Category: Gathering 2021

 

Preparing for the Worst

2021 Gathering, Part Thirteen

One of the things that I’ve noticed is the difference between somebody that’s out for their own good, versus somebody who’s truly trying to help, is that somebody who’s out for their own good will attempt to make you dependent on them.

JJ: That’s a good point.

Phillip: They will help you get so far, but they will never make you independent. Whereas somebody who is truly out to serve you, will give you all the keys that you need and cut the strings and give you the independence to move forward without them. So that they’re no longer needed.

JJ: Yeah. That’s a really great point, Phil. The true servants of humanity will try to duplicate themselves, anything, any ability they have . . . like Jesus said to his disciples, “greater things than I have done, shall you do.”

Now, what kind of person says that? We don’t hear that from our leaders, “yeah, you’re going to be greater than me.” (laughter) You don’t hear that anywhere. But Jesus said it. And it turned out that the disciples did some pretty amazing things. They raised the dead. Phillip, of that ancient time, apparently teleported himself. And they did some pretty amazing things that even Jesus didn’t do, that we know about.

Susan: There’s an interesting phenomenon going on in the LDS Church right now. It used to be that you would always hear, “follow the prophet, follow the prophet.” President Nelson is teaching the people right now to get their own revelation.

JJ: Really?

Susan: And he’s teaching them that if you don’t get your own revelation, you will not make it through the next few years. You must have your own revelation. And that is not something that has been taught in eons in the LDS faith. It’s a huge thing.

Various people commenting.

JJ: Now my brother-in-law tells me the LDS are also preparing places in camps if there’s an emergency, that people can escape to?

Susan: They’ve tripled a lot of the girls’ camps and boys’ camps, and their drilling wells, and they’ve put white tents, huge white tents all over the United States.

JJ: To prepare?

Susan: To prepare.

JJ: Well maybe if they listened to Curtis and me when we went there and visited with McConkie and Petersen. They said, “We understand you got some kind of message. What’s your message?” And we told them, “You’re completely unprepared if the economy falls apart”

They read my treatise, or my novelette about “The Journey’s End.” It begins with the excommunication of Curtis, which was true. And then it goes into fiction, where the LDS people are hunted down because they have a year’s supply, and when the economy collapsed. The LDS turned out to be the ones that are hunted down by mobs. They had no place to go. And Petersen looked at that and he said, “This is written by the devil himself.”

Curtis: “This is hell spawned,” he said.

JJ:  “Hell spawned.” He said, “this is worse than Playboy!” (laughter) Playboy was the worst thing he could think of. To compare it to.

Susan: But it’s different now. That’s what I’m telling you.

JJ: Maybe they listened to Curtis and me.

Susan: Maybe they did.

JJ: Maybe somebody thought, “well, maybe they have a point. We need to prepare. We’re not prepared.”

Curtis: Can they get their own revelation then on the vaccination?

Susan: What President Nelson said two months ago was to counsel with your medical people and get the guidance of the holy ghost. So he definitely told people.

JJ: But they pretty much gave a command to get the vaccination.

Susan: Well, isn’t there always a paradox given, just like in the Garden of Eden? You’re told to do one thing, then you’re told to do another thing. And there’s a complete paradox. And the Church is being rent in two because of it.

JJ: I know I read that a lot of Mormons aren’t going along with the vaccination thing.

Phillip: If you look at the history of Nelson . . . Nelson had a pretty intense revelation as a doctor. He learned a new technique while he was on the operating table working on a guy. It was entirely the guy’s faith that pushed Nelson into it . . . if you hear the story. The guy said, “you need to do an operation.” Nelson said, “I don’t know what to do. There’s no solution for this.” And the guy said, “I have faith, I know the Lord will tell you. Just move forward.”

So Nelson opens him up. He’s doing open heart surgery. And as Nelson is doing the operation, he had a revelation of how to fix this guy’s heart using special stitches. And so he could see how it was going to work. He performed it. He tested it. Everything worked out great. He closed the guy up. And he had this amazing experience powered by this guy’s faith, but also his faith because he actually did the work.

But having that experience really impacted his life. One of his major revelations that he refers to. And so he knows that revelation is real and he’s encouraging other people to have similar type experiences. So it was majorly impacting on his life.

Now right on his heels is Oaks. Oaks is next in line to be the prophet and he’s very much, “follow the leaders. If your revelation contradicts, you’re wrong, the leaders are right.” And so, there’s kind of two thought forms that are being pushed at the same time.

JJ: Yeah, interesting.

Phillip: It is interesting, and I hope Nelson outlasts Oaks. (laughter)

JJ: It’s kind of funny with Curtis and me. We went to the Church headquarters, warned them that they were ill-prepared, and they needed to do something to prepare for an economic collapse.

But what would be frustrating to Curtis and me, is if there was a collapse and all the sudden the Church followed our advice and they’re prepared, and we aren’t, and they wouldn’t let us survive. (laughter) They won’t let us participate because we’re excommunicated. (laughter) That would be kind of ironic.

Curtis: We know where their food is stored. (laughter)

JJ: I was hoping by this time, from when I first started teaching The Gathering, we would have a whole city built and we would be completely self-sustaining. But that did not happen.

Asaph: Yet.

JJ: Not yet. So hopefully it will happen in time when it is needed.

Okay, any other comments or questions on the Middle Way?

Curtis: I was going to say on the Middle Way, it wasn’t that Joe and I wanted to be excommunicated. We wanted to appeal our excommunication. So we went see Bruce R. McConkie and Mark E. Petersen because we wanted to get back into the Church, because we felt like we could do more good in the Church than out of the Church. Plus we didn’t feel like we had done anything to merit excommunication.

So we went to find out if we could have a retrial. And they said, “we don’t do retrials anymore.” We don’t have that quorum of twelve. See in the Doctrine and Covenants there are two groups of twelve. A traveling high council and standing high council. The standing high council stood to judge difficult cases. And we presented a difficult case.

And so they said, “we’re not doing that anymore.” And we took the scriptures and we said, “well, it says right here if you don’t follow the scriptures, the way they’re written, you will be damned.” It says that in Section 29. And it says in Section 132 that we had the right to a retrial “as though no such decision had been made.”

So we said, “we have a right to a retrial and you’re denying us that privilege. And if you don’t give us a retrial, and you’re not you’re not following the scriptures, then you will be damned if you so continue.”

Well that really upset them. We said that and because we said that the interview pretty much ended. But we weren’t anti-Mormon or anything. We were pro truth. And what we wanted was to be heard and have a retrial “as though no such decision had been made.”

JJ: Yeah, actually I didn’t want back in it myself. I just wanted the Church to face the reality of what they were trying to do to us. We wanted them to defend the fact that they were trying to excommunicate us unjustly. And so we did our best to make that happen.

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Discerning Truth from Error

2021 Gathering, Part Twelve

Rebecca: Okay, so this is a big thing in our lives. We’ve experienced it with each other, with other people, with groups we’ve tried to work in . . . where two people or three people will feel that they have soul contact, or whatever, and they get a different answer. So one person feels like, “my answer is we need to do this.” And the other person says, “my answer is we need to do this.”

And they’re literally like polar opposites. You can’t do both.

JJ: It is indeed a big problem that people think they’re contacting the soul when they’re not.

We have layers between us and pure soul energy. And these layers are in the astral body. In the astral body, in the astral world, there are all kinds of thought forms that are produced. There’s a thoughtform of Jesus going around that he’s revealing himself to people. It isn’t the real Jesus, but when he reveals himself, he pretty much gives stuff that is already in the Bible. But he doesn’t give out new revelations.

There are thought forms of um . . . I’ve had people say they’ve had me appear to them. (laughing) I don’t know if it’s a thought form or my higher self that did it. Just depends.

There are thought forms on the astral level. So when people pray . . . I know a lot of people pray, like in the Mormon Church. They pray for revelation, but they get different answers. And this is because they access different levels. You can only access the level that your mind is at. If your mind is not centered on the soul, you will not be able to access the soul.

Your mind accesses the highest level you can go to. And for the average person, it is the astral body, or the higher emotions. The higher emotions feel good,  kind of loving and nice and pleasant. And so when you access them you feel good, and you think you’re getting a revelation from God. But you’re just getting revelation from your own desire nature. You’re getting what you want to receive.

One of the best criteria to measure if you received a true revelation . . . and my greatest revelations have been things that I didn’t want to receive (laughter) . . . I would’ve never dreamed them up on my own. But on the other hand, most people, when they get a revelation, it is entirely in accord with what they wanted to receive.

And even the Book of Mormon says this. The Book of Mormon says that “God granteth unto men according to their desires.” (The quoted scripture is Alma 29: 4)

And so, if you’re praying for an answer, and you want a certain answer, and you have your mind locked on receiving a certain answer, God will grant unto you according to your desires. This is why people get all kinds of different answers. And they seem to be sincere; they seem to be praying or meditating and contacting something out there. Yet they’re getting different answers.

And we’re getting different answers everywhere. You have different channels. . . one channel will say one thing and another channel will say a completely opposite thing. Another writing that claims to be inspired will say one thing and then another will disagree and say something entirely the opposite. And this is very confusing.

And even some of the writings that I consider inspiring, disagree with each other. I’m wondering . . . I have concluded, myself, that this disagreement goes into very high levels of spiritual sources. Because Paul even said, we do not fight with enemies of flesh and blood, but enemies, he said, in celestial places.  

We have enemies in celestial places trying to deceive us. I don’t know how far this goes up, but I find it fascinating that even the highest writings I have been able to find that vibrate very strongly with my soul . . . they don’t aggree 100 percent. What’s going on here? Why is that?

And I have concluded that there are very high entities up there that send revelation down to earth, that do not agree 100% with each other about what life is all about, and what should be done about life, and the meaning of life, and different things like this. So it’s very interesting. Yeah, Joshua?

Joshua: In addition to what JJ said, there’s also the possibility that the people involved have different directions that their souls are trying to go in. So, it may be that you’re not even supposed to work together. You know, they’re supposed to be doing this and you’re supposed to be doing that. And I think the only way you get clear on that is your soul tells you, and it’s a clear receiving that you are supposed to work with this person. And then there’s some miscommunication if it’s not working out.

JJ: Now that’s a good point, except there’s also Universal things that they disagree on. Like for instance, A Course in Miracles tells us that the whole creation of our Universe was a big mistake. And other teachings tell us, no. It wasn’t a big mistake at all. It was part of a design so that we can come down here and grow.

