Recent discussions on the Swedenborg thread have got me thinking.  It is said that when the physical body falls away, what is left is our consciousness; our thought and emotional state tied in with it.  While incarnate on earth, we can, to some extent both lie to ourselves and to others in order to "fit in" to society.  Thus, people put on masks, and try to achieve common earthly goals and live in a society together.  In general the agreed on goals are usually written out for the common good, and societal laws are created.  However, man as a single focus of consciousness is a complex creature living with his fellow men, and obeying these laws.  His inner tendencies may be to agree with some of the laws and disagree with others, yet to coexist, he follows them all.  

In spirit, it is said that all masks fall off.  One does not hide one's true nature in spirit, as it is readily apparent.  This is an unusual concept for those of us incarnate on earth, for our thoughts appear to be our own.  Insincere people can speak with forked tongues, and no one is the wiser on earth.  In spirit, many sources have said this simply is not so.  As such, a man/woman in spirit finds their place willingly, without wearing their masks of civility on earth.  Like attracts like both in spirit and in the physical plane.  

Understanding the above brings me to interesting ideas and questions of what is true spiritual growth and learning.  On the one hand, in the physical plane, learning may be thought of as the rational understanding of a concept.  This may pass the muster here in the physical plane, but not, in my opinion in the spiritual.  There is an emotional honest response in all of us that is either loving, or unloving.  Giving or selfish.  True spiritual growth is, in my opinion, the rising of the human consciousness so that our natural instinctive emotional responses are toward love and God.  This is, by its very nature different than the growth of learning in universities, or schools in the physical world. It is more than just the use of the rational mind and memorization.

A man or woman may understand the concept of the golden rule "do not do unto others that which you would not wish have done to yourself," and yet, when given the opportunity when no one is looking, they may break this rule.  So, spiritual growth is more than just understanding of a concept.  A person may be very learned in the major religions of the world, may give to charitible organizations, yet how do they act, when thrown into a spontaneous situation to be loving or callous?  This is the true test of spiritual learning, and it may be the reason why we are here.

At first glance it appears that human beings can put on these masks, act one way while feeling another.  Yet individuals who live this lie here on earth are seldom happy people.  Through the law of attraction, and the laws of mind, our lives reveal to us the basic structure of karma, of cause and effect and the golden rule.  The closer we come to walking the walk of a loving life (as Don and I spoke of in his Swedenborg thread), the more complete and happier we become.

Hells are created from the indulgence of our basest gratifications at the cost of harm to others.  Seen in this light, with the law in spirit of "like attracts like," it is no wonder when after our masks fall off in death, those who indulged in harm of others seek out afterlife realms that suit them in spirit, without being condemned to these realms by some external judge or jury.

In summary, I believe that true spiritual learning comes not from an earthly rational understanding of right and wrong, or even the concept of PUL (love).  Rather, we have truly learned in spirit if our natural and emotional tendency is to act lovingly - not for show or brownie points, but because in spirit it is what we FEEL we should do.  Perhaps life on earth is meant to show us this.

Matthew

Hi Matthew-
I agree with what you say. Modern religious activities seem to be the place we go to have our masks shined and cleaned, but it's our wholly private spiritual interests and meditation that brings insights, and seems to be where we go to create actual change.

dave

Hi Doc

This thread moved me as it is something that I've been thinking of lately. 

Its only been in the last few months, and particularly made clear to me after attending a Caroline Myss workshop, that some of my actions may have been because I wanted people to see how "good" I was.  This has only come with harsh introspection as I can always justify and rationlise my actions.  By this I mean that I explained to friends how I was changing my life and the way I behaved and more often then not they always told me how much they admired me.  I would then explain that I wasn't telling them this because I wanted any admiration, I was telling them this because I hoped that my "message" would get through.  However, one day I decided to really look at this behaviour and realised that - yes, of course, I loved it that I was being admired.   

