Karma, destiny and freewill

*

----000OOO000----

*

A few days ago I received an interesting email from Robert and his wife Sharon raising some important topics. The email was quite long and much of it was of a more private nature so I've taken the liberty, with Robert and Sharon's permission, to subtract and encapsulate the relevant questions that relate to the subject matter of this blog.

The first question: Charles I've heard and read about the concept of Karma. However there seems to be a contradiction with Karma, destiny and freewill. The words karma and destiny imply that the future is pre-planned to some degree yet freewill appears to mean that we have a measure of influence on that future. How does one explain this contradiction?

The second question: You say that there is only the ever present now - that the phenomenal world is an illusion and that our true nature or the real self is changeless and beyond time. This seems to contradict karma, freewill and destiny. Could you comment please?

The third question: Those who accept astrology are convinced that the planets too influence or help co-create our destiny. Couple this with our genetic predisposition - it is no wonder many of us are so confused. In your 'The Ten Esoteric Tenets To Enlightenment' you write, "I am not a human being - I seek the knower who knows that consciousness contains all and is totality." Deep down inside I know this to be so - yet like so much you write, it blows my mind. You say not to close our minds off with belief systems yet we then stand spiritually naked with nothing left to hang on to? Am I being too skeptical?

Mmmm - where to begin? A mammoth task ahead indeed. When one tries to comprehend all that influences our actions, our thinking, our karma, our destiny – we have to not only explore past lives and past actions but we will also need to explore the life and intelligence of the universe. We have to consider the many spiritual realms and vibrational rates of such realms. We have to consider how thoughts from the beyond and from others influence us. A mammoth task indeed - one that will take multiple postings over the next two - three weeks.

Perhaps if I begin at the last point raised and work back. Such process, in this particular case, may lead to greater clarity and understanding.

Robert you said, "we then stand spiritually naked with nothing left to hang on to!”
Yet spirituality can happen no other way, can it not? Always remember, society will externalize you - a mystic will internalize you. All of your conditioning points to the outer. Your senses, your traditions, your culture, and your belief systems, even the dogma of organized religions - these all direct you to the outer.

The mystic - the esoteric - will always direct you to the inner. Inner direction can only happen in a state of utter nakedness. You cannot enter the kingdom of the inner with exterior baggage. Spirituality is nakedness - the shedding of the ego, of belief systems, of tradition, of culture, of all conditioning and attachments. It is the shedding of all that is impermanent and unreal. Only when these suffocating garments are shed can true spirituality happen. Now I am not advocating for a moment that one should be like many of the Sadhus of Banaras in India who often meditate and perform pujas naked in public. This is the display of external nakedness. However the shedding of the baggage must take place before we enter the internal.

Society will entrance or entrap you into a kind of mass hypnosis. A mystic seeks to awaken you from the sleep or dream. Society will attempt to keep you in a state of static contentment. Mystics will fire your discontent. Society will clog your senses with knowledge. A mystic seeks to unclog your mind so that clarity can shine from your being. Society will live for the tradition of the past and for the future. A mystic will shout Repent! Change! Awaken! Heaven is less than a hair's breadth away Now! Society will force conformity upon you. A mystic will tell you to drop (or go beyond) all ritualized behavior. Society will teach you that the external physical world is sub-atomic. A mystic will guide you to enlightenment - where one merges with this universal and blissful electrical energy.

You are born naked. There is a letting go from the warmth and protection of the womb to the outer. Even the umbilical chord must be severed. So too with spirituality - the jump must be made naked. And yes you are right - there must be nothing left to hang onto. The dogma and rituals of religion are exterior. These may be beautiful and poetic yet they are still possessions and attachments within the domain of the mind. The jump must be made from the outer to the inner and the jump has to happen in a naked state, free of all ego-mind attachments. That is the way we are born, both spiritually and physically, and that it the way we depart.

The misconception of being a human being

It has been said that man is made in the image of God - and it is a fact - more than can possibly be imagined or conceived. We are made in the image of God. Yet at a subtle level how do many of us interpret this profound truth? We inverse it. Many tend to see God as this kindly, compassionate yet vengeful man/being on some kind of celestial throne ruling over the rest of us. Now, before we proceed, we should be totally clear on this one point. God is not made in the image of Man - Man is made in the image of God.

Even with the monumental inadequacies of language we know that God is light - love - creation - truth. God is Totality with a capital T. We are the image - the conjoined part of this wondrous totality.

We are not mere human beings. We simply are not that limited. Our consciousness maybe presently incarnated into the species here on Earth that we label Humans but our physical life span is short - a mere microsecond of the cosmic clock. We drop these ''Earthly" bodies like we change garments - yet we still exist. We existed before the human race existed. We existed before this earth began and we will exist after the human race and this earth is no more. Both the earth and the human race exist within time. Like God we are timeless. The earth and the human race are impermanent - thus are an illusion. Like God we are permanent thus real. Like observing the river flow past us we (the real self) observe the passing of time - we are beyond time.

