Category Archives: Gestalt

Outcroppings Of Creativity

To a certain extent we do carry the knowledge of our forefathers within our cells and chromosomes, which present a pattern that is not rigid but flexible–one that in codified fashion endows us with the subjective living experience of those who, in our terms, have gone before. Some very old cultures have been aware of this. While being independent, individual members also identified with their ancestors to some extent, accepting them as portions of their selfhoods. This does not mean that the individual self was less, but was more aware of its own reality. A completely different kind of focus was presented, in which the ancestors were understood to contribute to the “new” experience of the living; one in which the physically focused consciousness clearly saw itself as perceiving the world for itself, but also for all of those who had gone before– while realizing that in those terms he or she would contribute as well as the generation past.

The animals were also accepted in the natural philosophy of selfhood as the individual plainly saw the living quality of consciousness. The characteristics of the animals were understood to continue “life,” adding their qualities to the experience of the self in a new way.

The human body would be used in earth’s great husbandry as, from it, dying and decaying new forms would arise. This was a give-and-take in which for instance, a jungle neighborhood was truly home, and all was a portion of the self psychically, spiritually, and physically.

Let those who will, laugh at tales of spirits turning into the trees–a simplistic theory, certainly, yet a symbolic statement in such societies: The dead were buried at home in the same close territory, to form in later times the very composition of the ground upon which religions grew. Again, our limited concepts of selfhood make what I am saying difficult for us to perceive.

I am not saying, that the living consciousness of each individual returned to the earth literally, but that the physical material permeated and tamped with that consciousness did, and does. Even the cells retain knowledge of all of their affiliations. In physical terms the consciousness that we understand is based upon this.

 

Selfhood is poorer when it does not at least intuitively understand this heritage.

Might Is Right Or Right Is Might?

For centuries it was taken for granted that God was on the side of the strongest, richest nation. Surely, it seemed, if a country was poor or downtrodden, it was because God had made it so.

Such ideas literally held people in chains, fostering slavery and other inhumane practices. The same unfortunately applies to the Eastern concept of nirvana, and to the Christian idea of heaven. Both have been used by those in power to hold down the masses of people, to justify shoddy and inadequate living conditions by promising future bliss in the world after death.

There are many differences between the ideas of nirvana and heaven, but each has been used not only to justify suffering, but also to teach people to seek pain. The idea has been that the more persecuted and maligned a person is, the greater will be the reward in a future existence.

I want to avoid concentration upon esoteric practices in my blogs, but they do sometimes impinge upon the subject matter at hand.

The ideas of penance, fasting to excess, the personal abuse of the body, such as self-flagellation — all of those practices are conducted in the belief that suffering is something to be sought in itself. In such a way pain becomes a sought-after goal, and pleasure becomes subverted into pain.

Quite ordinary people often believe, then, that suffering itself is a way toward personal development and spiritual knowledge. In matters of health, such beliefs can have most unfortunate results. They are often responsible for needless sacrifices of physical organs in imprudent operations.

Some individuals become anxious and worried if they think they are too happy — for to them it means that they are not paying sufficiently for their sins. They may be threatened by some undeniable danger, until finally in one way or another they seek out their own punishment once again — wondering all the time why they are so frequently besieged by poor health or disease.

This kind of syndrome can affect individuals, families, and to some extent entire nations. They mitigate directly against man’s and woman’s health, survival, and exuberance.

Constant fears about nuclear destruction, or other such catastrophes can also fall under this classification.

Large masses of people became so convinced of God’s eventual vengeance and retribution that they began to plan for it.

Their lives became a way of avoiding pain instead of seeking out pleasure or satisfaction. This is true of individuals, but it also applies to many so-called survival groups, who congregate in one or another portion of the country, collecting supplies to carry them over the holocaust and to defend their families from those who might steal their provisions.

Most such people expect a period of chaotic time, in which all laws are broken down. Another version stresses the economic area, foreseeing the collapse of the economy, anarchy, and other conditions that pit one individual against the other.

These people believe, of course, that any given situation will worsen, and be carried to its most disastrous end. That attitude colors all of their other beliefs and actions. Some use religious dogma, and others rely upon scientific dogma to prove their cases, but in any case, they are presented with a world of deception and vengeance.

Good mental or physical health can hardly flourish under such conditions. There are instead most beneficial groups in this country and abroad, who actually, actively, yet peacefully join together to work for worldwide nuclear disarmament, and also to tackle such questions as nuclear waste. Their efforts are directed in other ways also, as they try to convince all areas of the world to share their wealth and foodstuffs equally.

These may be “highflying” goals, however they are positive in nature, aimed toward accomplishment and achievement, and they collect the energies of the people together in a way that stresses cooperation and understanding.

Again, the end does not justify the means — so no amount of war is ever going to produce a meaningful peace.

Such ideas affect every level of life, from the most microscopic onward. It is not that plants understand our ideas in usual terms — but they do indeed pick up our intent, and in the arena of world survival, they have a stake.

I do not want to romanticize non-human life either, or to overestimate its resources, but nature also has its own ways — and in those ways it constantly works toward survival of life in general. Nature may not bail us out, but it will always be there, adding its own vitality and strength to the overall good and health of the planet.

Remember what I said in earlier blogs about the connections between disease and non-disease states. Communication flashes between viruses and microbes, and they can change in the wink of an eye. Once again, then, ideas of the most optimistic nature are the biologically pertinent ones.

This is a good place to bring up again some extreme food practices, such as over-fasting, and an obsession with so-called natural foods.

I am not talking about a natural and healthy interest in the purity of foodstuffs, but of a worrisome over-concern. This is often carried so far that no food seems perfectly satisfying, and the concentration becomes focused upon the fear of food, rather than upon its benefits.

Behind many such attitudes if the idea that the body itself is unworthy, and that starving it somehow cuts down on the appetites of the flesh. We usually end up with a flurry of different kinds of diets.

Some concentrate almost exclusively on protein, some on carbohydrates — particularly rice — but in any case the large natural range of available foods and nutrients are cut out.

This keeps the body in a state of constant turmoil. Some people are so convinced, in fact, that eating is wrong that they diet until they become ravenously hungry, then overeat and force themselves to vomit up the residue.

Other people, in a well-meaning attempt to watch their weight, skip their breakfast entirely — a very poor procedure. It is far better to eat moderate amounts of food in all of the food ranges, and to consume smaller portions more often. I realize that our social mores also dictate our eating habits — but four light meals a day will overall serve us very well, and give the body a more steady, regulated nourishment.

These food ideas are important, since they are passed on from parents to children, and parents often use food as a way of rewarding a child’s good behavior, thus starting the youngster out toward conditions of overweight.

The main issue involved, once again, is the trust of the body.

In any case, there are new lives growing and maturing within each individual, whatever his or her age or circumstances.

The idea of survival reaches far beyond this life experience, and each person has new physical and spiritual existences ever ready — for there is no such thing as extinction. Alive or dead in usual terms, we are always conscious and aware and ourselves, and we are always a part of universal ventures in which we have always been involved, whatever our states of consciousness.

We are supported, never abandoned, and always couched lovingly in the great yet intimate presence of All That Is, whose love forms our breath, our life, our death, as in which the unknown divinity is always blessed and ever known.

It is known and unknown, forming all stages of creativity, and we are held within it, graced to be a part of the divine framework of All That Is.

My blogs, like life itself, have been and are a gift, rising from the immense, never-ending creativity of existence.

Alone, I live within one life that expresses multitudinous voices, and shed its own mercy, gladness, and joy, out into the world at large, enriching it, renewing the springtime, and never truly ending.

To one extent or another, I then speak in these blogs for all peoples, for the united psyches that overflow with thoughts and feelings that are registered by the wind, giving voice to the private, intimate, yet connected lives of men and women throughout the centuries — so that many people, listening to or reading my blogs, hear their own inner voices also, and feel the contours of their own natures, and universal nature as well.