So that’s one of the big dichotomies of the various teachers who are fairly inspired on both sides for they teach us of ideas that are opposed to each other. And so it takes a lot of judgment on the part of the disciple to sort out the truth from error.

If one group of initiates, or higher lives, are teaching that the creation of our whole Universe is a big mistake, and another one is saying, no, it wasn’t a big mistake, it was a good thing so we could come down here and experience, that’s a big, tremendous dichotomy between some of the teachings that are revealed with intelligence beyond regular humanity. Yeah?

Michael: So DK talks about ideas that originate on maybe higher mental planes, and very few people are capable enough to tap into them and interpret those clearly. And it really takes something to bring that idea down to where it’s perceptible with most of our minds. And by the time it gets to that level, it gets distorted. So most of us aren’t clear enough to be able to receive that. It’s just not coming through. It doesn’t mean anything’s bad. It’s just like that’s where we are.

And I think what you said . . . on the astral level, it’s going to get very distorted. You know, DK talks about the idea . . . it condenses. The Mental plane, the astral plane, become the ideal, and then after people think about it, it becomes the idol. And how many belief systems turn into idols?

JJ: Yes.nSo the best thing for each of us to do is to go with what our soul says. Our soul sees from a much higher angle of vision than we do. When we reach a point where our judgment is required, we want to go beyond our ability to make judgments on our own.

We try to turn that over to our soul. And we ask God, or ask our soul, or our Solar Angel, or meditate, however you want to communicate to the higher realms. “What do I do? What is the judgment to be made?” And then go with it. No matter what anybody says. You may say that, and you may be in a group, maybe two-thirds of the group disagree with you. Ignore them. Go with what your soul tells you because your soul is capable of judging the middle way much more than you are yourself.

Susan: I think one of the big questions a lot of us have wrestled with over the last twenty years is ‘how do you know you’re having soul contact?’ And so I think this is where journaling comes in, or where paying attention to the results of what you think soul contact is, comes into play.

And one of the things that I’ve noticed with a lot of people that thought they were having soul contact is what they were getting tickled their ego in some way. It made them more special or something beyond what the people around them were. And it went to their head, so to speak. So to me, that says it’s on the astral plane. It’s not on the soul plane. So you just have to kind of keep track of what you think soul contact is, and kind of see what the result of that is. And see if you can discern if it’s coming from your astral, or your mental, or your soul.

And one of the things that I noticed, interestingly enough, is soul contact has a sense of humor – that if things come through with a bit of sense of humor sometimes, that is kind of an indication to me that is soul contact.

JJ: Yeah, Curtis once told me that “only the truth is funny.” And I think there’s a lot of truth to that.

Susan: Yeah. I do too. And so, you know, that’s what I think you have to do is keep track of things that are close to soul contact.

JJ: Right. The trouble is that none of us like to think that we’re below somebody else. And so if somebody else talks about soul contact or contacting God, they think, “well, if he can do it, I can do it.” And so, what they will do is . . . maybe their highest contact, is their higher emotional body.

Now, like we talked about earlier, the emotional body is like a mirror that reverses vision, and it distorts everything. So what you see through the emotional body is not accurate. It’s never accurate. You will not find the middle way through the emotional body.

Yet, if you haven’t made soul contact yet, the highest you will receive is the higher emotional energies. And they feel good. And people will think that is God or the Spirit. And so they will go by that. One of the ways to tell is like Sue said, “does this enhance the ego.” Does this make the person feel like he’s special because he’s got this special information and he’s the appointed servant of God or whatever. That’s a clue right there that the guy is receiving from the emotional energies.

The person that receives the true spiritual soul contact is not interested in the praise of men or women, so to speak. He’s interested in serving humanity. And this is the difference. This is one of the ways you can tell. If you’re not sure yourself, look and see if a person seems to be for his own glory, or is he for the glory of God and not for his own self?

Now, everything like this is difficult to discern because the people that are out for their own glory will do everything they can to convince you, “yeah, I’m a servant of humanity, I’m not out for my own glory.”

So there’s always deception to see through. There’s not a black and white formula that we can reduce down to find the middle way where the truth is. This is what makes it awkward. This is why we always have to go back to what vibrates to the truth in your own soul.

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Understanding the Middle Way

2021 Gathering, Part Eleven

We have a tremendous influence on each other. This is why the gathering together of a good group, like we have here, is a very positive thing.

Because everybody reinforces each other with positive judgment. I haven’t seen anybody criticize anybody else with any negative judgments since we’ve been here. It’s all been positive. We all think positive thoughts of each other, and all generating good karma, good feeling. And this is the way it should be.

And this is the way it should be in families. This is the way it should be in nations. Unfortunately, this nation is really falling off the cliff. We have conservatives and liberals judging each other as being servants of Satan. (laughter)

Both of them see the other side as being the devil himself. This is a very dangerous situation we’re in, where both sides see the other side as being evil. It’s kind of unfortunate.

But, on the other hand, it also presents an opportunity for a turning point. This point of tension can only go on so long. And there will be lot of people thinking, “this can’t go on. This has to change. We have to have goodwill. We have to promote good feeling toward each other. We can’t hate each other forever. 

Because somebody else thinks differently than me, doesn’t mean he’s evil. He may be misled. But being misled is not evil, and maybe I’m the one who’s misled. That’s what people need to ask themselves. Unfortunately, nobody asks themselves that. Maybe one out of a thousand people ask themselves, “Am I the one who’s misled?”

No, everybody is sure that they understand which is the right path. It’s the other guy who’s screwed up. They especially do this politically. Do you see anybody in politics who is asking, “Well, maybe I’m the one that’s wrong?” When have you ever seen a politician do that? Anybody? Anybody? Nobody raising their hand or heard any stories about that? I certainly haven’t.

But these politicians, they never ask that question. They never ask, “Well, what if I’m wrong?” They don’t think that at all. They never consider the possibility that they could be wrong. They think they are always right. Both sides are that way. They both think they’re right. Neither one of them asks if they could be wrong, and so they judge the other side to be in league with the devil himself.

This is a dangerous situation for a country, but it can only go so far, and once it goes so far, then the people in the middle start to wake up, and say, “This is crazy, you know. Let’s do something about it.” And this is what hopefully will happen. The people in the middle will wake up and say, “Hey, we can’t judge each other to be evil, maybe misled, but not evil.”

If two people disagree, one is misled and one is right, or they’re both wrong. It has to be one or the other. They both cannot be right if they diametrically disagree. Either one is right, one is wrong, or they’re both wrong.

This is what people have to come to realize. And then they have to analyze the people. And this has to be done by the people in the middle who are dispassionate. They have to look at these things and say, “What’s right and what’s wrong? And let’s make a judgment. Let’s make a judgment as to where the truth is.”

And this is the idea behind the middle way. It goes back to the story of the Buddha that we left off at. The Buddha was a person that was prophesied. His father was a king, and he ruled a great kingdom. And, if I remember right, there was a prophecy that a baby was going to be born. It was either going to be a great buddha or a great king.

So when the baby was born, the king decided he didn’t want him to be a Buddha. He wanted him to be a great king. To ensure that he didn’t take the path of the Buddha, the king commanded everybody that was in association with this kid, to make sure he didn’t see anything negative.

Everything he saw was positive. Every person he met was healthy. Everybody he met was happy. It was like he was living in paradise. The king gave orders to make sure the Buddha had the best, most luxurious, easy, pain-free life that was possible to have.

So, the Buddha grew up thinking that was normal – that everyone was healthy, happy, and everything was just peachy. Then one day, he decided he wanted to go outside the gates of the kingdom just to see what was there, so, he talked a servant into letting him out.

He went out into the world and saw that there were people suffering. There were poor and wretched people; there were sick people, and it startled him. He just couldn’t understand it. It just blew his mind. He didn’t realize this existed. “This is weird. I’ve got to find the answer to why is this happening. Why are these people suffering like this? I must go on a quest.”

He was married at the time and had a child, but he left his wife and child and went off on a quest to find the answer. Why is there pain and suffering, and what is the liberation from this? This can’t be right, he thought, it can’t be right that there’s all this pain and suffering. There’s got to be a way out.

And so he went and joined with a bunch of monks. They told him the way of liberation is to deny yourself of all luxuries and of everything associated with the physical body; and to negate anything in connection with it, including food as much as possible. And so, he deprived himself of everything to the point that they said if you touch his stomach, you could touch his backbone.

He was sitting under the bodhi tree meditating. And at that time, it was said he was living on two grains of rice a day. Can you imagine that, living on two grains of rice a day? He was near death.

A musical group came by, and they were singing this song. And the song was about tuning a musical instrument. The song stated that if you tune the strings too tight, then the sound would not be right. If they were too loose, then they would not be right either. To tune the strings correctly, would be the place in between the looseness and the tightness, where you would find a sound that would be just right.

Does anyone here play the guitar? Okay, Asaph, when you tune a guitar, how do you do it? You twist the instrument back and forth until what? Is there a black and white way to tell it’s tuned just right?

Asaph: No.

JJ: How do you tell when it’s tuned just right?

Asaph: I listen to the overtones. You put your finger at the place where you can hear the overtones of the string and compare it with the string you tuned earlier.

JJ: And would you say, when you finally get it right that it’s a judgment call?

Asaph: Sure. Yes.

JJ: Yeah, that’s a judgment call, isn’t it? You tune it looser then tighter then looser then tighter until it sounds just right. There’s really no black and white way to find that point of being just right. You listen, and it’s a judgment call. Something inside of you can tell when that tuning is just right. Same thing with a piano tuner. He tunes it, and he listens, and he can tell when it’s just right.

Same thing happens with any musical instrument. It’s not a computer program where you punch a button and get it tuned just right. They may come up with that someday. But right now, you have to listen when you tune a guitar string. And when you pluck it, and it’s just right, it just feels right.

Now if you start when the string is really loose, then you have to tighten it a lot. If you start, when the string is way too tight, then you have to loosen it a lot. But the important point to understand the lost key of the Buddha, is the point where it’s tuned just right is not exactly in the middle.

If the string is very loose, then the correct place may be octaves away. If it’s very tight then it may be octaves in the opposite direction. The point is that the right place, right tuning, is not exactly in the middle. It may be up here or down here or right here, depending on how loose or tight the musical string is when you begin tuning. You just never know when you start to tune it. And so you have to make a judgment call.

And the mistake the followers of Buddism make, is they believe the Middle Way is pretty much right in the middle. So they miss the second key, which is the Key of Judgment. They miss that completely. There is no judgment in the Middle Way in the Buddhist religion. They leave that out. And that’s why my book is called the Lost Key of the Buddha. They missed that key of judgment. They think the middle way is just not being too far on the left or right.

