Tag: karma

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Karma and the Atonement

September 12, 2016December 13, 2019 Joseph Dewey

Sept 12, 2016
The Law of Karma
Or Cause and Effect – Part 4
Karma and the Atonement

A reader wants to know how to determine the karmic results of various misdeeds, such as lies ranging from mild ones to whoppers.

The consequences are exactly as the scriptures say:

“He (God) shall reward every man according to his works.” (Matt 16:27)

And what does “according to our works” mean?

The scriptures says:

“But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully.” (2 Cor 9:6)

“Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” (Gal 6:7)

If you lie, you will synchronistically encounter people in this life or the next that will lie back to you with the similar intensity with which you lied. This cycle will continue until you cease to lie.

There does not have to be a large book of consequences for lies and other errors any more than you have to have a large book of instructions of steering corrections necessary to drive across town. After a couple miles driving you have corrected your course hundreds of times but writing a book of instructions concerning every correction would be silly. The corrections are built into you and happen automatically when the goal is in mind. Even, so are the causes created by lying stored in the Mind of God and returned in kind automatically without anyone having to make tabulations.

Question: “Who benefits from the consequences? Let’s go back to the lying example. Let’s say I lied about you, and spread hurtful gossip that caused you embarrassment. Let’s say we looked in the big book and it said, ’37 lashings.’ Who benefits? Does my sore back remove your embarrassment? No. Does it cure me of lying? Not necessarily. So, without consequences, laws would be meaningless, BUT it appears the consequences themselves can be meaningless.”

So, what is the benefit derived fro the consequences of karma?

A just consequence will indeed cure one from lying. Many of us are thick-headed and have to suffer the same consequence dozens of times before we learn, but eventually we do indeed learn.

The liar is the main beneficiary of the natural consequences of his lying, but his circle of associates also benefit.

Some think that justice melted out by karma is not right and there must be a better way. What better way is there than to learn from experience — to experience the effects of our own causes so that we may become a master of causes as was the Christ? We may be imperfect, but all of us are capable of paying off debt. I have written much previously about how this debt is paid off. One can pay off several lifetimes of debt in one lifetime through selfless service. Just like we can indeed perfectly pay off a bank loan quickly if we work smart and earn more money, even so can we perfectly pay off our karma. We can more than pay it off and start accumulating a positive balance rather than a negative.

“And every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour.” (1 Cor 3:8)

A reader asks about Jesus appearing and suffering for our sins creating an atonement which removes cause or karma.

This is not what the scriptures say, my friend. No where in the scriptures does it say that the atonement removed any Cause or Karma. Where do you get such an idea?

Cause cannot be removed by anyone — not even God, for to remove cause is to remove all creation as it says in the Book of Mormon concerning the idea that duality could be suspended: “there could have been no creation of things, neither to act nor to be acted upon; wherefore, all things must have vanished away.” (2 Nephi 2:13)

Remove karma and you remove duality, remove duality and all things vanish away.

Concerning our debts or Karma, Jesus said:

“Thou shalt by no means come out thence, till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing.” (Matt 5:26)

But, you say, Jesus paid the uttermost farthing for us and fulfilled the law with an infinite atonement.

But did He? Is that what the scriptures really say?

Here is a scripture relating to the fate of those who did receive the atonement of Jesus:

“And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kind reds, and tongues, and nations. And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.

“If any man have an ear, let him hear. He that leader into captivity shall go into captivity: he that skillet with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.”
Rev 13:7-10

Here we are told that power is given to the Beast to make war with the saints and overcome them. We saw that this was true in the time of Christ. If anyone received an atonement it would have been the Twelve Apostles, yet all but John were killed with the sword or other means. Thousands of others suffered brutal painful deaths.

Why did they suffer so?

The scripture plainly tells us that there is a reason they must have patience and faith. It explains here that the beast has such power over them because of this principle: “He that leader into captivity shall go into captivity: he that killed with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.”

Now keep in mind that this is a New Testament scripture given after the Atonement had been made.

Does it say that the one who kills with the sword will be killed with the sword — except for those who have had an atonement?

No.

It gives no exception to the rule, but makes a point blank statement.

Those who were the early Christian Saints being put to death by the Beast, which was Rome, were given to his power because in past lives they themselves were the perpetrators of atrocities. In the past these saints had put others in prison and to death with the sword and were in that life suffering the consequences of their action and therefore had to have patience and faith in their sufferings.

Question: If the Atonement removed the results of karma then why did those who had received the atonement continue to receive results of karma?

My Mormon readers revere Joseph Smith as a man who was righteous and received an atonement; yet he was tarred and feathered, kidnapped, placed in jail and finally killed all as a result of cause and effect. Why did not the Atonement protect him from this karma which some say should not exist?

If the atonement does not remove karma, which is cause and effect, then what does it do?

The atonement removes guilt, and guilt often has more to do with imagined causes rather than real causes.

One always feels guilt when he violates the commandments of his religion, no matter which one that may be. Judaism was a religion with a great number of laws, most of them manmade and there probably was not a Jew in the days of Jesus who did not suffer some guilt for some violation of what he perceived to be God’s will.

If you feel that God has commanded you to not eat peas and you break His will and eat peas then you will feel guilt. Even though the peas cause no real harm you still need the guilt removed. But then if a savior comes along and reveals to you that your guilt is produced by illusion and reveals the truth, the guilt magically disappears. This is how the magic of the Atonement works.

It is best expressed in these words of Jesus: “You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.”

The true atonement is a revelation of the truth so illusion passes away and guilt is lifted. Then real progress can be made.

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Karma, Emotion and Attachment

September 11, 2016June 20, 2019 Joseph Dewey

Sept 11, 2016

The Law of Karma
Or Cause and Effect – Part 3

Karma, Emotion and Attachment

Is it true that feelings, the sharing of energy or attachment creates karma and we can be released from it just by letting go?

Karma is usually defined as either a debt to be paid or a positive balance from which one may draw benefits. Thus the mere act of caring has little to do with the creation of karma.

I believe I know the teaching you are referring to, however, and I believe it to be a true one. It goes something like this.

Strong emotion such as love or hate, desire or repulsion, fear or protectiveness creates not karma, as we understand the term, but an energy link that will bring you into repeated contact with the person with whom you share such emotion. If such emotion carries with it any degree of attachment then this person must be faced in relationship again and again, life after life, until you learn to let go of him and the emotion connected with the relationship.

Even the lower octave of love creates this problem. Love from this angle would be defined as: “the desire to keep another in relationship because of what they do for you rather than what you can do for them as the prime motivator.”

This is why forgiveness is so important. If you hold a grievance and do not forgive, then that negative feeling creates a link that will draw that person back into your life until you do learn to forgive him on all levels.