“BEYOND THE HIGHEST CLOUDS”

Behind the highest clouds

man and woman have ever seen

there are mountains and

hidden coves from which all 

true proclamations come.

Their sentences are silent

yet they contain a word that

releases and fills secret contracts

between the gods and man and woman,

uttered long ago

uttered without a word or a whisper,

and speaking for me alone

with a magic note

and a secret message

and a sweet response

known to me alone.

The Reincarnational Heritage Is Rich

Thus far in my blogs we have been dealing with conflicting beliefs, however — and most of those can be tackled in the context of this life alone.

These beliefs may have physical or mental repercussions, though in most cases the two do not occur at once. We have dealt with some of the numerous physical dilemmas than can result. In other instances the individual encounters the difficulties on mental or emotional levels. One portion of the personality might be wholeheartedly in favor of good expression of personal power, and be stimulated to express and use his or her energy and strength. Another portion of the personality may be just as terrified of power or its uses as the other segment exults in it.

Instead of developing physical complications, in usual terms, sometimes one portion of the personality actually does act with assurance, power, and energy, while another equally valid portion refuses to use energy or power in any way whatsoever. The ideas are so opposing, and such equal adversaries, that the conscious personality can hardly bear to be aware of both at once.

In such cases, while one portion of the personality is expressing itself, and in command of the usual conscious abilities, the other portion lies acquiescent, latent, and unexpressed.

The individual may act purposefully, with power, energy, and strength, for varying lengths of time. Then sometimes without warning the frightened, inactive portions of the personality will take over the normal abilities of consciousness — acting depressed, taciturn, and communicating very poorly with others.

One portion of the personality will carry on conscious behavior — go to work, shop, or whatever, while the other portion of the personality will not remember performing those acts at all.

Take a hypothetical case. Call Marlo A the assertive part of the personality, and Marlo B the passive partner. Marlo A may go out dancing, go to a bar, then turn the entire proceedings over to Marlo B, who finds herself in noisy surroundings, surrounded by people she does not remember, and with no idea how she reached the present destination.

Her trend of memory will go back to the last time that she was in charge of consciousness, and she will have — or may not have — any idea of the existence of Marlo A at all. Marlo A may enjoy action, sports, dancing and bodily activities, while Marlo B may prefer reading, walking, or painting.

Such personalities may even have separate sets of friends — Marlo A and B each having their own companions. Though these personalities may seem so divergent, they are connected with each other, however, and they may on occasion set up their own rather bizarre kind of communication. They may write mysterious notes to each other, leaving them where they are bound to be found — yet notes using a special code or symbols of drugs, because too clear a communication would disrupt the entire relationship.

People may actually carry on such existences for years, until some event or another shows that something is amiss: one of Marlo A’s friends might meet a friend of Marlo B, for example, or the gaps in memory might finally become so frequent that it is obvious something is wrong.

Marlo A and B represent fairly simple examples of schizophrenic behavior, and indeed I have kept the story simple to keep the issues clear. Marlo A may actually grow into a more and more assertive or belligerent personality, even displaying violent tendencies at times, while on the other hand Marlo B might become even more timid, depressed, and solitary.

On other levels, however, each one is well aware of the other’s presence, and on those levels they do react to each other’s activities. This means, of course, that the entire amnesia process, regardless of how perfect it seems, is a surface one. I have used the different beliefs about power as an example, but any belief may be involved if it and its opposite are held in nearly equal weight.

One portion may believe that sex is natural and good, while the other portion believes vehemently that sex is evil and depraved. Here we will use a man for a hypothetical case. David A may be an excellent husband, breadwinner, and father, a church-goer who believes in the beauty and goodness of sex. David B may hold the opposite viewpoint most intently — that sex is at least evil, perhaps sent by the devil, and below or beneath the dignity of a good man.

On topside David A may go to church frequently, be kind and considerate to his family, and, say, come home from work every night for supper. He may carry on a fruitful accomplished existence for varying lengths of time.

Then, however, perhaps without warning, he may suddenly refuse to make love with his wife, becoming hostile with his children, stop off for a few drinks after work, before supper, or even begin seeing a prostitute, or begin an affair — often with a woman he considers beneath his own station.

David A may be quite startled to discover bottles of whiskey lying around in his dresser drawers, when he hardly drinks liquor himself at all. David B may suddenly “come to” in a strange bedroom, in a compromising position with a woman it certainly seems to him he has never seen before in his life.

On the other hand, David B may find himself in the middle of a family picnic, or other gathering — events that bore and displease him — or worse, he may not even remember his family at all. The more complicated such dilemmas becomes, the harder they are to keep secret, however, because their very complications multiply the chances of discovery. And there are, of course, variations.

David B, while drinking, might suddenly be sent back to his David A self. The kinds of communication can be very unique and bewildering, ranging from number codes to nonsense verses, or to the hearing of imaginary voices, which serve to remind one portion of the self that there is also another seemingly alien personality involved in his or her existence.

In many instances very strong feelings of persecution and paranoia can be involved, but these will be discussed in the following blogs.

In the kind of schizophrenic behavior we have just been discussing, hypnosis is frequently used as therapy, often in an attempt not only to introduce the two levels of the personality to each other, but also to uncover the time they originally split off in such a fashion. However, one must ensure that they visit a hypnotist who has completed a significant amount of hypnotherapy training course in order to ensure that the results are positive.

While hypnosis can be of considerable value in the hands of an excellent professional hypnotist, it still has serious drawbacks as a treatment under these conditions. Because of its very nature, hypnosis can end up segmenting the personality still further.

Under such therapy it sometimes seems that news, lesser personality fragments are uncovered, but it is very possible that these instead are created by the therapy itself. The hypnotist obviously wants to cure his patient, and all forms of schizophrenia are intellectually intriguing. The segments of the personality that are involved are being given great attention, and they may seize upon that attention, seeking ways to further dazzle the hypnotist while at the same time sabotaging recovery.

It is far better to address whatever personality is in prominence during the session, to convince it of the therapist’s concern and interest, while letting it know that at other levels it is quite aware of the existence of its other segments.

People with schizophrenic difficulties often enjoy word games and puzzles, so they may well use these to confuse any therapist. The very fact that such a person considers any kind of therapy does mean that he or she is ready to tackle a considerable challenge. It can be put to each segment of the personality, then, that it will be quite a challenge for each to become aware of the other. We might compare the situation to someone who has been separated from a sister or brother for years — explaining, however, that the separation is psychological and not physical.

In a fashion, all of these activities are variations of others. Instead of forming such segmented selves, another person, as mentioned earlier, might enjoy the use of power, yet be so frightened of it that he or she experiences an epileptic episode instead of a schizophrenic one.

Each Life Influences Each Other Life

Each life influences each other life, and some portions of the personality retains memory not only of past lives, but of future lives also.

When reincarnational studies are embarked upon, on occasion people remember some instance of past-life experience, but conventional ideas of time are so strong that so-called future memory is blacked out.

The inner self is aware of all of our existences, in other words. It sees where and how our many lives fit together. It is only because we are so oriented outward from birth that this inner self can sometimes seem alien or distant and unrelated to the self that we know. It would be impossible to be consciously aware of all of the infinitesimal details that exist in even one life; our consciousness would be so full and cluttered up that we would be unable to make choices, or to use free will.

It would be even more difficult to try to handle the information of many lives at one time. In our terms, “it” takes time to think, and we would be so caught up in thinking itself, that action would be impossible. The inner knowledge of all of our lives, from our point of view, is in the same category as those automatic processes that underlie our existence.

That is, we know about our other lives, basically, in the same way that we know how to breathe or digest our food. A different kind of knowing is involved.

This does not mean that all conscious knowledge about our own reincarnational existences forever beyond us — for through various exercises we can indeed learn to recall some of that information. It does mean, however, that we are innately aware of all of our existences, and that the knowledge gained in one life is automatically transferred to another, whether that life be present, past, or future.