Now they also have other explanations for the middle way. They think, “the teachings of the Buddha are just the Middle Way.” And that’s not what the Buddha said the Middle Way is. Some of the teachings of the Buddha point to the Middle Way. But it’s just not “all the teachings of the Buddha are the Middle Way.” That’s not what the Middle Way is.

The Middle Way is to look at everything on the right and everything on the left, and then make a judgment somewhere in the middle. And you cannot make that judgment using any scientific formula. It has to be done by looking at the data, the information on the right and the information on the left, and then making that judgment of where the point of truth is in the middle.

This is why we have so many problems in politics. They don’t understand the principle of the Middle Way. They’re black and white. They think, “Well, here’s what the left says and here’s what the right says, and it’s right in the middle, or it’s right where we are, or it’s right here.” They leave out the Key of Judgment. Both the liberals and conservatives leave out this Key, where we look at both sides and we make a judgment, which is somewhere between both sides.

Now let’s suppose we have a bunch of policies on the right and a numerous ones on the left, and they oppose each other. Where is the truth? The truth isn’t necessarily right in the middle. Sometimes it will be. But sometimes it will be close to the far right and sometimes it will be close to the far left. It will be somewhere in between. Not necessarily right in between, but somewhere in between.

Where is that? And how do you find it? What do you think one of the missing ingredients is to finding the truth in the middle? Any ideas on this and how to go about it?

Rebecca: I have a thought. I always thought it was sort of the thing that will give you the best outcome in the situation at hand. The best thing at the right place at the right time.

JJ: Yeah, for politics that would be true. The best occurrence. What would produce the highest good? That would be the answer.

But on the other hand, we look at the arguments of the Democrats and the Republicans . . . they both think that their position will be the highest good. The Republicans think the highest good will be to completely eliminate Obamacare. And the Democrats think it would be to make Obamacare completely workable. And so which one? Maybe neither one.

Asaph: You must use principles.

JJ: Yeah, so it’s very difficult for people to see to see that highest good. How do we see that highest good? Yeah, Asaph?

Asaph: Principles. You must use principles.

JJ: Right. We must use principles. That’s important.

There’s an important key to look at here, to find the highest good. Who knows the highest good?

Susan: I think you have to follow the highest that you know. See what the fruits are and adjust.

JJ: Okay. Susan says follow the highest that you know. But that doesn’t always work.

Asaph: She said see the fruits and adjust.

JJ: Right. That’s an important point that takes us toward that middle way. There’s one way to get their instantly. What’s the way to get to that Middle Way instantly?

RuLeena: Soul contact.

JJ: Wow. Smart little lady we have here. Does the Soul know the point of truth between the two extremes?

Audience: Yeah.

JJ: Yes, the Soul does, doesn’t It.

If we don’t have sure soul contact then we need to use the highest intelligence we know. On the other hand, sometimes we reach a dead end. We go as far as we can on our own. Then if we’re willing to turn everything over to our own souls we say, “I’ve gone as far as I can. What is the highest good? What is the highest judgment I can make? Where is the truth between the two extremes?”

And your soul knows what that is. The god within you knows where that point of truth is.

And this is what 99 percent of the people out there do not understand, and do not realize, and they will reject.

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Judgement, The Second Key of Knowledge

Positive and Negative Judgment

2021 Gathering, Part Ten

JJ: Okay, next we’re going to discuss is the second key, and if you read the book you’ll know that the keyword for this is judgment. And we’re going to read what caused the Buddha to come up with this second key? Who’s a good reader? Start at the top and read the whole thing. This tells a synopsis of how the Buddha achieved enlightenment.

Rebecca reading from The Lost Key of the Buddha:

As Siddhartha Gautama, who became the Buddha, sat under the Bodhi tree near starvation, seeking enlightenment, he heard some singing; the words he heard are said to be something like this:

If you tune the strings of a harp too tight, the sound will not be right. If the strings are too slack as they play, a beautiful sound will not be made. Neither too tight nor too limp shall be the strings, If the player is to be worthy of kings. The tension must be tuned by the ear to fill the soul of all who hear.

When he heard these words, a light turned on in his mind. He realized that the first part of his life, where he dwelt in luxury, was likened unto a string too loose. The second part of his life, where he sought nirvana through starvation and austerity, was as a string too tight. He now saw a Middle Way that was just right.

Unfortunately, that vision was lost and replaced in history by a watered-down idea that was already common knowledge and turns on no light. In this age it is assumed that the Middle Way is moderation. This assumption is not correct. In this volume, the true Middle Way is again revealed. The Middle Way will turn on the light, and the principle of enlightenment will again have meaning.

JJ: So the Buddha was raised in great luxury. And then he left that luxury in search of why there is suffering in the world, and he starved himself to near death. He was under the Bodhi tree eating just two grains of rice a day, so it is said, and starving to death. And these people came by singing a song that the strings must be tuned just right – not too tight, not too loose to be able to play the right melodies.

That turned on a light in the Buddha’s head about the middle way. But many people in the Buddhist religion teach that the middle way is like we have this extreme and that extreme, and the middle way is right in the middle, or some teaching to that effect. That’s not where the middle way is.

We’re going to explore the second key. We took quite a bit of time on the first one. And we’ll have to make an abridgment on all of them to get through them here. But we’ll see what we can do. We’ll make sure we get to number twelve by Sunday night for sure.

The second one. What is the key word to the second one?

Various members: Judgment.

JJ: Judgment. Well isn’t that a bad thing, to judge, to judge people?

Adam: No.

Asaph: It can be bad if you’re not putting yourself in their shoes.

JJ: Yeah, right. It can be bad. But you know the problem with the general public as a whole is they’re very black and white. They like things in black and white. Right or wrong. Good or bad.

So when some people say that judgment is bad, they think well, all judgment is bad then. That judgment is really a bad thing. And that’s what a lot of people have in their minds. They get that from the scripture that Jesus gave. Can anyone quote us approximately what Jesus gave in the scripture?

Audience: “Judge not, lest you be judged.”

JJ: “Judge not, lest you be judged.” What else?

Phil: “With what judgment you judge, you shall be judged.”

JJ: Right. Phil’s got it right. “With what judgment you judge, you shall be judged.”

Now is that saying all judgment is evil, or is that saying what happens when you do judge? What is the answer to that question? What did you say?

Asaph: He said, “judge righteously.”

JJ: Right. So in other words, He’s not saying that judgment is evil. They picked out two words. “Judge not.” It starts out “Judge not.”

And so, a lot of people take just those two words out of context, and they think, “well, judgment is bad. We shouldn’t judge anything.” And it’s a negative thing to judge people, or judge anything, just because of those two words. They don’t read the rest of the words. The rest of the words are the key. “Judge not, lest ye be judged. For with that judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged.”

So what’s Jesus saying there? Who wants to tell me?

Susan: Be wise.

Adam: Karma.

JJ: Karma. Yeah, He’s talking about karma. How’s he explaining how karma works out?

Ed: Balance.

JJ: Yes, balance.

RuLeena: If you want other people to be compassionate towards you, you need to be compassionate towards them.

JJ:  Yeah. Any other comments? What’s He really saying about judgment? Joshua?

Joshua:  To judge righteously.

JJ: Right. To judge righteously why?

Joshua: Because you would want to be judged righteously, ultimately.

JJ: Right. In other words, He’s saying, “with what judgment ye judge, ye will be judged.” In other words, He’s not saying, do not judge. He’s saying be careful how you judge. Because if you judge other people un-righteously, you will be judged un-righteously. If you judge other people correctly and righteously, you will be judged equivalently.

In other words, He’s giving the message of karma. He’s saying cause and effect is the rule here. If you create a cause, you will have a similar effect produced. So if you judge somebody as evil, but they’re not evil, then the time will come when people judge you to be evil, when you’re not evil.

If you judge people to be good, when they are truly good, then you will be judged good when you are truly good. So He’s telling you that when you judge other people, you are going to be judged as you judge. Does that not make sense? That’s makes a lot more sense than just the black and white “judge not.” So then people say we shouldn’t judge anything.

During a typical day we make all kinds of judgments. For instance, as soon as you get out of bed, or the alarm goes off, you have to make a judgment whether you’re going to sleep another five minutes or get up right then. And then after you do get up, you take a shower. You have to make a judgment as to how hot the water is, and how long you’re going to stay in the shower. Then you comb your hair, and you make a judgment about how your hair is going to look. Then when you drive to work, you have to make judgments about how you’re going to steer the car, and what speed you’re going to go.

We make all kinds of judgments during the day. So when people tell you to judge not, it’s got to be the stupidest understanding in the history of humanity – that you can’t judge anything. Because we make hundreds of judgments every day. You sit down to dinner, you make a judgment about which foods you’re going to eat, how much food you’re going to eat, how much liquid you’re going to drink, and which liquids you’re going to drink.

You make all kinds of judgments. Judgments about talking to your spouse at dinner, or your partner, or whoever you eat dinner with. About what you’re going to say. Judgments about, “will what I say, hurt their feelings. Well, maybe I better not say this. It might hurt their feelings so I will approach this subject very delicately.

So you make judgments about conversations with your spouse, your friends. You make judgments about everything. So what is this idea about “judge not?” What does it mean? What should we actually judge not? Because there are hundreds of things every day in our lives that require a judgment. And we can’t “judge not” or we can’t live.

So what is it that we’re supposed to “judge not?” Let’s get some feedback on this. What should we not judge?

Susan: The worth of other souls.

JJ: That’s a good criterion. We don’t judge things that determine the worth of other souls. Joshua?

Joshua: Things that we don’t have adequate information to make judgment on.

JJ: Okay. Joshua says things that we don’t have adequate information to make judgments on. That’s good.

Anything else?

Adam: Intentions of others.

JJ:

Right. Judgments about the intentions of others. We may not understand what others are thinking. And if we judge their thoughts, when we don’t really know their thoughts, that’s not a good thing to do. If we’re not sure what somebody is thinking, we should ask them.

Okay anything else?
 

Curtis: Choices that other people make. You might make a choice and I might judge it. But I don’t know why you made that choice.

JJ: Okay, when people make choices . . . judging their choices, we don’t know what their thinking at that time.

Anything else?

Michael: I think there’s a difference between judgments that are based on an emotional level, and those based on a mental level.

JJ: Yeah. There are judgments on different levels. There are emotional and mental and spiritual.

Anything else?

