tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9174813119968805902024-03-15T21:09:33.851-04:00Art, Faith, and The Koko LionRobert Kopecky's Animation Art, Illustration. Faith & Mr. Floppy,
Tales of the Koko Lion
all contents copyright 2012
Animation Design, Spiritual Writing, Personal Memoirrobert k.http://www.blogger.com/profile/08504571789986383064noreply@blogger.comBlogger335125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-917481311996880590.post-30886990106983687662022-06-10T17:47:00.004-04:002023-05-09T15:10:58.025-04:00Today’s Living Ain’t Easy: 2 Hard Ways, One Easy Solution<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJbwhuOhALLDjmj8-RIKc4yMDxofGb32OgMPmbPHbAJr92EIa2RUlU-Bc8UuSnG3CUYdWXctFSwHm3qcv7127Hx0LJomFJowpsCvsHUKxEHAF2HNrwyqEF0JyOMw8W8P4wmJwGqeS5T8HyFFw3NY_fE66OzrGxBVrpw-Fqc84l69UgQYPJ5ku3fVpWXg/s325/See%20Feel%20Be.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="240" data-original-width="325" height="295" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJbwhuOhALLDjmj8-RIKc4yMDxofGb32OgMPmbPHbAJr92EIa2RUlU-Bc8UuSnG3CUYdWXctFSwHm3qcv7127Hx0LJomFJowpsCvsHUKxEHAF2HNrwyqEF0JyOMw8W8P4wmJwGqeS5T8HyFFw3NY_fE66OzrGxBVrpw-Fqc84l69UgQYPJ5ku3fVpWXg/w400-h295/See%20Feel%20Be.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; text-align: start;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; text-align: start;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; text-align: start;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; text-align: start;">Life seems relentlessly challenging these days, doesn’t it? Pandemia has still changed everything for now; corporations take advantage of it to inflate all the costs of living; media manipulators get better at pitting people against each other to manufacture power. All the while we just need to get by and provide for our families and ourselves.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><p class="p1" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: start;"> <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: start;"><span> </span><span> </span>It ain’t easy, especially when we fall into a couple habitual methods of coping and constantly overlook the one big, beautiful solution that’s always staring us right in the face.</p><p class="p2" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px; text-align: start;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: start;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>The main way we automatically deal with all the craziness is also probably the most difficult (…of course); that is, by hearing and seeing and reacting to all the information that assails us – sometimes every minute, every instant. We see something or hear something and get swept up by a fear or a desire, or a feeling of immediate need: Something bad is happening, or somebody is doing something wrong. I feel like I need to stop something from happening, or to make something important happen…or, I might immediately start to feel hopeless about something I have no control over.</p><p class="p3" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: start; text-indent: 36px;">In this automatic way, our well-being is conditioned by emotional reactions to perceived challenges we <i>see</i> or <i>hear. </i>Our effectiveness can be stifled, or our anxieties can run amok, simply because of the emotional state we suddenly find ourselves in. Life <i>feels </i>hard, when we just react to it.</p><p class="p4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px; text-align: start; text-indent: 36px;"><br /></p><p class="p3" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: start; text-indent: 36px;">The next way we deal is the way that does tend to come next for most of us – we start to really give it some<i> thought.</i> We get past the knee-jerk reaction and begin to look and listen less with our eyes and ears, and more with our mind, like:<i> </i>What is this really going to mean to me? How does it actually affect me, my interests, and my loved ones? What will it do to my plans, wishes, hopes, dreams – and what can I really do about it?<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: start;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>While it’s always better to stop and give everything some serious thought, we can hit a few more potholes by doing so. We can get stuck believing that <i>what we think is who we are. </i>We may find ourselves thinking more about the future, and then about the past – about what we want to have happen or what has happened before – and not enough about what is happening <i>now. </i>Rationalizations, justifications and confirmations (the need to be right), resentments, uninformed conclusions – blind spots we’ve developed over a lifetime can rise up and prevent us from doing the next best thing. We can get trapped by our brain, with our thoughts circling madly, blocking us from any real solutions.</p><p class="p2" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px; text-align: start;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: start;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Fortunately, there is a beautiful, easy solution alive in every moment: Instead of getting caught up in seeing, feeling, and thinking, take a deep breath, relax, and just <i>be. </i>Just be right who you are, where you are, and let all the craziness fall away like a bad, poorly-fitting outfit. Don’t see with your eyes, hear with your ears, or think with your brain – see, hear, and think <i>with your spirit, </i>gratefully and compassionately <i>detached </i>from the constant human noise.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p3" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: start; text-indent: 36px;">You’ll find you’re not foolishly disconnected, but that you’ve suddenly got a different, much healthier perspective on all the craziness. Life isn’t a hard, anxiety-laden ordeal…it’s just <i>Life. </i>It’s just the way it’s always been, and always will be…and that’s just what we need. The horrors are still unacceptable, the celebrations are still too short, but <i>Love,</i> the expansion of your consciousness, your spiritual growth into your sense of purpose and belonging-to will be steady and dependable (that’s <i>faith), </i>and ground you in a grace that that makes you much more joyful, responsible, and effective.</p><p class="p3" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: start; text-indent: 36px;"><br /></p><p class="p4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px; text-align: start; text-indent: 36px;"><br /></p><p class="p3" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: start; text-indent: 36px;"><i>If you find yourself paddling too hard upstream, turn around.</i></p><p class="p3" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: start; text-indent: 36px;"><i><br /></i></p><p class="p3" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: start; text-indent: 36px;"><i><br /></i></p><p class="p3" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: start; text-indent: 36px;"><i><br /></i></p><p class="p3" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: start; text-indent: 36px;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333233; font-family: helvetica; line-height: 18px; text-indent: 0px;">Read about this and much more in:</span><o:p style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11.44px; line-height: 18.304px; text-indent: 0px;"><span style="color: #333233; font-family: helvetica; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"> </span><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: helvetica; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18.304px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18px;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/How-Heaven-Without-Really-Dying/dp/0738753211/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8" style="color: #45818e; text-decoration-line: none;"><i>How to Get to Heaven (Without Really Dying), Wisdom From a Near-Death Survivor </i> from Llewellyn Worldwide</a> </span></o:p><span style="background-color: white; color: #333233; font-family: helvetica; line-height: 18px; text-indent: 0px;">available direct on this page, or online. </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333233; font-family: helvetica; line-height: 18px; text-indent: 0px;">The first book: </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #2c8930; font-family: helvetica; line-height: 18px; text-indent: 0px;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/How-Survive-Life-Death-Happiness/dp/1573246360/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1384712557&sr=8-1&keywords=robert+kopecky" style="color: #2d8930; text-decoration-line: none;">How to Survive Life (and Death), A Guide To Happiness In This World and Beyond</a> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333233; font-family: helvetica; line-height: 18px; text-indent: 0px;">is available the same ways – but ask for it it at your local bookstore!</span></p></div><p></p><p></p>robert k.http://www.blogger.com/profile/08504571789986383064noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-917481311996880590.post-19267802559708012132022-01-04T16:31:00.002-05:002023-05-01T13:54:32.575-04:00Why Sadness Can Feel So Beautiful (Simple Spiritual Technology is All Around Us)<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgaD3wRQxQmH7GeOVVRCjzN4LA9QKBgmrG-we-kIKP7a_mmK-0n3ryUqoa3VD1rxfMqfhEsyzq1eQ2-IrRYmkwYM0xMVbhYfjAUJQsA4RvGkdNozo7DT7viAm9mqAPgMZb8eHCSSFN9ZjfGwXXV-A-9L39YEOGQhW25OzA8c-9nQUO62OSFP2DezdubnQ=s550" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="350" data-original-width="550" height="204" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgaD3wRQxQmH7GeOVVRCjzN4LA9QKBgmrG-we-kIKP7a_mmK-0n3ryUqoa3VD1rxfMqfhEsyzq1eQ2-IrRYmkwYM0xMVbhYfjAUJQsA4RvGkdNozo7DT7viAm9mqAPgMZb8eHCSSFN9ZjfGwXXV-A-9L39YEOGQhW25OzA8c-9nQUO62OSFP2DezdubnQ=s320" width="320" /></a></span></div><span style="font-size: xx-small;"> </span><i style="font-size: x-small;">This edited excerpt is from "How to Get to Heaven (Without Really Dying); Part One, Perspective, Chap. 6, Compassion</i><p></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 19.4px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 19.4px;">If you feel too caught up in the challenges of your life (as we always can) to unlock more open-hearted compassion, there is a guaranteed way that you can find the key to unlock it; and although it doesn’t sound too good, it’s such a deep part of our shared existence that (despite being rather painful) it can often seem almost comforting. The key to finding more compassion in our lives – a key that none of us can avoid finding – is this: Sadness.</p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 19.4px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 19.4px;">Sadness visits us all like a long-lost relative whose company we don’t always look forward to but then become grateful for in a mysteriously profound way. There’s nothing good about it to the outside eye, but inwardly it does make you wonder: <i>Why is this sad feeling so familiar and strangely appealing?</i></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 19.4px;"><i><br /></i></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 19.4px;">It’s because sadness opens our hearts (whether we wanted them open or not), and in our moments of soul searching it reliably directs us toward a “secret” passage into Heaven – a small side door that insiders already know exists. Sadness is a magical ‘sixth-sensory’ key into the state of <i>compassionate consciousness </i>(an application of <i>Spiritual Technology)</i>, because it causes us to resonate with structures of the Universe at a deeper level than we normally encounter here on Earth. All of us can realize that kind of deep, shared reality through sadness, and perhaps for some people only through sadness. No one will completely escape it’s insistent embrace.</p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 19.4px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 19.4px;">Imagine these scenes: The loss of a beloved one to illness or death; the bulldozing of a favorite piece of nature; the sight of an abandoned pet; the feeling that a favorite piece of music gave you way back when, and the feeling it stills gives you when you reminisce; the look in eyes of a homeless person when your eyes meet – the entire story of a different, lost life you might have lived yourself…</p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 19.4px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 19.4px;">Do you feel the sadness in any of those scenes? If you do, then right now – <i>in this eternal moment – </i>you are connected to our shared compassionate consciousness. “You let the pain of the world touch your heart and you turn it into compassion,” I’ve heard it said (by a Tibetan Buddhist), and almost nothing else needs to be said about this mysterious gateway into the realm of the heart. Sadness arises within all of us in those places that reveal a great shared meaning…and we all intuitively know that <i>we must return it’s embrace.</i></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px; text-indent: 19.4px;"><i></i><br /></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px; text-indent: 19.4px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 19.4px;"><i>“Sadness is but a wall between two gardens.”</i></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 19.4px;"><i> </i>Khalil Gibran</p><p class="p2" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px; text-indent: 19.4px;"><br /></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px; text-indent: 19.4px;"><br /></p><p class="p3" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(66, 65, 66); background-color: white; color: #424142; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">Read about this and much more in: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/How-Heaven-Without-Really-Dying/dp/0738753211/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8"><span class="s2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(85, 147, 160); color: #5593a0; font-kerning: none;"><i>How to Get to Heaven (Without Really Dying), Wisdom From a Near-Death Survivor </i> from Llewellyn Worldwide</span></a></span><span class="s3" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(2, 104, 165); color: #0268a5; font-kerning: none;"> </span><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">available direct on this page, or online. <a href="http://www.amazon.com/How-Survive-Life-Death-Happiness/dp/1573246360/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1384712557&sr=8-1&keywords=robert+kopecky"><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(54, 152, 63); color: #36983f; font-kerning: none;">How to Survive Life (and Death), A Guide To Happiness In This World and Beyond</span></a></span><span class="s5" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(52, 152, 63); color: #34983f; font-kerning: none;"> </span><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">is available the same ways – but ask for it at your local bookstore!</span></p>robert k.http://www.blogger.com/profile/08504571789986383064noreply@blogger.com20tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-917481311996880590.post-73055930167908892972021-10-22T11:47:00.000-04:002021-10-22T11:47:09.915-04:00How Spirituality, Religion & Psychedelics Are (and Aren’t) the Same – “Perennial” Truths We Can All Use<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-X76y495p6yg/YXLb_9seiHI/AAAAAAAAM_M/9rsyQ_PMrtYTFYo8GKKr70Czjhn_Xmy_gCNcBGAsYHQ/s480/Underme.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="254" data-original-width="480" height="211" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-X76y495p6yg/YXLb_9seiHI/AAAAAAAAM_M/9rsyQ_PMrtYTFYo8GKKr70Czjhn_Xmy_gCNcBGAsYHQ/w400-h211/Underme.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p> <span> </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">Have you ever heard of Aldous Huxley? He’s the 20th Century author and philosopher best known for his prescient 1932 book, </span><i style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">Brave New World, </i><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">where he warned us about how future technology (and pharmaceuticals) could destroy the shape of our society and our lives. He’s also known for his ground-breaking account of the effects of psychedelic substances, 1954’s </span><i style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">The Doors of Perception, </i><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">which not only inspired the naming of the iconic L.A. rock band, but also open the doors to Flower Power, Sgt. Pepper, and “tune in, turn on, drop out,” the Sixties call to discovering a new, naturally ethical way to live.</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Huxley was definitely tuned into something big earlier on his path in 1945 when his book <i>The Perennial Philosophy </i>was first published by Harper & Brothers. Intermingled with his observations about the nature of human <i>being</i> and our spiritual relationship to Life and the Universe, are excerpts and quotations from great spiritual texts and teachers, all of which define a set of principles that are consistent to every great world religion, and describe a greater “non-ordinary” reality that supports and enfolds all of humankind’s material knowledge and experience.