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Word Gems
exploring self-realization, sacred personhood, and full humanity
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Diagnosing the Insane 500
many of them are high-minded, fortitudinous, service orientated, and seek for lofty ideals; and yet, all this sterling character might devolve to forms of insanity
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return to Afterlife #31
Editor’s note: I’ve created this page of discussion as a footnote to the “afterlife #31” discourse. Now in my 70s, I would say that the principles presented herein have been offered in many earlier writings. However, the tape-recorded transcripts of two notable individuals on the other side serve to highlight concepts of such magnitude which cannot be stressed too often. Please review their testimony below, after which I would like to provide brief commentary.
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from the Leslie Flint Foundation page, https://www.leslieflint.com/mabel-st-clair-stobart
Mabel St Clair Stobart communicates. Recorded: August 26th 1968.
Mabel Annie St Clair Stobart, who died at the age of 92, became a successful author after a lifetime of important war work and tragic loss. Stobart was also a suffragette, an activist, an influential Spiritualist and a friend of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
She returns here to speak of her hopes for the future of mediumship and spirit communication (excerpts from a transcript of her tape-recorded message).
"This [future success] is what we are aiming for. And we know this can and it will come to pass. But there are obstacles, many obstacles to overcome. Many conditions to be changed. But here and there we shall find the right subjects. Here and there we shall find the scientifically minded who have Spiritual desires, and we shall together, emerge and bring forth out of all this, a method of communication which will astound and astonish the world, and bring conviction to it.
“All these things we are aiming for. We know the needs of the world are desperate, and that is why we are working so hard in this direction, a bringing about, as it were, a marriage between science in your world, and also between those in this world of like mind.
“We are aiming for the highest possible form of communication on a level whereby conviction can be brought to the world. And all those who doubt, will find that truth, that we've all desperately endeavoured to present to you, brought forward in such a way that none can dispute it, none can doubt it, and all must accept it.
“And then, when that comes to pass, the world in consequence, by the very nature of this evidence will be changed. Governments will see and act accordingly and differently, in harmony with the world of Spirit. We are desirous of bringing this harmony and this peace, that we know, into your world, and it will and it shall come. Of this I have no doubt. Though it may take many years yet.
“But we are on the right path. We are finding subjects. We are finding [psychic] instruments. And here and there efforts are being made in many countries. And later on...not yet, but later on, you will find certain scientists will come out into the open, and will make known their findings. These things will come to pass, but not yet.
“We are all striving for this on this side, for the betterment of your world. That knowledge and truth and light may be brought to it. And there shall come a new way of thinking, a new way of life, and peace eventually can and shall descend upon the world of flesh.
“It is a great joy to speak to you. I must come, and indeed will come again. But the power wanes...”
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from the Leslie Flint Foundation page, https://www.leslieflint.com/j-arthur-findlay
J. Arthur Findlay (1863 - 1964). Recorded: December 18th 1975
James Arthur Findlay was educated in Edinburgh and Switzerland and began his career as a stockbroker in Glasgow.
He became convinced of survival after death after studying the mediumship of John Campbell Sloan.
Findlay's best selling books include:
On the Edge of the Etheric, The Torch of Knowledge, The Curse of Ignorance and The Unfolding Universe.
After his death, Findlay wanted his Essex home of Stansted Hall to become a residential college for mediumship and Psychic Science.
'The Arthur Findlay College' is now managed by the Spiritualists' National Union (SNU) and hosts students from around the world.
(excerpts from a transcript of his tape-recorded message)
Findlay:
We are very saddened and very concerned about the state of the Spiritualist movement. Though you have still some excellent psychics, some excellent instruments and I'm quite convinced that others could be developed and brought into being, and the movement would prosper in consequence.
But I do regret, that there does not seem to be any harmony, and it is a most unfortunate thing that this great truth, this great knowledge, which you have been placed with - the help, the guidance and the spiritual realisation that's been presented to you in your world, that so little has been done by so many who might be of great service, who might propagate these things, of which we so long have endowed the wait.
