Category: Principles

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The Principle of Glory

April 4, 2016April 4, 2016 Joseph Dewey

This entry is part 80 of 98 in the series Principles

Principle Eighty-Three

The Principle of Glory

Here is the principle of Glory:

One cannot give glory to himself, but must depend upon others besides himself for any recognition he receives.

This is summarized in the truism, “Give credit where credit is due.”

Let us say that Stephen King gave a speech saying, “I am one of the greatest writers who has ever been born and you’d better appreciate that.”

Would that enhance his glory as a writer?

No.

It would take away from it. People in the audience would think, “What a jerk!”

On the other hand, if a respected person introduced King and said, “Here is Stephen King, one of the greatest writers ever born, and he deserves our appreciation.” What would be the response? The audience would agree and his glory would be enhanced.

The story of Moses not giving glory to God illustrates that God himself cannot give glory to himself and depends upon others to do it. In the work that God and Moses were doing together God depended on Moses giving him credit where credit was due. When the people were thirsty and had no water Moses smote the rock and took credit for the water coming forth and violated the principle which is sacred, especially among the higher lives. God calls himself a jealous God because even He depends on others for glory and does not want others to deceptively take credit when the credit is due to Him.

God expected Moses to not take credit. After all Moses said,

“Listen to me, you rebels. Must we get water out of this rock for you? Moses raised his hand and struck the rock twice with his staff. Water gushed out in abundance and they all drank, men and beasts.”

If Moses had merely said something like “God will create water for us” he would have kept out of trouble. Instead God saw a violation of the Principle of Glory, which Moses understood, and “the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, “You did not trust me so far as to uphold my holiness in the sight of the Israelites; therefore you shall not lead this assembly into the land which I promised to give them.” See Numbers 20:10-13 NEV

He made it plain in the above verse that Moses screwed up. Moses did not lose his reward but the Principle of Glory is so sacred to the higher lives that God did not want to take the chance of Moses assuming unearned glory to himself again and thus falling into darkness. For the rest of his life Moses attempted to practice the Principle of Glory but suffered the effect by not entering the promised land.

As it was, Moses received great recognition:

“And there arose not a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face.” Deut 34:10

As disciples to enter the promised land of full soul contact we must consistently practice the Principle of Glory for as soon as we assume unearned glory a cloud of darkness descends which is difficult to lift.

In the parable of the best seats the guest tried to take glory to himself by taking the most honored seat. But he had no power to take the glory to himself. The host ordered him to take the lowest seat and placed someone else there.

“He that speaketh of himself seeketh his own glory: but he that seeketh his glory that sent him, the same is true.” John 7:18

This very clearly illustrates the principle that you cannot be glorified by seeking it for yourself, but must be glorified by another. Jesus realized that he was to give glory to God and in return God would glorify him. Neither Jesus or the Father could glorify themselves.

If we want glory and recognition we cannot demand it for ourselves but must wait for others to give it. If you do what you consider to be a great work and no one says anything then there is no glory. You cannot rectify the situation by demanding to be recognized. The only solution is to enhance the work and make it available until someone does recognize it and gives glory. After glory is given by one then others usually follow.

The Key to understanding is hidden in plain site in these scriptures.

John 7:18 He that speaketh of himself seeketh his own glory: but he that seeketh his glory that sent him, the same is true, and no unrighteousness is in him.

John 8:50 And I seek not mine own glory:

John 17:4 I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.

John 17:5 And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.

John 17:22 And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:

There is no glory without recognition. Glory is created from the consciousness of intelligent lives. As I said, if God created the universe and there was no one in it to praise or appreciate the work then he would have no glory. You cannot glorify yourself. Thinking that a work deserves glory does not glory make. Many have sacrificed themselves for a cause and received no glory because no good was produced by the sacrifice.

All of us, whether high or low, must do the same thing with our work. We must do our best at creation and then present it to the people and let them decide. If they give us glory we will feel everything was worthwhile. If they say negative things or ignore the work then the creator must reassess his work and either work to improve or change direction.

I have done many things for which I have received no glory or recognition and if I did not just accept the response and move on the effect on me would have been negative. Sometimes an attempt at a work that receives little recognition in one cycle is but preparation for great recognition in a future cycle.

Suppose you wrote a book that you were really proud of and you gave the book to a trusted friend to share with a group. Then you find out the friend makes the claim that he wrote the book and takes credit for it’s contents. You may not write the friend off forever, but you would be offended and not trust him again until he has proven himself over a period of time.

We are in the image of God and if we want to understand God we must understand ourselves and when our glory is taken by another we become angry. So do the higher lives on their own level.

Before the Principle of Glory is understood in its fullness the inclination is to think it is small minded to desire appropriate glory be given, but it is not small minded at all, for without the implementation of this principle creation would come to a halt and the glory or God and men would cease to be.

