Faith Belief with Wings
And Other Essays for Awakening
First Edition (2010)
Andras Nagy
Sacramento, California, USA
© 2010 by Murine Press
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Table of Contents
Chapter 1 The Seven Spiritual Facets for the 21st Century
Chapter 2 The Devil is in the Details
Chapter 3 The Power of the Human Mind
Chapter 4 Philosophy is Useless for Self-Actualization
Chapter 5 Active Meditation
Chapter 6 On Discrimination
Chapter 7 The Meaning of Life
Chapter 8 On Universal Love
Chapter 9What Killed the “Flower Power”?
Chapter 10Let Go, Let God
Chapter 11On Understanding the Bible
Chapter 12 The Razors Edge
Chapter 13On Political Systems
Chapter 14Death and Dying
Chapter 15 On Doubt
Chapter 16 On Karma
Chapter 17 Spiritual versus Karmic Family
Chapter 18 Art or thePulpit?
Chapter 19 The Signs of the Times
Chapter 20 On the Brotherhood
Chapter 21 More on Karma and Reincarnation
Chapter 22 On Infinity
Chapter 23 On Finding a Good Teacher
Chapter 24 On Magic
Chapter 25 Amulet and Talisman Making
Chapter 26 Lady Luck is a Fickle Bitch and Her Name is Karma
Chapter 27 What Makes You Happy?
Chapter 28 Constantine – The making of a Saint
Chapter 29 What do Feng Shui and StarWars have in Common?
Chapter 30 Opening up the Centers
Chapter 31 Infinite God
Chapter 32 On Zanoni
Chapter 33 Faith: Belief with Wings
Appendix ABiography of the Author
Bibliography
Chapter 1 The Seven Spiritual Facets for the 21st Century
1 Concepts and Principals are of the utmost importance. To develop and strive spiritually we must make hard distinctions of these ideas and details. Details are sometimes unknown and they can remain so. If you mind is questioning details and can not accept the Concepts and Principles in peace you are NOT READY.
Perfect example to this occult fact is the very existence of Jesus. Did he really live? Was he a historical figure? I do not know. This was the hardest thing for me to digest in my path. But I have leaned about the Christ Principle. I am no longer concerned about the details and the “facts”, they are unimportant, as we can never be certain only speculate. But focusing on the Principles made me see the Truth and the im-portance of this facet.
2 Everything is an Illusion. The Universe, Nature, time and space and all the other laws of physics are part of a dream. It is an elaborate, all too realistic dream. The good news is that since reality as we know it, is an illusion, controlling and shap-ing becomes very possible. The self and the ego are part of this illusion and individuality and separateness are the results.
Wake up! The price is the ability to see it all clearly and correctly. Enlightenment is synonymous of waking up…The biggest paradox is that this illusion has certain rules, just as in our everyday reoccurring dream, when we often figured out a trick, to do something to wake up, in our perceived reality there are certain set of rules, such as reincarnation and karma, that might help you waking up…
3 All paths lead to the same destination. Does not matter what you call your teaching it will eventually lead you to the right path. It may take you lifetimes to get there but any teaching is better than remaining stagnant and in ignorance. Paradoxically, this even applies to dark teachings. They are very dangerous and I do not recommend anyone to dabble into them. It can set you back eons but essentially they are better than remaining a “spiritual cavemen”. The dark teach-ings and white magic are essentially based on the same Universal Principles.
4 It does not matter what you believe in. Your mind creates your own “reality”. What you think, it is. This can be better understood if you think of your “reality” as a dream within a dream. Your mind is your most influential weapon or tool if you use it properly and free it. You can free your mind by ap-plying facet number 2. Do not think, but be aware, let the Cosmos guide you. Let your higher-self guide you. Think less and be more aware. Your mind can create miracles. It can heal you and others. It can set you free from the robotic script you call your former life. Your thoughts can literality mani-fest objects.
5 Observation and Selfless Acts are more important than Thoughts or Words. Words and thoughts vibrate and they have powers and are of high importance but actions preceded by thoughts are trumping them. For the purposes of teaching the esoteric, the infinite no-beginning- no-end, the transcen-dental must be divided into compartments. Just so the Master chooses to explain ‘things’ with a reference point, for those that need a reference point, just as we cannot write a sentence without a beginning or end… This will limit the use-fulness of books and oratory skills and elevate kindness, love, the arts, music to a higher level. Observe, do not interfere with your own self. Act deliberately for the common good of men and your powers will multiply.
6 Meditation and clean living (no smoking, no alcohol) can help you. There is something I callactive meditation, it is and exercise in constant awareness and focusing. You do not need to spend time sitting and meditation, rather all waking and dream state is time spent in self-actualization. Being cen-tered is the ultimate goal. The Buddhists call this right mindfulness.
7 Be Selective. Chose you actions, friends and colleagues well, be wise who you hang out, associate and do business with. Discriminate what you read, watch or listen to. We have long forgotten the merit of this since it is not politically cor-rect in America. This does not mean I recommend political and religions discrimination, but everyone has the right and the duty to be selective in this manner and it is natural. Like attracts like! This does not mean to judge people quickly and based on outer, superficial factors as social strata, or color of the skin, outer looks, mannerism or clothing. DO not be super-ficial but you have the right to be selective.
In my humble opinion, understanding and using these seven principles will take you long way towards self realization.
