a ticket to paradise. Obviously, the physical body of the fallen warrior didn't go to Heaven. It's lying there, hacked up. The survivors would burn or bury it. The soul, however, served as the mechanism to make this reward-in-heaven promise possible. As a motivating tool, heavenly reward was more effective than the threat of capital punishment (at least for True Believers). Julius Caesar noted that the Celts understood this principle: "A lesson which . . . [the Celts] take particular pains to inculcate is that the soul does not perish, but after death passes from one body to another; they think that this is the best incentive to bravery, because it teaches men to disregard the terrors of death." The Gundestrup Cauldron, a Celtic silver-plated bowl dated to the first century AD, confirms Caesar's comment. This bowl shows fallen soldiers reincarnating to fight again. Later in history, Christian soldiers would try to liberate the Holy Land. The cry of "jihad" - Holy War - still echoes today. Other Forms of Authorized Killing Priests used the mechanism of the soul to justify human sacrifice. The Ritual Scene: A priest is poised to cut open a young woman - the Lucky One - lying on the "altar." His helpers have given the victim the sacred "drink of the gods" - they drugged her. The Dialogue: Priest: "The soul of the Lucky One will fly to Heaven. She will sit beside the illustrious god Xyzerlikbot for eternity. How fortunate she is!" Through elaborate dress and ritual, practitioners and supporters tried to elevate this slaughter of the innocents to something noble. (If they were True Believers, then they were sincere.) Having someone tear out your heart is an honor? Why, then, didn't they sacrifice a priest, a general, or a king (who are all usually males)? Oh, they have to be virgin girls. Authorities tortured and murdered countless thousands of alleged witches. These horrendous acts made the rites of pagans look like a picnic in the park. Men dutifully performed these atrocities to "save the poor women's souls." Justice "There are no court rooms in the wild." I. M. Sertin You've heard the phrase, "It just isn't fair." It's true. *Life on earth isn't fair.* Only those blinded by glaring idealism refuse to notice. The rich live in opulence, the poor in squalor. Some babies are born with disabilities. The strong bully the weak. Famous or politically powerful people commit crimes, but rarely receive just punishment. Sometimes, the little sister receives more toys than the big sister. The innocent suffer, and the guilty go free. Although an oversimplification, this drama plays itself out every day. Existentially, God doesn't intercede in these cases. How do you explain this injustice? Explanations Western religions provide Heaven and hell to balance the scales. They use the Bible as the law book. If you obey the laws, then you go to Heaven and live in bliss forever. Don't obey, and it's hell for eternity. Because we have souls, God administers justice in the afterlife. Eastern religions offer karma and reincarnation to explain injustice. If you're good, you'll reincarnate into a better life. Behave badly, and you'll land in a future life filled with unsavory circumstance. Eventually, over many lifetimes, you'll balance your karmic debt and go to (the Eastern version of) Heaven. Religions, both East and West, base these rewards and punishments on the mechanism of the soul. Without a soul, God can't cast you into hell or force you to reincarnate into some miserable life. Without this mechanism, religions can't explain injustice. This leaves us with existential solutions. [Western Koan #318: Did God create the universe so we can balance injustice or karma? And what injustice or karma? The injustice or karma of having forgotten who we are?] Death, Immortality, Paradise The soul provides an answer to a question even greater than injustice: our mortality. Although some have made claims to the contrary, the death of the body is inevitable. It dies. (If the planetary consciousness ascends unconditionally or some other miracle occurs, then death won't be an issue.) You wonder, "Hmm. . . . I'm going to die. Does this mean that I won't exist anymore? What a waste!" (The ego is fearful and vain.) Most religions will tell you, "When you die, your immortal soul continues to live forever." Each religion has its own version of where the soul goes after death. These paradises usually resemble what the culture (that the religion developed in) worships or what they are lacking. For instance, the Aistians held oak trees sacred. For them, the soul of the deceased would live in an oak tree. Some religions in the sun-baked Middle East picture paradise as a cool land with rivers flowing with milk and honey. Available young, beautiful women abound. (This version is decidedly male.) Some Christian sects present a family version: Heaven is a glorified earth. The entire family is outdoors, smiling. The sun is shining, and lions benignly eye nearby sheep, a former snack. What's your version? Getting There: Really Dying Doctors pronounce a person dead when they diagnose the person "clinically dead" (no pulse, no breath, etc.). Cases are not rare, however, in which a clinically dead person comes back to life. Many of these survivors report leaving their body and traveling up a tunnel. The tunnel ends in the brightest light they've ever seen. An entity, usually of golden or white light, loving greets them. It bathes them in divine peace. (Rest In Peace.) These luminous beings tell them that they must return to earth. Depre ssed, the survivors reenter the body and come back to life. None, however, had