It took a Caroline Myss workshop to make me realise that to truly be in touch with myself and to truly live "in Spirit" I needed to work on myself, for myself and no one else AND I didn't need to tell anyone what I was doing or how I was was doing it.   

I'll explain this better.  I practice Reiki and seem to be very effective - and, of course, I loved telling these stories to friends.  Part of what CM said was that we didn't need to let anyone know what we do, e.g. if one felt that someone needed some loving or if we could offer healing we needn't tell them that we were laying our hands on them to heal them, all we needed to do was touch them and talk to them - about anything whatsoever - but place intention that they receive healing for whatever they need and leave it at that.  When I heard this it was like I'd been whacked in the head.  No more admiration?  No more adoration?  No one even knowing what I do?  Boy, that was difficult but I realised that that was the true way for me to grow in Spirit - no one needed to know - this was between myself and my HS/Spirit.  No more showing how loving I am, or how much I've grown - just for brownie points.   

As you'd know, this is pretty difficult sometimes as I, and I'm sure most of us, have a tendency to want to share with others how much we've grown.  But by the same token, I now have to examine WHY I want to share this "good news".   

I now believe that the way, for me, to true spiritual learning is to perhaps do a harsh introspection or a more honest introspection as to some of my actions.   

Thanks for starting this thread, Doc.

With love and Gratitude
Irene

To agree and add some more.

Most spiritual traditions seem to teach that things broadly way you guys have set it out. Realisation amounts to dropping the mask to live as we truly are. And the interesting (and truly wonderful) bit is that once the mask is dropped what's left is wisdom and compassion, and all that entails in terms of loss of self, love of/integration with God, and in fact 100% unconditioned awareness of all realities and so on. And no original sin!

Some traditions talk of it being 'as the clouds obscure the sun'. The sun is always shining behind the clouds, even on a rainy day. So that when we act other than out of love and compassion it's ALWAYS  the result of ego (the clouds), and the resulting delusion.

The old ego is a pretty stealthy proposition to get past though. Especially since large chunks of it seem to reside with our 'collective'.

Intellectual knowledge as you've said is not the same as realisation, but it's a step on the path. The progression is commonly spoken of (put in my own crude langauge)  as instinctive man (dominated by instinct and simplistic perceptions), intellectual man (who now knows better on at least what he/she's learned, but as a result of tension between knowledge and instinct struggles to live it), intuitive man (who in addition to intellectual knowing starts to connect with deeper heart realities, and starts to truly know intuitively  - but  still struggles to integrate and live the two) and finally realised (or getting there) man who increasingly seamlessly blends intellect and intuition to live PUL.

Who by this stage is incapable of being/doing anything else, because the tension between self interest and the higher knowing/feeling has gone -  he/she has become wisdom and compassion. (PUL)

This is actually a more mystical interpretation of the meaning of Jacob's ladder. Richard Rose was  good on this and what this progression means in practice http://www.richardroseteachings.com/, as was Gurdjieff.

A final thought on Doc's point about our self selecting hell realms in life and the afterlife. The tough bit about this is arguably that we're always surrounded by compassionate beings prepared to reach down to give us a hand up - they don't hold anything against us, or seek to punish us.

It's our own ego that finds us attracted towards people and beings that reinforce its values system and beliefs. It's the resulting selective perception that causes us to see 'good' as unattractive, that keeps us locked in the goldfish bowl and refusing opportunities for improvement.

It's as a result sometimes said that we almost need to have a self destructive strand running through us to be open to the spiritual path....

Thanks for the replies.

Roger,

Your question gets to the heart of the discussion.  And my intuition has been telling me that our consciousness in spirit (nonphysical plane) is based more on a gestalt or a hybrid emotional/intellectual state than on a rational earthly gameplan.  Our innate desires/talents are clues to what our spirit feels it needs to explore while incarnate.  How do we incarnate with no memory of the grand cosmic plan, but set out on a spiritual path in the world?  Maybe by being born with these innate personality traits.  The truer we are to our spiritual/emotional goals, the happier/more fulfilled we become.  The converse is also true.  The further we stray, the more unhappy we are. 