Imagine the future consequences if you have a dozen people in your life that you have not forgiven. In a future time or life you will have a dozen annoying people in your circle of work or friends and be beside yourself as to how you could have such bad luck in choosing associates.

If you merely have a feeling of attachment toward another a real debt (karma) is not created. Thus you can free yourself of the link instantly at the moment you let go of attachment. This concept is probably why some believe that you can release yourself from karma with a decision – because they have mistakenly called the linkage of attachment a karmic debt. Instead the linkage we have to others because of attachment merely holds a lesson to be learned.

Karma is different. You can learn your lesson, but still owe the debt just as happens in real life. You can run up your credit card balance too high and learn the lesson not to let that happen again, but the sinking in of the lesson does not pay the bank. You often find yourself making payments long after you have learned to not over extend yourself.

The linkage because of emotion creates no karmic debt, but is immediately dispelled by forgiveness or the release of the binding emotion.

A reader says: “There again, humanity has made a collective judgment that it is wrong to share sexual partners with others. That is not the ultimate truth in my mind, but something we have made so.”

The main point I was making was not around sex, but around the subject of honoring your commitments and your word. If a person makes a promise to not eat peas and another is depending on this promise for some reason then he should honor his word. If he does not want to honor it then he should seek a release from the person to whom the promise was made. This has little to do with whether peas are good or bad for you.

If we are to learn to be one with God and establish reliable soul contact through that oneness, then we must all learn to honor our word when it is given to another. This is especially true if it would create pain or harm to this trusting person if the word is broken. If we wish to obtain liberation then we must learn to be as the Spirit of God within, and keep our word in all matters. When we become like the Spirit, we commune with the Spirit.

Because I understand this principle I have always been very selective about giving my word. The breaking of our word does create definite effect and karmic debt that must be dealt with in a future time.

If you have an uncommitted relationship and have sex with another person with the understanding that multiple partners is part of the agreement, then you are not responsible for your friend’s hurt if he should take offense. But when you make a promise to another soul and that person places trust in you because of that promise then the breaking of that promise can create tremendous pain, pain that would not occur if both parties were true to their word.

If you thus betray a loved one through the breaking of your word, the time will come that one with whom you have placed your trust and given your heart will betray you.

The pain through the betrayal of a loved one has little to do with attachment. You can be very detached from a spiritual point of view yet suffer loss through the broken word.

But don’t we suffer pain in relationships because of attachments? Not necessarily. In a romantic relationship there is a bonding through the circulation of energy, for the two become one as the scripture says. Now you may figure that you are not attached to your little finger and could live without it, but this detachment does not spare you any pain if someone were to rip it out of your hand. Similarly, in a committed relationship the other person becomes like an extension of your body and this severing of half of that which makes up a greater life is very painful no matter what state of detachment you have reached.

The Christ Himself, the greatest of us all, formed a greater life out of the twelve disciples and because of the flow of energy and the betrayal by Judas, suffered enormous pain and came close to dying in the Garden of Gethsemane as a result.

One, who is detached, as the ancient wisdom teaches, can release any person from any relationship and let them go their way. But he will realize the principles involved and work with the energies so the pain on all sides is at a minimum.

Sept 13, 2016

Question on Karma

Patrick basically asked me how karma would work out if there seemed to be no learning value attached to it. Why punish someone who has learned the lesson?

First of all the word “punishment” in relation to karma is somewhat misleading and not a good fit. For instance, when you take out a loan at the bank and then make payments do you think of yourself as being punished whenever you make the payment?

Not really.

So how do you feel about it?

The normal feeling is that you knowingly took out the loan for a reason and you are making a justified payment and you are okay with that. You normally only feel punished if you do not make the payment and the bank comes after you.

Secondly, lessons are always learned in the paying off of karma.

Let us examine Patrick’s example:

“Let us say someone committed murder in a previous life out of jealousy. Then, in subsequent lives, through great self-work and spiritual growth, they learned non-possessiveness and the sacredness of all life. Let us say they went even further and through love and service saved many lives, influencing them for good, even preventing some from committing the same crime. What then would be the point of them being murdered?”

If you take out a loan from a friend (and the Lords of Karma are certainly our friends) the friend will allow you to repay in a number of ways as long as the value is there.

Le us say that you borrow $1000, but do not have the cash, but do have some silver coins stored away. If you offer him $1000 worth he will probably take it. Similarly, maybe you have a snow blower worth about that much and offer it to him. If he could use one he may take it.

Then maybe you have nothing to pay with but your labor. Maybe you are a good mechanic and offer $1000 worth of service to his vehicles. Being a good friend he would probably take it.

Taking you to court would be the last resort and he would only do this if you stubbornly refused to work on the debt and could learn the lesson no other way.

Now let us look at your example. A guy commits murder and after a couple lifetimes learns his lesson without being murdered in return so there seems to be nothing to learn from being a victim. Does his debt disappear? That is like saying does the effect disappear?

No. Effects are eternal until the energy is played out with new cause.

So, how is the debt to be paid?

Punishment is the slowest way to pay the debt. Debt can also be paid through service, which often turns out to be an enjoyable way to pay it and always produces growth.

If the person has advanced enough to make a service payment he may pay off the murder by:

(1) Saving a physical life

(2) Saving a spiritual life

(3) Sacrificing his or her own life for a good cause.

(4) Some type of service that helps the lives of many.

However the payment is a made, it must be made before liberation is achieved.

Now consider Hitler who is responsible for millions of deaths. Supposing he decides to redeem himself – do you think he will have to be murdered millions of times? Of course not. That would accomplish little. After being a murder victim a dozen times or so he would surely get the point.

So how will he pay his debt?

He would have to make enough progress on the path of light to eventually get in a position to save millions of lives.

This could be accomplished by becoming a great leader and saving his nation from a tyrannical leader.

Or perhaps he could become a scientist and discover a cure for cancer.

Or perhaps he could become a great teacher and save many spiritual lives.

If we could see the past lives of our adored figures in history we would discover that many had past lives of tyranny and destruction and they are coming to incarnation to serve and pay off their debt. Even the Masters we revere had some tyrannical past lives before they learned their lessons.

“To say that life is unfair is to say that God is unfair. When all things are considered throughout the life of the soul, all is fair.”

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The Law of Karma, Part 2

September 10, 2016 Joseph Dewey

Sep 10, 2016
The Law of Karma
Or Cause and Effect – Part 2
Karma and Health

The Question:
“Taking reincarnation and karma into account why do you suppose it is that some people can he healed and others not? Is it possible for one to be healed when his disease is connected with his karma? If one learns his karma is it possible to accelerate payment and thus free himself from unfortunate circumstance?”

Many diseases are caused because of past karma. If nothing is attempted beyond an act of faith, in some cases, the healer will be attempting to cancel out certain lessons that are to be administered through the soul.