We may therefore be trying out many different kind of experiences, sometimes endowing ourselves with super attributes and strength, relying upon the body’s powers above all other considerations, while at the same time in another life we use and develop unusual mental abilities, enjoying the triumphs of creative thought, while largely ignoring the body’s agility and strength.

I do not mean to imply that we necessarily deal with opposite kinds of behaviors, for there are endless variances — each unique — as consciousness expresses itself through physical sensation, and attempts to explore all of the possible realms of emotional, spiritual, biological, and mental existence.

I want to stress that within each life full free will operates once the conditions of that life are set.

That is, if we have been born in poor or depressed circumstances, then free will not alter the conditions of that birth.

It can help us become wealthy in adult life through the choices that we make. It should be helpful, and certainly somewhat comforting, to realize that even unfortunate birth conditions were not forced upon us by some outside agency, but chosen at inner levels of our own reality.

The same applies to almost any situation. Religion holds some ideas that are in complete opposition to each other in regard to the nature of suffering in general. Some believe that suffering is a punishment sent by God for past or present sins, or even omissions, while other religious schools insist that suffering is sent by God as evidence of his particular love for the individual involved: “Good must love you very much, because he sent so much suffering.”

That remark, and similar ones, are often made to ill persons. The idea is supposed to be that suffering is good for the soul, is a way of atoning for one’s sins, and in some fashion the implication is made that such suffering in this life will be more than compensated for in heaven.

Such concepts encourage individuals to feel like victims, with no control at all over the conditions of their lives.

Instead, it should be realized that as uncomfortable as suffering is, it does somehow have a meaning in the context of our entire existence — again, that it was not thrust upon us by some unjust or uncaring exterior force or nature.

To some degree, that kind of understanding can help alleviate suffering itself to some extent. I am not advocating a fatalistic approach either, that says more or less: “I have chosen such and such an unfortunate condition at some level I do not understand, and therefore the entire affair is outside of my own hands. There is nothing I can do about it.”

For one thing, again, almost all situations, including the most drastic, can be changed for the better to some extent, and the very attempt to do so can increase a person’s sense of control over his or her own circumstances. This does not mean that those adverse situations can be changed overnight in usual terms (though ideally that is also possible), but that the sense of control over one’s life encourages all of the mental and physical healing properties.

In terms of “starting over” at such a point, the main thing to remember is not to expect too much too fast, while recognizing that instantaneous cures are indeed probabilities.

Again, mind games, the insertion of humor and diversion, are extremely valuable, so that we are not trying too hard. Some people try too hard to be spontaneous, while others are frightened of spontaneity itself. The knowledge of reincarnational lives is spontaneously held, and we can receive profound insights from that knowledge. This occurs when we are not looking for it, but when we are familiar enough with the entire concept, so that we realize such knowledge is available.

The reincarnational heritage is rich, however, and it can have a tendency to assert itself under certain conditions.

I am not speaking of usual, but fairly unusual events, when, in one fashion or another, reincarnational memory seems to bleed through to the present life. Again, this is not usual experience. It happens infrequently. On some occasions — sometimes in periods of poor health or seemingly senility — such instances may occur. They are more apt to happen in adolescence, though I do want to stress that we are speaking of extraordinary cases.

Old people often begin to exercise their own consciousness in ways that they had not done earlier. There may be less diversions to take up their thoughts. They may be lonely, and then quite surprisingly find themselves casting about for different kinds of experience — experience seemingly most difficult to achieve in the physical world under their present circumstances.

Since they are often frightened and unsure of the future, they are more apt to cast their thoughts backwards into their early childhoods, reaching for their earliest memories, and mentally try to gain comfort from the remembered sounds of beloved voices, only to mentally glimpse other images than they expected, to hear other voices than those for which they yearned.

In fact, fragments of many episodes from many other lives may rush into their consciousness, and in most cases they are, of course, quite unprepared for the experience. On the other hand, usually such episodes are highly reassuring, for along with them rides the inner assurance that life has been lived before , many times.

The individuals involved may then return to normal consciousness, but if they talked or muttered while the affair was happening, any observers might take it for granted that delirium was involved. Drugs should not be prescribed under those conditions, unless the patient becomes highly restless and confused, and requests them. In most cases, however, the experiences do not leave detrimental side effects.

The same kind of event may happen in periods of poor health, or in over-drugged states. They are less easily handled, however, under drugged conditions, since the consciousness does not have the full agility to depend upon in periods of stress — unusual stress. The same can occur in adolescence, and easily be misinterpreted as a schizophrenic episode.

This happens perhaps more frequently than other cases mentioned, but usually such events are not repeated. They remain only as memories, having opened up the person’s mind to larger visions of life than he or she may have entertained before.

Reincarnational Children’s Play, And Health

When children play, often the play events seem as real or even more real than ordinary physical events that are experienced outside of the play framework. Children playing at cowboys and Indians, or cops and robbers, can on occasion become quite as frightened by the pursuit or the chase as they would be if they were actually caught up in such an adventure in ordinary life.

Even watching such programs on television will almost make it feel like they are there in the scene themselves. They become engrossed. With all the latest cable TV statistics, (look at the source here), it doesn’t come as much of a surprise to learn that more and more people are tuning in to these shows, and in turn, get to experience what they’re watching as if they were there in person. That’s the magic of television. It opens up doors to a whole new world of adventure for so many people, especially children. Alongside letting their imaginations run wild through play, there is no better feeling than being able to broaden your horizons.

Children then apply their imaginations more vividly, and even utilize all of their senses at certain times, to follow or reinforce those pictures that imagination paints. There are indeed many kinds of reality, many versions, and it is some time before human beings learn to focus into one particular package of reality. It’s important that children utilize all their senses so that they can truly pursue their imagination. There are a few things that can be done to help with this. The first is to let them play and to just have fun. The second is to let them listen to nursery songs like KLS , to help them flourish in their development. There are a few other things that you can do to help them as well, you just have to find the right thing for them.

In so doing, they then apply their imaginations in structured ways that serve to reinforce the prime reality-framework. For some time, however, young children utilize a remarkable imaginative freedom, so that, for example, they can experience “alternate” events with as much focus, strength, and vitality as that with which they experience ordinary life. A potent daydream may, in fact, appear far more real than the other daily events that surround it. When the child is playing, its sense of joy or anger is very strongly felt. The child’s body will often reflect those conditions and reflexes that would be elicited of the so-called “play” events were real.

Most of our experience happens directly, where senses, imagination, motion and physical actuality meet. In dreams, however, we often feel as if we are in another location entirely, and all of our senses seem pivoted in that location. Our experience is separated from our usual living area, in other words. We may dream that we are running or walking or flying, yet those activities are divorced enough from that area where imagination, motion, and physical actuality meet, so that our body remains quiet, relatively speaking, while we seem to be moving freely somewhere else.

In a fashion, reincarnation can partially be explained using the same kind of analogy. We have many existences at once — but each one has its own living area, upon which that portion of us focuses. In fact, that portion has its own name and selfhood and is master of its own castle, so to speak.

Each self has its own inviolate point where imagination, motion, and physical actuality intersect. Like the child play-acting, however, events occur within events, all dramatically real and vivid, all eliciting specific responses and actions, and each one possessing its own private living area.

On any given day a youngster may take a ride on a merry-go-round. The same little boy or girl might also sit astride a toy horse, and pretend that the horse is part of the merry-go-round. The same child might see the image of a merry-go-round on the television screen, or be told about another youngster’s visit to a playground, and a subsequent ride on a merry-go-round.

The child will be completely absorbed in the merry-go-round ride that was directly experienced. He or she may indeed be just as engrossed — or even more so — in the imaginary ride on the rocking horse. There will be some involvement, of course, as the child watches the images of the merry-go-round horses on the television station, while the story about the child’s visit to the playground will not take nearly as much of his interest.