entered the Light. If they had, the body would not come back to life. The body dies when the astral body passes into the Light. (Some mistake the astral body for the soul. The former is our mortal, fourth-dimensional "subtle" body. The latter is said to be our immortal, personal body.) Into the Light: The I AM Universe What is this Light at the end of the tunnel? Some have said that it's the entrance into the Fifth Dimension - Heaven. Others agree that it is Heaven, but not the Fifth Dimension. Instead, the entrance leads to the Tenth Dimension - the Holy Spirit (of the Universe). In this model, when your astral body enters the Light you merge with the One. You find ecstasy, because you are home. Here, our separate, individual identity is an illusion. "We" and "I" don't exist, except as experiments in probability. Only the "I AM Universe" exists. An Analogy Here is an analogy of how the I AM Universe works. Imagine a large inflated balloon with a person inside it. Each time that this person pokes her finger outward into the skin of the balloon, she creates a bump on its outer surface. Each bump will be different, depending on which finger and how much pressure she uses. The woman in the balloon represents the formless I AM. The balloon represents the multidimensional palette of the world of form. Whenever the I AM pushes into the world of form, it creates something: You, me, a rock - sometimes a hard place. It's the same "person" making all of these fanciful bumps. Behind all forms is a finger of God. (Some say "the Eye of God" is behind all forms. Although this describes the phenomenon accurately, it doesn't fit the balloon analogy too well.) "Formless?" We can't imagine something formless. Our linear minds don't have that capability. Science rules out the formless, because they have no tool with which to measure it. Besides, if you can't see, feel, taste, smell, hear, or conceive of it, even if it exists, what good is it? Leading edge science does know that at the subatomic level, energy/waves-matter/particles fade in and out of existence. At this level, reality has a "tendency to exist." This tendency is the tenuous foundation on which our material reality stands. What the scientists don't address is this: From where do these fundamental particle/waves fade in and out? In the I AM Universe model, they appear from and fade into the formless I AM. Everyone and everything does. The Real Illusion If everything in the universe is a manifestation of the formless One, where does the sense of personal self develop? Using the world of form to disguise itself, the formless I AM creates many separate "I's." It allows the *ego to create the impression of a personal self*. (Personal self is as real as our instincts to survive, mate, control territory, and maintain or improve our position in the social hierarchy.) No Time like Today Time is an illusion. Yet, we see our children grow and our parents age. It's easy to extrapolate and see past and future generations making history. The paradox, though, is that it's never tomorrow or yesterday. It's always now. This shows us that existence is seamless. Although we are unfolding in the ever-present now, we break it up into convenient, non-seamless cycles (minute/hour, day/night, spring/summer). We stitch history together using the mysterious faculty of memory. Nature has set up our mortal consciousness that way, allowing us to experience the timespace phenomenon of cause and effect. Because both past and future events happen in the eternal and seamless now, from a transtimespace view, all of history is taking place now. With a single breath, the One Soul gives life to all creation in the Eternal Now. Personal and Impersonal Humans can tap into the I AM universe and receive information. When the ego gets involved, however, it distorts things. The problem of interpreting information from this infinite data base lies in the limited capacity of the mental body. It must fit transdimensional data within the bounds of its own paradigms. It must make it reasonable. Even when sharing information with other humans, we can only understand each other when our models overlap. Sometimes the mental body can mistake an impersonal expression of the I AM as an aspect of itself. Take "past lives" for an example. Many have had past life experiences. You need a personal soul (as a mechanism) plus a knowledge of reincarnation (as a model) to understand this phenomenon. Otherwise, it does not compute. So, you've had a past life experience. You think, "Wow! *My* past life." This means that you have a soul, right? That depends on your paradigm. When you connect with the I AM, you have access to every experience in the universe - past, present, and future. When you tuned into this other lifetime, what if you were receiving the image from the I AM, not from your soul? It wasn't *your* past life, nor was it anyone else's! Instead, it was *just another life* - another impersonal expression of the One. In this paradigm, *all forms are impersonal expressions of the One. None have personal souls*. If we take these images personally, then we confirm (to ourselves) that the ideas of reincarnation, past lives, and the soul are true. By taking these images impersonally, we confirm (to ourselves) that we are one. You can say the same about future lives or lives on other planets. More close to the present, *you can say the same about this life.