From The Archives: Be Not Afraid
[Originally Posted 1/5/12]
"Be Not Afraid" — a wise and firm suggestion from angels — including the likes of Glinda the Good Witch of the North. These are words we can keep close to our heart until we soften enough for them to melt and merge with our soul, so that we come to an understanding of this Truth, which is a transformative experience by which we travel to knowledge. We now know. And we know that we know. Herein is the peace that passes all understanding. Finally, we stop struggling against the flow, and let the ocean carry us so that we float and rest in the all-embracing and encompassing arms of Our Creator Source.
We offer these words as a gentle reminder to those of our dear readers and friends who have expressed concern and even dismay at the general negative response to the recent Skeptiko podcast about The Risen and the subject of reincarnation (there is also a handy transcription there to read if you can't listen) — "generally closed minded and intellectually lacking," as someone sapiently ventured, who happens to be a well-known and respected physicist. The scientific community also struggles with old, fearful beliefs of race consciousness and superstition, yet little by little, is coming directly face to face with the unlimited forms of truth about life — each in their own, individual way — which often flies in the face of the community's belief systems.
Other words to keep in mind might be the old adage, "birds of a feather flock together." We may all be angels, but not aware of it yet — so fear of flying, while an odd thing for an angel, is not uncommon. The Skeptico forum is a community, its "population" attracted to such a geography because like attracts like. (Think "diakka" if you have read The Risen and know about them and their own sophisticated systems of denial.) The community supports its belief systems, while perhaps reinforcing them — ironically so, because while one might expect that the healthy skepticism of the seeker is one that welcomes and supports the new and the evolving, it often serves as a refuge and emotional bulwark for the old and stagnating, and for those somehow overly focused on doubt and worry.
The Risen, as pointed out many times before, is not for skeptics, but for those who know, and know they know. It was provided through the compassionate endeavors of many kinds of people in spirit as a way to provide reflective validation — not "proof" — for those who have realized, or have begun to realize, one's inevitable immortality, and how it personally evolves within each one of us, moving forward and onward. (Why do you think Tim is always saying, "Onward, Ho!"?) The material, dense with information and meaning, will probably not be recognized for what it is by many, and that's alright. It is there to stimulate and strengthen those with eyes to see and ears to hear as a reminder of this greatest of Self-knowledge.
It's to be expected that any suggestions contrary to the established belief-system will cause disturbance and squawking, arguing, posturing, all kinds of defensive reactions. This is good! We are reminded of that wonderful angel-bird, Jonathan Livingston Seagull, who was lifted up above the ceiling cloud of his community, flying higher than anyone before, and experiencing new and mysterious things, and meeting higher beings of light. The other seagulls reacted by ostracizing him. Richard Bach's enchanting story is one of countless re-tellings of how humankind resists the tides of change, preferring to live on the bottom of the ocean, rather than rise to see what lies above it. Like Jonathan, we must lift ourselves up. The Risen was designed to provide a little assistant lift to those feeling the desire to achieve their own form of rising.
"This is good"? Yes! If what people heard, or thought they heard from the podcast, or what they read from The Risen, had no affect in some way on them, there would be little or no response. If it did, it means it's gotten things moving. The ant hill has been disturbed! People don't tend to be shakers and movers unless they've been shaken and moved first. We also tend to resent being moved and shaken up unless it agrees with the agenda of our ego-mind. But when one's Authentic Spirit Self hears, sees, or otherwise senses something that's caught Its attention, It will be drawn to the light that will clarify like a moth to the flame. We and our ego-mind will be pulled toward it; our ego-minds most often resist this movement, which results in discomfort until we surrender. Few have the kind of faith to surrender and plunge into the transmutational flame, unless they already have proven to themselves that they are immortal and cannot die. The idea of reincarnation is a seemingly logical response to the fear of dying. The idea of non-reincarnation — or really, the forgetting and letting go of the idea of reincarnation — is a spiritual response to the joy of knowing we are living without end.
New and contrary-wise information acts as a causative force, an energy that first stirs up dull and fallow soil, aerating and invigorating it. The same energy then falls as seeds into the refreshed earth; this energy continues to nourish the seeds as they grow, unless interfered with in some way. That new forms of energy cause certain negative or non-supportive reactions indicates the ego-mind's worried response to new forms of truth. The ego-mind's addictive desire to return, over and over again to the same soil from which we originally rose would succeed in only feeding our soul with the same thing, over and over again, eventually depleting the ground, causing malnourishment, and we'd probably want to die from boredom.