Someone recently asked how we can discover our past karma, especially if you cannot remember your past.

The first thing to realize is that your soul does not expect you to pay off all your karma in this one life; but in any one life where the debt of negative karma still exists, there will be a certain amount allocated that you will be expected to pay off. If this karma is linked to a disease then the karma (or the lesson to be learned) must be lifted or redirected before the person can be healed.

Since the understanding of karma is important in the attainment of freedom from disease, it is necessary to discover how it may be affecting our lives. The most popular way of discovering karma is to review past lives. The trouble with this is that unless the disciple is relatively free from illusion, his discernment of the past is likely to be incorrect.

Hypnosis and guided meditation, sometimes reveals the true past, but other times it brings forth an imaginary past for a variety of reasons. Only through soul confirmation can one know if such a revealed past is correct.

A second way to discover the past is through dreams, but there is also much distortion in this and the soul must be used again. You can enhance the power to discover the past through dreams by giving yourself suggestions to remember as you are going to sleep. This will not produce immediate results, but will bear fruit over a period of time.

Do not trust someone who claims to be a great one from the past because of supposed synchronicity. Relating oneself to a historical figure because he sees similarities is often very misleading as vision is filtered through a multitude of glamours.

Another problem is that even several revealed past lives do not give the full story of karma you may be facing. For instance, you may know about your last past life, but your Higher Self may have karma arranged for you from a more distant past with which you may be unfamiliar.

One of the best ways to determine areas where one needs to put attention is to study the law of cycles. The adage “history repeats itself” is based on this principle.

Saturn largely governs the energies of karma in this solar system and its orbit around the sun takes about 29.5 years. This period of time is called a “Saturn Cycle” by astrologers. The first half is polarized female/receiving/negative, and the second part of the cycle is male/sending/positive.

The first twenty-nine years of your life are like a mini incarnation. If you have solved your problems and learned the lessons assigned to you, then the next twenty-nine will be like a new birth or an advanced incarnation. If the needed lessons are not learned, then the second twenty-nine year period will bring you face to face with the same problems you had in the first twenty-nine. If the pilgrim ignores the solving of these problems, he will just coast along the line of least resistance; and he will become crystallized by the second Saturn Cycle at age 59 or earlier. He is also likely to suffer ill health.

Then there are those who pass their first cycle successfully, but follow the line of least resistance in their second and also crystallize in their third. Only about 10% of humanity successfully navigates into their third Saturn Cycle where they will learn new principles, solve new problems and essentially live three lives in experience and progression.

It is therefore beneficial to examine your life in roughly seven, fourteen and twenty-eight to twenty-nine year cycles. The first question to ask yourself is can you see that you made major changes or that major events happened to you around the end of these cycles? What was going on in your life and what was your internal makeup at age fourteen, twenty-eight, forty-two, and fifty-six?

If major changes were taking place around these periods, this is a sign that you were progressing as you should. If no major changes have occurred since age twenty-nine, this is a sign that you have been coasting. Be careful to not coast too long because as you near the third Saturn Cycle at age fifty-nine, you will find the energies within you crystallizing.

When honey crystallizes it gets thicker and thicker so it will no longer pour easily. This is what happens with the human in incarnation. If he follows the line of least resistance and does not work on his progression, he will find his movement forward at a stand- still by the time he reaches his mid fifties.

What the disciple needs to do is to look at these seven, fourteen and twenty-eight year cycles, and watch for different circumstances that seem to be repeating themselves.

Does it seem that a lover or friend betrays you cyclically? This would indicate that you have betrayed others in past lives. To complete and move beyond that cycle you must reach a state of mind where you have a resolve to be true to others in relationship.

Does it seem that you get stolen from regularly, not only materially, but in other ways? Then this indicates that this was a problem for you in the past and it is time to incorporate the lesson of not seeking for that which you have not earned.

Do you have a problem with dominating people? Then you created a problem for others in the past.

And so on it goes for every recurring problem we find.

If you have periodic illness it is helpful to examine repeating problems and see if they correspond. All illness is caused or enhanced by some type of resistance to spiritual flow. If the person can hone into the problem he needs to solve; and starts making progression with it, then his health and vitality will increase. The part of the body the physical distress is located in is also an indicator of the cause of the physical problem.

As food for thought I will name several problems. Using the Law of Correspondences and karma attempt to decipher the spiritual cause.

(1) Heart Disease
(2) Skin rashes and inflammation.
(3) Constipation
(4) Throat Cancer
(5) Backache
(6) Neck problems
(7) Alzheimer’s
(8) A major accident.

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The Law of Karma

September 9, 2016September 9, 2016 Joseph Dewey

Sep 9, 2016

The Law of Karma

Or Cause and Effect – Part 1

I have already written quite a lot about this law. Here are some excepts

Karma is in principle the law of cause and effect. To determine whether or not there is bad karma we must merely look at the causes and effects that we all agree upon as the real thing.

We know that if we cause money to be put in the bank we will have the effect of available money (good karma). We also agree that if you cause a loan to be made at the bank that you will then owe some money (bad karma).

To say that there is no bad karma is to say that there are no negative effects. Therefore if there were no such thing as bad (or negative) karma is the same as saying that when you take out a loan from the bank that you will owe no debt. In this case if negative karma is denied long enough you will awaken to reality when you watch the bill collectors haul your car off.

To say there is no bad karma is the same as saying that when you drive over a cliff that only good things will happen. I think here we all will agree that when we create a cause in this life that an effect will follow.

Now perhaps some think that when we die all of our causes die with us and we carry no effects into the next life, but in principle a cause always is followed by an effect and they are carried over into future lives.

***

It seems like a number of people have a strong aversion to the terms good and bad or good and evil. It seems strange to me to want to negate or eliminate words from the dictionary, as if that will change anything, or as if that would eliminate negative judgments. A rose is a rose by any name. You can change the name of good and evil and you will still wind up talking about good and evil, but just using different terminology.

For instance I find it amusing that some who criticize me for using the word “judgment” and “good and evil” wind up judging me as being on the wrong path which is the evil one in their mind. They think that by avoiding the word evil and judgment that the two does not exist for them even though they are talking about it just as much as I am. The only difference is that I am being up front and honest about it.

Even though it is true that good and evil is what we define them to be, there are two definitions that should be important to us.

The first definition is that which has been given by the Brotherhood of Light. I stated this a few days ago, but it was not new with me for it has been stated and restated by the Master DK through Alice A. Bailey. Good is that direction which takes us forward in evolution and evil is that which takes us backward into what we were in the past.

The second definition to consider is that espoused by general humanity. For the general populace good is that which is desirable and evil is the undesirable. There is a lot of basic agreement as to the desirable and undesirable which allows the general public to talk about this subject with some intelligence. For instance giving to worthy charities is considered a good thing and robbing your neighbor considered bad.

