Bruce Leroy Spiritual Q/A

62. Where does the will to live come from and can it be taught?

2010-09-23T01:39:00.001+07:00

The will to live comes from our connection to the animal kingdom. From there we inherit all of our base traits and the instinct to survive is at our root consciousness. From that instinct we also get our sex drive, that is our ‘will to live’ on a humanity/species level. There are animals that instinctively go to their death at certain times, but only humans can contemplate suicide (because it requires an ego to define the “I” in ‘I don’t want to live.’ etc.)

I would say that the ‘will to live’ can be an obstacle to enlightenment but it is the foundation of the enlightened person. My catalyst for my experience of enlightenment was a ‘pushing away’ from existence. Furthermore, it is difficult to detach from everyday reality when you are attached to it through a desire of ‘how things are,’ based on an un-enlightened perspective. After my experience I regained my will to live through a better understanding of what ‘living’ actually is.

Yes, the will to live can be taught and learned. I believe that the best way to do this is by teaching/learning appreciation. We should appreciate our opportunity to be living. Only in a ‘living’ state do we have the ability to change who we are (and others). In between lives, without the existence of time, no change can take place. Without a living body, the senses are not experienced. We should rejoice in life :-)

61. How do you think the impossible becomes possible?

2010-09-21T07:21:00.002+07:00

I believe that the key to making the seemingly impossible, possible, is by defining as few things impossible as is logical. In fact, the act of defining something as 'impossible' actually makes that thing less likely to happen then if one defines it as 'possible'.

I have seen and been a part of a few seemingly impossible things. In the two incidences that come to mind, in which I did something incredible, I didn't question their possibility during the moment of execution. I believe in mind over matter, that physical 'limitations' can be overcome by a strong focus of will. I believe that we all have the ability to levitate, for instance. The reason that acts like levitation are difficult to execute is because our minds have 'picked up' so many conflicting thought patterns like, 'the law of gravity' or 'seeing is believing.' We have all seen an item fall to the ground but few of us have seen someone levitate, so it's difficult for us to counterbalance our doubts and truly believe that we can do it.

I'm constantly correcting my sub-conscious by defining things as possible, as that is the first step in making those things possible.

60: How do you act when encountering a person you've forgiven in your heart, but they don't know that?

2010-03-20T20:21:00.000+07:00

As a general rule, you should let the person know that you have forgiven them, if they seek forgiveness. If they are not looking for forgiveness, than telling them that they are forgiven will mostly likely not be received well. It’s just like preaching to someone that isn’t asking you anything. It may seem that you are being judgmental or patronizing, even if you have the greatest of intentions. Of course I’m not insinuating that we base our action completely on how others will receive them. If the relationship is valuable to you, and the person is not seeking forgiveness, you should explain to that person why they should be seeking it and why you have already forgiven them. It’s up to you to control the boundaries in your life. When you bump into this person there is no reason not to be friendly. If you don’t know any better way, then begin by treating them how you would be treated. One thing though is this: if you put your hand in your neighbors snake cage and the snake bites you, you don’t kill it… you forgive it. Just because you have forgiven it doesn’t mean you should put your hand back in the cage though.:-)

59:Do you prefer to wait for "what goes around comes around" or act without proper consideration?

2010-03-12T22:44:00.002+07:00

I don’t believe that the saying, “what goes around comes around” necessarily insinuates waiting. I believe in living my life based on the ‘go around’ or based on my actions, and than using the results or the “come around” to modify my actions. Then, if when I modify my actions, the results are still not desired, I reevaluate my actions again. The key is in knowing when you are forcing something against nature and when you are going with the flow of it. That’s why decisions should not be based purely on logic but also on feeling. If you decide to do something and you feel that it’s wrong, don’t use your mind to justify it, it’s wrong! If you feel a certain way about something, use logic to figure out a solution, then determine how your solution feels. If you keep making these adjustments, you will make better initial decisions and adapt better to change.

The second part of the question.. As far as putting things in motion vs. thinking them through: don’t set things in motion without thinking about them, if you have the time. You should do both, feel AND think before you act, balanced. (in martial arts you must act knowing, not thinking – in life there are also time of ‘knowing’ but in general one should assume not to ‘know’ so that they can keep there ideas flexible and unattached to ego.) Again, thinking can only get you so far especially since we seldom have enough facts to make a purely logic based decision, feelings can lead to plans based on a fleeting emotion. Balance my friend.

58: What is your take on people who appear to be making money selling a path to enlightenment?(other than a book)

2010-03-08T23:09:00.000+07:00

I believe that anyone who has attained enlightenment understands that it can’t be bought, sold, or given away, for that matter. Also, attaining enlightenment does not guarantee someone’s character because people can change.

This is a very complex question so I think I’ll use myself as an example: I believe that I’m blessed to have had my experience of enlightenment, out of appreciation I sacrifice some of my time to share what I have found out. The amount of time that I have to spend sharing/helping/answering questions is limited because I need an income in order to support myself. It turns out that I like this kind of work much more than I like my ‘regular’ job. If I were to make money by answering questions, I would be able to dedicate my life to it, thereby having more time to express positive influence.

Personally, I rather make my work available to everyone for free via my blog, because how can I sell something that was given to me? I will make the first book available in April, and I will charge money but will leave the same content up on my blog.

One way I may sell a path to enlightenment could be an instructional video about meditation. It makes sense to me that I should be able to charge money for such work especially since people with fitness videos charge money for their product. All of this is fine up to the point when I say, “If you want to reach enlightenment like I did, pick up my meditation video.” Then I would be using my influence to manipulate an audience into believing a false claim for personal material gain. That goes against everything that I believe in. However, if I were to say, “Meditation can help you attain enlightenment, pick up my video for tips on meditation.” That would be fine because I wouldn’t be making a false claim.

Putting money in front of the truth is counter to experiencing enlightenment. Being able to support yourself, while helping others in their journey, is a blessing.

57: I feel that sometimes I can be too sensitive and need to develop a thicker skin - how do I go about doing this?

2010-03-06T20:29:00.000+07:00

I’m also a very sensitive person and I asked myself the same question for years, up until very recently. The answer is that instead of trying to reduce your sensitivity, you should manage any potential negativity that was brought about from it. Think of an instrument, it’s value is based on it’s level of sensitivity (of course we are more then mere instruments and I’m not trying to say that a sensitive person is more valuable than an insensitive one.. I’m attempting to show the value in sensitivity itself).

One technique in managing sensitivity is by not taking things personally. For example: there is no reason to be hurt when the person at the deli is annoyed with you, after working ten hours and having their co-worker call out sick. When people lash out in a negative way, it’s about who they are, not about who you are. You will never be able to control how other people act or react, you will only be able to control your own actions. It will take time before knowing this will be doing this.

Sensitivity is an instrument that is used to feel both the ups and the downs of life. I agree with Buddhist philosophy in that to experience happiness is to experience sorrow and vice-versa. I know from life experience that attempting to deny negative feelings results in the loss of those opposite positive feelings. They are connected like the yin and yang in a circle. I’m not hear to tell anyone how to live their life, but I will tell you that, what I have mentioned is the sacrifice for denying sensitivity. To answer your question objectively I would say that you develop “thicker skin” by becoming less happy with the smaller joys. One variable that I try to take advantage of is ‘point of focus.’ Not all things need to be addressed at all times. If there is an aspect about something that makes you unhappy you can switch focus. When you re-apply focus to that subject, you will still have to balance out your feelings but the time between should help you manage them.

Imagine being completely insensitive. Would you want to live like that? Now rejoice in your sensitivity. The reality is, our incarnations are very short and we are here to create and witness the universe. That witnessing is across all of our emotions. Embrace your sensitivity but don’t let it rule your emotions. Allow yourself feeling, but understand that at the end of the day, God/the Universe has your back!!

56: How do you feel about the saying "Words are cheap"?

2010-03-03T23:10:00.000+07:00

I can’t say that that statement means the same thing to everyone, so if I say that I 100% agree, I may not be expressing how I feel. That’s one of the difficulties with communicating certain words/names (like God) and phrases (like ‘words are cheap’); they likely are attached to a strong definition that is subjective based i.e. different for everyone.

This is how I define what a word is: Words are a tool for communicating ideas. But words are greatly limited. Can you describe to me the flavor of an apple? Will everyone describe it with the same words? As a matter of fact, can you describe to yourself the flavor of an apple? If it is difficult for us to use words to describe our own thoughts to ourselves, think about the difficulty in using them to communicate to others! In fact, that’s why I can’t just answer your question with, “yes!”

I think that “words are cheap,” is similar to “easier said then done,” and that they are both trying to state, and what I believe is: that it’s one thing to say something, and another to do something. I don’t like either phrase though. “Words are cheap,” to me comes off too negative because words are our main form of communication. That’s not to mention that words are extremely powerful, both written and spoken. The phrase, “easier said then done,” to me is also inaccurate because I believe that the ratio of ‘knowing’ (knowing is like saying) to ‘doing’ is equal – try to ‘do something’ without ‘knowing’ what it is. If someone fails, did they fail in the ‘doing’ or the ‘knowing’?

I believe we need to always aspire to something that is greater than our current state. The idea of how to better our selves comes first, to describe it transfers the idea into words, and the words then need to become actions in order for them to be of value aka not “cheap!”

55: People say that they talk to God. What does that mean exactly?

2010-02-19T01:41:00.001+07:00

“I’m often perplexed when religious people say that they talk to God. What does that mean exactly? Could they just really be talking to themselves...or if they really are talking to God...does He tell ppl different truths? Hope you can answer :-)”

I can’t really say what everyone means when they say that they talk to God. At the same time, I would say that we all have the right, and the capacity, to talk to God/ the Universe! You ask if they could just be talking to themselves, and the answer to that is yes. We all need to remember that every time we use the word ‘God’ to identify it with ourselves, not as something separate. This will probably take a conscious effort but you will begin to feel different right away. That said, talking to your self IS talking to God. You don’t need another entity to have a relationship with God. In fact, I believe our direct relationship with God is personal and though it we can personally connect with each other.

Even though I say that, I think you want to know if God speaks back, and if so, does God tell different people different truths. The first part is, does God speak back? Yes, God always speaks back but we don’t always hear! When someone is speaking to God they are not listening to God (nirvana is an exception to this because there is no time in between question and response). That is one of the ideas behind meditation. The more ‘quiet’ that we can become, the better we are able to listen. I’m in no position to be able to judge how well another person can listen to God, than anyone is in judging anything that I’ve learned from my journey. In that way, this question applies to me as well. The second part is, does God tell different people different truths? Yes, because the truth is like a tree that has one seed but different expressions. They all lead to the same place but we may need to follow different paths there. The branches are not lies they are truths to greater truth.

At the end of the day no matter what someone says, no matter where they say it came from, it’s up to you to determine whether or not it is true. I believe that when someone ‘hears’ the truth, they know it. If there is something you question, I suggested meditating on it. Think about the question then let it go. Allow thoughts to flow in and out of your mind without analysis. When you are done, think about what feels right. The universe unveils its self to us all at our own pace. The truths that you are ready to understand will be put before you, grasp them out of free will, and travel deeper :-)

54: What are your feelings toward psychoactive drugs like LSD, mushrooms, ayahuasca & peyote?

2010-02-16T01:44:00.001+07:00

I think that psychoactive drugs can be great tools for exploring different levels of consciousness.

First, let me disclaim a few things so that I can get to the heart of the question. I’m in no way suggesting that anyone take these types of drugs because not everyone can handle them. In fact, it is dangerous, and can lead to permanent changes that may be negative. I have a quick example of that: My ex-girlfriend’s little brother was the kind of guy that could go up to a women and talk to her out of the clear blue. He had a bad acid trip that destroyed his confidence. The next day, and as far as I know to this day, he lost his confidence to the point that he began stuttering, too nervous to speak to people. As far as I’m concerned, he ruined his life. It’s kind of like what they say about firearms, drugs don’t ruin people, people ruin people. Of course without a firearm or a drug, many people would be saved. It’s a complicated issue because we are all different and it’s hard to anticipate how a given person will use a tool. In the case of my example, there is no way that guy should have ever tried that drug. The bottom line is I can’t say to or not to try psychoactive drugs, but I will say there is a risk factor.

Now, here is where I may catch a little flack. A couple weeks after the above example, I did an experiment (please bare in mind that I was 18 and this was in the ‘80s). I was very shy at the time and used to look up to my ex-girlfriends brother’s confidence. Having witnessed it being destroyed, I hypothesized that I could do the opposite, that I could gain confidence with just one trip on LSD. So, I got a hold of some, and while it started to kick in, I told myself that I was confident to the level of a vampire…that my thoughts were so valid and strong, they could take over the thought’s of others. Later that night there was this scene, I’ll never forget it. It was my friend, two girls and myself. There was about a three minute time period where I was projecting the other three peoples words. They said what I wanted them to say and it was amazing! That night, and moving forward my confidence was booming. Eighteen years of shyness eliminated just like that. It was almost 10 years before I took LSD again. My experience of enlightenment/nirvana was about five years later than the ‘confidence’ trip.

Even though I was able to use this tool well, I don’t use it or other psychoactive drugs on a regular basis. Now it’s been another 10 years since the last time that I did, and that would be mushrooms, in Amsterdam. For the most part I believe that if we want to achieve a different state of consciousness, we should do so without taking in anything external. Secondly, I came out of nirvana on purpose because I felt that our normal state of awareness was the best way for me to lead a normal life. I’ve never tried peyote and I’m going to have to look up what ‘ayahuasca’ is ☺

There is something else though. When I used LSD in the pas, there was a feeling very strongly communicated to me; that the state I was in, on LSD, was actually my natural state, and that the LSD was like a lens cleaner. It said that high-power lines, diet, electromagnetic interference and other man made things were dirtying my lens. Even if that is the case, I’m more interested in having a clean lens through meditation (and maybe communicating protest to man made barriers), than having to clean it all the time using something external. I believe that all the plants on this planet are here for reason, and there is a reason why there are plants that can change our consciousness. Unfortunately, I’m not the one to write that manual though – use at your own risk!!

53: What helps you continue growth, physically?

2010-02-13T23:55:00.004+07:00

I believe that life is very cyclic in nature, the same way that a bio-rhythm has ups and downs. We have to use our thoughts to discriminate when we should enforce discipline and we should follow a feeling to go with the flow of nature, change. This applies to most things. It applies to physical fitness in a sense that there are time to ‘grow’, there are times to maintain, and times to rest. This goes for your workout during the week , it goes for your workout, during the year, it goes for your workout during your life. There have been times in my life that I was able to train for eight hours a day (Karate, yoga, weight training) and times when after work, and transportation to work, I only had five hours left to sleep. There was little difference in my discipline, but much difference in opportunity. Your body is your temple and requires constant maintenance. Anything that we take into our body needs to be monitored, so diet is of course important. I’m a vegetarian but honestly I could eat better!

Maintaining your body should consist of four basic things, diet, cardiovascular, breathing and stretching. That is what I practice. For growth, sometimes I weight train and sometimes I practice isometrics. Right now my routine each week (7 days) is ambitious (at other times not so much) and is as follows; 7 days yoga, 6 days sit-ups, 4 days cross-trainer, 3 days pushups – and other chest isometrics, 3 days pull-ups, chin-ups, wide-grip (of course these items over lap and take about two and a half hours per day). The yoga includes meditation and when I’m finished I drink a smoothie with whey protein =) For me, it's easiest if I can workout during the same exact time, right now I'm lucky to have the time to do this every morning.

52:..I was betrayed…What kind of a person does that?

2010-02-12T04:11:00.001+07:00

“…at the most critical time in my life, I was betrayed. I have chosen to not let go of this person. But I can't get over it. How could "you" leave me, in the darkness, to fight for my life, all alone? I just don't get it. What kind of a person does that?”

I understand and can relate to the feeling behind this question all too well. I must say that the type of situation you have described, even without further detail, is definitely one of the more difficult challenges that any of us can face! One thing that people will notice from reading my work, is that I don’t try to candy coat anything. The reason why this is such a challenging situation is because humans want what they want, to be what’s right for them, especially concerning relationships. This gains even more power when you think about fairy tails, romance novels, and other fictional stories with happy endings. Even beyond relationships we believe that if we do the ‘right’ thing, our version of the ‘right’ result will follow. That is only half true, what’s correct is that if we do the ‘right’ thing, the ‘right’ result will follow - regardless of our comprehension of that result. That’s why when a relationship ends, both people are better off, relationships are spiritual and we are given what we need to learn from. That learning can end because we are not listening, it can end because there is no more ‘material’ to give the other, or because there is no communication/inspiration in the areas of growth that we need at a given time in our lives.

Here is the thing with relationships that I’ve not only found personally, but in my life when I’ve asked other people to confirm this; in a relationship that didn’t work, don’t you remember God/the universe showing you that this person isn’t really meant to be your partner ‘forever’? Wasn’t there something that the person did that made you question your ‘faith’ in them? What did you do, confront them and resolve it to where both parties are happy, or did you choose to overlook it? Ha! If you say you received no ‘message’ to make you reconsider your choice, and the relationship didn’t work out, I would simply say that you’re not listening. What usually happens is this, you’re lonely, you meet someone, you’re not lonely, you realize the relationship is temporary or you hit a challenge, out of fear to be alone again you deny the inner voice advising you to be careful…Time passes, more things come up, more things are ignored/denied…Then you think that your world was crushed overnight. When God/the universe communicates with you through karma (by bringing situations to you)or meditation, it is your responsibility to act. Non-action results in more challenging situations because it’s like you’re denying what God/the universe, is telling you. Now, I’m not saying that every challenge in a relationship is God/the universe telling you that you don’t have a future with a particular person I’m saying that we need to communicate through everything that comes up if we want a healthy relationship. Through the pursuit of that communication we can better protect ourselves from buying into an idea of a relationship, over being sold on an individual. Not to mention that it’s through that communication that we can find some of our greatest opportunities for growth. Every time that I’ve felt the way that you do/did I can trace back to the beginning of the relationship and see where I attached to the person out of fear of being alone and not actually for who that person was. If you think about it, it does the partner a disservice as well by not communicating to them some things they may need work on and your self a disservice if you can’t ask for help on areas that you need work. If we are not in a relationship to help each other, what’s the point? Also, I don’t know the details of your situation, but I think it is safe for me to assume that additional factors could be added to make it worse. It could have gone on for a longer amount of time and more could have been at stake.

