The Arches, Sentosa, Singapore.
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David
So, we have to remove the fear, anger...etc that are not our true self from ourselves. Whatever, turbulence we have within us, we carry it with us. It does not come from the outside.
There is a story of this person who went on a little boat to the middle of a lake to meditate so that nobody can disturb him. He had enough of disturbances from other people when he was meditating on land. So he meditated on the boat in the middle of a tranquil lake. Then halfway, there was a loud knock on the boat and he shouted in anguish, "who is it!". When he opened his eyes, he realised it was a stray boat who had accidentally drifted onto his boat. So even when no one was there to antagonise this man, he still felt there was someone else around antagonising him.
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Question from the audience:
Q: Where do my thoughts start? Which thoughts are my thoughts? Which are the ones that I have received and which are the ones that I originated?
A: If you are fully enlightened, all thoughts are your thoughts. That's why psychics can read your thoughts, because it is all in a common pool. Everything is I am to the fully enlightened person. So choose your thoughts carefully. Ask if your thoughts are less than loving. If they are less than less than loving, then let go of it.
We attract the thoughts that we are. eg. A fearful person will attract fearful thoughts.
Anything that is helping me remember who I am, I don't want that thing. You got to choose things that add on to your loving. 100% Love is my goal.
Incidentally, I was stopped by the immigration when I came into Singapore. It was because the immigration officer had miscalculated the number of days I came into Singapore. He thought I had stayed here for longer than 60 days, over the last three months, when I had only stayed for 2 days. Anyway, it was a misunderstanding. In the end, there was no issue. But it made me think that this is a job I do not want. In a job like an immigration officer, it is very hard to learn to be loving as he is suspicious of everyone that is passing through his way. So there are some jobs I would rather not take, because it doesn't teach me to be more loving.
[Laughter]
Q: But someone has to do it...?
A: Then let someone else do it lah. [Laughter]
[My thoughts: While I understand the questioner's logic, I think we cannot think for others. We can only choose what we want for ourselves. There is no right and wrong, but merely choice and consequences.]
Q: Then why are the memories in our past embodiments removed?
A: They are not removed. They are all there. Just that the brain in our body has a limitation. It is a way of protecting us in this embodiment. Imagine if you can remember vividly some of the gruesome experiences you have done in your previous embodiment! That may not be very pleasant. So, memories of past embodiments are of no use to us. Head can't get all your answers. When we are enlightened, we will be able to remember them like a movie.
Q: So why are some 'unenligthened ones' able to remember parts of their past embodiments' experiences?
They remember events that are incidental to their existences. Events that had made fundamental changes to their lives.
Q: When do we know if it is our intuition or it is our fear?
A: These days we hear from the news about terrorism and about Muslim extremists. Often, they will show the arrested or suspected terrorists as men with turbans and beards. So, after some time an image of terrorists as men with turbans and beards are formed sub-consciously. So once, as I was at an airport about to board a plane, there were six young Muslim men in turban and beards. My first thought was for them not to be in the same plane. But as thoughts have it, they went into the same plane as I did. Not only that, they were seated next to me. So as passengers seated next to each other, we had a chat. As it turned out, we had a very pleasant conversation. This is when fear took over, not intuition.
On the contrary, have you ever avoided someone immaculately dressed with a three-piece suit? That when you see him coming in the distance, you walk away somewhere to hide? There is nothing physically intimidating and yet you don't have a comfortable feeling about this man. This is intuition. There is something amiss, but you are not sure what.
Once you recognise your fears, confront them. Then you will realise that the fear is not as big as you think it is.
Fear and anger and stay in a person for a long time when not confronted. There was a case of a girl who was raped by her brother-in-law when she was 14 years old. Clouded with guilt, she kept it to herself. Then when she was a little older, she couldn't keep it any more and decided to tell her sister. Her sister on hearing her, defended her husband and insisted that what the girl uttered was not true. Instead her sister accused the girl of being jealous of her, since she was married and the girl was not. Naturally, the girl was shattered! She had no one else that she can tell her plight at that time, so she kept the anger inside her and hated the brother-in-law. This went on for many years. It has even affected her married life.