Rebecca: I was thinking that when they said ‘judgment’ like that, they were saying more don’t ‘condemn.’  You know, dumping negative energy on someone, is how I thought that was translated in the Greek.

JJ: I think Rebecca hit on a core thing that there are positive and negative judgments. There are positive judgments where you just assess the situation, and you make a judgment to the best of your ability with sincerity. Like, when you’re driving a car, you make the best judgments as to everything you can do to avoid an accident on the way to work, or whatever. Okay, those are positive types of judgments.

But let’s say your kid doesn’t perform the way you want, and let’s say you tell the kid, “You’re never going to amount to anything.” What kind of judgment is that?

Shawn: Very negative.

JJ: That’s very, very negative, especially with a young child. So, this is what Jesus was warning us about. He was warning us to not make judgments incorrectly and to be careful about our judgments. Because if we make a negative judgment like we were just talking about, then when you are reborn, and you’re a little kid, you’ll have a dad who will tell you that you won’t amount to anything. And you will be emotionally handicapped for the rest of your life.

In other words, beware of how you judge. You have to be careful. He didn’t say, “don’t judge” anything. But be careful how you judge, because, however you judge, it will come back, and you will be judged in a similar way.

Rebecca: So pass forward what you want to get back.

JJ: Right. So if you have a child and you judge him positively . . . let’s say he’s not performing well in a certain area. Instead of saying, “you’re never going to amount to anything,” let’s say you judge him this way: “Well, you did this, but you know there are people who are champions who started out worse than you. And they performed well, and they excelled. And you can do the same thing.”

Now if you present that type of judgment to the kid, do you think that would produce any negative karma for yourself?

No. You’d wind up in your next life having a parent that encourages you to succeed, even though you’re bungling everything and not doing very good, you have a parent that cheers you on. And because of the faith of the parent, you ultimately succeed.

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Making Decisions

2021 Gathering, Part Nine

Curtis: We obviously live and learn through even our wrong decisions, but aren’t there sometimes a lot of signs we miss when making those wrong decisions?

JJ: Right. And this is another point, that not every decision is the best decision. Some people think that everything is God’s will. “Well, it’s God’s will that I marry this Hell’s Angels motorcycle guy, because I think that’s what He wills.” So sometimes we do make decisions that take us backwards, that are not for our best good.

But even with these decisions, we learn from it. Because we always learn through pain. And that’s the only good part about pain is it’s a teacher, and it leads us out of pain. So, we get into pain, and then our lessons lead us out of pain.

We learn from even our bad decisions, even decisions that go contrary to higher guidance. If we’re in connection from our souls, then we will avoid those decisions that take us backwards, that waste time. In other words, certain decisions will waste time, and other decisions will save time.

So if you were guided like Susan toward a certain marriage . . . and the marriage still had problems, that was not a waste of time. There was something in there for her to learn. But, if you marry for the wrong reason, and contrary to your soul, then you will wind up wasting some time.

I met a girl when I was in college that I really liked a lot. I was falling in love with her, but my soul kept telling me, “No, this is not the one for you.” I tried to ignore my soul because I really liked her a lot. And she liked me a lot, and everything was going cool. And I kept getting a ‘no’ answer. I wasn’t even praying or meditating on her. My soul just kept saying, “No, this is not the one for you.” But I said, “no, I want her to be the one for me because I really like her.” (laughter)

And finally, thank God, I was ignoring my soul and pursuing her, and she came to me one day and said, “I prayed about you last night and God told me that I wasn’t supposed to marry you.” And I said, “Well, He’s been trying to tell me that for a while too, but I haven’t been listening.” (laughter) But I said, “You’re right. We like each other but we’re not supposed to be together.” And so we split up right there.”

I’m glad I didn’t marry her. I’m positive now that that guidance was right. It would’ve wasted a lot of time if I would have married this particular gal. I met her about twenty years later in a grocery store. Her appearance was much different and was president of the Relief Society in the Church, and I was out of the Church, so I’m sure it wouldn’t have worked. (laughter)

It’s interesting. When you look over your life, how most of your decisions . . . and this is my belief that most of our decisions in life follow the planning we did before we got here. We plan out our lives, and the people that come into our lives are supposed to come in. And once in a while, we don’t listen, and we make the wrong decision. And when we make the wrong decision, it’ll just feel wrong.

Have you ever made a wrong decision, Rebecca, and it just doesn’t feel right? And then you turn around and make another decision and it just feels good?

Rebecca: Yeah, I have.

JJ: It’s a really good clue that if you’re making the right decision, it’ll just feel right within you. And things will flow better, especially your inner energies. It doesn’t mean everything is going to be smooth around that decision, you may still have difficulties, but it will just feel right.

Any other comments or questions?

Rebecca: Sometimes it’s like you need to make a decision. You need to do something, and there’s just nothing. We have taken the approach – there’s nothing, then do nothing. Or just do something.

JJ: You mean like, sometimes you need to make a decision, and nothing is there?

Rebecca: Yeah.

JJ: Yeah, I’ve had that happen before too. And it’s kind of frustrating. It’s kind of frustrating when every once in a while, you do get a message as to what you’re supposed to do, and it’s clear. And then you come to another crossroads and there’s a blank . . . there’s nothing. Has anyone had that happen too, besides Rebecca?

How about you, Curtis? Have you ever had that? Have you come to a crossroads and there just seems to be like the heavens are silent?

Curtis: Yeah, with women.

JJ: (laughter)

Curtis: You helped me out that one time when I was at a crossroads with this one gal, remember?

JJ: Yeah, yeah.

Curtis: You said it would be a mistake for you to pursue that, and you were right.

JJ: You don’t usually get a revelation on somebody else’s personal life. It’s usually a hundred percent up to them. But one time I did get one on Curtis. He was dating this good-looking gal, and there was no reason for me to get any revelation on the situation, but I got a powerful message that said it would be a total disaster if Curtis were to marry this gal. So I told him that, and he dropped her shortly after that. Do you feel that was the right thing?

Curtis: Yeah, she really didn’t like you.

JJ: (laughter) I did not know that.

Curtis: We’d get together and start talking philosophy and that was distant from her, and she felt a little bit jealous, I think.

JJ: But yeah, I received that really powerfully, which was kind of unusual because you normally just get information on you.

Now a lot of these psychics get information on everybody and most of it’s wrong. But true revelation from the spirit is mainly for yourself, to guide your own life rather than telling everybody else what to do.

But all these gurus are big on telling everybody who to marry, or what to do with their life, or what job to take, because it’s a source of power for them. But normally, you’re supposed to get your own information. But there’s exceptions to everything. And I think that exception with Curtis was because it was really important for him to . . .

Curtis: I would’ve gone down an entirely wrong path. I would’ve been in hell more than I was in that video.

JJ: (laughter)

Phillip: I noticed something. I’ve seen this pattern happen a couple of times. But I had an experience where it was blatantly obvious, and the spirit was just pointing it out to me. And I saw it so clearly.

This person that I knew had gone through a learning phase. And her mind had been expanded, her understanding . . . and she learned all this information, and then all the sudden, she found herself in a position where the people around her were polarized against or for some things that she had been taught. And the spirit . . . her intuition . . . her guidance system . . . everything backed off and she was just left to herself.

And she came to me, and she was asking me, “what’s going on? What do I do with this?” I’m not getting a decision or a direction or inspiration on what is happening, and everyone around me is polarized, and I have to make a decision. I have to go one way or the other. But I don’t know what to do.

And I could just see it so clearly that the revelation and the inspiration I was having was, ‘it doesn’t really matter what decision you make. You have to just make a decision and do the best you can. And until you do that and apply all this information that you just learned . . . it’s like a test phase where you learned all this information and now you have to apply it . . . and then based on the decision you make, will determine what the next lesson is.

“If you make the wrong decision, then we’re going to go back and repeat a bunch of stuff over here that you just learned, so that you can be tested and make the decision again. But if you make the right decision, then you’ll go on to this next lesson. Either way, it’s almost like a testing phase or a period in which it doesn’t matter what you answer, because we’re trying to figure out how well you learned the information, not so much whether you get it right or not.”

JJ: That’s a really good point because sometimes if you reach a point in your life where you’re not getting guidance from the spirit about what to do, it’s because either way it will work. If you do A, you will learn a lesson. If you do B, you will learn a lesson. The point is that you’re also learning how to decide.

So that’s very important, because you don’t need to be guided on every little thing. Like the scripture says, “it’s not meet that you be commanded in all things.” And so, we have to learn to make our own decisions, and we’re left on our own as much as possible. But when we reach a point to where we do all we can do, and then we’re faced with a decision, sometimes, something will come into our inner being and say, “do this. This is what you need to do.” And when you do it, it will just feel right.

And other times, you’ll be in limbo. You don’t know if it’s the right decision. I’ve been there several times. I remember something I considered very important one time, and I thought, “why am I not getting any guidance on this?” I’m getting absolutely zero guidance, and this is very important.     

 

I believe I did make the right decision. I wouldn’t have met Artie if I hadn’t made this decision. But I made this decision, and I wasn’t sure it was right, but I went with it. And things worked out. Maybe, my higher self thought that was the decision I’d make anyway. So it didn’t need to give me any guidance.

Yeah, Ed?

Ed: Again, all decisions lead to experience. And that’s the way you grow, through experience.

JJ: Sure, sure. We came here for experience. It’s the reason we came to this reality. Because it gives us experience that you can’t have anywhere else. If you lived in a higher sphere where you controlled everything with your mind, you would never enjoy playing golf because you’d hit a hole-in-one every single time. And after you hit about twenty holes-in-one, then you’d get bored playing.

But here in this reality we are limited. A lot of people think being limited is a terrible thing. But think of every game that is played . . . it’s a game of limitations. Take football for example. You have a hundred-yard field, and you are limited to playing in this specific area. You don’t go out of the area to play; you stay in there. So you are limited to those hundred yards. There are twenty-five thousand miles around the earth, but you’re limited to those hundred yards if you’re going to play that game.

And there are all kinds of rules about how the game is played. The game is established by limitations. And we see how well all these guys can perform under these extreme limitations. And it’s fun to watch. And it’s fun to play. It’s so fun to play that they’re willing to risk concussions, and injuries, and back problems, and arthritis and all kinds of negative things because it’s so much fun and exciting that they’re willing to risk everything to play that game.

And that’s the way it is with us and experience. You have an opportunity for experience in this reality that you can’t get anywhere else, and it’s because of limitations. And because of our limitations with spirit, if we can overcome them and get back on the right path and focus and get connected to our inner self and our inner God, then if produces a tremendous win.