I believe in aspiring to improve, to what we think improving is (and what we think it is may/will change). The nice thing about improvement is, it’s attainable. Achieving small goals is the way to achieving large ones. Making a large goal, without understanding this, is difficult. I bring this up because you say, “…I was betrayed. I have chosen to not let go of this person. But I can't get over it. " I always talk about forgiveness and it seems that you are embracing it to the best of your ability – but you are obviously still feeling allot of emotion. We can strive for perfect forgiveness, it is an attainable trait however, without limiting anyone - it’s an ideal that usually takes time to develop. While we are in the process of growth we shouldn’t be too self-critical. If you know that you are doing your best consciously, understand that it can take time for your feelings to align with your mental efforts. In other words, allow yourself time to heal. I hope I don’t come off as hyper-critical, I don’t mean to be that way personally to you. I understand that you are the ‘victim’ in the sense that you were betrayed, it’s natural to feel hurt if the person ever gave you pleasure – I feel like many people can relate to this and I want to give multiple tools for dealing with this situation ☺

You asked, “What kind of person does that?” A human does that. We are not perfect - we can only choose what imperfections we are willing to live with. That is the nicest way to say that. Now, you also said, “all alone.” I believe that in today’s society we focus a bit too much on finding the perfect person to complete us and too little on completing ourselves in order to have more to offer to others. We sometimes even go so far as to think or say, “what’s wrong with that person, they are alone.” In reality, we are never alone BUT we are here to develop as separate entities! That’s why we have egos. Remember, alone = all one, it can be a sign of completion. As far as being in a relationship that is positive for us, sometimes we are in them and sometimes we are not. Take advantage of this time, and use it to better yourself. Trust in God/ the universe. The more complete you are in yourself, the better chance you will have in future relationships, because you will be able to pursue them out of want instead of need!

51: People say that whatever happens in your life; no matter how bad it is, happens for your own good and well-being. Is it true?

2010-02-10T23:38:00.000+07:00

Yes, this is true, but seeing that truth can be as much of a challenge as dealing with the ‘challenging’ situation that was drawn to you! An amazing thing that I understood during my moment of enlightenment/nirvana was how everyone’s universe was centered around them yet intersected each other’s universe in a perfect way. That is karma. If I pick up a rose, close my eyes, and toss it into a crowed, and it hits someone, there will be a reason that person got hit with it (for them), and there will be a reason that I threw it. Even though there is no apparent connection between that person and myself. I use that example to try to explain the complexity of karma. Personally, I’m not operating in a state of nirvana, and my current awareness is too limiting to allow me to understand every detail of why behind karma. I don’t know how much of believing in karma is faith and how much is awareness, it seems to be a dynamic relationship. Through meditation, quieting your own mind, ask God/the universe to reveal to you the reason behind a given situation. You may be surprised how effective that practice is.

You must also look at the way that you are using the words ‘bad’ and ‘good’ in your question. I believe that it is very important to avoid placing a value on a situation. Change the word ‘bad’ for the word ‘challenging’ - just this simple change can greatly improve your outlook in life. You see most people’s reaction to the word ‘bad’ is to feel bad, but our reaction to the word ‘challenge,’ is to do something to overcome a situation. Now, if I take your question and replace the word ‘bad,’ and eliminate the word good it becomes, “People say that whatever happens in your life, no matter how challenging it is, happens for your well being, is it true?” To answer that I would say that, life is like going to the gym, if you’re not challenged, your not improving.

Above, I talked about the complexity of karma and how our lives are intertwined, we need to remember that when it comes to our egos too. When something challenging happens to us, most likely it affects other people as well. We need to be careful of thinking that the universe is against us. God/the universe gave us the law of karma out of love. Things that are challenging don’t happen for a negative reason, they happen to promote growth. If you do everything ‘right’, you will still be challenged - karma is about growth, not punishment! ;-)

50: If everything that exists, or ever did, or ever will, has a preceding cause, then man has no free will. Right?

2010-02-06T02:33:00.001+07:00

Humans have no free will outside of the moment. Humans have free will in the moment. Actually, this is part of the reason why, although there are higher dimensions (in number NOT in value, we spend too much effort placing value on things, this disguises their nature by limiting them to a linear comparison) our consciousness is generally focused here, in the 4th dimension - where we exist in the present and our mind defines/divides into past, present, and future, just like the way you phrased the question. Our consciousness is generally here because the now is the only place that allows change. The universe is about change. That’s why so many philosophers talk about ‘living in the now’ because that is the way to live WITH the flow of the universe.

That’s why your question is so tricky, it is only correct in retrospect. Take the current moment as an example; if you move to the future, then you have no free will in THAT moment - the one that you’re now looking back on. There is no free will in the past. The current moment is the past of the future. Do you see the paradox? I hope everyone reading this can understand the importance of the now, the importance of us all. Increasing the number of ‘us’ does not reduce our value, that’s thinking that needs to be evolved. We all share equal power of the now and all of us are changing the universe with every thought and action.

Now, let’s look at the future. The future is NEVER predetermined with respect to the now. The moment that you witness the future, your perspective changes to the present of that moment. If you then go back, you’re actually traveling backward through time and changing the future! Now, let’s say that your computer monitor allowed you to see into the future. Let’s pretend it can see and display what you’re going to do 10 minutes before it happens. What time will it show you shutting off the program? What ever that monitor is going to show you, can be changed. Beautiful right? The moment you witness the future you can change it. In the present, you can always change it! Everything that has happened has happened with respect to the present. Nothing that can happen has happened yet with respect to the present.

We have freewill and always will, as long as we can say the word “I”. The future is always ahead of us, so let’s all live the moment in a way that unfolds the future we desire!!

Ed.[After looking at your question again I began to wonder if I addressed it specific enough. You asked if we have no free will BECAUSE of preceding cause. I would say specific to that, that we were designed with egos for the purpose of free will, free expression, and free observation... Or the ‘cause’ of our ego/us, results in the ‘effect’ of our free will.]

49: How can one stop comparing themselves with others?

2010-02-04T23:37:00.002+07:00

"I'm in love with someone and compared to him I feel so stupid, inferior, ... I just keep thinking that I will never have a chance with him because of that."

First off, I think that this is a brilliant question and I commend you on your bravery to ask me for a response! Comparing ourselves with others can definitely have a negative or a positive potential. It’s negative when we look at another person and place a value on them that is higher than the value that we place on ourselves. It’s positive when we look at another person, understanding that they have no higher value then our self, and use them as an inspiration for self-improvement.

In reality, we are all unique expressions of God, and we all hold the exact same value. We need to be diligent mentally, to insure that we believe and act according to this fact. People with low self-esteem tend to value everyone else higher than themselves, people who are selfish and conceited believe that their value is higher then others. Again, both of those perspectives are inaccurate. Now, we can take a human and we can define characteristics, then we can place values on them through comparison, for example; When two people take the same test, the one that scores higher usually has more knowledge about the subject matter than the one that scores lower. Which person is smarter? We don’t know, we only know who knows more about the tested subject. Which person is better? We can’t really answer that based on the test. What test can we create that determines the value of a person? We can never do that either, because we all see things a little different, so the person creating the test will always be biased by their perspective. If we talk about other characteristics like beauty, again we see that it’s biased based on the person choosing who is more beautiful than another. The overall point is, regardless of values placed on characteristics, we each all hold the same overall value. Another way to look at this is apples and oranges. What’s better, an apple or an orange? Should the apple be mad it’s not orange in color? NO! The apple should be the best apple it can be!!

When someone has something that we want, it’s very human and very common to take it out on ourselves, or on the person possessing. It can be intelligence, attractiveness, money, etc. We all need to use that feeling as a possible guide towards our own ambitions for happiness. In other words, if you like your neighbors new BMW, then make the changes you need to acquire your own, there is no need to feel bad towards your neighbor or yourself! If what you want is not achievable, then accept it and keep moving towards it or accept it and change focus. You should NEVER feel stupid or inferior. Instead, be inspired to act in ways that will bring you closer to your goals. There are reasons why we are not all the same, but please don’t think anyone is ‘better.’

As far as thinking that your own inferiority will prevent you from having the person you want to fall in love with you goes.. I would suggest that before you pursue ANY serious relationship you fall in love with yourself. Feeling inferior and starting a relationship is a recipe for co-dependence at best. When you embrace your uniqueness and truly accept yourself for who you are, you will become more attractive to the universe. You will need that understanding of self, to have the perspective you need, to make good decisions when it comes to love relationships. Obviously, there are no words I can say to you, and there may not be any words that you can say, to make the person in question love you. I will say that by your thinking you don’t have a chance with that person, you are creating that reality through the law of attraction. I think that in a way you are asking how can you get this guy to like you, even though there is a difference in intelligence…. The first step is to stop thinking about that factor, you’re giving it too much power. Maybe you feel more uncomfortable about then he does? In a relationship, it’s all about communication. Ask the guy what he thinks about the subject. We are all different. For me personally, intelligence is far less important than honesty, compassion, and a person’s actions (and more). If you’re meant to be with this person, just talk and it will work out. Otherwise, hopefully you have a great friend. Live in the now and enjoy each day with that person. Good luck ;-)

48: How will I know when I've found my soul mate?

2010-02-03T00:59:00.000+07:00

I usually like to begin by defining key words in a question, in this case ‘soul mate’, to help align ideas in our communication. This is one of those instances where the main term means so many things to so many people, I’m going to have to take the liberty to define ‘soul mate’ in regards to how the question was asked. You see, some people define a ‘soul mate’ as a soul outside of yourself that you encounter in more than one lifetime. They then go further to described different types of ‘soul mates’ including friends, teachers, children and others, that we are drawn to, or interact with us, during different incarnations. The type of soul mate that many people refer to is called a ‘twin flame soul mate,’ which I found defined as; someone that you have spent multiple lifetimes with, you will be unhappy without he/she, and there is usually just one of them. It seems that you are referring to this type because you used the word “my,” which implies singularity. The thing is, the word “my,” also implies possession, which is one of my problems with the idea of a ‘twin flame soul mate’. You see my time spent in Nirvana revealed a love that is not possible among the limit of two beings, it is a beautiful love of ALL, and the need to posses a ‘thing’ is a part of our ego. In between our incarnations, when we are consciously aware of our connection to God/the universe and each other, there is no separation between us that needs to be remedied through possession! Another thing that I disagree with concerning the definition of a ‘twin flame soul mate’ is that it says that we will be miserable without our twin flame completing us. I have been in love many times, we had ups and downs, but rarely were we miserable. It’s just not healthy to put your ability to be happy on an external factor, like another being!

At the same time, using logic and mathematics, it makes sense to me that each one of us has a counterpart that is the most compatible for us. The question is, compatible for when? The most compatible for every life-time, for this life-time, for this half of our life, for this decade, for this year, for this day, for this moment? We are all dynamic, we change all the time, and so do our needs and our goals. Also, what we think we need isn’t always what we actually need. Do we need someone that is just like us to re-enforce our beliefs or someone that’s different to challenge them?

I believe that at the moment we are born and our umbilical chord is cut, we instinctually feel disconnected, because we are to a major degree. We try to re-connect by clinging to things, people, ideas etc. but ultimately we need to fine-tune our connection to God/the Universe to ‘re-connect’ to all things at once. This is an infinite and ongoing task, during which people are brought into our life to assist us in our fine-tuning. The more we change, the more likely that different people/types of people will be needed to facilitate further change. The opposite is also true, if the members in a couple remain exactly the same and don’t want to change, it stands to reason that they will be able to remain together with limited effort. Just remember that nature abhors stasis, what’s not growing is dying.

The love that we feel we are actually missing, can’t be filled by an individual, it must be filled by God. Since God is within us all, we feel God’s love through each other (and of course inside ourselves). It is true that most of us see God in its purest form through love of another person, that’s why we praise romance. It’s the people in it, but it’s the God in it too =) Use the love you learn for another to apply love to us all. The love that we aspire to have, for a perfect soul mate, should be defined by acting that love out on everyone and on ourselves.

Regardless of who is our perfect match ultimately, trust that God/the Universe/karma is bringing people around us because those people are whom we need to learn from (at that particular time.) There are some things that you can do to aid in this process. First off, you have to know yourself. I know that we are dynamic but we still have certain traits, ways of thinking, perspectives, etc. Next determine in what ways you need to grow. Combined the ways that you need to grow, with the qualities that you want in a partner, and write those items down. Prioritize your list and you should have a pretty good starting point in what to look for in a partner. Use the law of attraction, meditate or flat out ask God to bring this person into your life. It always works for me… I just don’t always ask for the right things – or I’m given what I need but realize it too late! When people are brought into your life, love them. You don’t need to worry about the past or the future. If you make a commitment, do your best to abide by it, and love completely. If it doesn’t work, repeat and try again. Love yourself completely and complete yourself as much as possible. This will give you a stronger foundation to explore relationships. Use your time alone to focus on you, that’s why you’re alone at that time. Transfer any feelings of loneliness to understand that in the future you will appreciate love that much more!

47. Do you understand why some people need to work very hard at enlightenment and for others it just arrives out of the blue?

2010-02-01T22:26:00.000+07:00

For one thing, I think that it’s difficult for us to judge/assess the efforts of another human being towards any goal. Take an Olympic athlete as an example… Do we know how much actual effort it took that person to qualify? On the flip side of that, take a 5th grade student getting a ‘C’ in mathematics, did the student do his/her best? The reality is, reaching a goal is mostly a combination of ability and effort/time, the more ability you have, the less effort/time it will take to do something. Example: There are 100 kilos of wood, to a person that can carry 100 kilos at a time, it won’t take much effort/time to move that wood a couple of meters away. For someone that can only carry 20 kilos, it will take them more effort/time. The way this relates is that, the person who can carry the 100k of wood at once may have begun only carrying 5k and may have worked for years to increase to the ability to carry 100k. Someone just seeing the end result may be inclined to think that it was easy for the person to move 100k because they aren’t aware of what effort/time it took for the person to BUILD their ability to do so.

I have mentioned in past posts that karma is 100% accurate and that reincarnation exists. Many times we look at someone’s life and think it’s easy or it’s hard but, in reality, all of our lives are for reasons relating to choices we make. Let’s talk about prodigies for a moment. There are countless examples of children born with great abilities in math, art, or music (to name a few types of talents). The reason that they are born so talented is because of lifetimes of past practice and experience. It is not that they are lucky and others are not. We are all different, and we choose a variety of things to focus on. Some people have focus on a few things, and some people on many. It is our choice. The more focus and effort that we put into something, the better we become at it. When we incarnate into a new body, our core energy is transferred. Even though we don’t usually bring with us memories of our past lives (consciously), we ourselves ARE the energy that is being refined. That’s why it’s so important to improve ourselves, because it’s not like our energy resets, just the specifics of the circumstances do, when we reincarnate.

I don’t believe that enlightenment comes out of the clear blue for anyone, although I understand why it may appear that way, even to the person experiencing it. Enlightenment always comes about for a reason, even if the reason is never discovered. My belief is that it may take many lifetimes to reach a state of nirvana or enlightenment (as defined by a oneness with God/the universe) but ultimately the amount of time that it will take, relates to the effort put in. The effort put in, again in this case, is through more than one lifetime. Once you attain Enlightenment/experience nirvana in one lifetime, it will be within your ability to repeat it in a future life. In that future life it may not take as much time/effort/focus to attain the desired state. In my case, I’m confident that this lifetime was not my first time attaining. I had to deal with a compact amount of challenging/difficult experiences early this life and was born with a burning desire to answer all of the questions that I had of God and the universe. Anyway, I believe that if you truly want to attain enlightenment or a state of nirvana, you can. It’s just a matter of time but it may not happen in this lifetime. That’s why I again remind that life is about the journey toward the destination, not the destination itself, because there will always be a new place to go. Just remember that 100% faith means 0% excuses, live your life in away that prepares you for this truth so that when you do attain, you can handle the psychological adjustments necessary to choose your next destination!

46: Are you happy?

2010-01-30T23:03:00.001+07:00

Dictionary.com defines happy: “1. delighted, pleased, or glad, as over a particular thing: to be happy to see a person. 2. characterized by or indicative of pleasure, contentment, or joy: a happy mood; a happy frame of mind.” Even though this definition doesn’t say it, happy is the opposite of sad. You can tell that two opposites relate to each other when you can you use one to describe the other, for instance; happy is not being sad and sad is not being happy. Within the definition of a thing you breed it’s opposite. This should be visualized as a yin yang symbol as opposed to a line with two ends. A line with two ends implies a gradient value between the two points on its extremes and can make the mind believe that points in the middle, and end have different values when in reality all of the points are flavors of the same value. The moment that you ask me/yourself if I/you are happy, we need to figure out where we stand in between happy and sad (not happy). Can you explain happiness to someone who doesn’t know what it is to be sad (not happy)? In the end you would have to do it through example, for instance: “Happiness is the feeling you have when it rains after a drought so that your crops may grow.” At that moment you have just, and if they agree with you, they have just, defined sadness as: “The feeling you have when you want it to rain during a drought, and it doesn’t.” That fact, is generally overlooked by western thinking, and is one of the reasons that Buddhism contains allot of value. Now Buddhism focus’s on a ‘middle road’ where the practitioner combats sadness by reducing happiness. You can’t feel sad if you don’t feel happy because you can’s describe sad without happy. This makes sense to me, and it is a logical solution for them since thought is of priority to feeling, in Buddhism. My experience of nirvana/enlightenment showed me a beautiful potential where thought and feeling have equal value. That said, it is not a goal of mine to not feel. My goal is to feel ‘correctly’ and ‘absolutely’ at any given time, for example; if someone does something that I believe is wrong to me, there is a delay in time between when I think they should be forgiven and when I feel that they are forgiven...Or when a challenge comes my way there is still a delay from knowing I need it and feeling I need it. I want to reduce those delays so that my mind and my heart are as one like they were during my experience of Nirvana/Enlightenment.