We get very depressed, you know. I suppose that strikes you as odd that we on this side should ever be depressed, but it is our only crime in the conditions of life over here. We are not depressed, of course... but we may enter into your world, we may enter into the conditions which have been created in your world by humanity all the world wide. We get very disconsolate, very depressed, very sad and particularly among those who profess to know these truths; who should be propagating them and demonstrating them, not only in the psychic and the spiritual sense, but in their daily lives as examples. And if they can't set examples, how can they expect others to follow them? ...
Findlay:
But I'm very disheartened....
Findlay:
I hate to admit this but, I realise that human beings are human beings. No one is perfect, of course. This is to be expected. And I know that there are sincere individuals who are doing their utmost, as best they can, in their own particular way. But I do realise, only too well, there is a great undermining of the movement going on here and there. I only wish to goodness it were possible to sort it out and straighten it out and put the movement back on the pinnacle, which I feel sure it should occupy...
Findlay:
You know as well as I do that I've devoted many years of my life to the movement, of propagating it with my books, and the endowment that I gave to the Spiritualist movement. How that it should be an open forum, that it should be utilised, that the house should be utilised for propagating this truth for the development of instruments that could serve and be of great service in an outer world, and they should use the college as a college where they can be trained, and where they could be sent out.
I'd always hoped that it could be used in that sense, that it could be a training college where people could learn about the movement, the aspects of mediumship, the development of mediumship. Where they could be trained, where they could be housed, where they could be educated, where they could find a way in which they could best serve, and they could be sent out and about to various societies, churches, propaganda meetings; presenting this subject intelligently, rationally, and evidentially. But it seems to me as if it's developed into what is a second-rate hotel - with not very good service and poor food !
Sitter:
[Laughter] Yes.
Findlay:
I'm sorry if I have to say this...
Sitter:
No, no. You're quite right.
Findlay:
...but the standard of mediumship, by and large, is enough to put most intelligent people off. I think this is very sad. I realise there is a shortage of first class mediums, and not enough encouragement and development is taking place for other forms of mediumship, such as the physical; which, after all is what convinced me. It was the physical aspect of this whole subject that gave me the conviction, through Sloan, and occasionally others, and I feel it is sadly lacking.
I'm not suggesting that you mustn’t have or shouldn’t have mental mediums. Of course you must have mental mediums, and they are the absolutely necessary and essential. You must have healing also. But the point is, that I do feel there is a great dearth of good physical mediumship. And we need physical mediums. Why aren't they utilizing this form of mediumship?
Why aren't mediums being developed? Why isn’t the college being used as a development centre of good first-class mediumship that can demonstrate the truth to the world? I feel there's a great lack of co-operation, a great lack of co-ordination. And it seems to me at the moment that the movement is - well, I don’t know whether I should say split - but it certainly seems bereft, to a certain extent anyway, of harmony and love and friendship and brotherhood. Why don’t they pool their resources? Why don’t they cast out for themselves all these stupidities and weaknesses which are wrecking the movement ? Why don’t they get on with the job?
Sitter:
Well unfortunately there’s a lack of finance here. I do what I can, Arthur, but I'm afraid I'm a voice in the wilderness, almost.
Findlay:
My dear man. Finance, in a sense, I think it is true to say, has got nothing to do with the development of first-class mediumship. You don’t need to have money in the bank to become a good medium.
Sitter:
No. No, that’s true.
Findlay:
I'm not saying that the college does not need financial support, that it doesn’t need more money to run it as it should be run. But I do appreciate, and I think everyone should appreciate the fact that good mediumship, invariably, springs and always did spring, from often people who sadly lacked education, and had little background or money, or no money at all. Look at Sloan. You couldn’t have had a better medium than Sloan [one of the very best of the 20th century], but he had little or no background, little or no education. He was a sincere, genuine, honest man who developed a marvellous mediumship [and accepted no money]. This is what the movement needs...
Findlay:
It seems to me that they’re developing the wrong kind of spirits.
Findlay:
…but it does seem to me all rather sad, that the place should be a place of education and upliftment, and the realisation of the power of the spirit should be demonstrated to the best possible ability of the individuals concerned. And it seems to me now to be developing into something absolutely different to what I envisaged...
Sitter:
We – we are trying...
Findlay:
I do get distressed about it, you know.
Sitter:
We are trying Arthur, to...
Findlay:
Well I know you’re trying...