</p><p class="p2" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Pretty deep stuff, right? But when we break it down, as Huxley did, it provides us with four easy, direct concepts that answer those eternal mysteries: <i>What’s going on here?</i> And, <i>What is the purpose of Life?</i> Naturally, knowing those answers can give us much more practical ways to approach our personal day-to-day, here and now. Here they are, as simply as I can put them:</p><ul class="ul1" style="list-style-type: square;"><li class="li1" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The entire material world, witnessed through our human perception and the nature of our Consciousness, arises from a “Divine Field-of-Being” – a unified, infinite ground of potential and manifestation – in which all realities exist. Different religions may call this “the Kingdom,” “the Tao,” “emptiness,” “Brahman;” or scientists might name it “the Quantum Field.”</li><li class="li1" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Human beings cannot really know “The Divine” by presumption or by scientific theorizing, but only through a direct form of inner experience. Observation (particularly of Nature) may lead to some realization of it, but generally it requires the deconstruction of the material idea of our “self” – a psychic shift that often comes from a life-changing incident…because…</li><li class="li1" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Human beings comprise a <i>duality, </i>consisting of our outward, ever-changing, ever-demanding <i>material self</i> and <i>ego-mind; </i>and our authentic <i>inner self, </i>or <a href="https://robertkopecky.blogspot.com/2020/04/experience-your-own-rebellious.html">“divine spark, or well-spring” that is always connected by its true, eternal nature to that Divine Consciousness</a>, and to all of Life.</li><li class="li1" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Ultimately, we’re all here to identify with that eternal <i>self – </i>to recognize the transcendent part of ourselves that is alive, and connected to all of Life, in that greater spiritual reality. When we connect with the Divine, underlying Field-of-Being, everything that comes and goes – good or bad – is fine as it is, because we identify with that safe, grounding source instead. Creating that connection is the essential purpose of our human life on Earth – to realize that we all One. </li></ul><p class="p1" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Organized religions end up having a hard time bringing these concepts to bear because their institutional attachments and dogma tend to obstruct or define the pure personal experience (the idea that anyone can experience “Christhood,” or become a Buddha themselves). Many saints of organized religion were actually outsiders of a sort.</p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Psychedelics, or what indigenous people may revere as “sacred plant teachers” are effective, but do require ingesting some mind-altering substance to force entry into a non-ordinary state-of-being.</p><p class="p2" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>What is left as the authentic ground of of these fundamental, eternal realizations is what we call <i>Spirituality – </i>that exclusive, available, ’anecdotal’<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>form of personal inner experience which contains both religion and the teachings of sacred plants. It’s very personal – all it requires is your undivided <i>presence. </i>It experientially defines, and is intellectually defined by Huxley’s remarkable <i>Perennial Philosophy. </i>I think of it as “Explicit Spirituality,” and it’s a great way to inform and direct your life.</p><p class="p2" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><i></i><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></i>It is interesting (though not necessary) that Huxley’s <i>Perennial</i> explorations led him to open those psychedelic “doors”<i> </i>later on, because they do bring about some overlapping realizations (<a href="https://robertkopecky.blogspot.com/2017/04/the-medicinal-magic-of-psychedelic.html">according to most authentic experiencers of mescaline, psilocybin, ayahuasca, etc.</a>) – realizations that most religions struggle to impart:</p><ul class="ul1" style="list-style-type: square;"><li class="li1" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The unity and connectedness of shared, fundamental Consciousness.</li><li class="li1" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">An unshakeable understanding of the sacred nature of all of Life.</li><li class="li1" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The awareness of a real, functioning greater reality; most often experienced as Love.</li><li class="li1" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">A realization of the eternal, timeless nature of the moment – a sense of <i>presence.</i></li><li class="li1" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">A fundamental positivity and joyfulness (made possible by living principles, like Kindness, Honesty, Humility, Forgiveness, and Service).</li></ul><p class="p1" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>If we literally take this trail-blazers simple schematic to heart, we can spiritually find ourselves where we’ve always belonged, heading in the direction we were always meant to go.</p><p class="p2" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p3" style="color: #4c4848; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">"Our present world is conditioned by our present mode of consciousness; only when that consciousness passes from its present dualistic mode...will the new creation appear…of which our world is a mirror."</p><p class="p3" style="color: #4c4848; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Bede Griffiths</p><p class="p3" style="color: #4c4848; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p3" style="color: #4c4848; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p3" style="color: #4c4848; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(66, 65, 66); color: #424142; font-kerning: none;">Read about concepts like these and much more in: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/How-Heaven-Without-Really-Dying/dp/0738753211/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8" style="color: #5588aa; text-decoration-line: none;"><span class="s2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(85, 147, 160); color: #5593a0; font-kerning: none;"><i>How to Get to Heaven (Without Really Dying), Wisdom From a Near-Death Survivor </i> from Llewellyn Worldwide</span></a></span><span class="s3" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(2, 104, 165); color: #0268a5; font-kerning: none;"> </span><span class="s1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(66, 65, 66); color: #424142; font-kerning: none;">available direct on this page, or online. The first book: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/How-Survive-Life-Death-Happiness/dp/1573246360/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1384712557&sr=8-1&keywords=robert+kopecky" style="color: #5588aa; text-decoration-line: none;"><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(54, 152, 63); color: #36983f; font-kerning: none;">How to Survive Life (and Death), A Guide To Happiness In This World and Beyond</span></a></span><span class="s5" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(52, 152, 63); color: #34983f; font-kerning: none;"> </span><span class="s1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(66, 65, 66); color: #424142; font-kerning: none;">is available the same ways – but ask for it at your local bookstore!</span></p>robert k.http://www.blogger.com/profile/08504571789986383064noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-917481311996880590.post-33118787710725248382021-06-21T14:20:00.007-04:002021-06-21T14:27:50.265-04:00Join Robert with Kirsty Salisbury on "Let's Talk Near-Death"<p><span style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SReoWDP8gdY/YNDZbiu_W6I/AAAAAAAAM3Y/ysB-oFKGL98BKDJCvNzwALYAX0a2D2ymwCNcBGAsYHQ/s882/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-06-21%2Bat%2B11.22.44%2BAM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="495" data-original-width="882" height="202" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SReoWDP8gdY/YNDZbiu_W6I/AAAAAAAAM3Y/ysB-oFKGL98BKDJCvNzwALYAX0a2D2ymwCNcBGAsYHQ/w359-h202/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-06-21%2Bat%2B11.22.44%2BAM.png" width="359" /></a></span></div><span style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Join Robert with Kirsty Salisbury for this new, light-hearted thought-provoking and entertaining interview </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">on her award-winning podcast – NDE stories, afterlife conversation, the truth about death, </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">and how to realize Heaven wherever you are!</span></div></span><p></p><div data-block="true" data-editor="b1gmd" data-offset-key="iivm-0-0" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, system-ui, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="iivm-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative; text-align: center;"><span data-offset-key="iivm-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><br data-text="true" /></span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="b1gmd" data-offset-key="bjgso-0-0" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, system-ui, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="bjgso-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iyrUE_oAn9s">Let's Talk Near-Death with Kirsty Salisbury, and special guest Robert Kopecky</a><br /></div><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="bjgso-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="bjgso-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative; text-align: center;"><br /></div></div>robert k.http://www.blogger.com/profile/08504571789986383064noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-917481311996880590.post-60079868609129495812021-01-27T17:46:00.016-05:002021-01-28T16:16:56.996-05:00Imagine Merging 3 Cool Ways to Meditate...<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7DD_JyGmsdw/YBHsqKl8SnI/AAAAAAAAMrs/_u5Y2j9u3qQBepDoPM8Z5kUK3TNgaKveACNcBGAsYHQ/s660/SH%252BW%2Bmeditate.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="446" data-original-width="660" height="270" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7DD_JyGmsdw/YBHsqKl8SnI/AAAAAAAAMrs/_u5Y2j9u3qQBepDoPM8Z5kUK3TNgaKveACNcBGAsYHQ/w400-h270/SH%252BW%2Bmeditate.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;">“As a man thinks, so he becomes.” </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-small;">Proverbs, 23:7</span></div><div><br /><p class="p1" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 27px;">That very Buddhist saying from the Bible always strikes me as a bit of a wake-up call, snapping me out of my typical rolling stupor. It just makes so much sense that it has to be true, doesn’t it? It takes me back to the challenges I had in my earliest efforts of sitting and trying to meditate – challenges I still have, sometimes, because (if you’ve tried it you know) meditating isn’t as easy as it sounds.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 27px;">I used to sit uncomfortably cross-legged and think: <i>I'm gonna do this now. Okay, it’s time to meditate. Here we go. Meditating... meditating…meditating…</i> I'd keep my eyes closed, and wonder when it was all going to happen. Whatever <i>it </i>was. The image I always ended up holding in my mind was of myself sitting there, trying to meditate. It never worked, but somehow I knew that if I wanted to free myself from the vexing constraints of my typical thoughts, “imagining” would have to play a major role in the process.</p><p class="p4" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px; text-indent: 27px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 27px;">For me, it meant slowly formulating three ways that could help me step aside from the incessant demands of my "normal" semi-conscious stream of thought. Then, as I practiced them, I noticed how they began to merge within my meditations. Maybe my three ways can help you too.</p><p class="p4" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px; text-indent: 27px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 27px;">It's said in <i>Gnana Yoga – </i>the Yoga of Wisdom, that<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>"the intellect is a ladder that can be used to transcend itself." Well, being a ‘complicated’ guy, that's what I needed at first – an intellectual entry point to a meditative state. But that's just me, because I think I think too much. So I had to start by using that – to recognize my thoughts themselves<i> </i>as being a simple, ongoing process that was always available to me, rather than as the self-defining dictation of every second of my life. </p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 27px;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p4" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px; text-indent: 27px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 27px;">I used the image of me sitting in a theater in my mind, watching my thoughts parade across the screen, with an insistent narrator listing the important details of my haphazard newsreel, one after another. I became an audience member, which was a start, but I needed something more concise, more organic if I was going to use my thinking to transcend my thinking. As often happens, nature showed me a helpful metaphor.</p><p class="p4" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px; text-indent: 27px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 27px;">One day, I was sitting by a river where there were a lot of little flying insects, tightly swarming. Suddenly, a flock of beautiful swallows appeared, gracefully wheeling and sweeping through the insect cloud, devouring the gnats in an incredible silent choreography of circular aerobatics. I began to watch my gnatty little thoughts being swept up by my more organized, more elegant thoughts – the product of a calm, detached objectivity. Then the flock of swallows passed, and I sat there, neither insect nor bird, but simply <i>the witness</i> to this remarkable process of nature. That was it! I needed to become <i>the witness </i>to all my different<i> </i>thoughts<i> </i>before anything else.</p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 27px;">That was the first way.</p><p class="p4" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px; text-indent: 27px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 27px;">Another way I was taught to meditate at first was to observe my mechanical, physical process of breathing. The old in breathe in through your nose, out through your mouth. Of course, the point in having you sit and count your breaths in and out, is that it gets you to shut up and<i> sit, </i>and to practice just sitting. Then I happened to read Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, and Pema Chodron, about what they called <i>tonglen </i>meditation, and it added powerful emotional images to the boredom of just breathing in and out. I breathed in my anxiety, and breathed out serenity. I breathed in frustration, and breathed out compassion. I breathed in the evils of the world, and breathed out the answer: I breathed in fear, and breathed out Love.</p><p class="p4" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px; text-indent: 27px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 27px;">While I sat, breathing in and out with my eyes closed, I couldn't help but notice that play of energetic activity inside of my closed eyelids. What was that dance of fluctuating, effervescent energy? A kind of subtle, electric storm – vibrating, coalescing, <i>alive. </i>And when I coupled that optical awareness with my controlled breathing, I could <i>see</i> my changing internal energies – a calming of that inner, electric ocean that connected me to everything. And naturally, through observing and feeling these physical experiences, <i>I wasn't thinking anymore.</i></p><p class="p4" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px; text-indent: 27px;"><i></i><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 27px;">Finally, in that place where I could be a witness to my thoughts, and to my amazing internal processes, another way opened up: I became more and more aware of <i>not being alone. </i>There was a benevolent, eternal presence with me all the time, calmly waiting for me to get out of my own way. It was my Native American forefather; or the lovely angel who had rescued me from my personal precipices so many times. It was the huge heart of Gandhi, the compassion of Jesus, the omniscient understanding of Krishna. I remembered a Buddhist meditation where you sit, directly facing the Buddha, sequentially mirroring the energies of his chakras down from the crown, and up again.</p><p class="p4" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px; text-indent: 27px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 27px;">In my heart, I identified with the spinning dervishes, recreating Rumi's search for his lost soulmate, Shams, through the circular landscapes of his heart. I saw the rocking Hasidim, pouring over scripture, oblivious to the life of the subway car. Suddenly, I knew the <i>ecstasy </i>of that devotional focus. The moment of dedication to one pure, true, shared spiritual soul. I stumbled upon the devotional aspect of meditation the other approaches had allowed me (called <i>Bhakti Yoga </i>by Hindus).