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Chapter 3 - Why are we here ?
Learning teaches - it is the perfect learning model.
'Why are we here?’ is a question that Human Beings have been asking themselves since consciousness created awareness that they were and are part of a larger whole, whether that is known as God, Nature or The Universe.
So is there a simple answer?
The simplest answer that I have is this: that we are here to recognize the soul Being in others, which was created for the same reason as our own.
What makes this potentially more complicated is that we should also try through our thoughts and actions to help them on their journey, as though it has the same importance as our own journey, incorporating the importance of the messages that came before.
What is the point in reconnecting with God if not reconnected with one another first? The ultimate paradox is the con-artist (‘con’ ironically means ‘with’). Deception serves no-one and consequently has no sustainable purpose. Therefore self-deception is ultimately meaningless.
Have you ever thought about the words ‘Jesus died on the cross for our sins’? This could be interpreted as: ‘Jesus will save us’.
There is perhaps a more poignant message in this: ‘Jesus, a Human who tried to help other people and undoubtedly did through the message and the Christ Being, was murdered by crucifixion because of the separation of others whom He called His children’.
The first interpretation can have the stain of abdication; the latter has a dye of responsibility. His death was not an isolated injustice; complete innocents have died and suffered since because of the separation of Human Beings, both directly and indirectly. Think of the young children at Auschwitz and Gaza. His core message was to love one another. This has never changed, nor ever will. If Jesus the Christ, the will of God incarnate, was indeed murdered, then it was also by definition an attempt to kill God.
There have been many attempts to kill off God since, most commonly by scientific writers. This I think God would object to. However, I do not think that God would think anything of experiencing temporal death as a loving Creator in order to protect the innocent, because the circle of life is eternal so ultimately it would make no difference. The first is last, seeing the possibility of the outside from the inside; the alpha and the omega, seeing the possibility of Human Beings as a creation.
Consequently, the latter interpretation of the message takes nothing away from Jesus’ temporal death or the manner of death. The point is this: ‘Jesus will save you’ suggests that we can each find a saviour outside of ourselves. The way of life that the Christ and the other avatars taught is one of finding our true selves and taking responsibility for our lives, thoughts and actions. He taught be like me, and follow by my example in helping others.
That is our choice.
The question might then be this: if that is the case, why do I sometimes suffer if I try to help others?
At a personal level, my journey was sometimes painful and has always been always uncomfortable, but I have always found the strength one way or another to never give up and to overcome my potential fears. What I have learned I share freely, both professionally and personally. I enjoy nothing more than helping and encouraging others to learn and grow. My advice is never to stop helping. Eventually both the truth and the learning from sharing and helping others will reveal itself. Fear will always be overcome.
Please try to compare any fear or discomfort to learning to ride a horse. You might need some initial instruction, some help, or you could try to work it all out yourself. You might also need some encouragement. Courage is doing something despite your potential fears; encouragement is helping others overcome theirs. It is easier if you have something previous to go on, someone to lead, something to follow. To learn to ride you also have to risk falling off. Supposing that you do fall off, it might actually hurt. What do you do then: give up, or get back on and try again? The cause of the pain is the process of learning, because your journey of learning is incomplete. Maybe you are the one helping another to ride that horse.
You might consider that the initial pain is not caused as a result of something that you have done, but by the actions of others. Firstly, if that is the case, then it proves the point about separation from others. How can we expect others to be different if we are not prepared to accept changes to and within ourselves for others? Secondly, how can they start to learn if not starting with the experience of you and your way of Being, the choices that you make that inspire others. Maybe you are here as the one to start helping them. Maybe you are that mirror, the one who helps to lead others by example.
Sometimes you will see others prosper at your expense, but this is always transient. To quote the words of Mahatma Gandhi, ‘When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love has always won. There have been tyrants and murderers and for a time they seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall - think of it, always.’ Sometimes I prefer Groucho Marx’s amusing quote: ‘Time wounds all heels’. This sounds a little harsh, however it is essentially the same as karma. This also works the other way round, when you help others the favour is ultimately returned - just don’t expect instant results! It might take some time, but what goes round really does come round. A circle is eternal.