And there’s nothing more fun than when you win. And there’s no bigger win that getting in contact with your own soul and your own higher self; and eventually getting control over your own physical body so no one would have power to damage it, thus eliminating all fears. Wouldn’t that be a big win? Getting control of your emotional body so no one can create any fear with any emotional attack. It’s a tremendous win to be able to eliminate all fear from this game that we’re playing.

You look at these people playing football. It’s a dangerous game, but those who play it really well are fearless. They will take all kinds of chances, but they have no fear. They put fear out of their minds, and they play very, very well.

Look at a lot of these things, like a skier. Boy I would be terrified . . . I’ve never been a skier in my life, but I would be terrified in my state trying to ski down a steep hill. It’d scare the dickens out of me. But these guys have mastered it to the point that they can do it, and they have no fear. And they have complete control. And this is way it is with all of our life experiences.

And there is fear that enters into everybody’s life to some degree, that we have to face and overcome. But when it’s overcome, it’s a big win. And it produces an exhilarating feeling that the people in the higher spheres just don’t get a chance to have. But we can get it here. We can have a feeling of accomplishment here that we can’t get anywhere else. And that’s the big draw.

That’s what draws us down to this life that can be a nightmare, but still we’re drawn here. Do you think everybody is forced to come down to this world? No. We actually volunteer.

When Michael Newton regressed people to between lives, he came up with an interesting statement that was made by several people that he received information from . . . that there are a lot more volunteers for difficult lives than there are for easy lives, because you learn a lot more in the difficult lives, even lives with disability, even lives where people are born without limbs or are blind, and such. Difficult lives.

He said there are more volunteers for these difficult lives than these easy lives. As a matter of fact, people begrudgingly take the easy lives because they don’t learn as much. But with a difficult life, you learn a lot.

Like I said, my first marriage . . . I learned a lot even though it was very difficult. I learned quite a bit in that marriage, such that I probably wouldn’t be standing here today if it wasn’t for that marriage. I still might be a good Mormon in the Church. I kept asking, “why? Why do you want me to stay with this woman?” (laughter) And there was no answer, until finally, finally I did get an answer, but it took me a long time to register it.

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Learning Through Painful Experiences

2021 Gathering, Part Eight

Has anybody here had a tough marriage before? Raise your hand. Past, not current. (laughter) We don’t want to create problems.

Sue, let me ask you a question.

Susan: Okay, just don’t ask me how many times I was married. (laughter)

JJ: You’ve had a few relationships. If you could, would you want to strike them from your memory so it was like they didn’t exist anymore, would you do that? Or do you feel the lessons you learned were too valuable to throw away?

Susan: Well, that’s a tough one.

JJ: What do you feel?

Susan: I think that, yeah, I wouldn’t have the three kids that I have if I didn’t have my first marriage. So I want that. I learned a lot. I tell people that my first marriage was learning how to do the physical things, how to garden, how to sew, how to cook. My second marriage was about emotions. My third marriage was about intellect. And my marriage with Michael is about soul.

JJ: You only have one problem with Michael. He’s such a good husband that you’re not learning much through pain. (laughter)

Susan: I think I’ve done that very well. Now we’re learning through happiness. (laughter)

Michael: Flow and grace.

Susan: Yeah. Yeah. We still have things that we have to work through and decide and all of that good stuff. But yeah, it’s really great having a true partner.

JJ: Now, think of some of your difficult relationships. Do you think that your Soul kind of nudged you into them so you could learn something, even though they were difficult?

Susan: Well, when I was fourteen, I was in Midway, Utah, and was told that my husband was twenty-five minutes away. And I married a guy from Kamas, which is twenty-five minutes from Midway. And I didn’t know it for a while.

JJ: And it still didn’t work out, even though you were divinely guided?

Susan: Very divinely guided. And my second husband said a phrase to me, and I was able to remember our pre-earth life together, and that we had decided that we would be together. My third husband, I had a very strong angelic presence tell me to marry him. And so they were all very divinely orchestrated marriages.

JJ: Before we were born, we planned out our lives to a large degree. And some of our greatest learning comes through the most painful experiences.

Who else has had kind of a tough marriage in their past. Shawn has had a tough marriage. Did you learn anything from that tough marriage?

Shawn: I think so. I tell people that don’t know, like Joanne and other friends that this is my way of trying to explain it all. But I think it was something that was foreordained, you know. It’s like, “Shawn needs to learn patience. Who can we get to teach Shawn patience?” (laughter)

So I think rather than criticize my former spouse . . . I’ve never called her my Ex. She’s my former spouse. But rather than criticize her, I look to her as if she is somebody who’s supposed to teach me or somebody that I wanted to be taught by, in one form or another.

JJ: Yeah, you think of the difficult people in our lives, and they are our greatest teachers. I love this statement from A Course in Miracles. It says, “there is one person in your life who is the most difficult person for you.” And it says, “you know who this person is.” (laughter) And then it says, “this person is your savior.”

And it tells us that when you can see the Christ in that person, then you are saved. What you project out there and then take in is all a process that’s going on internally within you. We cannot enter heaven until we see heaven everywhere that we look.

It’s interesting that in the Gospel of Thomas, when they ask Jesus where the kingdom of God is, he says, “it’s wherever you look.” He says, “it’s everywhere.” (laughter) And it is everywhere if we look with the right perception if we look with the right attitude.

We interpret everything that is out there, that seems to be out there. And everything that is out there is created by mind, and created by some decision made by higher intelligence, somewhere. It’s all made by the power of decision. And it’s all interpreted by our minds and how we decide to interpret them. And that determines whether we have heaven on earth or hell on earth. This earth existence that we’re in can be heaven or hell.

For most people, it’s more hell than heaven. But, if a person decides to see the love of God everywhere, the Christ in everyone, then he can turn his existence from hell to heaven.

I had a very difficult first marriage. I won’t go into all the details. I could tell you some funny stories.

Curtis: We want to hear the stories. (laughter)

JJ: I’ll tell you one that’s kind of funny.

My wife was very hard to get along with, and she wanted me to go get her a bunch of peaches to can. So I went down to a peach orchard nearby, and they had these big, beautiful peaches and then they had these scrawny looking peaches that were on sale for a lot cheaper.

And the guy selling them said, “these scrawny looking peaches . . . you know some of them have little bruises, but they taste really good. They even taste better than our quality peaches that we get top dollar on.” And he gave me one, and I ate it, and it tasted really good, so I said, “give me a bunch of these.”

So I took them home, and I brought them in the house, and she said, “what? You expect me to peel these bruised peaches?” She became really angry and just laid into me like crazy. Then she took that box of peaches out in the front road, and she got in the car, and she ran over them. (laughter) And the peaches just splattered all over the place. Then she just took off in the car.

And I looked around and thought, “Boy, how many people saw that in the neighborhood? That’s so embarrassing.” (laughter) So anyway, I went out and I picked up all the peaches in the road and took them back in the house. And then she came back after a while, and she came in and she saw those peaches that I brought back in, laying there on the table, and she grabbed one and ate it. And she said, “Wow, these are really good!” (laughter) She said, “why don’t you go get some more?”

So anyway, that’s just one of a hundred different stories I could tell. She was good fodder for stories. I could tell a lot of stories in connection with my first wife.

But I felt like it was a curse from God until I could finally accept . . . I thought, “Well, Lord, if you want me to be married to her for the rest of my life, if that’s what I’ve got to do, then I put myself in a state and I just accept it.”

And you know what happened when I did that? When I really accepted? I tried to accept throughout the marriage, and it was very difficult. But when I really did with sincerity . . . I thought, if this is what I have to live with – because the inner spirit kept telling me I needed to remain with her, or else I would regret it – I thought, “why?” And then finally, I yielded to that. I thought, “okay, I completely accept.”

And shortly after that, I got this message. “Okay, you finally learned the lesson. If you want to leave her, that’s fine now.” (laughter)

Audience member:
How shortly?

JJ: How shortly after? Immediately. (laughter)

But that was a great lesson for me to learn. I not only learned to see the Christ within the most obnoxious person within my reality, but I learned to accept the relationship with her. Accepting that was something that was very important for me to learn. It may not be what you have to learn, but it was what was for me to learn.

All of us have had some difficult relationship. It might’ve been with our parents. It might’ve been with somebody in business. It might’ve been a spouse, or a child. But there’s something to learn there that really important.

I almost feel spoiled being married to Artie. We’ve been married thirty-three years, and she hasn’t given me a lot of trouble . . . you know, she sets me straight on a number of items . . . but the marriage has been great. And I almost feel sometimes, maybe I’m not learning enough being married to her. (laughter)

Artie: Oh, I’ll teach you more if you want it. (laughter)

JJ: Yeah, she’ll get out the whip. (laughter)

Okay, any other questions on the first Key of Decision? Yeah, Ed.

Ed: In life, often we have karma and things that show up in our lives. In other lives we may have been abusive, and in this life, we have to experience the opposite.

JJ: Ed is telling us about karma here, how in a past life we may have done something to warrant this. Yeah, with my first wife, that’s another thing I learned is in a past life, I screwed up somewhat and deserved her in this life. (laughter)

Ed: There’s an ancient saying that says, “what you do for another, so doeth for yourself.”

JJ: Yeah. Does anyone feel that way – that you’ve had a difficult relationship with somebody that maybe you’ve known in a past life?

Curtis: Did you feel like you had to complete some karmic tie with this first marriage?

JJ: Yeah, I’ve felt that way.

Curtis: And now you’re liberated.

JJ: I hope so. (laughter) I hope so. I don’t want to go through that peach thing again. (laughter)

Actually, that was one of the easier things. Any other comment on this before we move on?

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The Decision Process

2021 Gathering, Part Seven

Whether we’re in the body or out of the body, or whether we’re in the lower spheres or the higher spheres . . . the highest part of ourselves is that which makes decisions and can follow through on those decisions. And those decisions should be unhampered, whether they are right or wrong.

Now if you make a totally wrong decision that hurts other people, then it’s of course correct to try to control that situation, but the person should be able to make his own decisions, especially if the only one who gets hurt is himself. Then the person should always be able to amplify that power.

Because we are decision, it’s important that we always be able to focus on increasing that very power. There’s a scripture that says, “without decision, there is no life.” It’s a very interesting one. And think of it. If you had no power to decide at all, would you even be alive. So the more power you have to decide, the more alive you will be, and the more connected you will be to your source.

Like I say, decision is an interesting thing because as you proceed along the path, decisions get easier, because decisions are hard when there are a lot of unknowns involved and the further you are on the path the more that is known.