</p><p class="p4" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px; text-indent: 27px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 27px;">A witness to my thoughts, to the internal magic of my very being, to the company (wholly imagined, or absolutely inter-dimensional) of transcendent, benevolent, eternal spirits carrying me along the river of Life, I suddenly discovered that I <i>could </i>sit in meditation. That I’d really done a lot of sitting in meditation. And that––best of all––I could find that incomparable sixth sense of freedom whenever I wanted, and whenever I needed.</p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 27px;">And I didn't even have to think about it anymore.</p><p class="p4" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px; text-indent: 27px;"><br /></p><p class="p4" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px; text-indent: 27px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 27px;"><i>“As a person doesn’t think, well…they don’t have to become that.”</i></p><p class="p4" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px; text-indent: 27px;"><br /></p><p class="p4" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px; text-indent: 27px;"><br /></p><p class="p4" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px; text-indent: 27px;"><br /></p><p class="p5" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(66, 65, 66); background-color: white; color: #424142; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">Read about concepts like these and much more in: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/How-Heaven-Without-Really-Dying/dp/0738753211/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8"><span class="s2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(85, 147, 160); color: #5593a0; font-kerning: none;"><i>How to Get to Heaven (Without Really Dying), Wisdom From a Near-Death Survivor </i> from Llewellyn Worldwide</span></a></span><span class="s3" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(2, 104, 165); color: #0268a5; font-kerning: none;"> </span><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">available direct on this page, or online. The first book: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/How-Survive-Life-Death-Happiness/dp/1573246360/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1384712557&sr=8-1&keywords=robert+kopecky"><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(54, 152, 63); color: #36983f; font-kerning: none;">How to Survive Life (and Death), A Guide To Happiness In This World and Beyond</span></a></span><span class="s5" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(52, 152, 63); color: #34983f; font-kerning: none;"> </span><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">is available the same ways – but ask for it at your local bookstore!</span></p></div>robert k.http://www.blogger.com/profile/08504571789986383064noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-917481311996880590.post-7275124247010074462021-01-19T15:56:00.000-05:002021-01-19T15:56:06.743-05:00What Is Childhood to a Reincarnating Soul?<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4Rea_MqXvuE/YAdHCJhXMJI/AAAAAAAACZY/ILNNcHH0LJ01wsEjdmf05apjpQvDSsNXgCLcBGAsYHQ/s400/Characuts2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="368" data-original-width="400" height="368" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4Rea_MqXvuE/YAdHCJhXMJI/AAAAAAAACZY/ILNNcHH0LJ01wsEjdmf05apjpQvDSsNXgCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h368/Characuts2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p></p><p><span> </span> <span> </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">What is childhood? Sounds like kind of a dumb question, doesn’t it? After all, it’s pretty obvious what childhood is – it’s the beginning of your life, and what happens before you grow up. That’s simple enough, isn’t it? But we all know childhood isn’t that simple, and that so much happens in our childhood to pre-condition the course we take that maybe it’s really <i>the most critical part of life.</i></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>But what if we put childhood in a different context, in a larger context – in the context of our lives reincarnating, life upon life upon life? Then childhood isn’t just a stage we pass through in <i>this</i> life (since this entire human life is a stage we are passing through), but part of a continuum of human life-stages along with puberty, young adulthood, midlife, and old age (and even death and re-birth) – but notice none of those other stages seems to carry as much weight as “what happened to me when I was a kid”.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 36px;">In this larger “reincarnative” sense, the childhood we experience in our present life is something we’ve <i>prepared for</i> ourselves – something we’ve <i>preconditioned</i>, a foundational stage arising in the middle of our eternal soul adventure, over and over; similar to a <i>re-booting, </i>so to speak.</p><p class="p3" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Most of us who can relate to this ‘lives of our souls’ intuitively understand that we carry the causes and effects of our life actions – our <i>karma</i> – along with us in every moment of whatever life we’re living; and that our karma is an indicator (and result) of the choices we’ve made, or paths we may take. So perhaps we can think of childhood as a 're-booted' starting point; a pre-conditioned ‘empty’ space, where our potential will begin to realize and manifest. So what kind of "re-start" is it?</p><p class="p3" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Childhood is a time of innocence, of playfulness, of discovery, of awakening. It’s a time when, ideally, we are intuitively carefree, and unconsciously surrendered to the care of our providers. This is so for one simple reason: These are the forms and characteristics of our authentic selves. These are the characteristics of our souls:</p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Our soul is innocent – part and parcel of a pure, loving, creative force. Our soul is playful – it’s not weighed down by the gravity of self-importance. Our soul is in a constant state of willingness, and curiosity. Our soul is always open to awareness and expansion. Our soul is secure in its connection to, and complete dependence upon a loving, creative source – a divine matrix of loving intelligence.</p><p class="p3" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>So karma delivers our soul into our place – into our family, into our physical being; but the forms our life lessons will take have yet to be determined. This is the crucial period of forming our interface with the world – our <i>ego</i> interface. This is the time when our soul’s true nature is either suppressed or energized, dependent upon how the potential of Love’s energy is demonstrated to, and realized by our child. The actual conditions of life may be bad around us, but Love in the right places can lead us to a transcendent path.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>When we look back at the hardest parts of our own beginnings, it’s clear that it was the absence of Love that created them. This results in children feeling abandoned by those they naturally want to trust in most –<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>a serious, in a way imaginary condition many of us may carry for the rest of our lives that underlies so many of our personal struggles. Our soul always knows better: <i>We are never abandoned. </i>That is only the great illusion of human life, that we so easily feel separate and unloved.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p3" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>So here’s what childhood can mean to our karmic practice in this life (or How to Get a Great Childhood – <i>next time):</i><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">Intuitively, we all know how precious childhood and children are, and how important it is for children to be shown as much Love as possible, so we need to honor that responsibility absolutely – without fail.</span></li></ul><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">It is simply the lack of Love that has created the difficulties we carry with us through life from our childhoods, so we can only overcome these difficulties in this life by becoming channels – givers and receivers – of Love. (You’ll notice 'karmically awakened' children do this from the very get-go!)</span></li></ul><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">Realize that when life seems hard it’s because you’ve lost touch with your soul’s true nature – with your authentic self. Stop taking yourself so seriously. Do your best to open your heart, and return to a state of willingness. Try to be aware of the wonder and promise alive in every moment. Surrender to the natural design of your life, by releasing your willful urge to control things. <i>Know that you are cared for.</i></span></li></ul><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">And then...just be more playful! Have fun, be creative, and enjoy all the lovely little moments of life!</span></li></ul><p class="p3" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Here’s something one of our greatest “reincarnated” spiritual engineers said about it all, a long time ago… </p><p class="p3" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p4" style="color: #001220; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i>Yeshua himself called them and he said to them, “Let the children come to me and do not refuse them, because the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to those who are like these.”</i></p><p class="p4" style="color: #001220; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"> <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span>Luke, 18:16</p><p class="p4" style="color: #001220; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p4" style="color: #001220; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p4" style="color: #001220; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #424142;">Read about concepts like these and much more in: </span><a href="https://www.amazon.com/How-Heaven-Without-Really-Dying/dp/0738753211/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8" style="background-color: white; color: #45818e; text-decoration-line: none;"><span class="s3" style="color: #5593a0;"><i>How to Get to Heaven (Without Really Dying), Wisdom From a Near-Death Survivor </i> from Llewellyn Worldwide</span></a><span class="s4" style="background-color: white; color: #0268a5;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #424142;">available direct on this page, or online. The first book: </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/How-Survive-Life-Death-Happiness/dp/1573246360/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1384712557&sr=8-1&keywords=robert+kopecky" style="background-color: white; color: #45818e; text-decoration-line: none;"><span class="s5" style="color: #36983f;">How to Survive Life (and Death), A Guide To Happiness In This World and Beyond</span></a><span class="s6" style="background-color: white; color: #34983f;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #424142;">is available the same ways – but ask for it at your local bookstore!</span></p>rjkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15335321348311130963noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-917481311996880590.post-33332837012814178072020-11-01T17:04:00.006-05:002022-08-25T19:52:24.228-04:00The Curious [Spiritual] Phenomenon of Trump and His Supporters – A Call to Vote!<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3Hso49ylwMc/X58w5shKmCI/AAAAAAAALXY/pTgN2OLaIOclGtSbF7Rpo6JNhm6JIemyQCNcBGAsYHQ/s400/Donald%2BSupport.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="245" data-original-width="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3Hso49ylwMc/X58w5shKmCI/AAAAAAAALXY/pTgN2OLaIOclGtSbF7Rpo6JNhm6JIemyQCNcBGAsYHQ/s320/Donald%2BSupport.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p class="p1" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><br /></p><p class="p3" style="color: #424242; font-family: Helvetica; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 27.8px; text-indent: 13.5px;"><i><span style="font-size: x-small;">"A human being is part of the whole, called by us "Universe," a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings, as something separated from the rest - a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty."</span></i></p><p class="p4" style="color: #424242; font-family: Helvetica; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40.5px; text-indent: 105.8px;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Albert Einstein</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Different from other pop-pundits, I feel that as a “spiritual” writer commenting on material subjects like politics or contemporary culture, I should probably preface my commentary with a few qualifications; otherwise it may be hard[er] to accept that my observations come from an authentically “spiritual” perspective. Before I share my “spiritual” thoughts about Mr. Trump and those devoted to him, let me first give you some “material” backstory.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Believe it or not, I survived three “Near-Death Experiences” over about fifteen years – you know, those other-worldly experiences where a person claims to briefly visit a crazy, beautiful “heavenly” existence beyond this crazy, beautiful human one.</p><p class="p2" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p5" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 36px;">In my first, I was knocked out of my body in a serious car accident and witnessed life on earth from about thirty feet above it. I “returned” with a literal spiritual <i>Perspective</i> on our lives as human beings – where we all channel a kind of divine life force through this “material” body-form we occupy. I returned to the crash scene later and confirmed parts of those surroundings that I could only have seen from the top of a light pole.</p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>In my second, while living a downtown Manhattan life of self-destructive excess, I collapsed in a physical shut-down and was enfolded in a brilliant cloud where I was presented with some of the places I’d badly screwed-up in my life – like in an interactive movie that was hard to watch. I returned from that realizing the power of <i>Presence –</i> the power of each moment’s profound truth and singular potential, the awareness that awakens it, and the unconsciousness that can destroy it as in passes by in a flash.</p><p class="p5" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 36px;">In third and last (knock on wood), I was ambushed – knocked-out and severely beaten, stomped, and kicked by skinheads who mistakenly thought I was gay. I found myself in a safe, womblike place, surrounded by loving spirits who gently forced me back into this life, to naturally fulfill a kind of karmic “mission” that I still had to complete. I came back with a new <i>Purpose,</i> and after nearly ten years of volunteering in a New York City hospital, and thousands of hours of meditation and study, I became the author of two books, and an adviser and speaker dedicated to helping folks understand that there’s a lot more to this whole thing than meets the eye. At age 58, I’d found a greater reality…the hard way.</p><p class="p6" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px; text-indent: 36px;"><br /></p><p class="p5" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 36px;">Like many experiences, spirituality is anecdotal – there’s no real way to prove to anyone else what needs no more proof to the experiencer. These are my true experiences, and they’ve understandably changed the way I live as a result of learning those three very difficult lessons. In the intervening years, I’ve worked with lots of people in various parts of Life – usually <i>difficult</i> parts – with questioning people, with crashing people, with dying people. I believe these experiences have (gratefully) given me a peculiarly valid kind of insight.</p><p class="p6" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px; text-indent: 36px;"><br /></p><p class="p5" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 36px;">Basically, I view us as being expressions of the same Divine Consciousness – of all really being more or less the same thing here, expressing itself through each of our unique forms, filtered through our ancestry, our genetic make-up, our life experiences, our cultural biases. In this way, everyone, from the chillest swami to the biggest hothead, is expressing something we all know about – parts of a collective “self” we can all identify with. Everyone finds themselves at a certain level of awareness about ourselves and the world and behaves in a way that our personal level of consciousness dictates. With that in mind, I find acceptance, compassion, and forgiveness become the most important ways to work with each other; and kindness, honesty, and humility the most important principles we can bring to our own lives.