All life forms in the universe need this, even God. For higher lives it is not needed for the ego, but for the sake of truth. Truth is the core principle guiding higher lives and the Principle of Glory can only be violated with deception. To uphold truth, the Principle of Glory must apply. There is much more to it than desiring a pat on the back. If that is all one sees he does not understand the principle.

If I think a book I write is a masterpiece and a reader thinks it is a piece of junk and says so then he has not violated the Principle of Glory just because I think the book is good. I would accept that and allow his opinion opinion, as I should. But if he reads the book and thinks, “This is great, I wish I would have thought of this,” and then proceeds to present the book, or its original ideas, as if he wrote it himself, then he is stealing my glory and I would be upset and would not trust him for some time.

I have had people steal my ideas numerous times and do not feel a grudge but do not trust such people in this area until they can prove a willingness to follow the Principle of Glory.

No one likes to be stolen from and the stealing of intellectual or spiritual property is seen as a much greater violation than the stealing of a physical commodity. Artists, for instance, are very upset when someone plagiarizes their songs or writings. This is why we have copyright laws which uphold the Principle of Glory.

There is true and false glory. False glory is that which is forced upon people as has happened with tyrants such as Hitler, Stalin, Kim Jong Un etc. In tyrannies people have to praise their leader or go to jail, or be killed. Praise given in that situation is not real praise but truly false glory.

If sincere praise is given freely then it is not false glory. Now, there are many situations in life where the decision to praise, be apathetic or condemn is a judgment call. Moses was not praised by everyone and I’m sure there were a number who thought he was guilty of lots of sin including murder. His own brother and sister judged him to be unworthy because he killed an Egyptian, but Jehovah affirmed (gave glory) that he was the man for the job.

Most everyone who receives glory for something that is a judgment call does not receive accolades from all. Some people even hated the Beatles but since a high percentage give them glory they will go down in history in a positive way. The fact that some hated the Beatles does not take away from the glory given by those who like them.

The main point of the Principle of Glory is not to get everyone to agree or disagree that a certain action is good but that glory comes from sincere praise and recognition from somewhere else besides the creator of the action or work. The one responsible for the work should get the recognition (good or bad) and not another. Glory should not be stolen.

Whether or not an action or a teaching is good or bad is a judgment call and the closer it is to the will of God the more glory the person will eventually have. Jesus only had 200 people to give him glory after the resurrection while the world condemned him, but now billions give him glory. Even though a small number still do not give him glory he is probably the most glorified person in our history.

By following the Principle of Glory the ones who are responsible for an action get the glory or the condemnation.

Through deception a person can obtain temporary glory for a bad job but when the final results are seen the job can be more correctly assessed. For instance, Lincoln was seen as doing a terrible job through most of the war, but now the dust has settled historians rate him as the best president we have had.

After we leave this world the true quality of a person’s work will be much more accurately seen and there the right people will receive just glory that may have been overlooked while alive.

When one realizes how important this principle is to higher lives then seekers will take it to heart with more intent and be more assiduous in not violating it. I know that such understanding had that effect on me.

However, the main benefit is in seeing how glory is obtained and then taking the correct path to receive it.

Obviously, most people do not understand the principle as the majority go the wrong direction numerous times in attempting to receive recognition and glory. The real key to glory is to not actively seek it but merely seek to do a work that others will appreciate. Then glory will come naturally.

So, there was God, all alone, with no one to give him Glory. In order for the Glory of God to be manifest, he had to have more than one available. So, he created us for his own Glory. And that was part of the motivation. And why do we do any work? Well, we want a little recognition.

A lot of people think it is bad to go seek recognition. If you do it the wrong way it is erroneous. But if you do it in the right way where everybody gets their share of the benefit, then, you are on the path to glory yourself.

Let’s suppose you are all alone. So, let’s say you are the best speller in the whole United States and nobody knows about it. Well, are you going to learn any new words? No. You think, well, I’m the best and there is nothing in it for me so, I’m not going to learn any new words. But, if there is a spelling bee or a need for writing then the recognition will cause you to continue to work on your spelling.

Whenever you try to take glory to yourself, you take away from your own glory. The only way to achieve glory, is to be recognized by others. You cannot take glory to yourself, it must be given to you by others. And a lot of people don’t understand this principle. A lot of very highly evolved people don’t. Moses didn’t even understand it until he made his great error, and he was one of the greatest souls of all time.

Remember the story about Satan and the Christ coming to God offering to redeem mankind. And Jesus says to Him, I will be the saviour but I will give you all the glory but Lucifer comes to God and says I will redeem all mankind but I will take glory to myself and I want your power so that I can have the glory. And God says, no, I won’t just give you my power carte blanche.