In somewhat the same way, events appear and are reflected in reincarnational existences. All the lives are actually occurring at the same time, as the hypothetical youngster’s merry-go-round experiences happened all in one day.

In the reincarnational terms, however, the merry-go-round events might be experienced directly in some existences, or appear in a dream in another existence, or turn up simply as an image in another, or happen in an event involving real horses instead of merry-go-round horses. In other words, in one way or another the events of one living experience are reflected in each other living experience.

I am not saying that the events in one life cause the events on another, but that there is an overall pattern — a bank of probable events — and that in each life each individual chooses those that suit his or her overall private purposes. Yet those lives will be connected. An individual may have a serious illness in one life. That event may turn up as one uncomfortable nightmare in another existence. In still another life, the individual might have a dear friend who suffers from the same disease. In still another existence the individual might decide to be a doctor, to seek a cause and a cure for the same disease.

No one is fated, however, to suffer in one life for any crimes committed in another. The reasons and purposes for one’s own existence in any life can be found directly in the life itself.

Many proponents of reincarnation believe most firmly that an illness in one life most frequently has its roots in a past existence, and that reincarnational regression if therefore necessary to uncover the reasons for many current illnesses or dilemmas.

There is also a rather conventional stereotype version of karma that may follow such beliefs. Therefore, we may be punished in this life for errors we have committed in a past one, or we may actually be making up for a mistake made thousands of years ago. Again, all of a person’s reincarnational existences are, indeed, connected — but the events in one life do not cause the events in the next one.

I must remind once more that all time happens simultaneously, so the confused belief about punishment now, in retaliation for past action would actually be meaningless, since in simultaneous time all actions would be occurring at once.

We may have overall reasons for a particular illness, however, that have nothing to do with crime or punishment, but may instead involve an extraordinary sense of curiosity, and the desire for experience that is somewhat unconventional — usually not sought for — exotic, or in certain terms even grotesque.

Each life, regardless of its nature, possesses it own unique vantage point, and an individual may sometimes take an obscure or a long-lasting disease simply to present himself or herself with experience that most others would shun. An individual might seek such a vantage point in order to look at the universe in a different fashion, asking questions that perhaps could not be answered of asked from any other position.

Another life, for example, might deal with exquisite health and vitality, and as mentioned, still another life might be devoted to the arts of healing — but overall, few people take health problems per se as frequent reincarnational themes, though they may be implied strongly in situations where one is born into a large populace of poor, underprivileged people.

If one does have health problems, it is much better to look for their reasons in our immediate experience, rather than assigning them a cause in our distant past. The reasons for maladies are almost always present in current life experience — and even though old events from childhood may have originally activated unhealthy behavior, it is present beliefs that allow old patterns of activity to operate.

If we are concerned about any given problems — mental, emotional, or physical — there are certain facts we should hold in mind. I have mentioned most of them in previous blogs, but they are particularly vital in this context.

We must realize that we do create our own reality because of our beliefs about it. Therefore, try to understand that the particular dilemma of illness is not an event forced upon us by some other agency. Realize that to some extent or another our dilemma or our illness has been chosen by us, and that this choosing has been done in bits and pieces of small, seemingly inconsequential choices. Each, however, has led up to our current predicament, whatever its nature.

If we realize that our beliefs form our experience, then we do indeed have an excellent chance of changing our beliefs, and hence our experience.

We can discover what our own reasons are for choosing the dilemma or illness by being very honest with oneself. There is no need to feel guilty since we meant very well as we made each choice — only the choices were built upon beliefs that were beliefs and not facts.

If we are in serious difficulties of any kind, it may at first seem inconceivable, unbelievable, or even scandalous to imagine that our problems are caused by our own beliefs.

In fact, the opposite might appear to be true. We might have lost a series of jobs, for example, and it may seem quite clear that we are not to blame in any of those circumstances. We might have a very serious illness that seemed to come from nowhere, and it may strike us as most unlikely indeed, that our own beliefs had anything to do with the inception of such a frightening malady.

We may be in the middle of one or several very unsatisfactory relationships, none of which seem to be caused by us, while instead we feel as if we are an unwilling victim or participant.

We may have a dangerous drug or alcohol problem, or we may be married to someone who does. In both instances the situations will be caused by our own beliefs, even though this may at first seem most unlikely. For the purposes of this particular blog, we will discuss illnesses or situations that have arisen since childhood, so we are not including birth defects or very life-endangering childhood accidents, or most unfortunate childhood family situations. These will be discussed separately.

In most cases, even the most severe illnesses or complicated living conditions and relationships are caused by an attempt to grow, develop or expand in the face of difficulties that appear to be unsurmountable to one degree of another.

An individual will often be striving for some goal that appears blocked, and hence he or she uses all available energy and strength to circumnavigate the blockage. The blockage is usually a belief which needs to be understood or removed rather than bypassed.

In my blogs we will be involved with the nature of beliefs and with various methods that will allow us to choose beliefs that lead to a more satisfying life.

Throughout my blogs, we are not speaking of physical health alone, but of mental, spiritual, and emotional health as well. We are not healthy, for example, no matter how robust our physical condition, if our relationships are unhealthy, unsatisfying, frustrating, or hard to achieve. Whatever our situation is, it is a good idea to ask ourselves what we would do if we were free of it. An alcoholic’s wife might wish all her heart that her husband stop drinking, but if she suddenly asked herself what she would do, she might, surprisingly enough, feel a tinge of panic. On examination of her own thoughts and beliefs, she might well discover that she was so frightened of not achieving her own goals that she actually encouraged her husband’s alcoholism, so that she would not have to face her own “failure”.

Obviously this hypothetical situation is a quick example of what I mean, with no mention of the innumerable other beliefs and half-beliefs that would encircle the man’s and the woman’s relationship.

There are no doubts about it confronting substance issues can be an incredibly complex process. Harmful drinking can cause significant issues not only for the alcohol user but also for members of their family. This can appear in the form of health problems, financial worries, relationship breakdown, and even parenting difficulties. Above all, these families need and deserve support. Family interventions can play a role in this and can help to reduce overall alcohol harm.

Accordingly, if you, or someone you know, have been affected by any of the issues raised in this article there are details of organizations that offer advice and support including several different alcohol treatment center websites available online.

They will be able to provide different types of services that you can use to help support yourself if you are going in for treatment. You might find that they will offer support groups, and will have routine drug/alcohol tests (using something like this 5 panel instant drug test). All of this will be done to help you stay on your path to recovery.

Ultimately, working jointly with alcohol users and their families during treatment has been shown to be effective, particularly where the user is an adolescent.

What do you think should be done to tackle alcohol dependency issues within society? Get in touch and let me know your thoughts on this fascinating topic.

Life Clouds: The Way the Universe was “Initially” Seeded

Understand, however, that the term “dream cloud” would serve as well. Yet it is an evocative reference to the way that “Everything That Is” packaged itself in the formation of its numberless realities. Such life clouds “still” exist. Each seed of life, of living, contains within itself its own protective coating, its own placenta of necessary nourishment and environmental circumstances, its own system and branches of probabilities.

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Those branches of probabilities act like remote sensors, seeking out those conditions that will be suited to the seed’s best value fulfillment and development. In the simplest of terms, the life clouds will send forth their contents where circumstances best meet their own requirements. On the other hand, the life clouds can see their own worlds completely. Space itself already speaks of a creation “begun,” for no matter how empty space may seem to be it simply appears like a vast cathedral, or tent with walls so distant they they go unperceived.

Probabilities may be swirling everywhere, yet remain of course unperceived in any given instant, so that we might in this odd strange analogy hear a dim brief whirl, as in the whirling of winds, and think it unimportant — while what we heard instead was an entire world of probabilities speed past where we stood.