Chapter 2 The Devil is in the Details
Concepts and principles are very powerful. We often think of these as abstract and not quite real but they have a real ef-fect upon our existence. Paradoxically, in the old religious thinking, details were attributed to God. This notion is the derivative from the personal god concept.
We all have heard of the expression; the devil is in the de-tails.According to – The “Random House Dictionary of Popular Proverbs and Sayings” by Gregory Y. Titelman (Random House, New York, 1996) shows this phrase as a variation of “God is in the details – Whatever one does should be done thoroughly; details are important. The saying is gen-erally attributed to Gustave Flaubert (1821-80), who is often quoted as saying, ‘Le bon Dieu est dans le detail’ (God is in the details). Other attributions include Michelangelo, the ar-chitect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, and the art historian Aby Warburg. ‘The Devil is in the details’ is a variant of the prov-erb, referring to a catch hidden in the details. ‘Governing is in the details’ and ‘The truth, if it exists, is in the details’ are re-cent variants. Listed as an anonymous saying in the sixteenth edition of Barlett’s ‘Familiar Quotations,’ edited by Justin Kaplan.”
(1) ‘God is in the details.’
It seems generally accepted that this was something said by the German-born architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (1886-1969) although almost certainly it was not invented by him. His obituary in The New York Times (1969) attributed it to him but the saying also appears to have been a favorite of the German art historian Aby Warburg (though E.M. Gombrich, his biographer, is not certain that it originated with him). In the form Le bon Dieu est dans le détail, it has also been at-tributed to Gustave Flaubert (1821-80). Subsequently, there has arisen the saying ‘The devil is in the detail’ which has been described as a maxim of the German pop musician, Blixa Bargeld. He probably did not invent it himself as it is men-tioned in Lutz Röhrich’s Lexikon der sprichwörtlichen Reden-sarten (1994) – as ‘Der Teufel steckt im Detail’.
I think “the god is in the details” saying relates to Nature and biological (scientific) details that sometimes can bring someone closer to god but more often than not tear you apart from god. The human genome and the perfect harmony and choreography of Mother Nature.
The word principle is defined in part as a rule or law exem-plified in natural phenomena, the construction or operation of a machine, the working of a system, or the like: the principle of capillary attraction.
A concept is;
A general notion or idea; conception.
An idea of something formed by mentally combining all its characteristics or particulars; a construct.
A directly conceived or intuited object of thought.
When these words are used or mentally examined in a con-text of a phenomena or a problem, we often get tangled up in details. Experimenting with details in certain cases possible, when scientific understanding supports and reveals them but more often than not, details will be missing when the prob-lems at hand are philosophical or metaphysical.
The reason for this is simple; science has not reached to the level of understanding to supply the required details. Many people are very detail oriented and they cannot grasp and fathom ideas that are not fully examined by science. The very existence of metaphysics supports this theorem. People call metaphysics pseudo science, the practitioners branded as charlatans or worse and often valuable ideas are dismissed or ignored as unscientific.
Let’s look at some principles.
The Christ Principle
This is the concept that man using the “Christos” can rise above his lower self and redeem himself (return to unity with god) alone, no need for priest, rabbi or any intercessor!
The Transcendental God Principle – Infinity
This world view understands god as within of all. This god is not an entity it is more than that. Some narrow views could consider this as a sacrilege or even atheistic thinking.
The Personal God Principle
This world view understands god as an entity outside of the know existence
Heaven
This is the existence (or frame of mind) in oneness with god. This is a unity of all.
Hell
This is the existence (frame of mind) without god. This is a separation from all.
Reincarnation
This is the concept of cyclical birth-rebirth of all things, in-cluding us. This is the denial of death. The idea of death is terminal. The materialistic world view regards death the chief enemy and fears it more than anything. The spiritual mind views death as a doorstep to something else, often better. It is clearing the slate and starting afresh.
Rumi has a poem I would like to quote here;
“I died as a mineral and became a plant,
I died as plant and rose to animal,
I died as animal and I was Man.
Why should I fear? When was I less by dying?”
Karma
This is the law of action-reaction of the Universe. Under-standing this concept well would instill greater responsibility in all. There is nobody to punish us, especially not god. Every-thing that happens to us is a result of some past action that we have done.
This can be a positive action as well as a negative one. All thoughts and deeds earn a karmic + or – notch in our karmic bank account. We carry this account with us from lifetime to lifetime. There is no escaping it. Positive karmic actions take away from the accumulated negative karma and vice-versa.
The Concept of Hierarchy
This is the concept that there will be always someone who is more advanced and knows more than we do. Always. To think otherwise is narrow minded and arrogant.
None of the above ideas can be proven, refuted or drilled down to details as scientifically we are not at the required level. All it takes is contemplation and self-examination.
Ask yourself, “Does this make sense to me?” That is the only question should be asked, not the “why now”, “where” or “how”? You ask, “Where is heaven? Is it a place or is it a frame of mind?” “Is the end of the world coming?” It cannot since this world is all an illusion.
To advance spiritually we must accept the inevitable. We just don’t know enough. Let science do what they do best and leave them out of the realm of spirit. Real existence is not what you think it is. What you think is a dream within a dream.