The point is this: all life is a test. The test is for the long run. For each test we must prepare, much like we have to prepare for professional and academic examinations, and to do that we must all learn.
Some believe that we learn through successive lives. Is this true? I have spoken to people who have had hypnotherapy regression. During this experience they became aware of the existence of another life. When they researched this life they found an accurate correlation with what had been revealed to them. I too am aware of such lives. I think it is better that you pray that this is true, since to learn everything you need to know within a single lifetime might be too much for even the strongest and most resilient Human Being!
If you are content with the thought that this life is your one and only time, then that is your response and your choice alone. If you are incorrect then that is your responsibility also. Everyone that has become conscious of that choice has the opportunity to choose, possibly more than once in each lifetime. The reason this choice is so important now is that we are fast approaching the end-game and going into a new world. Regardless of the choice that you and only you can make, the primary lesson we must all ultimately learn is that we are each soul Beings, a part of a whole, or the One. At the very least, that must ultimately include a common good and a respect for all Beings in order to make the existence of Human Beings sustainable. We are conscious of sustainability, a thoughtful way of Human Being. We are not just a Human Doing.
In addition, there are many other thoughtful lessons that can be and need be learnt during life to help us grow as Human Beings. These can be learnt through new experience, by applying innate knowledge (using feelings or instincts), by asking questions and observing what is sustainable, by reflecting on our own behaviours using the mirror of others, through conscious thought or reason, and by sharing knowledge and the experience of others. In my experience, the best learning is gained through the deeply shared experiences of collaborating, creating and giving, because we then also have the benefit of the lessons, experience and knowledge of others, including their uncomfortable learnings, breakthroughs and accomplishments.
Pain involves pushing the boundaries, realizing that none really exist until you break through them. Essentially this is within the mind, enabling both the mind and body to grow, within the virtue of excellence.
One of the main lessons to learn from pain is healing. The word disease both literally and essentially means dis-ease, that something is not correct, whole or complete within either the physical / temporal, spiritual or psychological body. Modern medicine has an important part to play in the well-Being of every Human, and all other living creatures. It is part of Human technology and learning. However, medical research will one day indentify and acknowledge that all healing is a change in energy, which creates and flows through the form of the Human body.
Let me give you a specific example to help explain. I was diagnosed many years ago with hypertension, or high blood pressure. This basically means a constriction of the arteries that increases the pressure on the heart to pump blood around the body. Some of this can be caused by stress, but often it is triggered by hereditary factors in one’s genetics. Certain drugs can help relieve this pressure. How they work is by reforming the internal shape or flexibility of the arteries. Since all form is the shape of energy, it must be creating a change in energy within the body.
The ancient Egyptians understood this technology and practiced both holistic medicine and physical brain surgery. Hieroglyphs at the temple of Kom Ombo on the River Nile showed the surgical instruments the ancient Egyptians used, which were very similar to those used in modern times. Very few things are new. I remember something my father-in-law said to me. He said, ‘Steve, there is nothing that you and I have thought of that is new, it is just that we have better technology now to make it happen’. In this, we can include the technology of language; same message, different language.
Traditional Chinese medicine, in development for over 4,000 years, uses this same understanding of the nature of energy. For example, acupuncture, chiropractic and reflexology and are simply different techniques to exploit the same technology (or know-how) of energy manipulation and redirection. Reflexology itself was invented and practiced over 5,000 years ago in ancient Egypt. It was only resurrected in the western world by William Fitzgerald in the 20th Century; again the process of sharing knowledge, things that are already known by someone, whether past or present.
Can anyone be a healer?
The answer depends on at which level.
Just by active listening to someone and helping another through difficult times, you are being a healer. You could take this to a different level and perhaps be a doctor, nurse, counselor or psychotherapist. However, the easiest way to being a healer is to be there for others in time of trouble. We can all learn to do this.
We must also learn to heal past wounds between two souls, to be at peace with one another. Soul healing can be from past lives, karma that is brought forward. During recent years I have reconnected with everyone that I needed to. There is peace between us, and nothing more to apologize for. Some of these people I recognize that I had known over many lifetimes. Some of these reciprocated the recognition. When you develop the gift, you will recognize these people, maybe including who you both were during that life and how you were related to each other. At one time or another, we all loved each other.
