To go back to Cal's criticism of Seth (from Jane Roberts), yes, I have just read that certain people are especially set up to receive esoteric knowledge. Often, they are being taught (past, future, present) to access this knowledge within our reality frame. So, yes, some are special in this regard. However, as said, such things are accessible for us if we try. Oddly, meditation, or "navel gazing" as it is sometimes called, is not an easy thing. That is why children are punished by being put in a corner. We crave outside stimuli. Try it - of a variety of your choosing - and see. If you can stick with it, some unexpected things might happen.
Also, Seth touches on suffering - as our consciousness creates the world (according to Seth), so worldly woes are also created by us - not just through evil people, but by the natural phenomena of death and disease and so on as well. He claims that this is all fall-out from experimenting with our creativity, including such things as war and the attendant crimes. On this, I admit to being skeptical. It passes over frank divisions between good and evil on the part of humans, even if all is assumed under the One in the final analysis. Surely, there must be penalties for evil choices? Perhaps that will come up towards the end of the book. I, for one, am not ready to admit to absolute moral relativity.
Speaking of meditation: It was during meditation this morning that an idea came up: again, on the impossible exhortations of Jesus for us to turn the other cheek, be meek, give up all things, our cloaks and so on. Referring back to Seth, among many others, the ego is seen as the machine behind our survival. But it is also our prison warden, so obsessively concerned with its directive that it blots out other avenues of consciousness and perception that could be available at each moment. Jesus's parables on this, then, are another take on avoiding the ego - in fact, in this light, a lesson on the ego itself. It is not so much that we must give up all things - although to a perfect human, this would be possible - but to be aware of the trap this aspect of ego lays for us. I believe what is being said is, "deny the primacy of survival first and always. Deny it so that you might see the reality(ies) behind it." Thus, again, is reiterated the central notion that is in the New Testament, of turning the world on its head. It is (or may be, in my view) a prescription for spiritual enlightenment, a stark model of the ego and how to overcome, or see beyond, it.
In the end, as always, lies faith; not the blind faith of the fanatic believer, but rather a faith in the process, in the rightness of being. Tuning from the ego, even for a short period, often brings terror. This singular point of consciousness believes that by being shut off, it will die. That is the reason why you and I often freak out over something extraordinary. For me, my out-of-body experiences were often accompanied by panic as I realized the bizarreness (to the working ego) of the situation. Help! I'm dying! And thus ends the experiment. Faith, first and foremost, is there to give us courage. If we firmly believe that we are part of eternity and eternal, we have far less to fear and much more room to grow. It is the necessary adjunct to getting beyond the limited self. Thus Jesus is giving us a prescription for spiritual growth. I don't know how that would be viewed by the orthodox, but what does it contradict?
As we are nearing Easter, I will try, if the spirit comes, to see from a different angle the death and Resurrection of Christ, as well as the notion of pan-human sin and redemption. Or perhaps I will simply leave it to the experts. For me, the Redemption is perhaps the hardest thing to understand - unless it is understood in the terms of the religion, Judaism, that gave birth to it. If inspiration flows, or some reader has an encompassing take on it, perhaps tomorrow. FK
Also, Seth touches on suffering - as our consciousness creates the world (according to Seth), so worldly woes are also created by us - not just through evil people, but by the natural phenomena of death and disease and so on as well. He claims that this is all fall-out from experimenting with our creativity, including such things as war and the attendant crimes. On this, I admit to being skeptical. It passes over frank divisions between good and evil on the part of humans, even if all is assumed under the One in the final analysis. Surely, there must be penalties for evil choices? Perhaps that will come up towards the end of the book. I, for one, am not ready to admit to absolute moral relativity.
Speaking of meditation: It was during meditation this morning that an idea came up: again, on the impossible exhortations of Jesus for us to turn the other cheek, be meek, give up all things, our cloaks and so on. Referring back to Seth, among many others, the ego is seen as the machine behind our survival. But it is also our prison warden, so obsessively concerned with its directive that it blots out other avenues of consciousness and perception that could be available at each moment. Jesus's parables on this, then, are another take on avoiding the ego - in fact, in this light, a lesson on the ego itself. It is not so much that we must give up all things - although to a perfect human, this would be possible - but to be aware of the trap this aspect of ego lays for us. I believe what is being said is, "deny the primacy of survival first and always. Deny it so that you might see the reality(ies) behind it." Thus, again, is reiterated the central notion that is in the New Testament, of turning the world on its head. It is (or may be, in my view) a prescription for spiritual enlightenment, a stark model of the ego and how to overcome, or see beyond, it.
In the end, as always, lies faith; not the blind faith of the fanatic believer, but rather a faith in the process, in the rightness of being. Tuning from the ego, even for a short period, often brings terror. This singular point of consciousness believes that by being shut off, it will die. That is the reason why you and I often freak out over something extraordinary. For me, my out-of-body experiences were often accompanied by panic as I realized the bizarreness (to the working ego) of the situation. Help! I'm dying! And thus ends the experiment. Faith, first and foremost, is there to give us courage. If we firmly believe that we are part of eternity and eternal, we have far less to fear and much more room to grow. It is the necessary adjunct to getting beyond the limited self. Thus Jesus is giving us a prescription for spiritual growth. I don't know how that would be viewed by the orthodox, but what does it contradict?
As we are nearing Easter, I will try, if the spirit comes, to see from a different angle the death and Resurrection of Christ, as well as the notion of pan-human sin and redemption. Or perhaps I will simply leave it to the experts. For me, the Redemption is perhaps the hardest thing to understand - unless it is understood in the terms of the religion, Judaism, that gave birth to it. If inspiration flows, or some reader has an encompassing take on it, perhaps tomorrow. FK
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