Sitter:
..to extend the activities into a wider field [and] cutting out the sole ownership of the SNU. Trying to extend it, and we can hope that it will all appear, [and] eventually be, what I know you wished it to be, and that is a proving ground for human activity in the mediumistic sense.
Findlay:
[But once they control the real estate and write the checks, you can't get them out.] I visualised it as a centre of light in a darkened world...
Sitter:
But it is...
Findlay:
...where people would come...
Sitter:
But it is very difficult, you know [when] one is up against a lot of human beings...
Mildred:
Where are the rest of the 'Flints'? Where are the rest of the 'Leslie Flints' ? We can't find them...
Findlay:
Well, I don't know. I suppose when he 'passes out' or comes over here...I don't know...I don't know. I regret to say this, but it seems to me that there is such a dearth of good mediums...
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What is the underlying premise of the comments of these two afterlife reporters?
It is this. This world can be changed. It can be fixed. If people of good-will can stand together, try very hard, promote education, personal liberties, do our best, then, we shall overcome and eventually turn this world into heaven on earth.
All this – what I have called the “kumbaya” approach, of sprinkling the air with the stardust of good intentions – opposes what Adrian Smith has poetically charged as,
‘This world cannot be fixed, is not meant to be fixed, only forsaken; it cannot be saved, is not meant to be saved, only transcended.’
As I’ve said, we’ve discussed these things before, but here we have two fine individuals, of the highest moral character, who believe otherwise, and argue for something else. Somebody is wrong.
What is the essential problem here?
My answer must issue as strictly epitomized as we’ve been over this and over this, but, essentially, unless and until one learns to “go within” and begins to survey the domain of the “ego” and “false self,” one will misconstrue not only how the world works but, more fundamentally, how God is dealing with humankind.
St. Clair says that the needs of the world are desperate. No, the needs of the world are not desperate at all but are exactly what they ought to be, given the materialistic states of mind on much of the planet. There is no desperation because whatever egoic response we find extant in the world automatically, of and by itself, creates the perfect “classroom” for such willful blindness. The lessons forthcoming are natural and perfectly fit the “crime.” There is no need for hand-wringing with the unspoken suggestion that the fate of the world has gone off the rails and now we are to call for “desperate” measures to address over-the-top “needs.” But this is illusion, an unwarranted self-importance.
She speaks of governments seeing the light and changing when the right irrefutable evidence is presented. Is this how people in power react to the truth? And, we hasten to add, irrefutable evidence of the next life has already been presented, but only to a chorus of "fraud" and "misrepresentation."
And Mr. Findlay, too, what should he have expected after donating his property and wealth to what he hoped would be a good cause? The ensuing consequences were foreseeable. Real estate and trust monies attract a checkered ilk -- Gresham's Law, bad money drives out good -- and they will come running to take it, under a faux banner of truth and righteousness. Yes, Mr. Findlay has cause to lament from the other side. Those in charge of the Spiritualist movement today do not honor knowledge and research as he did, but instead promote their own cult-organization preaching reincarnation – exactly what Mr. Findlay hated.
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you're drawing the wrong kind of teachers
Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941) was Asia's first Nobel Laureate. Tagore was a Bengali polymath who reshaped Bengali literature and music. He spoke through the agency of Leslie Flint in the early 1960s.
“You are spiritualists as you call yourselves, knowing some aspects of the truth, but even then, even among the spiritualists I have been in contact with, especially since I've been here, I have been to various places where spiritualists congregate together and very seldom do I see any realization of truth in the highest sense.
attracting speakers, immature, materialistic, in their thinking
"It's all on a very low, material level, and in consequence they attract to themselves, many of them, souls who have very, made very little progress. Indeed many of them are very much the same as the people themselves. Indeed I would go as far as to say that generally speaking, spiritualism is not so much spiritual, it is very material, it is a very material conception of something which basically is spiritual. I mean it is very distressing.”
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more than drinking the koolaid
The long reach of cultism encompasses much more than crackpot churches. The root idea of cult offers the sense of "cut." This core concept of "cut" leads us to images of refinement and refashioning and, by extension, development, control, pattern, order, and system.