This may be difficult to accept, but when someone who does not deliberately bear you ill will does something to you that you would rather they did not, that is a lesson you must learn by reflection because you have not fully learnt from a similar experience it in the past. This might even be the same soul Being from the past on whom you have inflicted a similar pain. This will also work in reverse for any positive experience or karma, when favour is ultimately returned and comes back to you.
If you doubt this, try apologizing to someone who you think has done harm to you, that you want this act to be in the past where it belongs. The apology is because you have made judgement upon them, without knowing them and what may have driven them to it. The reaction is usually unexpected. Even if you cannot forget, or are not supposed to as an important lesson, you can always forgive. Love is for giving; forgiveness is the ultimate healing for everyone, the message and promise of the Christ.
The lesson of healing is one of giving comfort and support during life. It can be applied to those who are experiencing pain or trying to find their way in life, the afflicted or disabled, the ill or dying, the homeless, the destitute or the starving, or even more simply the hungry, either physically or just in respect of the love that they need.
All Human Beings that have passed the second Gate of Light also become spiritual healers, working at a higher level of energy. This is fully manifested at the fifth Gate of Light (see Chapter 8) - sometimes called '5D' (which is short for the 5th Dimension).
The other lesson is to learn how to teach what we know. There is not much to say, except to share what you know for others’ benefit. Do not force this upon them, rather let them choose to understand and challenge. The aim is not to win; there can be no losers in sharing. If you are correct, the challenge will reinforce the understanding or knowledge. If not, then it can be refined. However, walk away from someone who is vexatious or antagonistic until they acknowledge that you are doing this to try to help them. It is impossible to help someone unless they choose that want to be helped. By far the best form of teaching is leading by example.
I have often been asked by different people if the dynamics of life are driven by free will or fate. The best answer I can give is through an analogy.
Imagine, if you will, a ship sailing from England to the Americas. The ship is sailing from A to B whether the passengers like it or not. This is fate. Conversely, we are like the passengers on the ship. Our safety relies upon the ship. We can choose to do what we want while the ship is sailing, but the ship is still sailing from A to B. This is free will. We can choose to help keep the ship afloat or sink it. If the ship is in trouble, we can then choose to help others through it.
You might say that you do not find that ships are that safe, therefore let’s use another example.
Imagine a blue and green planet. It will continue to revolve and move in an orbit around it’s Sun, as long as its’ Sun, Moon and other orbiting planets continue supporting it. That is fate. We are free to do what we want on that planet, the ship that we rely upon to survive. That is free will. If we choose to sink that ship, how it keeps us alive, we will also perish. The gift of life will be taken away.
The same thoughts can apply to communities, those environments that are larger than us and commonly or communally good. Inclusive communities fall into the same purpose, as do organizations that are benevolent and inclusive, including consideration of their environments that make them sustainable. Our sustainability is therefore also part of our free will choice of respect for something that is larger than us as individuals.
There is a greater journey taking place, and we can only be a part of it, including our free will choices during each and every journey of life.
The final lesson to learn therefore is service; how to serve and be of service to others. It is the same as the service to the One. That is not the same as being subservient, especially to those who would wish to take away empowerment or have control over others. The love of One will never be like this, never taking away our choice. That is how you will recognize conscious separation in others.
Paradoxically, the more control you give up to the universe (the ship or God) the more control you ultimately have over your own safe outcome. In Islam this means surrender. Understand this apparent puzzle and you will solve the puzzle of life itself.
Our thoughts and actions support the outcome, whether this is to make existence sustainable or transient. Our transience as Human Beings is illustrated by this. If the history of the Earth is concentrated into a twenty-four hour period, Human Beings have only been here for the equivalent of a few seconds. The test of the universe, or creation, is therefore about choosing good intentions in the here and now to create sustainable outcomes for all life of Earth, and other sentient Beings in particular.