Now in her 50s, she still hated the brother-in-law. I then advised her to confront the issue and forgive her brother-in-law. Just turned up give him hug and say "I love you". She thought it was impossible to do. "How can I ever forgive and let go of my hate?" she thought. Then she said she will never be able to do it.
Then one morning at 3am in the morning, I got a surprised call from her. She yelled that she is free, fully liberated. She had finally confronted her bro-in-law, gave him a hug and say she loves him. Now that freed her from anguish and guilt after all these years. Her life went on much better after that. Whatever it had done to her bro-in-law need not matter. Forgiveness was a matter for her to move on, it has nothing to with the bro-in-law.
Similarly, can you tell a dirty and smelly person "I love you"?
Mother Teresa said of the people she is helping that she did not see sick people, she just can see Christs in distress. She didn't go round to convert people she met into Catholics. As she was in India, she clasped her palms against each other in namaste just like Hindus do and bowed to people she met. Her love is unconditional and beyond form.
Pope John Paul II said, "I love you" to his assasin in the jail.
Jesus said, " Father forgive them for they do not know...", when he was tortured by the Jews.
A miracle is an expression of Love. Some people think that a miracle must be something incredulous and happened against all odds.
Eg. When a aeroplane crashed killing all others except you. God saved you, but what about the rest? Why did God discriminate? So do not justify your stuff and think that you are more chosen. It's all an ego trip.
Q: So, is ego important?
A: Yes, it is in the physical world. Ego is the personality. Personality is important within limits. In the same extent that shadows can be beautiful. Without shadows we would not be able to see the beauty of many things.
New Age Beliefs?
Some New Age beliefs like to think that you have a guardian angel that follows you around. If you believe, then so it is. Would you like an angel to follow you everywhere. Yes, angels do exist, but do you think there is an angel that follows you everywhere? Where is the privacy?
Some people say they would like to be born as angels in their next embodiment. But why? I would rather be born as a human being. It is a rare privilege to be born a human. Angels cannot ascend and cannot be fully enlightened?
Q: Why?
A: Because they are Angels. (A different consciousness.)
Q: What are these different consciousness?
A: In the Bible, Jesus said, "The house of my Father has many mansions." These 'mansions' are the many different levels of conciousness in the world of illusion. There are 31 planes of existence. We are in plane 5, and we can see only another plane which is plane 2 for animals. Hell is the plane below our current existence. So to us, plane 4 is Hell.
Lucifer was banished to hell. He is a fallen angel from Plane 12 to Plane 11 is Hell to Lucifer. But Plane 11 is still 3 levels higher than KuanYin, whom some considered as 'God'. So it is all relative.
To be fully enlightened, you leave the House of my Father - which is the world of illusions.
Ego survives on the deluded mind. Some say EGO stands for Edging God Out.
It is said that there are as many Buddhas as there are the sands along the Ganges River. Do you think any of these Buddhas will not have done something to help us if they could? They didn't because there is nothing they can do. We have to help ourselves!
Beings of great consciousness will not show themselves to you, because it will cause new issues for you, as you may get attached to them. So don't confuse the message from the messenger. Jesus is one of such messenger. We need only to focus on his message.
[Laughter from the audience]
So don't count on guardian angels or angels. Only count on yourself. All these "Angel talk" is not going to help you. Usually this happens to people who has a comfortable life and money in their pocket.
Same with Feng Shui, past life regression and Reiki. Don't spend your time on such things. All you have to do is just to learn to be more loving.
[My note: As a Reiki practitioner, we are taught that we can only heal with love. Through Reiki, many practitioners have seen their lives transformed. So while I understand that Dr Aaron is discouraging people from spending time on frivolous New Age activities to feel the fallacy of 'spiritual superiority', I think any activity that encourages one to be loving would be worthwhile one's time spent.]
Q: Then why some people still go for past life regression?
A: What is the purpose of knowing what happened in your past embodiments? What if you happened to have committed mass murders? It won't help you to be more loving. Many past lives that are read, curiously happened to be prominent lives, like being a King or Queen. One common one is having been the Queen of Shiba. [Laughter]
All these are 'spiritual ego'.