The idea of a personal god is just as weird as a concept as the virgin birth. Naturally, it is easer to grasp with limited understanding and awareness. God is easier to imagine as an old man with or without beard. The personal god concept has origins in the era when, at the dawn of men, visitors from other planets and angels visited our realm. These beings were de facto “gods” to primitive humanoids.
I suspect this may have instilled false notion in men’s mind such as “god made men”, “god punishes”, or “god interacts with us”. These falsehoods are created from the fact that there were close encounters with being who possessed godlike pow-ers.
A concept can lead us to great understanding and have lib-erating consequences.
Look at for example the Christ Principle. Much of the prin-ciple is a repetition of earlier legends and myths of redemption and oneness of men. The principle teaches that all men can achieve the same as Jesus the Christ who in fact may have lived only as a fictional creation of writers of the New Testa-ment based on earlier historical persons. What is more important the historical Jesus or the fact of all men can be-come a God? We do not become individual Gods, but return to our birthright and destiny.
Infinity
Now this is the concept for the grand discussion. Do we sci-entifically know that there is no end to numbers or there is no end to the Universe as we know it? Do we know if the Uni-verse is finite or not? I think scientists are calculating the plausibility that this Universe as we know has some finite properties.
Nobody knows what lies beyond this Universe. Maybe there are clusters of Universes around, or there is only this one? Nobody knows for sure, including the scientists. There are grand scale scientific theories and ideas (concepts) in both schools of thoughts.
I do not think however anyone disagrees with the concept of Infinity but of course the human mind is strange and often capable of creating illusions and falsehoods. How can you say there is no such thing as “infinity”? But of course everything in our know existence is finite. All the four elements, air, wa-ter, fire and earth are limited, perishable and finite.
The problem usually is not seeing the big picture. Trying to quantify and measure and touch everything. The mind that is too detail focused is imprisoned by the narrow view of the ma-terialistic world. The best concept from the wonderful book of the Little Prince is the teaching that often the most important things in our lives are not material, visible or measurable. Everything material and visible is supported by the underly-ing invisible and hidden.
Chapter 3 The Power of the Human Mind
Our thinking and imagination is a serious force to be reck-oned with. Our faith and belief of the afterlife is shaping the actual circumstances and conditions we shall be experiencing. This is an occult secret, very difficult to grasp and under-stand. The first phase of afterlife is a transitionally phase and it is called Devachan. (Devachan bDe-ba-can de-wa-chen (Ti-betan) (from bde-ba happiness + can possessing)
Here we are shedding ourselves from attachments that we had in the physical life we just passed from. The purpose of this phase is to teach us the futility of attachments in form of petty, human traits. When we are in this phase it is not an otherworldly existence, rather a state of consciousness with-out a physical body. The circumstances of this existence are shaped by our earlier mental image of afterlife. If we imagined the thereafter with harps and angels, then we shall have them in Devachan. No matter of the surroundings, the goal is to have these experiences. Whether it is music, sex or other at-tachments, in Devachan you will have more of it then you’d ever wanted.
As we all know the often to cure something permanently, is to overdo it.
For example if the person who passed on was attached to eating, he or she will spend a lot of time around food, the place will be an eatery or a kitchen. The experience of the smell and taste of the food will be real.
The importance is in understanding how the force of our beliefs and imaginations shape even the circumstances we come into in the afterlife.
Our mind is very interesting. It is capable of miracles yet it can fool the beholder into all sorts of charades. We can project something we are obsessive about and eventually that can manifest in a form of an illusion. It will not be real. Devachan is a good example of that.
Thinking is not the same as experiencing. Too much think-ing can lead to obsessing and also it can be misleading. The mind can reason you into or out of anything. It reasoned, oth-erwise perfectly decent people into committing the most horrendous crimes of cruelty.
If you let go and allow the heart and mind to form a link-age then you can make better use of your mind, intelligence and intellect. At this point your heart is at the driver seat and your mind filters out what you can accept and what you can-not. Some concepts and ideas you are not ready to accept hence the mind will reject them. This means that karmically you are not ready to move forward unless you lighten up the negative karma that holds you back. Buddha said; “do not believe me or believe others who speak in my name, accept only those things that make sense to you!” The importance and reason of this quote can be better understood with the framework of the heart/mind link. When the heart mind link comes, you will start experiencing. It will all fit in the place. Eventually, you will gain straight knowledge. This is knowledge of things nobody ever taught you. There are things that you never read or heard, you just wake up one morning and you will know.
Ideas
The mind will create ideas and if we use these ideas in a true altruistic way then by each step and each idea we shall get closer to god’s consciousness.
When we cling to our ideas and claim them as our own the ideas might stop. You see, the idea may not be for you to carry out but for you to see it as value and pass it onto some-one else. Do not be a miser with your ideas. Once you start thinking that these ideas could benefit you materially then you are not doing good. If you shall remain altruistic and share your ideas your needs will be met. You might not be-come rich but you will get all that you need.
