Purpose of Life

2001-5-3 11:44:00

Several have asked who Sterling is and why I am responding to him.

Sterling is a former member of the list and Susan Carter's son-in-law. He also has a forum or two of his own where they discuss religion and spiritual principles. Susan is a member of these groups and posts some of my writings over there and sometimes it starts a discussion going. Some of the points I have been recently addressing in response to Sterling are subjects that seem to keep coming up so I thought it was time to cover them with more depth in the hope of bring greater unity between two avenues of thought.

Keith writes:
"Attention is the second key word given. Heightened attention brings about a trance state. Hypnosis is nothing more than heightened attention or concentration, bringing about a unique form of consciousness.

"Decision plus attention equals consciousness. Hypnosis has been of interest to many different adepts over the centuries. I believe there is more involved in hypnosis than we have been led to believe."

JJ
It is interesting that everything that we experience is a result of decisions made and the amount of attention focused on those decisions.

Not only is hypnosis the result of where attention is placed, but the non hypnotic awake state is also.

The person who is hypnotized goes under because he takes his attention away from his mind and thinking consciousness and focuses his attention on the words of the hypnotist and the feelings generated therefrom.

Hypnotism then is not so much a result of attention, but a result of where attention is and is not focused. But just like any other result, desired attention must be focused to reach the end result.

Much more desirable than hypnosis is the state of "heightened attention" that Rick spoke of. In this state you keep attention on all your vehicles, the body, feelings, mind and spirit so they all cooperate together to be sensitive to response.

Hypnosis can produce some quick short term results, but full conscious attention is much better at producing long term benefits

Julian, a welcome addition to the group writes:
"What is the highest purpose of us being here"? I don't know if I'm totally lost, or if any one even thinks this question is important for us to know. But if anyone has any insight into this I would greatly appreciate any feedback."

This is a question we could spend much time on, perhaps, the question of the ages. We have already covered this in some detail, but I will add a few words.

First we are not just here to return to God. If our purpose is just to return then why was it ever in the plan that we leave?

Some will answer that it was necessary to know the pain of earth life to appreciate the bliss of the presence of God.

There is a little truth to this statement but it is far from the whole answer. Just apply this idea to real life and one can see that something is missing.

How much pain do you have to go through before you realize that you desire or appreciate pleasure instead? The answer is not much.

Pleasure, happiness and even joy are benefits all of us achieve sooner or later, but the whole purpose in life is more than this.

Question: What more do you suppose that is?