Cultism as systemization finds a ready home in religion and philosophy which seek to regulate and redistill the patterning and ordering of ideas. However, in a larger sense, the spirit of cultism extends to every facet of society. We find it scheming and sedulously at work in politics, academia, family, corporations, entertainment, science, artistry – anywhere power might be gained by capturing credulous and fear-based minds.
See the “cultism” page for a full discussion.
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Is progress possible in this world? On a certain level, for a while, it might seem to be. King John was forced to sign the Magna Carta. The British outlawed slavery in all of its territories. Debtor prisons and public floggings became passé. And Charlemagne decreed that serf children should be educated along with the nobles’ kids.
And so, for a while, in certain areas, we beat back the hun, and some liberties seemed to present themselves. But, along with these apparent advances, ineluctably come new ways to enslave people, new means to bring people into servitude, new methods to hoodwink the masses and to bilk them out of their inheritance.
Are we more free today than not so many years ago? Is tyranny and totalitarianism on the decline in the world?
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Babylon: City and Civilization
In the book of Revelation the ancient city of Babylon – a city which became a civilization – serves as metaphor of the darkened power-structures of planet Earth.
The very essence of Babylon was that of merchandizing human beings. This took the form of conquest, oppression, population displacement, and slavery.
At the forefront of the enslavement was the famous Babylonian “mystery religion.” The king and priests brought the whole populace into subservience via fear-based religious doctrines.
READ MORE in the "30 Art Masterpieces of the Ancient World"
Babylon's entire economy, or in large measure, was supported by huge numbers of slaves gained as largesse in the spoils of war. How do you grow this economy? - you go out and pillage, hoodwink, and enslave more people -- with all power funneling to a privileged cabal at the top.
All of this - the brutality, oppression, sex-ploitation, deception, and slavery – prompted later thinkers to commandeer ancient Babylon as metaphor of the entire fear, greed and lust-for-the-flesh based system that is our world.
| Editor's note: Will Durant comments that ancient Babylonian society was a curious mixture of "venery, piety, and trade". Venery is from "Venus," bespeaking sensuality, the merchandizing of flesh in pursuit of sexual gratification; piety indicates a deference toward the gods, but, in this case, fearful obeisance to get what one wants; and trade, of course, is an idolatrous emphasis on money. Durant also states that "the manners of the courtesan crept into every class [with] the citizens of Babylon, wedded to delight… Even Alexander, who was not above ... drinking [himself to death], was shocked by the morals of Babylon." |
Not much has changed for Babylonian civilization since the days of Nebuchadnezzar and those who followed him. Look carefully and you’ll find that, in principle, the same systems of corruption, flesh-mongering, fear-based religion, propaganda and fake-news, brutality, oppression, power-to-the-elites, and various forms of slavery, still dominate “business as usual” in our own neo-Babylon.
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What does all this have to do with us when we transition to the other side?
Every enlightened person will want to offer charitable service to the disadvantaged. But, as we do, there will be no desperate need. God’s plan to save the world has not gone off the rails.
It's exactly where it needs to be with "lessons and tests that we write for ourselves", and we grade them, too. The Spirit Guides working as missionaries in the Dark Realms speak of "the lust of sin that needs to be ground out of the soul." And this is what's really happening with this immersion into chaos and greed.
our individual effort in this process is not the deciding factor of success
God teaches each person individually, if the student is willing; and in the meantime, people suffer until they are willing to be taught.
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What does it mean, ‘God teaches us individually’?
Allow me to interrupt the flow of the present discourse to address a question, what does it mean to assert that God teaches us individually?
My response here will briefly summarize many pages of discussion on this subject found elsewhere on WG. It’s one of the most important things we can ever know. And yet, I think it’s fair to say, a suggestion of God teaching us on an individual basis sounds like a poetical expression, some vague inspirational thought, just one more empty church platitude. Well, for most people, it is this banality, but only until we experience the real thing. It will jerk you awake and be as real as the sun in the sky.
In briefest summary here’s how it works. “Truth is a pathless land,” said Krishnamurti. This means there are no maps to it, no sure-fire “seven laws of success” to memorize. Each person, as “spark of God,” is meant to represent the glory of the Creator in a unique way; as such, each person will experience “the truth,” and come to a perception of it, a little differently.
