What a lovely little title it is, "the light of truth", and indeed it is a light. It will light up your existence with a deeper understanding, and your perception and knowledge of spirit will illuminate your life with a brightness hitherto unknown. Most people are searching for their version of the truth, as they wander through life. It is the subconscious yearning to be reunited with God, that compels an individual to keep on searching. It is the wonder of it all, that glimpse of heaven, that gives the individual the boundless energy to keep on looking. Ultimately, there is only one truth, but while you are still incarnate, you will only ever get an approximate version of it, all in accordance with your standards of acceptance, your level of understanding. What would be the point of knowing a truth, which was totally beyond your comprehension? It would have no practical use whatsoever. Everything that has ever happened to you, all the words you ever spoke, every thought, every deed done, will reflect your truth in the here and now and will have shaped your reality right up to this point.
There are so many people, religious or otherwise, who will insist that they alone know all the answers. They can be very closed off to differing opinions or arguments and are very unbending in their views of the world and spirit. Off course they have a valid point, but that kind of attitude will just not get the job done. It is a type of spiritual snobbery, which you should try to avoid at all costs, if you value your progress. Quite honestly, no religious organisations and faiths, no gurus, cults and all the myriads of colourful sects and spiritual pathways will be in possession of all the facts. If these truths was indeed buried within some religious text or scripture, if it was that self evident and easy to obtain, then the majority of the population would know by now. This media-driven world would see to it, especially if these facts were recoverable without much effort. Since the world is still at war, now more then ever, it is obvious that the truth has so far eluded them. Just the same, it is fair to say, that many of them will have a part of the truth, but that is all. Also, the truths of God are a different kettle of fish compared to the beliefs of man, and that is something to be considered. Never be browbeaten into accepting somebody else's beliefs. This really is counter productive and serves no actual purpose. Believe me when I tell you, that once you pass over to the other side, your ideas of the truth are entirely different to when you was in the flesh. There has to be an augmentation of your awareness to be able to encompass a more accurate version of the truth. Since your journey back to the Godhead is infinite, the ultimate truth is an ideal. You must find your truth's at your own pace, there is no hurry, after all you have got all eternity.

There really are no quick fixes or all encompassing revelations. All truths will speak to your soul and can even be on a level that does not require words. In this world, words are sometimes not equal to the power of emotions to convey a message to it's fullest depth. The most marvelous thing is, that all truths will eventually blend together to form a light that shows you the path back to god. Self examination is a tried and tested method which can show you the way. Most spiritual path's require that you find the time to examine yourself, to find out just where you stand in the scheme of things. Your shortcomings may make themselves known, which can have quite a sobering effect on you, but it is a process worthy of your sincerest efforts, since the results speak for themselves. Open yourself up to the possibility of becoming the best human being you are capable of becoming in this lifetime. This is entirely achievable. Be aware, focus and try to manifest a better reality, help your fellow man, be charitable and you will undeniably find truth. Entities on the other side are aware of your progress and are always ready to assist you. Truth is a fringe benefit for living an altruistic life. Trust in that.

Hi Doc-

I'm still on Lucy's side here. The point I made is that we are utterly and totally unable to "get out of the bag". This is simply because there is no viewpoint from which we can perceive our own selves.

As an example, I am looking outward at what I take to be the everyday world. I do that from a locus called "my viewpoint". The nature of me and that viewpoint are forever subjective. I cann't see myself. This seems to also be the formal consensus of social psychology. Around the late 1800s and early 1900s George Cooley suggested that we use life as a "looking glass", and that we develop a sense of "self" by our reflection in others' eyes. George Herbert Mead suggested that actually it was all done with the symbolic systems we use, because the symbolic system gives us a place to stash the idea of Self while I have a look at it. More recently, Peter Berger and Thomas Luckman proposed a transcendent phenomenology in which we  are self created, yet we still remain at the point of causality, and we acquire our defniition from the milieu of social events and the available roles that we select from them . And if we look back a while Emile Durkheim simply proposed that our nature is part of the "Conscience Collective" and thuis is part of a system of awareness that reflects our specific defiinition back upon us.  In none of these models has anyone been able to locate the "self" as other than a reflexive judgement.

Providing that I am satisfied to be an unknown self, all else can be known. Thus, as you say, my subjective model of my own universe is always a few bricks short.

What we can actually know is abstract information about what is both necessary and sufficient for a world like our to be generated ex nihilo.  This is like saying that the bisector of a parallelogram  creates opposite interior angles equal to a straight angle. This is Not a subjectively participatory awareness of the same type as sensing how you feel about rising gasoline prices. It is purely synthetic, and thus, although it may provide (if carried to the extreme) a valid and complete image, as is said of QM, it is still vicarious, and not direct.

While this type of thinking allows us to describe and speculate, we're still stuck with limited pereption. Using these ideas, if you consider the shape of your own "world space" at the business end of your worldline of manifestation, you'll notice that the historcal past has solidified, much as a crystal coheres, freezing all its relationships into an inert structure. At your sides you are flanked by the immediate conditions of existence, including impulses and tendencies that are sensed as motivating tendencies and forces, like gravity and hunger. In front you have only a sense of incoming data. That side is necessarily undefined because it is perpetually thrust forward into the unknown potential vector mesh of potential relationships and activities not yet realized. That is the subjective-objective interface. It always faces outward, away from you, so you can never get "out of the bag" to have a look at it. That means that we're stuck with syntheses of abstract data.