Now to answer the question, sometimes I’m happy and sometimes I’m sad. This is because I know I have to be sad in order to be happy. After my experience I made, and continue to make, mistakes. There were things that happened that caused me to withdraw and burry my feelings again. Wow, I was really good at that! I lived in a ‘grey’ world for about 4-5 years. I’ll never forget when I realized how grey my life was, I was on a rooftop in New York watching the sunset, getting ready to leave the country, with a new found love. The colors in the sky made me cry because of the amount of time I spent without seeing them. I wasn’t ‘sad’ during that time, I beat sad at the cost of happy. I vowed to never allow myself to be in the state again. That state that was brought about by denying sadness. (In my response to an earlier question, “How do you remain so positive?” When I talk about choosing happiness I’m talking about a choice of focus, where as here, I’m saying that what we choose as a factor in happiness is also a choice in a factor of sadness, for its opposite.) Now, the reason that I say sometimes yes and sometimes no, is because whether or not I’m happy at a given time depends on what the specific thing I’m focusing on is. Am I happy about where I’m at now? No. Am I happy about my efforts to move forward? Yes. Even though I want to feel, there is no reason to focus on the ‘no’ (non happiness), rather use it, and the feeling that it creates, to inspire improvement. My life is an act of doing, sometimes distractions are annoying and sometimes delightful. ☺

45: Why do challenges continue when I finally feel like I'm on the right path?

2010-01-28T22:51:00.000+07:00

I had to smile when I read this question because I’m pretty sure everyone, especially spiritual people, have pondered it at least once in their lives! Right off the bat I commend you on having the right approach; you used the word “challenges” which doesn’t have a negative implication. Usually I would say that, that is the first step, understanding that a difficulty is just a challenge. In fact, I have a feeling you thought of the answer yourself (if you didn’t already have one in mind) a few moments after hitting ‘send.’

I would counter with the question, “If you’re on the right path, why would you stop facing challenges?” The thing is this; a challenge is only a challenge if it forces us to grow in order to meet it. If it doesn’t force growth, then it is an ‘exercise.’ The nature of the universe is change, and trying to seek stasis is not in accordance with nature. We must of course try to hold on to what we believe is important, but we also must know when to release them. Life just keeps on coming, at its own rate, we need to be flexible to run or walk with it. At moments when you feel like (because there is usually a difference in time between thinking and doing or feeling – even though you know ‘better’ it can take time to ‘feel’ better) your on the right path but are being over challenged, be appreciative of your position – someone that has the capacity to set a path and make actual steps toward it. Appreciate that in yourself, and the things you have which you value, first being your efforts toward good character, next the results of those efforts, then other things that you have and value.

There is another side to this. If we exercise ourselves we can reduce the gap between our current state and our potential state, proactively. By seeing a ‘difficulty’ as a ‘challenge’ we can diffuse some of the feelings that usually accompany a ‘difficulty.’ I never promote apathy, or life without feelings so I’m not saying that we should feel nothing when we deal with a challenge. In fact we usually NEED to feel something. What I’m saying is that, like a lucid dream, we need to be solid behind our feelings, we need to be able to back away from our feelings and observe ourselves, so that we can understand the root behind our feelings. We need to know/believe/have faith that ultimately things are ‘fair’ and that they will work out the way they’re supposed to. In between our incarnations we exist in a state of pure love, forever. We choose to incarnate to fine-tune our receptivity and expression of love. Based on my personal experience, during my moment of enlightenment, I understood the perfection of karma. The saying that God/the universe gives us only what we can handle is almost true, it’s more like we only get what we need to influence us to choose for ourselves, where we need to be. The more we can make these changes from the inside, the less challenges we’ll need from the outside, to inspire our growth.

44: I have a friend that I feel needs to change, how can I help them?

2010-01-27T22:08:00.000+07:00

“I have a friend who I feel often fishes for compliments and pats on the back. I know she lacks confidence, though I feel that if I pay her these compliments it would be insincere. My usual reaction is to withdraw. How can I better handle this?”-Anonymous.

One of the challenges about being a spiritual person is that you bear a greater responsibility then someone who is not spiritually aware, regardless of your religious orientation. Because you know your friend lacks confidence, it means that you’re sensitive and aware, your asking for advice means you’re spiritual and caring.
You’ll notice that I rephrased your question above to make it more general because I do believe that it is part of a general challenge that we all face often. I can’t judge your ability to assess your friend’s lack of confidence and how it manifests, but I will address your question as though your assessment is valid. That means that you have a friend that needs to change, and you’re aware of it. You want to handle it better than withdrawing and I understand this. Personally, many times I need to withdraw from situations, so that I can figure them out, before reacting in a way that’s thoughtless. Ultimately, your right, if you want to continue the relationship, a change will need to take place. Either your friend will have to change or you will have to change by not being effected.

In a relationship, communication is everything. The thing is though, everyone takes criticism in there own way. It’s one of those cases where we can’t really ‘do on to others’ because other people may not handle criticism the same way we do. It’s even trickier when the thing you are critiquing is confidence, since the person will most likely take it as an attack. The best policy is to begin as delicately as possible, to communicate your point. Maybe you could joke like, “if you need a confidence boost so bad, hire a side kick, ha ha ha.” Or “how many times do you need to hear ‘your pretty’ before it gets through the wax in your ears, hehehe?”. Obviously I’m more of a philosopher than a comedian, but maybe you can come up with something that won’t get you slapped ;-) Doing this would be sincere and hopefully ‘lite’. If that doesn’t work, or you know that you need to be direct, you will have to sit your friend down and tell her how you feel. The thing is though, no matter what you have to say to a person, you can’t control what they hear. Other than being as nice as you can, you can’t control another person’s receptivity to your criticism either.

My policy is that I try to be able to tell a person’s receptivity and base my criticism on that. If they are not receptive, there is no point in criticizing. If they are receptive, it’s good, because it makes it easier to communicate to them.

Of course you must realize that no one is perfect. Despite our criticisms of ourselves and other people, one person has no greater value than another. Our uniqueness disqualifies our ability to judge others. As much as I may criticize another, I may criticize myself, or rather fine-tune myself. The same goes for everyone. We have to decide what about other people should be criticized and what should be accepted. My definition of love is that it’s an active acceptance, so if you love someone, it means you don’t NEED to change that person. If that person’s behavior is intolerable and you’ve discussed it with them, then you need to decide how close you want that person to you. Hopefully, even if talking doesn’t help, you can show them the way by love and example. In the case of your female friend if communication isn’t working or even if it is, maybe you can do things to help HER increase her confidence. Help her set some achievable goals. Take her focus off of physical beauty because no matter how she looks now, time changes us, so we need a stronger foundation to our confidence, than appearance. Encourage her to explore her interests. Do the things you think an ideal friend would do for you!☺

43: If someone you really love does something to betray your trust, how can you learn to ever trust them again?

2010-01-24T22:44:00.000+07:00

I think my response to this question may seem harsh and unromantic, maybe even negative but I only believe in ‘trust’, when it comes to humans, as a concept. Dictionary.com defines trust: “confident expectation of something; hope.” I’m always saying, and don’t mind repeating here, that hope is just another side of fear. When you hope for something you are actually fearing its opposite. For example, if you hope your lover is faithful, you are afraid that they are not. In the above definition of ‘trust’ it even gives us the word ‘expectation’ which again is a ‘hope’. There is no reason to hope, trust, or expect anything in life. You have to take the actions to make a reality for yourself, based on your ideals. You can only take ownership for your own actions so it just doesn’t make sense to expend energy on things outside of your control. You can be faithful, and believe me you stand a better chance of having a faithful mate, but ultimately there is no guarantee. We don’t always know the ‘why’ behind things but you can be sure there is a reason. My saying is, “I only trust God/the Universe 100%. Everyone else gets 99%” I trust that all things happen for exactly the right reason, regardless of our ability to interpret them. Trust to me means, 100% faith. Now going back to trusting others 99%, what that does is it allows a buffer for humanity. We need the same thing for ourselves. Many times when we try to quit a bad habit, we don’t do it the first time. When we fail, we must understand our humanity, we can’t beat ourselves up! Do your best everyday and you won’t have to worry about trusting or hoping, about this and that. Besides, this and that are in the future, make the best of the moment. For those that question my romanticism I ask what’s romantic about thinking about trusting when you’re kissing someone?

Again, there is a second side to this. That is forgiveness. We must always forgive in order to ask for forgiveness. How can you ask God/the Universe to forgive you, or even, how can you forgive yourself, if you fail to forgive others? A better approach is figuring out if, and how, you can safely give other people influence over your feelings. Instead of ‘trusting’ your partner, know that they are doing there absolute best for you, themselves, and you both as a partnership. If you witness them doing their best today, contemplating tomorrow is fruitless, enjoy! If another’s actions are inconsistent and it’s affecting you, then you need to communicate, forgive, and quite possibly, out of self-love, let them go. If you find yourself compromising yourself too much, you are. Be careful of relationships that are co-dependent, where both people NEED each other’s love to survive. A healthy relationship consists of people that WANT each other’s love. That means loving yourself. God/the Universe created us all of equal amount of energy, not to place one at higher value then another. You have to know yourself and love yourself so you can teach your partner to! Returning back on track, if you were hurt by another and don’t think that their actions were appropriate you should first confront them and communicate your feelings. Hopefully the communication will give you a basis for forgiving them, if not, forgive them out of their own ignorance. Next, decide to what degree you want to grant them responsibility over your feelings or actions, that they may make toward/for you in the future. I can’t lay that part out because it depends on how they viewed their actions, if it, or something related to it, has happened in the past, and a variety of other considerations. There are many people I love that I wouldn’t base my outfit on (because their description of the weather can’t be trusted), but I’m not going to ask them for stock tips any faster then I’m going to ask a gambling addicted friend to deposit $5k into my bank account for me ;-) The best thing we can each do is our best to be accountable, honest and keep our word. Doing this will change world!

42: What do you do when individuals (eg, friends) in your life do not follow through on their word?

2010-01-22T02:51:00.000+07:00

This is a difficult question in detail but not in concept. The first way this should be approached is asking your self, “What should individuals in my life do if I don’t follow through on my word?” I’m not saying that you don’t follow your word because, as someone that does follow their word, I know that it is possible. I also know that it is unfortunately, not that common. So then, the next question to self is, “What should God/the Universe do to me when I don’t keep my word?” The primary thing to do is to make sure that all three of these questions have only one answer. I said that I keep my word but I haven’t been without fault, especially when it comes to keeping my word with my self. I can’t tell you how to deal with someone else in reaction to them doing ‘wrong’ because I myself ask for forgiveness. In order to get forgiveness you must be willing to give it. What you should do is forgive them. Even if you consider your self next to perfect, you had to get to that point through evolution of your energy. In a past life you were the person learning what it is to keep one’s word. That’s why in this life, it’s important to you, so don’t be harsh on others.

There is of course another side to this. To me, in life we hear two types of stories, ones that affect us, and ones that don’t. When a friend doesn’t keep their word or is dishonest about something, it tends to hurt us, but it’s easier to forgive them, if it doesn’t affect us directly. When it does affect us we should forgive all the same but we may have to modify our dealings with that person. One way to minimize these types of problems is to not expect things of other people. Communicate what is required and what the outcome will be if the requirement isn’t met. That goes for all every day dealings with others! An expectation is like a hope, hope is the fear of the opposite we hope for. Removing expectations from others is a daily practice, and it can be painful but in the end, it is well worth it. Let me digress, please note this example; you may have a friend that you loan $10 to. The friend doesn’t pay you back. Later they ask for $100. What do you do? My solution to this is that you only give money. Instead of lending $10 you give it away. If the person says they will pay you back, you allow them to. When they ask for $100 (or any amount for that matter) you simply ask yourself if you can afford to give away $100. Of course there are situations in life that will require you to ‘trust’. Just make sure you do without reservation and make sure that your not expecting them to keep it, your knowing they will do their best to. If you find your self in situations where the person you need to trust is not doing what you require as proof of their best, out of love for your self, you should distance your self from situations where the person in question’s word effects your life. Again, you can only do this, if you your self, are trying your best! The more you fine tune yourself the greater difference there will be between you and society. This is a reality and you will ‘feel’ it, there are times you may feel lonely. Just remember that you are actually moving closer to the nature of God/the Universe and in that way you are moving closer to the essence of us all. The people who don’t understand this are the ones to be concerned for. In summary, forgive them but do confront them. Let them know how their actions affected you so that you can begin a dialogue to prevent future occurrences. If we all continue to lead by example, and do our best to keep our word, we can influences everyone to do their best too!

41: How do you stay so positive?

2010-01-18T03:44:00.003+07:00

The main way that I stay positive is by taking ownership over my happiness. As a child I always believed that happiness is a choice, and after a lifetime of trials, I still do. One could be happy while they’re being picked apart by vultures, but their happiness wouldn’t necessarily be of value, especially if it prevented them from finding a way to escape from their situation. In other words, sometimes happiness is not what is needed for the best end result because it is the opposite of dissatisfaction. Dissatisfaction is the inspiration behind positive change (but it’s better to change first.) I believe that we need to bridge the duality, and we need to be dissatisfied while being satisfied, satisfied while being dissatisfied. That way we won’t need the feeling of dissatisfaction – we will be proactive in creating positivity. Now remember that this only applies to the things that are within our realm of changing. We shouldn’t measure our mood by external factors outside of our control. The more things that you have control over, the more responsibility you have. If you disregard this, life will show you in a way that may not be easy but will be understandable!

There are many ways to be positive. It’s also helpful to be around and interact with positive people. There is a verse that I read in the Buddhist I-Ching that basically talks about going into the town and drinking wine with people, laughing, but then going home alone or to family. The point being that if you are an aware positive person you shouldn’t isolate yourself from society. However, when it comes to your first circle of people close to you, they should either be positive OR be able to be influenced into being more positive. We are not here alone and we all need help at times so we should be open to giving and receiving it. Allot of times I speak of diligence and doing one’s best everyday. When defining what one’s best is, we need to factor in the amount of energy we have. I don’t try to burn myself out everyday because ultimately, it will affect my health either, mentally, physically, or psychologically. You have to allow yourself time to relax and wind-down. If you want to be able to jog for 5k, you should be happy to jog 1k for the first week. Ultimately, you’re the one setting your own goals so it’s within your power to set them in a way that pushes you the ideal amount for production without stress. This is a dynamic and lifelong thing, that we will constantly refine. Be positive by not being too hard on yourself. Look at your goals and don’t judge them by their distance, judge them by your daily effort towards them.

Being positive isn’t just a state of being it’s a state of doing. If you don’t think that negative thoughts enter my mind then you have the wrong impression of me. I’m no better than anyone else. Everyday there are challenges. One must see them thusly, and not as personal attacks from God or the Universe. This mindset can help us all stay more positive. There is little more negative then thinking everything is against you. Negative thinking is damaging to you regardless of its focus, towards yourself, others or wherever. Another thing is that anytime something negative comes to mind (for me it’s the wet slush falling down and me going outside in slippers), then counter it with something positive (in my case it’s that I’m back inside in the warm, have shelter, am full, am lucky), after that (and believing it!) it’s hard to remain negative. Again, being the human that I am, there are some things in my life that require a pretty conscious effort to balance out. I know from experience though, that by counter balancing the negative with positive, the negativity will go away. There are a limited amount of moments and experiences within one day. We don’t need to look ahead all of the time and worry if we are doing our best today. I believe that we definitely get feelings of unhappiness when we slack off in life. Most of us then usually distract ourselves from our lack of ambitions, when it comes to changes we need to make within ourselves. There is no trick to avoiding that feeling other than to sleep each night knowing you made a good effort that day. That’s what keeps me positive. The more we can remain positive while making changes, the less we will need to feel negativity in order to change. Act positive to be positive!

40: How do you feel about dreams, lucid dreaming, and how to experience our dreams to the fullest or get better at dreaming?

2010-01-16T03:51:00.000+07:00

I’ll begin, in order, with how I feel about dreams. Like many of my responses, I like to use the word ‘tool’. The interesting thing about dreams is that they are a two-way tool, in that we can use their interpretations to help us, and they are a tool for different levels of consciousness to communicate to ourselves. By that definition, it’s easy to understand why dreams are difficult to classify. Science has already proven that we dream regardless of whether or not we remember what the dream was about. Is this because we aren’t supposed to remember them, or is it because we are supposed to develop a greater awareness of them and we are just (generally) born under skilled? Well, that’s a question that we have to ask ourselves as individuals. Dreams communicate to us through symbols. As a society, we tend to be very naive when it comes to the interpretation of symbols, which makes me feel that we are hundreds, if not thousands of years away from truly utilizing the tool of dreaming. The same thing goes for other tools like, astrology, numerology, tarot, palmistry, etc.. I believe that the more we evolve, the more important these tools will become. Personally, I’m not a master of those tools but I do dabble in them. As far as dreams go, I would like to spend some time in seeing if I can use them more efficiently, or understand them better as a tool.

