Discussion Group Meeting #3

Once I finally got this unruly lot to get onto the actual topic of the evening (that took about an hour), the question we considered was “how do we decide or judge what is right or wrong?”, and the answers boiled down to a surprisingly simple set of ideas (for the record, all the other bits and bobs we discussed were also wonderfully interesting):

1) Does doing this (having an affair, stealing, lying, whatever) make an accurate statement of Who I Am? Does it express a grander version of myself and who I aspire to be?

2) Am I prepared to accept the consequences of this action?

3) If I be still and listen to my heart, my feelings will tell me the truth. Call it conscience or whatever you want, in reality if we are prepared to admit it the fact is we “know” darn well whether or not what we are doing is right by listening to our own heart.

So there you have it. Another of the great questions of life the universe and everything solved for you all. 

WWANAD?

During my christian days, one method of resolving moral/ethical conundrums was to apply the WWJD method. (For the dim and slow-witted amongst my readership, this stands for What Would Jesus Do). Or even better (but I digress), the classic variant “Who Would Jesus Bomb?”. Anyway, this leads me to wondering what answers we would come up with to similar questions with WWANAD. (What Would A New Ager Do?)

Thus here some questions I propose for our next discussion group (which will be Wednesday 27th at my house, 7:30pm)

“Is abortion OK? If not, why not?”

“Is watching porn OK?’ (you would simply not believe how many search hits this blog gets each day with poor christians tying themselves up in knots over porn and masturbation)

“Should marriage be abolished?” (Stats show that marriages are busting up faster than ever, and that many that are married are just going through the motions. Is there a better way of doing this?)

For these, and whatever similar questions arise out of the discussion, the underlying question of course is “on what basis do you make your answer?” For christians, the appeal is to the bible of course. But New Agers don’t have a bible, so who says which answer is right? How do we decide? How do we know? Hmmm.

What’s in a name?

Consider a chap who is just standing there minding his own business.

One person says “That man is my husband”
Another says “That man is my father”
Another says “That man is an engineer”
Another says “That man is a scoundrel”
Another says “That man is a loyal friend”

What is interesting is that, while these descriptions are very varied, we have no trouble accepting that each is partial description of the whole. We don’t fuss and bother that one persons description is “correct” while anothers is “wrong.”

How strange that so many do not apply the same basic common sense to God who is both All There Is and All There Is Not.

How then shall I live?

In our 2-weekly discussion group, we considered the question “What difference has New Age teaching made in your life?” After all, what counts in the final run is how we live our lives.

So … having bored you all with statements of obvious fact .. let me bring out the really big guns …

One of the all time best blogs that I have come across that deals with “How do you actually live out this New Age stuff day to day” is found at http://tobeme.wordpress.com/ . He has a major handle of the idea of awareness, and is worth a careful reading.

Go there now.

No, do not read this.

Stop reading and go there now.

Fine. Waste your time reading this prattle instead of the good oil at http://tobeme.wordpress.com/.

Happy now? (I know you still haven’t read it - you can’t fool me)

Discussion Group Meeting #1

Well, we are under way with “my” new 2-weekly discussion group entitled “Exploring New Age Teaching”. I deliberately kept the first one small with only three of us, but ideally 5 or 6 will be about right. To kick it off, I suggested that each of us give a quick summary of “how we got to this point in our lives”, and then answer a second question “what difference has New Age teaching made to your life”. It turned out that the second question was a goodie and in fact that is mainly what we talked about for the next hour and a half.

For M., who had dabbled in several religions over the years but not found anything that really clicked, reading Conversations with God was almost like a mini “conversion” experience. She feels that CWG gives her a practical philosophy that she can actually use in her day to day, and that this idea of God gives her a way to find much more meaning in her life.

For W., who was a fundie Christian for 40 years (don’t let her try and tell you it was only 30), she has found that many of the questions that she hassled over and never found satisfactory answers have suddenly all fallen into place. She has also been able to see that many of the truths she has gathered over the years but been unable to correctly label with Christian labels, now make perfect sense with New Age terminology.