The yogi solves this by samadhi, becoming one with various levels of this universe, and eventually with the participatory and direct sensation of the "Cosmic Consciousness" (sarvastarka samadhi) which is still a subjective posture. Then the yogi meditates more deeply and reaches the participatory state of nirvastarka samadhi and locates the viewpoint within the nature of the initial creative Oneness, and discoveres that this too is still a subjective perspective. In the end, we are still and forever unable to get past our own subjective being. In fact, the only way out is to create a new universe and look back onto this one, in which case we still are subjectively limited.

The non-yogis actually appear to be destined to pass through the same perigrinations and epiphanies, but in a manner appropriate to their individual lifestyles, and with a degree of awareness limited to their level of spiritual development. To the non-yogi the abolity of the yogi to be in miraculous states seems supernatural and incanny, but that is purely an appearance.

Since nobody can ever get "out of the bag", such speculation is always based on opinion and is of a vicarious nature. According to the late Swami Sivananda, the dedicated yogi typically reaches this conclusion after about 6 months of intensive study. Then, having reached nirvastarka samadhi, the yogi returns to this life and practices being a good guy, or some such thing. Samadhi has only brought a maturity of perception and awareness, but not a view of the "world outside". Rather than creating miracles, samadhi merely points out where to look to find them.

Of course it's fun to play with kundalini, and many Tibetan exercizes mention ways to create and prolong bliss. There's a wonderful Sufi meditation where one enters the chamber of the heart and can bliss out for seemingly hours. The neo-theo-herbalist approach is to take a mind warper and change the location of the seat of awareness, so that new perceptions can be drawn. Then parallax allows analysis when these perceptions are compared to those of the normal state, but it's an external and subjective analysis. Thus these ideas are simply toys.

My fascination is with the topology, a vicarious analysis, of this space, with hopes that I can figure out enough of it to do therapy. It's darn good fun!

dave

Dear Kathy (Lights of Love),

Your posts are always characterized by the beauty of love & wisdom, you're clearly a thoroughly intuitive soul who is aware of the importance of your lightwork in this life and on your contribution to others around you, and I too, thank you for your posts and for your being.


Dear Matthew,

I would like again to say, "Thank you" with a "very much". My gratitude for your sincerity, outspokenness, kind and supportive words, goes beyond personal gratification.

I say this because (for others, eg. some of the readers), the willingness to speak out honestly and intelligently one's opinion on certain matters, will often be of important assistantial value (for others in their own self-learning process) that is usually not directly visible and thus understated.

I say this because (for myself and others in similar roles, as well as for the guides & helprs in general), whilst on the one hand we do not expect, require or hold attachment to any particular outcome, on the other hand because our intention is to assist, and if there are affirmative or positive indications in this regard, such as thanks and appreciation from others, it always goes a long way in giving further support not only in continuing along the successful assistantial path, but indeed to fuel the drive to work even harder, to do more, because of love (from others to self, and from self to others).

I say this because (for yourself, for everyone), the willingness of every individual to experience and exrpress appreciation, gratitude and love, goes a long way in connecting with and helping everyone else. The contribution of each individual through his/her experiences, intentions and thosenes (THOoughts, SENtiments, ENEergie) to the whole, the energetic impact on everyone else both extraphysical and intraphysical, is subject to many interconnective, dynamic, multiplicative and exponential processes, the bottomline being that every moment, every thought, every emotion, every action, every relationship, every life, is a sacred opportunity for the individual, to be respected and cherished.


Thank you, Matthew, and *all*.
Kyo

Dave,

You say you can't get out of the bag, so to speak.  Hmmmm....what exactly are you doing with hypnotherapy, but exploring outside of the bag?  When Bruce travels and sees his disk/soul group, isn't that a glimpse outside of the bag?

I do agree that it is hard to see ourselves, other than with sensory data and mirrors.  But the whole nature of our quest are the ineffable defining moments - epiphanies, that let us take a quantum step out of the bag of our present state and, however briefly know the universe.

Matthew

Dave,

I usually agree with you, but I must disagree about being unable to look out of the bag in a few ways.  As you know, objective evidence depends upon the observer.  What we feel is objective and reproducible may change depending on the position and variables of the observer.  There may be then no such thing as ultimate objective evidence.  

We can not see ourselves, but others can evaluate us.  We must talk about our sensory input and commonalities to describe what we say, but that is our nature.  Now, you may say that we can't truly observe outside of the bag, because interacting with each other is part of the observational process.  As you, my friend are fond of saying "BFD."