My experience of enlightenment/nirvana (I bring this up in almost every question because I believe it’s pertinent to my stance and statistically most people come to my blog or open my book to a page other than the first one, so I’m hoping to lead them into wanting a better understanding of my point of view and ultimately checking out more than one Q/A pair. I don’t repeat it to boast in anyway. Ten years after the experience, I’m only now using it for any good outside of my personal circle and have no bases for conceit.) was a communication of symbols. Going into it I had other questions on the forefront of my mind and I don’t have any ‘special’ answers about dreams. Continuing, dreams also speak to us in symbols that are sometimes universal and always personal. There are many books out there on dream interpretation. Two different people dreaming about the same symbol can easily lead into two different interpretations of the symbol, based on the recipient of the dream. Of course there are some symbols that are considered to be archetypical, or mean the same thing to everyone. Another factor about dreams is that our body’s react physiologically to the stimuli within them. I believe this ultimately relates to our chakra system and that dreaming can help relieve energy blockage.

Wikipedia defines: “A lucid dream is a dream in which the sleeper is aware that she or he is dreaming. When the dreamer is lucid, she or he can actively participate in and often manipulate the imaginary experiences in the dream environment.” For me, all of my dreams became lucid at an early age. I only had a few nightmares that I didn’t know I could control but that was at under about 8 years old. In the above definition you could say that there are degrees or levels of control within a dream. A side story.. One time I was in New York City, inside of Washington Square Park, and there were some followers of Krishna giving away books for donations. One asked me if I wanted one, but I had no money to donate (really). He told me I could pick one out anyway. The one that caught my attention the most was one that seemed to be about space travel through meditation or astral travel. In reality the book said to practice lucidly dreaming that you are on Mars, for instance, and that at the moment of your death if you do the same thing, you will be transported to Mars! When I dream I don’t try to control too much of it with my conscious mind because I feel instinctively that I should see how the dream will play out. I don’t do this every night or even that frequently but I may at sometime in the future.

What works for me, and you should try, is to suggest to yourself before you sleep that you want to be in control and remember your dream. If you don’t remember your dream, you won’t know if it was lucid. You can also suggest a theme for your dream and I imagine, with practice, you could fine-tune it. While you are dreaming, the first step is to be able to realize your dreaming and that you CAN wake up. This will relieve the feeling of fear, if you have it. There are some other factors as well. The location that you live (because of the electromagnetic fields created by the stars, planets and also our own earth), the energy within your environment (like the energy vibrations that the prior resident projected and was received/embedded in the physical environment), your diet and the direction (i.e. north, south or whatever degree), among other things, all have an influence.

So, in order to get the fullest experience out of your dream, suggest to yourself to remember it, and let it flow without fear or mid-interpretation. If you practice you will get better. Write your dreams down as soon as you wake up. If it doesn’t seem to work, try to rotate the direction of your bed. Sleep tight, sweet dreams!

39: What do you think 11 11 is all about? Do these numbers appear to you?

2010-01-13T23:39:00.000+07:00

After some meditation I do recall seeing these numbers a few years back for a few months. During that time, in addition to 11 11, I noticed a few other number combinations as well like 11:33, which is my birth time. This question is very tricky though because it deals with symbolism. I did some research and was surprised at the amount of people that see these combinations and feel that there is a spiritual significance behind them.

When it comes to symbolism, there are symbols that mean something to humankind, symbols that mean something to a particular culture, and there are symbols that mean something to an individual. Let’s talk about individual symbolism first. Individual symbolism concerns symbols that mean something to an individual. For me, seeing 11:33 on the clock all the time was personal. To the average person it would seem pretty meaningless. One thing that is sure is that God/the universe communicates to us in many different ways including symbols. That’s what makes this question difficult, because one person can’t qualify personal symbols for another person. A personal symbol, means what it means to the person receiving it. No one can tell me 11:33 is meaningless. Now that I have told you that it means something to me, what does it make me feel and think of? What does 11 11 make you feel or think of? Based on a limited amount of research I found that most people that frequently see number patterns feel that it is a form of communication from God/universe/angels. Since I know that this type of communication is possible, I’m not in a position to challenge the validity. In addition, I support anything that results in a positive outcome. The more people that understand we don’t just live and die in a vacuum the better. The more people that ask questions, the better off we are, because asking is the beginning of finding an answer. Now, going back to the types of symbolism I defined above, let me briefly mention symbolism of humankind. Numbers are one of, if not, the most powerful symbols that we use. The entire world uses a base 10 counting system and has been for thousands of years. Every combination of numbers that you see on a digital clock can be translated into meaning via numerology. The particular sequence of 11 11 obviously contains four 1s. The number 1 represents among other things, beginning, unity, initiative, isolation, and it is considered to mean, “I AM”, in terms of consciousness. The series is equal to four when combined. Some meanings behind the number 4 are, order, classification, measurement and it is actually labeled as, “Measuring Intelligence” by occultist. What does this mean overall? The fact that many people are ‘seeing’ it, and feel something behind, makes it significant.

Another factor that should be kept in consideration when dealing with the mind, is that it’s programmable and its’ accuracy is rarely used to its potential. I was recently watching a documentary about the mind. They had people looking at black and white photographs of cities, for helicopter landing pads. The people new what to look for, but the images would change too fast for them to be able to analyze them. The scientists were able to find out which photos had the pads by measuring an electrical pulse inside the brain that signified ‘found it’! Even though the person looking at the photographs did not consciously find the helicopter pads, there subconscious did find them! Another examples is that if you tell yourself a time to wake up, you can/will. This works for me all of the time, even though I’m not looking at the clock while I sleep. Your mind already knows the time relative to any clock you look at. If you look at the clock and see it change from 11:59 to 12:00 your subconscious mind will know exactly when it will turn 1:00 even if your conscious mind doesn’t. I say all of this because if you are consciously looking for number patterns you will surely find them subconsciously. I stopped noticing the numbers when I consciously decided that I wasn’t going to look for them. At that moment, if God/the universe wants to communicate, they will have to use a means that I’m more receptive too!

I’ve read a few theories including one that says there are 1,111 angels that are looking after us. I’m not in a position, nor do I have incentive, to challenge this either. If one of the 1,111 angels ‘came down’ and spoke to someone, and the person said that the angel said, x, y, and z I would focus on what x, y, and z are not whether or not an angel actually spoke to them (since I’ll never know). If I did, it would make me a hypocrite. Many people define my experience of nirvana as delusion, or even as an acid flashback (I wasn’t on ANY drug at the time of my experience) but it doesn’t matter to me, because what I took out of it, is not really refutable and doesn’t rely on that. A major transforming factor of my experience was going from 99.9% faith to 100%. I hope that the 11 11 phenomenon increases the faith of as many people as possible because God/the universe does speak to those that listen!

38: Did Jesus really "save" us giving his life on the cross?

2010-01-11T21:55:00.001+07:00

First of all, I want to point out that Jesus gave us his life before he was sacrificed on the cross. People like myself that believe in reincarnation, don’t necessarily consider death to be a sacrifice. People that lead their life to teach others, as opposed to seeking isolated personal happiness, are living a sacrifice. Jesus was one of the greatest teachers known to this earth and he gave his life in order to teach us all how to live. In that way, you could say that he saved many of us by giving us guidelines on how to save our soul. Again, most people that believe in reincarnation don’t believe in eternal damnation. I do believe in a state of energy re-newel that recycles conscious energy thereby converting a negative outcome into energy to realize another equation. Meaning that, if a life energy is in conflict with the nature of the universe and can’t be fixed, it will be ‘destroyed’ (recycled). Teaching how to move with the flow of nature, which he taught, saves you from this result.

One of the most powerful things that I took out of my enlightening experience was forgiveness. Understanding the perfection of karma shows us that things happen for a reason. Once you have faith/knowledge of this, you can’t ‘blame’ people for their actions and you understand the ‘why’ behind yours. We need forgiveness in order to properly deal with the past, which is to learn from it and let it go. The past makes us who we are at the moment. In order to love yourself, you must do so completely, and you can’t do that if your full of guilt and regret. Loving yourself to the fullest, is loving everything that got you where you are now, regardless of your labels of ‘good’ and ‘bad’. Once you do this, you will be loving and accepting of others as well. As someone who is dedicated to helping others, I can’t ask everyone to try to attain enlightenment in order to learn forgiveness. One way to do it would be to have others forgive themselves. Being blessed or baptized by Jesus or John helped their receivers forgive themselves. Believing in original sin and confession helps people to forgive themselves.

If you are trying to help people out do you teach a few all the steps or do you teach everyone the first step? I believe that Jesus is more of a role model and teacher, than someone that should be idolized as an intermediary between God and our selves. God is within us all and no one is favored. Again, there is something to be said about feeling saved but at the same time, let’s be diligent in our personal pursuits for improvement and kindness. Make sure to forgive others if you want god/them to forgive you!

37: What spiritual practices do you do and how often do you do them?

2010-01-10T21:53:00.000+07:00

The main spiritual exercises I practice are Hatha Yoga (the practice of breathing and asanas or poses), meditation and life! As far as the second part of the question, I practice them as much I can! The reason why I say it like that is that in my life, there are many periods of time where I don’t have the time to fully practice yoga. There are other times when I don’t feel like practicing. We are all different and many people need ‘external’ spiritual practice to help them balance out their materialistic side. Others and myself often need to practice things that are more down to earth to help ground us to the physical world we live in (it’s more than physical - but physical is an aspect of it). My belief is aspiring to a balance between male and female energy, my goal is not to ‘evolve’ out of the physical body. I find that life has played out for me in a way where I practice Hatha Yoga in phases, as needed and afforded by time. I would say on average about 3 months a year. Hatha yoga practice increases your capability for dealing with karma so you usually end up experiencing more and increased challenges. Sometimes I feel the need to rest. Karma doesn’t always mean you did something wrong, it can just mean you need to change!

Meditation is different. Meditation can be practicde in different degrees, almost constantly. I try to always pay attention to my thoughts and emotions. I don’t like to use the word “try” but I’m not perfect and sometimes I can get into a brief negative mode. I’m diligent though, and am proactive about changing myself, as I’m aware of what needs to change. Like with Hatha Yoga, I don’t always have a set amount of time to meditate, but there are times throughout the day that we can use for meditation.

Life is a spiritual practice if you are a student, someone ready to learn! I live by being 100% honest and I basically interact with others in life by doing on to them as they want me to and if I don’t know I’ll start by doing what I’d have them do on to me. Honesty is a very powerful practice and I challenge anyone reading this to try it. There are many benefits to telling the truth, for one, you can ask for honesty. When you lie, you don’t have the ability to ask others for the truth. People occasionally lie to me, but not often, and rarely unnoticed. I can remember so many times people telling me that they can’t lie to me, in the face of my honesty. When you go to bed at the end of the day and you know that you were honest that day, it makes you feel really good about yourself. People sometimes think that I’m cocky but it really is the confidence that one gets when they live each day in an honest way. I almost always do what I say that I’m going to do. In those rare times that I can’t do to something outside of my control, I communicate it right away to adjust other’s expectations. Doing what you say you will allows you to ask others to honor their word as well.

Everyday is filled with a limited amount of choices, regardless of your beliefs - the spiritual person does their best to make them right. This the daily spiritual practice of life.

36: What is the flower of life?

2010-01-09T07:23:00.000+07:00

The flower of life looks like the diagram below (courtesy of Wikipedia):

It is a powerful symbol considered by many to contain all of the answers to the universe. The earliest records of it date back to 645 BC but I suspect that it’s origin dates back much further. Examples of it have been found all over the world, across many different cultures. One of the many things that I find interesting about it is that it can be constructed with one stick, in the sand. You can hold one end of the stick and turn it to create a circle. By placing equal sized circles concentric to it (touching its border), exactly six will fit giving us a total of 7 circles. Once that diagram is made, all angles can be interpolated. One could measure any angle only beginning with a stick and some sand! Notice that the center of each circle is on the circumference of six surrounding circles of the same diameter. Then to complete it, we circumscribe the circles inside of a larger circle.

Before my experience, I had this diagram in different stages, taped up all over my room. Unlocking the mysteries behind the flower of life, is an on-and-off on going pursuit of mine. If you look at it for a while, you can see how it eludes to orbs within cubes, something that has three dimensions. Look at the flower and meditate on it. Tell me what you find. I have found some correlations below, as illustrated by the following diagram (click for full-size):

35: What is love and is it mutually exclusive to obsession?

2010-01-05T04:13:00.000+07:00

Love is not a noun it’s a verb! Love is the act of acceptance. When you accept someone as a whole, as opposed to parts, you are loving them. Acceptance, as it applies to accepting people, is dynamic since the person being accepted is dynamic. Now let’s break down acceptance into two flavors. The first is accepting them as a person and the second is accepting them in our lives. If my past conversations with people were any indication, I would say that not many people will agree with my definition of love! Anyway, love is accepting the person. Here is an example, many of us have relatives that we do love, that we accept for their good and bad, BUT we can’t seem to get the bang for our buck in terms of time vs. positivity. In other words, we have more positive things to spend our time on then interacting with that person. That doesn’t mean we don’t love them.

I always hear people say, “I love you but I’m not in love with you.” I absolutely disagree with that statement. I don’t believe there is a difference between “love” and “in love”. By factoring it out like that you weaken its definition and create obstacles for your own ability to love. More correctly is this, “I love you but I no longer have the time to dedicate to you (for whatever reasons)”. To me, you love your mom, your dad, your brother, your sister, your teacher, your dog, your friends, and your partner. The difference is that you commit more time and energy to the latter and are sexually attracted/intimate with your partner. By making “in love” a factor of love, you require sexual attraction and confuse the word.

Love is not judgmental and everyone deserves it. The truth is that we are all equal, without one deserving our love more than another. Unfortunately, most people in relationships want to be loved by their partner the most. That’s an obstacle to our ultimate state. Better is to require a mutual agreement on the bounds of time, action, and energy, not love.

Now for the second part of the question, by my definition of love I would say that it doesn’t have to be mutually exclusive to obsession - but obsession IS mutually exclusive to love of self. I say it doesn’t have to be relative to the person your obsessing over, because if you accept them 100%, you could think about them all the time without acting in a way that makes them unhappy. If a person doesn’t like how you are treating them, then you are not loving them completely, since you should accept them and respect their wishes. The other part to this is, obsession is unhealthy. Obsession is defined by dictionary.com as the domination of one's thoughts or feelings by a persistent idea, image, desire, etc. If you love yourself, you won’t allow yourself to obsess over anything. Use meditation and diversion to counter obsession.

You must love yourself to properly love others. Under my definition of love equaling the act of acceptance, this should be apparent. If you can’t accept yourself it must be difficult to accept others (completely). If you find yourself accepting others more than yourself then use your acceptance of others as a learning tool to help you to be more accepting yourself.

Acceptance is another word for satisfaction. The key is to encompass both acceptance and lack of acceptance within your definition of love and satisfaction and dissatisfaction within your definition of life. Out of acceptance of my true nature I won’t accept the things that need change. I love you today and hope tomorrow you change.

34: Please explain the concept of non-duality, advaita which leads to moksha , nirvana.

2010-01-04T03:37:00.001+07:00

If referring to advaita, then the duality that you’re referring to would be between Self (Atman) and the Whole (Brahman). The concept is that when you are able to combine the two seemingly separate parts and experience them as one, you will attain a state of nirvana(moksha). I absolutely agree to that concept because nirvana is that awareness.

In my eyes, one way that religions can be categorized is between those that promote enlightenment/nirvana and those that don’t. Even within Buddhism, not all schools focus on an individual attaining enlightenment. For now let’s discuss the ones that do. If the masters of these schools have attained this state (I’m assuming they have) of enlightenment and experienced nirvana by different means from each other, then none of the means can be considered absolute. That means that none of the schools can argue the validity of another schools way of attainment. The same thing goes for me or any other individual who has had the experience without a master… I can’t say that any particular series of actions won’t lead to nirvana! Allot of the schools have requirements, and in the current example of the concepts of moksha, one requirement is that the student must have a firm conviction that the nature of the world is misery. When I had my experience, I was definitely feeling that the world was miserable and it was the pushing away from it that catapulted me into nirvana. However, the truth of the nature of the world is NOT misery. So, if I had a student that wanted to attain enlightenment the same why that I did, what would I tell them? Would I say that the world is miserable (not true, but led me and many others to enlightenment) or that it’s beautiful and perfect and to find another emotion for the catalyst (which would mean that I would be talking from theory rather than experience – if the student failed attainment would it be because of their practice or my explanation)? Well, my answer is to teach truth because I believe that my life after my experience would have been easier if the shift between concepts going in, and going out were more congruent. Others teach enlightenment, then from enlightenment, the student can see the truth for themselves. Again, the only way I could teach enlightenment would be by asking my student to do what I did but the truth is that the way is as unique as the individual. Even with a Zen Buddhist’s koans (riddles that our used to ‘force’ the mind into nirvana), who’s to say how a particular student’s mind interpreted it? Their explanations can’t be put into words. An additional factor is how your daily life is led. There is a big difference between attaining enlightenment in a monastery and attaining it during your lunch break, at work! My point is that I don’t know what would effect the world in a more positive way, spreading the truth, or the means to obtain it. I’m choosing to focus on truth because it holds up before and after nirvana.

Enlightenment/nirvana are not prerequisite of truth and the truth can be felt without them. Above I stated that I don’t know if spreading truth is the best way to help out our universe, or spreading the means to enlightenment. The fact of the matter is that I’m for anything that effects us in a positive way, and in this case, both do. My personal view is that acting according to the truth is ultimately more important then attaining enlightenment. The effect of individuals attaining enlightenment, in relationship to the spreading of the truth, is beyond my current level of awareness. I’m saying all of this because I want to make sure that readers understand the humility in my stance when I say whether or not something is true or false. Digressing to the earlier example of a student who wants to obtain moksha needing a firm conviction that the nature of the world is misery, again, I don’t believe that the nature of the world is misery. I think that world is far below it’s potential and that most of us are struggling, however, we have the ability to choose what to focus our thoughts on. The nature of humans is to not be satisfied. I believe that dissatisfaction is the root to suffering (other than physical suffering from lack of provisions). The reason why our nature is to be dissatisfied is so that we struggle as a group, towards something better, or evolve. The key is to be proactive about change, because in this way you can dissolve your need to have a nature of dissatisfaction. This is a nice way to set up your thought patterns. You then can be in a satisfied state while you still improve yourself. Very much like the quote, “life is about the journey not the destination”.