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Our own entire structure of life, therefore, with its acute and precise definitions in the package of reality, is a living life cloud that may or may not be perceived in other realities. That cloud contains within it ever-freshening sources of new creativity. When we dream or sleep or think, we automatically add to other dimensions of a life cloud or dream cloud that emerge from the very actions of our own subjective motions.

Even infinity is being everywhere expressed in each moment, for infinity itself is not something apart from what the universe is. As the universe is a portion of infinity’s creativity, in the light there are new species appearing all of the time, whether or not our own situation allows us to perceive that emergence. We ourselves may be portions of that emergence. From our threshold or focus we would be relatively unaware of our own motion on a new time threshold — for to the beings on that threshold we would have already arrived, while to us in our present their would at best be theoretical, as if they were future selves. From our standpoint they would be, of course.

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At other levels our dreams mix and intertwine not only with those of our contemporaries, but with those of all times and places, living or dead in our terms. Each universe — such as the one we know — serves as a small colony of existence, and is infinite within the characteristics of its own nature.

Some of this material will only have meaning to us in the dream state, for that matter, and the words of the blog may stir some of those meanings into our attention. Each portion of all such life clouds seeks value fulfillment, again, but that term itself is woefully inadequate to express the nature of life’s diversity, purpose, or meaning.

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This purpose or meaning does not exist apart from our own existence, however. We are a part of life’s meaning and purpose — but those purposes, “coming from”, the source of our own being, are too great to be expressed or described within the structure of our personhood as we understand it. Such understanding is often experienced or sensed, however, sometimes as we are listening to music or when we are deeply stirred by emotion, and when we do not place a great distance between it and ourselves.

Attending to the life that we have with love, beginning “where you are,” will best allow us such a feeling for our own meaning.

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What do I mean by such attention? Attention to the moment as it is presented. Attention to the table of rich reality as it appears before us. Attention to the kind of person we are, and to the loving appreciation of our own uniqueness. To attend to our life in such a fashion brings us into a clearer communication with the inner action of our own existence.

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The use or non-use of an attribute can have as many ramifications as there are human beings who possess whatever version of it: ranging all the way from being completely buried in a life, to being simply left alone, used just “as is,” or thoroughly transformed in expression

Children’s Innate Love Of The Body And All Of Its Parts

For adults, ideas of health and illness are intimately connected with philosophical, religious, and social beliefs. They are even more entangled with scientific concepts, and with science’s views of life in general. Children, however, are far more innocent, and though they respond to the ideas of their parents, still their minds are open and filled with curiosity. The development of children is important to any parent, and we would do anything to help with their Developing Minds, whether that can help them out, and if your children mean everything to you, find out the cost of life insurance as a way of protecting them.
Children learn in many different ways including hearing, smell and sight which is why things like song education on YouTube are so popular to teach young children. They are also gifted with an almost astounding resiliency and exuberance.

They possess an innate love of the body and all of its parts. They also, feel an eager desire to learn all they can about their own physical sensations and capabilities.

At the same time, young children in particular still possess a feeling of oneness with the universe, and with all of life, even as they begin to separate themselves at certain levels from life’s wholeness to go about the delightful task. Seeing themselves as separate and apart from all other individuals, they still retain an inner comprehension and a memory of having once experienced a oneness with life as a whole.

At that level even illness is regarded simply as a part of life’s experience, however unpleasant it might be. Even at an early age, children joyfully explore all of the possibilities of all sensations possible within their framework — pain as well as joy, frustration as well as satisfaction, and all the while their awareness is propelled by curiosity, wonder, and joy.

They pick up their first ideas about health and disease from parents and doctors, and by the actions of those people to their own discomfiture. Before they can even see, children are already aware of what their parents expect from them in terms of health and disease, so that early patterns of behavior are formed, to which they then react in adulthood.

For now we will speak of children who possess ordinary good health, but who may also have some of the usual childhood “diseases.” Later we will discuss children with exceptionally severe health conditions.

Many children acquire poor health habits through the well-meaning mistakes of their parents. This is particularly true when parents actually reward a child for being ill. In such cases, the ailing child is pampered far more than usual, given extra special attention offered delicacies such as ice cream, let off some ordinary chores, and in other ways encouraged to think of bouts of illness as times of special attention and reward.

I do not mean that ill children should not be treated with kindness, and perhaps a bit of special attention — but the reward should be given for the child’s recovery, and efforts should be made to keep the youngster’s routine as normal as possible. Children often know quite well the reasons for some of their illnesses, for often they learn from their parents that illness can be used as a means to achieve a desired result.

Often parents hide such behavior from themselves. They deliberately close their eyes to some of the reasons for their own illnesses, and this behavior has become so habitual that they are no longer conscious of their own intent.

Children, however, may be quite conscious of the fact that they willed themselves to become ill, in order to avoid school (even if they would have loved to have a ball with the school gym equipment) , an examination, or a coming feared family event. They soon learn that such self-knowledge is not acceptable, however, so they begin to pretend ignorance, quickly learning to tell themselves instead that they have a bug or a virus, or have caught a cold, seemingly for no reason at all.

Parents frequently foster such behavior. Some are simply too busy to question a child about his or her own illness. It is far simpler to give a child aspirin, and send a child to bed with ginger tea and a coloring book.

Such procedures unfortunately rob a child of important self-knowledge and understanding. They begin to feel victims to this or that disorder. Since they have no idea that they themselves caused the problem to begin with, then they do not realize that they themselves possess the power to right the situation. If they are being rewarded for such behavior in the meantime, then the pressure is less, of course, so that bouts of illness or poor health can become ways of attaining attention, favorite status, and reward.

Parents who are aware of these facts can start helping their children at an early age by asking them simply the reasons for their illness. A mother might say: “You don’t need to have a temperature in order to avoid school, or as a way of getting love and attention, for I love you in any case. And if there is a problem at school, we can work it out together, so you don’t have to make yourself ill.” Again, the reasons for such behavior are often quite clear in the child’s mind. So, if the parents begin such questioning and reassurance when the child is young, then the youngster will learn that while illness may be used to attain a desired result, there are far better, healthier ways of achieving an end result.

Some parents, unfortunately, use the nature of suggestion in the most undesirable way, so that a child is often told that he or she is sickly, or weak or overly sensitive, and not as robust as other youngsters. If that kind of behavior is continued, then the child soon takes such statements as true, and begins to act upon them, until they do indeed become only too real in the youngster’s everyday experience.

Good health is closely related, of course, to a family’s beliefs about the body. If parents believe that the body is somehow an inferior vehicle for the spirit, of if they simply view the body as unreliable or weak and vulnerable, then children will at an early age begin to consider good health as a rarity, and learn to take depression, poor spirits, and bodily aches and pains to be a natural, normal condition of life.

If, on the other hand, parents view the body as a healthy, dependable vehicle of expression and feeling, then their children will look at their own bodies in the same fashion. It is very important that parents express a fond affection towards each other, and toward their children. In this way most children are assured of their parent’s love, and hence need not resort to illness as a way of gaining attention or testing a parent’s’ love and devotion.

There is no natural reason for children to feel a sense of shame concerning any bodily part. No portion of the body should be spoken about in secret, hushed tones. Each child should be told that his body, or her body, is a precious private possession, however, so that it is easy to build up a desirable feeling of bodily privacy, without any hint of shame or guilt.

It goes without saying that parents should hold the bodies of their male and female children in equal favor, so that one is not considered inferior to the other. Each child should be educated as early as possible by their parents, so that the youngsters are repeatedly reminded of the body’s natural resources and healing abilities.

Parents who are actually quite worried about their children’s’ susceptibility to illness often go overboard, stressing all kinds of sports and sports-related projects, but the children sense their parents’ unspoken fears, and they try to reassure their parents through achieving high goals or merits in sports programs.

There is no area of thought or belief that does not touch upon the subject of health in one way or another. Therefore, throughout my blogs we will be devoted to many ideas that may at first seem unrelated to the topic at hand.