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p5" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 36px;">That’s my “spiritual” backstory…and here’s my personal experience and observations about Trump and his devotees.</p><p class="p2" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p5" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 36px;">My own personal “transformation” occurred at the same time as I personally witnessed the events of 9/11, in New York City. I had lived there for more than twenty years leading up to that day – mostly years of material success, physical excess, and spiritual emptiness. I had many occasions to intersect life-paths with Donald Trump and his kind (while not nearly so well-financed, our interests did coincide in a number of ways, at that time). For years a close friend was a big TV Soap Opera star, and when I was with him, lots of strange and exclusive doors were opened.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p5" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 36px;">During those years I knew Trump as many New Yorkers knew him – <i>objectively speaking –</i> as a spoiled rich kid (his dad owned thousands of apartments in NYC) who was viewed as a selfish, lascivious, hedonistic con artist of sorts, and a guy who kept the company of pretty much the worst kind of people imaginable. I had no direct, personal experience of him other than the consistently negative things I heard through the local media (which I was a part of), although I did have three close friends who’d all had direct dealings with him, so I only had one “degree of separation.”<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p5" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 36px;">It was always telling that everyone who worked for Trump in any way had to sign a Nondisclosure Agreement, guaranteeing they would not speak of any personal experience with him under threat of litigation.</p><p class="p6" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px; text-indent: 36px;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p5" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 36px;">One friend was severely injured by part of a Trump building that illegal (foreign, non-union) workers collapsed on them while they were walking down the street; followed by years of attested persecution and personal vilification by Trump and his lawyers, and costly legal complications that Trump eventually lost.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p5" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 36px;">My second friend was hired to provide a professional service for a Trump project but quit when they refused to commit crimes on behalf of Trump and his company. That company was subsequently shut down and ruled to be a criminal fraud. Trump settled that case by paying $26 million to his victims.</p><p class="p5" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 36px;">My third friend was a veteran who performed extremely dangerous maintenance jobs, which they had fairly contracted with Trump to do. After their work was done they invoiced the company as usual, only to receive a response that Trump had decided the job wasn’t worth the agreed-upon fee, and that they would either accept half the amount as payment-in-full or have the option to pursue the matter in court – and have their reputation as a service provider ruined throughout Trump’s extensive network of property owner contacts.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p5" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 36px;">These are direct, second-hand testimonials of friends that I absolutely believe – in fact two of them were definitively documented by the media. Those weren’t anecdotal experiences to me – they are objective truths that formed my impression of Mr. Trump, along with the knowledge around town that he had been documented as a racist and dirty landlord. NYers knew that his mentor had been the notorious Roy Cohn (mob lawyer and Joseph McCarthy’s righthand man), and that he hung around with drug abusers, <a href="https://gregolear.substack.com/p/tinker-tailor-mobster-trump?utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email&utm_source=facebook&fbclid=IwAR1iP3kvJLab-ingA3OPEPgTSW4X4QvVq6-XEU7DF1dTf6UfJa39N8tkksw"><span class="s1" style="color: #0079cd;">gangsters</span></a>, and deviants (like his longtime “party pal,” convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein). The Trump family had earned a thoroughly disreputable reputation <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/10/02/us/politics/donald-trump-tax-schemes-fred-trump.html"><span class="s1" style="color: #0079cd;">in financial matters</span></a>, and Donald was demonstrably <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veracity_of_statements_by_Donald_Trump"><span class="s1" style="color: #0079cd;">a pathological liar</span></a> and failed businessman, and anecdotally considered a drug addict (known in those circles to abuse cocaine and other substances), <a href="https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/trump-traffic-accusations/"><span class="s1" style="color: #0079cd;">a likely sexual deviant</span></a><span class="s1" style="color: #0079cd; text-decoration-line: underline;">,</span> and a low-grade gangster himself – turned into a TV reality star by a savvy British TV producer named <a href="https://deadline.com/2019/01/mark-burnett-donald-trump-protector-the-apprentice-commentary-peter-bart-1202532074/"><span class="s1" style="color: #0079cd;">Mark Burnett.</span></a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p5" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 36px;">As a media professional myself, the <a href="https://gregolear.substack.com/p/full-disclosure-an-interview-with"><span class="s1" style="color: #0079cd;">stories that circulated in production circles out of Trump’s NBC TV show</span></a> told a sordid story that supported many of the worst impressions possible. In the 2016 presidential election, Trump lost his home town of New York City by a resounding 84 to 16%. Clearly, the great majority of New Yorkers who knew him best had formed a justifiable distrust and distaste for the man.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p5" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 36px;">Given the evidence of his administration and his irrational behavior since he definitively lost the election, I believe this represents a pretty accurate representation of this man who has created so much chaos, division, and anxious, fearful preoccupation – something that none of us need in our already challenging lives. It is the profile of a desperately damaged individual, who despite deserving the full measure of our compassion, is nonetheless a very poor (even dangerous) candidate for any position of leadership and responsibility.</p><p class="p6" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px; text-indent: 36px;"><br /></p><p class="p7" style="color: #424242; font-family: Helvetica; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 36px;"><span class="s2" style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><i><span style="font-size: x-small;">"Once you label me, you negate me.”</span></i></p><p class="p7" style="color: #424242; font-family: Helvetica; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 36px;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Attributed to Kierkegaard</i><span class="s2" style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></p><p class="p6" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px; text-indent: 36px;"><br /></p><p class="p6" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px; text-indent: 36px;"><br /></p><p class="p5" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 36px;">While these facts and impressions have formed my “material” profile of the man; and knowing that they’re available to everyone (including his daily statements and behaviors), it has always been difficult to understand how so many fellow Americans – particularly smart, otherwise good-hearted friends within my own “spiritual” circles, can harbor a kind of elevated respect and even absolute <i>devotion</i> that they seem to feel for a man who is objectively a criminal deviant – a victim of extremely dark <i>karma,</i> including likely childhood abuse in the same forms as he is known to have inflicted on his own children. It’s abuse that I suffered in childhood too, so I don’t speak from judgement, but from painful identification.</p><p class="p5" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 36px;">This phenomenon is fairly simply and directly described by the idea that we’re in a kind of ‘school of spiritual evolution,’ that sixth-graders through first-graders are attending simultaneously (I think I was expelled from an early grade…). Trump supporters are ‘first-graders,’ observably <i>disturbed</i> – objectively angry, aggressive, cognitively dissonant people; people who are likely to have suffered difficult, even abusive childhoods (like Trump); marked by alcoholism and drug-abuse, racist beliefs, feelings of unjust victimization, and beliefs of religious superiority and entitlement. Their spiritual surrender is incomplete, so they experience only a fearful God, not a God of absolute tolerance and pure Love. The degree to which they wish to control life is proportional to their level of suffering, and proportional to the level of violence that seems justified to permit their efforts to control the uncontrollable. Trump excites, focuses, and expresses this dark energy for them on a larger stage.</p><p class="p5" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 36px;">The elite corporatists and their professional media-shapers know this, and easily manipulate this ‘base’ of devotees, unconsciously driven by their own delusional, incomplete mythology. They know that people of constrained consciousness can be directed by their fears, and have made a science out of convincing them the corporate cause is to their own benefit, when in fact the opposite is true. For them, it’s all about money, power, and the selfish exploitation of our planet’s resources – they are the ‘second-graders’ who are the true creators of the Earth’s current theater of suffering.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p5" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 36px;">What you can do is to organize, take action, vote, identify and forgive, provide evidence of the unseen consciousness alive in everything, and remove the obstacles from Love flowing in, around, and through all of our gorgeous life on this amazing planet.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p6" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px; text-indent: 36px;"><br /></p><p class="p5" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 36px;">VOTE to prevent the spread of ignorance and evil unconsciousness. VOTE to advance our spiritual evolution and to give our species a chance to help restore balance to the world. Step into the light, look at the real condition of the Earth, and VOTE like all the current life of the planet depends on it…because at this point in human history, it does.</p><p class="p6" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px; text-indent: 36px;"><br /></p><p class="p6" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px; text-indent: 36px;"><br /></p><p class="p6" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px; text-indent: 36px;"><br /></p><p class="p8" style="color: #424142; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Read about concepts like these and much more in: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/How-Heaven-Without-Really-Dying/dp/0738753211/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8"><span class="s3" style="color: #5593a0;"><i>How to Get to Heaven (Without Really Dying), Wisdom From a Near-Death Survivor </i> from Llewellyn Worldwide</span></a><span class="s4" style="color: #0268a5;"> </span>available direct on this page, or online. The first book: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/How-Survive-Life-Death-Happiness/dp/1573246360/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1384712557&sr=8-1&keywords=robert+kopecky"><span class="s5" style="color: #36983f;">How to Survive Life (and Death), A Guide To Happiness In This World and Beyond</span></a><span class="s6" style="color: #34983f;"> </span>is available the same ways – but ask for it at your local bookstore!</p></div><br /></div><br /><br /></div><br /><br /><br /><p></p>robert k.http://www.blogger.com/profile/08504571789986383064noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-917481311996880590.post-55912823178751156552020-09-21T14:37:00.004-04:002020-09-21T21:07:38.098-04:00Simple, Solid Bridges to a Working Spiritual Life (Learned the Hard Way) <p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-S6cPIX1jO4o/X2jvTz8ZCII/AAAAAAAAK_w/JUl5ppjb65QcrCM9_PEJOSXzUidnt2CyACNcBGAsYHQ/s690/bridges.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="690" height="233" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-S6cPIX1jO4o/X2jvTz8ZCII/AAAAAAAAK_w/JUl5ppjb65QcrCM9_PEJOSXzUidnt2CyACNcBGAsYHQ/w400-h233/bridges.jpg" width="400" /></a></div> <br /> <span> </span><span> </span><span> </span>I'm known for having had the [mis]fortune of surviving multiple "near-death experiences," and as a result I (unintentionally) find myself absolutely certain that there's a spiritual reality that underlies, informs, and precipitates all of this success-seeking, bill-paying, precaution-taking material existence. It's a function of what the Hindus call <i>Maya,</i> the illusion of Life. While being hit on the head three times very hard may exclude me from what's normally considered as "sanity," I think it was what I personally really needed. I needed experiences that painfully proved the existence of a reality that's magically extra-dimensional in every sense – physically, spiritually, and conceptually. Realizations that I suppose are more commonly known as faith. <br /><br /> <span> </span><span> </span><span> </span>Thankfully a lot of us acquire this understanding in easier ways, from our parents, or from religion, or just in the course of coping with the slings and arrows that life throws our way. Apparently being challenged by hardship does help to make us realize that there's a reliable order alive in the universe we can turn to, especially when things get tough. Naturally, I certainly can't recommend near-death as a means to bridging that elusive gap between the harsh realities of "material" life and a more grace-filled "spiritual" life, but I can offer you a few very practical bridges into that living magic that makes everything so much more enjoyable – grounded in this fundamental concept: <p></p><span> </span><span> <span> </span></span><i>We are spiritual beings learning through physical experience; we are designed to overcome the mental and physical barriers presented by human sensory experiences and realize our spiritual nature. There are bridges – invisible spiritual mechanisms (choices) – built into this physical experience that afford us passages to our spiritual evolution.</i><div> <br />Here are a few solid bridges that help us cross that dimensional divide:<br /><br /><u>Unconditional Kindness</u> is the most available (and enjoyable) mechanism that engages us with our spiritual life by giving us an immediate heartfelt identification with others – the [proactive] warmth and support that we respond to ourselves, when it's unconditionally shown to us. Being unconditionally kind to others is being kind to ourselves, because we find we can easily forgive others for just being human, and realize that applies to us too. We give everyone a break, because life is tough for everyone. As part of that, Unconditional Kindness obliges there be no exploitation, manipulation, or participation in doing harm of any kind in our actions, so we end up being forthright, friendly vegetarians who work at something that contributes to Life in a meaningful, productive way. (We even get to forgive those who can't understand our approach to Life)<br /><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span>Hindus call this <i>Karma Yoga,</i> and it instantly connects us to an unseen dimension of profound compassion and generosity that we may have never known was alive everywhere in the world. We make, and find others who are making, good karma.<div><br /><u>Honesty</u> in all our relationships and dealings, and in what you might think of as a variation of confession—owning up to our mistakes, not always needing to be right—is really a visible invisible bridge. We all know how it simplifies our life, since being honest gives us fewer of life's complications to fear, because you're simply never adding to them. Your motives remain those of a seeker of fairness, truth, and wisdom. You become seen and known as a person who is resolutely trustworthy, whose intentions are of the highest order...that sounds pretty spiritual, doesn't it? It's a kind of intellectual vigilance that Hindus call <i>Gnana Yoga.