33: Where are you finding your answers?

2010-01-01T04:25:00.001+07:00

Well, first of all, we all have access to the answers. Second of all, answers are still based on perspective so they are only as valid as our perspective allows them to be. So mine, of course, have that same limitation and are in no way any more or less valid than yours. For instance, a child’s reason for going to school may be that their guardian is making them. That is, to the child. Behind that reasoning, in the United States it’s the law. The guardian may be forcing them because of the law, because they don’t have time to teach them, because they think that school is important. The reason that this country created the law could be questioned. After all that, what does education mean to the universe and humankind? Even in this basic example you can see how difficult and flexible an answer can be. However, I can give you an accurate answer depending on how the question is asked. Using the same example I would use this Q: Why do children go to school, to them. A: The child goes to school because they are told or have the ability to choose and have chosen. In my mind, the answer is not final, and it should not be taken that way by my audience, even though it is ‘true’. It’s only as true as our perspective allows. What would happen if one child asked another why they go to school? Well, the answer I provided would most likely be a very sufficient placeholder of truth. The child asking the question probably would not think to inquire about the others parent’s perspective, and only a prodigy would ask about society’s perspective.

I’m confident in the answers that I’m giving based on the questions that I’m being asked. Part of the reason that I’m writing in a Q/A bases is because when someone asks me a question it forces me into the perspective to answer that question. Since someone else is doing the asking, I’m able to grow and better understand the way people view their universe. It’s also good up-keep for the mind. Many times we ask ourselves questions then put the question aside as not answerable. Later, we experience something that quenches our inquiry but we don’t always go back and actually answer the question to ourselves. For instance, many of us feel jealous at times. When we are young we usually act-out. When we get older, we (hopefully) contest the feeling. If we are smart we question the feeling. We ask, “Why am I feeling jealous?” Then we answer it. Answering it doesn’t mean that we will automatically not be jealous. In fact, I would say we would need to remind ourselves of the answer many times before it sinks in! In our lives, most of us have many of these types of Q/A, ones that we know the answers to, but need some reiteration for their strengthening.

More to the point of this question, ☺, I get the answers from my super-consciousness. I had an experience of enlightenment/nirvana as described in the first question of this text. Going into the experience I had 99.9% faith and many questions. Coming out, I had 100% faith and 0 questions (the change was so great that it took me a long time to figure out what to do with my life and what the next questions should be). My life ended in a way, but the questions that I had up to that point where answered (in the context of how they were asked). Many things went into my mind during the experience but I didn’t have the capacity to retain all of it, and did not try. But, anything that passed through I do have access to. I would describe the access to the super-consciousness kind of like the way we relate with/to god. Some people would say they would only believe in god if god was to ‘come down’ and speak to them, others of us know that god is always speaking.

The other source of my answers is from other people. They me be family or loved ones, or it could be someone standing at the bus stop. Answers come through many different means, many times outside of our selves. It’s up to us as individuals to feel/know what is truth and then to adapt our beliefs.

There is another factor, which I’ve mentioned briefly in prior texts, the feeling of truth. When I am/was spending time researching religions and philosophies, I find that the truth in them really stands out. I’m actually, usually, amazed at the amount of truth that is contained in most popular thought. By the actions of humanity I would have thought less accuracy would be found :-/ Even reading things as criticized as the Bible or Koran, I could ‘feel’ the truth in allot of their symbolisms and sometimes their words. For me, doing this research leaves my 6th chakra (the third eye) vibrating in an un-ignorable manner. When I express something that is true, you will know it though a combination of logic and feeling. By asking questions, you are elevating us all. Continue!

32: How do you feel about the law of attraction and how it works?

2009-12-31T07:07:00.000+07:00

I feel and think that the “law of attraction” is an accurate depiction on part of the way that the universe works. One thing that I’m not sure of, and this may be important for me to accurately address this question, is if there are many subdivisions of this “law”. That being the case I’ll reiterate the part that agree with☺:

You attract what you think about regardless of its value (good or bad). The more you think of something the more likely it is to materialize. Your emotions can be used to amplify (or hamper if conflicting) this process.

To me the law of attraction as stated above is a more specific expression of two other things that are not new to philosophy; faith and mind over matter (which are the same in a way). The main difference being that “the law of attraction” states that you will attract something negative by thinking about it. Faith may be something like some one saying something like, “Have faith that we won’t have a flood this year.” “The law of attraction” would state that the person is actually attracting a flood. Unless, that person’s thought behind not having a flood, is actually a visualization of a calm season.

Instead of defining things as ‘good’ or ‘bad’ I’ve been allowing them to be considered tools. A tool is something that’s value is an expression of its user. It has no independent value in and of itself. “The law of attraction” also falls in this category to me. The positive implications are pretty apparent, attracting what you really want into your life. I would warn that a life focused on one’s own personal abundance does not speak to humankind’s higher potentials. The opposite of that is group focused positive thinking has an enormous positive effect on our universe. The author also talked about karma having no value and that it was just an after effect of the “law of attraction”. However, let’s take the practice of voodoo for example. A person that is attracting something negative to someone else, while attracting positive things to themselves, will definitely feel the effects of ‘negative’ karma. In the particular article I read (http://www.law-of-attraction-info.com/law-of-attraction.html) the author had me in agreement up until right before the end. It said, “Scientific objectivity is a myth. Experiments which purport to prove hypotheses actually work by Law of Attraction.” This is very interesting and is correct in a way but overall it’s flawed because to call something ‘a law’ means that it has to pass “scientific theory”, which requires an objective observer… So, something outside of “scientific theory” has no basis for it’s proof (without the definition of a standard – which in this case is supposed to be disregarded). Or here is a more tangible example that I believe isn’t taken in consideration… What if you send out a robot to planets of unknown atmospheres to test for the presence of oxygen. There either, will be, or won’t be, regardless of what the scientist’s hypotheses are.

Scientific laws are based on facts. An object will fall based on gravity. Now, I’ll share an interesting experience that I had many years ago. I was walking with a group of four friends, other than myself, along the side of this wooden fence like structure that held the earth to one side, up, about shoulder height. As we were walking, I decided to jump to ‘be’ on the top of the structure. I didn’t second guess if it were possible, I just did it. We were all amazed, I had leaped vertically about 5’8” in the air, without any struggle. If we had the right measuring devises we could calculate both the physics and the faith aspect of it. In other words, it’s not the only “the law of attraction” that has an effect.

The practice of “the law of attraction” seems to be primarily meditative. It’s exciting to know that people are practicing meditation and hopefully for positive reasons. It’s definitely not a ‘simple’ solution but it at least sets up some accurate definitions. Since the beginning of time humans have been attempting miracles with their minds. Many of us have created them. Have faith and attract what’s positive for us all!

31: What is your inspiration?

2009-12-28T22:54:00.000+07:00

My inspiration was based on curiosity, like most children I loved to ask the question, “why?” My parents answered the questions that had definite answers but they encouraged me to research my own answers to philosophical questions. One of my favorite childhood questions to them was, “If happiness is a choice, why don’t people just choose to be happy?” My parents told me that they looked into many popular religions but for one reason or another, didn’t feel that any spoke to them well enough. Again, they never told me not to follow any of the religions that they had tried, instead they told me I should find my own answers. The line between them influencing me and me seeking is pretty fine but I definitely feel that my nature originated before this incarnation (just like everyone else’s).

My father was a major in mathematics and architecture and he brought me up with math problems. One of the games we used to play was; he would create a series of numbers and I would have to figure what the next number was. In first grade, I was doing basic algebra and fractions. In addition, as I’ve mentioned before, my father reads tarot cards, palms, and practices astrology. He never tried to influence me about my beliefs towards those things either.

The half of my life before my enlightening experience was all about seeking. This half of my life is about using what I have found in a productive way. My inspiration now is truth, potential and change. In terms of influence by people, everyone I come in contact with.

30: How can I find out about my previous incarnation?

2009-12-23T01:51:00.001+07:00

There are three main ways to find out about your previous incarnations that I am aware of. You could A., take yourself to nirvana/enlightenment and ‘see them’ (I did not do this). You could B., meditate and start remembering every detail of your day, the previous, and all days prior until you regress before this lifetime. Next, you could will your mind to continue regression through your most recent past life, and prior. The most popular way would be C., through hypnosis. There are many practitioners of hypnosis that specialize in past life regression.

Usually, past life regression hypnosis is used to help people deal with phobias that are manifestations of events from past lives. For instance, a phobia of water may come from the person drowning in a previous incarnation. By working out the feelings behind the drowning death, the person may be able to overcome the phobia in their present life.

I agree with many people, that we should live in the present, not the future or the past, but that doesn’t mean to me, that we should disregard them. If we don’t learn everything we need to during an event (the present), it’s great to have the ability to look back and still learn from the past. It becomes a question of focus. There seems to be enough going on in our current lifetimes that we don’t need to look back to a prior life but I can’t make that call for anyone but myself.

If you are curious and are able to find out about your past lives, and you don’t obsess, AND something positive comes out of it… I would support it. People that are involved in actions, which destroy the environment, need to understand that they are going to have to live in the world they create and that they may not have money to ‘escape’ in their next lifetime.

Personally, my focus is more on this life and future lives. I believe that the universe unfolds itself in a way that you have what you need right here. (Maybe in the future I will feel a need for past life regression – I don’t know) Using the prior example, if you have a phobia of water, you know you have issues with water that should be dealt with through meditation – regardless of what happen in a prior life. The more you’re able to learn per lifetime, the better off we all are, because eventually you will understand our connectedness and be compelled to help others.

29: Do you think apathy is the best way to be (generally speaking) in order to remain detached and free?

2009-12-21T08:40:00.002+07:00

This is a difficult question because feelings too, are like tools. They can be used in different ways, at different times, and by different people. For example, two people are talking and one says that they are ten times faster than the other. The other person gets angry. They could use their anger to attack physically or verbally, they could use it to immediately challenge the former to a race, right then, or the anger may fuel them to train hard for the next year, for a later race.

When dealing with people, there are many times when we need to project an apathetic aura. Police are a good example of this. If they catch someone in the midst of a crime they can’t be overly empathetic of the criminal at that time (of course they should respect the suspects human rights). They should just apprehend, a doctor should just cut, and an adult should correct a child all in an outwardly apathetic fashion.

If you can use apathy as a tool for a positive end result, then that is good.

Now, the thing about nirvana is that it is a realization of connectedness within separateness, and separateness within connectedness. Detachment is only freedom of responsibility (when it comes to being detached from people). However, knowledge is responsibility. So then, detachment becomes freedom of knowledge. In tarot this would be aleph, the Fool. Again, this becomes difficult because symbolically knowledge can be considered bad in some contexts. For example, eating from the tree of knowledge was considered a bad move. You have to actively acquire correct knowledge! Through action, you will ‘become’ this knowledge and take it with you to your next incarnation. Much of the practice of meditation is the elimination of knowledge. That’s because the brain takes in information (and labels it “knowledge”) without discretion of source. Detachment from things can also be good, for instance you may have a family heirloom that you have feelings about, but if you loose it, you should ultimately detach from it. Same thing goes for people, there is nothing wrong with caring for them but if they are gone, you need to let them go. Some people may gain value by leading a life of detachment or by trying to lead such a life. When I tried to practice that way of life I felt like it started to lead me toward a state that didn’t need a body.

I believe in an empathetic, compassionate approach to life. The reality is that we are all interconnected. Not feeling emotional for someone, means not having someone feel emotional for you. If you want someone to care that your hungry, you have to care when someone else is. This is knowledge. In between our life times (which is an infinite amount of time since time doesn’t exist there) we don’t have the senses that we have now. We have them now in order to experience and create the beauty in the universe. Apathy in its purest sense is devoid of passion and affairs of the heart, again, this is denial of the female aspect of our nature.

Beauty is experienced with the body, understood by the mind and felt by the heart.

28: If we are incarnations what is the point of death? Why can't I be immortal?

2009-12-19T20:56:00.001+07:00

Well, the multiverse is about change, and so are our lives. Incarnating is the best of both worlds because the ultimate ‘you’ IS immortal and is so flexible for change, that it can assume a diversified selection of lives! The ‘you’ that you should be most concerned with is the ‘you ‘ that you will bring to your next incarnation. There is your immortality.

The point of death is to undergo change. It’s a way to reset some of our preconceived notions and thought patterns. We are connected to the animal kingdom and it is natural for us to get into habits and routines, death helps break these up. Also, in between lives, lies a blissful state of love, peace, and connectedness, death helps us ‘recharge’.

Death and aging can be reduced to some degree, as a person doesn’t need them for change. That depends on many factors so I’m not saying that if you are completely changing you would live in this life forever, merely that the more change you can accomplish in this life the less need there is to reincarnate. I believe in being as flexible for change as possible. If I die, so be it. There is no need to over contemplate the future when we have a present!

27: Why was I born/am in an unhealthy state?

2009-12-19T05:41:00.000+07:00

We are all born into existence in order to change ourselves into a more perfect actor and witness, in this universe. The force of change usually manifests itself in to what we would consider to be ‘difficulty’. Every one of us is born with challenges based on what we need to change (in the way that we need to). I would never presume to know why any specific person is afflicted with any particular struggle but I do know that the person was aware of all their struggles before they chose to incarnate into their current form. This is very valuable knowledge because most of us have looked up and asked, “God, why me!” In reality, you were in control of the choice.

There are two different things in life, generally speaking, changeable and unchangeable. The mind is very powerful and many things that we label ‘unchangeable’ are actually changeable. Some things aren’t. We can’t base our lives on those things that aren’t changeable we have to base it on the things that we can change. That’s how we can maximize our time here on Earth.

Another thing to remember about the challenges in our life is that many of them come based on karma from past lives. You can’t just look at someone’s one life and have perfect understanding of karma, because it would be incomplete data. The thing about karma that people usually don’t consider is that it’s not always that you did something ‘bad’ and are being punished… but many times it’s just a nudge in an evolutionary process. Sometimes life seems long and sometimes it seems short. In reality, living 100 years in a 12 billion year old universe is a doable sacrifice!

One way that we can give ourselves positive karma as it relates to health is to appreciate what we do have. I used to always say, “God, don’t let me loose my sight to appreciate beauty” See beauty, breath the air in deeply, make the most of what you have. Do your best everyday!

26: Does mathematics hold any spiritual significance?

2009-12-18T02:25:00.003+07:00

Yes, mathematics is the language of the universe. There are tons of books out there dedicated to this. Regardless of ethnic background or even planetary background, beings can communicate with math because it is always the same. It is the purest form of law that we can demonstrate. 2 * 2 = 4, always, everywhere.

Let’s break down numbers even further. We like to talk about opposite, yes or no, black or white, male or female, in math these comparisons would be represented by binary numbers. A very interesting source of wisdom I encourage you to check out is I Ching, it combines and compares the opposites, Yin and Yang for divination and insight. I’m not suggesting anyone becomes a fanatical I Ching user but there is definitely insight to be gained from reading up on it. For one thing it dates back to around 200 BC and, whether or not it’s intentional, is a study of binary relationships. Today, binaries are used at the core of all computing. When programmers program in another language, usually a large portion of their code ends up compiling in binary format. What all that means is that everything that you see on your computer screen could be described using binary numbers, or 0’s and 1’s. Since this is a forum for sharing insight, notice the below diagram:

This is an application of the I Ching across the signs of the zodiac. I haven’t seen this diagram anywhere but if you compare the interpretation of the I Ching symbols (called hexagrams because they are of 6 lines) to the interpretation of the matching zodiac signs, you will see a definite correlation!

If you want to study the spirituality of numbers, you should definitely look into the Fibonacci sequence. It was made popular in the book and movie, the Da Vinci Code. It begins with zero then you add 1. Next, you add 0 + 1 and get 1 so it becomes 0,1,1. Next add 1+1 (the last two numbers on the right) you get 0,1,1,2. Then, 1+2 (the last two numbers on the right) you get 0,1,1,2,3. Continuing you get 0,0,1,2,3,5,8,13,21,34,55,89,144, etc. This pattern is the key to natural growth in all life forms.

Now let me digress…When I had my enlightening experience, I had traveled through this city. At the end of it, the last thing that entered my mind (related to the city) was the equation 1 + 1 = 2. This represented a foundation. 1 + 1 is the same as 2 * 1 so the equation can also represent 2 * 1 = 2. This is the same as 1 = 2/2. To me this is like saying that even if you divide us, we are all one. Also, it describes synergy, when you take 1 and divide it by 2 you get ½ + ½, those halves, there are 2 of them. So by dividing we increase the amount of total units.

25: How do you feel about antidepressants?

2009-12-16T21:52:00.000+07:00

Like other topics, it’s very important not to be judgmental when discussing antidepressants. Who am I to say whether or not someone should take something external, to help themselves through a difficult time? I am someone that will say that the best way to deal with any problem is to be able to handle it without taking something external. In other words, you try not to consume something external to deal with depression but no one can make the actual call besides the person contemplating ‘help’.

The thing to remember when taking a drug in the name of ‘help’ is that you are setting up that drug as a crutch. Just like with a physical crutch, that helps a wound heal, if you don’t put the crutch away – you will never recover! Now, if you did get a crutch from your doctor, they would take it away from you at some point so you can proceed to heal. The problem with antidepressants is that since they make you feel better, the mind sets up thought patterns for you to continue to use them. That’s because we are wired in a way that things we are supposed to do, feel good. Like enjoying food to sustain our life, enjoying sex to sustain humankind, or the good feeling after achieving a goal, to advance us. These important things become compromised when another source of pleasure is introduced externally.

