You
may think this is easy, this "be Who You Really Are" business, but it's
the most challenging thing you'll ever do in your life. In fact, you may
never get there. Few people do. Not in one lifetime. Not in
many.
So why try? Why enter
the fray? Who needs it? Why not simply play life as if it were what it
apparently is anyway- a simple exercise in meaninglessness leading to
nowhere in particular, a game you can't lose no matter how you play; a
process that leads to the same result, ultimately, for everyone? You say
there is no hell, there is no punishment, there is no way to lose, so why
bother trying to win? What is the incentive, given how difficult it is to
get where You say we're trying to go? Why not take our good-natured time
and just relax about all this God-stuff, and "being Who You Really
Are."
My,
we are frustrated aren't we...
Well, I get tired of
trying, trying, trying, only to have You come here and tell me how hard
it's all going to be, and how only one in a million makes it
anyway.
Yes,
I see that you do. Let Me see if I can help. First, I would like to point
out, that you already have taken your "good-natured time" about it.
Do you think this is your first attempt at this?
I have no
idea.
It
doesn't seem as if you've been here before?
Sometimes.
Well,
you have. Many times.
How many
times?
Many
times.
That's supposed to
encourage me?
It's
supposed to inspire you.
How
so?
First,
it takes the worry out of it. It brings in the "can't fail' element you
just talked about. It assures you that the intention is for you not
to fail. That you'll get as many chances as you want and need.
You can come back again and again and again. lf you do get to the next
step, if you evolve to the next level, it's because you want to,
not because you have to.
You
don't have to do anything! If you enjoy life at this level, if you
feel this is the ultimate for you, you can have this experience over and
over and over again! In fact, you have had it over and over again-
for exactly that reason! You love the drama. You love the
pain. You love the "not knowing," the mystery, the suspense! You love it
all! That's why you're here!
Are You kidding
me?
Would
I kid you about a thing like that?
I don't know. I don't
know what God kids about.
Not
about this. This is too close to the Truth; too close to Ultimate Knowing.
I never kid about "how it is."
Too many people have played with your mind about that. I'm not here to get
you more mixed up. I'm here to help you get things
clarified.
So clarify. You're
telling me I'm here because I want to
be?
Of
course. Yes.
I chose to
be?
Yes.
And I've made that
choice many times?
Many.
How
many?
Here
we go again. You want an exact count?
Just give me a
ballpark estimate. I mean are we talking about handfuls here, or
dozens?
Hundreds.
Hundreds? I've lived
hundreds of lives?
Yes.
And this is as far as
I've gotten?
This
is quite some distance, actually.
Oh, it is, is
it?
Absolutely.
Why, in past lives you've actually killed
people.
What's wrong with
that? You said yourself that sometimes war is necessary to end
evil.
We're
going to have to elaborate on that, because I can see that statement being
used and misused- just as you're doing now- to try to make all sorts of
points, or rationalize all sorts of insanity.
By
the highest standards I have observed humans devise, killing can never be
justified as a means of expressing anger, releasing hostility, "righting a
wrong," or punishing an offender. The statement that war is sometimes
necessary to end evil stands true- for you have made it so. You have
determined, in the creation of Self, that respect for all human life is,
and must be, a high prime value. I am pleased with your decision, because
I did not create life that it may be destroyed.
t
is respect for life which sometimes makes war necessary, for it is
through war against immediate impending evil, it is through defense
against immediate threat to another life, that you make a statement
of Who You Are in relationship to that.
You
have a right under highest moral law- indeed, you have an obligation under
that law- to stop aggression on the person of another, or
yourself.
This
does not mean that killing as a punishment is appropriate, nor as
retribution, nor as a means of settling petty
differences.
In
your past, you have killed in personal duels over the affection of a
woman, for heaven's sake, and called this protecting your honor,
when it was all honor you were losing. It is absurd to use
deadly force as an argument solver. Many humans are still
using force- killing force- to solve ridiculous arguments even
today.
Reaching
to the height of hypocrisy, some humans even kill in the name of
God- and that is the highest blasphemy, for it does not speak of Who
You Are.
Oh, then there
is something wrong with killing?
Let's
back up. There's nothing "wrong" with anything. "Wrong" is a
relative term, indicating the opposite of that which you call
"right."
Yet,
what is "right"? Can you be truly objective in these matters? Or are
"right" and "wrong" simply descriptions overlaid on events and
circumstances by you, out of your decision about
them?
And
what, pray tell, forms the basis of your decision? Your own
experience? No. In most cases, you've chosen to accept someone
else's decision. Someone who came before you and, presumably, knows
better. Very few of your daily decisions about what is "right" and "wrong"
are being made by you, based on your
understanding.