Religious ego are easy to see. eg. Saying that one religion is superior to another or more chosen.
Spiritual ego comes more well disguised. It is about something that I have that you don't. This will stop your growth. It is also futile trying to intellectualised whether there is a God or there isn't. Neither will it be useful finding out about past embodiments.
There is the story about the Buddha crossing the river in India. Halfway across the river, he saw a yogi crossing the river, by walking on water.
He asked the yogi, "How long did you learn to walk on water?"
Yogi: "Twenty years."
Buddha: "Oh. I do it with only five cents" [Laughter]
So it is futile spending time to learn the things you can do cheaper and easier.
There are also no 'lessons' to learn in life. Our purpose in life is only to learn to 're-member'. Express lovingness. Do that and you feel powerful.
The Universe is based on the creation of spiritual power. Everything is spiritual if you have a spiritual mind.
[End of Day 1 of the seminar]
Day 2 Reading and Exercise
The following paragraphs were brought up for clarifications:
Page 3, Para 5: Miracles are habits, and should be voluntary. They should not be under conscious control. Consciously selected miracles can be misguided.
Concious control here refers to discrimination and thinking in duality. eg. Helping another person because he is of the same religious faith, and exclude others.
Page 4, Para 14: Miracles bear witness to truth. They are convincing because they arise from conviction. Without conviction, they deteororiate into magic, which is mindless and therefore destructive; or rather, the uncreative use of the mind.
Miracles are all expressions of Love.
Truth here indicates that only Love exists.
Conviction is your natural self.
Magic here means 'superstitutions'. Superstitutions stop one from growing spiritually.
Q: What is 'maximal' service?
A: 'Maximal' here means you can't go more than 100% Love.
Q: What is 'revelation'?
A: To reveal who you really are.
Q: What is the difference between 'illusion' and 'delusion'?
A: Illusion is on the 'outside', delusion is from the 'inside'. However, when one is no longer deluded, there is no more 'inside' or 'outside'.
Q: In Lession 2 of the book, we have an exercise where we are supposed to attached a meaning to a list of objects. One of them in Darkness. How are we going to do that as Darkness does not really exist?
A: As we put meaning to new things, we make new discoveries. Gallileo discovered that the world is round, which nobody agreed with him at the time. Then came Newton who discovered gravity. Then Einstein who discovered quantum physics, that there is no such thing as gravity and that what we know as gravity is merely when time and space got warped. For a time some scientists think that they can't calculate quantum physics because we can't see it. Then came Steve Hawkins who discovered that there is light everywhere, even in Blackholes.
So even in Darkness there is light, so when you attached meaning to it, it exists. It is like shadows, they have a purpose too. Shadows have beauty, without which we can't see the beauty of many pictures.
Q: In the New Age practice, it is said that we can cast a white Light upon ourselves to protect ourselves. What do you think of this practice?
There is no need to do that. Your best protecton is when you are filled with Light (Love). You can cast white Light onto yourself, but that is not permanent. It won't last very long.
"When your eyes are single, your body will be filled with light..."
That's why Hindus dot their forehead as a symbol for this single eye.
The Bible says, "... When your body is filled with Light, people will see you from afar,... like a beacon on a hill, they will come to see you."
Jesus said "Everything I can do you can also do, and more..."
["How so?" I wondered.]
Jesus didn't have a mobile phone that he can contact anyone around the world that has one. He couldn't fly from one place to another. Now we have aeroplanes...etc.
When Buddha reached enlightened, people could see it on his face and they asked him, "What happened to you?"
He replied, "I have awakened".
Awaken comes from 'Awake', which comes from 'aware'.
That's the state of Nirvana. Nirvana is not a place you go to. It is akin to feeling the air-con in a car from place to place. You can feel the same air-con feeling even as the car moves from Singapore to Penang.
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Providence.
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Some of the examples that are repeated from Dr Aaron's other lectures are not mentioned here again. To access those examples, you can read the notes from 105 Universal Laws and Spiritual Parenting..
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1 comment:
thanks for sharing your thoughts. indeed it has given me a deeper understanding of the true meaning in the word miracle. fantastic entry michael. cheers, mashietasan.
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