When you add the fact that most antidepressants are available in the streets, it becomes a serious issue of control. Now you don’t have a doctor to take away your crutch, you have to decide to take it away yourself. The more accustomed to it, the harder it will be and you will have to consciously reprogram yourself to not associate happiness or content with the antidepressant you are putting away.

I feel like the plants that are here on our Earth are our tools for us, and I find it ridiculous that other people are able to tell us what to do with them, at the penalty of imprisonment. These governing systems need to focus on providing a life for its’ citizens that doesn’t consist of a 40-70h work-week and provide therapy for addicts! You can’t sweep problems under the rug all of the time, eventually they will overflow. That goes for the problems we avoid by drug use on a personal AND on a societal level.

In other words, the best way to not abuse antidepressants is to not need them. Addiction is a depressing thing in itself. If you are addicted to anything, don’t procrastinate get help. If you know someone with a problem help them, it’s your duty as spiritually aware being. Have compassion. Avoid depression by activities like meditation, yoga, dancing, listening to ‘happy’ music, working out, or sports to name a few. Avoid depression by taking care of the things that you have been putting off. Finally, the cliché, “ at least I’m not…” then fill in things you have to be thankful for. If you are reading this, or even hearing it, you’ve got it better than half of the world population- right off the bat!

Don’t forget that addiction can span multiple life times. You may be susceptible to it, from a past life… But I know you can beat it this time around! ;-)

24: What is the best way for someone to identify their purpose in life?

2009-12-16T05:14:00.001+07:00

Life will identify your purpose based on who you are and what you need! Before you are born into this incarnation you are aware of the challenges that you will face in this lifetime. Just as I said, you will understand your challenges but the future is something that we shape through thought, and decision. If I could only get across one thing, it would be how important we each are as individuals. One of the difficult things about this question is that it presumes an understanding of overall purpose – which frankly, may not always be apparent. In other words one’s understanding of purpose is limited by one’s understanding of their relationship to the rest of the universe. But, luckily we don’t have to worry about all of that, because the universe will present itself in a way that is conducive of you fulfilling your purpose.

“When you realize how perfect everything is you will tilt your head back and laugh at the sky” –Buddha

A very amazing part of my experience was the realization of the perfection of the multiverse, and how it was conducive of EVERYONE fulfilling their purpose, simultaneously. Bear in mind that our purpose is a dynamic thing… We may serve one purpose for a time then later need to change our purpose.

Maybe the nature of your question was meant to be more practical like occupational? I would say that in becoming more in touch with who we are, helps us understand what could make us happy or content, work wise. Trying to generate an income that can at least make you independent, while enabling you to enjoy yourself, is a good goal. Many people will live and die without having such an opportunity though.

Who knows when your purpose will change? Try to quiet your mind through meditation, and ask yourself what your purpose should be. The answer will be something that you should focus on. Next, act on that answer. I can’t emphasize the importance of meditation enough for the answers to these types of questions. Basically, when you are actively thinking you are not open to receiving information (from the higher self through the soul) so you are working only with half of the potential information available to you.

Sometimes we get too caught up in thinking we need to define an overall purpose. At those times we should ask ourselves, “What ‘s the purpose of today and how can we make the best of it?” Doing this everyday without procrastination, will lead anyone to successful fulfillment of purpose.

23: What's you're focus in life or what do you suggest others to focus on?

2009-12-14T21:48:00.001+07:00

When we talk about general focus, both what I focus on and what I suggest others’ focus on, is the same. I believe that the main thing that we all need to focus on is improving ourselves and helping others. That may sound vague, but it is so intentionally. The first step to improving yourself is, knowing what you should improve. This may be difficult for some people to figure out but it really shouldn’t be. God/multiverse will direct you in a way that you will know what you need to work on. Meditate on it and ask what you need to work on, if need be. If you are still coming up blank then ask you friends and family (if you have any friends ☺). I don’t believe in original sin, I feel like it’s a crutch but none of us are perfect, or we wouldn’t have any desire to reincarnate into a human body. Of course the next step after identifying what needs work is to figure out a way to improve. Like they say, “knowing is half the battle” the other half is doing. We can talk and contemplate philosophy all day, but it has little value until applied. In fact, the way karma works is that from the moment that you are aware of something that needs fixed, you bear a much greater responsibility then when you weren’t aware of it. This is one of the reasons that religion is not popular these days, no one wants to take action in correct ways, that correlate with a positive belief system. Well, not no one, but few. Anyway, what I’m saying is karma will ‘show’ you what you need to work on. If you ignore it, karma will show you again but in a way that is more challenging then the first. The more you ignore it, the tougher things will get. This speaks to the next point, which would be the rate at which change should be made. It can’t be made much slower than karma dictates, that’s for sure. Aside from that, no one can determine that but you.

As far as helping others goes I mean it in a general. We should help others improve and evolve but in a positive, compassionate way. It’s not our job to make anyone else do anything except be the best they can be. The best they can be is on them and not our responsibility. Help others by encouraging them, as far as pointing out imperfections and criticizing, use your heart/intuition as a guide. Sometimes when I’m talking to someone I can feel that I should say something and sometimes I feel I shouldn’t. As I mentioned above, most of us know that we are not perfect, no reason to be cruel to others regarding their flaws as perceived by you. You have enough to work on don’t you? By “help”, I was actually using the term in a simpler manner. If you see someone struggling with something, help them. Give up a seat for the elderly. Hold open a door when someone is right behind you. Help a person up the stairs with a baby carriage. Keep your eyes open for ways that you can help. Doing these seemingly small things creates beautiful positive ripples in the universe. You can’t force anyone to ‘see’ or ‘do’ anything. That is part of the reason that I’m doing this work on a question bases, I’ll answer what people want to know.

With any goal we must set an ambitious yet realistic outline. Since there will always be a ‘next’ goal, we should make sure that we are enjoying the process of reaching them. After all- that’s what life is, a process of changing.

22: What’s the benefit of practicing Yoga?

2009-12-13T22:22:00.000+07:00

Alas, there are many benefits. There are also many forms of Yoga but I really only have experience with Hatha Yoga, which is the practice of breathing, postures/asanas , and meditation. The same way that blood flows through your veins, so does kundalini energy or chi through your energy body. The words kundalini and chi mean the same thing and there are many other words that could be used but I’m going to just use kundalini for now, since that’s how the energy is named in Yoga. So this kundalini energy flows between the different parts of us but is mainly focused in a vertical line at our horizontal center, from our bottom, up the spine, to the top-middle of our head. The different asanas (postures) are meant to remove blockage along these energy pathways so that the energy flow is unobstructed. The connection between our physical bodies, soul, and spirit, converge at 7 points between our bottom and top. These seven points are called Chakras, which translates as "wheel" or "turning" in Sanskrit. A tremendous amount of energy can go in and out of our Chakras so Yoga is an important practice to ensuring this flow in natural. A blockage in energy, creates a physical blockage as well, by practicing Hatha Yoga you reduce this physical blockage by being flexible. Flexibility makes your body a more perfect vehicle for your Kundalini energy.

The interesting thing is that the blockage is usually due to a disharmonic ‘thing’ in your life and when you remove it through Yoga you simultaneously remove the root of the problem. For example, let’s say you have energy blockage in your neck. The neck is ruled by the Chakra Vishnu, which represents communication. There are probably many things on your mind that you need to communicate to others. After practicing Yoga to release the blockage in the neck, you’ll find yourself communicating more.

A very important fact about us humans is that we purposely and subconsciously limit our own potential. The better your energy flow the faster the reaction of karma becomes. This may or may not be a good thing (to you), depending on your capability to deal with life’s challenges. For example, when you begin practicing Yoga you may consider your life to be pretty easy. After a short time of practicing, it may seem that your life is in disarray! This is because when your life was ‘easy’ you weren’t dealing with the ‘next big challenge’ or necessary stimulus to positive change. Speeding up your karma tends to bring the challenges on. You have to go at your own pace, BUT all lessons will be addressed so you should do your best.

Yoga, through breathing, uses air pressure to message internal organs thereby removing toxins from them. Vegetarianism usually goes hand in hand with the practice of Yoga for this reason. Animal flesh is considered bad for the body, like a poison, not to mention many yogis won’t eat roots or certain spices that cloud the mind. I was brought up a vegetarian, I believe it is the best way for a human to reach its’ potential but since I never made a choice… I can’t judge anyone that eats meat. What do I know about stopping? All I would suggest is that you listen to your inner self - ask yourself if you should eat meat. If you feel you shouldn’t then you should follow it by action ;-)

21: What do you think abut television?

2009-12-13T02:11:00.000+07:00

My first answer to most questions like this is, “it’s a tool”. Tools inherit the intentions of the user, for the most part. The television is different from many tools though, because it communicates heavily with the viewers’ conscious and subconscious mind. Therefore, it doesn’t always follow the intent of its user. Take for example, cartoons. A parents’ intent may be to entertain their child by setting them in front of the television to watch, but in actuality the cartoon may be harming their child with negative images.

The most positive side to television is of course education. If you have cable in the United States, there is pretty much always something on that you could learn from. The negative side to that is that your brain doesn’t automatically know what it should learn and what it should ignore. If you happen to be watching a documentary for instance, you could probably just let your mind absorb everything. If your watching a drama, these days there is probably very little that you should just let your mind absorb!

I have a problem with watching shows where the protagonist is dishonest. At the same time, I appreciate the writing of dynamic, real characters, and in real life, many people lie. That’s why I feel like watching should be done in moderation. Even though it is realistic to have flawed characters, I question what it does to the subconscious when we ‘accept’ these characters. If we accept them without check, don’t we set up our mind to accept the character’s actions (subconsciously)? When you watch a sad movie and feel emotional, it means that what you are viewing is being interpreted by your mind as real. If you didn’t think of the character as real at the time, you wouldn’t care about them. If you spend too much time watching these types of shows you can suffer from moral desensitization. You will set up thought patterns for dealing with people based on the fictional characters in your life.

In addition, the television is a tool for intentionally spreading propaganda. If the propaganda is good or bad is dependent on the person controlling the content of the broadcast. Do you trust or even know this person or their intent? Probably not, so it’s best to be consciously weary of anything you view. Really, we should all be ever weary of what goes into our mind.

One program that I enjoy is the Japanese anime Naruto / Naruto Shippuuden. There are many complex characters with a mixture of positive and negative qualities but the main character is ‘bubble gum’ positive. He only fights to protect his friends, he is always honest, keeps his word and he never gives up on what he has his heart set on. Almost every episode reinforces these things and it makes me feel good overall. There is nothing wrong with a little escape, in moderation.

20: How do you describe your soul and the relationship you have with it?

2009-12-11T21:46:00.003+07:00

Please look at the below diagram (also in question #11, I describe the diagram in a more comprehensive manor):

The soul is many things as it relates to the rest of the states of energy. I should mention that none of the state are isolated and that they are all connected. A ‘being’ for example has energy from ‘planet’ to ‘star’. We have an animal side, a ‘pure energy’ side, and all in between. The soul is placed equal distant from being as spirit is. This shows the need for balance. A key point that I am attempting to make with my audience is that many religions focus on spirit and assume that upward ascension is equal to evolution. In fact upward ascension would be moving away from what we are. To not want to be what we are, must obviously also have a negative effect on our self-image. The soul is at the bottom point of the sign for Venus (that circle in the middle extending downward into a cross), it therefore is considered ‘female’ in terms of energy. As the animal kingdom, which is directly to the left of the soul, in the diagram, develops ego, those animals begin to be beings. The diagonal line that intersects at animal represents the point where energy breaks from the group, that’s why it divides the entire diagram into ‘group’ and ‘individual’. You need to have an ego to be an individual. Moving right from soul you’ll notice ‘feeling’. Again, animals of course have feelings- they are not isolated either. They become ‘beings’ when they are able to relate their feelings to ‘themselves’, thusly developing an ego.

The soul balances out the spirit. In order to develop ones’ self, the soul and the spirit should be thought of as equal. Part of the reason that ‘man’ is so bent on believing that we are suppose to evolve out of being is that we physically developed from animals. I’m understanding and forgiving of peoples’ belief in that. The reality is, we as a society, needed/need people to be far on the right side of the diagram in order to balance out the people that are far on the left side ;-) This is just another reason that we can’t judge others. We don’t actually know their place or purpose. Without having these strong forces on the right side, we would be much more animalistic in our behavior. We need to be in the middle, balancing feeling with thought.

For the second part of the question inquiring my relationship with it, I would say that it’s pretty good but can always improve. Meditation is a great way to develop the soul, so is dancing or enjoying music. Listening to your inner-voice is a great exercise too. The more you listen to your inner-voice, the clearer it speaks.

19: What do you think about tarot cards?

2009-12-10T02:48:00.000+07:00

I’m not sure how many stories there are about the origin of the tarot but, the one that I read said that they were originally invented for ‘wise men’ from various countries to communicate. Frankly, I find the cards’ use of symbolism to be genius. There are of course variations but I haven’t spent much time investigating different types of tarot decks because my father reads cards using Rider-Waite-Smith, so I used those for my research. The book ’the Tarot’ by Paul Foster Case is nothing short of brilliant. It doesn’t really talk much about divination but it goes into detailed explanations on interpreting the meanings of the cards. There are countless truths that can be discovered just by studying them.

Tarot cards are a tool, and like any other tool, they can be used in either a ‘good’ or ‘bad’ way. They work because the essence of who we are is in all things that we do. The symbols on the cards contain a deep archetypical language that resonates with our higher consciousness. The results of a card reading, is of course limited by the talent of the card reader. I have seen too many amazed clients, of my father’s, to doubt their potential for accuracy. Basically, I believe that the ‘good’ way of using the cards is to find ways to develop one’s potential by studying the symbolism or by using them in readings other than those of the future. For instance, it would be good to give a young person a reading, to tell them about some of their talents, that they may have overlooked developing.

The future is there for the reading or it can be read using various methods. The thing about the future is that it’s meant to be lived, and not predicted. A better use of energy is living the present in a way that will result in a positive life. I have known people that received help from a seer that ended up wanting the seer to make every decision for them. This is not good.

I feel that it’s healthier to let go of the future. It will come. If you maximize your potential today tomorrow will be fine!

18: Why did you choose Bruce Leroy as a pen name?

2009-12-07T23:36:00.000+07:00

Alas, there are many reasons for choosing Bruce Leroy as my pen name.

I want to remain anonymous. Like most people, I need to interact with others all of the time. I need an income in order to sustain myself and be independent. This work does not provide me with a means to that end, at this time. I’ve told parts of my story to friends in the past and basically they managed to take something positive and make it negative. My attempts at smoothing over those relationships only succeeded in leaving them feeling as though I was patronizing them or that I thought that I was better then they were. But how could I believe in my importance over another person and expect another to believe in me? It’s not even logical to me. In terms of human nature it is understandable, people tend to resent what they don’t understand. I guess that they would probably think that they were better if they had a similar experience and were projecting that to me. It is true that I’m a very confident person when it comes to expressing myself, so in the end, exposing my experience leads to others misinterpreting my aura. I prefer to walk up to people as an unknown. That allows me to change without the hindrance of yesterday’s definition of who I am. It also allows others to do the same with me, they can express themselves without thinking that I’m second guessing them. Right after I had the experience, I did tell allot of people, but strangers. I wanted to share and also see what their reaction would be. Most of them did take it very positively. When I tell the story of my enlightening experience in person, you can see in my eyes and feel the truth in it. Let’s just say that people at least believed that I saw what I saw, even if they didn’t believe that it was a spiritual or enlightening experience. However, one person in particular actually attacked me! She didn’t swing on me or anything but she said, “How dare you think that you’re special enough to meet god when I’ve been praying and get nothing?” I don’t remember what I said, if anything, I just remember thinking, “hmmm, good point”. Today I would say, “No, I think I was listening, you can too.”

I feel that some questions about who I am are necessary for others to understand ‘where I’m coming from’. However, the last thing I want to do is explain every imperfection in my life. I don’t want people putting my name into a search engine then asking me, “if your so spiritual then why did you do this and that?” I do plan to share my life experience at some point but my priority is to be a positive force in spiritual guidance for others (and myself). Who I am is not important to that end.

Another reason that I use Bruce Leroy is because of the character Leroy Green’s nickname of “Bruce Leroy” in the movie “the Last Dragon”. That nickname is obviously a tribute to Bruce Lee. So I’m using the name as a tribute to both the fictional “Bruce Leroy”, and the master Bruce Lee. Reading the ‘Tao of Jeet Kune Do’ by Lee, was very influential to me. It helped me gain confidence in the idea of having a flexible definition of self. I completed the book only a few weeks before my enlightening experience. The character in the movie, played by Taimak, was on a journey to find the ‘true master’, later discovering that the ‘true master’ was himself. The movie came out in 1985, I’ve been studying martial arts on and off throughout my life… because I’m more or less of the same complexion as Taimak, I’m often nicknamed “Bruce Leroy” (not by request).

17: How come bad stuff happens to good people?

2009-12-06T04:28:00.001+07:00

First of all, the terms ‘bad’ and ‘good’ are subjective, and can mean different things to different people. During my experience I was able to catch a glimpse at the workings of karma, on a world-wide scale. One of the important points is the factor of time. If one views a current situation and only analyzes the present, they will never be able to understand the value of the situation. It’s easy to see something, and label it as ‘good’ or ‘bad’, but just judging the moment is an inaccurate way to asses it. What if a homeless person finds a lottery ticket that is worth $10,000. One may say that that person is lucky if they just look at that moment. In reality, the person cashes in the ticket but is followed and later injured while being robbed of the prize money. Now the situation that seemed ‘good’ is now ‘bad’. However, the same person wins $100,000 in the lottery, six years later. When the person realizes they have a winning ticket, they play it real cautious and have no problems with the money. Had they not been robbed prior for the 10k maybe they would have ended up being careless and loosing the 100k?