It’s like a chain. One person recognized the one above him in the chain and that person recognizes the one above him, and sends Glory up the chain from the lowest life to the highest life in the Universe. And what happens when the chain is broken? The path of Glory becomes broken.

And it’s broken in humanity right now as we do not understand how to pass the glory up. Most of humanity are doing everything they can to take glory to themselves.

What the person who violates this principle does is he puts a wall between himself and his soul – so Light from his Soul is diminished.

Any type of deception puts a wall between you and your soul. So, its important that every word that comes out of our mouth is true. And why do we trust God, or a representative of God? Because we believe that every word that comes out of his mouth is true!

We have faith in God because his word is true and if we want to be like God, we have to make sure our word is true. If our word is true we will be on the path to true glory.

The wrong approach to glory is to think, “I’m gonna go out and I’m going to do this work and everybody is going to love me.” That’s not the right motive. What needs to motivate the seeker is doing the right thing, doing service, doing things that people will appreciate, and then you just know that it will come back to you. And when it does come back to you, it will often come back to you at unexpected moments.

Mankind is a big problem for the Great Ones as they look down upon us because we don’t understand the Principle of Glory. So the glory doesn’t manifest in the Kingdom of God as much as it should because we’re a kink in the armor of God so to speak – because we want Glory to ourselves.

If you serve, not thinking of Glory, and it starts to manifest and people appreciate it then your incentive is increased and you follow the path even more. But if nothing comes back to you after a period of time, you’d quit doing it.

If God created the Universe and none of his creations believed in Him or none of them gave Him Glory, He’d say, Well, the heck with this, I’ll make that universe disappear and do something else. So, you have to get some satisfaction out of your work

A good show to watch that illustrates the drawbacks of attempting to steal glory is The Words, starring Bradley Cooper. He was an aspiring author who discovered a lost unpublished manuscript and then published it as his own and gained great fame. The problem was that the deception ate at him and he realized that he was not able to enjoy the false glory that had been thrown at him. His life turned into a real mess.

Then he met the real author who was gracious enough to not make demands. Even though the real author did not receive name recognition he still achieved satisfaction in that his work was glorified.

The Principle of Glory is NOT centered around giving glory or credit where the person thinks he deserves it, but where the receiver thinks it is earned.

To receive glory from another the receiver must sincerely feel the value and acknowledge it out of free will.

A violation of the Principle of Glory comes if:

(1) A person distorts or lies about the praiseworthy words or actions of another.

(2) A person attempts to take credit for himself for the words or actions of another.

If one does not appreciate the words or works of another then the laborer must accept that fact and let it go. If his work has lasting value then true recognition will eventually come along with the joy of service and achievement.

“To every person there comes that special moment when he is tapped on the shoulder to do a very special thing unique to him. What a tragedy if that moment finds him unprepared for the work that could be his finest hour.” – Winston Churchill

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Principle 82

This entry is part 79 of 98 in the series Principles

The Beaver Principle

Odd name for a principle you say? Indeed it is, but an appropriate one. Here it is in a nutshell.

There are many grades of lives in the universe and humanity is just one of them. The higher lives cannot do all things. The so-called lower lives can do many things the higher cannot or will not do and the higher can do things that is beyond the consciousness of the lower. All life is interdependent and in need of each other.

The beaver is an example of this principle. He knows how to build a beaver damn from scratch and we humans do not. A dog is said to smell hundreds of times better than humans. Some say they can even smell fear, worry or other emotions. Ants and bees work with more united group effort than we do. Birds use the sun, position of the stars, sounds, landmarks and a sense of the magnetic north to guide them in their migrations.

Plants can turn dirt and sunshine into beautiful flowers and food to sustain the higher kingdoms. Humans cannot do this.

In one living cell you have computers more advanced than anything humans have made, communications systems, waste disposal, and a whole city of activity going on. The cell can reproduce itself and no machine humans have made has been able to do this with such a complex creation.

The atoms composing the elements have an amazing balance of energies within them that allows all physical creation to exist.

Yes, we humans think we are pretty smart, but most of what we have learned has been by observing that which is called less than human, the animals, vegetable and mineral kingdoms. We would not exist on this planet without them.

That which must be garnered from this principle is this. Each life has its limitations and is not able to focus on all things, but must concentrate on that which lies behind the purpose of its existence. The focus of the lesser lives allow the greater lives freedom to explore in a higher realm

Consider your body. Do you have to tell your heart to beat, your lungs to breath or your cells to produce energy? No. All kinds of super intelligent processes are going on in your body that require no attention from you. This frees up your consciousness so you can focus on human endeavors.