For me, well like the other two I only discovered all of this in June/July last year, so it’s all a major upheaval of thinking and belief. The really big differences that these ideas have made in my life is there is now a lot less struggle and battle to be what I thought God wanted me to be like. This is replaced with a much more easy-going approach of deciding whether or not any action reflects a grander version of myself or not, and choosing accordingly. Not having to worry about sin is also a big relief. In the New Age model, nothing is intrinsically right or wrong. Events are simply events, and we decide how we wish to behold them. It’s also a relaxing change for me to hold a model that does not insist that it is right and the others a wrong (one mountain, many paths), and that there is no reward or punishment in the afterlife.

I think I speak for all of us in saying that we all enjoyed ourselves and got a lot out of the discussion.

So there you have it. Let’s see where it leads this year.

Why is that I wonder?

On Thursdays I play soccer (or football if that makes you happier) and after the game I got chatting with a guy I sort of know about “all this New Age stuff” I’m currently into (a few years ago I would have had a similar conversation only I’d be going on about Christianity). This guy is just your average nice guy. Happy with life. Moseying along, enjoying stuff, just generally OK with his lot. I explained some of the key New Age ideas I’m learning about and he listened carefully, asked some good questions, and really tried to understand what I was on about. But at the end of the conversation he remarked that while he found religious and philosophical discussions of this type interesting, he saw no need to believe in any of this sort of thing for his daily life.

Hmmmm.

That got me thinking. How come he can just get on with his life and not think or worry about “all this stuff” and yet other people (like me) obsess and dwell and dissect and ponder about beliefs and doctrines and truths and wot-not for countless hours, days, months and years?

Why is that I wonder?

PS: Not poor genetic material, please God, not poor genetic material.

Drawing emotional lines

Over the past few months I have been thinking about feelings and passion, and I have noticed how difficult it is for me to name them. Well, there’s a big part of the problem right there. By deciding to “name them”, I’ve been limiting myself to just using words.

A fellow blogger ‘amberfireinus’ (amber - I don’t have your blog address!) posted a comment a few days ago that has opened up a wonderful new way forward for me in identifying my feelings and passions … draw them!

I’m an engineer by training so I live in a rather analytical and prescriptive world where everything is clearly defined and delineated. What a wonderful “discovery” to just draw something freehand! It is very flexible, as I can draw a situation in terms of relationships, or time, or difficulty, or whatever I want - even better, whatever I feel! Drawing allows me to express intensely private and complex emotions with the simple stroke of a pen.

I feel like a little kid with a new new toy for Christmas!

Does this make sense to anyone else but me? 

Thank you amber!

The potency of passion

Worry is really hard to deal with. It’s easy to talk about, and it’s really easy to tell other people all the stuff they should do to stop worrying, but at the end of the day I find myself worrying. Two nights ago, for instance, I lay awake till 3 am worrying. Not a brilliantly shining admission from a New Age neophyte who has recently discovered the secrets of life the universe and everything, but an observable fact.

Money. That’s what I was and still am worrying about.

Personal tax bills are due. Cashflow in my business, and the overdraft. And the kids are getting bigger, the house is getting smaller. I worry about not having enough money.

There. I said it. I worry about not having enough money. Not for me, but for my family.

So where to from here?

Well … I’ve been thinking about passion. Yes, yes … I know that doesn’t seem to have a lot to do with money, but just hear me out. Sometimes I find myself not really wanting to go to work, thinking about a change, all that usual stuff. Lately I’ve caught hold of the idea of asking myself what are the things I am really passionate about. Not the things I think I should be passionate about, nor the things other people say I should be passionate about. But inside me, what am I passionate about. My reckoning is that if I move towards doing the things that I am most naturally passionate about, I will naturally draw the most success to myself, and in doing so will either also attract enough money, or - more likely - realise that I’ve actually already got enough as it is.

Ideas … just ideas. Thanks for listening.

Happy to succeed

One of the things I love about New Age teaching is that it is so empowering. I create my reality! Here is an extract from an article from the American Psychological Association in which researchers have discovered that rather than success creating happiness, it is in fact the other way around. Conventional wisdom says that when my circumstances are right, then will I be happy. But New Age teaching says that when we declare “I AM HAPPY”, thus are my circumstances so defined.

 Here’s the extract.