If we could just have the oneness of either the Masters or the general public on discussing this subject I think we would all be far ahead.

A reader made an interesting comment on karma. She says basically that karma, or cause and effect can be stopped in its tracks by not reacting to it. Let me give my thoughts on this. On an emotional basis reacting or not reacting to an attack has no effect on karma. If someone is angry with you and kicks your leg and breaks it, you then have a choice to react or not react emotionally. If you feel anger at the guy that does nothing to his karma or if you feel no anger that has no effect either. It does not matter what you feel there was still a cause and an effect. He kicked you (cause) and broke your leg (effect).

Your feelings only have causes within your self. Such feelings have to be translated into some type of action to create new karma. If you kick him back then that is a new cause with a new effect. If you do not kick him back (whether you are angry or not) then you do not negate the past cause with its effect. Instead you have prevented a new one from surfacing.

Concerning the debt of karma Jesus said: “Thou shalt by no means come out thence, till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing.” (Matt 5:26)

The reader tells us that karma (I assume negative karma) is wiped clean when we forgive ourselves. Forgiveness releases you from guilt and grievances but does not negate karma. It can lead to a faster repayment of it, but does not negate cause and effect. There has not been any negation of cause and effect since the beginning of the universe. Not one example can be cited.

Some may say that a miracle such as Jesus walking on water is an example. Not so. Jesus created a cause in accordance with the law and the effect was the walking on water, which was just as natural of an effect as a boat floating on water.

***

The law of Karma is the Law of Cause and Effect. There can be no cause unless there is a corresponding effect, for that is what a cause is. The first definition of a cause in The American Heritage Dictionary is: “The producer of an effect, result, or consequence.” The same dictionary gives as the first definition of effect as: “Something brought about by a cause or an agent; a result.” Therefore, by definition, there can be no effect without cause and there can be no cause without producing an effect.

Now some have said that Karma, or the Law of Cause and Effect, can be negated or eliminated. Some say that it only exists because we are attached to it or because we have judgment within us. Others say that we merely must rise above the illusion of this world and Karma will cease.

Do you realize what it would mean to escape karma to the extent that karma would no longer exist? If karma no longer exists for you, this means you would cease to exist. Non-existence is to have no power to initiate cause and effect. And non-existence is impossible; therefore, total escape from karma is impossible. If you are beyond cause and effect, you are beyond the power to even be alive.

DK through Alice A. Bailey tells us that the Masters do not eliminate the Law of Karma. Instead they learn to “wield the law”. In other words they create causes so the effects that result are desired effects rather than undesirable ones. In this way they are free from unpredictable karma. In other words, they are no longer victims of the law as regular humanity is.

A regular human in his use of karma is a little like a novice going to Las Vegas to gamble at blackjack. The odds are against him because he does not understand the game and does not realize, that because of his ignorance, the longer he plays the more he will lose. He who learns to master karma is a little like the master gambler who learns how to count the cards which will give him control over the game. In both cases the law of cause and effect is in full force, but in the latter case the Master Gambler uses the law instead of being used by the law.

Is cause and effect only applicable in the worlds of form? It would have to be applicable in all worlds because the worlds of form are an effect of energy which was an originating cause before the worlds were created.

In the beginning there was God and God Itself was a cause and creation is the effect. To those who say they can exist apart from karma, let me put forth this challenge.

I can show you billions of examples of karma (cause and effect). But can you show me even one example of anything that is real that creates no cause and effect? It takes a tremendous leap of faith to believe so strongly in that for which no example can be given. Why would someone believe in a place beyond cause and effect if such a place cannot be demonstrated internally or externally??? You can in deep meditation, attempt to withdraw into perfect stillness, but even this meditation (cause) has the effect of peace or stillness of thought.

Not only does logic, experience and the law of correspondences bear witness to the eternal existence of cause and effect, but all the writings revealed by the teachings of the Masters as well as the scriptures agree.

The Bible: Gal 6:5 For every man shall bear his own burden. Gal 6:6 Let him that is taught in the word communicate unto him that teacheth in all good things. Gal 6:7 Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. Gal 6:8 For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. Gal 6:9 And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.

Note here that Karma extends beyond the physical for it says: “He that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.”

The Book of Mormon: “For it must needs be, that there is an opposition in all things. If not so, my first-born in the wilderness, righteousness could not be brought to pass, neither wickedness, neither holiness nor misery, neither good nor bad. Wherefore, all things must needs be a compound in one; wherefore, if it should be one body it must needs remain as dead, having no life neither death, nor corruption nor incorruption, happiness nor misery, neither sense nor insensibility.

“Wherefore, it must needs have been created for a thing of naught; wherefore there would have been no purpose in the end of its creation.

Wherefore, this thing must needs destroy the wisdom of God and his eternal purposes, and also the power, and the mercy, and the justice of God.

“And if ye shall say there is no law, ye shall also say there is no sin. If ye shall say there is no sin, ye shall also say there is no righteousness.

“And if there be no righteousness there be no happiness. And if there be no righteousness nor happiness there be no punishment nor misery. And if these things are not there is no God. And if there is no God we are not, neither the earth; for there could have been no creation of things, neither to act nor to be acted upon; wherefore, all things must have vanished away.” (II Nephi 2:11-13)

Note that without karma, cause and effect there would be no creation, no you and me, and no God for God is the First Cause, the first agent of karma.

A Course In Miracles: “If I intervened between your thoughts and their results, I would be tampering with a basic law of cause and effect; the most fundamental law there is.” (Text Pg 27)

“Think not you understand anything until you pass the test of perfect peace, for peace and understanding go together and never can be found alone. 5 Each brings the other with it, for it is the law of God they be not separate. 6 They are cause and effect, each to the other, so where one is absent the other cannot be.” Text Pg 278 “ Nothing can have effects without a cause, and to confuse the two is merely to fail to understand them both.” (Text Pg 420)

Alice A Bailey; “As I write this instruction I would call your attention to the subject of karma. There comes ever in the life of a disciple and in the soul’s experience some one particular life wherein the Law of Cause and Effect assumes importance in the consciousness. From that life and that moment, the disciple begins to deal with karma, consciously and definitely. He learns to recognize it when events and happenings come which require understanding and which evoke questioning; he begins to study the quality of his radiation as a karmic agent, and therefore he becomes the maker and constructor, in a new and important sense, of his own destiny and future. His reactions to life and circumstances cease to be simply emotional in nature and become deliberately dictated by conscious observation; they then have in them a significant quality of preparation which is absent from the life of the average man. For the remainder of this life, therefore, I would ask you to carry the theme of karmic decision and of preparation for the future ever in your consciousness; I would ask you always to take action with as full an understanding of the probable following effects as you can manage to achieve, and to make a real effort to study the Law of Consequence and Compensation.”