Fear
The only obstacle to achieve god’s consciousness is what the occult calls the Dweller of the Threshold. This is the col-lection of all the negativity and fears you have experienced in your lifetime. These negative emotions conjure up a monster; during the final initiation you must conquer it by understand-ing its source and origin. You are the origin of this and you can easily defeat it by realizing what fear is. Fear is the nega-tive use of our imagination. Whatever you fear, it is imagined one way or another. Even when you confront a real danger, you cannot know the ultimate outcome. Can a mugger kill you? Certainly he can take your incarnated life, if that is your karma, but you will not die. You cease to exist in this incarna-tion. Bad as it may be, for you and your family, your Spirit most certainly will go on. The Spirit never dies, it continues. So, you see, there is no use of fear. Most things we fear never actually happen, but this negative energy can cause all sorts of obstacles. As my teacher’s Guru used to say “fear is nothing but a bug on a sunlit wall”
Chapter 4 Philosophy is Useless for Self-Actualization
Thinking too much is not important for spiritual life and advancement. As our thoughts matter in directing self-awareness this is especially true when we want to eliminate thoughts and foster observation and bring about a meditative state. This is more to do with directing our thoughts or the lack off and focusing, awareness.
When you dabble in philosophy you automatically think that you can achieve something but like peeling the layers of an onion it is utter futility. Philosophizing leads you to a new layer, eventually the layers disappear but in the core you will find nothing of use but your eyes all teared up.
You should try to know, not to think. True knowledge comes from within and not from thinking or reading books.
There going to be defenders of philosophy and I am not saying philosophy has no use or redeeming values. Philosophy is good and nice but in terms of actual self-realization and transformation is as useful as a tit on a board…
Consider from the time of Plato and Socrates what meaningful human transformation have we achieved? Society changed, technology and science have changed, but we have wars now more devastating and potentially earth changing. Someone asked Gurdjieff if mankind would ever evolve to beyond wars and do you know what ha had said? No, he said men as is now incapable of not fighting wars in the name of something. It is because men’s level of consciousness individually and in groups had not reached its potential.
Of course there are exceptions but far and few in between. So while philosophy and Plato’s cave allegory is nice it has not gotten us any further in human consciousness and awareness.
We are capable of killing fighters and innocents in the name of, you have guessed it, Democracy(!), what philoso-phers bestowed on us…Now what is the difference of killing in the name of Allah, or Jesus or democracy?
What tangible gain have we gotten from all the philosophers and great thinkers, in terms of getting us to the point of no more killing each other? Greed, human suffering are all the consequence of this lack of development and ignoring or deny-ing it is as good as putting a lipstick on a pig….
This Universal Knowledge, the ultimate Truth is already within you, you just have to discover it, by dismantling the scaffolds to see the structure. You need to adjust your being to be able to see the Truth and awaken from the dream.
Paradoxically, certain actions, activism and art can often bring about self-transformation. When you discard your self, your ego and embark on expression that elevates and illumi-nates you are acting in the public good. You do not act for money or fame; you act for the common good of men. Many artists who were worth anything were starving as commer-cially their craft and art was not accepted, they were ahead of their time.
These types of acts will not only illuminate the public but foster self-actualization in the artist. Selfless acts in defending the weak and feeble is also acting in the public good and can help in the spiritual transformation. Escaping into the ivory tower and thinking about lofty goals will not gain the same. We must each do what we are put here for. Our dharma is what we are incarnated for and finding, this amounts to find-ing your happiness and bliss.
Chapter 5 Active Meditation
We live in an insane, speeded up world where privacy, peace and quiet are luxuries that we must take. But we al-ways have a choice, take thirty minutes every day to shut out all the worlds problems, noise and seek inner quiet and rest or we can be obediently and slavishly accept the information overload that we all face.
There are too many TV channels, too many books to read and too many movies made that will not get us any quality only to numb our senses.
When I was a child I grew up in a slower environment, we did not have a TV until I was 8 or 9. We had much less stress and crime around us. Things were quiet and stable.
We were also taught to pray. My maternal grandmother had taught me her favorite prayer and I followed her advice and prayed. When I felt sad or in discord over something I prayed to God and then waited in hopes to get results.
It was comforting. Psychologically it is good to have an outlet like that but as I grew older I prayed less and less. I guess I did not believe that anyone was listening to my petty little problems when there were bigger issues than mine.
When we pray we seek solace that is external. We look up and in hopes we tell God about our problems and ask him to help by doing this or that. As if some acts were to alleviate our problems.
Contrary, in meditation we must listen to God. We do not ask God for things but we listen to him. By listening we are remaining in a state of alertness. We are ready here and now to receive guidance, solace and peace of mind. After all, an all knowing, omniscient God would already know what bothers us, what we need? What is the point of praying and explain-ing?
In meditation we do not think of our problems or issues, in-stead we must put everything on the backburner. All issues and concerns we have must be quieted down. We must focus on our own being.
The very essence of life and be-ness is enough to start your meditation on. Banish all thoughts from your mind. Be in a room that is quiet; do not let anybody disturb you. Wear com-fortable clothes; sit upright in a comfortable chair.
Concentrate on your own breathing. Imagine that when you breathe in, you are alive; when you breathe out you are dead. Every inhale you are alive again, and every exhale you die. Your death is momentary for the length of the pressing out the air from your lungs. Then you breathe in again and resurrect. Do not think of anything else, but to be alive. Noth-ing matters, nothing can hurt you. You are ready to die and come back to the living each and every breath you take. Just listen to your own heart beating and the air passing through your body.
This is one technique of meditation and there are countless. You must pick and choose what you like, just like clothes you wear. Find the one that fits. The scenarios are numerous but you must take one that is close to you and your personality. I, personally found OSHO’s “The Book of Secrets” a great help to guide me through scenarios of meditations, but I stopped where he puts too much emphasis on tantric exercises that manipulate and open up centers. I would not advise you to do those.