“The Health and Disease States”

Before we discuss the human situation more specifically in relation to health and “dis-ease” — let us consider the so-called states of health and disease as they apply in planetary terms, and as they operate in all species. This will give us a far vaster framework in which to understand the ways in which each individual person fits into the entire picture.

I used quotation marks around the entire heading for this blog to stress the point that the heading is written with our own ideas of health and disease in mind. Actually, however, regardless of appearances and misreadings of natural events, the very idea of disease as we usually think of it, is chauvinistic in health rather than in sexual terms.

Basically speaking, there are only life forms. Through their cooperation, our entire world sustains its reality, substance, life, and form. If there were no diseases as we think of them, there would be no life forms at all. Our reality demands a steady fluctuation of physical and nonphysical experience. Most of us, my blog readers, understand that if we did not sleep we would die. The conscious withdrawal of mental life during life makes normally conscious experience possible. In the same way, there must, of course, be a rhythm of physical death, so that the experience of normal physical life is possible. It goes without saying that without death and disease — for the two go hand in hand — then normal corporeal existence would be impossible.

For all of man’s and woman’s fears of disease, however, the species has never been destroyed by it, and life has continued to function with overall stability, despite what certainly seems to be the constant harassment and threat of illness and disease. The same is true, generally speaking, of all species. Plants and insects fit into this larger picture, as do al fish and fowl.

I have said elsewhere that no species is ever really eradicated — and in those terms, no disease, or virus, or germ, ever vanishes completely from the face of the earth. In the first place, viruses change their form, appearing in our terms sometimes as harmless and sometimes as lethal. So-called states of health and disease are also changing constantly — and in those vaster terms, a disease in itself is a kind of health, for it makes life and health itself possible.

Later we will discuss what this means to us, the individual person, but for now, I want to stress the fact that while it may seem natural enough to consider disease as a threat, an adversary or an enemy, this is not the case.

The subject matter of suffering is certainly vitally connected to the subject at hand, but basically speaking, disease and suffering are not necessarily connected. Suffering and death are not necessarily connected either. The sensations of suffering and the pain do exist. Some are indeed quite natural reactions, and others are learned reactions to certain events. Walking barefoot on a bed of fire would most likely cause most of my readers, to feel the most acute pain — while in some primitive, societies, under certain conditions the same situation could result instead in feelings of ecstasy or joy.

We want to discuss “disease” as it exists apart from suffering for now, then. Then we will discuss pain and suffering and their implications. I do want to mention, however, that pain and suffering are also obviously vital, living sensations — and therefore are a part of the body’s repertoire of possible feelings and sensual experience. They are also a sign, therefore, of life’s vitality, and are in themselves often responsible for a return to health when they act as learning communications.

Pain, therefore, by being unpleasant, stimulates the individual to rid himself or herself of it, and thereby often promotes a return to the state of health.

Even in situations that involve a so-called host-and-parasite relationship, there is a cooperative process. Fleas, for example, actually help increase circulation, and constantly comb animal’s hair. At minute levels they also consume some bodily wastes, and creatures even smaller than they are. On the other hand, they can cause a lot of discomfort for animals too. Not only that, but they can become a nuisance in the home too, as they can spread. They are tiny creatures, so they aren’t very noticeable, but sometimes you might be able to see them bouncing from one place to another. It’s not a great thought. With this being said, if this is something that you are currently noticing in your home (after your pet had fleas), it may be worth speaking to pest control experts  (or one closer to where you live) to help you get rid of these pests and allow you to take control of your home once again!

Many diseases are actually health-promoting processes. Chicken pox, measles, and other like diseases in childhood in their own way “naturally inoculate” the body, so that it is able to handle other elements that are a part of the body and the body’s environment.

Let’s get back to fleas. They also keep the immune system active and flexible. While we’re on the topic of fleas, no one wants them to invade their homes. This is where the services of professionals such as a pest control company to help eliminate the problem before it gets any worse.

When civilized children are medically inoculated against such diseases, however, they usually do not show the same symptoms, and to an important extent the natural protective processes are impeded. Such children may not come down with the disease against which they are medically protected, then — but they may indeed therefore become “prey” to other diseases later in life that would not otherwise have occurred.

I am speaking generally here, for remember that our individual beliefs, thoughts, and emotions cause our reality, so no person dies ahead of his or her time. The individual chooses the time of death. It is true, however, that many cancers and conditions such as AIDS result because the immunity system has been so tampered with that the body has not been allowed to follow through with its own balancing procedures.

Again, however, no individual dies of cancer or AIDS, or any other condition, until they themselves have set the time.

There are many other conditions to be taken into consideration, for such diseases certainly do have strong social connections. They occur in social species. This does not mean that they are necessarily contagious at all, but that they do bear an overall relationship to the give-and-take between individuals and their social and natural frameworks.

Continued social interaction during one of the biggest global pandemics that there has ever been, the coronavirus outbreak of 2020 has already seen thousands upon thousands of deaths worldwide. Not only can it have a detrimental impact on an individual’s health, but it can also have devastating consequences on the economy, and small businesses in particular. To combat this, the President of the United States of America has signed a relief bill of $2 trillion to help give smaller and medium-sized businesses the opportunity to continue moving forwards. You can read more on the Works Coronavirus articles.

A city might be overrun by rats, for example — a fine situation for the rats if not the populace — but the entire picture would include unrest in the populace at large, a serve dissatisfaction with social conditions, feelings of dejection, and all of those conditions together would contribute to the problem. Rat poison may indeed add its own dangers, filling other small birds or rodents, and contaminating animal food supplies. Nor are insects invulnerable to such conditions, in such an hypothesized picture. Actually, all forms of life in that certain environment would be seeking for a balanced return to a more advantageous condition.

We may wonder why so many forms of life would be involved in what might seem to be self-destructive behavior, often leading to death — but remember that no consciousness considers death an end or a disaster, but views it instead as a means to of continuation of corporeal and non-corporeal existence.

I am not advising my blogs readers to refuse to have their children vaccinated, since we now have vaccination into consideration because of the prominence of it in society. It is very possible, however, that science itself will in time discover the unfortunate side effects of many such procedures, and begin to reevaluate the entire subject.

It is true that some native populations — particularly in the past — were free of many of the childhood diseases that are considered natural by western medicine. It is also true, of course, that some primitive societies have lost large numbers of their populations to disease. Some of those instances, however, were caused precisely by the sudden introduction of western medicine.

I am not condemning western medicine per se, however, but merely pointing out its many detrimental aspects. Medicinal science is also in a state of transition, and it is just as important — if not more so — that it examine its concepts as well as its techniques. Take for example the recent explosion of medical cannabis and the industry, in not only the United States, but the potential reform of the social perception on cannabis worldwide even after thousands of years of recorded medical benefit and usage. No one, and I mean no one has the slightest clue as to how using this medicine in the way we are now, is going to affect the human race in the years to come, whether it be detrimental or advantageous to our evolution. Either way, if you find THC and CBD products to be of positive affect to your current health, look at cbd MD discount codes so you can start saving money on your medicine.

The idea of using animals for experimentation has far more drawbacks than advantages; there is the matter of one kind of consciousness definitely taking advantage of another kind, and thus going counter to nature’s cooperative predisposition.

In the distant past some ancient civilizations did indeed use animals in such a fashion, but in a far different framework. The doctors or priests humbly stated their problems verbally and through ritualistic dancing, and then requested the help of the animal — so that the animals were not sacrificed, in those terms, nor taken advantage of. Instead, they united in a cooperative venture, in which animals and man and woman all understood that no consciousness truly died but only changed its form.

Animals have indeed often been quite helpful to man and woman in various healing situations and encounters, but in all such cases these were cooperative ventures.