“It is not my intention to explain or elaborate the subject of Karma. This occult yet fundamentally exoteric theme, the Law of Cause and Effect, evokes a general recognition when called by this name. When called the Law of Karma, it is immediately regarded as mysterious, Oriental and new. Called (as it sometimes is) the Law of Retribution, an entirely erroneous connotation has become attached to it. Today, the karma of humanity is descending upon it. I would remind you, however, that the continuous emphasis laid upon the malevolent aspects of karma conveys a wrong impression and negates the full grasp of the truth. There is as much good karma as there is bad; even in the present world situation, the good karma emanating from the soul of humanity balances the evil which comes from the material aspect and is continuously over-emphasised. It is the rhythm of matter in contradistinction to the rhythm of the soul, and these constitute the initiating causes of the present conflict, both in individual lives and in the general world situation. When this is properly grasped, the true picture may emerge in your hearts and minds with greater clarity.”

“A steady endeavour to see the reality in every form. This literally involves a study of the law of cause and effect, or karma, the object of the karmic law being to bring the opposite pole of Spirit, matter, into strict conformity with the requirements of spirit so that matter and form can perfectly express the nature of spirit.”

Discipleship in the New Age, Vol II, Pages 538-539

DK goes on to tell us that the earth is not a sacred planet because Sanat Kumara himself is somewhat of a rebel from a cosmic point of view and has some effects that he must deal with before the planet can take the needed initiation.

Even high entities who have learned to use the law of karma in a positive sense cannot let their guard down, for one of the Kumaras that came to the earth with the Ancient of Days (called Lucifer by Christians) fell from his lofty station when he did not wield the law with wisdom.

***

I am amazed at this strange doctrine concerning the negation of Karma that has surfaced in the new age community over the past few years and am curious where it has come from. All the sages past have taught the principle of cause and effect. It is plainly taught in all the scriptures of the world and in modern inspired books by Blavatsky, Alice A Bailey and even A Course in Miracles.

Is there some new recent channeled work that I am unaware of that brings forth this great illusion? If anyone could cite some reference here it may help me understand where this teaching is coming from and why it is so easily believed. Or is it possible that many are just creating their own version of belief in Karma associated with a desire to escape effect?

There is great illusion being derived here from the comparison of karma to the statement of Newton’s Law. The potential correspondence is accurate, but the correspondence must be seen as it is.

Where is the illusion then? In Newton’s law, as well as cause and effect which is basically Newton’s law, like creates like. The Law states that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Note that it DOES NOT say that the opposite reaction is a different type of force than that created by the action but an “equal” one. The word “opposite” refers to the direction of the force, not the force itself.

Sending out force does not cause something other than force to return, and sending out love does not return hate. But the opposite involved is not the opposite of love or force, but the opposition involved is in direction. Love begets love, force begets force, hate begets hate.

A reader asks what is the opposite of Karma? Answer: Oblivion, lifelessness, voidness, nothingness, deadness, no creation, no love – the opposite of Becoming. If this appeals to you then go for it, but for the life of me, I cannot see the attractiveness of it in this reality.

Now some say that cause and effect are happening at the same time in a higher reality where there is no time. This may be true, but still it does not negate karma. I submit that the Eternal Now is not timelessness as many teach, but a consciousness that allows time selection. If there were true timelessness, as some believe, then nothingness would be the result and the higher worlds are far from being nothing.

Now some associate karma with guilt, but guilt is created by illusion, a trick of the mind caused by an outside entity or voice that takes the place of the true god within. Outside voices can be very deceptive, but again, even with this we have a cause and effect. An outside voice causes you to believe you are to trust in the voice of God out there and that you need to hang your head in shame when commands are not followed.

Let us take a Mormon and a non-religious person drinking coffee together. The good Mormon will feel very guilty about it, but the other guy will feel no guilt even though they are doing the same thing. The true basic effect on them, physically, is the same. However, one feels guilty because he erroneously believes he is displeasing god and the other feels no guilt. Because guilt is created by illusionary cause, it can instantly disappear as soon as the illusion is removed. In this way Christ removed our sins; he dispelled much illusion that removed us from the effects of karma that we never had in the first place.

Imagine that the Mormon authorities told the church that they could now drink coffee. Instantly, all guilt surrounding this act of coffee drinking would be erased, but the real effect from the hot liquid and caffeine would remain the same as before in the real world.

On the other hand, the effect of missing out on a lot of enjoyable coffee drinking is a residual effect through decision to accept illusionary cause.

Now some of you are saying that karma exists merely because we believe in it. The only way karma is altered by belief is when belief initiates a new cause and produces a new effect. It does not negate a past effect, but joins in with it.

Let us say a person throws a stone in a stagnant pool and it creates a rippling of waves. Now I have a second stone that I will label as a cause created by belief and I throw it in where the ripples are. Does this nullify the previous effects? No. The ripples are still there from the first stone.

Does the new stone create an overall new effect? Yes. Is there any way that you can use belief only to cause all the ripples to instantly disappear? No. If you desire a still pool what are you to do? Wait for the forces to play themselves out. There is no other way. As the forces are playing themselves out you might want to make the best of it and throw a leaf in the midst and watch it dance upon the forces until stillness arrives.

The time will indeed come when all karma will be played out and we will enter into a peaceful rest to contemplate the experience. But then we will plunge again into the rippling world of cause and effect and play the game one more time, but a little wiser than before.

If karma, cause and effect, is caused by mere belief then why does it exist on the surface of Mars where there is no intelligent life or belief? Why does karma exist in the animal kingdom, for animals have no beliefs? Some say that karma exists because we see ourselves as separate. Yet the animals see themselves as interconnected, and still experience the effects of karma.

DK basically saidAmong primitive man, for millions of years, the animals were the ones that dominated the human kingdom. Early man lived in constant fear of ferocious animals and there was a great struggle on the part of the human kingdom just to stay alive in their midst. Many there were who had friends and family killed and eaten by the beasts.

Now he says that this situation which lasted for eons created karma within the animal kingdom that is being played out today. The situation is reversed and humans are a threat to the animals rather than animals being a threat to humans. He says this karma is the true reason that we presently kill animals for food. When this karma has played out then there will be a balance achieved between the human and animal kingdoms and both shall live together with greater harmony.

DK also says there is karma in the very elements of the earth itself, an effect from the previous solar system. Our personal belief would have nothing to do with this residual effect from billions of years hence.

If we define karma as that which is perceived, then a change in perception can give the illusion of negating karma. For instance if Jim wants to give me an anonymous gift and gives it to Jane to give to me, I will erroneously perceive that the gift originated with her. The true fact is that the cause of the gift was Jim, no matter what my perceptions were. If my perception is changed and I see that the gift did not originate with Jane, but perceive it erroneously to be from Jack that does not negate the true cause. This true cause is still Jim no matter what my perceptions are.