As spirits, our ultimate nature is pure perception or consciousness, unbound by bodies, egos, etc.  Perhaps defined only by love.  This nature may be appreciated while deep in meditation, or while visiting a forest, or mountain glen, or whatever does it for you (kama sutra, etc).  When one of the first astronauts was orbiting in space (I can't remember who, but he started the Noetic society), he described a feeling like this: his hands were pushing control buttons, but he suddenly felt like he was one with the universe, as if he WAS unified in thought and action with everyone and everything.  This is the epiphany that some like Don may experience in knowing God, and others experience in other ways.

Thus, I think it is a moot point to try to look outside a bag which can't be objectively done.  Objectivity is an illusion.  Subjectivity in terms of pure perception is the highest evolution of our souls.  When achieved, we stop looking for the outside of the bag, because we realize - there is no bag.


Matthew

Quote:


That's *exactly* how I would have put it, right down to the important last sentence. People get overly caught up with philosophical ideas and debates about "truth", "illusion", "objective" and "subjective".

Really, do any of these really matter? From the perspective of the individual soul, from the perspective of the Cosmos or God? Put in another way, what is it that *really* matters? What is it that we 'should' (ie. would be wiser to) focus our attention on?

The twin goals of existence for all beings, whether human or otherwise, remains as - Evolution (self-growth) and Assistantiality (helping others). It is intuitively obvious that these are certainly not separate goals, but are twin faces of the same coin - the coin of Oneness which recognizes self = others.

This twin-goal of existence, is summed up by the million dollar question which is invariably posed in some manner to every individual after his/her lifetime is over - "What have you learnt, and who have you helped?"

This is the verily the purpose of the existential program (ie. the planned objectives for every incarnated human lifetime, the purpose of one's life), which is worked out collaboratively by one's own soul or higher self, one's guides & helpers, and one's evolutionary orientor and other evolutionologists on the council of elders), whilst differing in details or specifics for every different individual, always revolves around the most productive, feasible and probable paths by which the individual may explore and achieve the maximum level of the twin goals of existence - that of Evolution (of self) and of Assistantiality (for others).


By far the most useful, helpful and productive consciential system by which to approach the spiritual, the philosophical, the metaphysical and the existential, and which is a recommended option for anyone asking themselves "How do I put all of these metaphysical principles into action in my life?", is the work of the International Academy of Consciousness (IAC) :

Click HERE to visit my webpage on the IAC;

or

Click HERE to visit the official website of the IAC.


In addition,  regarding the Hilarion Reading and channelings. It is easy to be suspicious of fraudulence whenever $$$ is involved. But do bear in mind that Jon C Fox is a full time engineer by profession, not a full time professional channeler, and if no nominal fee was required, there would be rampant abuse of this service, and a waste of his personal time.

And as to the validity of the Hilarion entity and channelings, after all that's hypothesized and argued, the bottomline is what you gain out of it, out of the Hilarion channelings, out of the personal Hilarion Reading. And to this, the results speak for themselves, for every individual who has read his channelings, or done the Reading. I've personally facilitated (as middleman for other people, the iteration of questions, the interpretation of Hilarion's words) over a dozen Hilarion Readings, and the relevance, accuracy, wisdom, clarity and quality of Hilarion's words has always been outstanding.

Check out the words of the  Quarterly Hilarion Channelings, and decide if you might ever want a Personal Hilarion Reading done for yourself.


Lastly, regardless of whether you might have resonated with your perception of the International Academy of Consciousness and with Hilarion, the work of Byron Katie, is strongly recommended for *everyone* :

http://infinity.usanethosting.com/Heart.Of.God/main.htm#ByronKatie

In my opinion, there is no other single work or book, that is as important (nay, vital!) for every individual on the planet to have and to learn, than the incredibly simple yet indescribably enlightening work (a quantum leap in karmic evolution, no less) that Byron Katie has given unto humanity.

Dave,

Your point is well taken, but I'm not sure where to go with it.  Still you are right the last posts from you, Kyo and myself bring up these complementary streams of thought.

I'd like to move on now in this thread of moral relativism to discuss right action.  What Kyo has labeled cosmoethical action.  When is it necessary to fight for a cause in the physical world?  For those of you who don't know, the Bagavad Gita is an ancient text about the warrior Arjuna, who is about to start a mighty battle.  He looks down at the hordes of his kinsman, and realizes at all the death and carnage that is about to occur, and the grief.  

The god Krishna comes down to him, just as Arjuna is losing heart, and urges him to fight.  The Gita is a dialogue between the lord krishna and Arjuna about the meaning of existence, and the reason Arjuna should fight for his earthly cause.  Many metaphysical concepts are discussed here, and it is worth a read in the English translation.  

World War II was often seen as a war against evil, as the Nazis had exterminated millions and were killing and expanding at an alarming rate.  At the time, it was questioned, how could so many people allow themselves to be exterminated in the gas chambers?  Should they have fought more against the Nazis?

If truth is relative, when are we compelled to fight, and possibly injure or kill another human being?  Of course there are only a few possible answers: never, in defense of life, or for a just cause.  

If you, Kyo were alive during the Nazi regime, would you have taken up arms?  Why or why not?  If I saw that type of injustice or a beating, murder or other brutality going on, I would like to think that I would jump in, and do my best to stop it.  This despite my knowledge that we may all be one, and that there may be no absolute good or evil.

What say you?

Matthew