</i><br /><br /><u>Giving</u>, simply put, may be the single most important bridge, particularly to an agnostic that isn't interested in "extra-dimensions" but does want to live with a more graceful connection to Life. What we might call <i>Compassionate Consciousness</i> (altruistic effort like charity and volunteerism) – often referred to simply as service (like responsible parenthood, being a good friend, etc.) – is the most reliable bridge to a working spirituality. It's simply the singular most effective means to overcoming the sense of separateness we develop while sitting and thinking about ourselves and our own life situations – that selfishness that paints us into our own little corner, only using the color fear. <br /><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span>In selfless service—with no regard for reward or recognition—we're immediately attached to a greater universal intelligence by the lightest of all yokes: the engagement created by contributing to the cycle of well-being. We almost immediately escape the harsh realities dictated by our ego, and instantly begin to lighten and align our karma. (Karma Yoga, again)<br /><br /><u>Humility</u> – not as a form of self-deprecatory ineffectiveness, but instead as a subtle, powerful sense of reality and connection; as an extraordinary underlying energy that filters all of your Life experiences, and provides an intuitive ideal to live by with purpose and grace. We've all experienced this powerful kind of humility as a truth-bearing, holistic force in Life, often demonstrated by the people we really respect the most. Nobody is really that important—even if they are; and often people who don't act important but just show up with open-hearted willingness are the most important of all.<br /><br />"<u>Conscious Contact with Source Energy</u>" is what all these bridges lead us to, actually. A personal attachment and conscious surrender into the energy and intelligence alive in the Universe, regardless of whether we personify that power in popular traditional ways, or form our own concept of it as "<a href="https://www.gaia.com/article/awesome-power-of-the-field-love">The Field of Love</a>," or other force. In this way we surrender—as a strategy—into the power that energizes and directs our being, recognizing the true control that our choices give us over our lives. You become aware of all kinds of beauty, the inherent divinity in nature; and realize that your actions in Life can be devoted to this undeniable Source of Creation – to "God," to Life, to one another, to Love. The Hindus call this devotional, or <i>Bhakti Yoga.</i><br /><br /> <span> </span><span> </span><span> </span>I don't pretend to know the designs of the Universe, only to have experienced the effectiveness of these visible (invisible) mechanisms in my own life and in the lives of those I'm close to; but I do know this: <br /><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span>You do deserve the life that you have – with most of your biggest difficulties defined by whether you willingly cross these bridges towards "the spiritual," or stay stuck (and frustrated) on this side of the river, avoiding the magical extra-dimension of Life.<br /><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: left; text-indent: 31px;"><span style="color: #333233; font-family: helvetica; line-height: 18px; text-indent: 0px;">Read about this and much more in:</span><o:p style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11.44px; line-height: 18.304px; text-indent: 0px;"><span style="color: #333233; font-family: helvetica; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"> </span><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: helvetica; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18.304px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18px;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/How-Heaven-Without-Really-Dying/dp/0738753211/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8" style="color: #45818e; text-decoration-line: none;"><i>How to Get to Heaven (Without Really Dying), Wisdom From a Near-Death Survivor </i> from Llewellyn Worldwide</a> </span></o:p><span style="color: #333233; font-family: helvetica; line-height: 18px; text-indent: 0px;">available direct on this page, or online. </span><span style="color: #333233; font-family: helvetica; line-height: 18px; text-indent: 0px;">The first book: </span><span style="color: #2c8930; font-family: helvetica; line-height: 18px; text-indent: 0px;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/How-Survive-Life-Death-Happiness/dp/1573246360/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1384712557&sr=8-1&keywords=robert+kopecky" style="color: #2d8930; text-decoration-line: none;">How to Survive Life (and Death), A Guide To Happiness In This World and Beyond</a> </span><span style="color: #333233; font-family: helvetica; line-height: 18px; text-indent: 0px;">is available the same ways – but ask for it it at your local bookstore!</span></div><div><i><br /></i></div></div></div>robert k.http://www.blogger.com/profile/08504571789986383064noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-917481311996880590.post-4018852999496847092020-09-02T14:50:00.008-04:002020-09-02T18:41:23.335-04:00Six [Dangerous] Modern Fairy Tales on Being Human <p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2C_1h0KeT9s/X0_pnp9qeaI/AAAAAAAAK54/trEQ1Q2GVMk8boDZhNVgKpR8P-D8xYhggCNcBGAsYHQ/s396/Six%2BFairy%2BTales.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="264" data-original-width="396" height="266" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2C_1h0KeT9s/X0_pnp9qeaI/AAAAAAAAK54/trEQ1Q2GVMk8boDZhNVgKpR8P-D8xYhggCNcBGAsYHQ/w400-h266/Six%2BFairy%2BTales.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /> <i style="font-family: cambria, serif;"><span style="color: #1f2326; font-family: "Helvetica Neue";">“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate, our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.”</span></i><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: cambria, serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="color: #1f2326; font-family: "Helvetica Neue";"> Marianne Williamson<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: cambria, serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="color: #1f2326; font-family: "Helvetica Neue";"> </span></p><br /><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span> </span><span> <span> </span></span>Let’s begin by casting our imaginations into a popular fantasy that resembles spectacular science fiction a little – namely that we’re not simply human beings fashioned from muscle, bone and blood, but that in a larger reality we’re really beings of pure effervescent energy wired into these clunky human robots, yet simultaneously connected to the limitless intelligence of the Cosmos...(science fiction and fairy tales can have a lot in common).<br /><br /><span> </span><span> <span> </span></span>Escaping those misperceptions of the human form we could then detach and observe Time itself as an assemblage of discreet moments in “eternity,” and witness the greater forces at work in this world that we fail to perceive from down here on the ground.</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: cambria, serif; margin: 0in -0.25in 0.0001pt 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="color: #1f2326; font-family: "Helvetica Neue";"> </span></p><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span> </span><span> <span> </span></span>Immediately, we might realize that we humans are unconsciously confined to a set of powerful beliefs suggested by the ‘evidence’ of our world around us as we see it, as our limited powers of perception present to us – so as humans, we simply have a misperception problem.<br /><br /><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span>Then, people who knew more about manipulating these powerful beliefs could be called wizards, witches, or “movers and shakers.” They would have the power to mold human illusions to suit their own purposes. In the metaphoric terms of Fairy Tales we may say “a darkness had fallen over the land,” the result of a spell cast from the wizard’s castle – the source of all confusion…the source of all evil.</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: cambria, serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="color: #1f2326; font-family: "Helvetica Neue";"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="color: #1f2326; font-family: "Helvetica Neue";"> </span><span style="color: #1f2326; font-family: helvetica;">In the ancient Vedas of Hindu philosophy, this world of illusions/delusions created by our limited human senses is called <i>Maya – </i>an elaborate veil before our eyes. This veil is universal in human experience, so its effects can be explored and uncovered personally, or manipulated through the energies of larger groups into collective systems of delusional thought and action, in short, into different “realities” (like what we see today with the <i>QAnon </i>phenomenon). <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="color: #1f2326; font-family: helvetica;"> In Fairy Tales (or The Bible) when this happens, there can be plagues and pestilence, famine, fires, crazy storms; waves of fearful insanity seizing the leaders and sweeping through the masses, leading to accelerating division, the destruction of Nature and a pandemic of fearful selfishness…sound familiar?<i><o:p></o:p></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><i><span style="color: #1f2326; font-family: helvetica;"> </span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><i><span style="color: #1f2326; font-family: helvetica;">“We cannot solve our problems by using the same consciousness that created them.”<o:p></o:p></span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><i><span style="color: #1f2326;"> </span></i><span style="color: #1f2326;">Albert Einstein<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="color: #1f2326; font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="color: #1f2326; font-family: helvetica;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="color: #1f2326; font-family: helvetica;"> Now that we’ve got our cosmic fantasy caps on, and we’re objectively looking down on humanity, let’s look at six of the delusional beliefs being propagated by our culture, and its wizards – political movers and shakers, and magnates of the media elite:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="color: #1f2326; font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="color: #1f2326; font-family: helvetica;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="color: #1f2326; font-family: helvetica;"><b>1. </b><b>We are separate from one another, and from Nature</b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="color: #1f2326; font-family: helvetica;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="color: #1f2326; font-family: helvetica;"> Because of the insular experience of our human form, our independence is probably the easiest, most persistent delusion to maintain. Our sense of our disconnected self is so powerful that we can’t seem to see ourselves like a school of fish, or flock of birds…but <i>we are.</i><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="color: #1f2326; font-family: helvetica;">Ask any astronaut you know and they’ll tell you that the arms-length view they had of the Earth completely destroyed that delusion of separateness. We truly are all <i>one life </i>here on this planet. Why even the nature of our material composition insists that the very atoms that make up our physical selves were part of something before they were part of you – rocks, plants, animals…dust (to dust).<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="color: #1f2326; font-family: helvetica;">Even though you feel<i> </i>separate and special, you’re not at all. You are one with everything you see, and a lot of what you can’t see. The truth is that we are all absolutely, inexorably bound and connected by our collective thoughts, energies, elements, and actions.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="color: #1f2326; font-family: helvetica;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="color: #1f2326; font-family: helvetica;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="color: #1f2326; font-family: helvetica;"><b>2. What is “real” is observable – you can only believe what you can see</b><i><o:p></o:p></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><i><span style="color: #1f2326; font-family: helvetica;"> </span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><i><span style="color: #1f2326;"> </span></i><span style="color: #1f2326;">The old expression, “I’ll believe it when I see it,” got turned inside out years ago when Quantum Physics essentially redefined it in reverse. The fact is, we really can’t see the elemental forces that create our observable world. What we do witness is the evidence of all of those mysterious processes, like gravity, or electricity, or Love…or human ignorance. It’s a scientific fact that the apparent material reality around us – the places and things in our lives – are less tangible, less <i>real,</i> than they appear to be.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="color: #1f2326; font-family: helvetica;"> Quantum Physics informs us that the subatomic particles that coalesce into what we see around us look less like Newton’s little billiard balls, and much more like tiny, fuzzy clouds that don’t actually become solid until they’re <i>observed – </i>and so their transformation into ‘reality’ occurs only by engaging with our limited observational perceptions. It seems to be our single global mind – it’s focus and engagement in a great, intangible reservoir of consciousness – actually constructs the “reality” of our reality.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="color: #1f2326; font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="color: #1f2326; font-family: helvetica;"> So as a result, it’s closer to the truth to say: <i>“I’ll see it when I believe it.”</i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="color: #1f2326; font-family: helvetica;"> <i><o:p></o:p></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><i><span style="color: #1f2326; font-family: helvetica;"> </span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span style="color: #1f2326;"><b>3. All of life has forward momentum, and all arising problems are </b></span><b style="color: #1f2326;">reversible</b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><i><span style="color: #1f2326; font-family: helvetica;"> </span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="color: #1f2326; font-family: helvetica;"> Recent discoveries about Mars tell us something amazing – that there is and has always been water there, and that at one time Mars probably looked quite a bit like Earth. Before it got too hot and started drying up, and the sun’s radiation soaked up its atmosphere and it got too cold, the folks up there probably thought they were on a carousel of never-ending abundance too. The idea that we can harvest the bounty of a planet’s resources indefinitely, ignoring the imbalances we cause, holds about as little water as logging the Sahara Forest once did. We are quantifiably in the midst of one of the great mass extinctions known to humankind, and <i>extinctions aren’t reversible. </i>Time isn't going anywhere, it's results are always present.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="color: #1f2326; font-family: helvetica;"><i><br /></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="color: #1f2326; font-family: helvetica;"> We’re not going to terraform Mars anytime soon – not while we’re so busy transforming the Earth to look like Mars<i>. </i>We can see the paradise we could have, or the Hell we can create.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="color: #1f2326; font-family: helvetica;"><i> </i><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><i><span style="color: #1f2326; font-family: helvetica;"> </span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="color: #1f2326; font-family: helvetica;"><b>4. Darwin’s Theory of Evolution demands “Survival of the Fittest”</b><i><o:p></o:p></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><i><span style="color: #1f2326; font-family: helvetica;"> </span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="color: #1f2326; font-family: helvetica;"> While natural selection efficiently promotes characteristics that ensure survival, our cultural misunderstanding of Darwin’s theories (encouraged by the “haves” of industry and media) has to do with what characteristics actually constitute “the fittest,” and what evolutionary direction those traits take us in. In biology, and in the natural world, it’s not greedy leaders that drive evolutionary ascendence, it’s the characteristics that enhance the endurance and viability of the entire species, and that sustain those conditions that support the success of the whole community – “haves” and “have-nots” alike.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="color: #1f2326; font-family: helvetica;"> It’s quite democratic, really – there isn’t one strong leader or small group that determines the most beneficial direction for a community to move in, in fact it’s usually a sudden shift (about 51%) of the colony that ‘breaks’ in the direction of collective progress (As our elections should demonstrate…)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="color: #1f2326; font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="color: #1f2326; font-family: helvetica;"> The real lesson of Darwin isn’t <i>dog eat dog – </i>it’s that <i>animals move in groups. </i>It isn't really “survival of the fittest,” but actually “survival of the most cooperatively adaptable.