All other life creates harmony and balance within the whole, a symbiosis that sustains life itself. Without equilibrium there is no sustainability, yet according to Heraclitus, there is nothing permanent except change. The whole of creation is therefore a balancing act. The Buddha’s Middle Way can be applied to so many things. For example, have we inherited the Earth from our ancestors, or have we borrowed it from our children? Do we sustain and share that which has been given or try to control it for ourselves? That is the choice we must all make for Human Beings to be and sustain.
The universe is full of irony in this respect. A world built on barter tokens (money) can never be sustainable. How can a barter token be more important than that which it represents, the value of the object being shared? How can a system that is based on competition for money possibly work? Do you trade or compete over the ability to trade?
Money is a technology that represents our collaborative bartering system. Therefore this system should be owned by all, never by a few, for the benefit of all, to enable trade and reinvestment in collaborative, constructive and benevolent projects, and nothing else. I probably understood this irony better than most, having qualified as an accountant and earning a Masters degree in Business Administration, majoring in finance and technology.
You might therefore ask if it is acceptable to accumulate a barter token. The only answer I can give you is that it depends on how it is accumulated and then how it is used and shared. If the barter token is accumulated collaboratively to create flexibility for a community that includes all within a community, and is then deployed constructively and benevolently across communities, then the use of money is moral. This is not advocacy for any political system: communism failed humanity as much as capitalism, because both were ultimately based on control of others and self-serving power of a few. Fairness and freedom can only be underpinned by a moral system and shared global values in order to remain sustainable, regardless of any advocated political, sociological or economic system.
Systems of trade are shared and intrinsically collaborative. Other than for greed, control and ultimately self-serving power, I think that normally caring Human Beings accumulated the barter token because they were uncertain about their own future. They were uncertain about that future because of previous separation, and the assumed unwillingness of others to look after and share with them in later life. This also applied to anyone without the full ability to survive and avoid hunger in a world based on a management of limited resources, or economics. Economics means the management of scarce resources (from the Greek oikonomia, or household administration). Economic ‘growth’ is therefore an oxymoron, a contradiction. You cannot manage the growth of something that is scarce or limited. However, you can make something that is limited in supply better serve the needs of everyone through efficiency and effectiveness in the processes of production, trade and service.
Many years ago, to help understand and solve this apparent problem, I thought about the analogy of baking a cake. Suppose that the cake is fixed in size, and you take a larger and larger slice of the cake. The outcome is that others will end up with less. If they end up with less than they need, there will be conflict. There is more to trade than money. The natural and physical resources of the planet are finite. The thinking and conceptual solutions of Human Beings are not.
So what is the solution? The answer is to bake a more nutritious cake, something with greater value to everyone, of lasting shared benefit that is sustainable, by collaborative effort. That does not entail baking a larger cake than is needed, because that will result in waste and impact the environment upon which all life depends, including the existence of Human Beings. Nor does it mean consuming more than you would need, because there is only so much you can eat without also wasting it. As Gandhi once put it, there is enough for need but not for greed.
Our technology, the science of know-how, can be shared to benefit all. This is what we were taught us at the beginning of our Masters degree: decide how to use what is learnt, a decision on how to help avoid the haves and have nots. This polarization is not inevitable unless we accept that greed is good. Who would honestly elect leaders who believe in such a thing unless they were greedy themselves? I for one do not want my children to grow up in such a world.
The intentions for sustainable growth are manifested through our collaborative thoughts and actions. One is pointless without the other. We need to act on what we think, or they remain just thoughts. Constructive and benevolent outcomes, including consideration of the interests of future generations (of which you are likely to be a part if you are worthy and incarnate again), give us the motivation to go through this learning process together by sharing our good thoughts and actions with the same intent, creating a holistic and virtuous circle of personal and spiritual growth.
Learning is about growth and sharing. This can be applied to healing, teaching and serving others. Ultimately it is personal, enabling a return to Source.
Sharing gives all of us a common purpose and something of lasting shared value and joint benefit; it provides the basis of a perfect learning model. It also gives us hope for life, together, a life that is authentic and sustainable. Conversely, life will go on, whether Human Beings exist or not.
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