Suppose you don’t know if you’re going to be happy being a fireman or policeman, and you have a decision between the two things. You just don’t know which one will make you the happiest. Or if you have the power between marrying Jane or Sally, but you don’t know which one will make you the happiest, there are unknown factors in there. So you have to go by the highest you know. Your decision may not be the best one.

Decisions are difficult when there are unknowns involved. When there are unknowns involved, you have to think about it and then you have to weigh both sides, and then you have to make a decision.

It’s like if you’re in a bad marriage and one person may say, “if I knew you then like I know you now, I’d have never married you.” And this is the way it is with decision. We have a difficult time with decisions when there are a lot of unknowns. As we gain in knowledge, decisions become easier. And the more that is known, the more decisions become easier until we reach a higher level. Then we go to a higher level of decision making and they become hard again for a while.

Djwahl Khul tells us that even Buddha was face with  a difficult decision  after enlightenment. He was supposed to pick a certain path that would take him out of this solar system, but he loved his fellow man so much that he wanted to stay on the earth and continue to assist. According to the esoteric writings, this was a wrong decision that he made. So even he . . . even high entities can make wrong decisions but eventually they correct them.

As long as the decision is made with a pure heart and a willingness to make corrections when errors are shown, then eventually they will be corrected, and you will move on to a higher level.

Okay, any questions around decision and the first key? Yeah.

Darren: So you were saying that his decision to come back or stay on earth was the wrong decision. My question is what made that decision wrong, and generally what makes a decision right or wrong?

JJ: As far as the spiritual path goes, that which creates the most progress for yourself will be the right decision, and sometimes even Masters, because of love of humanity or something similar may make a decision that may delay their spiritual progress, because they want to help other people, or whatever. And this was the case with the Buddha, according to the writings of Alice A. Bailey, revealed by Djwahl Khul He (DK) said it actually delayed his (the Buddha’s) spiritual progress – that he will catch up with it later.

Now, Sanat Kumara who is the God of this planet . . . we are told that he delayed His own progression. He was a disciple of the Solar Logos, and he turned his back on the Sun to become a Sun to lesser lives. And that delayed His progression.

Whether that was a right decision or wrong decision, it’s hard to tell. But within the Solar System He is viewed as somewhat of a rebel, according to the esoteric writings. But He wanted to become a light to lesser lives like us, so He could illuminate us and become our Father, so to speak – so that we can progress along the path. And it says that He is committed to being a light to humanity until the last weary pilgrim finds his way home.

I always liked that phrase. How many feel like you’re a weary pilgrim trying to find your way home? (laughter) So the Ancient of Days is committed to this planet until the last weary pilgrim . . . who’s willing anyway . . . can find his way home.

But the power of Decision is . . . and that goes along with the next key, whether a decision is right or wrong . . . with many decisions it’s really difficult to determine if they’re right or wrong. Maybe within a certain framework it’s wrong, but in a higher frame it may be right. Maybe Buddha within a certain portion of the path it was wrong, but in a higher vision of the path it might have been right.

The most important thing about any decision is to follow the highest you know. And this is one of the most important statements in the first Immortal book, is to follow the highest you know. And if you do, if you have a sincere heart, if you’re honest with yourself, and then make a mistake, if you’re following the highest that you know, you will correct the mistake.

If you’re not following the highest that you know, you let your ego get in control, and you don’t correct it. If you don’t correct it, then you make more mistakes. You keep making mistakes until life becomes so hard that you’re forced, because of the pain and suffering you’re enduring, you’re forced to finally do something. You either take the dark path eventually or go back and make corrections.

Fortunately, only a handful take the dark path to total destruction of all of our lower vehicles. But even then, it’s impossible to destroy our pure spiritual essence. In the Mormon scriptures this is called ‘intelligence’ or ‘light or truth,’ it says. In the esoteric writings, it’s called the monad, which is also a point of light and truth.

The monad is the immortal part of us that is linked with all other lives and the mind of God as a totality. It’s in a pure state, and our monad still exists apart from us in a pure spiritual state. The monad projects the soul body and then the soul projects us. So the monad is still in what you might call heaven or the highest spiritual sphere where all the lives of God are connected and are one.

The monad projected itself down into the worlds of form, but in between that is the kingdom of the soul, and there it created what is called a causal body. And a causal body is a little bit like a duplicate of one of our centers. It’s a great center of energy with four rows of petals. They unfold as we progress through a series of lives.

Then our soul projects itself down into a physical body. And a good portion of the soul consciousness is still there in the soul world. This is our link to God. This is our soul that we are actually connected with, and we return to when we die. Sometimes we return to it immediately, and we call it paradise when you’re reunited with your soul. And other times we have to wander through nether lands for some time before we can come back and reunite with our soul.

The key for us in our evolution is to make that soul contact, so we can be linked with the soul. And if we’re linked with the soul, then we can be linked with the monad, and then we can be linked with the life of God, which is One.

It’s like the ancient scripture says, “the Lord our God is One.” Oneness is the ultimate end for all things.

Any questions on that before we move on?

Rebecca: I’m not sure how to pose the question, but I’m curious . . . how do you tell what decision is the highest light that you’ve been given?

JJ: That’s a good question. There are a lot of variables, and the next key will talk about some of those things, but within your essence, within your being, is a connection to God. And all of us have that connection because all of us are what you might call projections of God. The scripture speaks truly when it says we are “made in the image of God.”

And we’re told basically that God always knows what’s right and can make the right decision, and knows all things about us, and so on. So when truth is spoken, or when you make the right decision, you will feel that connection within. It will just feel right.

Now that doesn’t mean that the decision is perfect. Let’s say you’re faced with two decisions. You’re just beginning on the spiritual path and you’re thinking, “well, I need to join a church. Which church should I join?”

The best for one person may be the Catholics, another the Mormons, maybe for another even the Jehovah’s Witnesses. So, there may be something important, even though the religion may be flawed, there could be important things for you to learn there for your progression.

Take the Amish, for instance. The person feels within his soul that he needs to join with the Amish. So he joins with them . . . and this is a religion that most of us in the room wouldn’t want to join. (laughter) Too controlling and everything.

But maybe there’s a certain lesson of camaraderie or something that he needs to learn from this particular religion. So the fact that it just feels right, in connection with his soul to join this religion, it doesn’t mean that that religion is perfect. But it means that there is something there for him to learn.

So he joins it, and maybe he’s a member for fifteen years, and he learns what he’s supposed to learn. And then he looks outside of it and finds other things, and maybe his soul will say, “okay, it’s time for you to join this New Age group.” So he leaves the Amish. That doesn’t mean that his experience with the Amish was a waste of time. He learned something very important.

Now, a number of people here are LDS and have left the LDS Church, like Curtis. Do you feel there were things that you learned in the Church even though you’ve left it? Are there things that you learned in the church that were kind of important for you?

Curtis: What do you think? (laughter)

Well yeah. I got a lot out of the Mormon Church. I got to go to primary as  a kid – hang out with my friends. Got to go to seminary – learn about God, right and wrong. How every decision is subject to change. Got to go on a mission to France . . . Switzerland, where I baptized a whole bunch of people – my companion and I did with the help of God. And . . . let’s see. I met a wonderful woman. Married her and had two kids, because of the Mormon Church.

And as far as doctrine, I learned a ton of stuff in the Mormon Church. I learned about eternal progression. I learned the doctrines of salvation, beyond what I would’ve learned in any other organized religion. I learned about Joseph Smith. I learned about how to kneel and pray and get answers.

I learned that you can be caught up in an organized religion that has all these thought forms that you have to break out of. And that was the greatest lesson I learned was how to break myself free from the Mormon Church by being excommunicated for teaching little kids about eternal progression and reincarnation. And they liked it. They thought, “this is pretty cool what he’s teaching us. We’re going to go tell our parents.” (laughter) So they did.

Of course, the parents told the Bishop, and the Bishop called me in and had a little chat with me. And six weeks later I was out of the Church.

So I learned that every religion, every belief system has a ceiling. And the key is to break out of that ceiling, so there is no ceiling. There is no box that you’re living in or under. You’re just a free agent and so these are some of the things I learned by being a Mormon.

JJ: That’s great, Curtis.

Shawn: I thought he was going to say they have a ceiling on their agency allowance. (laughter)

Curtis: Yeah, they have that too. (laughter)

JJ:
I think you’d agree then, that the greatest thing holding you back was when you were constrained, you could only speak about certain things, and then you broke free. Breaking free was the most mind-expanding thing, wouldn’t you say?

Curtis: Oh yeah, yeah. But when I was in there . . . when I was on a mission and a part of it . . . I gave it a hundred percent. I did the best I could with what I knew. And I got a lot of joy out of being in the Church. But when I was confined and oppressed, then I had to break out of that and say, “No. I cannot be that controlled anymore.”

JJ:  Indeed.

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What Are We, Really?

2021 Gathering, Part Six

Just as the interference of our life energy can cause problems, so does the disruption of the emotional energies. The person with healthy emotions will be the person who is honest and will communicate with actual emotional feeling. But one thing I didn’t say about the emotions that’s an important point. It’s not necessarily a sign of a highly evolved person to be unemotional. The highly evolved person actually has emotions that are stronger than the lesser evolved person. It’s just that he has more control over them.

As you evolve, your seven basic centers light up. Your first center is at the base of the spine, and it controls the flow of life through all the other centers. It’s like a candle that lights up.

The next one is the sacral center governing physical creation and the sexual energy.

The next one is around the area of the naval. It’s actually located in the back of the spine. You’ll often hear about yogis focusing on their navel, and that’s the solar plexus and that governs lower emotions.

And then the next one up is the heart. It governs the higher emotions. The energies that govern the heart are the energies of love/wisdom. It’s not only love, but also wisdom. It governs the higher feelings. So, you have the lower feelings in this area (pointing to the navel area) and the higher feelings in the heart, and the higher intelligence in the heart.

Then you have the throat that governs the creative energies. For instance, when people have problems in their throat area, that’s often caused by their creative energies being suppressed. In other words, they’re supposed to be . . . your soul tells you you’re supposed to be more creative, and you’re not fulfilling your creative destiny.

You’ll get physical problems in areas in which you’re supposed to improve. People that have heart problems often are people who need to generate the love energies.

The next one up is the center between the eyebrows, often called the third eye. Technically it’s called the ajna center. And that governs ideas. You get ideas from the higher mind, and it’s centered in this third eye. When this is open, you’re able to see greater light and understanding. The third eye is an eye of higher vision.