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="color: #1f2326; font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="color: #1f2326; font-family: helvetica;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="color: #1f2326; font-family: helvetica;"><b>5. New advances are always superior to old, and technology provides all the answers</b><i><o:p></o:p></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><i><span style="color: #1f2326; font-family: helvetica;"> </span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="color: #1f2326; font-family: helvetica;"> From the unimaginable aberration of an island of plastic refuse the size of Texas floating out in the Pacific Ocean, to the warped lunacy of “fracking” toxins into bedrock beneath the water table to release more hydrocarbons, to the nefarious insanity of using GPS and the internet to track every person on the planet, the benefits of technological advances clearly depend on to what purposes they are employed. Those technologies dedicated to exploitation, destruction, and personal power are harmful to the human species, and to our non-human fellow Earthlings.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="color: #1f2326; font-family: helvetica;"> Indigenous cultures have created advanced technologies too – often to a higher level than ‘establishment’ anthropologists are willing to acknowledge – but here’s the difference: theirs have often been organic technologies of respectful sustenance, in accord with the energies of the Earth – what I like to call <i>Spiritual Technology.<o:p></o:p></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="color: #1f2326; font-family: helvetica;">The answers actually lay in a spiritual approach to all of life, what are real “technologies of the heart” – like free energy, transpersonal communication, and inter-species collaboration – most of which are labeled “woo-woo”<i> </i>by the selfish guardians of our status quo who have the most to lose materially.<i><o:p></o:p></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="color: #1f2326; font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="color: #1f2326; font-family: helvetica;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="color: #1f2326; font-family: helvetica;"><b>6. What's “miraculous” or “paranormal” is automatically considered foolish and impossible</b><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="color: #1f2326; font-family: helvetica;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span style="color: #1f2326;"> In an earlier article called </span><a href="https://robertkopecky.blogspot.com/2016/12/paranormality-is-new-reality.html" style="color: purple;"><i><span>Paranormality is the New Reality</span></i></a><i><span style="color: #1f2326;">, </span></i><span style="color: #1f2326;">I discuss the simple fact that most of what we take for granted as modern science was at one time considered “paranormal." Unfortunately this is still the case, but as those cultural blinders are being swept away by rapidly spreading <i>Consciousness – </i>the great field of intelligence at work beneath and beyond our human forms – it becomes ever clearer that our cultural delusions are kept alive and manipulated by a fairly small group of people who are ignorantly dedicated to self-enhancement and gratification, using the power of irrational <i>fear</i>. That is what destructively deepens their delusions and prevents them from experiencing “the miraculous” spiritual solutions to all the overwhelming problems they create.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="color: #1f2326; font-family: helvetica;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="color: #1f2326; font-family: helvetica;"> So let’s go back to our beginning sci-fi scenario and imaginatively re-enter our human bodies with this expanded knowledge, perspective, and purpose. Now we ought to be able to consciously recognize, and lovingly acknowledge, the limitations of our present human form. By compassionately freeing ourselves of those veils of human delusion, we can see that our answers lie in the “unimaginable” spiritual potential that we are all heir to – beyond simply being a human being. Life is already quite miraculous, let’s make it moreso.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="color: #1f2326; font-family: helvetica;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="color: #1f2326; font-family: helvetica;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 12pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span style="color: #1f2326;"> </span><i><span style="color: #262626;">"Our present world is conditioned by our present mode of consciousness; only when that consciousness passes from its present dualistic mode...will the new creation appear, which is the external reality of which our world is a mirror."</span></i><span><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 12pt;"><span style="color: #262626; font-family: helvetica;"> Bede Griffiths</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: cambria, serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 12pt;"><span style="color: #262626; font-family: Helvetica;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: cambria, serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 12pt;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333233; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">The latest book:</span><o:p style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11.44px; line-height: 18.304px;"><span style="color: #333233; font-family: helvetica; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"> </span><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: helvetica; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18.304px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18px;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/How-Heaven-Without-Really-Dying/dp/0738753211/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8" style="color: #45818e; text-decoration-line: none;"><i>How to Get to Heaven (Without Really Dying), Wisdom From a Near-Death Survivor </i></a><a href="https://www.llewellyn.com/product.php?ean=9780738753218" style="color: #45818e; text-decoration-line: none;">from Llewellyn Worldwide</a> </span></o:p><span style="background-color: white; color: #333233; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">can be ordered direct on this page or online; and t</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333233; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">he first book: </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #2c8930; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/How-Survive-Life-Death-Happiness/dp/1573246360/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1384712557&sr=8-1&keywords=robert+kopecky" style="color: #2d8930; text-decoration-line: none;">How to Survive Life (and Death), A Guide To Happiness In This World and Beyond</a> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333233; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">is available the same ways – but ask for them it at your local bookstore!</span></p>robert k.http://www.blogger.com/profile/08504571789986383064noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-917481311996880590.post-75646952939985965342020-08-24T17:19:00.005-04:002021-03-22T12:43:19.702-04:00Synchronicity is Not a Coincidence (It's Evidence of the Unseen)<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: cambria, serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
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<span face="" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;"> A lot of people have an idea of what the term "Synchronicity" means in popular use, but in a lot of cases they confuse it with the simple fact that sometimes all of us experience extraordinary, timely coincidences. Accidents, that seem as though they were by design. But synchronicity really removes the accident from the accidental nature of those ‘random’ phenomena, and while it can manifest itself as coincidence, that’s only the visible tip of a vast, hidden synchronicitous iceberg.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span face="" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;">To better illustrate the nature of this distinction, let me call upon two other simple metaphors: electricity<i>, </i>and eating.<i><o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span face="" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;">We all have faith in the practical applications of electricity, right? You know the light will turn on when you flip the switch (unless one of those "never needs replacing" light bulbs needs replacing), but sometimes, the light goes on or off at a very particular moment<i> without</i> you flipping the switch. Or in its grander form, a bolt of lightening strikes a tree on your family property. Those are what you may call 'electrical coincidences.'<i> </i>Synchronicity, in this case, has more to do with a very practical yet deeply mysterious lifelong relationship to natural phenomena of all kinds. <i><o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span face="" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;">For example, if a bolt of lightening strikes your grandfather's favorite tree <i>on the day of his death – </i>that's synchronicity. One aspect appears to be connected to the other, but there’s no provable material cause for it, aside from an obvious <i>spiritual</i> cause.<i><o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span face="" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;">Or say you're getting hungry around lunchtime, and for some unusual reason you've been craving oysters. Just then, a co-worker starts talking about the great oysters he had last night. That's coincidental. But if your girlfriend gives you a surprise call to meet her at the oyster bar for lunch, and then tells you how much she loves you – well, that's synchronicity. Reaching beyond just the particular coincidence, synchronicity may have everything to do with how you met your wife.<i><o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span face="" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;">Dr. Carl Jung, the creator of synchronicity, may have taken that example a little further by suggesting that love revealed itself to you like <i>a pearl, </i>and that the opening up of your life revealed this timeless treasure to you. His original version of synchronicity brought in, and out, the presence of recurrent images and ideas, <i>archetypes, </i>tying us to another dimension where dreams come true, timely meetings change your life, omens accurately predict the future, and phenomenal ‘signs’ are deeply significant to our personal experience.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span face="" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;">Dr. Jung didn't define the new principle because he was a mystic, but because after years of working with patients and bearing witness to the events of his own life, it became clear that there appeared to be a mysterious, underlying kind of 'field' effecting a whole different level of experience. Even though he first coined the idea of synchronicity in the late 1920s, it wasn't until 1952 that he committed his concept and data to print with "Synchronicity: An Acausal Connecting Principle," as the first half of his book, <i>The Interpretation of Nature and the Psyche.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span face="" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;">Around the same time, the world was learning about quantum theory, and the concept of a quantum field, or source <i>plenum,</i> from which all matter arises. With it came evidence that we’re all participants in an <i>observer-based reality, </i>of sorts; that our focused attitudes, intentions, and actions may interact with an unseen mechanism to create our personal and collective reality. It confirmed Jung’s observations, and he referred to this field as <i>unus mundus – </i>a unified world. In this unified world, coincidence is only an indicator of an underlying reality.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span face="" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;">Jung’s observations were based on the rejection of a coincidental, one-dimensional life, and instead, the recognition that we engage in the world in a very complex way through our psyches, our energies, our emotions, and our actions and experiences. Seeing life this way, it becomes less a series of coincidences mixed with our projections and manipulations, and instead a far more interactive (albeit far more mysterious) experience. Life becomes a unified co-creation that is answering your questions. Life is reflecting to you what it is you need to know.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span face="" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;">“Continuous creation is to be thought of not only as a series of successive acts of creation, but also as the eternal presence of the one creative act.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span face="" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;">Carl Jung<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span face="" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;">Jung based the synchronistic model on three characteristics of spiritual potential: <i>meaningful coincidence</i> – that random events happen sometimes with very specific, personal meaning; <i>causal connection</i> – that despite there being no apparent material cause and effect, there is an undeniably profound personal significance, and so an apparently intentional connection at play; and <i>luminosity </i>– the indication that all of this happens within a kind of shared field of divinity, in communion with a greater whole.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span face="" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;">Across most life experiences, these three aspects actually do work to describe something that happens in everyone’s life, even though no one knows exactly how.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span face="" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;">Scientific materialists see consciousness as an individually brain-generated phenomenon, generated independently by every consciously living thing, rather than as a shared field that’s accessed by every living thing through their sensory capabilities. Because of this, they tend to dismiss synchronicity, yet their limited model of consciousness supports synchronicity too, because if each life form has a bubble of consciousness around it, they become like 'quanta' of quantum physics when they simultaneously, "acausally" share information through the principle of <i>entanglement.</i> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span face="" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;">Synchronicity merely recognizes the existence, and potential, of this in-formation field of shared consciousness.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span face="" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;">Skeptics say it’s all coincidence<i>,</i> chalking it up to what's called "confirmation bias," which is our very real tendency to remember our 'hits' and forget our 'misses.' It means that you're more likely to remember the bird at the window the day of your father's death than all the birds at the window on other occasions. Of course, it all depends on what the bird is doing, and when it's doing it, doesn’t it?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span face="" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;">My wife and her family witnessed just such a bird hovering nearly motionless outside the window of her father's hospital room, that flew away at the moment of his death. It was the first and only time any of them had ever seen a bird hover outside a window like that before. That’s synchronicity: <i>meaningful coincidence, causal connection, luminosity.</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span face="" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;">Materialism considers all such verifiable testimony as 'anecdotal' (as is all of personal spiritual experience, when you think about it). But spiritual experiences are realized through ones heart<i>, </i>not through ones intellect – a mechanism that's been proven rather unreliable after centuries of scientific reassessments and dangerously ‘adjustable’ dogmas. The miraculous has always ironically been rejected by learned men, who have yet to provide an explanation for their existence <i>on a planet in outer space,</i> other than that it is likely the product of "coincidence."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span face="" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;">The acceptance of synchronicity as an unpredictable, yet wondrously reliable mechanism in our [observer-based] life, leads to a very practical realization that you could relate to any natural force, like electricity, or gravity – it works much better for you when you believe it’s there, and learn how to work with it. When you have faith in it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span face="" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;">A personal story to end with: About fifteen years ago I'd come to accept my self-reliant bachelorhood. A series of remarkable, synchronicitous coincidences suddenly put me in the position to buy a small house, overlooking a wonderfully scenic river in northeastern Pennsylvania. In what I (anecdotally) consider miraculous fashion, the sale went through, and I spent a day signing papers that granted me the deed to my new house in Pike County, Pennsylvania.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span face="" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;">Back in Manhattan, on the way home from the bus station, I bumped into a charming woman I'd </span><span face="" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;">briefly </span><span face="" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; text-indent: 0.5in;">met before. She seemed to be lit from within, and after a very nice conversation, she wrote her name and number down for me. Her last name was <i>Pike,</i> and without knowing where I had just come from, she told me that she was hoping to get away to the country soon. I made sure she did.</span></div>