The other meditation technique is where you imagine a scenario of you sitting in lotus position near a mountain lake; you are in the alpine region of forest, sitting near crystal clear water. You are very relaxed and slowly you put all your fears, every one of them in little boxes and float them on the surface of the water. You watch the water carry the little boxes fur-ther and further away from the place where you are until the little box is no longer visible. During this meditation you are not to think of any of these negative and scary things, you are observing yourself doing this. As the observer you see you sitting in meditation and letting go of all your fears. After each little box passes on, you feel happier and more re-laxed.
You see, this is self suggestion. You can do this as part of your meditation practice or you can do this while driving your car. It does not matter. The key to this is to have active imagination, and visualize the scenarios well. After more prac-tice the visualizing will get better.
Meditation can be done as I have suggested, alone, or in a group setting. When the group meditates together it is called guided meditation, as usually the group has a facilitator who guides the group. It is nice to start out in a group setting to get your feet wet, but my experience is that you can do this anytime and anywhere. This is the liberating part. You do not need a shrine, candles or incense. Those things are nice to have, a statue of your favorite Master, be it Buddha, Jesus, Vishnu, Krishna, or Mohammed. They are nice but not impor-tant. What is important is your imagination and control of your own thinking, or in this instance, non-thinking. Visualize well and you will start “hearing” from God.
It is said, that people who meditated for decades have lower cases of health issues, almost no stress and in some in-stances they can experience out of body episodes. In my humble opinion this should not be your goal when you medi-tate, but you should know, extraordinary things are included in the beneficial list of the effects of regular medita-tion.
Chapter 6 On Discrimination
“Oh, Thou Sun, send me as far around the world as is my pleasure and yours; and may I make the acquaintance of good men but never hear anything of bad ones, nor they of me.”
This was the Prayer of Apollonius of Tyana, circa 23
It is ideal to attract people who might have affinity to your ideas and at least are receptive to what you are all about. This is beneficial to all involved. This is done with your quality of thinking and thoughts. You can project a benign accepting and jolly attitude and this in turn will attract the same. You do not need to make an effort to love unconditionally every-one at the onset. The goal is universal Love and the projection of that, but that is very hard for the beginner. You can start by saying “I like all people”; you can do this by understand-ing their anger, fear and frustration which is always a projection of their suffering. There are several ways of calming the angry and redirecting their negative emotions by a sock-ing and surprising act from your part.
When I see a very angry person who is visibly fuming and I must deal with him in some way, I’d go out of my way not to antagonize him further. I am super nice with him whether I feel like it or not. You must break their pattern of uncon-trolled emotions somehow. This can be done by shocking them into a different pattern. I always do this without projecting weakness or servitude from my part. There is nothing to be said, you can project an aura or calmness and good waves about you without saying a word. Many times humor can work for you with difficult people.
You always have the right to avoid situations where you might be compromised or some conflict might arise. If you feel uncomfortable or strange with angry, disturbed people, a feel-ing, by the way is normal, then you can be more selective. This is done with the power of your mind. Eventually you will evolve into a skillful operator who do not back down from an occasional challenge and a difficult situation. Knowing that you always have the way out is calming. You are always in control. The power of the mind is very strong if you know how to use it. A focused mind is always in control of the confused, angry and emotional mind. The trick is to have no ego and know that this is never personal. The other party is not against you! He is in pain and projecting his pain, confusion and suffering onto you. Keep this always in mind!
This skill of the mind puts you in control. You can be dis-criminating, by using this skill you can select whom you get in contact on the daily basis. It is natural to select wisely and try to attract interesting and illuminating people who are a joy to be with.
Do not judge others by their appearance or physical char-acteristics! After a while studying the practical applications of the Ancient Wisdom you will be attuned to certain situations that are actually conjured up as tests. You are constantly tested and retested by circumstances in life. A feeble, un-trained mind looks at physical outer beauty but the trained mind subconsciously knows that all that is a façade. Truth is deeper than skin deep. Rather than looking at beauty or ugli-ness, you must see the eye. It will reveal everything. Sadly many people nowadays are not looking at the eye. They somehow shun eye contact. They are afraid what they might find…perhaps the reason for this is that an eye contact is al-ways two ways, and when you are seeking to find out about the other by looking you, by default reveal who you are. By looking in the eye you are becoming vulnerable.
Chapter 7 The Meaning of Life
Many people are wondering why they are here. What is the purpose of their life? To fully understand this question we must also understand Karma and Reincarnation better. If you do not believe in Karma and Reincarnation stop reading this. It will be a waste of your time. To the millions of people who are somewhat familiar with the Law of Karma, that knowl-edge can be a basis of further understanding life’s mysteries and even get a glimpse of the meaning of life.
Life as a whole is a lesson. What the lesson on hand is is not apparent because most of us are unaware of past lives and deeds. Our lives are only important in the way we interact and affect the lives of others. A good honorable life is filled with self-sacrifice and giving. Lacking these attributes gives a glimpse of certain shortcomings of the beholder. Most of us have lived thousands of lives, we have been black, white, Asian, men, woman.