“Personal and professional success may lead to happiness but may also engender success. Happy individuals are predisposed to seek out and undertake new goals in life and this reinforces positive emotions, say researchers who examined the connections between desirable characteristics, life successes and well-being of over 275,000 people. From a review of 225 studies in the current issue of Psychological Bulletin, published by the American Psychological Association (APA), lead author Sonja Lyubomirsky, Ph.D., of the University of California, Riverside found that chronically happy people are in general more successful across many life domains than less happy people and their happiness is in large part a consequence of their positive emotions rather than vice versa. Happy people are more likely to achieve favorable life circumstances, said Dr. Lyubomirsky, and “this may be because happy people frequently experience positive moods and these positive moods prompt them to be more likely to work actively toward new goals and build new resources. When people feel happy, they tend to feel confident, optimistic, and energetic and others find them likable and sociable. Happy people are thus able to benefit from these perceptions.”

How to Create In the Eternal Now

I found this very well written article while surfing around that gives an excellent overview of the Eternal Now and the implications for “how then shall we live”. Enjoy.

Source: http://www.mindpowernews.com/EternalNow.htm

By Adrian Cooper
Excerpt from Our Ultimate Reality

“Time” is an illusion, a purely human construct of mankind, designed for convenience in order to measure a perceived “past”, “present” and “future”. The illusion of “time” on Earth is maintained by means of a scientific measurement of the relative positions of the Earth and the Sun in the physical three dimensional Universe in order to observe the seasons and the time the Earth takes for a complete rotation relative to the Sun in the measurement of ongoing “time”, in turn measured by various physical instruments such as clocks, calendars and charts.

Beyond the perceptions of most of those in the physical world, “time” simply does not exist. There is only Now, the Eternal Now where everything that has happened, is happening and ever will happen relative to the Earth concept of time already exists, always has existed and always will exist. Beyond Earth therefore the concepts of “past, present and future” simply do not and cannot exist.

The entire Universe from The Source, The First Cause, God is Energy vibrating at a frequency relative to The Source, The Source being the very centre of the Universe of Energy and the physical world being the outermost shell, the physical three dimensional Universe as observed by means of the physical senses and by science, existing at the lowest rate of vibration and the highest density. It should also be mentioned that the physical Universe of matter represents only a tiny fraction of the Universe of Energy and vibration in its entirety.

All Energy is influenced by the causation of thought before configuring under the influence of that thought, manifesting as an observable effect in the plane at which the thought originated. Everything that happens, ever happened and ever will happen in the entire Universe therefore, including the physical world, first originated as a thought originating from the Mind of a Being, and which thought in turn has its corresponding effect on the Energy of the Causal Spheres of the Universe while becoming the corresponding and potentially observable effect.

The Ultimate act of Creation by The First Cause, The Source, God of the entire Universe in all of its glorious spheres, planes and dimensions originated in the very beginning as a thought in the Mind of God. It can be truly said therefore that we all exist as “expressions”, within the Mind of God, made in the true Spiritual image of God.

Since the beginning of the human concept of “time” mankind has sought to live life based around that concept, thereby always thinking in terms of past present and future rather than Now. The Universe and the Energy we influence in the creation of our own individual realities have no concept of time, only Now, and as a result there is a no past or future irrespective of how much mankind forces his own existence around those erroneous notions. This tendency to force everything to happen in compliance with a notional concept of “time” has a very profound effect on the lives of those who do not fully understand these realities.

When a person thinks in the future tense, for example ” I will”, “I want”, “I could” then the Energy being influenced by those thoughts that can manifest into individual reality will be influenced only in the Now, with the perceived future never actually arriving. So if someone thinks, says or behaves in a manner that implies “I want”, then that person is placing themselves into a perpetual state of “wanting” but never of actually receiving. The vast majority of the human race today exists to some extent in a state of such wanting, while never being in a state of Mind, Energy and vibration to receive that which they “want”.

The Universe, The Source, God is immutable, absolutely perfect in every possible respect, and will accordingly always respond to a thought in its absolute terms rather than a human concept. “I want” literally creates a state of “wanting” perpetually until if or at such time whatever is associated with that thought is shifted to a state of “having” in the Now, which will then allow the object of that thought to manifest from a perpetual want into the actual Now, and accordingly into the individual, observable reality of the person originating that thought.