This leads me of course to at least mention here that cruel methods used in the slaughtering of animals and fowls for human consumption. The creatures are treated as if they possessed no feeling or consciousness of their own — and such attitudes show a most unfortunate misreading of natural events. As a direct result, at least as many diseases develop through such procedures as would exist in a highly primitive society with unsanitary conditions.

In that kind of setting, however, balances would right the themselves because the basic understanding between living creatures would be maintained. We cannot divorce philosophy from action, and the cruelty in slaughterhouses would not be perpetrated if it were not for distorted philosophies dealing with the survival of the fittest on the one hand, and the egotistical assumption that God gave man and woman animals to do with as man and woman wished.

Remember that each segment of life is motivated by value fulfillment, and is therefore always attempting to use and develop all of its abilities and potentials, and to express itself in as many probable ways as possible, in a process that is cooperatively — correction: in a process that takes into consideration the needs and desires of each other segment of life.

The very existence of certain kinds of viruses provides safety against many other diseases, whether or not those viruses even exist in an active manner. It is obvious, of course, that the overall physical stability of the earth is possible because of the ever-occurring storms, “natural disasters,” and other seeming calamities. Yet such events promote the earth’s great, bountiful food supplies, and serve to redistribute the plant’s resources.

In the same fashion, disease also, in the overall picture, promote the health and well-being of life in all of its aspects. Value fulfillment operates within microbes and nations, within individual creatures and entire species, and it unites all of life’s manifestations so that indeed creatures and their environments are united in an overall cooperative venture — a venture in which each segment almost seeks to go beyond itself in creativity, growth, and expression. In a smaller, individual framework, each man and woman, then is motivated by this same value fulfillment.

We will shortly see how diseases are caused by the detriments set up against value fulfillment, often because of fears, doubts, or misunderstandings — and how other diseases may actually lead to instances of value fulfillment that are misread or misinterpreted.

I also want to stress here that all aspects of life experience not only sensations but emotional feelings. Therefore, there is a kind of innate gallantry that operates among all segments of life — a gallantry that deserves our respect and consideration. We should have respect, then, for the cells of our body, the thoughts of our mind, and try to understand that even the smallest of creatures shares with us the emotional experience of life’s triumphs and vulnerabilities.

Quackery In The Majority Of Medical Circles

There are many large issues that touch upon the circumstances involving the health of individuals, and these concern questions that we have not yet discussed in any of my blogs.

They will indeed be covered in later blogs, but for now we will only be concerned with them in a general way. They are more divorced from ordinary medical thought, and would indeed be considered sheer quackery in the majority of medical circles.

The fact is that each individual lives many lives, and that the inner self is quite aware of its own spiritual and physical dexterity. The body consciousness alone understands that its physical existence in any one life is dependent upon its physical death — and that that death will assure it of still another existence. The “drive for survival” is, therefore, a drive that leads to death and beyond it, for all of consciousness understands that it survives through many forms and conditions.

Reincarnation, therefore, also is part of the larger framework in which any individual’s health and well-being must be considered. The reincarnational influences are most apparent in what would be considered bodily defects dating from birth, and these will be discussed later on in my blog. Injuries or bodily defects at birth could happen due to many earthly reasons like medical malpractice or negligence (visit the website to know how lawyers can help in these cases) on the part of doctors and the medical team at the facility of birth. While it must be understood that the possibility of medical oversight is often rare, the idea of reincarnation is something that is often believed to be true – a form of karmic retribution. In the following excerpts, we shall see how these reincarnational ideas have shaped our identity and thought as the human race.

Reincarnational influences are not nearly as rigid as many believers in the concept think. That is, reincarnational influences usually leave many options to an individual in any case. It is quite simplistic, for example, to say, as some people do, that any given particular event from a past life leads inevitably to a particularly matching effect in a present one. There are too many other elements that also apply to the human personality. No one is”fated” to have bad health. No one is punished in one life for “evil” activities in a previous one.

A person who has been cruel in one life may choose to experience conditions in the next life in which he or she understands the meaning of cruelty, but this does not mean that such a person would then necessarily experience an entire lifetime as a victim.

New learning would always be involved, and thus new options would always be open. There as, in fact, so many distorted ideas connected with the concept of reincarnation in general, that I think it far better to simply concentrate upon the idea of multiple existences. Because of the true nature of time, and the interrelationships of consciousness, a future life affects a past one, for in actuality all of these existences happen simultaneously. All systems are open-ended, particularly psychological ones. In greater terms, we are working “at all levels” and at all of our own existences at once, even though it is useful sometimes to think of reincarnation as a series of lives, one after the other.

The concept of the survival of the fittest has had a considerably detrimental effect in many areas of human activity — particularly in the realm of medical ideology and practice.

The whole idea was developed in the most mechanistic of terms, stressing competition among all aspects of life, pitting one life form against another, and using physical strength and dexterity, swiftness and efficiency, as the prime conditions for the survival of any individual or species.

It is quite true, however, that in the wild many animals protect and provide for wounded or disabled members, and that the wisdom that comes with age is indeed appreciated even in the animal kingdom. The survival of the fittest concept, however, has been exaggerated far above those of cooperation.

Politically as well as medically, such distortions have led to unfortunate conditions: Aryan-supremacy biological ideas fostered in the second world war, the concentration upon “the perfect body,” and other distortions. The idea of the ideal body has often been held up to the populace at large, and this often sets forth a stylized “perfect” physique that actually could be matched by few individuals. Any variations are frowned upon, and any birth defects considered in the most suspicious of lights. Some schools of thought, then, have it that only the genetically superior should be allowed to reproduce, and there are scientists who believe that all defects can be eradicated through judicious genetic planning.

As a result of such long-held theories, people have grown distrustful of their own bodies. The handicapped are often given messages, even by the medical profession, that make them feel like misfits, unworthy to survive. When people become ill, they often blame themselves in such a way that unnecessary guilt is the result.

In the past some religious groups have also promoted beliefs that illness is a sign of God’s punishment, or vengeance for sins committed against his “goodness.”

The same beliefs often spread in economic areas in which people who met pleasure in God’s eyes were therefore gifted with wealth and prosperity, as well as good health. Therefore God was seen to be on the side of those who competed most strenuously, so that to be poor or sick was almost seen as a sign of God’s disfavor. All such concepts appear in one form or another at most official levels of thought and education. The whole idea of the esthetics of nature is forgotten — a subject that we will touch upon further as we continue our discussion in future blogs.

This blog consists of a potpourri of different ideas — merely to hint at the multitudinous issues connected with health and well-being.

Our ideas about ourselves are again, vital in the larger context of a healthy life. Everyone takes care of their health in different ways. Some visit heart specialists (from clinics like https://cvgcares.com/) for regular checkups and to lead a healthy lifestyle, while others tend to look for holistic and self-care methods of healing. If you want to explore some alternative methods of doing this, you can see them here. Moreover, the condition of our heart is affected, for example, by our own feelings about it. If we consider oneself to be coldhearted, or heartless, those feelings will have a significant effect upon that physical organ. If we feel broken-hearted, then we will also have that feeling reflected in one way or another in the physical organ itself.

Obviously, as I mentioned earlier, each individual also has many options open. Everyone who feels brokenhearted does not die of heart failure, for example. The subject of health cannot be considered in an isolated fashion, but must be seen in that greater context that gives health itself a value and a meaning. As mentioned earlier, each person will also try to fulfill their own unique abilities, and to “fill out” the experience of life as fully as possible.

If an individual is hampered in that attempt strongly and persistently enough, then the dissatisfaction and frustration will be translated into a lack of physical exuberance and vitality. There is always an unending reservoir of energy at the command of each person, however, regardless of circumstances, and we will also discuss the ways in which we can learn to tap that source and better our own health situation.

The sooner we can rid ourselves of rigid beliefs about the survival of the fittest, the better we will be. All philosophies that stress the idea of the body’s impurity or degradation should also be seen as detrimental to bodily and spiritual integrity. Such beliefs clutter up our conscious mind with negative suggestions that can only frighten the exterior ego and impede the great strength and vitality that is our heritage from lending us the fullest possible strength and support.