True karma is actual cause and effect, not perceived cause and effect. We daily experience the effects of many causes of which we are consciously unaware and which have nothing to do with our individual belief system.

A while back I perceived myself typing the word “the,” but instead typed “tghe.” My perception did not create the reality, but my lack of focus and cause on the physical plane did. I believed at first I typed the word correctly, but belief did not alter reality.

In fact, the alteration of reality and the creation of misperception of cause and effect is a technique used in brainwashing. In the book 1984 we read of many alterations by Big Brother, but instead of creating a new pleasant reality, the result was hell on earth.

Some say there is no real karma here because this world is just a larger dream state, and when we awaken from the dream we will discover the karma never was. First let me state that this is a very long dream. Creation on the physical plane has been ongoing for trillions of years and since we have been and will be involved for such extensive periods then perhaps it is in our interest to make this a “happy dream” as A Course in Miracles calls it.

It is in the nature of all conscious beings to dream on a regular basis. One who is deprived of the dream state becomes insane. Dreaming in one form or another is something we will do on and off as long as there is existence.

Even a dream has a cause and then within the dream itself there are causes and effects. When I have a good dream with good causes and effects (karma) I often reflect upon it during the next day or so and feel that it adds to my quality of life. Thus even if it turns out that this life is like a dream we will still take the experience with us to a greater reality and this life will be a cause to ongoing effects in higher realms.

DK describes the coming liberation from physical life as follows:

“Respond, O Rising One, to the call which comes within the sphere of obligation; recognize the call emerging from the Ashram or from the Council Chamber where waits the Lord of Life Himself. The Sound goes forth. Both soul and form together must renounce the Principle of life and thus permit the Monad to stand free. The soul responds. The form then shatters the connection. Life is now liberated, owning the quality of conscious knowledge and the fruit of all experience. These are the gifts of soul and form combined.” Tenth Law of Healing

Note that in this liberation, form reality is not forgotten for he says we will then own “the quality of conscious knowledge and the fruit of all experience. These are the gifts of soul and form combined.”

“The quality of conscious knowledge and the fruit of all experience” is thus good karma (effect) that we take with us to the higher planes. Belief has nothing to do with it. Attachment has nothing to do with it and judgment has nothing to do with it. You will just take this “fruit” with you even though you will be free from attachments at that distant time.

Now those of us here are far from having the connection shattered with form so it is best to plow with the horses we do have rather than dreaming of riding the tractor we do not have. If we merely dream of riding the tractor we do not have, we will cease being a cause, but if we plow with the horses we have, cause will be generated and the effect will be a plowed field. Maybe it will not be plowed as quickly as we can dream of doing it on a tractor, but at least it will be plowed in real life and preparation is made to eat the real fruit of the vine.

Go to Principle Three

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Cause & Effect

August 6, 2012March 24, 2018 Joseph Dewey

This entry is part 02 of 98 in the series Principles

Principle Two: Cause & Effect

Of all the principles that govern the universe this is the most basic of them all. This is the principle from which all others are derived. There is no effect or creation without a cause and no cause that does not produce effect.

Cause and effect is the foundation of duality, which is the cause of all manifestation.

Cause and effect brings intelligence into being. From eternity effects have been observed and then causes are repeated with an improved end in mind. This brings into being the principle of evolution and creation.

Below are several comments on cause and effect from my previous writings.

There is no First Cause because cause and effect has always been and always will be.

Even if a person is in a state of complete forgiveness, or complete peace of mind, he is still subject to the laws of karma or cause and effect.

For instance if you misstep and fall down some stairs this is a result of your not playing along wisely with cause and effect created by gravity. No matter how much forgiveness you have been given you still have to watch out for this law because cause and effect and forgiveness have little to do with each other.

In fact about a month ago as I was getting ready to go upstairs and go to bed I had all the lights off and got turned around and took a step on the stairs going down instead of the ones going up. I assure you that even though I am a fairly enlightened fellow with a forgiving heart that I found myself fully subject to this law and fell down a flight of stairs. I was lucky. I had sprains and bruises, but nothing was broken. Even now my right arm is returning to normal strength, but for a while I had difficulty in even writing my daily posts to you.

Karma is like this. If we set causes in motion the effects come back to us. If we have sent forth destructive causes in times past in a way this is like borrowing money from a bank. We have to pay it back and we wish we didn’t have to. The key of wisdom here is to not wait until the bank comes after us for payment, but to pay off the debt so interest will not accumulate. With negative karma the best way to do this is through service. The more you serve the more negative karma is paid off. Zia said something that was a help to Jill. This put some money in her account to offset negative karma. If you do something even more dramatic like enter a burning building and rescue a child then you make a giant deposit.

Now don’t forget that there is also positive karma. Good people, as we have on this list, will have a lot of this in the bank and if we listen to our souls we will know the appropriate time to cash in on it. I know a lot of you will just want to reinvest it so the good will continue to multiply and benefit the world.

Whereas the law of cause and effect is an eternal principle, forgiveness is not. Forgiveness is a temporary measure that manifests in the state of illusion. The illusion that makes forgiveness seem real is the idea that there is something to forgive. As a reflection of God you are invulnerable and as such there is nothing anyone can do to hurt you in the real sense. This is a realization that all the great ones have attained. Once this understanding is incorporated into our being then forgiveness no longer exists or is possible because there is never anything to forgive.

But even those who have attained this high realization still have to deal with the law of cause and effect because this law is no illusion as it relates to creation.

Cause and effect (or karma) applies to the universe, galaxies, suns, planets, humans and even atoms… there is no escape as long as we are experiencing the life principle.

Some gurus argue with this by saying: “My consciousness is so high that I am one with a beingness that is beyond cause and effect.”

To this I answer: Look in the mirror. Do you see yourself? If you do then you have not left the world of cause and effect. Are you conscious of time and space? If so then you are subject to the law of cause and effect. Do you use money? Then you are in the world of cause and effect.

The trouble is that many read teachings about some ultimate reality that is beyond cause and effect and they immediately assume that this is the next step for them. Then after a short period of contemplation they assume they have taken that step and they then enter a world of illusion where they see themselves as untouchable by the normal laws of being. Entities who enter this illusion often receive a painful and alarming awakening by the law of cause and effect from which they see themselves immune. Sooner or later they are forced into the realization that they have not left the laws of the universe behind but must deal with what is.

Let us use a car as an example of this law. You get in your car and head out to the freeway and accelerate to seventy miles an hour and then put on the cruise control. You have now created cause that has the effect of making you cruise down the road at a certain speed.

Now that this cause and effect is a reality in this part of creation let us say that for some reason you want to change this situation and bring your car to a stop. If forgiveness has any effect on karma (or cause and effect) then all you would have to do is say to your car: “I forgive you for going seventy miles an hour and because I forgive you I expect you to stop!”