The importance of the Eternal Now simply cannot be over-emphasised. It is one of the most fundamental influences on the ability to create our own realities Now, rather than perpetually being frozen in a state of wanting but never receiving, a state that many find themselves in today.

The next chapters of this book we will address the importance of only thinking and acting in terms of the present tense in the context of total control over your own life and reality, enabling you to realise the potential that is within every human being, to have anything you can possibly desire. Always remember, there is nothing that you cannot be, do or have.

The importance of the Eternal Now must be fully grasped and fully understood as a continuous aspect of enjoying total fulfilment, joy and evolution. How we think has the most profound effect over the effects that occur in our lives; nothing has a more profound effect.

It is not sufficient to only recognize and express these fundamental Universal laws when it suits us, when we desire something or when there is a situation that demands it, it is absolutely necessary to live life completely in accordance with these immutable Universal laws. Those who do live their lives, either consciously or subconsciously according to these Universal laws will always seem to others to live a “charmed”, “lucky” “fortunate” existence, when in fact they are in reality living a Magical life, always in total control over their own individual reality, and always in a higher degree of harmony, Energy and vibration with the Universe compared to their less notionally “charmed”, “lucky” or “fortunate” family, friends and others around them.

In order to begin the process of living the life of your desires in which you have a total control first of all requires awareness. Rather than thinking random thoughts, all of which will have their corresponding effects whether observable or not, start to become fully aware of how, what and why you are thinking what you are. This is where powers of concentration as developed by virtue of the exercises in the previous chapter of this book are so valuable. Presence of Mind, awareness and concentration are a very powerful combination indeed in creating your own reality and living that Magical life that many can only dream of.

Always think as you wish things to Be, Now.

Two of the most powerful words that you can possibly think or say are “I Am”. As you live your life therefore the first stage of awareness is to always stop your thoughts short of a statement that implies the future tense and to transmute it into the present tense. So “I will” becomes “I am”, “I want” becomes “I have” and “I might” becomes “I do”. Also keep in Mind that there is absolutely no such concept as “try”. We either Do something in the present Now, or we do not Do anything; “try” simply does not exist except as a concept of a person wishing to achieve something.

I “want to feel well” should not be allowed to proceed as a thought and should be immediately become “I am feeling so well”. This thought takes the reality of feeling well from some point in the perceived future that never arrives, to actually feeling well in the present. So a strong thought of “I am feeling so well” will manifest into your reality in the Now, and you will indeed feel well in accordance with the effect of the causation of your “I am feeling so well” thought on the causation of the Universal Energy involved.

Similarly, if you have a bill that needs paying and you believe that you do not have the money, another human construct, to pay the bill, never think in terms of “I want the money to pay this bill”, but rather “I have the money to pay this bill effortlessly”. Bringing this statement into the present tense rather then a future statement of lack will cause the means by which the bill can be paid to manifest into your reality, and the bill will be paid in full.

Please always keep in Mind; the Universe always delivers in absolute accordance with your thoughts; there are no exceptions to these Laws. Again, “I might succeed at this objective” implies never “actually” succeeding. The “might” places the success into the indefinite and infinite range of possibilities and never as an actuality. So “I might succeed with this objective” should become “I am enjoying complete success with this objective”, and that success will then become your reality as that vibration of Universal Energy has its effect.

In summary, always think in terms of the present tense, and always remember those words “I Am”, using them all the time in the context of the reality you wish to create for yourself. In the next chapters of this book we will deal with consciously creating your own reality, an extremely important aspect of which is recognition of the Eternal Now. Creating your own reality is an ongoing, joyous and productive life, not just something to “do” when it suits you or to conform to the demands of others, vanity or ego. Those who understand and consciously apply these facts to their lives will be richly rewarded with health, wealth and happiness to the exact extent of the focus of the thoughts that created the same reality.

In the next chapter we will discuss in great depth The Law of Attraction, and aspect of Causation, the law of Cause and Effect, that once, fully understood and practiced, which is well within the abilities of everyone, will enable you to attract into your physical life absolutely anything you could wish for, desire or need, thus enabling you to live a life of complete abundance, joy and fulfilment.

Adrian Cooper is the author of “Our Ultimate Reality, Life, the Universe and the Destiny of Mankind”