We have been murderers and spectators of murder. Our evolutionary progress in the spiritual reams takes us through time and space, incarnating from body to body with some short interludes on the subtle plane. The ultimate purpose is to stop the cycle of the robotic repetition of the same mistakes and fall of the wheel of karma. This is the Buddhist terminol-ogy of Enlightenment.
Karma is life’s “cosmic bank account”. We accumulate good and bad karma with every deed and thought. Our kar-mic balance predetermines the condition we incarnate into, our economic status, parents, race and environment we are born into is all set even before we were conceived, and all is choreographed to perfection.
Dharma is the all encompassing path of achievement that suits us for this incarnation. This is what we are to do in this life. However, get this, we are free to turn away and chose other purposes and vocations.
The storehouse of heaven is filled with unfulfilled prophe-cies because we always have the freedom to choose! The catch is, fulfilling your Dharma will make you happy. Joseph Campbell knew this and advised all to “follow your bliss”. If you, for some reason not following your bliss, you will eventu-ally have to, you are prolonging the inevitable. In the next life you will face the same set of conditions as in the one you went astray. In a sense, you can push the pause your own progress, however the next time life’s lesson will be harder than in the first.
Following our Dharma will lead us to the life lessons and situations that we are to work out hence we are fulfilling out purpose. Whether we pass the number of tests given to us is a whole different story.
This cyclical nature of succession of lives is very much in line with the cyclical nature of time, seasons and lower forms of biological life. We see flowers bloom, whither away and bloom again. There is no reason to think that our path is any different.
As one wise old lady (HPB) once wrote;
“The LAW for the birth, growth and decay of everything in cosmos, from the sun to the glow-worm in the grass is ONE. It is an everlasting work of perfection with every new appearance, but the Substance-Matter and Forces are all one and the same.”
Chapter 8 On Universal Love
Contemporary New Age writers are usually wrong in many areas. The concept of “Universal Love” is perfect example of this. The lovey-dovey message of “we are all one” and hence we must love one another, unconditionally is hard to follow in practical life. While the concept is true, when we face the di-verse and often ill disposed people we may run into, one can understand why Universal Love is a “hard nut to crack”.
Apollonius of Tyanna had the following prayer; “O Sun, con-duct me to whatever part of the world may seem good to you and me; and grant me to know only the virtuous; as to the wicked, I wish neither to
know them nor be known by them.”
I work in a Casino, a gambling place, owned by an Indian tribe. People asked me if I love everyone who I come in con-tact with and my answer is always the same.
I like everybody. I like people. This inner confirmation allows me to attract people whom I can feel a connection with and keep away the riff-raff. This has worked amazingly well, and this is how it should be. It is impossible to love everyone but we must allow ourselves to like everyone. This works magic.
Chapter 9 What Killed the “Flower Power”?
The sixties and seventies were magical times. I was born in 1956 so I was still very young, but I had a chance to partake in the seventies as a youth. The age and the hippie movement were something very refreshing and new. It came as a synthe-sis of art (music), philosophy and a lifestyle that rejected all the robotic, mindless corporate culture that sadly got us where we are today.
We had great movies coming out of these 20 years. “One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest”, an adaptation of the 1962 novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey, just to name my favorite. We had a promising new age that rejected materialistic aims, sought (and found) spirituality and basi-cally enjoyed life through arts and love. This sounds easy, doesn’t it?
The problem came of course in the beginning via using rec-reational drugs.
Mind expansion is a novel concept and using “herbs” and magic mushrooms were customarily used by shamans, who took the dangers upon themselves in order to gain insight and possible serve their communities better. It was not a free for all.
Of course it was impossible to even attempt to explain this to the selfish and overly liberal mind to the flower children of that age.
Drugs are dangerous, they can be a novel experiment in the beginning but they are highly addictive, unhealthy and de-structive regardless of the kind of substance you wish to try. Through daily meditation and active serving the community a person can enjoy the same “mind expansion”, cleanly and freely of the aftereffect of a legal or illegal substance.
The same goes for sex. While it is part of life, and vehicle of procreation, free sex is not same as free love. Tantric sex is the other mind expanding vehicle that was embraced through the sixties and seventies. While I KNOW I will sound prudish, sex, especially promiscuous and unprotected sex is not mind expanding nor is it spiritual.
I know for a fact that while all this appear to be a coinci-dence, this is not. The age of the anti war, anti establishment movement that I prefer to call Flower Power, scared the pow-ers to be to their core. These “dark forces” that we must fight all the time, looked at the trend of the Hippie movement us-ing LSD and openly advocating destructive behaviors and at that point they knew that their battle have been won. The movement had no chance from that point on. As the cliché goes, “sex and drugs killed the anti-war, hippie movement”. The war continued on and eventually was lost, the young re-publicans eventually ventured back to the college campuses and the new selfish, materialistic eighties were coming.
Everything goes in cycles. The pendulum swung back but this does not mean that all is lost. These twenty years gave us plenty to learn from and much great music and art came from this era.
Having said this, where is the outrage of our new war, in Afghanistan? What about the mass protests against war on the middle class? Where are the mass protests of the wholesale theft in Washington? I wish we had the ounce of the gump-tion and zeal TODAY that the Vietnam war protesters once had. Would we have more outrage if the US army were not voluntary fighting force? What would happen if the pow-ers re instituted the draft? Protesting out of self-interest is wrong. The war in Afghanistan is not winnable; it clearly lacks goals and purpose. No nation has ever defeated these people. The US will not be the exemption. Better dust off those old history books …
Chapter 10 Let Go, Let God
We live in scary, uncertain times. Change is in the air. It is best not to listen to the news but some of it is unavoidable. I listen to talk radio and it is interrupted with sporadic news, often emotion takes over when we listen to political and eco-nomic news.