This seems like an obviously silly thing to do because there is nothing to forgive and even if there were it would not affect the speed of the car.

So it is with the burglar. Seen from the reality of cause and effect there is nothing to forgive and even if we think there is, nothing changes.

Let’s get back to the speeding car. Suppose you blurt out a mantra decreeing: “I see myself in the Eternal Now and decree that all is still!”

Does your car stop?

No.

Why?

Because you created no cause.

So how do you stop the car?

There are several ways.

The worst method is to run head on to an opposing vehicle. This would stop you dead in your tracts in an undesirable manner.

You could run into a stationary object such as a building or a cow. This would also stop you, but is also undesirable.

You could take the cruise control and acceleration off and let natural resistances outside of yourself cause you to slow a stop.

But perhaps this method of stopping takes much longer than you desire. So what else can you do? Aha! You discover a device called a brake that works with cause and effect in the real world, and using such device you can bring yourself to a quick and secure stop. You have not negated the law, but worked with the law with intelligence so your desired end is achieved and under your control.

So the burglar who has created a thousand burglaries has many more effects with which to deal. It’s like a thousand causes for his car of life so it is going at the terrible speed of a thousand miles an hour. Now he wants to stop because he has discovered he is going the wrong direction. He needs to slow to zero, turn around and go the other direction. How does he do this?

First he must realize that there are causes in motion that he must steer correctly. If he does not he is likely to have a collision and come to a disastrous stop which will take a long period of pain and healing from which to recover.

He can turn off his cruise control and acceleration (stop committing burglaries) and let natural causes from the opposing direction bring him to zero. This is comparable to the burglar changing his behavior (he no longer is a thief).

He decides to just “go with the flow” and applies no intelligence to apply the law of cause and effect in his favor. Thus what brings him to zero are a thousand negative resisting experiences happening to him. This stretches the pain out over a long period of time, but is still undesirable.

The final and most desirable method of coming to a stop is to apply the brakes. Consider the miracle of the brake. A frail 100 pound weakling can apply a small pressure with his foot and bring a vehicle weighing tons to a complete stop in seconds, much faster than using the going with the flow idea. The brake applies the leverage principle wherein a pound a pressure can create a thousand pounds of resistance through intelligent application of law and materials.

So how does the burglar apply the leverage principle so he does not have to suffer the equivalent of a thousand thefts himself?

First he must come to the realization that he is going the wrong direction and take off the cruise control and acceleration (stop burglarizing homes). Then he must obtain a sense and awareness of his situation. He must become aware that he is going a thousand miles an hour and he must do something to slow to zero so he can turn and head in a positive direction. Once he obtains a sense of the energy (service) that is required to stop he then seeks power to manipulate this force.

There are a number of ways the wise burglar can neutralize this speeding energy; here is one.

The burglar changes his ways and seeks to live by the highest that he knows. As he does this he achieves a degree of inner contact and begins to get direction from within which tells him that he should strive to succeed and do good works to help his brothers and sisters. He follows this impulse and starts a business and becomes successful. After he achieves considerable wealth his inner self tells him he should be generous with his good fortune. He then sets up a scholarship program that helps a thousand kids go to college and improve their lives. This then becomes a lever that puts a brake on the great debt that he owes and brings him to a complete stop much much quicker than going with the flow will ever accomplish. In addition, he pays off his debt through joyous service rather than painful experiences.

This also illustrates the beauty of BECOMING. As we become that which we decide to become we discover more and more levers that give us accelerating power to make our decisions reality. We receive joy and peace as additional levers are registered by our consciousness and used with wisdom.

“Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge. It is those who know little, and not those who know much, who so positively assert that this or that problem will never be solved by science.”
— Charles Darwin

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Boise Gathering 2008, Part 15

July 25, 2011 Joseph Dewey

This entry is part 15 of 15 in the series Boise Gathering 2008

Interesting Experiences

JJ: I remember when I first discovered for sure that there was reincarnation and I proved it to myself. And when I did find it I thought well if there is reincarnation then the final test is that it should be in the scriptures. I decided to read the scriptures from beginning to end and see if it is in there because I did not remember it being in there before. I started reading the Doctrine and Covenants and in the first chapter just a few verses into it, there it was, reincarnation! How come I never saw it before. It said that the people that were persecutors in the days of Joseph Smith would be upon the earth when Christ comes again to receive their just due. Now how could they be here unless there was reincarnation? Because we do not teach that they are going to be resurrected to be here with the just. I thought how are they going to be here? It had to be reincarnation and it only took me five minutes to find it in the Mormon scriptures and in the Bible, in the Old Testament, the New Testament – I found references all over the place. I found all kinds of things in earlier church history and I was just blown away and then shortly after that I wrote my book called Eternal Lives, which I wrote for the Mormons to convince them that there was reincarnation.

Eventually I reduced it all to a pamphlet called Mormonism and Reincarnation. I must tell you a story that revolves around it. Curtis and I printed up a bunch of these back in the late seventies and every time we went by a Mormon institution we stopped and put half a dozen on different cars that were parked there and we kept wondering what those guys were thinking who received the.? Laughing!

We did this about half a dozen times and one time we were just innocently walking by the institute and we got about a block away and we heard some footsteps behind us and we turned around and there was a couple guys in suits running toward us and they were huffing and puffing and they said, are you guys putting those pamphlets on cars around our institute? We answered well yes we are! They said we want you to stop it. We said why should we stop it, we think it is important to enlighten Mormons. And one of them said if you do this again then we are going to have you arrested, you are trespassing on our property and if you put one more pamphlet on our car there, we are going to be watching and we are going to arrest you.

I thought, oh, you are you. So I did a little checking and we went back to the institute and walked around it and I said hey look Curtis, the main parking lot is across the street and the sidewalk here is public property not owned by the church and what this means is we can stand on the road or the sidewalk and we can hand then the pamphlets as they come out of church next Sunday! And there is nothing they can do about it because we are not on their property!

Audience: Laughing!

JJ: So Curtis thought that was a great idea – he just loved to tweak them!

Audience: Laughing!

JJ: So the next Sunday after church we stood right in the road handing out pamphlets as they crossed the street to the parking lot! We were not on their property and this was kind of funny. Only one or two people came out at first and we handed this guy a pamphlet and he grabbed it and he went and got in his car and we counted one, two, three and the guy pops out of his car and runs into the institute. I said to Curtis, well it is not going to be long before we are visited and then all of a sudden a whole bunch of people started coming out we started giving lots of pamphlets.

Audience: Laughing!

JJ: Then these two guys came out and said, we want you to get off our property! I said we are not on your property. He said we want you to go away! I said well we are not going away and by the way here is a pamphlet! Laughing!