The dysfunctional ego is tasked with producing for us a sense of “I,” a perception of personhood. In the end, it does this too well. Led by the ego, we become self-centered, and, taken too far, will result in a distorted and evil nature.
God will teach us in a natural way. All of reality is meant to instruct us. However, there’s “static on the line” for us. The ego blocks God’s communiqués. What to do? We need to quiet the mind. This means we need to find the “off switch” for the ego’s relentless chattering and negative-image producing capacities.
How to activate the “off switch”? We can’t do this on a permanent basis, not now, not yet; but we can gain moments of peace with the ego shut down. How to shut it down? Not by trying very hard to still the mind. Instead, relax, and, for example, focus on your hand. Can you feel the tingling energy? If not, rub your fingers together of one hand and this will be good enough for the moment. When you do, and when you feel the energy in your hand, notice that the ego’s parade of poisonous images and relentless chatterings have been neutralized.
Practice this. Try to shut down the ego for longer periods. It’s hard because the ego has had your whole lifetime making itself the dominant element in your psyche. Stay with it. This is a process that needs to be learned, over years, like learning to play the piano. Over time, you will notice that the “off switch” will stay in place for longer and longer periods.
Now here’s where the fun begins. During these times of increasing quiet in the mind, when the ego has been closed off, simply “observe” this quiet in the mind. Notice how good it feels to be free of the ego. Revel in this freedom. In these moments of release from the ego’s dictatorial domain, you will experience, maybe for the first time in your life, now "living from your center," what it means to be a full and true human being.
But stay with this because here’s what comes next. Don’t “try very hard” to quiet the mind. Just relax and enjoy the quietness with the ego offline. Focus on the energy in your body, like the tingling in one hand. And as you do this, as you mentally “observe” and enjoy the quietude, eventually, you will be given a thought, an image, a perception, that is not of the ego, but is God’s own instruction for you. It may be something very small. In the beginning of this process, it will be small. Just maintain the “quiet clarity” of your mind. And now God will allow you to “see” things. You will be given an insight into “what to do next.” This sense of direction will build and grow over the months and years. It’s like “following the breadcrumbs,” or playing a game of finding clues; one leads to another, and then another. God will not force anything on you, and you will need to quiet the egoic mind to allow the “next message” from God to be received.
When you begin to see, very likely, you’ll be given something very tiny to perceive. Treasure it. Roll it around in your mind and see how it might change your life. If you accept this initial “message” from God, you will be given more; a little bit, then another little bit, and then, in aggregate, you will eventually be taken on a magical mystical tour of the “inner cosmos” as you begin to perceive how life really works.
This is a journey that you, and I, and all of us, are meant to take, not just in this lifetime, but in our eternal lives. There is no end to being personally instructed by God. Those who learn how to do this become more and more spiritual in their minds and lives. Those who remain materialistic, however, enter the ranks of the Dark Realms, and also those of “the insane 500” in Summerland.
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Our heroic part in this entire process of "saving the world," of "helping," in a sense, is neither here nor there. God will do the heavy lifting in terms of instructing people. Yes, we should serve when we’re moved to do so, and that's fine; as we “go within” we’ll be directed to what we are to do. Or not. Sometimes, we’ll do nothing, and simply enjoy our rose garden. And, as we’ve said, modeling that kind of serenity -- simply "being" not "doing," enjoying one's own existence -- might be the highest form of service to humankind.
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Adrian: “The article raises some deep philosophical issues. If we say this earth could be a heaven on earth it would be a new heaven and a new earth, I would argue. In the mean time, all the utopian ideals, doctrines and prescriptions fall flat and/or make things worse. On the other hand, we would not want this realization to descend into nihilism because we can, for a while, make things better by sincere effort.”
My comment: “The way I read the section in Revelation about ‘new heaven and new earth’ is that ‘there will be no more temple’ in the new society, that is, a day is coming when one will not have to go to temple or to church to find God but that life itself, society itself, existence itself – meaning, an emphasis on the individual will be paramount, and that one’s own mind, the holy of holies of one’s own mind, will be the meeting place with God. The problem with ‘reset’ as some [use the term as a coming widespread spiritual upliftment due to world suffering] is that it speaks of group salvation, which has no basis in reality. That’s why in the Dark Realms, though all suffer greatly, people march out of it one by one, in their own time. Yes, I think we should try to improve things as we can in this world, but with the realization that this world fundamentally cannot be changed. If it could, there’d be no need to come here, and we might as well stay in Summerland.”