No matter what job you have or how much money you have in the bank, REAL security is fleeing and unattainable. It is accepted that more money people have more they worry about who is after their wealth or what political organization has them in their crosshair.
Let’s face it, more money you have more you are a target to all sorts of efforts to "liberate" you from your material wealth. This begets paranoia and rightfully so. There are tre-mendous ups and downs associated with material wealth. I was reading a very interesting article about the life stories of ten substantial lotto winners, who are now on government as-sistance or barely making ends meet.
In Biblical Times, Jewish children caught sparrows to sell in the marketplace. Jesus used the sparrow to illus-trate this Wisdom Law
"And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin? And not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father's will...Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows" (Mt 10:28-31; see also Lk 12:4-7). "
People on the spiritual path should understand this and ac-cept it. There is a secret of the Ancient Wisdom and it goes like this; when you are in heart and mind accept Nature’s Laws and you lay back and let go a miracle will happen!
"Let Go, Let God".
You must have strong, unyielding faith in this but when and if you do, magical things will happen! The Universe will provide for you, it will take care of you. It is like a circular system resembling the cornucopia, whatever you put in one end you'll get it back tenfold. The secret is, and this is important; you must be a giver not a taker! Since there is an esoteric oneness what you give it is actually one that you “save”, since all is one, conversely when you take, you only take from the “collective”, yourself included. You see?
The saying is truer than ever, “Takers fall on hard times, but givers keep on giving.”
Chapter 11 On Understanding the Bible
For me much of the Old Testament is historical and alle-gorical. The Old Testament is the law of "eye doctrine", while the New Testament is the Law of love and redemption. When reading the New Testament one naturally must focus on Jesus and his parables. When reading the good book it is useful to make Jesus a principle rather than a person. There is much wisdom in this if you ready to accept it.
Here are some of saying of Jesus that I would like to ex-pand and discuss.
Baptism of Jesus by John
Here are the explanations on sayings of Jesus with the Eastern perspective using the Ancient Wisdom as guide...
Let me repeat for emphasis, when reading the Bible and seeing 'I am', referring to Jesus, it is helpful to mentally sub-stitute 'The Christ Principle', and think in Universal concepts rather than a person.
Mt. (3.13.) 'Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to the Jordan, unto John, to be baptized by him.
Mt. (3.14.) But John stayed him, saying: I ought to be bap-tized by thee, and comest thou to me?
Mt. (3.15.) And Jesus answering, said to him: Suffer it to be so now. For so it becometh us to fulfil all justice.
John was the Teacher preceding Jesus, if not in importance but in timeline. He virtually taught the same principles with some variations.
Baptism by water, versus baptism with Fire, that was the technical difference. This action of baptism was actually an initiation for spiritual advancement.
When Jesus agreed or even encouraged John to baptize him - he acknowledged his own need to advance to the next level, which was his sixth initiation.
As most initiations were tests, this was a test for Jesus in hu-mility and showing that he overcame his Ego. He was a well-known teacher and he lowered himself in order to show exam-ple. There can be no rivalry between the true followers on the Path, as both Jesus and John were.
Jesus is tempted by the devil
Mt. (4. 1.) 'Then Jesus was led by the spirit into the desert, to be tempted by the devil.
Mt. (4. 2.) And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterwards he was hungry
Mt. (4. 3.) And the tempter coming said to him: If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.
Mt. (4. 4.) Jesus answered and said: It is written, not in bread alone doth man live, but in every word that proceedeth from the mouth of God.'
"Word of God" in this sense symbolically refers to the Wis-dom (God's Consciousness) and Spirituality that man needs to live as much as one needs water and food to stay alive. God's Consciousness affords men life beyond death, not in body but in spirit.
Bliss and Myth are needed to make life worthwhile. The secret is Mind-heart link and Love.
The word of God is the understanding man's divinity and his potential to defeat death and gain immortality.
The test in material life is to learn to live in the physical world without losing the Awe and Bliss that Myths gave us.
I am the way, and the truth
Jhn. (14.1) 'Do not let your hearts be distressed. You believe in God, believe also in me.
Jhn. (14.2.) There are many dwelling places in my Father's house. Otherwise, I would have told you, because I am going away to make ready a place for you.
Jhn. (14.3.) And if I go and make ready a place for you, I will come again and take you to be with me, so that where I am you may be too.
Jhn. (14.4.) And you know the way where I am going.'
Jhn. (14.5.) Thomas said, 'Lord, we don not know where you are going. How can we know the way?'
Jhn. (14.6.) Jesus replied, 'I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
Jhn. (14.7.) If you have known me, you will know my Fa-ther too. And from now on you do know him and have seen him.'
Jesus referes to God and "his father" as a separate entity, a sign that Jesus is human and not God incarnate.
When one replaces 'I am' with the 'Christ Principle', one would find a symbolic affirmation that we are on the right track in our path to God's Conscioiusness if we get overshad-owed by the 'Christ Principle'.
The 'dwelling', 'house' and other methaphors for the ultimate goal for men, which is Oness with God, but not in the flesh only in Spirit.