Hence I write in the 'The Ten Esoteric Tenets To Enlightenment' "I am not a human being - I seek the knower who knows that consciousness contains all and is totality."

The etheric and astral spiritual realms comprise innumerous interconnecting levels, thus a mystic answering from one level will so often appear to contradict an answer that has been given specifically relating to another level. The paradox is always present. I speak of the "inner" and "outer" yet at another level there exists no divide between the two. The outer is the product of the ego-mind and is an illusion. The inner is totality and contains all. Yet the illusion of the outer needs to be dropped before totality is experienced. The paradox is always present. We are human yet we are not. We are the image of God yet we are God - as Totality contains all that is.

The paradox is always present. Consider - we are born and we die. At the grossest level this is a simple statement and there is "proof" all around us that this is so. Yet at "death" we realize that we still "are" and that life was likened to a mere dream. We appear to awaken into a new reality (level) and realize that a dream of a physical body identity came into existence and has now gone. We then begin to experience this new more profound level of 'greater reality' - our past loved ones are there to greet us - to show us around so to speak - yet this level too is just a mere dream. We still have our astral and etheric bodies - so even at this new level we 'think' we are still a human being. Our conditioning can take eons to erase from memory.

As we develop we proceed to higher levels. On these higher levels we dream up and create 'at will' our heavens and hells, our saints and demons and the whole universal spiritual play is so damn real, so addictive, so enticing, so sensually beautiful - we become entrapped in the divine beauty or play of the whole drama. Each level we ascend to is so much more real than the level we left. We can now fly, time travel, communicate by telepathy, create the most beautiful creations, hear the most beautiful music, see the most exquisite colors, learn the most profound truths. Slowly we come to "know" that we are not human beings but "universal angelic entities". That is, we drop one label and replace it with a more profound or descriptive label.

Yet through all this - even as we experience such seemingly complete awareness - God recedes.

God is always "somewhere up there or out there" on the next level. Always just beyond reach - yet always less than a hairs breadth away. To our awareness, levels beneath us are the imprisoned embryonic spiritual levels (like our physical level) and above us are the heavens and abode of the Gods. We are quite confident that the then current level or dimensional existence that we are on (or in) is the real "reality". And if a mystic or a Buddha, even on those levels, were to say that we the inhabitants are still dreaming - that we are still living the illusion that we ourselves have created - the mystic would still be laughed at or called insane - or even worse, be "crucified" and then have a power based religion or belief system created from his or her teachings.

Intelligent life and life versus intelligence

Robert and Sharon, keep in mind we are working backwards. You mention astrology and the influences the planets have in our destiny. Once again there are so many seemingly contradictory (and controversial) levels one can discuss this topic from. As you know, thousands of books have been written upon the influences of the planets on our being. Astrology is a well-documented science - yet mainstream scientists do not accept it.

Firstly, perhaps one needs to enquire of the distinction between intelligent life and life versus intelligence. That is - is the influence of the planets "just gravitational" or are such influences more profound?

As a mystic it bemuses me to see science seek "intelligent life" on other planets and beyond. To a mystic the universe (as are all universes on all dimensions) is life - is intelligence. Consciousness is the creator and consciousness is all pervading. Consciousness is intelligence. There is no part of totality where intelligence and life isn't. Religions affirm that God is intelligent and God is life.

Even science observes and confirms the mysterious intelligence behind the universe.
The grandest and most dynamic form of God we personally experience in our physical earthly sojourns is the very Earth we walk on. We look to the heavens in the attempt to see or experience God yet to us, the largest form of God, we are standing on. To state that we are intelligent - yet this mother Earth, from which we have been created, has no intelligence must surely be the most conceited and arrogant delusional statement we could possibly give to our maker. We conveniently label the beauty, the mystery and complexity of this form "Nature" or "Mother Nature" and then look to the heavens in the vain attempt to see God.

As it can be seen on Earth, even "physical" life adapts and evolves to the environment it incarnates to. Like the myriad life forms in the Amazon rain Forest - consciousness at every level, every frequency, and every dimension - is teaming with life forms created in consciousness.

I have heard it said that life must exist somewhere out there on other planets because of the mathematical calculation. You too have probably heard of this "scientific" logic. For example - "Even if finding the same environment similar to Earth on another planet capable of supporting life is a ten million to one chance - there must still exist thousands of planets that is capable of supporting life." A mystic must find this amusing. To a mystic every planet is intelligence - is life - is a form of the intelligent God.

Our physical species (as all Earth's species) is born from the Earth - we feed of the Earth - we breath of the Earth's atmosphere - our bodies return to the Earth. There is no point at which we can say the Earth ends and we begin. Similarly there is no point where we can truly say that the Earth ends and the rest of the Universe begins. We and the Earth and the Universe are one. Yet we have the tendency to often think that we are in some way separately intelligent and that the Earth's intelligence is either non-existent or is a result of some quasi-programmable form.
To a mystic this duality is illusion - ignorance of the real. Our intelligence is but a hint of the Earth's intelligence - our gift of life is born from the "living" mother earth. We are one with the "Living and Intelligent" Universe. Everything we do affects the universe and everything that happens in the universe affects us.