This also applies to lives higher than us clear up to the One Great Life we call God. The masters, angels and gods may have abilities beyond our imagination, but that doesn’t mean they do not need us. We have a special place in the universe and have abilities peculiar to ourselves that are needed to make universe function as it should.

There is a lot of truth in the truism

A place for everything and everything in its place.

How can he (the Son of God) enter, to rest and to remember, without you? Except you be there, he is not complete. And it is his completion that he remembers there. … Think you when this has been achieved that you will rest without them? You could no more leave one of them outside than I could leave you, and forget part of myself.

From A Course in Miracles

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Principle 81

This entry is part 78 of 98 in the series Principles

The Principle of Experience

Few have considered that experience is a principle or explained it as such, but indeed it is.

Why?

Because the understanding of what experience actually is leads to the unfolding of many other truths.

What exactly is the Principle of Experience?

Experience is consciousness interacting with creation on some level and registering meaning therefrom. Exact repetition is not usually counted as experience for true experience leads us to new situations and understandings.

This is an important principle because it explains so much. It even explains why God created the universe. The universe is merely a vehicle for the One Great Life, and all lives contained within, to gain experience.

And why does all life crave experience?

Because life is pretty dull without it. If a life is not having new experiences it will stagnate until something drives it forward into something new again.

We are in the image of God and here is what God says he does to have new experiences:

And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. Revelation 21:5

He said: “Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the days of old. Behold, I will do a NEW thing; now it shall spring forth….” (Isa 43:18-19)

God continually makes “new covenants” and says: “I create NEW heavens and a NEW earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come to mind.” (Isa 65:17) He creates the city of the New Jerusalem and commands us to sing a “new song.”

We shall live in a new heaven, a new earth and a new city, but this is just the beginning. Creation has provided for us a vehicle that allows us to have an unlimited number of new and unique experiences. The experiences we can have are only limited by our imagination and our imagination is unlimited. This is true because the imagination of God, in whose image we are, is also unlimited. If you want to see the imagination of God at work just take a look at pictures taken by the Hubble telescope for the macrocosm, or an electron microscope for the microcosm.

Experience is the reason for existence and all life needs it like it needs air, food and water. After we are deprived of it for any length of time we begin to desire it and move toward it. If nothing new is available we will manufacture it. This is what we do in our dreams. There we are asleep lying perfectly still, recharging our batteries and even in this situation we crave experience. We need it so much that our imagination takes over and creates silly dreams for us.

When we wake up we realize that the dream was not real as far as physical reality is concerned, but something was real.

And what is that?

Even in the dream state the dreamer has a real experience. If you dream you are fishing you have a real experience just as you have a real experience when fishing while awake. The two experiences may be different in degree, but they are both real experiences nevertheless.

Philosophers have argued for centuries as to whether this life is an illusion like a dream, but as far as experience goes it does not matter. Whether we are in illusion or not we are having an experience.

If you race a make believe car in a video game and then a real one on a track you are having an experience in both cases and it matters not if the ingredients are illusion or real. The experience is always real

Spinoza said that the one thing he knew that was real was thought and made the famous statement, “I think, therefore, I am.”

Thought, life and experience are all interrelated for without experience thought alone is meaningless. We could indeed reword his statement as follows:

“I experience, therefore, I am.”

The fascinating thing about experience is that each one is somewhat new and different. If there is not some newness or some change then it is not registered as an experience.

Every life in the universe is a part of the universal mind of God and each life is going through a unique experience, different from every other life. Our job is to have a new experience that the mind of God can savor and relish. Then when the trillions of lives experience all that can practically be experienced the universe will fold up and God will rest and dream which will lead to a new and more diverse universe where we will yet experience new and fascinating things beyond what we can now imagine.

The only source of knowledge is experience.

Albert Einstein

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Principle 80

January 19, 2016January 19, 2016 Joseph Dewey

This entry is part 77 of 98 in the series Principles

The Gathering Principle

The gathering principle has had a powerful effect on all evolution in the universe since creation began, yet few give acknowledgement to this important principle.

In addition, many of the writings of the Bible deal with this principle, yet it is rarely taught in any church.

The Gathering principle is basically this:

All evolution in the universe is driven forward through gathering. Small units gather together and create greater units more complex with greater powers than themselves alone. This process will continue until the body of God is completed and all lives see themselves gathered into The One Great Life, of which they are a part, yet see the whole.

Our knowledge of creation verifies this principle. In the beginning subatomic particles gathered together and created atoms. Later atoms gathered together and created molecules. Molecules gathered and created all kinds of beautiful geometric forms and compounds. Later these particles gathered and created living cells. Cells gathered and created all kinds of living things. The living things gathered and created greater life forms.