This
is especially true on important matters. In fact, the more important the
matter, the less likely are you to listen to your own experience, and the
more ready you seem to be to make someone else's ideas your
own.
This
explains why you've given up virtually total control over certain areas of
your life, and certain questions that arise within the human
experience.
These
areas and questions very often include the subjects most vital to
your soul: the nature of God; the nature of true morality; the question of
ultimate reality; the issues of life and death surrounding war, medicine,
abortion, euthanasia, the whole sum and substance of personal values,
structures, judgments. These most of you have abrogated, assigned to
others. You don't want to make your own decisions about
them.
"Someone
else decide! I'll go along, I'll go along!" you shout. "Someone else just
tell me what's right and wrong!"
This
is why, by the way, human religions are so popular. It almost doesn't
matter what the belief system is, as long as it's firm, consistent, clear
in its expectation of the follower, and rigid. Given those
characteristics, you can find people who believe in almost anything. The
strangest behavior and belief can be- has been-attributed to God. It's
God's way, they say. God's word.
And
there are those who will accept that. Gladly. Because, you
see, it eliminates the need to think.
Now,
let's think about killing. Can there ever be a justifiable reason for
killing anything? Think about it. You'll find you need no outside
authority to give you direction, no higher source to supply you with
answers. If you think about it, if you look to see what you feel about it,
the answers will be obvious to you, and you will act accordingly. This is
called acting on your own authority.
t
is when you act on the authority of others that you get yourself into
trouble. Should states and nations use killing to achieve their political
objectives? Should religions use killing to enforce their theological
imperatives? Should societies use killing as a response to those who
violate behavioral codes?
Is
killing an appropriate political remedy, spiritual convincer, or societal
problem solver?
Now,
is killing something you can do if someone is trying to kill you?
Would you use killing force to defend the life of a loved one? Someone you
didn't even know?
Is
killing a proper form of defense against those who would kill if
they are not in some other way stopped?
Is
there a difference between killing and murder?
The
state would have you believe that killing to complete a purely political
agenda is perfectly defensible. In fact, the state needs you to
take its word on this in order to exist as an entity of
power.
Religions
would have you believe that killing to spread and maintain knowledge of,
and adherence to, their particular truth is perfectly defensible. In fact,
religions require you to take their word on this in order to exist
as an entity of power.
Society
would have you believe that killing to punish those who commit certain
offenses (these have changed through the years) is perfectly defensible.
In fact, society must have you take its word for it in order to exist as
an entity of power.
Do
you believe these positions are correct? Have you taken another's word for
it? What does your Self have to say?
There
is no "right" or "wrong" in these matters.
But
by your decisions you paint a portrait of Who You
Are.
Indeed,
by their decisions your states and nations have already painted such
pictures.
By
their decisions your religions have created lasting, indelible
impressions. By their decisions your societies have produced their
self-portraits, too.
Are
you pleased with these pictures? Are these the impressions you wish to
make? Do these portraits represent Who You Are?
Be
careful of these questions. They may require you to
think.
Thinking
is hard. Making value judgments is difficult. It places you at pure
creation, because there are so many times you'll have to say, "I don't
know. I just don't know." Yet still you'll have to decide.
And so you'll have to choose. You'll have to make an arbitrary
choice.
Such
a choice- a decision coming from no previous personal knowledge- is
called pure creation. And the individual is aware, deeply aware,
that in the making of such decisions is the Self
created.
Most
of you are not interested in such important work. Most of you would rather
leave that to others. And so most of you are not self-created, but
creatures of habit- other-created creatures.
Then,
when others have told you how you should feel, and it runs directly
counter to how you do feel- you experience a deep inner conflict.
Something deep inside you tells you that what others have told you is
not Who You Are. Now where to go with that? What to
do?
The
first place you go is to your religionists- the people who put you there
in the first place. You go to your priests and your rabbis and your
ministers and your teachers, and they tell you to stop listening to
your Self. The worst of them will try to scare you away from it;
scare you away from what you intuitively
know.
They'll
tell you about the devil, about Satan, about demons and evil spirits and
hell and damnation and every frightening thing they can think of to
get you to see how what you were intuitively knowing and feeling
was wrong, and how the only place you'll find any comfort is in
their thought, their idea, their theology, their
definitions of right and wrong, and their concept of Who You
Are.
The
seduction here is that all you have to do to get instant approval is to
agree. Agree and you have instant approval. Some will even sing and
shout and dance and wave their arms in
hallelujah!
That's
hard to resist. Such approval, such rejoicing that you have seen the
light; that you've been saved!
