SOUL CONSCIOUSNESS

SOUL CONSCIOUSNESS

ENLIGHTENING

“Unless you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate…  

Who looks outside, dreams, who looks inside, awakes.”  –Carl Jung

"Consciousness isn’t in the body.  The body is in consciousness.” –Dan Millman

Bernard Haisch has proposed a mind-bending theory about consciousness in his book, “The God Theory”. He contends that “ultimately it is consciousness that is the origin of matter, energy, and the laws of nature in this universe and all others that may exist. And the purpose is for God to experience his potential. God’s ideas and abilities become God’s experience in the life of every sentient being…God experiences the richness of his potential through us because we are the incarnations of him in the physical realm.” Frankly, I’m not convinced that God needs us to experience his potential, certainly not nearly as much as we need him for our well-being. As a learned astrophysicist Ph.D., he contends that our consciousness is the ultimate connection to God, the spiritual creative force in the universe and the source of all consciousness. While we are in our everyday state of consciousness, we remain aware of our surroundings through the filter of the physical world. But mystics who are conditioned to enter the unfiltered state of ultimate consciousness or nirvana experience a state of peace, love and bliss, something Haisch defines as “a concentration point within a single universal consciousness”.

Consciousness exists apart from the body and survives death. The temporary physical world was created for the development and evolution of human beings with a spirit. Our natural timeless home lies in the wider supernatural realm of the creator.  Consciousness can be defined as being mindful or aware of oneself as a thinking, feeling being. We realize with awe the miracle of a body that is informed by this extraordinary thing we call life that we take for granted almost every day. The fateful day we realize this eternal truth is the beginning of a lifelong spiritual journey.

God is a conscious spiritual being and we are conscious earthly beings. We were created in his image, so we can expect parallels in our existence. His being occupies the universe like our consciousness occupies our body.  By liberating the spaces in our lives and minds that are filled with clutter and chatter, we allow the presence of God to more easily occupy that space!

J. P. Moreland reasons that, “Consciousness cannot be reduced merely to the physical brain. Our consciousness came from a greater consciousness. You see, the Christian worldview begins with thought and feeling and desire and choice. That is, God is conscious. God has thoughts. He has beliefs, he has desires, he has awareness, he’s alive, he acts with a purpose. We start there and because we start with the mind of God, we don’t have a problem explaining the origin of our mind. … he’s invisible because that’s the way conscious beings are…. I have no inclination to doubt that this very room is teeming with the very presence of God.”

Enlightened humans all over the planet through endless time have reasoned that we’re not a human being having a spiritual experience. We’re consciousness having a human experience. And once we separate, we return to the vast eternal consciousness of creation.

 

AMERICA’S 250TH CELEBRATION

FREEDOM'S FLAG

SAVING PRIVATE RYAN FINAL SCENE

The freedom of my life was purchased by the sacrifice of countless patriots starting in 1776, including WWII which took the lives of two of my uncles.  They were plucked from a Kansas farm life and thrust into the most horrific experiences that anyone can imagine.  The Medic never returned home and the Guam radar operator returned to a completely distorted life after jungle malaria and untold demons.  I remember my grandmother finding solace in the Gold Star Mothers meetings she religiously attended and we sold poppies on Veterans Day to help those who returned with injuries. 

The fluttering flag is overlayed in both the opening and closing of Steven Spielberg's engrossing film, Saving Private Ryan.  Ryan has brought his family with him to the vast Normandy gravesite of the man who sacrificed his life to save his and our freedom the flag represents.

The adults of this era were scarred from the horrors of war and perhaps showed some restraint to the children that were spared the experience.  But now in retrospect, I understand and truly appreciate their sacrifice and courage.  I also understand that freedom is not free and is always just one generation from being lost.  I do not appreciate those today who take our freedoms so casually.  And when it comes to respect for our flag and all that it stands for in this great nation, I will not defend the right of those who denigrate it. 

 

LAST TIMES

TOY STORY TOYS

GREEN SAND BOX SOLDIERS

The interesting thing about “last times” is that we generally don’t know it at the time. As we start moving through the sequence of growing up and living through significant passages in time, the process of morphing into a young adult requires leaving behind the things of a dependent child and learning how to become independent. That’s when we begin to discover that all manner of people and life skills have vanished in our wake with new survival instincts and relationships while time moves along. And the process of ignoring, celebrating or grieving “last times” continues until we breathe our last breath.

That certainly explains why humans of all sorts relate and mourn the significant transition that focuses on the “last time” beloved toy friends are lost in time in the movie Toy Story. I actually rediscovered a cigar box that my grandfather had given to me that contained a few childhood memories. The box contained the surviving WWII green soldiers that had fought along side me as we detonated July 4th Black Cat firecrackers in the post war summer sand box so many years ago. I must have placed my summer soldiers in the cigar box for the “last time” once school started and only rediscovered them recently, as I released accumulated things that I no longer used.

 

GRACE

CLEARING SUNRISE WALK

Grace means there is nothing we can do to make God love us more or love us less. We are saved by Grace alone, but good works and worship are a natural response to a priceless gift earned through the sacrifice on a cross.

That’s why we acknowledge the black Friday afternoon when the earth went dark for three hours and the bright Sunday morning sunrise when our savior demonstrated his power over sin and death, all for us, and he has promised to be with us until the end of time!

 

RECYCLING WATER

RAIN SHOWER

A very basic fact of our existence here on planet Earth is that matter can neither be created nor destroyed. And our mortal bodies are composed of over 50% water which has been flowing for billions of years. Hydration is essential too, since our brains are composed of 75% water and even a minor 2% drop impairs cognitive performance.

Water has been recycling since the beginning of time and minuscule segments of all living things that have ever existed now cycles within us every day of our lives.

 

ETERNAL CONSCIOUSNESS

VASTNESS OF SPACE

SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT

Enlightened humans all over the planet through endless time have reasoned that we’re not mortal bodies with a spiritual soul. But rather eternal spiritual souls with a limited body. Others believe that we’re not a human being having a spiritual experience. We’re consciousness having a human experience. And once we separate, we return to the vast eternal consciousness of creation.

Great TED TALK LINK:

Universal Oneness: With the left brain offline, her consciousness shifted entirely to her right brain. She could no longer define the boundaries of her own body and felt a state of intense, peaceful euphoria—feeling "at one with the universe."

https://youtu.be/UyyjU8fzEYU?is=HCavQReFdukpyt_D

 

CHARACTER LINES

CHARACTER LINES

 MY NEW MANTRA

“Our scars are not symbols of weakness, but rather character lines.” They’re proof that we survived, learned and became stronger than the challenge that just tried to destroy us. And our greatest strength will always be the person we chose to become because of it.