Humans, being the most advanced lives known to us, gathered into families. The families gathered and created tribes that offered more advantages to secure survival. Later tribes gathered and created kingdoms which offered more advanced civilization. More recently we have had a gathering of freedom loving people throughout the world to America which created a government more advanced than one ruled by an authoritarian king. A new system of representative democracy was created that greatly advanced free market competitive enterprise, freedom of speech and freedom in general.

We are now in an age where the speed of human evolution is accelerating and we are already approaching the next great advance by the human kingdom. The next great gathering will be the gathering of lights. Those aware of the inner light will seek each other and gather together and create societies with cooperation as the keynote rather than competition. The new system will incorporate the best of those of the past.

There will be a sense of family

They will cooperate on a higher level than the tribes.

They will exercise a right use of authority while securing freedom.

Competition will still be used, but in a friendly, constructive way, rather than dog eat dog as it often exists today.

To comprehend the gathering principle as it applies to humanity at this time visualize numerous scattered seekers of wisdom living in a blackened night separated by considerable distance, and each is holding a lighted candle. Their candles are not that bright, but they allow these individuals to see a little in the dark, unlike their neighbors with unlit candles.

Now visualize those with candles gathering together and uniting their candlelight. Now that which was a dim light becomes like the light of the sun and all the surrounding area is well lighted. The blended light allows the group to see further in the darkness than ever before.

We also see that those outside the gathering are dwelling in greater darkness than ever because the lights have been gathered from their midst. Many begin to seek for light and the gathered ones take their candles and light the candles of those wanting to see.

Thus light is added to light until the earth is full of light and love and brotherhood.

“When the Sun of compassion arises darkness evaporates and the singing birds come from nowhere.”

Amit Ray, Nonviolence: The Transforming Power

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Principle 79

This entry is part 76 of 98 in the series Principles

Contemplation & Seed Thoughts

Basic meditation instructs students to contemplate parts of their body, the breath, heartbeat, some object or numerous other things. The purpose of this is to train the student to gain the ability to focus his attention to the point that he can be aware of things that eluded him in the past.

Those types of contemplative exercises do little to gain useful knowledge, but they do strengthen certain abilities that will be useful as he travels the path of liberation.

One of the most productive uses of this strengthened power to contemplate and focus is the introduction of seed thoughts.

A seed thought is some type of concise thought expressed in a few words or phrase on which the student contemplates to expand the thought to gain further light and understanding.

If you contemplate your navel you’re not going to be blessed with a lot of enhanced understanding, but if you contemplate a phrase with deep meaning, such as “the truth will make you free” you may discover significant new insights.

The interesting thing about seed thoughts is that they do not have to be particularly deep, for any word or phrase can branch off during contemplation and take the contemplator into interesting vistas of thought.

I discovered this way back in my junior year of high school in a speech class. I was fortunate to have a creative teacher who was willing to challenge our young minds.

During one class he began by having each student write down one word on a piece of paper. He gathered up all the words and placed them in a box and stirred them up. He then said something like this.

“Today you are each going to pick a random word out of this box and then you are going to talk about that word for five minutes. If, for example, the word is rock, you will just have to use your imagination and talk about that subject for the allotted time. This exercise will help you with public speaking as you will often have to use your creative mind to keep the public interest.”

He then picked several nervous students to come forward and draw a word. I was thankful that I was not among them. As the exercise progressed I noted that some students did surprisingly good and others really stumbled. I had to give the students high marks on creativity on some of the words they came up with – some very difficult from whence to make a speech.

I can’t remember the word I received, except that it was a difficult one on which to base a speech, but after struggling through the allotted time I felt somewhat satisfied with myself that I was able to make a speech out of almost nothing.

I really enjoyed that exercise and was hoping the teacher would have us do it again, but he never did.

One thing I learned from that attempt was that a word is more than a word. Each word is like a leaf on a branch that leads to another branch and then another. That was my first brush with seed thoughts – though I did not know anything about the concept at the time.

I discovered that one can take random words such as rock, water, sky, run, jump or tiddlywinks and make a short speech. But later I discovered something much more important, and that is additional contemplation on certain words and phrases over a period of time can lead to some very stimulating insights.

I have said numerous times that contemplation is the highest form of meditation. Instead of letting the mind go blank and seeking peace and formlessness the seeker finds a phrase, idea or thought to plant in his mind. Instead of nothingness leading to bliss and peace he experiences a stirring of thought leading to higher thought.

Liken your consciousness to a pool of water. If there is too much stillness stagnation is the result. If it is always in motion then the water will never be pure but always mixed with impurities.

It takes the right mixture of stillness and motion to produce the purest water.

It takes the key of judgment in the seeker to balance the stillness and the motion of thought to see the highest light, feel the fullness of love, and to be consumed with the fire of Purpose.