Nihilism, I agree, does not seem to be the right response. It brings to mind this comment:
Will and Ariel Durant, The Story Of Civilization, volume one: “Weakened by [internal] division, it [India] succumbed to invaders; impoverished by [external] invaders, it lost all power of resistance, and took refuge in supernatural consolations; it argued that both mastery and slavery were superficial delusions, and concluded that freedom of the body of the nation was hardly worth defending in so brief a life. The bitter lesson that may be drawn from this tragedy is that eternal vigilance is the price of civilization.”
I understand Adrian’s position. In a sense, he agrees with me, but he also feels that certain progress is possible. For a while it can seem to be so, but, in my view, the progress enjoyed by the right hand is taken away by the left hand. I no longer believe that progress is real in this world.
People of ‘can do’ spirit do not like talk of nihilism. We think we should be able to get out there and build a better world. But there are many oppressors, many hungry and insane egos, and I no longer believe that a just and equitable society is possible in this world.
Those of India, battered by invaders, disillusioned by endless waves of tyrants, from within and without, agreed with me and concluded, in this world, at the end, it didn’t matter.
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the three worlds of the ego
There are three realms of the ego in which it exercises control and dominion. Within these borders the ego’s tactics of brute force and/or deception conspire to produce a sense of victory for the ego. These three domains of influence are (1) the Earth, (2) the Dark Realms, and (3) sectors of the “lower levels” of Summerland (and, to a lesser extent, all 'higher' worlds, as well, as none is perfectly spiritual). Let’s notice certain parallels among these jurisdictions.
On the Earth, the ego is very impressed with the efficacy of violence and its concomitant expressions of deceitfulness. With these tools of enslavement, it maintains its grip upon the societies and belief-systems of this world. Via means of brutality and hoodwinking, it subverts elections, undermines just government, foments unrest among the easily led, inspires fear of “I don’t have enough” and, thereby, in these Machiavellian policies, secures preeminence for a ruling elite. Those leading these unjust dealings consider themselves to be “above” and “better.” Cynically, they subscribe to “might makes right” and “there is no survival of consciousness.” “There is no afterlife” they chant to each other and, as such, they high-five themselves, in this materialistic view, that they ought to get all they can right now. Nothing else makes sense to them.
In the Dark Realms, business is conducted with an eerie sense of similitude. It’s business as usual there with much of the interaction among denizens of the dark regions mirroring the malfeasance of the Earth plane. The hard-core there do not believe in Summerland. They don't think there is a world beyond their caves and wretchedness.They scoff at such notion of better world and say it’s a fable manufactured by Spirit Guides intent upon deceiving them. In the Franchezzo reports of the dark regions, we learn that there are vast areas there led by hardened criminal types who live for nothing other than lording it over subordinates. They believe that violence and deception are the only smart ways of living, and sneer at the thought that a life of service could be anything but an illusion for suckers.
The “insane 500,” the most intractable among them, also have created a fantasy world managed by egoic thought. They still believe in materialism. They still convince themselves that it’s where you live not what you have on the inside that counts. They don’t believe in finding the “god-life within.” For them, it’s all human effort, a huffing-and-puffing of striving for "getting ahead", that really makes things work. These people have their own view of ultimate reality and do not agree with the ancient wisdom of the Spirit Guides. We discussed their particular form of self-delusion in the “afterlife #31” writing.
All of these dominions of the ego create a kind of insular, unrealistic world-view. They hunker down. They’re intent upon getting what they want. They will kill you, or run over you, or insult you, if you get in their way. Egos in these three domains believe that the best of truth is something external, something “out there” and, as such, needs to be grabbed for, taken and secured, against all competing forces.
There can be no salvation for any of these worlds. This is not possible. This is so because there is no salvation, not as such, for an insane ego. It must become something different, live from a new center, relinquish its claim to needy egoic life-style, recast and recreate itself, perceive its own sufficiency, surrender itself to a higher power and discover the god-life within. Until it does, there will be no saving and no fixing.
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