Bruce Leroy Spiritual Q/A

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 be...

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 u...

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, yo...

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 thi...

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, a...

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 doin...

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 th...

“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 wan...

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 anticipa...

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...

“…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...

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 uni...

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 wi...

"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 oth...

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,”...

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 ...

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...

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 ...

“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 hand...

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 th...

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 ev...

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...

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 ...

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 q...

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 re...

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...

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 ...

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 the...

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 maste...

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 sch...