Within man there is an inherent urge to ascend - to progress to higher levels. I have read that the majority of scientists (as do the majority of the human race) at some level of their being and especially as they get older (and wiser) still accept that life probably continues after the dropping of the body. The first question to ask is "Do you consider that such hypothetical continuing form of life or being is a higher form of life or a lower form of life than the one we experience in our physical bodies?"

Most, after consideration, would probably answer, "If life continues, it seems logical that such life would be of a "higher" or a more advanced form."The second question to ask would be, "If other "higher or more advanced" species or life forms in the universe wished to communicate with us and from their observations they can see that we have varying levels of higher existence, why "on earth" would they waste their efforts trying to communicate with us at the physical lower level? Would it not be likened to us attempting to communicate with the child in the womb rather than the mother?"

I mentioned above that as we develop spiritually we proceed to higher levels. Slowly we come to "know" that we are not mere human beings but "universal angelic entities". That is, we drop one label and replace it with a more profound or descriptive label. At these levels, other species and life forms from other star systems and dimensions also drop their sense of body identity. It is important to know that within each of these higher levels such communion is in accord with the vibrational rate of the ascended entities (rather than the type of species or their now long past belief systems). As strange as the aforesaid may seem, at some point, in the long journey back to totality, life must merge or begin to unify.Every form of consciousness including all planets and stars vibrate at their own frequency and within a frequency range. In our physical bodies, we vibrate at a harmonic frequency both individually and as a species. The Earth vibrates at a harmonic frequency that is "in tune" with our frequency range.

As discussed previously - we drop our physical bodies and find ourselves still "here". We now exist at a different frequency or vibrational rate within the range. Those sobbing (or cheering) over our deathbed cannot see us. Yet we exist in that same space. And even in this same space we now inhabit there are many levels "many mansions" - all on different frequencies of being.

Yet when science looks for life on other planets they seek only the lowest physical level. If there is no water there is no life! The planet is dead! The mystic finds this so amusing. The universe is teaming with life on myriad dimensional levels. We observe Mars as barren yet most of us cannot even see the higher forms of our own species right next to us here on Earth. So what hope would we have of physically seeing the higher life forms associated with the vibrational rate or frequency range of Mars through our limited senses that have evolved for our survival here on this planet?

People who claim they see fairies, nature spirits, ghosts etc are immediately scoffed at. I have been in communion with angels and higher beings many times. I astral travel several times in a given month. Yet most people would immediately consider that I am either delusional, insane, a liar or a charlatan. They have not experienced a meeting with an angel - they have not astral traveled - they have not seen a nature spirit in the garden - so obviously to them anyone who has, must be delusional.

So, if one can even consider the possibility that there are many levels of intelligent life on and around Earth as well as the other planets - and that the planets themselves are not separate to that life but are an integral intelligent and living part of such life, then we can begin to appreciate the level of influence that this harmonic cosmic whole can have on our beings.In further postings we will build on these myriad influences that determine causality and where causality ends and freewill begins.

The difference between Skepticism and Cynicism

You asked, "Am I being too skeptical? Please understand that I am not for a moment expecting anyone to accept or 'believe' in what I have to say. This whole blog is about dropping belief systems and going beyond beliefs and the ego-mind. It is about realizing the self and the path to enlightenment. Once our conditioning is dropped one can experience the 'Real' at a personal level. Once we experience - we know. There is absolutely no need to 'believe' in what others have to say. Beliefs actually become conclusions and hinder direct experience.

Until one is able to go beyond the mind's belief systems and conditioning, skepticism is healthy. To be a skeptic one questions. The mind is open for the new.The questioning mind can lead to enlightenment. If you have a skeptical nature be total in your skepticism. Even this can lead to enlightenment. Keep questioning until the very need for the question drops. Who is this person who is skeptical? Who is this person who continually questions? I don't accept anything anyone says, so who is this person who refuses to accept?

I say the above with one proviso. There is a big difference between cynicism and skepticism. Skepticism is healthy. The mind questioning is turning the mind back upon itself. Cynicism is a destroyer and limiting to advancement of the self. Skepticism is an open mind. Cynicism is a closed and wounded mind. The skeptic wants to know - to understand - to expand awareness. The cynic merely wants to argue, debate or bait - purely for the sake of argument and or recognition.

We have all met cynical people - other than to show understanding and compassion there is little one can do to change their attitudes. They have been hurt badly - sometime in their past - either physically or emotionally - they have been wounded. And they still carry that wound like a cancerous growth. So they project their hurt onto others. They have never forgiven the hurt - thus they continue to suffer. Yet forgiveness means prior judgment. You cannot forgive unless you have first judged. So the judge in them festers and because of the lack of self-love they continue to project - to judge and to convict others with their cynicism.

Skepticism is healthy - by all means remain the questioner until all questioning drops. However be on guard that the baggage of polluting cynicism does not enter into the question.

*----000OOO000----*

To be continued with.... "Thoughts and impressions from beyond and how they influences us."