To use the principle plant a seed thought in your mind and heart, and feed the thought with contemplation and meditation. Observe the fruit that comes forth, and accept that which is sweet and registers with your soul.

A seed thought is basically any thought, sentence, phrase, or idea that you choose to focus on with contemplation over a period of time. Because all words are symbols of some truth all seed thoughts have the capacity to generate higher realization.

Some teachers have emphasized having a monthly seed thought and this is not a bad idea, but I recommend having at least three working out within you at all times.

(1) A seed thought around a great mystery that may take you a lifetime to solve.

(2) A seed thought around an idea that will probably bear fruit within 30 days.

(3) A seed thought around a concept that you will reveal light in the present time.

There are many seed thoughts available. Some of the more profound scriptures are very good ones to consider such as

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” John 1:1

“The last shall be first, and the first last.”

Or, maybe something from Shakespeare:

All the world is a stage

Or, some popular phrase used by the common people such as:

“You can’t put the genie back in the bottle.”

Fortunately, we have an unlimited source of seed thoughts available. Each seeker just has to find the ones that are right for him or her.

Words are things, and a small drop of ink, falling like dew, upon a thought, produces that which makes thousands, perhaps millions, think.

Lord Byron

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Principle 78

This entry is part 75 of 98 in the series Principles

Detachment

When many students come across the metaphysical teaching on detachment, which is necessary to apply the principle of being the observer, many get discouraged because they mistakenly think one would have to be a cold person with no empathy to be detached.

Fortunately, this is a mistaken notion.

Right now in Casper Wyoming there is a child being abused. Has this been bothering you? Then again, in Tallahassee Florida there are a number of children going to bed hungry. Has this caused you to lose any sleep? Unknown to you there is another planet in this galaxy, similar to earth where a civilization is fighting for its existence and millions are suffering. Has this problem caused you any pause?

Probably not.

What causes one to be distressed about the abuse or pain of another?

It is not the event that does this but the knowledge of the event entering into your consciousness – and then how it is registered by your consciousness.

Before creation of the worlds of form we were all embraced in the Life of God. Because there was no pain or suffering we were able to access all other lives and realize a oneness with them. There was no pain to share, but only light, love and bliss.

When it was decided that we would descend way down to physical matter we realized that a major problem had to be solved. Even though the material world indeed offered many opportunities for growth, it was also going to be the source of untold pain and suffering for the descending spirits. If all the entities were allowed to share in consciousness life would be completely unbearable. Just imagine feeling the suffering of millions of other souls. Even one or two others besides yourself would be bad enough, but universal sharing of pain would be unfathomable.

To overcome this problem a causal body was designed for each incarnating soul. This is the vehicle the soul uses to create its own individual identity, which also creates a barrier between it and all other souls. In a higher reality all souls are one, but through the use of the causal body, those who participated in the One Life became the many.

The causal body makes it possible for us to incarnate as a separate entity in the physical and only have full access to our own pain. Even if a loved one has a backache, and cannot sleep, and this fact is in your consciousness, you may be very concerned, but you still do not feel the pain and are able to get your work done and sleep well.

I may stub my toe and let out a howl and my wife may find my discomfort somewhat amusing.

Why? Because her toe does not hurt and she feels no pain from my toe. Her consciousness is more on watching my reaction with amusement.

New souls entering incarnation are so shielded from other souls that they can do great harm to others with little or no concern for the pain they cause. Then after many lifetimes of learning the nine outer energy petals of the causal body vibrate and unfold revealing the inner three and the central point of energy that is linked to pure spirit. As this occurs over a long period of time, the person slowly reacquires the ability to tune in to other souls.

As this evolution proceeds we become increasingly in tune with the thoughts, feelings and pain of others. The only way to be able to handle this return to the qualities of our spiritual self and yet remain in incarnation is to understand the principle of detachment, for without detachment intelligently applied, spiritual advancement could be unbearable.

To understand how to use the Principle of Detachment one should ask this question. Why are those in higher realms able to exist engulfed in great joy when there is so much suffering on the physical plane? Are they not aware of us?

Yes, they are aware, but our suffering does not disturb their peace.

Why?

They are aware, but detached.

How can they be detached?

Because their attention is not on this plane, but on a higher one.

And this is the key for us to achieve detachment. We must follow the advice of Christ and be in the world, but not of the world. In other words, as we make progress on the path and become more sensitive and able to tune into the feelings of others we must, at the same time move our center of consciousness to the soul. In doing this we may be aware of the pain that is out there, but not adversely affected by it because this world is not where the focus of our consciousness is. By centering oneself on the Christ Within one can be aware of need and lovingly serve the need, but not be controlled by it or share in the misery.

He who is aware of the need and serves the need, but detached enough to be free of the pain behind the need can serve with the greatest of warmth and love.