Approvals
and demonstrations seldom accompany inner decisions. Celebrations rarely
surround choices to follow personal truth. In fact, quite the contrary.
Not only may others fail to celebrate, they may actually subject you to
ridicule. What? You're thinking for yourself? You're deciding on
your own? You're applying your own yardsticks, your own judgments,
your own values? Who do you think you are,
anyway?
And,
indeed, that is precisely the question you are
answering.
But
the work must be done very much alone. Very much without reward, without
approval, perhaps without even any notice.
And
so you ask a very good question. Why go on? Why even start off on such a
path? What is to be gained from embarking on such a journey? Where is
the incentive? What is the reason?
The
reason is ridiculously simple.
THERE
IS NOTHING ELSE TO DO.
What do You
mean?
I mean
this is the only game in town. There is nothing else to do. In fact, there
is nothing else you can do. You are going to be doing what you are
doing for the rest of your life- just as you have been doing it since
birth. The only question is whether you'll be doing it consciously, or
unconsciously.
You
see, you cannot disembark from the journey. You embarked before you
were born. Your birth is simply a sign that the journey has
begun.
So
the question is not: Why start off on such a path? You have already
started off. You did so with the first beat of your heart. The
question is: Do I wish to walk this path consciously, or unconsciously?
With awareness or lack of awareness? As the cause of my experience, or at
the effect of it?
For
most of your life you've lived at the effect of your experiences. Now,
you're invited to be the cause of them. That is what is known as conscious
living. That is what is called walking in
awareness.
Now,
many of you have walked quite some distance, as I've said. You have made
no small progress. So you should not feel that after all these lives
you've "only" come to this. Some of you are highly evolved creatures, with
a very sure sense of Self. You know Who You Are and you know what you'd
like to become. Furthermore, you even know the way to get from here to
there.
That's
a great sign. That's a sure indication.
Of
what?
Of
the fact that you now have very few lives left.
Is that
good?
It
is, now- for you. And that is so because you say it is so. Not long ago
all you wanted to do was stay here. Now, all you want to do is leave.
That's a very good sign.
Not
long ago you killed things- bugs, plants, trees, animals, people-
now you cannot kill a thing without knowing exactly what you're doing, and
why. That's a very good sign.
Not
long ago you lived life as though it had no purpose. Now you know
it has no purpose, save the one you give it. That's a very good
sign.
Not
long ago you begged the universe to bring you Truth. Now you tell
the universe your truth. And that's a very good
sign.
Not
long ago you sought to be rich and famous. Now you seek to be simply, and
wonderfully, your Self.
And
not so very long ago you feared Me. Now you love Me, enough
to call Me your equal.
All
of these are very, very good signs.
Well, gosh ... You
make me feel good
You
should feel good. Anybody who uses "gosh" in a sentence can't be
all bad.
You really do
have a sense of humor, don't You,
I
invented humor!
Yes, You've made that
point. Okay, so the reason for going on is that there's nothing else to
do. This is what's happening here.
Precisely.
Then may I ask You-
does it at least get any easier?
Oh,
my darling friend- it is so much easier for you now than it was
three lifetimes ago, I can't even tell you.
Yes,
yes- it does get easier. The more you remember, the more you are able to
experience, the more you know, so to speak. And the more you know, the
more you remember. It is a circle. So yes, it gets easier, it gets better,
it becomes even more joyful.
But
remember, none of it has been exactly a drudge. I mean, you've loved
all of it! Every last minute! Oh, it's delicious, this thing called
life! It's a scrumptious experience, no?
Well, yes, I
suppose.
You
suppose? How much more scrumptious could I have made it? Are you
not being allowed to experience everything? The tears, the joy, the
pain, the gladness, the exaltation, the massive depression, the win, the
lose, the draw? What more is there?
A little less pain,
perhaps.
Less
pain without more wisdom defeats your purpose; does not allow you to
experience infinite joy- which is What I Am.
Be
patient. You are gaining wisdom. And your joys are now increasingly
available without pain. That, too, is a very good
sign.
You
are learning (remembering how) to love without pain; to let go without
pain; to create without pain; to even cry without pain. Yes, you're even
able to have your pain without pain, if you know what I
mean.
I think I do. I'm
enjoying even my own life dramas more. I can stand back and see them for
what they are. Even laugh.
Exactly.
And you don't call this growth?
I suppose I
do.
And
so then, keep on growing, My son. Keep on becoming. And keep on deciding
what you want to become in the next highest version of your Self. Keep on
working toward that. Keep on! Keep on! This is God Work we're up to, you
and I. So keep on! |