Water wears down the stone

Sometimes it takes a thousand years to change the mind and improve the heart of a single man.

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Guest contibutor Gretchen Coleman shares a short story, “Application Denied,” and also discusses how we conveniently refuse to take responsibility for choices we don’t remember.

Choice is surrounding me right now. My family was discussing choice last night. Then this morning I was scanning an article in my snail mail about the leading causes of death (heart disease, cancer, lung disease and stroke) in the US and how they are largely preventable, but our lifestyle choices are directly responsible for the majority of those ailments.

Choice – what a powerful word that is. It is akin to freewill which is the greatest and worst gift we are given by our Creator - greatest because we get to choose, worst because we have to choose. Do you understand that you are where you are in life because you chose to be at that point? Talk about having to take responsibility! All of a sudden there is no one to blame but yourself.

They say we choose our friends but can’t choose our family. Who are They? The Unaware. This is just another platitude for those who don’t want to take responsibility for their choices. We do choose our family.

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Application Denied

Earth Candidate Number 1 is up in heaven, having just completed training on how to overcome what he didn’t overcome his last life and about to apply to come back to earth for his next go at it. Read the rest of this entry »

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Spiritual advancement is stuck in hyper and hypoglycemic highs and lows, in a constant shift from euphoria to depression and all points in between - except, that is, the center.

In the world of controls and engineering this ‘overshoot and droop’ is recognized to be caused by bias and error. In controls design and programming, these are known, surmountable effects, yet we distort them in our spiritual language using outdated terms like sin and wrong, confronting bias and error from a perspective that completely negates the potential effects of simple engineering solutions.

Trapped within the consequences of inane platitudes, sugar-coated traditions and outgrown ideals, we worship the highs and lows of ‘finding’ fulfillment first here and then there. Our salvation lies within the plain language and application of universal principles, yet we stubbornly cling to the addictions of familiar terms and approaches - even though we know they don’t work.

Spiritual blogs can be particularly tormenting, especially the ones that Read the rest of this entry »

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Past life memories are forbidden! At least that’s what some religions and spiritual traditions perpetuate. Steering people away from past life memories is no different than Read the rest of this entry »

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Assumption: Reincarnation is true, I am going to live again, my ‘work’ will continue.

Problem: Ok then, so how do I go about saving my work, capturing my progress so that I can pick it back up where I left off? I understand that my work is saved inside of me, and once saved it’s always there. But I could sure use some extra help, some external way to jump start or resurrect my progress, some way to help trigger me in my next life.

Solution A: If I could find some kind of permanent storage media that would help, but I definitely can’t afford to build a pyramid in Egypt. I know – I’ll post it up on the web.

Discussion: Well, what if I can’t find it, or what if I read it but it has no effect on me. Hmmm, I wonder how those wise old masters from the past saved their work? They didn’t have computers, and not many pyramids were floating around…

[Considerable time elapses]

Solution B: Ah-ha. They saved it inside their students. The students/disciples were the saved work. That’s very interesting.

Discussion: This gives new meaning to the evangelical term ‘being saved.’ Being saved for what?

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How many people are planning for their next life?

The superior perspective - which would be mine, of course, just in case I haven’t mentioned it - is to think in terms of our next incarnation, but we are poor planners when you get right down to it. Most people, if they think about this, usually ponder in terms of life after death, leaving their physical body behind and going to “heaven”.

We need to think about our eternal nature in terms of a continuum, something that is happening now, has been happening and continues to happen. We are eternal beings, now.

I wonder if monks consider their next life more than the rest of us? Perhaps they only think of it when their teacher lectures about it, or when it comes up in rote meditations and prayers.

I recall two past lives when my teacher said, “You need to understand that it doesn’t stop with this one life, that we’ll be back.” I may have mulled that over a bit in one of those lives.

In another life, I recall someone saying, “You think this is the end? You actually believe that? Well, you’ll see, and you’ll see me too! I’ll look you right in the eyes.” He kept his promise. Are you familiar with the phrase “being shook right down to your core?” I wasn’t prepared for that.

I find myself thinking more and more about my next life. Is that because I am getting closer to death? Perhaps I am simply using sound project management planning skills.

Painting: Fransico Goya, Time

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