Life Matters - E.C.Nemeth (most inspirational books of all time .txt) 📗

life is our joy.
If it were possible to change the rules in a computer game you might be able to pick and choose the rules, just like we do in this imaginary world we believe we exist in. That is why it is imaginary: it is not transferable. Each identity sits in judgment of their personal universe, deciding upon the meaning of events. But their conclusions are not the same as their neighbor's, and so they see conflict. Each inhabits their own personal universe where they imagine themselves alone and beset on all sides by forces bent on their destruction. And each believes the other has what is rightfully theirs. So do they justify their attack upon the other: they would not have been forced to go to war if the other had not robbed them of this precious possession to begin with. What is this priceless prize the other has stolen? That is kept a well guarded secret because, in fact, the stolen prize is the truth itself. Such a realization would destroy the entire premise of the false world and that is why it is kept secret: it is the most sacrosanct of all the ego’s tasks to keep the truth from the awareness of the perceiver.
It may sound ludicrous, this talk of the precious prize you are willing to murder your neighbor for. Of course it sounds ludicrous - it is! Yet consider this: if your neighbor is the Child of God, then why do you see a flawed mortal creature? And if you refuse to see the truth about your neighbor how would the image you hold of yourself differ from the truth? And what would you have to hide in order to keep such an image viable?
The secret must be externalized because the truth is in you and you don't want it! So you project this terrible, awful thing outward onto your neighbor. But the terrible thing is the truth, the most precious of prizes. Now, although you deny knowledge of it, you pine for it, all the while pretending you don’t know why. So it becomes the secret thing and the precious prize. You know intuitively that this prize is very valuable and worth any price. How much a stretch is it to contemplate murder on behalf of its recovery. Yet, on another level - you don’t want it. This is the crux of the psychological aspect of the illusion. On the one hand you want the prize at any price and on the other hand you do not want to actually possess the prize because you don’t want to know the truth.
Would you murder your neighbor for something you must have but do not want? Of course not. None of us would if we knew that was what we were doing. Still, to see a body and believe in death is the wish to murder fulfilled. Here is the point where a key realization might become evident. Let’s see.
If my neighbor has the truth I placed there purposely then my neighbor is holy. And since I placed it there, seeing it in my neighbor allows me to make it mine and realize that I am holy. So my neighbor is my savoir - literally, the Child of God!
This would be a miracle if doubt did not over-shadow it.
Lesson 38, for February 7, 2008, reads: There is nothing my holiness cannot do. What a statement. Even on the most superficial level it promises riches. Notice as well how the lesson is perfectly transferable to any situation . On deeper levels it even holds out hope for true transformation. The awareness of personal holiness blesses the world and in that state of grace anything is possible.
Yet when read in light of contemporary thought, the statement would mean a big win in the lottery, an unexpected inheritance or some other form of excessively lucrative boon. But that is not the prize. The truth is not a million dollars. The secret might be further concealed from someone by sudden largesse, but never would money be given in the name of truth as the truth.
On the other hand, money often finds its way to those in line with the truth. For the awareness that there is nothing my holiness cannot do also means my holiness can do anything. Once I am aware of that, I can choose any reality I wish to see. However, if I am aware of my holiness then I must also be aware of the Source of that Holiness. That awareness leads to another: God's will is mine. It is at this level that the choice of realities becomes a moot point, for reality is of God. Reality is not my choice, it is given to me by my Source, that I might be blessed. When I finally see that I am already rich in content, the form of the riches will matter very little. I will rest easy knowing it is enough.
Do then die
The title of this chapter is Fauna. Animals play a curious role in this make-believe world we think we have made real. They are our friends, our food, our enemies. They are pets, pests, laboratory test subjects and modes of conveyance. Some are cute and cuddly, while others are gross. Some make us sick and others make us healthy. We are one of them and yet set apart. We even wear them and make stuff out of them.
If this reality is an illusion then how do animals figure into the picture? What are animals, really?
It has been stated before that the external world is the portion of the inner world that has been projected outward. The external world is the truth we wish to deny. Therefore what we perceive as animals are portions of that truth. From our viewpoint some parts of that truth seem to be ferocious and savage, while other parts melt our hearts. There are also those parts of the truth we deny by projection that are virtually alien to our present mindset and other parts that go completely unseen for various reasons.