Audience: Laughing!

JJ: He said, we want you to go away. I said we are not going away and didn’t you go on a mission? He said yes and I said didn’t you give out Which Church Is Right and Joseph Smith pamphlets? He said well yes. I said aren’t you being a hypocrite by telling me not to give out stuff? He said well this is different. I said no it is not. We are doing the same thing you guys do. What is the matter with you guys? Will you move out of the way now so we can continue to give out pamphlets. There was just steam coming out of their ears because there was nothing that they could do because we were legal!

Audience: Laughing!

JJ: Curtis and I were always looking for an opportunity to tweak these guys and we almost got arrested a couple of times. One time they did detain us and we had to escape!

Audience: The church detained you?

JJ: Yes they put us in a room down in the basement and we managed to escape. Laughing!

Audience: How did you escape?

JJ: They left us for about two seconds and we immediately high tailed it out of there.

Audience: Did they strong-arm you?

JJ: They lured us in and tried to hold us there until the cops arrived and we thought well we are not going to stay here if we can get out of it. Laughing!

Audience: How old were you JJ?

JJ: I think I was excommunicated when I was 33 if I remember right so I was about 34-35.

It was fun to tweak the Mormons. One interesting thing that we did with them – that I didn’t do but one of the guys we worked with – Curtis and him were sitting down with kind of a stuffed shirt type guy and talking to him. The guy explained some of the teachings and asked him well do you think this is true, yes or no. He demanded a yes or no answer from him. And he just really irritated the guy because he would not say yes or no. And we started using that regularly after that because it was such a good idea and eventually we used it when we visited Bruce McConkie and Mark E. Peterson. Curtis hit Bruce with a yes or no, he said do you really believe in the writings and teachings of the prophet Joseph Smith, yes or no please.

He refused to say yes or no. He just kept saying that all you need to know is that there is a living prophet. We were quoting Joseph Smith and he did not like the quotes were giving to him so Curtis asked him, “well do you accept the writings of Joseph Smith yes or no please. I want to be able to tell my Mom what you believe about this and she is a good member of the church so, yes or no, do you believe in the writings and teachings of the prophet Joseph Smith?” He said all you need to know is that there is a living prophet. Laughing! And he kept saying it louder and louder and louder.

Okay, so we have the divine, we have the monads as little tiny specs like stars appearing in the divine world and then coming down and achieving self consciousness working in the world of ideas creating ideas passing them down to the intuitive level which is then passed down to the mental worlds and then passed down to the astral worlds which is then passed down to you and me and sometimes when you are sleeping at night something that originated way up in the divine gets filtered down to our feeble brains where we make an attempt to understand what is going on, the purpose of life, where we are going and all of these things.

Now it is about time to wind it up. Do we have any questions before we close?

Audience: What effect can we have to help people that have died and to pass on?

JJ: We can help by what we do with our thoughts. What we do with our thought in the physical body has more potency here than in the other worlds if we focus correctly. We have tremendous power of thought because we have within us the physical world combined with the astral and the mental we have the whole ball of wax here. So it takes more energy of the power of thought to work in this world. It is like working with heavy weights and as you work with them you get stronger and stronger. This is a world where you really increase your power of will and your power of thought where as when you go to the lighter astral world everything is really easy and you just kind of glide along and you do not have to exercise yourself quite so much. Now the astral world is a good place to learn and everything but the heavens are more of a place for relaxation and rest. As a matter of fact the scriptures talk about this and say “the rest shall be glorious.” The prophets often call the next world a rest. They shall rest from all their labors. Here we are not resting and it takes a strenuous act of will just to get out of bed here compared to the other worlds where you can just bounce right out of your bed.

So if a person focuses in this world then he can create a tremendous influence in the next world and sometimes when loved ones die, you can still have a feeling about them. I will relate a couple of experiences that I had, I had an uncle that had multiple sclerosis that I really loved a lot. Back when I was a Mormon you gave healing blessings and I always wanted to give him such a blessing. Finally when I got old enough and I was a priesthood holder I asked my grandmother if I could give him a blessing and when I did I did not receive anything for him. I felt like that it was not the time so I waited a couple years and I tried to give him another blessing and it was like my lips were almost sealed and I could not hardly sputter out anything positive so I told him that he would have peace of mind.

I felt really bad about that and then he got worse and worse. Then one day I was visiting him with my friend Wayne and he looked really bad and he could not talk and he was just laying on the couch and I could tell he was very uncomfortable and I felt really sorry for him and as I was looking at him the inner voice spoke and said, “this man has suffered enough.” I ten asked my grandmother if we could give him one more blessing.

The inner voice did not tell me what to say but just said that he has suffered enough. Looking back upon it I did not understand karma at that time but now I can understand that he probably paid the debt that he was supposed to pay. So I took Wayne and we both laid our hands on him and I blessed him that he would be completely healed or else he would be taken. I figured that if he had suffered enough then on of those two things was going to happen.

I was in college at the time and Wayne and I went back to college and three days later my mom called me up. Just before my mom’s phone call all of a sudden I felt Uncle Bob’s presence and it was very powerful and he had come to me to thank me. His thoughts went something like this, “Oh it is just so great to be released from that decrepit body I was in.” I did not get the words but I sensed the feeling that he was just so overjoyed and thankful to me for giving him that blessing that released him from the body and he was just thrilled to be there in the astral world.

So my mom called me up and she sounded really sad and she said I have some really bad news, Bob died. I said that is not bad news that is good news! He is just thrilled to be where he is! And she said really? I said he has been hovering around me and he is just as happy as a lark!

But when my mom died I had quite bit different experience, I felt that when she died that she was somewhat confused because I think she was expecting the spirit world to be different. She had a certain idea of heaven would be like and she was quite old and right after she died her spirit body probably looked old and she probably was expecting to look young and vibrant but that takes a period of time for the changes to occur and for three days I had the impression that she was confused and then I felt that she was okay. I was talking to my daughter Elizabeth that I told you about and I told her that and she said you know the same thing happened to me and for three days I felt the same thing you did. So that was interesting that we both had that same feeling about my mom. It was encouraging that my uncle Bob was so thrilled to be free from the terrible disease that he had for over 20 years – he was just thrilled to be on the other side.

What we do here is we create the heaven in the next world with our minds while we are on the earth. Through our mental efforts and calculations we create the heavens and hells that materialize. The heavens and hells in the next world change as the times change and as circumstance changes and technology changes so it is important that you visualize the type of world you might want to live in. You want to make yourself into the type of person that loving people in the spirit world will want to associate with. If I am around people like you in the next world then I would have nothing to complain about. You have been a really good group and you have made a slice of heaven for me and everybody else here so I am really happy to have been with you and I appreciate all your support.

Audience: Thank for having us. Applause.