The final one is the crown, and the crown has approximately a thousand petals, symbolizing about a thousand lifetimes that it takes to overcome and master all things. And its focus is around the correct use of power.

So all of these centers light up, and they unfold. And when they unfold, an increase of energy is sent to the person. As the person evolves, he may find that his solar plexus, which governs the emotions, may be sixty percent unfolded. But he may have a lot of trouble handling his emotions, because he hasn’t developed the self-control. Now as the person evolves, and the heart begins to open, the emotional center, the solar plexus center opens an additional amount. So as the person evolves, the lower centers open up more and function in greater perfection.

You take the average person, and his emotional center may only be open like sixty percent. But then the more advanced person, it may be close to a hundred percent, which means that when he feels the emotions he feels it with more intensity. But because he has evolved more and learned to master them, you can insult him, and he will not react because he has control of the emotions. So even though his emotions are stronger, he has more control.

So it’s interesting that people out there who are totally out of control emotionally, don’t know what full emotions feel like, because they have not had their emotional centers completely unfolded yet. So as a person evolves, his passions will be very strong.

I think Adam realizes that. He’s a passionate guy. (laughter) What do you think of that, Adam?

Adam: What do I think about passion? (laughter)

JJ: Yeah, you’re a pretty evolved person, I would say. But I would say you’re a passionate person, right?

Adam: Oh yeah.

JJ: Can you guys identify with that? Most people here are above average in spiritual evolution or else you wouldn’t try to be making something of your spiritual life. Is there anybody here that feels they are not a passionate person? How about you Shawn? Do you feel you’re a milquetoast kind of guy, or what? (laughter)  

Shawn: Yeah, I’m passionate.

JJ: How about you Phil?

Phillip: Depends on who you ask. (laughter)

JJ: Now Rebecca, she sounds passionate. She says she gives you a piece of her mind once in a while.

Phillip: She is the most passionate person I know.

JJ: Yeah, so as a person evolves, the feeling nature actually becomes stronger. But it’s like a weightlifter. A weightlifter that really practices can lift a hundred pounds more easily than a non-weightlifter can lift the same amount. It might break the guys back if he’s not in good shape. But a weightlifter that exercises those muscles can lift a hundred pounds like it’s a feather.

And this is the way it is with the emotions. As you progress along the path, you’re given more emotional energy, but you have more control over it. This is one of the things that a lot of spiritual teachers get wrong. A lot of them teach that we’re supposed to negate our feelings and our passions. Whereas there’s really nothing wrong with letting our passions and feelings just be whatever they are. Recognize them but control them. They become easier to control as we continue to work on them.

Once somebody insults you once . . . say they come and insult your mother, you may react strongly the first time, and then the second time somebody does that you think, “I don’t have to respond this way.” Eventually, people can insult you all they want, and you don’t have to respond. You still feel really passionate about your mother, but you realize this is just a wayward person that doesn’t know what the heck he’s talking about. So there’s always a way to neutralize the negative attacks that people experience.

This is an interesting thing to realize that we are not our emotions. We’re not our minds. We’re not even our higher minds, though our higher minds are probably the highest part of our self that we use as a vehicle of expression. And we’re not even spirit. But we use spirit, and spirit is a part of us. But what are we?

Anybody read the first two books? (laughter) Okay, well who can tell us what we are? Somebody raise your hand. I’ll pick on somebody. Phil?

Phillip:
I remember – decision.

JJ: Okay, but that is not correct. I figured anybody would answer that.

Asaph: That’s the key word.

JJ: Right. That’s the key word. It only directs you to what you are. What are you really?

Joshua: The power of decision.

JJ: Right. The power of decision. You’re the power that makes decision. And decision is the key word, because it’s the closest we can get to what you are. But you are the power that can decide . . . that can make a decision.

Think of that for a moment. You are the power of decision. What is the power of decision?

Susan: Will.

JJ: Will. Yeah. But it’s something that we can’t really put in words. The closest word that comes to describe it is the key word of decision. Contemplate when you make any decision in life. And that power that makes that decision is the closest you can get to your pure essence. It’s closer than saying you are a body, you are emotion, you are mind, you are spirit, you are gods . . . but you are the power that can make a decision.

The Parable of Decision Video is played for the group. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7MTKif7w3rM

So we are that power that makes decisions, and decisions can create reality. Just like Dave there . . . he went to hell.

Oh! Curtis! When did you show up?

Curtis: We’ve been here a while.

Ed: We’ve been here all night. (laughter)

JJ: Yeah, we were watching, and you were one of the stars of the show there. Did you see part of it?

Curtis: I’m glad I got out of hell? (laughter)

JJ: Yeah. So the rest of your trip went okay?

Curtis: Yeah, we just had a little breakdown. Had to replace a starting motor.

JJ: Yeah.

Curtis: No big deal. (laughter)

JJ: (laughter) Well, we’re glad you guys are safe.

So anyway, the power of decision is the first key. Decision itself is the key word. But the power that is within us . . . and you could sense this when you were watching this, that Dave recognized that power within him. He went to hell, and everybody there thought that they were in hell, and there was no way out.

And why did they think that? Because apparently, they were sent there by somebody, some force. And everybody just felt that’s the way it is. And it was groupthink. Groupthink is one of the worst plagues that our society is presented with. And it’s getting stronger all the time.

We have group think about what to think about the virus. What to do about global warming. What to do about people we don’t like. About what speech we don’t like. And there’s all kinds of group think out there that doesn’t have to be what we think. We have power over our thoughts. We have power over our decisions.

Now what’s interesting about decision, is that the closer we get to spirit and to the higher mind, the easier decisions become. There are decisions that are so easy, it’s almost a non-decision. If you find yourself driving over a cliff or toward a cliff – so it looks like you’re going to go over it if you don’t change your course . . . is the decision to go over the cliff even a decision?

It’s so obvious that it’s the wrong thing to do that it’s a no-brainer. So in the higher spheres, decision is very easy, because we can see the correct knowledge. We have the correct knowledge and so the correct  decisions are as easy as deciding to not go over a cliff.

But then we have the story of a war in heaven. And the war in heaven has all kinds of explanations behind it. One explanation is that people were dissatisfied with the peace that was in heaven. It was always very peaceful, and there was unity, and there weren’t even any games because we were in a place that was beyond duality, where there was changelessness and complete peace.

So a group wanted to get together and play some games. And the only way to play games is to create a world where there is duality where there are winners and losers. In this world where there’s duality, we can play games. We can have competition. Competition is fun. Look how much time is spent playing games and watching games.

What would humanity do if we did not have games to play? We watch football, basketball, baseball . . . all these games we get involved in. We have fun watching them, but there are always winners and losers. And in the perfect world, there are no winners or losers. Everybody is a winner.

So one story is – and this is taught strongly in A Course in Miracles – is that there were people dissatisfied with the idea that they could not play games. And so they came down here to this world to play games. There’s probably a certain amount of truth to that because people love to play games – not only regular games that we watch on TV, but we play games with each other.

Think of the time when you were single and trying to find a mate. You kind of play games with each other and see who can win. And you see what you can do to impress the other person. There are even movies about love being a game. So we play games with each other.

The other theory about the separation in the beginning was that the war was about the principle of freedom. One side believes that people have the right to make their own decisions. And even though by making your own decisions you’ll make a lot of mistakes, eventually you will grow much faster spiritually. And in the end, you will eventually come to the truth.

The other side didn’t trust people to make their own decisions. And so they came to the conclusion that we need to create a system that controls and forces humanity to do good and to make the right choices, whether they want to or not. This is the basic teaching in the regular scriptures, that there was this dichotomy between control and freedom.

Whether that explanation is right or wrong, it’s certainly playing out in the world today. We see it playing out with one side wanting individual freedom to the max, and the other side wanting to control, and making everything right through control.

So, it all boils down to how much individual power of decision is available. Because we are decision, and because we are the power that makes decision, we don’t want anything to interfere with that. We should always have maximum power to make decisions and to follow our decisions no matter where we are.

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The Higher and Lower Mind

2021 Gathering, Part Five

There’s no way to go through life just having everything be sunshine and roses. There are many outward events that we cannot change. But one thing we can change is how we look at them.

Two people can be approached and insulted, and one may react strongly and attack back, and produce negativity, and maybe create other attacks, and create a chain reaction – like two neighbors arguing over where a fence needs to be. Like Rand Paul was recently attacked by his neighbor who didn’t like him. Different things like this happen.

There are many ways we may be attacked, but we can avoid how we interpret it, or we can change how we interpret it. So if two people get attacked, one can look at the attack and react and create a chain reaction. The other can look at the attack and think it’s not worth bothering with, and let it go through him.

It’s not that he’s in denial of anything and that’s the key. Put yourself in a state to where you can just say this just doesn’t matter. You don’t have to deny it. You may feel some feelings within you, and you acknowledge those feelings, and mentally you tell yourself that there’s a different way of looking at this. Suppose my neighbor had a bunch of his leaves blow on my yard. That’s kind of irritating. Now I have to clean up his leaves, but it’s not a big deal. It’s not worth making a fuss over.

So changing your attitude about how you look at a situation or an attack or something that can be emotional, is something that’s within the realm of our decision making.

The third thing that we are not is our minds. There’s something that we can call the higher mind and the lower mind. What is the difference? Lower mind is what is often called the ego. It is that which sees us as being a separate self. Our emotions are separate. Our body is separate, and we communicate in separateness.

Asaph lives in Israel. He had to come thousands of miles to associate with the rest of us because he is living as a separate individual a long way away. So to associate with us he had to actually come here in the physical. And we’re really glad he made that effort.

But it’s interesting that this is all a part of the lower mind, and the lower mind has to function as a separate entity. The higher mind is connected with what I call the spiritual internet. Think of our communication now compared to fifty years ago. Fifty years ago there was no internet, and if you wanted to communicate with somebody, you had to make an individual phone call. If you wanted to get some information you had to go to the library or look at an Encyclopedia Britannica or check out a book.

But now, all you have to do is Google something and ask a question and you can get an answer to almost anything that you want. It’s not always accurate (laughter) but can get an answer to almost anything. If you want to know, for instance, when the next full moon is . . . if you want to know how far it is from Boise, Idaho to here, and how long the driving time is, just Google it and you can have that readily available.

So our evolution is to evolve more toward the higher mind and away from the lower mind. And the higher mind doesn’t see everything as being separate. It sees us all linked together. And there’s only one mind. Think of the mind itself, the mind of God as a flowing ocean. And we are in that ocean. And we are a part of this mind. We are partaking of the mind of God.

