he, he. Betson. Maybe I am wrong, maybe not; maybe I speak true, maybe not. You don't know, so find out.

I've spent many years - this life I mean - in isolation, just for prayer and meditation, so I appreciate your point about isolated progress. I am in one of the most out of the way places on the planet, where nature is my companion. I am still secluded much of the time, but not so much as I was a couple of decades ago. My development in the so-called spiritual sense has been mostly solo this life. Other lifes it wasn't. I am certainly not suggesting people should follow anyone like sheep or be herded like sheep. It is not this extreme or the other one. And it is not just the physical layer that I mean. I am speaking from an occult or abstract sense. We are all connected by ties between our souls. This is why institutions that facilitate group progress are required. Sure they have all made blunders, but most have made good progress as well. And they each have their life span too. Solo is good, especially for quick concentrated work, but the greater progress is done in group formation. Think about it; a person who lived alone on a deserted island could not possibly develop goodwill to others and virtues of heart such as love, forgiveness, mercy, leniency, and so forth, because they require interaction with others. The heart is the centre of right interpersonal energies and right relations to others, and is the only centre by which our spiritual standard can be judged. Only the heart is the measure. Well developed head centres, although their development is necessary, they count for nothing if the heart centre is undeveloped. So the overall progression of the race is together as a whole, with individuals able to step out for short periods to develop certain skills, but those skills must then be worked and put into practice on others. 

And by the way, I don't go to church - except occasionally, and about once a year or so when I am in a big city and I go in an old church and sit quietly, but seldom during the service. I like to sit in them on my own. 

Can you imagine a picture painted with dyes onto the fabric of a lace curtain, through which you can see the world behind the curtain? Our world is like the picture on the curtain. Am I guessing it is? Am I fancying it is? Or can I see it is? If I can see it - I should be able to tell others how to see it. Shouldn't I?  

I'm tired; its 4.30am here so off to bed.   

On the other hand, there are some people who want to be a part of a spiritual group one way or the other. So it might be better that they get involved with Group A rather than Group B, and if Group A didn't exist, such an option wouldn't be available.

Consider Howard Storm. I believe people would be better off being a member of his church rather than being a member of a hardcore fundamentalist church. Howard seems like a humble man to me, so he probably doesn't get carried away with his importance as a church leader. Chances are that for some people it is beneficial to be a member of his church. It depends upon what a person needs.

First what are you really afraid of? Ask yourself... How can you fear something that you have no idea about? Your notion of death or end is only derived by your experiences with other's dying. Nobody can answer you what the death or end really is. What I really don't understand is how an individual can take something out of a textbook or a parable to really form a belief of lifetime. It applies to all religions and beliefs. Life is too infinite to be shut down in narrow corridors. Ultimately the universe is the product of all your senses. The entire universe is just your manifestation. Just think about it... You don't even know if things that you believe or try to believe is even true. History isn't nearly as accurate as you may think. You were born and then you derived certain ideas 'that you call knowledge'. Such ideas however logical or fanatical sometimes just shuts you down, makes you a machine without self-will. Unknowingly you shall have formed an opinion, and shut the infinite possibilities. So basically nothing is ultimately true. Yeah, maybe the world might end, considering the infinitesimal position of our civilization in this infinity, it would be a very insignificant event in the universe. When the end is real and near, you shall know for sure. Else, there is nothing to even think about.

http://unlearners.blogspot.com/