In later blogs we will indeed discuss various methods of healing, conventional and unconventional. Medical technology alone, however expert, cannot really heal a broken heart, of course. Such a healing can only take place through understanding and through expressions of love. In other words, through emotional transplants rather than physical ones alone. The emotional factors are extremely vital, both in the development in the healing of all dis-eases.

We will not stress particular diseases in my blogs, and mention symptoms only to identify the case associated with such conditions. It is actually far more important that we stress the symptoms of health and those methods, beliefs, and healings that promote them.

The Body And Mind As A Continuing Process

In my blogs, I want my readers to look at body and mind in a different fashion.

Do not think of the mind as a purely mental entity, and of the body as purely physical one. Instead, think of both mind and body as continuing, interweaving processes that are mental and physical at once. Our thoughts actually are quite as physical as our body is, and our body is quite as nonphysical as it seems to us our thoughts are. We are actually a vital force, existing as a part of our environment, and yet apart from our environment at the same time.

It is obvious that we impress a room with our characteristics as we furnish it, but we also mark what seems to be empty space in the same fashion — that is, we turn empty space into the living matter of our body without ever realizing that we do so. Our health and the daily weather interact with each other. This happens on a personal and mass basis. I admit that some of this material quite contradicts our usual ideas, but the health of our body is intimately related not only to the state of world health, but to the physical climate as well.

We do not “catch” a drought. We do not catch a cold, either. In a fashion a drought is partially caused by the emotional states of the people who experience it — yet a drought is not a disease. It is part of a process. It is a necessary portion of the larger process of the world’s physical stability. As unfortunate as a drought might seem, it is in its way responsible for the balanced proportion of moisture of the entire planet’s surface. In the same way diseases in their fashion are also often parts of larger processes whose greater purpose is the body’s overall balance and strength.

My thoughts go buzzing

through time’s corridors,

winging their way

 through the sunny hours,

dipping into shaded corners,

sipping sweet honeycombs

of desire, slipping through

golden keyholes

and flying free past

the meadows of eternity.

I bid them a safe journey

as they travel ahead

of me, for one day I will

surely follow.

In any case, magic is everywhere in the operation of our body, and in the operation of the world.

My definition of magic is this: Magic is nature unimpeded, or magic is life unimpeded. It is true that our thoughts and emotions and beliefs form the reality that we experience — but it is also true that this creative construction is, in a manner of speaking, magically formed. That is, the construction of our body and the construction of a world are produced with the greatest combination of order and spontaneity — an order and spontaneity that seems hidden rather than apparent.

We think, for example, without consciously knowing how we do so, and we speak long sentences without consciously being aware at the beginning of the sentence what the conclusion will be.

This does not mean that we must forever remain in ignorance, but it does mean that there are different kinds of knowledge, and that all of our information does not come by reasoning alone. We grew from a fetus into an adult, for instance, so obviously some part of us does know how to perform such an amazing activity as the growth and care of the physical body. The reasoning mind alone, however, cannot by itself grow even the smallest cell, or activate the life of even one molecule, yet the growth and maintenance of the body is constant.

The same hidden ability that promotes our body’s health and vitality also fulfills and preserves the world in general. All of this is done playfully, and yet emerges with the greatest display of order and design.

When we become too serious we overwork our intellect and tire our body, for then it seems that our entire life depends upon the reasoning of our intellect alone. Instead, of course, our intellectual abilities are supported and promoted by the inner mixture of spontaneity and order that so magically combine to form both our reality and the reality of the world.

The Nail Consciousness On The Window Sill

All creatures are born with a keen sense of self-approval.

 

Each creature is born proud of itself, and loving itself. That same self-approval is also experienced in varying ways not only by creatures as we think of them, but also by atoms and molecules, and by all orders of matter.

 

Imagine a nail on a window sill endowed with consciousness and self-awareness. Now every nail is indeed in its own way responsive to stimuli. It acts and reacts. A nail may not choose to jump down from a window sill and dance about the room, but a nail is indeed aware of the room, of the window sill, and aware of the temperature on both sides of the window. The atoms and molecules that compose the nail possess their own lively consciousnesses. Their motion is directed by electrons, so that within itself the nail actually experiences constant motion. Indeed, a dance is executed of great symmetry and rhythm. The nail, then is, indeed filled with its own sense of self-approval.

I am mentioning this only to stress the fact that self-delight and self-approval are natural characteristics — characteristics that actually make our entire physical world, and world of experience, possible.

It is very unfortunate, therefore, when adults inadvertently undermine a child’s sense of self-approval. A small boy or girl might be caught in a lie, for example, and therefore labeled by an adult in the angriest of terms as a liar. Instead, a distinction should be made: the child made an error — he lied — but he himself or herself is not the error or the lie. He or she can then determine to change his or her behavior while still saving his or her self-respect.

All creatures are basically of good intent; even when they commit the most dubious of acts, these are usually caused by a misdirected good intent. Actually, many criminals are motivated by distorted versions of righteousness. We will have more to say about this in later blogs, but for now I want to stress the importance of self-approval in connection with exuberance, health, and well-being.

Trust in the body automatically quickens all healing processes. You only have to take my words to heart.

Once again, it is perfectly natural for each cell in the body, for each organ and each portion of the body to heal itself, and in the same terms it is really “unnatural” not to trust the body, rather than looking at it with suspicion.

In any case, trust alone relaxes all other parts of the body, and lets the healing processes operate more easily and efficiently.

It is indeed unfortunate that those beliefs that show themselves so simply and effectively in nature seem so mysterious to the usual line of official consciousness.

The official line does have its role, of course — but by itself it must remain isolated from deep, creative, healing functions of body consciousness. The official line of consciousness is really the “worrier,” because it recognizes that it can only go so far, and usually it is not educated enough to realize it is itself sustained and supported.

There are styles of thinking, just as there are various styles of dress.

The official line of consciousness is a certain mental stance, a kind of convention. When we were children we thought in a freer fashion, but little by little we were educated to use words in a certain way. We discovered that our needs were met more quickly, and we received approval more often, when we thought and spoke in that particular manner. Finally it seems to be the only natural mode of operation. Our entire civilization is built around that kind of inner framework. The way of thinking becomes so automatic as to be mentally invisible. With creative people, however, there are always intrusions, hints or clues from ways of thinking that certainly appear foreign, and creative people use those hints and clues to construct an art, a musical composition or whatever. They sense a surge of power beneath.

What we are trying to do is change over completely from one mode of operation to another, and to construct say, new inner blocks of meaning that will give rise to the next era.

What we are involved in then is really. of course, a completely new educational procedure, so that we are at least able to distinguish one style of thought from another, and therefore be freer to make choices.

When an idea for a blog comes to me, I “tune into it” immediately. It never occurs to me to wonder how many vowels or syllables, words and sentences or paragraphs night be involved. I take it for granted that my intent will be executed.

That is the natural, creative way to function, and it has provided me with many excellent blogs and poetry. When I am writing I do not think in terms of impediments. What impediments there may be, I brush aside.

Now our health can be handled in the same fashion, without wondering how many nerves or muscles or stages must be activated, without worrying about how much time will be involved. In a fashion the body is a living blog, being produced in every moment.

Again, it may seem too simple — but by applying the same methods to the body, the body’s health will be written with health and vitality, using blood and corpuscles, joints and ligaments and so forth instead of syllables, consonants, words and sentences.

Specifically, I wanted to make the point that the body’s actions are unfortunately often misread and misunderstood. The body often clears out, or tries out, its own processes — perhaps by being feverish for several days, and then by lowering the temperature once unwanted materials are burned out, so to speak.

It may store urine to retain minerals at one time, and urinate seemingly to excess in another. When the body is basically held in distrust, however, all such behavior is considered dangerous and suspect.