“To ease another’s heartache is to forget one’s own.”

Abraham Lincoln

Principle 77

This entry is part 74 of 98 in the series Principles

The Satellite Principle

The placing of a satellite in orbit illustrates a great principle that can be applied to practical work here on earth.

Consider what it takes to place a satellite in orbit. The satellite is usually set atop a rocket consisting of several stages. The first stage is the booster rocket. This gives the satellite its initial thrust and here is where the greatest energy expenditure is required. The second stage is smaller and requires less thrust and the third is smaller still and requires sill less thrust because the weight of the first two stages is left behind.

Even so, the thrust required is that which is necessary to keep the satellite increasing in speed until it reaches orbital velocity which is around 17,000 miles per hour. Then when orbital velocity is reached a strange thing occurs. The satellite continues to speed around the earth at this same high speed of 17,000 MPH without the need of any additional thrust or power.

To understand how this works take a ball on a string and twirl it around. You will feel the ball pulling away from you and the faster you spin the ball the more force there is pulling tight against the string.

When a satellite reaches 17,000 MPH its circles the earth like a ball on a string, but the string holding on to it is the invisible gravity. Gravity is balanced off by the centrifugal force of the satellite pulling the other direction. When balance is achieved then the satellite will go on virtually forever if it is in a perfect vacuum.

If the satellite is supplied with additional power and speed is increased it will move to a higher orbit and if its speed is increased to 25,000 MPH it then reaches what is called “escape velocity” and moves free from the earth’s gravity and can be sent to Mars, Venus or wherever directed.

This concept nicely encapsulates what we must do as individuals who tackle a significant goal to accomplish.

For instance, let us say you want to start a business. To get it started you need to apply tremendous initial thrust. You have to sink significant money and concentrated effort toward the goal. You have to rent a place, put up signs and run a lot of initial ads so consumers will know about you etc.

Then, after you get the first stage off the ground you still have to apply effort, but not as much. A lot of the start up expenses are no longer needed and if your ads worked you will not have to run so many. Even so, you still have to put in significant effort to keep the project moving ahead.

Then, as your business succeeds and you hire a few people you will have to put less effort into it. Finally, you can take a vacation or two without worrying about things falling apart.

Then, after a period of continual thrust (effort), you reach a point where the business can be managed without you. You can appoint someone to replace you and it will just continue with no effort on your part. Your goal has reached a comparable to orbital velocity.

But there’s more. If you really want to accomplish something then you’ll want to add even more thrust to the business and take it to escape velocity. If you place even more attention on the project you can increase its size and scope until you have enough personal power ands wealth to escape all the gravity pulls of every day life and do whatever you want to do. Final success frees your hands so you correspond to a rocket that has escaped the pull of the earth and head toward any direction the universe has to offer.

The satellite Principle can be summarized as follows:

A significant goal requires great energy and attention, especially at first, and continued energy is required until it seems to take on a life of its own and continues with a minimal amount of attention. Further attention may give even increased freedom, allowing you to navigate to many new vistas of accomplishment.

“Be ashamed to die until you have won some victory for humanity.”

Horace Mann

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Principle 76

This entry is part 73 of 98 in the series Principles

The Butterfly Principle

We’ve all heard the story of the good-hearted guy who noticed the butterfly struggling to break out of its cocoon and decided to help. After giving his assistance and breaking open the cocoon, instead of flying away, the butterfly whimpered and died. Disappointed, the poor guy did not understand what just happened.

The truth is that the emerging life needs the strength gained from the struggle to emerge as a healthy and strong butterfly.

The same principle applies to the little chick struggling to break out of its hard eggshell. The struggle gives the baby chicken the additional strength it needs to survive and thrive in the world.

This principle also applies to us and is illustrated in the popular story about Socrates.

There was once a student that came to Socrates saying, “Socrates I want wisdom and knowledge like you have; what do I have to do?”

Socrates said to the student, “Come out with me and wade in this lake about waist high and I will show you.” The student agreed and they wandered out into the lake about waist high. Suddenly, Socrates grabs him by the head and pushes him under water and holds him there about a couple minutes and then brings his head up.

The student asks, “What in the world did you do that for?”

Socrates replies, “When I had your head in the water what did you want more than anything else in the world?”

He said, “Air and the longer I was down there the more I wanted it!”

Socrates replied, “When you want wisdom as much as you wanted air you will have all the wisdom you need.”

Now if Socrates just assisted the guy and gave him a few wise sayings very little would have been done to aid the student. He would have made the same mistake as the guy who assisted the butterfly. Instead he gave the student the greatest lesson of them all which is the Butterfly Principle which could be stated as follows:

Personal power and strength is gained through encountering those energies, forces and obstacles in the way of the goal in mind and overcoming them through the power of will, persistence and struggle until success is achieved.