You can see from the above example, no matter how far fetched it was ☺, that it is impossible to be able to place a value on a situation based on logic. There are too many unknowns, without having the ability to see all aspects of that situation, including the past and the future.

The specifics of a situation don’t have as much meaning as what a situation represents. When I saw that everything was operating perfectly according to karma, that was enough because that law can be used to help figured out the proper way to act in a given situation. In the end, again it is our choice, how we will act when something happens. So, instead of being caught up in whether a situation is ‘good’ or ‘bad’, let’s just do our best.

In conclusion, whenever you think that something is unfair, like something ‘bad’ happening to someone ‘good’, remind yourself that you don’t have enough information to make that judgment and that karma rewards good with good (even if you don’t know it’s ‘good’ at the moment).

16: How can we make use of the knowledge of reincarnation?

2009-12-02T02:03:00.000+07:00

There are a few different ways that we can take advantage of the knowledge of the existence of reincarnation.

One of the biggest things that this knowledge provides is the understanding that it’s not all ‘over’ when our physical bodies pass away. If you believe that we go to heaven or hell, and that it is a totally separate place from where we are now than maybe changing that belief to reincarnation is not a ‘good’ thing? Based on my experience I would say that there was/is a state that could be considered heaven. In between lives, we are a part of everything but still retain ourselves. The feeling of this state is a love and joy that is so intense it must be called bliss. We are in this state ‘forever’ ‘before’ we reincarnate back into a planetary system. It’s ‘forever’ because time does not exist in this state, therefore there is no change or opportunity to evolve. This is actually the first time that I have thought about it but I guess that state could be named ‘heaven’. Is there a negative state that could be named ‘hell’? There was nothing to lead me to believe that there was/is. I felt that the experience of the in-between state was based on the person experiencing it. If that person is caught up in negative feelings than it would stand to reason that their experience in between lives, leaves something to be desired. In fact, all of us have a reason to fine-tune ourselves to experience a greater connectedness. That is the reason that we choose to incarnate over and over again. At any point one can choose to remain in the in-between state, but we don’t. As much as you feel that you suffer in this life, you were aware of that suffering before you chose this life. Knowing this, you should be able to take life’s lessons as just that, lessons. That’s mush more positive than thinking that god/the multiverse has something against you personally! Once you become open to these lessons you will be able to convert their seemingly negative existence into something positive. You will understand that there is a positive outcome to everything when you go with the flow and allow yourself to learn from these lessons.

Let’s face it, without the understanding that reincarnation exists, it would be pretty difficult to label the world as ‘fair’. How could one person be born blind, and an orphan, and another be born into royalty? Without acknowledging the existence of reincarnation, one’s reality would be pretty grim or at least illogical. As I’ve mentioned in prior posts, you have to look no further than a child to witness the existence of reincarnation. They are definitely not blank building blocks or perfect replicas of our selves! They have pre-disposed personalities.

Another important thing that the knowledge of the existence of reincarnation provides, is the understanding that our work of knowing and perfecting self, won’t necessarily be accomplish in this lifetime. Also, that some of the habits that we need to overcome were not originated in this lifetime. Understanding these two things should help you put your life in a more realistic perspective. It is very important to not pick up any new addiction in this life and to try your best to end any that you currently have. Addiction, like bad habits, accompany you to your next life. Stop them now.

The last thing I’ll mention for now is that we are who we will be, in our next life. That is, we are who we are without any memories of why. What we take with us, is our thought patterns, that which combined is our personality. This should help you understand what you need to work on.

15: Do you believe that you are the only one to know the truth?

2009-11-30T23:47:00.000+07:00

I’ve already touched on this briefly, the answer is no, I don’t believe that I’m the only one to know the truth. I’m not really sure what is meant by “the truth”, the way that your asking it, because there are many truths. Any statement that is true, is a truth!

However, the interesting thing about truth is that it has multiple levels to it. Math is the best way to illustrate ‘truth’ because it does not require any words that need to be predefined. This is true 16 = 4 * 4. So, if someone where to say “16 is 4 * 4”, they would be making a true statement. If they told that to a child, the child may believe it. Now when the child goes home, his brother tells him, “16 is 2 * 8”, the child’s first reaction may be, “No it isn’t, 16 is 4 * 4!” If that child is not open to other peoples views, then he/she will never realize that there is more than one truth, and will only see things as one way, that is mutually exclusive. So what’s the best way to describe 16? Well its 2*8, 4*4, 4 squared, 2 cubed, the square root of 256. I can ‘own’ the truth no more than I can ‘own’ the truth in describing the number 16. One of the main things that I’m attempting to do, is to open people up to the understanding that there is more than one way to describe something and to make a personal connection with what the truth is to them. That inside us all we can feel the truth and that the universe will direct us in a path of greater understanding.

Knowing a truth comes with responsibility. For instance, a child that does not know what stealing is, taking a toy is different from an adult (who knows what stealing is) robbing from someone. The latter will of course face a harsher karmatic reaction to their deed. This planet would be many times improved if we all just acted on the truths that we already know! I hope that I don’t retract from that in my ‘factoring’ of the truth. Like everyone else, there is a difference in time between when I discover a truth or make a correction, to when I act on that truth in a natural way. The multiverse is about change and we most embrace this in our beliefs and our actions.

What’s true today is limited by our understanding of truth, today. Be open for your inner-self/god/the multiverse to show you how to keep moving toward a more complete understanding of truth.

14: Why practice meditation?

2009-11-29T00:06:00.002+07:00

Everyone should practice meditation in order to take a proactive role in the way that their mind is programmed. Our mind is always working on something and constantly trying to define and refine information sent to it from our senses and our conscious mind. I’ll define that action here as a ‘thought pattern’. Thought patterns are bridges between thoughts and emotions. For example, if you’re an alien from another planet and your ship crashes in the jungle, you may need to gather food. You see that monkeys are eating bananas but when you try it, it tastes bad and you vomit. Then you notice that there are green ones and yellow ones, and that the monkeys are eating the yellow ones. After some time of eating the yellow ones, seeing yellow bananas makes you want to eat but seeing the green ones makes you almost feel sick. This is actually a survival trait inherited from our animal base. As animals, it may take hundreds of generations, but at some point, you could take a newborn animal, and without training, it will wait until the bananas turns yellow. Contrary to that, a thought pattern can be developed in a harmful way. For instance, you travel to a different planet and get robbed by a blue alien. A red one helps you. The next time you see a blue alien you feel resentful even though you know that most blue aliens are peaceful. You can use meditation to ‘fix’ that thought pattern by first realizing it, and then consciously correcting it. You correct the pattern by attaching a new thought to it, to balance the mistake in logic. You tell yourself that every time you think a blue alien is bad, that it’s not because they’re blue, and that they need to be assed as individuals. When your meditation session is done you’ll probably still find that you are cautious around blue aliens, but do feel a little bit more comfortable. Eventually, when you see a blue alien you will feel the same as you do with red aliens.

Taking control of ourselves through meditation allows us to address the things in our character that we need to evolve or dissolve. All of this helps to reduce our stress.

I break down my meditation into these basic types:

1. with the eyes open

A. focus on something and don’t let the mind focus on any other thing
Example: Look at a branch on a tree, ignore the chirping birds, and everything else, immersing into the branch. Do this to develop focus.

B. focus on everything and don’t let the mind focus on any one thing
Example: Try to see everything in your eyes’ range, notice every sound, smell, etc. Do this to increase the percentage of your brain that is active.

2. with eyes closed

A. focus on something and don’t let the mind focus on any other thing
Example: Focus on a light in your mind’s eye. Do this to develop focus.
B. focus on nothing and just let thoughts go through
Example: Empty your mind but don’t ‘block’ thoughts because ‘blocking’, is a thing in itself. Just let all your thoughts and distractions pass by. You do that by not acting on the thought/distraction in any way.

C. ask a question to our higher-self/God/multiverse
Example: You twist your ankle. Later you clear your mind and ask ‘why’ it happened. I find that the more you are able to quite your inner dialog, the more you will realize our higher-self/God/multiverse IS communicating with us.

D. assess our life status and areas that need work
Example: At the end of the day, when you lay down to go to bed, think about your problems. We all go through the days, months, years, and decades pushing back things we don’t want to think about. Sort through your concerns and decide which things you can improve, and which you can’t. If your vision is a concern, see an eye doctor. Prioritize, and create a plan to start acting on the things you can change. You must then actually act on what you decided.

The more that you practice meditation the more natural it feels. A good trick that some Buddhists’ practice is you count from 1 to 10 in your mind. If a thought, other than the next number enters you mind, you start back at 1. If you make it to 2, you’re doing well! There are many other uses for meditation - it can even be used to balance your chakra energy.

13: Are you trying to create your own religion or cult? What’s the point?

2009-11-24T01:01:00.000+07:00

I’m absolutely not trying to organize anything. In fact, I encourage that people follow what they feel is right. We all have had individual experiences and all have our own perspective. There is a reason why people believe what they believe, so there is no reason for me to assume that I can convince anyone of anything. In fact, I can’t say that I know exactly what someone needs to hear or even how they will react to what I think is right. No one can own truth, it’s just there to be observed! Look at organized religion today. There are people that do things contrary their own religion based on their interpretation of their religion.

Another factor that I’d like to re-iterate, is that my version of what truth is, is limited to my understanding of truth. The truth is a constant, and I believe that I have been exposed to allot of it but anyone may have a better understanding of any point of truth that I communicate. If another person shows me a better understanding of the truth, I’m completely open to it, and will graciously adjust.

The point is that I hope my audience reacts in the same way to my writings that I react to the teachings of others. Others for me can be any religious text, any friend or family, or even a stranger or homeless person. We must keep our ears open. That is, adjust our understanding of truth, when we read or hear something that is true. The best way to know if something is true is to test it with your heart and your mind. Something that is true will be logical and will feel correct. This feeling of correctness is a part of our female nature. The logical analysis is part of our male nature. Again, they are completely equal in value.

So the main thing is that I hope to provide is a better understanding of truth and to evolve my own understanding through interaction with others. A major factor is that I feel blessed to have had an experience that advanced my understanding of many things and feel obligated to make it available for others. Lastly, if I can get this work published, I can possibly access it in a future life, to get a ‘head start’!

12: Do you have a problem with organized religion?

2009-11-21T20:59:00.001+07:00

That’s a tricky question because the answer is both yes and no. First, I’ll talk about what I don’t have a problem with. One of the things that I specifically was able to take in during my experience was the balance in the universe and specifically here on Earth, since that’s where I was focused. When I was a child I used to want to be able to ‘save’ the world. My experience showed me that it didn’t need saved because it was where it was supposed to be. I used to except that as an end answer but now I still want to try my best to influence the world in a harmonious direction. I don’t have a problem with any religion because there is a reason that any particular person has a particular belief. It would be against everything I believe to judge another person! If there weren’t a reason for religion then no one would participate in it. That means there is a reason for religion to exist. One could write an entire volume on what religion has contributed to humankind. Of course one could also write a volume on the destruction and death contributed in the name of religion, as well. Remember, if you want someone to respect your beliefs you have to respect theirs. In fact, the degree in which you expect your beliefs to be respected, can be no more than the degree you respect others’ beliefs. Furthermore, I believe in reincarnation and evolution through multiple lives. In past lives we have made the same mistakes as those that many of us look down upon. It’s not about measuring a level of evolution and placing a value based upon it, thinking your better because your more evolved than this person or that person (that attitude is not very evolved by the way ;-). It’s about understanding our connectivity to each other and respecting it. Unfortunately, the reality of humankind so far, is that "might makes right”. Those willing to fight for material reasons, no matter on what level, are usually the ones running things. It is up to the ones that see the truth with their heart, to have the mercy to help evolve ‘them’ beyond their current state. That helps evolve us!

That leads nicely into why I also say ‘yes’ I have a problem with religion. Again, most religion is male energy based and denies the female energy that is within us all. Denies our senses that we were inherited. Denies our ability to evolve by trying to make members dependent. In the case of Buddhism, denies are place by thinking that evolution is only a state of mind and not feeling as well. However, if you read about monks that have experienced Nirvana, it was achieved, many times through an emotional jarring. Religion thinks beings are supposed to evolve around the circle diagram (fig 2) I drew, through ascension, moving counter clockwise from ‘being’ toward ‘star’. This is like going ‘up’ to heaven. My point is that yes, that is a part of us, and most of us do need to develop that part more than the part that is related to female/planet, but it’s only an equal part, to that female/planet side of us. It’s not mutually exclusive, it’s just part of our right as beings.

11: What is the multiverse made out of?

2009-11-20T04:35:00.006+07:00

The multiverse is made out of energy, energy converters, and space. By space, I’m referring to the ‘vacuum’ in-between stars and planets. By energy, I’m referring to anything that exists, through space. Energy includes solid objects, which represent the slowest vibration of energy, liquid objects which are faster than solid, gas objects which are faster than liquid, radioactive objects which are yet faster. Radio waves are the lowest vibrating or have the largest wavelength on the electromagnetic spectrum below (source: http://www.atmos.washington.edu/~hakim/301/electromagnetic-spectrum.jpg):

Better yet here is a chart I sketched up for you explaining the full circle of energy. Obviously ‘planet’ is earth, ‘star’ is sun, and ‘being’ is humankind, in our case:

The circle works like this; super-consciousness manifests in the center of a star, the energy is slowed down and emitted from the star’s center. Plants feed off of light energy through photosynthesis. This energy is absorbed by the planet, which creates the animal kingdom. Animals evolve souls, when an animal starts to ‘feel’ like an individual the ego is developed, and the animal becomes a being with a self-consciousness. That’s what humans are. Beings then evolve feeling into thought which abstracts the being toward spirit. Spirit energy then evolves into pure energy which at its’ highest vibration is spewed back out of the center of the star!

The primary points of interest are the ones of the triangle containing planet, star and being. These three points are the primary converters of energy. The star takes the energy ‘emitted’ from beings and projects energy that’s consumable by planets. Planets take this energy and create life which evolves into individual ego. Beings convert energy in a different way. We convert it through our choice. There is no other part of the circle that is based on individual choice. When something happens to us, we get to decide if what happened was bad AND we get to choose how we are going to act. (animals only react). Even though I point out our value, I of course value no part of the circle higher than any other. The more we choose the ‘correct’ way to deal with the situation, the more pure the energy becomes. Important: by pure I mean free of feeling not better, because you can’t compare them they are different.

An interesting thing about truth is how it manifests in many different ways. For instance, the diagram I sketched is original to me. I’ve never seen it consciously yet it defines the symbols for male and female energy perfectly. If you create a circle in the center of the diagram and go straight down it points to the soul, which is governed by female. This ends up forming a Venus symbol. Going from the center to ‘spirit’ draws the Mars symbol, governed by male. We are in the middle.

Now this is where I have gotten criticism from some people in the past. They thought that I was trying to show that male energy was more evolved than female energy. The mistake that they made is that I have drawn a circle where ‘being’ sits in-between male and female energy. This shows that we belong in-between. It is the ‘male’ part of us all that tries to create a line with values on it… That tries to ascend to something. One of my main points is that we are where we need to be as beings. Equally balancing thought and feeling, spirit and soul.

The last thing I’ll point out about my diagram for now is the dotted line placed through it. At the bottom I labeled the two halves ‘group’ and ‘individual’. Notice that ‘beings’ again sits in the center of this. What this is showing is how energy changes without our individuality for half of the time. This again shows why we are important and why we need time, and need to incarnate to change.

10: How was the multiverse/universe created?

2009-11-17T02:38:00.001+07:00

Scientist can now basically backtrack the creation of the universe through mathematics. We know how fast light travels; it takes about 8 min for light to travel from the sun to the earth. So, if the sun were to go out all of the sudden, we wouldn’t see that it had for 8min. That’s the reason why we use the unit light-year for distance. If something is one light-year away, it would take one year for a beam of light travel from it to the observer. This also means that if we look at something that is one light-year away, we are seeing events that took place one year prior. The next part of the puzzle is to understand the current expansion of this universe, which we do. Reversing the pattern of its expansion, gives us a fairly accurate reading of its origin, about 15 billion years ago.

I call this the universe, the place where we exist right now. Do other universes exist? I don’t know the answer to that off hand but I do know that it is fair to assume that they do. Therefore, I use the term multiverse to include all things in existence. In this way I don’t create a separation. Using the term universe means that any thing I think philosophically would need to be updated if I later want to include a new universe in my theory. Using multiverse let’s me create a ‘bucket’ for more universes in the future.

After all that I’m going to write about our universe specifically. Using the creation of this universe as a model, I can come up with a basis for the creation of other universes. Anyway, we know through science that our universe originated at one specific point. Outside of that point is a vacuum. A vacuum is considered a volume of space that contains no matter. Scientist, to this day contemplate whether or not a ‘true’ vacuum exists in nature, or if it’s only approached. Well, that is pretty much the ‘end’ of the big-bang theory. Scientist have only scattered theories on how or why our universe began to expand.

That’s the general disconnect between science and reality. Science has a problem quantifying consciousness. Consciousness is what’s missing from the big-bang theory. The same way that science has looked at the expansion of the ‘physical’ universe and back-tracked, we can look at the expansion of consciousness and back-track.
We are all the children of god, and as god’s children created in its image, we share characteristics. Not to mention that we are not fully separate from god. When we look at our nature we can see god’s nature. Our nature is one of question. The nature of the multverse is one of change. The only way to allow for constant change is to ask a question that cannot be answered. (otherwise, at some point in time the universe will stop existing) I believe that that question is what we all want to know; what am I? The universe is a real-time answer to this question. God asked that question at the beginning of our time in this universe.