Many who speak of the laws of attraction (Hicks, for example) talk of using our emotions as guides.  We tend to recognize emotions (anger, fear) but rarely gain insight into how we attract negative emotions and situations to ourselves.

I doubt whether we will solve the true nature of consciousness in our discussion.  However, more and more I have come to see that rationality is a tool of the spirit, but pure logic....pure use of the rational, rarely gets us into profound insights into our true nature.

Matthew

this thread goes along with my thought that life is a movie, and we don roles according to our character patterns.
Bets said something striking about we can live our afterlife right now. this is where I'm at. there is what Doc calls empathy, and we develop it, it's either a discernment ability or a sensitivity to life, Bruce would probably call it compassion, or the open heart.
for sure, honesty is a no brainer on the other side as we are constantly flashing our true colors over there, its like your shadow, you can't get away from your shadow.
and thats ok, because people actually like honesty, as long as its not meant to get one upmanship over the other.
in this day and ages of changes and growth I have noticed people reading my mind, strangers on the street are saying messages to me; they are picking up my thoughts and answering them and I didn't verbalize. so lol, I don't have to say a word, my words come back to me from others! must be our oneness on spirit levels, or comes a point honesty just happens and we are happier for it.

its an exciting time to be living in, I plan on enjoying myself. love, alysia

NVC, non verbal communication? well, glad somebody put a name on it, makes it less scary.
do u have a story for me about it, would appreciate it.
heres one happened yesterday and thats why I mentioned it, but its happened a lot in the past year especially.

was walking across a busy intersection of pedestrians in san diego, me and daughter.
when ever she goes shopping she gets fearful of spending money, she feels out of control so we shop together but she can end up trying on a lot of things and then just walking out of the store with nothing. she has a very well paying job now too.

so she was feeling fearful of her limitations. while I stood beside her thinking how courageous I was to come downtown with her as I am avoiding crowds due to I pick up energies a lot that I have to clear, and yes, a thought can make you tired, as well it may not even be your own thought, but anothers. or a feeling attached to the thought.

but I am out growing fear of crowds to face it head on, so I was watching my feet and balanced so to speak between love and fear. A man brushed by us, looked at us both and said "Don't be scared!"

ahh, weird. my daughter asked me what he said. I had heard it too, but he had said it so fast, and like he wasn't conscious he said it. he must have been tuned into either me or my daughter. as I was being courageous. but behind the courage body language speaks also and I sometimes move thru a crowd like I'm alice in wonderland, nothing wrong with that as I accept myself, first rule of thumb!

life is an unfolding adventure and basically we are spirit passing through and spirit speaks through everybody after awhile.

love, alysia

Vajra said:
Either way i'm not sure why this it's happening. Maybe I'm missing something, or supposed to make a deeper connection, or whatever.
___

my opinion this is correct, the deeper connection. isn't it human nature anyway to be always asking what is the deeper meaning? I'd say not to shut down what is coming in our field as a surprise communication.
but then maybe you would be looking for our oneness? what better way to surprise yourself like this.
it's like everyone you meet is supposed to be there. even people I hire to do an odd job, its like we've known each other before. then they will sometimes confide they dreamed and I was in the dream, and its supernatural to them, but to me I'm used to getting the dreams of future meetings.
then if they start looking at you like you're a ghost, be careful, they easily get the wrong idea. remember the burning of witches, it was because these others were different, not that they were better, more powerful, just that they were different. but now everyone is experiencing the shift to some degree and its all just a movie with basically no plot anymore, but its entertaining and I'm grateful. gratitude for these little encounters, a chance to brighten up another's day, really brightens up my own.  gratitude can be cultivated.  intellect has its place, enjoying the show causes gratitude.
happy shifting everyone, maybe theres a welcome balance there somewhere.