Now, if you just see yourself as a fish in the ocean, then you are separate from the ocean. But even if you’re separate from the ocean, you have that water flowing around you, giving you life. And so, the mind of God . . . there’s one mind in the Universe, and this is like a flowing stream that flows through all of us. And we can connect to that mind. And when we connect to that mind, it’s like a spiritual internet, and all things become available to us.

When using the lower mind, we rely on our brain. With the higher mind, our attention goes to the pure spirit of the mind of God, so to speak. With the lower mind, our attention focuses on what the brain can do for us. Those are the two distinctions. When we focus on the brain, we see ourselves as lone individuals, not really connected to anything else. But when we focus on the higher mind, then we have a sense of unity with all living things.

Now when you look at all living things, for instance when we were outside looking at those cute little chickens . . . weren’t those cut little chickens . . . when you look at them, if you look at them correctly, it’s like even those chickens out there or the grass or the trees, if you have a sense of the higher mind, you’ll have a sense of the connectedness with all life in the Universe. Because all life in the Universe is connected. There’s really only One Life in the Universe – which is the life of that which we call God.

All Masters, whether they be people who have overcome death and are gods as far as we’re concerned, the gods, the Elohim, they are people that are one with the One Mind of God. And so, they can identify with being Gods. That’s why in the Bible the word Gods or Elohim is plural. It really says, “In the beginning, Gods created the heavens and the earth.” It’s actually written this way, “In the beginning, the Gods create the heavens and the earth.” It’s used with a singular verb, which is interesting.

So a word which is fitting of “the Gods,” which is plural, yet used with a singular verb would be a council or a group. A group of Gods created the heavens and the earth, so to speak. That’s kind of an interesting thought.

We’re a combination, all of us, of our lower and higher minds. Everyone has a sense of the higher mind, but we don’t use it that much. Everyone has a sense of the lower mind, and we use this quite a bit, but the lower mind is not you. Neither mind is you, but we use mind. Mind is a vehicle, a vehicle that we use to accomplish things.

Similarly, if you’re going to descend below the ocean, you can descend a few feet and be okay, but if you get too far down for too long, you’ll suffocate because you can only stay down there so long. So, you take a breathing apparatus with you, but you still can only go so far before the pressure becomes too great. So, you can put on an armored suit, and you can go much deeper. But you can only go so deep.

James Cameron a while back, made a vehicle and went about five or ten miles down . . . I can’t remember exactly, but it broke a record. But he went down in a vehicle and was able to go very deep into the ocean and was able to endure that great pressure.

Now in the beginning, we decided, being beings of pure spirit, we decided to jump into matter. And to jump into matter, it’s almost like jumping in the ocean and going deeper and deeper. The deeper you go, the more vehicles you need to endure the pressure.

And so, we jumped into matter, and we gathered around ourselves a lower mind. And then we gathered around ourselves the emotional/astral body. And then finally the physical body, and it enabled us to jump into this pressurized system of the material universe, and to be able to be in this material universe and go through experiences, we had to have all these vehicles to protect us, so to speak, so we could go through the experience of physical reality.

Unfortunately, having all these vehicles that we work with, also put distance between us and our true reality. And so this distance between us and our true selves, needs to be bridged. And we need to be able to become masters of our vehicles to the extent that they do not keep us trapped in the lower realms.

So the key to finding out what we are is to first find out what we are not. We are not our bodies. We tend to identify too much with our bodies. This creates all kinds of problems for us.

When we realize we are not our bodies, then we pay less attention to them. When we pay the wrong kind of attention to our bodies, we interfere with the flow of energy going through them creating perfect health.

We want to maintain good health, so we don’t want to interfere with the flow of energies. If you’ve got to perform, and you place a whole bunch of attention on it, you may really blow your performance because you were just too nervous. And this happens with our bodies because if we pay too much attention to it in the wrong way, it interferes with the flow.

The best way to deal with your body is to view it as if it doesn’t exist. And then all the energies in the body will circulate correctly. They’ll take care of themselves. But we interfere with the circulation of energy in our body by our wrong thinking, and much of our thinking is wrong.

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Dealing with Negative Emotions

2021 Gathering, Part Four

Your body is not the real you. Your brain is not the real you. Your brain is not your intelligence. Your brain is just your computer system. So think of using your computer, and your computer is like the physical brain. It is not intelligence. It is something intelligence uses. It is used by your mind. It’s a physical thing, just like your computer is a physical thing. But it’s a very sophisticated computer that we use.

Same thing with our emotional body. Our emotional body is not us, but it is something that we use.

Now they’ve come up with an interesting measure of intelligence, sometime ago, called emotional intelligence.

Regular intelligence is highly associated with the physical brain as well as the mind. But a lot of what they call intelligence these days on intelligence tests and taking tests is associated with having a good functioning brain. You can take a very intelligent person and give him an older computer and he can do amazing things with it. You can take a person that’s kind of backward and give him a sophisticated computer and he can’t do anything with it.

What we can do with our brains is determined a lot by intelligence that goes beyond the brain. So, with our intelligence, we use the brain and many people that have a really good functioning brain, that have really good power of memory, and they do really well in school, and are good at taking tests because they can remember stuff . . . but they may not be that bright.

I remember when I was twenty years old and was on a mission for the LDS Church, I had this companion who had a 4.0 and a perfect score in college. Now my graded point in college was about average. He had a 4.0, but I’ll tell you, that guy was about one of the densest guys I have ever worked with. His real intelligence level was like a child almost.

When he had to give a lesson, he had to review it every time and I never had to review at all. I guess he could read and write and memorize, and was good at taking tests, and had a 4.0 grade point and almost doubled mine. (laughter) But he couldn’t do the stuff that I could do.

So it’s very interesting that if you have a good physical brain, you may be judged to be much more intelligent than you really are. There are people who are highly intelligent, who are born with brains that don’t function very well, or have good memory, or that good of ability take tests and so on. So intelligence is much more than just the brain.

Now getting back to the feelings, we identify very powerfully with our feelings, it’s amazing. And like I said, you meet anybody who’s enlightened, or go to group of people who are enlightened, or go to a convention or something where enlightened people are arguing with other enlightened people, and you’ll find that they identify just as much with their emotions as the man on the street. It’s amazing.

It’s amazing how difficult it is for people to really get control of their emotions to the point that they can be insulted and act as if the insult does not exist.

How about you, Tyler, can people insult you and can you overlook that? How would you grade yourself on that? Or do you get insulted? You’re such a nice guy, you may not get insulted.

Tyler: Usually my kids insult me. (laughter)

I’m getting better at not being insulted. I have to determine if it’s true or not. If they tell me something that’s true, you know, maybe I’ll take it one way. But if it’s not, then . . .

JJ: Yeah, that’s a good point. If people point out something that’s kind of hurtful that’s also true, there are different ways to approach that. If somebody’s overweight and you say, “boy, you’re fat as a pig. You ought to go on a diet.” Well, that’s a lot different than saying, “you know I’ve got this book here that tells you how to lose weight and get in shape.” The approach can be a lot different. (laughter)

Honesty is good, but it also has to be tempered with intelligence. Because you might be putting your life in danger if you tell the wrong female that her body is not perfect. (laughter)

Guys really enter a danger zone there. We’ve got to be really careful.

I made some jokes about that a while back where if you get the wrong question from your spouse, about her body, you may be putting your life in danger . . .  (laughter) if you answer incorrectly. And sometimes there’s no correct answer. No way out.

So ideas of the difference of the sexes is a fascinating subject in itself. We definitely react different from each other, on the average, but here are always exceptions.

How do we escape this tie we have to our emotional body? It is so powerful that people do everything they can to escape, including denial.

And we were talking about denial and what produces the denial. We figured out that people want to pretend that they are better than that. And what does denial produce? Now suppression produces a blockage within the system. So you have a blockage of energy, and blockages of energy produce all kinds of physical problems.

But denial is a little different. It doesn’t block energy in the same way that suppression does. Suppression takes this energy, and it’s like a tea kettle. You turn on the tea kettle and the steam increases the pressure until the lid pops off. When you suppress again and again, then pretty soon, the energy becomes so strong you have to let it loose.

An example of this happening is the person that, say, you hurt your spouse’s feelings, and they say, “no, you didn’t hurt my feelings, everything is cool.” Then you hurt them a week or so later and everything is still cool. And they’re suppressing a little bit more each time. And maybe about the tenth time that you hurt their feelings, everything is so bottled up to the point that they can’t take it anymore, and you say some very small thing that hurts their feelings, but they blow up big time. Because it has accumulated over a period of time. And the guy will think, “wow, why is she reacting this strong over this small thing that I just said?” That’s because it builds up.

But denial is different. What denial does is, it’s a form of dishonesty. And the dishonesty creates a suppression of spiritual energy. So it creates like a cloud between the person and his own soul. He’s unable to achieve the soul contact that he needs because of the denial. Anything that you do that is dishonest, in any way, increases the barrier between you and the spirit. And so total honesty is always called for, and the easiest place to be dishonest is our own feelings.

Because we do not like to think of ourselves as a person who’s inferior in any way. All of us want to think of ourselves as being at the top of our game. And none of us want to think of ourselves as being too emotional or too controlled by emotions. So this causes many people to go into denial.

And if they’re denying an emotion that they actually feel, they will go into a mode where it’s almost hypnotic, where they’re hypnotizing themself saying, “no, I do not feel jealousy over this incident.” So they will be in denial to the extent that the jealousy will be there, but they will not acknowledge it to the extent that it’s almost like it’s not there. And so they’re deceiving themself into thinking that it’s not there. And this deception produces a dark cloud between them and their own soul.

So it’s important that we acknowledge our feelings, and deal with them in as harmless way as possible. And like I’ve said, dealing with them harmlessly takes a lot of ability and takes a lot of thought to be able to release these emotions in such a way that they will be as harmless as possible.

But as far as harmlessness goes, look at Jesus. Jesus was perhaps the greatest example of harmlessness, yet he still made people angry. And you can make people angry if you’re following the most harmless, honest path possible.

People just pick up things. Sometimes, if a person is very negative and you’re positive, they will pick up the difference. They will be more comfortable being around negative people. And if you’re a positive person, focused on spirit and honesty, they may pick up a difference and they may feel they want to bring you down because of it.

And sometimes there’s just no escape from dealing with some negativity in the world. Again, we look at the life of Jesus and the prophets and the great teachers and they all had negative things to deal with. And to deal with them in the most intelligent way possible is about all we can do.

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