(souljourney) Heaven and Hell

Heaven and Hell

Heaven and Hell are psychological concepts and realities, as well as religious ideas. In one way they can be understood as images of the outcome of the Law of Cause and Effect or Karma. In a religious sense they are spoken of as reward or punishment for thoughts and actions.

In a deeper sense they are inner realities that emerge from the natural tendencies of the psyche to maintain balance and harmony. Whenever we think or act in ways that are contrary to our own well-being we suffer in some way because we are going contrary to our nature. When this occurs we are giving ourselves the message to rectify the situation.

When we think negative or destructive thoughts about ourselves, others or life situations, we put ourselves out of the stream of natural support that the universe and our psyche are designed to supply. When we blame, condemn or reject through lack of understanding or acceptance we isolate ourselves from meaningful learning and relationship. When we refuse to love those who need our love we block soul connection that automatically wants to reach out with compassion. When we destroy or abuse our natural environment we de-value the physical world that is the foundation of our own physical incarnation. When we do not care for our own physical health and well-being, we diminish our capability of expressing our life purpose in incarnation.

The accumulation of our disregard through ignorance, laziness or selfishness produces a natural back-lash that sends the signal that something needs to change. Some rectification of thought or action needs to take place because there is a lack of harmony.

The Law of Harmony is a natural law that flows out of Universal Order. This universal order is the basis of purpose. Everything that exists has a purpose to fulfill as part of life. In order to fulfill purpose harmony must exist. When harmony does not exist, the consequences are suffering. And if nothing is learned and changed then we eventually experience a life of hell. A self- created hell.

On the other hand when we are in harmony we allow the easier expression of soul to manifest through our thoughts and actions. We are ‘in the flow’. This not only feels good, but it enables us to more easily be compassionate and understanding toward others and our environment. We are motivated to be respectful and supportive. Our harmonious inner world is reflected in our relationships. We radiate positive and helpful energies. This is our heaven.

The choices we make all contribute to the creation of our own heaven or hell. And what we create we experience, and what we experience is also what we contribute to the world around us.

Exercises: 1. What choices do you make that consciously or unconsciously contribute to your own suffering or disharmony? 2. What choices can you make that would create more harmony in you life? Make those choices now.

(souljourney) Preparing to Die

Preparing To Die

We need to balance our life before we die. In a sense that means we need to return to our soul base. Throughout our life we have often lived as though we were only an ego rather than soul. We need to allow our true inner self or soul to re-possess our personal nature before leaving this world. Nature helps us do this, but we can help our own nature if we understand what is necessary.

When we have acted contrary to our own needs in life, have not responded to soul impulses when capable of doing so, and have not accepted full responsibility for our actions and experiences, this state of affairs needs to be rectified. No one is exempt from this.

The most traditional practices for doing this include some type of honest self-disclosure and making an account of our life’s deeds and experiences. This has at times been formalized in different traditions as a confession. The result of this re- evaluation and accounting of our life ought to lead us into the healing process of forgiveness – self-forgiveness first of all, and forgiveness of others where applicable.

Forgiveness involves an acceptance of responsibility, an understanding of the need for the experiences we rejected in order to learn, and an appreciation for the opportunity to manifest soul more fully. Forgiveness is not saying that something was wrong and that we will now ignore it.

Forgiveness accepts and understands and appreciates that what has transpired was needed for learning or growth. Forgiveness flows from the wisdom and compassion of the soul within. One of the services we can provide others before they die, if they are still sufficiently present, is to help them do a life review and go through the process of forgiveness as needed.

An indication that not all is well or that we are not in harmony is our natural tendency to project onto others and life what we are not willing to take responsibility for. We blame others and life for what happens to us that we do not like or want. Whenever we project we make ourselves victims.

Whatever we project we take as external fact. However, the ultimate purpose of projection is that we can use it as a mirror so we can more easily see externalized our own unconscious realities. However, it takes wisdom to recognize it as our own, and to take it back and own it.

There is a natural, healthy process that occurs as we move towards death, provided that we allow ourselves to go through it. During this time the most critical rectification that soul is able to affect within our personality is to stop us from projecting. What happens as a result of this natural personality withdrawal from the outer world that accompanies our preparation for death is an internal re-balancing process within our psyche. We then tend to stop blaming others and stop victimizing ourselves. This is accompanied by a growing acceptance of self, of life… and of impending death.

The inner conflicts then diminish and soul, in a sense, absorbs the experiences of the life with gratitude – all the experiences, whether they were positive, negative, blissful or painful.

All experience is opportunity for greater inclusiveness, regardless of what we think of it or how we feel about it. Soul sees this and passes no judgement. It is the personality which judges itself, but when one is approaching death there is a wonderful opportunity to let go of this self-judgement and allow the natural soul influenced harmonizing and adjusting to be done within the psyche. The result is peace, and the ability to move through the deathing process with greater ease.

Exercises: 1. For what do you need to forgive yourself? Let go of the judgements and forgive yourself. 2.Whom do you need to forgive and thank for an experience that you found difficult to accept? Focus on the learning and growth that could result from such an experience.

(cosmix) Pointless universe ?

The Nobel Prize-winning physicist Steven Weinberg famously said: "The more the universe seems comprehensible, the more it also seems pointless."

The first question that springs to mind is, if the universe is pointless — as in being a random or one-off event — then why should it seem comprehensible? Because anything comprehensible has to have a point to it.

Maybe not a point immediately or absolutely relating to transcendence, design, purpose or development towards an end but a purpose nevertheless. Mathematics, for instance, is comprehensible because it has rules and is not chaotic or random.

The same goes for physics. Perhaps the arts too since not all scribbling is aesthetic and experts can tell the difference between bad art and good. Just like other experts can differentiate between good math and bad.

The second question we need to consider is: what about biology? That's because the life sciences are not only just a part of any universe Professor Weinberg may have in mind, but ultimately involve human beings like him who, after all, are the only ones we know raising issues like this. No one of course would doubt the issue is comprehensible; but is it also pointless in that case?

Weinberg might argue then that at least he himself would seem pointless but the rules of biology would beg to differ. Life might have arisen randomly some three to four billion years ago on Earth or many billennia earlier in some other cosmic structure but once it got going here its "purpose" (yes "purpose" — blind or not, it doesn’t matter) was to keep going.

The cardinal rule which governed the first protein or RNA or whatever that organised itself out of the primordial elemental soup of just-right ingredients was to be able to reproduce. Where did it suddenly get that "point" from? Inanimate chemicals don't reproduce like that; animate ones do and the only time they don't any more is when they’ve died trying.

We don't necessarily have to invoke a divine hand as being the architect of such a rule; a little common sense will suffice. Meaning, in order for the universe to be truly pointless, it would have to be totally incomprehensible too. Which by Weinberg's own admission it doesn't appear to be.

The same logic then should also apply to its parts, including living systems arising in it. Actually, only if the professor had admitted he comprehended nothing would he have had a point.