But we don't die, ever. As noted in The Risen, Truth never changes, it just looks different from different perspectives, and also behaves differently. Our scientist friends understand this implicitly in the context of quantum mechanics, and in chemical combinations and reactions. As well, they know that the very nature of Nature is movement, growth, and advancement, leaving behind stasis, retreat, and entropy. Even the supposed scientific truth of entropy is now being challenged, as we are seeing that the expansion of our known universe is increasing, and more quickly. This expansion is directly reflective of our minds as inextricably part of Creator Source Mind. As we awaken and rise, so does Creator Source.
There is great freedom in this realization, especially when we come to realize that what has been binding us, can also release us. But first, we must become aware of our bindings, and of that which binds us. For most, realizing that we are tied up doesn't feel good, although we may choose to remain so for any number of reasons. For some, this also means awareness of self-imposed boundaries formed by limiting thoughts. Be not afraid – don't worry – everyone will eventually understand that trying to return in order to be reborn, or to be reborn in order to return, is like struggling against the flow. The Great Tapestry has been designed so that we can weave our own individual design within Its guidelines, and does not prevent us from weaving in any crazy way we want. Sooner, or perhaps much later, we each will become more consciously awake and adept in our weaving.
Everyone who is destined to have a spiritual transformation comes to the journey with a wound as big as God. There are very few people who become advanced mystics because they simply feel happy on Sunday afternoons.
— Andrew Harvey
Faith does not spring full-orbed into being,but grows by knowledge and experience.— The Science of Mind
"Be Not Afraid" — a wise and firm suggestion from angels — including the likes of Glinda the Good Witch of the North. These are words we can keep close to our heart until we soften enough for them to melt and merge with our soul, so that we come to an understanding of this Truth, which is a transformative experience by which we travel to knowledge. We now know. And we know that we know. Herein is the peace that passes all understanding. Finally, we stop struggling against the flow, and let the ocean carry us so that we float and rest in the all-embracing and encompassing arms of Our Creator Source.
We offer these words as a gentle reminder to those of our dear readers and friends who have expressed concern and even dismay at the general negative response to the recent Skeptiko podcast about The Risen and the subject of reincarnation (there is also a handy transcription there to read if you can't listen) — "generally closed minded and intellectually lacking," as someone sapiently ventured, who happens to be a well-known and respected physicist. The scientific community also struggles with old, fearful beliefs of race consciousness and superstition, yet little by little, is coming directly face to face with the unlimited forms of truth about life — each in their own, individual way — which often flies in the face of the community's belief systems.
Other words to keep in mind might be the old adage, "birds of a feather flock together." We may all be angels, but not aware of it yet — so fear of flying, while an odd thing for an angel, is not uncommon. The Skeptico forum is a community, its "population" attracted to such a geography because like attracts like. (Think "diakka" if you have read The Risen and know about them and their own sophisticated systems of denial.) The community supports its belief systems, while perhaps reinforcing them — ironically so, because while one might expect that the healthy skepticism of the seeker is one that welcomes and supports the new and the evolving, it often serves as a refuge and emotional bulwark for the old and stagnating, and for those somehow overly focused on doubt and worry.
The Risen, as pointed out many times before, is not for skeptics, but for those who know, and know they know. It was provided through the compassionate endeavors of many kinds of people in spirit as a way to provide reflective validation — not "proof" — for those who have realized, or have begun to realize, one's inevitable immortality, and how it personally evolves within each one of us, moving forward and onward. (Why do you think Tim is always saying, "Onward, Ho!"?) The material, dense with information and meaning, will probably not be recognized for what it is by many, and that's alright. It is there to stimulate and strengthen those with eyes to see and ears to hear as a reminder of this greatest of Self-knowledge.