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<span face="" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;">I can’t forget that 'hit.' We've been married now for thirteen years (the best of my life). And like electricity, she invisibly powers my life; and like eating oysters, well, let's just say it was no coincidence that I bit into a synchronicitous pearl.</span></div>
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<span face="" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333233; font-family: helvetica; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">The latest book:</span><o:p style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 11.44px; line-height: 18.304px;"><span style="color: #333233; font-family: helvetica; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"> </span><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: helvetica; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18.304px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18px;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/How-Heaven-Without-Really-Dying/dp/0738753211/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8" style="color: #45818e; text-decoration-line: none;"><i>How to Get to Heaven (Without Really Dying), Wisdom From a Near-Death Survivor </i></a><a href="https://www.llewellyn.com/product.php?ean=9780738753218" style="color: #45818e; text-decoration-line: none;">from Llewellyn Worldwide</a> </span></o:p><span style="background-color: white; color: #333233; font-family: helvetica; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">can be ordered direct on this page or online; and t</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333233; font-family: helvetica; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">he first book: </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #2c8930; font-family: helvetica; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/How-Survive-Life-Death-Happiness/dp/1573246360/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1384712557&sr=8-1&keywords=robert+kopecky" style="color: #2d8930; text-decoration-line: none;">How to Survive Life (and Death), A Guide To Happiness In This World and Beyond</a> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333233; font-family: helvetica; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">is available the same ways – but ask for them it at your local bookstore!</span> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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robert k.http://www.blogger.com/profile/08504571789986383064noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-917481311996880590.post-16151304804841898932020-07-28T18:27:00.000-04:002020-07-29T13:35:37.664-04:00Where Ego, I Go – Avoiding My Bad Ego Trips<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>"Ego specialness prevents you from authentic feelings of sacredness by creating an inner experience of fear."</i><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> Dr. Wayne Dyer</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span> Egomaniac. Egocentric. Egotistical…not nice things to call someone, right? But just what the heck <i>is your ego? </i>The simple translation of the word <i>ego </i>from its Latin origin is “I.” That’s all, just “I.” What can be so nasty about that?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Despite the simple ordinariness of it, I have learned this one particular lesson the hard way: Whenever I start a statement with “I,” there’s a much greater chance that I’ll regret it than if I start it some other way. So I ask myself, why do I have to be so careful about my ego? How does ego get such a bad rap? Why do “I” have to ask “myself?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">It’s because generally speaking, there are two different kinds of “me” in here – two aspects or types of my ego that are always competing to define the world for me, and make me behave the way I do:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">The first (and ideally more prominent) type is that healthy ego that allows my true, grounded self to interact with material life in an easy, less-demanding way (hello, angel on my shoulder). Things can come and go in life without seeming so terribly important. I find that “me” rarely gets offended, because tolerance and acceptance just come naturally. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">This is my healthy, beneficial ego because it provides a reasonable, balanced foundation to my life, and plays a relatively small active role in my experience of things. It demands less judgement and comparison, and much less <i>control </i>of everything I clearly can’t really control. So listening to <i>the inner voice</i> of my healthy ego makes it easier to "stay out of my own way," and allows me to experience a more balanced exchange of Life energy that lets me share, express, and grow. I become more tolerant and teachable. It’s not all about<i> </i>“me,” and so I can live much more easily with “my self.” Simply put, this ego is grounded in Love.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"> My other ego is more or less the opposite – unhealthily self-absorbed; over-important and over-complicated (hello, devil). It’s the voice of what I think of as my “False Self,” because it’s rarely (if ever) who I want to be. Unfortunately, this self-important ego often acts as my instant default interface with Life, pressing unfair and unnecessary demands and comparisons on all the people and situations I encounter. It's easily offended, lacking in tolerance and acceptance, and foolishly wants to control the uncontrollable. It’s a kind of <i>shadow</i> “me” that stifles the expression of my natural, easy-going self with unnecessary defensiveness and negativity. It obstructs that beautiful, balanced exchange of Life energy – which is Love. In this way, I can unconsciously become my own worst enemy. Simply put, this is the ego that’s grounded in Fear – it’s what gives ego a bad rap.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"> This double nature is expressed in the beautiful mythic metaphor of The Garden of Eden. The unhealthy ego knows everything and always needs to be right. It wrongly makes a constant diet of "the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil" – judgment and comparison, and so insists on “playing God.” Then, when it serves as the sole interface to Life, our grounded natural self is “banished from the garden.” Simply being what we really are is never enough, so we must become something other than our authentic, natural self, based on what the unhealthy ego demands us to be – on how it compares us to “what others expect from us.” We get locked out, separated, from the beauty of the natural world.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"> On a larger scale, this unhealthy ego process is the mass default for commercial culture. The rapid expansion of this dangerously delusional unhealthy mass ego – driven by unconscious, top-heavy corporate media – is the reason for our gravely unbalanced world. It’s why we find the very survival of all species – the very ability of our planet to sustain life as we know it, suddenly in such precarious circumstances. This mass ego lives to control and exploit the Earth in order to meet endless voracious needs that can never be met. It lives by creating its own "map" of reality, and only functioning by focusing on that delusional map, instead of paying attention to the actual geography and conditions of the world around us. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"> As soon as we escape this useless, destructive mass ego and live in the simple underlying truth, becoming honest with ourselves and the rest of humanity, the sooner we'll see that no matter how big the problem there’s always a solution. With this simple realization, we will become spiritual beings, and the inevitable spiritual evolution of our species will become a real and workable thing. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Evidence of this spiritual evolution of humankind is all around us. Our extreme circumstances serve to inspire more people all the time to say:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">"Wait a minute! This is insane – we can't do this anymore!"<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">That's your window of opportunity. Climb through it, and from that moment on, your healthy ego (your intuition) will be activated and will direct you to behave in a whole, newly responsible way that will lead to your connectedness with all life (Love & happiness); to the healing of our mass psyche, and – most importantly – to the healing our planet.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><i>"When Man ate of the fruit of the Tree, he discovered himself in the field of duality instead of the field of unity. As a result, he finds himself out, in exile."</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"> Joseph Campbell<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333233; font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">Read about this and much more in:</span><o:p style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 11.44px; line-height: 18.304px;"><span style="color: #333233; font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"> </span><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18.304px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18px;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/How-Heaven-Without-Really-Dying/dp/0738753211/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8" style="color: #45818e; text-decoration-line: none;"><i>How to Get to Heaven (Without Really Dying), Wisdom From a Near-Death Survivor </i> from Llewellyn Worldwide</a> </span></o:p><span style="background-color: white; color: #333233; font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">available direct on this page, or online. </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333233; font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">The first book: </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #2c8930; font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/How-Survive-Life-Death-Happiness/dp/1573246360/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1384712557&sr=8-1&keywords=robert+kopecky" style="color: #2d8930; text-decoration-line: none;">How to Survive Life (and Death), A Guide To Happiness In This World and Beyond</a> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333233; font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">is available the same ways – but ask for it it at your local bookstore!</span></span></div>
robert k.http://www.blogger.com/profile/08504571789986383064noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-917481311996880590.post-52790511519774886222020-06-22T16:51:00.003-04:002020-09-06T12:26:18.977-04:00Could it be "The End of the World" as We Know It?...Yes!<div>
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<i style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: helvetica; font-size: 12px; text-indent: 18px;">"The Promised Land has nothing to do with real estate." </i></div>
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Remember all those poor old evangelists who promised the end of the world? They all had a lot riding on that prediction, so you can't help but feel a little sorry for them when it didn't happen when and how they said it was going to. But then perhaps it did happen – <i>it is happening,</i> just not the way they thought it would.</div>
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May I be the first to bring you the real good news right here and right now? Despite whatever evidence to the contrary, The World – as we have known it – has ended<i>.</i></div>
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It's been the "end of time," and "the end of the world" so many times now, it seems like it never will really end, and it won't. Of course, it's never actually the end of the world we're talking about. As George Carlin (the patron saint of cynical enlightenment) said: "It's not the end of the world, it's the end of <i>people, </i>man.<i> </i>The world is still gonna be here – <i>we aren't</i>.<i>" </i></div>
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<div style="text-align: left;">The end of the world hasn't come the way we usually think of it, because the classical "End of the World" doesn't describe a literal ending; like all scriptural spiritual scenarios it's really a metaphor. "The End of the World" is really a <i>spiritual and psychological end – </i>the reframing of a new reality brought about by a big change: a transformational coalescence of consciousness, a "singularity" after which old ways of thinking and doing are in an instant rendered obsolete. Sound familiar? It is a lot like what's been happening around here lately. </div>
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It even fits quite nicely into that Mayan theory that around 2012 the Earth began to resonate with a level of consciousness that simultaneously threw things into a kind of chaos, and seriously began to inform it's occupants that a major change was taking place. The "occupiers" showed up in town squares, the "Arab Spring" took place. Hong Kong began to percolate. Fraudulent elections became unacceptably obvious, and their results provoked the most massive global protests ever known. War became obsolete (but it's chief proponents will never admit it). Now pandemic is defining the falsehoods of financial structures, the equivalent needs of all people – and the grotesque inequalities forced onto humanity by unconscious folly, greed, and self-worship. A revolution has erupted against the "Era of Power" that supports itself on lies and hatred. Climate change attests to the truth that what we do has consequences – that we can cause irreversible destruction to this beautiful world.</div>
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And all the while, arising awareness and Love demonstrates the solutions presented to us by spiritual sanity. <i>We are all one.</i></div>
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Wherever you're at home now, everyone is learning that the Earth's endless potential is being mismanaged by a criminally unconscious minority (God bless 'em). It's global knowledge that misguided, destructive segments of humanity are intensely wasteful, while the majority of our brother and sister humans are subject to unnecessary want and deprivation. It's clear that our extreme economic disparities are selfishly foolish and completely unsustainable. The <i>occupants</i> in every small town know about the elite class of super-wealthy, extraordinarily fearful (suffering) people, who feel they need to control the world's resources and media (the true "Fake Media"); corporate agents who are happy to kill off every Mom & Pop business in the world, and control all consumption from soulless global distribution centers. We can see their duplicity and their political mess on TV everyday, and increasingly <i>we are living in it,</i> too.</div>
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Yet the true, vast majority of real earthly occupants are aware of what the miraculous potential of the Earth actually is.</div>
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Naturally it's all happened before, when these literally medieval disparities bring us to a spiritual renaissance. We suddenly realize that being programmed to identify ourselves with the insane demands of corporate materialism, like "trickle-down," "know your class," "what you deserve and must have," and "how our way is right," is a form of destructive insanity that's forcing us to live totally <i>inauthentic</i> lives. The death of that <i>inauthentic self</i> becomes inevitable, and that's the shift – "The End of the World." Nothing can ever be the same after that.</div>
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Here's what it means: Everyone deserves to be who they are. Everyone deserves to be reborn into a fulfilling, authentic life. Everyone deserves life, health, and sufficient wealth – the shared resources of this incredibly abundant planet. We will have that, but there almost always seems to be a kind of "Dark Age" first, where <i>faith is not always a well-lit place.</i> It's like that period inside the caterpillar's chrysalis that is pure chaos, before the formation and flight of a new Era of Ethics.</div>
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I can't say exactly where we are in the process – at the start of that dark age, in the middle, or towards the end of it – whether we've stopped crawling and are growing our wings...but I do know one thing for certain regarding "The End of the World:"</div>