Jesus is showing the way and in fact the only way to spiritual advancement by Love, Service and Sacrifice. He is hinting to them what follows (his impending death and ascend).
To me, it says, in no uncertain terms that the disciples can have the same eternal life as the Master, if and when they also achieve the same as He.
Chapter 12 The Razors Edge
The expression the Razor’s Edge depicts the dilemma we all face on the Spiritual path. How do we go on living our lives in the material realm while we aspire to leave it, and leave it for good?
Some people think the best is to follow what the “old tim-ers” did in the old days. Packing up and leaving everything behind, they went on living in a cage or in the woods isolated from society, while others decide to go out and teach even thou pupils are not knocking on their doors. Self-promotion and marketing in the spiritual realm is especially disturbing to me, as they taught us – “set up shop at the side of the road and people will come”.
You see, they never told us to go out and recruit or to seek pupils. The mandate is specific; the job is to do good. What-ever forms it maybe and attention will eventually be given and people will come to you.
Ever since I have started on this path, this was a conun-drum to me. It was hard as I am not particularly talented in any artistic endeavor; I am not an exceptionally talented or imaginative writer of fiction. I have no musical talent at all, except I appreciate and can recognize musical works of art.
At one point I thought I might become a Numerologist, and while the craft is still very close to me as a hobby, I can clearly see it now, I will never practice it as a business. A while back I have stared a reprint publishing business with the idea of reviving some great books, namely, “Queen Cleo-patra”,” Zanoni”, and “Tros of Samothrace”, while publishing my own books on investing.
Finally, I have decided to write about things I know and hence make a small effort to help people in any and all forms of life. It dawned on me how liberating it is NOT to limit my-self to the esoteric or spiritual subject. How refreshing it is not to focus on one aspect of the Ancient Wisdom but embrace it all while trying to do my share of “doing good”.
Do not get me wrong. There is nothing wrong to make a business out of the spiritual path, but one must be very care-ful on this approach! You cannot sell God as a sack of potatoes. Spiritual performers, artist and alike can do this if they exercise care. However, it is clear that this path is not for me. I am a publisher.
I do not publish only for the money, I love books and I love the ambiance of the literary world. I love my adopted language, and while I constantly need improvement I am ac-tually getting better at writing.
Chapter 13 On Political Systems
There is an unprecedented debate going on in the United States. One side is demonizing Socialism and the other side is promoting it without considerations of costs and if it encour-ages and enables irresponsible behavior.
I have always wanted to steer clear of politics. I keep away from both parties. While I have voted for President Obama, I am registered as an Independent and currently see no vi-able political party that I would support even philosophically, let alone with donations.
In this chapter the subject of socialism or capitalism will be examined in pure philosophical context. At least this is my intention; forgive me if I become a little political here and there.
I have been pondering for sometime now whether the Hierarchy of Light would prefer socialism as a political sys-tem or would they rather have a new and totally fresh political system that is based on co-operation and sharing not individualism and competition?
Clearly, this new system presupposes that mankind rises above its current cynical and selfish materialistic state and is ready and accepting of something new.
In my youth I have been raised in a Socialist country. It was oppressive and controlling yet it offered equal footing for all in education, health care and jobs. It was amazing how safe everybody was during the golden ages of Janos Kadar’s goulash communism.
There was no unemployment, no crime to speak of, and no-body had to worry about getting sick either mentally or physically.
Unfortunately my birth country, namely Hungary, being a poor one in natural resources was slowly going broke. It could not afford the generosity of a welfare state. Sweden, Norway or Finland, just to mention a few, are in a different situation. I have left my birth country on supposed, political reasons. My true reasonswere, similarly to millions of others was eco-nomical. I was an alienated youth under Kadar but I had no political issues or involvement at home.
After having lived in the United States for over 30-years, slowly, I had became very disillusioned with the political sys-tem here. The fact of the matter is that the US giant, multinational, fortune 500 corporations have systematically betrayed and immorally sabotaged the middle classes that were in part contributor to their successes. This is a fact, it cannot be denied or argued; only it can be double talked and explained in terms of short term views and corporate quar-terly profits. The middle class is still expected to “bail out” the US economy and every time consumer confidence is shaken the market sells off. Is this hypocritical or what? These short term thinkers, MBA types, have killed the golden goose that laid the golden eggs, since the end of the World War II.
There is tremendous economic insecurity in the US and it causes stress, illnesses and induces people to do things of their lower nature.
My conclusion is that neither political system is beneficial or sufficient to a spiritually elevated world. As long as the impersonal face of the government enters into redistributing wealth among the people there will be trouble and resis-tance. Simply put, the government, especially the US government will screw it up!
There must be something new, available, something that is resembles socialism but with out the suffocating control of the population, and lacking the exploitative nature of capitalism. This new system, I suspect would be based on local, smaller economies where private ownership is not by discouraged but monopoly and exploitation is.
Chapter 14 Death and Dying
My friends have a small boy, aged 6. When his grandfather died his parents chose not to tell him what had happened. Somehow the old man’s death was shunned. It was not some-thing they talked about. It remained a mystery surrounded with scary images and the unknown. Sadly, this is how we approach death in the West. The little boy kept asking about “Tata” and he never got any real answer. He must have missed the old guy, I know, I did. I think an explaination would have been in place.
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