* Odds, Odds and Ends, Ends Odds: How about crystals? Some believe that crystals have souls. Where does the soul live in a crystal? What if a crystal breaks in half? Does it then have two souls, or does it die? Some crystals - the gems - are faceted. How much material can you cut from the rough stone before it dies? In the I AM Universe, these questions pose no problem: a crystal has no personal soul. It is an expression of the I AM. Odds: How about ghosts? Ghosts are not lost souls. They are astral entities, usually low on the astral food chain. They can project their image into the material world. As minor minions of the Dark Forces, they lie. Their job is to scare and fascinate mortals. They get cheap thrills by using a Ouija (TM) board to play head games with willing humans. Because they can read mortal minds and emotions, they play this game with skill and cunning. Also, they can change their form in a blink and disguise themselves as departed loved ones, famous people, or anyone. Their convoluted energy adds dark static to the earth plane. Ends: You don't need a soul to attain Cosmic Consciousness or divine Unity Consciousness. Cosmic Consciousness is the state of being the Watcher (personal yet detached). Divine Unity Consciousness is the state of Oneness (impersonal and detached). Ends: Group souls and soul mates travel together through many lives. That's one way to explain why we feel comfortable, at home, and linked with others. Yet, other influences explain these feeling as well. If our genetic and astrological factors are copacetic and we share a common belief system and have a great sex life, then who needs soul mates? When our relationships meet some or all of these conditions, *they reflect our understanding of love*. Barriers and Beyond As an extension of ego, the soul is a barrier to oneness. It can keep us out of the now. It can separate us from the planetary, solar, galactic, and universal consciousnesses - even from our friends. Still, egos think impersonality is "crummy," because the ego - mortal consciousness - is personal. (The ego created the soul in its own image, but made it immortal. In juxtaposition, immortal God created us in His own image, but made us mortal.) We are all points of conscious Light in human bodies. These points of Light are the same Light - an emanation of the One. From this perspective, there exists only one immortal soul, the immortal spirit of the universe. Expressions of the One Your belief about the soul will influence how you perceive life. It will color how you behave and react to circumstances. For instance, you can say, "She's bad, because she doesn't believe in the True God [or whatever]. She'll burn in hell for that." Or you can think, "She's behaving in such-and-such a way. That behavior is an expression of the One." Noble actions, happiness, lies, lakes, weird thoughts, totem poles, children, injustice, ideals, doctors, Dark Forces, worse hair, worms, weather, and anything else that you can imagine, are all expressions of the One. This understanding is a technology of consciousness. Seeing everything in this light doesn't mean that you can't take a stand for, say, justice. This perspective allows you to act with more clarity and less hate. Killing someone to save their soul just isn't done. You create less friction. You add less stress to the world. Grudges fade faster. Does this make the world a better place? A little. Does the world situation still "bite?" Sure, but who are you going to sue? The Free Will vs. Fate Paradox You can argue forever about this paradox: Which is true, fate or free will? With bona fide certainty you can say, "I chose to be here." Or, you can honestly admit, "I didn't choose to be born." However, if the personal soul doesn't exist and the universal soul does, then the free will vs. fate debate becomes moot. Think about it for a moment. The "I" (ego) that chooses either alternative (either fate of free will) exists as a temporal phenomenon. Some "I's" claim to be the I AM Universe. At the highest level of our identity, this is true. Unless, though, you are in the state of Unity Consciousness, this claim is just words, not experience. In the fate vs. free will example, we see how we create paradoxes out of mental energy. Soooooooooo . . . You can believe that a soul exists. It lives in your body somewhere - in your head, heart, on the bottom of your feet, or in your entire body. After the body dies, the soul will [check one]: move into a tree; migrate to a future life; ascend into Heaven (the happy hunting ground, nirvana); tumble into the flaming or frozen pit of hell; cross the river Styx; enter a parallel Otherworld; become a bothersome (or friendly) ghost; incarnate on another planet; become enslaved or eaten by hungry, transdimensional aliens; merge with the One; or any number of other possibilities. You can believe in old souls and young souls, in great souls and not-so-great souls, in saved souls and damned souls. You can believe that neither the soul nor God exists, because we have no scientific proof of either of them. Or that God exists, but the soul is a hopeful projection of the mortal ego. From this perspective, you'd say, "I am a temporal expression of the I AM." This combines the ideas of the personal life of the ego and the impersonal expression of the One. We have to live with our beliefs, whatever they are. Although our beliefs about the soul won't prevent us from suffering, they do provide answers for many of humanity's pressing concerns. At worst, they separate us from those who hold different opinions. Perhaps the best we can hope for is that they contribute to living a miraculous life. There is nowhere to go and nothing to do, except collect experience, because as Light, we are one. ...................................................................... Der Endish