The principle was seen by Maimonides who said:

“Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.”

It is human nature to desire the easy path, to sit back and let others do the hard work. Some call this the good life. Others think that heaven will consist of just taking it easy and being served by virgins or angels for eternity.

Few realize how unsatisfactory heaven would become if there were no new goals in the future that would require struggle to achieve.

Think back to the happiest moments of your life. The chances are some type of intense struggle preceded them.

Examples of happy moments following struggle are.

The athlete winning a crucial match or game after much struggle.

The person who wins the love of his life after numerous failures.

A graduate obtaining his degree.

A writer getting published after many rejections.

A worker getting the promotion he sought.

A businessperson making the business a success after many setbacks.

A seeker obtaining inner confirmation that he is on the right path after passing through a dark night of the soul.

Periods of rest are fine, but after obtaining sufficient rest the wise seeker will desire a new achievement of some kind. He will be wise to take full responsibility for his success and tackle with gusto the hurdles that lie before him and master them so he may have joy.

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

Robert Frost

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Principle 75

This entry is part 72 of 98 in the series Principles

Change

Few have considered that change is a principle, but it is an important one indeed, for without it, none of us would be here. In fact, nothing would be here. Without change there would be no universe, no creation and not even the life of God could exist for without change there could be no life.

After all, what is life, but a conscious striving, evolving, moving force that requires change to even exist?

Now some say that there is no change in the higher realms and that God also does not change, but does this dogma fit the reality?

Not really. Maybe this dialog would help.

Thinker: So you think that God does not change – Why?

True Believer: That’s what the Bible says in Malachi 3:6, “I am the LORD, I change not.”

Thinker: In the context there He was speaking of his relationship to Israel. As far as other types of changes, the God of the Bible underwent a number of them.

True Believer: How so?

Thinker: In the days of Moses God was going to destroy Israel and Moses talked him out of it. So God changed his mind.

Then in the days of Noah it is written:

And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. Genesis 6:6

These are two obvious changes within God’s mind. But there’s more.

True Believer: Like what?

Thinker: I assume you are familiar with the creation story.

True Believer: Of course.

Thinker: As you recall God worked for six days and then on the seventh He made a change. What was that?

True Believer: He rested.

Thinker: So God made a definite change. He changed from the working mode to the resting mode.

True Believer: Okay, maybe an unchangeable God isn’t black and white as far as the Bible is concerned. On the other hand, we have some metaphysical teachings that say that there is a hierarchy of Gods and levels of existence and the originating One God and other high beings exist in a changeless state on some type of unchangeable plane. What about that?

Thinker: Yes, some promote the idea that in the beginning God was all alone in an eternal changeless state. But then something happened

True Believer: Which was?

Thinker: Creation. Now for creation to occur do you think that some change had to happen within the mind of God?

True Believer: It would seem so.

Thinker: So even though the pure essence of God may exist within some formless pure state, beyond our imagination, something had to change there in order to cause the universe to manifest. Would you agree?

True Believer: That seems logical. But what about the idea presented that this is not the real world, but just an illusion? Change happens in this illusion but not in the real world.

Thinker: That is indeed a popular idea. Let us suppose this is correct that we live in an illusion. Who created this illusion?

True Believer: I’m not sure.

Thinker: Haven’t all things come from God on some level?

True Believer: I suppose.

Thinker: Those who believe in the illusion think there was a time when the illusion did not exist. Who created this illusion?

True Believer: Some say that we did somehow.

Thinker: And what is our Source?

True Believer: God

Thinker: So God is responsible for the creation of the illusion then?

True Believer: I suppose.

Thinker: So was the moment that God decided to create or allow the illusion a point of change of some kind that occurred?

True Believer: I guess there would have had to have been a change if it one time there was no illusion and then at another there was one.

Thinker: Most would call a dream an illusion, but would you agree that change happens within our dreams?

True Believer: Yes

Thinker: And what change happens to you to cause you to dream?

True Believer: I go to sleep.

Thinker: So perhaps God goes to sleep and dreams up creation?

True Believer: Possibly.

Thinker: So, however you look at it creation of that which is real or illusion tells us that change is happening in the mind of God.

True Believer: It would seem so.

This dialog should supply some food for thought. Change is eternal and always happening from eternity to eternity. Creation cannot happen without change. Motion cannot exist without change. And then, life itself cannot exist without change for if there is no change there is no life. Life itself is a struggle to create positive change.

To summarize, the Principle of Change is this: Change is the eternal motion of life, thought, spirit, energy and form. If one appears to be still or at rest, others will be in motion or change. Change and motion circulates in a spiral. One point activates another so nothing can stay still or unchangeable forever.

“Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing ever happened.” Winston Churchill

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