Spiritual Survival in a Temporal World, Chapter 13.

It has been awhile since I put up another chapter in this online book. The reason is that the site which has been hosting it has not been responding to my emails; more than half a dozen of them and I wasn't going to put another one up there unless I heard back so... here is a new blog which will feature chapters from the various books I am writing. I'll migrate the other chapters here over time and here is where you will find them for the moment. This is not what I had in mind for this blog but it will do for the moment.

There’s a debate on at one of my websites about whether one should arm themselves to the teeth or trust in the benevolence and protection of a God who doesn’t seem to have done much about the pervasive emerging evils of our time.

It might be best to define how the divine operates and the mediums employed on certain occasions. You’ll note that this does not require defining what the divine is. That is unknowable. We can observe the way water and fire behave and control it for our needs. We have also seen both water and fire get out of control. The same can be said of earth and wind. Each has their assets and calamities.

In humanity we can see similar features based on ignorance or awareness. It’s been the trend among leaders and those who manipulate the herd for profit that they seek to increase ignorance and limit awareness. They like to take the basic impulses toward religion and morality and interpret them in a confusing and absurd manner which provides the opportunity for everyman to be a little dictator and oppressor of those around him. They also like to corrupt the appetites and desires of the herd. You can look around you right now and see what I’m talking about in every respect.

Like elements that get out of control for whatever the reason may be; wildfires in California, tsunamis in Asia, earthquakes in South America or hurricanes in the Caribbean; the same can be said for different populations and collectives of particular fundamentalist ideologies. The same can be said for particular political ideologies and for most idiot-ologies that are manipulated by leaders and those who profit from the runoff of what is stolen from people because of their obsessions and ignorance. It’s a vicious cycle and this cycle can be seen in Nature and in human affairs.

I tend to believe that Nature mirrors the state of humanity. There are (rare) times when humanity lives in accord with Nature and balance is maintained. There are (less rare) times when humanity dominates and corrupts Nature and what you see in the mirror is something twisted out of its natural appearance. Teachings that might mean one thing in their original intent are reinterpreted to mean something else so that those who profit from the ignorance of humanity might profit still more. This is how religions are turned into killing machines and how moral compasses are rendered incapable of giving true direction.

Let’s take for example the word ‘jihad’. To me this means an intentional and internal war to root out the evil and ignorance in one’s own being and thereby make one safe from the ignorance around them. This term has been given another meaning in these days by a portion of the followers of the religion to which the term applies and by those from other religions who want it to have that same interpretation so that those who profit from the ignorance of the masses might again increase their spoils.

Most religions, in their true intent, have to do with causing changes in the individual that will benefit them and those they encounter. What we see is that the teachings are changed from this and directed outward upon the world at large for the forceful subjugation of others to an ‘external’ force. The inner appearance of the divine is the divine in essence. The outer appearance is the devil. It’s the manipulation of appearances interpreted by sensory apparatus that is applied by those seeking to profit from the perversion of understanding. It’s a simple thing that becomes increasingly more confusing as you attempt to define and analyze it on the outside. “What’s puzzlin you is the nature of my game.”

If you believe that you must protect yourself from the outside against a threat from the outside then the weapons are implements of injury. The motivation for their use is manipulated by twisting true information into false information which is why the main stream media, political entities and houses of world religion are engaged in continuous lies whose purpose is fear and whose intention is to profit from the proliferation of it.

Ageless wisdom says that there is a power within you that is greater than anything outside of you. Ageless wisdom also tells you that this life is a never ending costume ball. It tells you that the life within you is eternal whereas the costume of any particular life is not.

So... should you get a gun and defend the homestead? Should you bow your head and offer your neck? I’ll try to put this into perspective and at the same time offer an explanation to someone who wanted to let me know that it’s all one and anything perceived in a dual sense is futile. I’m quite familiar with the Advaita Vedanta viewpoint. I’m also familiar with the self and its reflection and that the soul is a vehicle that contains the spirit. It’s all well and good to say that it’s all one but even in the saying of it the thing divides again. So I don’t spend much time wondering if this or that is better than this or that. I take it from where I am and that is about all I can manage. I’m not a scholar, I’m a mystic... or a fool if you prefer.

As I have said many times before; many ways up the mountain. It’s also possible to be the mountain and also possible to cast the mountain into the sea. It’s possible to mistake one mountain for another and it’s possible that anything is possible. If I get too involved in counting the angels dancing on the pin I might forget to smell the roses as I go so...

Here’s how I look at it. It’s ALL Karma... here. Where you are and what you are, is Karma. I’m going to make this simple. Your Karma is your movie. It is the role you find yourself in and the circumstances and environments that make up your role. So, you play your role to the best of your abilities. Some of us are set up to be Jessie James and some of us are set up to be Marshal Dillon. Some of us are meant to be poor and some rich and some are meant to be Elmer Fudd with an attitude problem. Your job is to convert what you’ve been given into the best expression that you can. The whole world is watching, even if you don’t think so.

You may need guns and you may not. You may dream of Peru and never go and you may live in Peru and hate the place. There is one thing you can do no matter where you are and that is to begin to act as if it were God experiencing it. When you do this, it is automatic that the shortest way out of your Karma will immediately be revealed. Whether you have the drive and intensity of focus to main it is another thing.

Everything in what is termed the external world is an implement of Karma. Your perception of what they are and what they do is an aspect of Karma. What you think you are is an element of Karma. It stands to reason that, if there is a God then that God is an aspect of you; or you are an aspect of it. So, the whole point of life is to discover the proper relationship between yourself and the divine, or to ignore it and get on with your personal dreams and demands or to shape the relationship so that it justifies the pursuit of your dreams and demands. You can complicate it with rationales and mumbo jumbo but it is one of these, one way or another.

So... do you need a gun or a knife? My take is, if you do you will have it but the idea that you can protect yourself when you are in a state of ignorance is not the best defensive posture. In scripture we are told, “If God is for me who can be against me?” Find God and you have the answer to everything.

Once you can see that life is a movie and that everything is under control, there is no enemy. The enemy is your mind. There is a film called “Jacob’s Ladder” that makes the point very well. We’ll talk more about these things in the next chapter.

Visible sings: ♫ The Tangled Woods ♫