No longer rooted to the ground, unlike plants, animals seem even more separate, disconnected as they are from the earth. Yet the world of animals is in fact full of symbols of unification. The cells that make up each individual animal is but the first among the obvious clues to unity. There are other trans-species examples of unity as well such as the fact that life simply goes on in a continuous line, new life springing from already viable forms, never being extinguished and having to be recreated anew. So, although the context of unity is readily apparent in the arena of animals, there seems to be a more poignant and personal issue that rises to the fore. What is the role of the individual, the singular unit, the carrier of the code of life? No one individual animal seems to be important in terms of continuing the chain of life. Life, it seems, does not depend on the individual. And life will go on, even once the individual animal is dead and gone.
The issue of death becomes far more pertinent to an animal. The death of the individual is a fact. We see it all around us. There is no denying it and there is no avoiding it. Death will come for each of us. Each individual is allotted a certain time on earth to live and breath before succumbing in the end to entropy and death. This is the truth as we see it.
Now consider that, despite the inevitable death of everything, life goes on. What is this mysterious life-force that never dies but rides atop our own mortal lives, only to move on when we shed these mortal coils to find other lives to continue in? Why does life need death?
Contemporary thought would tell you that death is natural and necessary, allowing and providing room and raw material for new generations to use. It even seems logical that this is so, for otherwise life would overgrow its environment and eventually life itself would be extinguished. Yet this same worldview would maintain that life is ultimately futile because the environment it relies on will inevitably become inhospitable to it, albeit not for billions of years.
It is contemporary thinking to believe in the obvious superiority of death and the equally apparent fragility of life. Life might be a fantastic lesson in harmony and a monument to complication, as evidenced by the intricate design of its parts that nonetheless act as a single cohesive unit. Life might show amazing resilience and display impressive adaptive techniques to guarantee its survival in the face of even the harshest of environments. Life might have begun once long ago in ancient mud flats, spread to cover the globe and never been extinguished throughout its history. Life might be all these things and more, but ultimately life is always conquered by death.
There is a great discrepancy here that often goes unnoticed in the logical progression built upon the premise of life. Suddenly, just as we’re about to crown life as the obvious victor, death comes and spoils it. What does it matter how harmonious, intricate, cohesive, resilient, adaptive or long lived life in general is if in the end the individual must die?
We know that everything that has a beginning must have an end. And so we honor death and speak solemnly of our allotted time on earth. We watch the world around us for the signs, the proof of our inevitable doom. Death surrounds us, held at bay by a dirty sack of water, a bit of sinew and bone. And not only do we die but we age, slowly wearing ourselves out. We waste away. It could even be said that the individual begins to die at the moment of birth and dies a thousand deaths before succumbing to their final demise. Such is the contemporary viewpoint of life lived, if stripped of its attempt to compartmentalize experience.
If it were possible to compartmentalize experience it would be possible to limit experience to only pleasurable events. Yet if it were so then death would have to be defined as a pleasant experience for that would have to be one of the compartments. In other words, to speak of limiting experience is to deem some experience more valuable than others. In terms of reality, this would be equivalent to a belief that some experiences are more real than others.
To compartmentalize is to employ concepts as if they were pseudo-contextual. Does it make sense to separate in order to unify? True context has no limits since context in the purest sense must include everything. And in that inclusion all differences end, as do all limits. To compartmentalize experience is to perceive a difference where there is none. To conceptualize is to perceive form at the expense of content.
The choice is simple. One can either choose to perceive differences or to see similarities.
But in a world of forms, in a world of separate life forms, here on earth amongst the animals - to choose has become a choice between forms. And so our actions, totally irregardless of content, reinforce our concept of self, which is always a form of self-deception.
To deceive is to know the truth but to conceal it.
And if life as we think we are living it is an illusion, a deception, then death must end it eventually. Since our self-concept is not true we must at some point intersect with reality again, be reabsorbed by the truth and reacquainted with our source. The dream must end since it, too, had a beginning.
Hostage crisis
Truth is true! You need not die to truly live for this is a message of hope. Love unites us, and eternity