In order for god to define itself, it needed to define what was outside of self. To define energy/matter there needed to be the absence of matter or the existence of vacuum. Energy and matter exist on a spectrum of electro-magnetic vibration through time. Well, that sets up the bases for god’s defining its physical existence. To set up the answer to what god is in terms of consciousness, requires and outside perspective. So god is the universe but what is the universe? The universe IS what it is perceived to be. In order to get a unique ‘outside’ perspective, god had to create something that has an individual consciousness. To create an evolved equal for the comparison would be like creating a robot, and that robot would have the same perspective as its creator. That wouldn’t work. Instead god created a means of a self-creating universe that evolves consciousness through time. So as these consciousnesses evolve, they come closer to an answer of what god is and what they are. Since each consciousness is individual and is changing, there will never be an absolute answer.

Ultimately, there is no separation between the question and the answer. In other words, we are what we do. We must BE ourselves. We express ourselves in every action that we take. Our action is based on our individual perspective of the universe. We are living the answer to the question. God witnesses itself through our eyes, so every one of us is important, regardless of the total number. Our goal as a group should be to allow us all to explore and express our individuality to the limits of our existence.

9: What is ‘defining’?

2009-11-16T20:11:00.002+07:00

According to http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/defining :

Main Entry: de·fine
Pronunciation: \di-ˈfīn\
Function: verb
Inflected Form(s): de·fined; de·fin·ing
Etymology: Middle English, from Latin definire, from de- + finire to limit, end, from finis boundary, end
Date: 14th century
transitive verb 1 a : to determine or identify the essential qualities or meaning of - whatever defines us as human b : to discover and set forth the meaning of (as a word) c : to create on a computer -define a window -define a procedure
2 a : to fix or mark the limits of : demarcate -rigidly defined property lines b : to make distinct, clear, or detailed especially in outline -the issues aren't too well defined
3 : characterize, distinguish -you define yourself by the choices you make — Denison University Bulletin

The big thing missing from that definition is that in order to define something you need to define what that something is not. For instance, what’s white? The opposite of black is what most people would answer. What is bad weather? It’s the opposite of good weather. You can continue doing this in your own mind and you’ll quickly realize that that’s how we generally define things; through opposites or exclusion. An example of exclusion would be if you have three animals, a duck, a cat, and a dog. If you try to explain to an alien that knows what ducks and cats are, what a dog is, first you would try to explain that it’s the animal that’s not a duck or a cat. If I see a toy on the ground and see wheels, but notice that there are not 4, I know that it’s not a car.

This way of defining is natural and needed to process information fast. However, it has a major disadvantage, it forces separation. Well, defining tends to separate. This point was necessary early on because it explains how we must look at our relationship to god, other people and the multiverse. In fact for many ‘western’ minds, it brings up a general opportunity to evolve the way things are defined.

The ‘western’ mind tends to look at everything as a straight line. Point A to point B, a line segment, which may contain other points between its ends. Black and white, are thought of as two end points on a gradient scale of grey. Even in this way we can see that black or white is more then just the opposite of its opposite, it is a part of a ‘grey scale’. In the east there is another way to express varying values of black and white, which we all have seen, the yin-yang symbol. It describes that opposites are related in an equal circular relationship. Applying this to our grey scale model gives us this end result; the relationship between black and white is a circle of grey where black and white are on two opposite sides. This creates two linear gradients from black to white and white to black. The point is that when we see the relationship as a circle we realize that neither black nor white, have anymore value than say a 50% grey. We also see the dependence of all of the shades with each other. That you can’t really separate black, from white or grey! That black and white are just different aspects of the same thing.

I’m sure that I will bring these points up many times, in less words. It’s really kind of a root foundation needed to understand most of the questions I will address.

8: What do you mean by “male” and “female”, their energy and their role in religion?

2009-11-15T02:07:00.002+07:00

It’s important to note that when I talk about male and female energy, I’m not referring to men and women. Everybody is built up of a combination of male and female energy. In general we are born the gender of the dominant energy. Obviously this is not true in all cases. Therefore when I say male/female energy is this, or that, I’m not saying that all men/women are a certain way I’m making a general observation about too different types of energy male/female.

There are other names for this difference of energy like yin and yang. Yin is considered the female and yang is considered the male. In I Ching, yang is symbolized by a single line: _ and yin by a broken line: - -. The yang line is like a penis and the yin like a vagina. This describes the two basic directions of energy in relationship to *something or an observer. 1: Projecting. 2: Receiving. Everything in the multiverse does both of these things.

In fact, one of the most important things that I took from my experience was that it was the balance of male/female energy, that allowed me to experience nirvana. The conflict with religion and with my old thinking is this; Propagation and rationalization are both ‘male’ in terms of energy. They ‘project’ and ‘define’ and have nothing to do with feeling, only ego. But those are the two things that are used to spread a philosophy. That says that the very idea of convincing someone to believe what you believe is male in nature. Not to say that that’s bad but to say that it’s not complete and that it sets up a patriarch on a subconscious level. This contaminates everything. You end up with all men running the religion, sexism and overall bad thoughts towards female. Look at all the religions and think about the role of the female. Male energy is ruled by thought, female by intuition. The intelligent are respected the intuitive considered witches. Lust is considered the most negative thing ever but isn’t it human nature to desire sex! Religion tried to take out the most intuitive, female side to all of our nature. Even in the east, the flesh is said to be weak. This is completely wrong and makes it difficult for us to love ourselves and to love others. Aren’t we covered in flesh? You see it’s the people who don’t feel too passionately that are the ones that want to spread religion the most. Receiving, or the female side, is obviously of equal importance as projecting a rationale. All of our senses are based on the reception of energy. We need these to witness the universe and we need the male side to analyze what it means.

7: What happened when you ‘awoke’ from your experience?

2009-11-13T22:17:00.000+07:00

I immediately began laughing! My girlfriend was looking at me like I had lost it. To her I began crying then was cracking up. She had no idea what I just experienced, and to her only a few moments had passed. I was laughing because I was amazed and satiated. The feeling of love when you’re in-between lives was many times what I experienced as human love. The relief that ‘everything was alright’ was tremendous. Up to that point I had 99.9% faith but that last part was finally satisfied.

The next thing I noticed was this painting I was working on, sitting on the floor in our apartment. Right away I could tell my perception was different. I saw the symbolism I was intentionally trying to paint but beyond that I saw what it meant about me to be painting it. I saw the next level. I then focused on some art work that we had hanging up. I understood the reason for every single brush stroke, what it expressed and what it meant about the artist. I understood the creation of the print and it’s demise in the future! I looked at a wood table and understood the tree it was cut from, the designer, it’s construction, and it’s decay into dust! Everything I focused on bombarded my mind with levels of information I never dreamed possible.

Ok, so now I’m walking around laughing my ass off, bugging out on everything. Meanwhile, my girl is starting to have that look like she’s going to call 911. I realized that as amazing as what I was seeing was, it was time to come all the way ‘back’ before getting committed to a mental institution. I was thinking, “How the heck can I go to work like this?” So I went into the bathroom and ran the cold water. I started splashing my face with it, then that evolved to full-fledged smacking. Slowly, with my girl standing there open mouthed, I stopped laughing. I was just kind of chuckling, smacking myself. I could actually feel thoughts clearing out of my brain. Within half an hour I was ‘normal’ again.

My whole life had been spent looking for answers and I thought I would be satisfied once I had them. However, it wasn’t about finding an answer, it was about living it. This was difficult for me because I was a ‘seeker’ and having found I lost my definition of self. What I was, was destroyed that day and it took allot of time to get back on track, defining a new purpose. Finding out how to best live based on what I found out, and of course share, where welcome.

6:“Is it an internal well?”(... from which we draw upon)

2009-09-04T09:44:00.002+07:00

Yes, it is definitely an internal well from which we draw upon. Even things that are ‘external’ to us, exist in our universe, through our perception. Our place in the universe is ‘energy converter’, because any being that has an ego or the ability to say “I”, can take a situation that they perceive as ‘negative’ and convert it into a ‘positive’ thought/reaction. That is our unique role in this universe, we can convert energy just based on sheer willpower!

The physical body is based upon slower vibrations of our chakra system. The chakra system is the way that chakra energy flows through and is connected to our physical body. The main areas of connection are called Chakras, or chakra points. There are seven of them, which correlate with important physical organs within the human body. Each one is considered a wheel that is a gateway to a certain frequency of energy. In this wheel’s center is an infinite source of energy.

Even with egos we remain connected to the rest of the universe. Calling ourselves separate is just a way to define and organize a part of a group- for refinement. In the center of us all we are connected to an eternal well too!

5: Why don’t we normally remember our past lives? Why do we age?

2009-09-02T09:28:00.002+07:00

The nature of this universe is change. That is the reason why time exists. There is also a state that is ‘outside of time’ where everything exists simultaneously but we don’t normally perceive it because we don’t normally need it to refine our existence. So, we will focus on what we do perceive which is the passing of time. Like all things that we perceive, the flow of time is dependent on the observer. Mechanical clocks use gravity as their basis so they will not move at the same rate when in a different gravitational field from which they were calibrated. Furthermore, gravity is considered a curvature in time/space so you can see that ‘time’ really is flexible.

Karma is like the universe’s way of giving us a nudge in the right direction. That would imply, a change in direction. The main reason that we grow old and die is because we mold ourselves into someone that is full of set answers/reactions, someone that can’t learn or evolve. Like someone who is a racist, thinking that every one of “those” types of people is like “this”. That’s why even though I’m saying that I have some answers, I always remind that these are answers that I believe for now, and are subject to change/revision. Anyway, since the nature of the universe is change, when we stop changing on the inside, the outside changes through deterioration. I’m not saying that it’s bad to get old either, since there is no ‘perfect’ state there will always be a need for a change of lives to fully change a perspective. Of course there are those that don’t die of old age. It just means that they DID learn what they needed while they were here.

We don’t remember our past lives normally, because we are given what we need to evolve, in our present lifetime!

4: What is God and did you meet him/her?

2009-04-27T01:53:00.003+07:00

God is very tricky to define because all words rely on the speaker and the listener having a matching definition, and ‘God’ definitely means something different to most of us. So when I say ‘God’ it already means something different to each of you. I thought about using a different word, something that means nothing yet, but I don’t want to ‘create’ a cast of characters. Instead, I will try to modify some of your definitions. That said, God is not something separate from a single thing in the multiverse. God is within everything. God exists before, during, and after all time. Please take care that when you say, ‘God’ out-loud or to yourself, that God is not separate from you!! The mind is very powerful and when we say ‘God’ as if ‘it’ is something outside of us, we actually separate from God. I’m not sure how much I will actually say, ‘God’ in this text since I don’t really know my audience. You should know that I believe God is in everything we do and are.

During my experience, my connection with God was merely more apparent or focused. There were less things between ‘me’ and ‘God’ so it was like God was there in the strongest sense. I felt communication taking place, I was ‘told’ to be calm. I felt I was being ‘shown’ things, and never felt alone. It is interesting that for communication to take place there must be some separation. That separation is ego. So, God was no more with me then, then now or with anyone!

3: How did you, and how can someone experience nirvana/enlightenment??

2009-04-04T05:10:00.003+07:00

First off, I changed this question that was originally worded, “reach” with “experience”. I did this because I feel that ‘reach’ implies a level or even a constant level, when in reality it’s more like going out of town. You go, but you come back. Since we were ‘born’ in this ‘town’, it’s safe to say that we belong here. That being the case, I’m in no way suggesting that anyone try to visit the ‘town’. In fact, my interpretation of studies would say that many people have actually gone, but none fully came back! In Joseph Campbell’s book, ‘Myths to Live By’ he interviewed people that had undergone a certain type of, paranoid schizophrenic delusion, as defined by their doctors. The one’s that were coherent described a similar experience to mine. The difference being is that when I was being bombarded with information, I was able to let it pass through, thanks to practicing meditation. Without that, it’s very easy for me to understand why those patience are institutionalized. Another advantage I had going in was that I understood the symbolic meanings communicated to me. That being said, I believe that anyone, at any moment ,can experience enlightenment/nirvana. Anyone can fly too just do a running jump off of a building. In this case, meditation would be like flying, it’s needed for the landing.

Luckily, unlike the ‘victims’ above, I was also consciously seeking enlightenment through the practice of my interpretations of Buddhism, and Yoga. A little more specifically I was doing good things for people when I could, meditating, doing yoga, I was born vegetarian, I was reading a variety of religious texts and questioning everything. One of the most powerful things that I learned from my experience is that you can’t rationalize your way into enlightenment. Rationalization is a very ‘male’, projective, yang type of thing that is promoted by most religion. Most religion, including Buddhism denies our ‘female’, receptive, yin side. The thing is that that’s contrary to the trigger, feeling. The thing that took me to the state was the ‘feeling’ of wanting to go away in combination with the focus of thought to do the same. It was a perfect blend of yin and yang, male and female, projection and reception. I immediately noticed the void of the female in most religion and relating that is one of my main goals in communicating this text.

2: Is there a ‘heaven’, why are we here (general)??

2009-04-02T07:25:00.002+07:00

The multiverse, by my definition, is all inclusive of everything in existence. Everything that exists does so in all dimensions. That means that nothing can exist in less then all of the dimensions. Every speck of dust, all things that we are aware of, exists in all dimensions. Since most of our senses exist in the third dimensions, touch, taste, smell, sight, and hearing, it stands to reason that most of our focus should also be based on this third dimension. This doesn’t mean that we don’t exist beyond this state, it’s just an acknowledgement that our vehicle, our bodies are created for a physical existence. Furthermore, even though time is infinite our normal waking consciousness is only aware of the present. The fact that we are here is because we are supposed to be here. This sounds simple and obvious yet most religious philosophies focus on “the after life” or other levels of consciousness. Sure there is an after life and sure there are other levels of consciousness but if those “things” were supposed to be humankinds focus, then wouldn’t we be given bodies and minds to correlate? The truth is this, when we are not conscious of this dimension or our existence here on earth, i.e. when we are not living in a human body THEN we are living in “the afterlife”. When we are in between human lives, how much time can pass, when we are beyond time? A million years is the same as a second without time to distinguish them. We have eternity to exist in “heaven” and we exist there, together now. As far as ‘hell’ goes, there is none. Hell implies a state of entrapment that isn’t escapable. Instead, we may choose to live counter to the flow of the multiverse, but karma will force harsher lessons until ‘that’ energy is finally recycled. You could say that that’s a ‘hell on earth’ type of thing being that the person will suffer while on the wrong track. That’s the thing though, it’s not a trap it’s a choice that may be reversed at anytime.

People that talk about, ‘living in the present’ are on the right track. The general purpose of our existence here is to change our energy. Change is only possible through a change in time. We incarnate here because outside of the 4th dimension, time doesn’t exist and we can’t change our energy (vibration) there.

1: Who are you and why do you believe you have so many answers?

2009-04-01T09:25:00.001+07:00

I achieved enlightenment or a state of nirvana by pushing with my entire mind, spirit and soul, to 'go away', 'to escape', the words of the women looking down on me. Every adjective she used to describe who she thought I was, pierced my being. Eventually, killing my reality. She was my love; no words uttered from another meant more then hers, at that time.

Then, I existed in two places, simultaneously, and had a dual awareness feeling as though “I” had lost it’s meaning. One consciousness was on the bed and governing my physical body, the other was solitary in a peaceful emptiness. Before my mind could define the lack of light as darkness and attach the instinctual fear associated with a void of sensation, an outline of a door appeared in golden light, turning the emptiness black in contrast. Even at 22 I sometimes feel afraid in the dark, but I was consciously aware of a deep, encompassing love justifying my trust and openness. I reached out for the door and as my arm extended for contact, its molecules began to vibrate, creating a gradient, from physicality (my momentary definition of self) to energy, and my fingertips merged with the light emitting from the portal. As the door opened and light reached out for me, I became the light, focused in a beam, traveling to its source.
The entrance revealed a vast city of gold so reflective that it seemed barely more solid then energy. I immediately knew that the city was the kingdom of God, and that its appearance was symbolic to communicate its definition to me at that moment. I felt that it could have been green or black, a hut or, a planet, or whatever. It took the form needed to communicate what it was, intimate to the voyeur. I also knew that anything that I “saw” would follow those same laws, it’s details only limited to the symbolic vocabulary of the perceiver. I, the beam, zoomed through a clear central road, which perfectly divided the shimmering city. As I passed by the first building, my mind was splashed with information so fractured that it was almost trivial. Again my instincts kicked in and I knew not to focus on any of the info. I took a meditative mental demeanor, allowing the details an uninterrupted flow. In, and, then out. Besides, there was so much information flowing into my mind that at any instance of containment, my mind would have been filled to capacity or blown!
Even traveling at the speed of light, I was able to see the “end” (the city stopped abruptly with nothing visible beyond it, like an island surrounded by nothingness) of the city approach, at the same time the information was steadily simplifying. It was like absorbing a tree, twigs first, to branches, leading to one trunk, where all branches became one. The information became mathematical, again transitioning from complex equations beyond my comprehension to the simplicity of 1+1. The end of the city was the seed of the “tree”. Every thought, feeling, truth, energy, reality, etc., unraveled from the one, and became the all. Before I could take a break from the bombardment of realizations and reflect, I began to travel backward through time. Starting at the moment prior, I was aware of existing on the bed twice, then of the catalyst of my experience.

Time continued to reverse, and I relived my entire life, spiraling backward I heard my mothers heart beat while I was in her womb. One last retreat and I was at the moment before this incarnation, one with all. In a flash I understood the answers to my questions, I understood the accuracy of karma, I understood the amazing love that exists ‘in-between’ out incarnations. That place where all of our loved ones always exist. I understood that that ‘point’ in time was also me looking forward into my future, then. Ultimately, the choice that takes place before incarnating, the reason for forgetting past lives.
My answers are not static however, and are limited to my perception at any given point, which may change. Therefore, I also encourage the questioning of my ‘answers’.

I hope to inspire you to question.