It's to be expected that any suggestions contrary to the established belief-system will cause disturbance and squawking, arguing, posturing, all kinds of defensive reactions. This is good! We are reminded of that wonderful angel-bird, Jonathan Livingston Seagull, who was lifted up above the ceiling cloud of his community, flying higher than anyone before, and experiencing new and mysterious things, and meeting higher beings of light. The other seagulls reacted by ostracizing him. Richard Bach's enchanting story is one of countless re-tellings of how humankind resists the tides of change, preferring to live on the bottom of the ocean, rather than rise to see what lies above it. Like Jonathan, we must lift ourselves up. The Risen was designed to provide a little assistant lift to those feeling the desire to achieve their own form of rising.
"This is good"? Yes! If what people heard, or thought they heard from the podcast, or what they read from The Risen, had no affect in some way on them, there would be little or no response. If it did, it means it's gotten things moving. The ant hill has been disturbed! People don't tend to be shakers and movers unless they've been shaken and moved first. We also tend to resent being moved and shaken up unless it agrees with the agenda of our ego-mind. But when one's Authentic Spirit Self hears, sees, or otherwise senses something that's caught Its attention, It will be drawn to the light that will clarify like a moth to the flame. We and our ego-mind will be pulled toward it; our ego-minds most often resist this movement, which results in discomfort until we surrender. Few have the kind of faith to surrender and plunge into the transmutational flame, unless they already have proven to themselves that they are immortal and cannot die. The idea of reincarnation is a seemingly logical response to the fear of dying. The idea of non-reincarnation — or really, the forgetting and letting go of the idea of reincarnation — is a spiritual response to the joy of knowing we are living without end.
New and contrary-wise information acts as a causative force, an energy that first stirs up dull and fallow soil, aerating and invigorating it. The same energy then falls as seeds into the refreshed earth; this energy continues to nourish the seeds as they grow, unless interfered with in some way. That new forms of energy cause certain negative or non-supportive reactions indicates the ego-mind's worried response to new forms of truth. The ego-mind's addictive desire to return, over and over again to the same soil from which we originally rose would succeed in only feeding our soul with the same thing, over and over again, eventually depleting the ground, causing malnourishment, and we'd probably want to die from boredom.
But we don't die, ever. As noted in The Risen, Truth never changes, it just looks different from different perspectives, and also behaves differently. Our scientist friends understand this implicitly in the context of quantum mechanics, and in chemical combinations and reactions. As well, they know that the very nature of Nature is movement, growth, and advancement, leaving behind stasis, retreat, and entropy. Even the supposed scientific truth of entropy is now being challenged, as we are seeing that the expansion of our known universe is increasing, and more quickly. This expansion is directly reflective of our minds as inextricably part of Creator Source Mind. As we awaken and rise, so does Creator Source.
There is great freedom in this realization, especially when we come to realize that what has been binding us, can also release us. But first, we must become aware of our bindings, and of that which binds us. For most, realizing that we are tied up doesn't feel good, although we may choose to remain so for any number of reasons. For some, this also means awareness of self-imposed boundaries formed by limiting thoughts. Be not afraid – don't worry – everyone will eventually understand that trying to return in order to be reborn, or to be reborn in order to return, is like struggling against the flow. The Great Tapestry has been designed so that we can weave our own individual design within Its guidelines, and does not prevent us from weaving in any crazy way we want. Sooner, or perhaps much later, we each will become more consciously awake and adept in our weaving.
posted by August Goforth @ 19:06
4 comments
4 Comments:
Hi August,
Wish I could listen to the podcast! But the 'Net connection here is so slow that videos and audios reload every few seconds and spend more time doing that than playing ... hmm, wonder if I can sneak it in at work?
It struck me, reading this, that reincarnation is no answer at all to a fear of death - just the opposite. It is the death of every individual we know, because it says that those lives aren't real, they're just roles played by someone else altogether. It revolted me from early days: the suggestion that Louis didn't exist, had turned into someone, or a series of someones, else, outraged me, as did, frankly, the thought that he should be compelled back to another earthly life after what he suffered in the one he had. No, reincarnation doesn't answer anything. It's like Monopoly ... Go to gaol, go directly to gaol, do not pass Go, do not collect $200 ...
Life's got a lot more to offer than that and we don't have to keep reloading like a dodgy computer! :)
I forgot to mention there's a transcription of the cast at their site.
That's good news, I shall read it today. Thank you, August!
“The wound is the place where the Light enters you.”
― Rumi
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