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<i>Humanity is currently experiencing a mass metaphysical impulse to transcend the delusion of separateness. </i>It's the collective death of an illusion, and it's spreading faster and more completely than any virus ever could. The <i>resurrection</i> is arising; the "Ethical Era" is settling upon the followers of the one true prophecy: That all Life on Earth is beginning to realize that it is one in the same thing. The Earth already knows, the animals do too – it's just people that are a little late to the real party.</div>
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As that global entity, we can all recognize the unfathomable mystery that everything comes from somewhere and goes somewhere, to a kind of ultimate ground of being that we're becoming aware of through quantum physics, cyber-consciousness, and verifiable sixth-sensory perception. We know that a mysterious<i> </i>ground of being – a 'matrix' of loving intelligence –<i> </i>transcends this form we're in; that this "radiance of the eternal" penetrates everything and everybody, and is intuitively informing a graceful and responsible way to live that's possible for <i>everyone,</i> and that <i>everyone</i> in this world deserves as their birthright. The darkness just requires deconstructing first.</div>
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Then the "radiance" (that understanding we all share) can illuminate the dark place where we'll find trust in ourselves and each other – call it Faith. That is the light we can shine now to penetrate our media, our destructive mass-ego, our "One Percent," and expose it – penetrate through it back to <i>the fundamental mystery where we all live free and equal lives. </i></div>
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Now we can stand our ethical ground with an unassailable authority; the boundaries protecting humanity simply can no longer be contested; and if you stop for a moment, and just listen and feel, it is yours to occupy.</div>
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The best and easiest way to make all this happen is to simply show up for life with this knowledge in our hearts,<i> </i>and try our best to live our authentic lives – where the inspiration for our actions comes from<i> the inside,</i> not the outside. We're being taught the difference between what is really important, and what is completely unnecessary and destructive – just pay attention and follow that direction! </div>
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And here is the good news, here is the real gospel – the world has ended. <i>Welcome to the new world.</i></div>
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<i>"It will not come by watching for it. No one will be saying, Look, here it is!</i></div>
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<i>Or, Look, there it is! The Kingdom [of the Father] is spread out over the whole earth, and people do not see it."</i></div>
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Logion 113, The Gospel of Thomas</div>
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<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18px;"><span style="color: #333233; line-height: 18px; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px;">Read about this and much more in:</span><o:p style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11.44px; line-height: 18.304px; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px;"><span style="color: #333233; font-family: helvetica; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"> </span><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: helvetica; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18.304px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18px;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/How-Heaven-Without-Really-Dying/dp/0738753211/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8" style="color: #45818e; text-decoration-line: none;"><i>How to Get to Heaven (Without Really Dying), Wisdom From a Near-Death Survivor </i> from Llewellyn Worldwide</a> </span></o:p><span style="color: #333233; line-height: 18px; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px;">available direct on this page, or online. </span><span style="color: #333233; line-height: 18px; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px;">The first book: </span><span style="color: #2c8930; line-height: 18px; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/How-Survive-Life-Death-Happiness/dp/1573246360/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1384712557&sr=8-1&keywords=robert+kopecky" style="color: #2d8930; text-decoration-line: none;">How to Survive Life (and Death), A Guide To Happiness In This World and Beyond</a> </span><span style="color: #333233; line-height: 18px; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px;">is available the same ways – but ask for it it at your local bookstore!</span></div>
robert k.http://www.blogger.com/profile/08504571789986383064noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-917481311996880590.post-56113896670077363082020-04-10T14:20:00.002-04:002021-02-28T15:38:36.931-05:00Experience Your Own (Rebellious) Resurrection – Quarantine-Style<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica";">These are strange times we live in, the global pandemic, forcing us into a 'quarantined' life and a major economic re-calculation; the unexpected onslaught of authoritarianism – the bizarre betrayal of our standards of fairness and civility by our 'leaders' in what we thought was our solid democracy...and all of it concurrent to the <a href="https://www.gaia.com/article/synchronicity-not-just-coincidence">synchronicitous</a> celebration of Spring. Cooped-up like this, it's easy to be overtaken by a rebellious urge, an urge that arises from the underlying sensation that things just aren't the way they're supposed to be. Life is absurd and crazy. Life is harsh and unjust. And this enforced isolation can make us feel that we're living in a personal <i>exile</i> of sorts, separated by the unfair complications of material life from a source of contentment and wholeness that we're naturally heir to – a source from <i>within</i> that we're currently forced to seek (and that we may occasionally be succeeding in finding). </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica";">For me it seems that seeking and finding almost <i>requires</i> my being troubled – experiencing this profound discomfort to force me down the hard path that may eventually lead to inner peace. Then in those liberating moments when I manage to get there – however brief they are – I find a familiar, comfortable <i>knowledge, </i>an understanding when I seem to I know why I'm here. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica";">That, in a nutshell, is my experience of <i>Gnosis </i>– that rebellious urge to root out and live within Life's greatest solution.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "helvetica";">"Get outta that state – outta that state you're in!<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "helvetica";"> </span></i><span style="font-family: "helvetica";">The B 52s, <i>Private Idaho</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica";">Simply put, <i>Gnosis </i>(coming from the Greek, for <i>knowledge)</i> is that knowledge – that understanding of transcendent being and belonging-to – that naturally arises from within our hearts. Inspired by the inner longing to reunite with a serene, unifying power that we inherently know to be our benevolent source, Gnosis isn't a product of any science, or even philosophy or religion, really. I</span><span style="font-family: "helvetica"; text-indent: 44.8pt;">nstead, Gnosis is a personal discovery based in self-exploration and inner experience, and as such, it's experienced both as a process, and as a state-of-being.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica";">It's natural that Gnosis is the product of that rebelliousness – after all, it is a search that requires rocking the boat a bit (or in this case, being stuck in this shaky little boat), since you have to abandon the definitions and conventions of <i>who you are supposed to be, </i>and <i>what society says is important </i>in order to open to a state of inner completion that really isn't available through any outer norms, religions, or institutions. In all its incarnations throughout human history, Gnosis has been the product of that personal <i>alchemy,</i> likened not only to the Hindu process of <i>samadhi </i>sought through forms of yoga, but also to the spiritual rebellion that led The Buddha to <i>nirvana.</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica";">That's also why the search for Gnosis was originally associated with the early growing Christian insurrection. These pre-Christian rebels developed a process, a mythology, and a language of metaphor (including the idea of 'resurrection') that would lead an individual to enlightenment through personal inner experience, completely at odds with all of the prevailing religious institutions of the time – even Christianity itself. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "helvetica";">"Yeshua said: Whoever searches must continue to search until they find. When they find, they will be disturbed; and being disturbed, they will marvel and will reign over All."<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica";">The Gospel of Thomas, Logion 2</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica";">"The Gnostics," as referred to by academics were specifically those pre-Christian Hebrews and early messianic Christians whose "Messiah" primarily took the form of an inward self-realization of God. <i>Everybody</i> was [and is] a "Christ" in a personal way, or is capable of realizing their very own "Christhood" through an <i>initiation, </i>in which an initiate could dis-identify with the difficulties of their material being by way of an alternative practice of personal ritual, absolute honesty and nonviolence, and unselfish service – which sounds a lot like the things many of us have been forced to realize in our "stay-at-home" surrender, doesn't it?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica";">Of course, in the harsh light of the religious, political, and economic institutions of the day, these alternatives – the social and economic re-alignments, and the realization of a personal divinity – was absolute heresy.<i> </i>The most stubborn sacred cows aren't really sacred at all, they're political and economic. At that time, the Gnostics 'radical' suggestions led to the genocide of these rebellious, peace-loving "heretics." <i><o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica";">The nicest, and probably the most influential of these heretics were called "Essenes"<i> (essence, essential)</i>, a "fringe" sect of Hebraism that were happy to let the Establishment Pharisees and Sadducees run the show around the second Temple in old Jerusalem, just before the Christian Era. I suspect that like the segment of citizens we today call "Progressives," Essenes also made up a much greater share of the population than reported, but because they rejected destructive commerciality (including slavery), ritual sacrifice, and phony spiritual authority, it was the guys with the hats and swords who miswrote their history, as usual. Theirs was – and is to this day – the essential rebellion of those seeking Gnosis. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica"; text-indent: 44.8pt;">(Present day media academics pigeonhole the Essenes as heretics hidden away in the caves of Qumran, near the Dead Sea, where a particularly devoted community of ritual Gnostics made their last stand. In fact, Essenes were less a part of Hebraism and more a spiritual nation of their own, spread out across civilization, and bridging the east to west, and the many disciplines oriented towards enlightenment through inward experience)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica";">Essenes established inns called <i>hospitals, </i>where anyone was welcomed, healed, and fed. They practiced hygiene, strict vegetarianism, and holistic medicine way before any of that was cool. Everyone – man, woman and child – was spiritually equal, possessing the same spark of divinity and spiritual potential for unification with The Divine as anyone else. All that was required was initiation into "the secret teachings" of inward exploration, and the willingness to live a life of compassion and integrity. They were absolutely non-violent, and only participated in commercial and agricultural efforts that benefitted everyone. In short, they lived the ideals of Christianity, <i>before</i> Christianity.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica";"><a href="https://www.gaia.com/article/worlds-soul-woman-gnostic-myth-sophia">In other online articles</a> I've told a version of the wonderful Gnostic myth of Sophia, the princess of Wisdom, and her descent to earth to elevate humanity through the example of her struggle back up to the light, and her gift of consciousness to mankind through the power of feminine energy. It is the classic myth of metaphor, describing Gnosis in a way that resonates in the heart and mind. Summing up the essential myth of the Gnostic inner journey goes something like this:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica";">Humanity is an expression of a Divine Light imprisoned in a clunky, imperfect plane of existence, surrounded by the beauty of human life and the earthly realm, but victimized by the suffering that is such a big part of it all. Each human contains a spark of the Divine Light within, and enduring Life's painful challenges (pandemic, for example) inspires the desire to reunite that inner spark with the great field of Divine Light, our Source, called the <i>pleroma. </i>It sounds quite a bit like Buddhism, doesn't it? That's because <i>it is,</i> in a way – there are ways, in ritual, action, and practice, that the suffering can be avoided.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica";">The self-realization of <i>the light within </i>requires a more austere approach, a set of principles designed to merge the earthly ego with the eternal self; and a community of shared consciousness – individuals who are cooperatively seeking the same state of happiness, wholeness, and purpose. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica"; text-indent: 44.8pt;">I find the elemental directness of Gnostic myth and scripture very helpful and instructive in these times of quarantine:</span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "helvetica";">"Yeshua said: When you bring forth <u>that </u>within you, then <u>that </u>will save you. If you do not, then <u>that </u>will kill you.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica";">The Gospel of Thomas, Logion 70<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica";">This is what attracted people like Joseph Campbell and Carl Jung to Gnosis and Gnosticism, the fact that it pre-dated every form of modern depth psychology with its remarkable synthesis of human experience into an applicable framework, and an alternative process of rebirth, recovery, and <i>"resurrection"</i> – like that which is forced on us at times like these. It's the timeless story of every authentic spirit's journey from a fearful, semi-conscious "death,” to the wholeness of a compassionately conscious “re-birth.” It symbolizes every individuals shared journey to wholeness and happiness, and the hard path we have to discover to lead us out of this darkness. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "helvetica";">"[Mythology inspires] the natural metaphysical impulse to transcend the illusion of separation."<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica";">Joseph Campbell</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica";">The Gnostics' understanding of Life was finally symbolized not as the iconic early Christian fish logo (submerged in the depths of the divine mystery), but as <i>The Crucifixion Cross,</i> symbolizing the </span><i style="font-family: helvetica; text-indent: 59.7333px;">horizontal</i><span style="font-family: "helvetica"; text-indent: 59.7333px;"> </span><i style="font-family: helvetica; text-indent: 59.7333px;">experience</i><span style="font-family: "helvetica"; text-indent: 59.7333px;"> of Life on earth – and the </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica"; text-indent: 44.8pt;">ego-death that's necessary to transcend it by way of</span><span style="font-family: "helvetica"; text-indent: 44.8pt;"> the </span><i style="font-family: helvetica; text-indent: 44.8pt;">vertical inner</i><span style="font-family: "helvetica"; text-indent: 44.8pt;"> </span><i style="font-family: helvetica; text-indent: 44.8pt;">knowledge </i><span style="font-family: "helvetica"; text-indent: 44.8pt;">and realization of our true ascendant nature and potential. That's what the cross really means (the Romans actually crucified people on short, X-shaped crosses, to save wood).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica";">So Gnosis begins with an uncomfortability about Life (easy to imagine in the "stay-at-home" mode), and a rebellious <i>dis-ease</i> that moves us to reunite our selves with a wholeness and comfortable being that we're all entitled to. In this way, Gnosis is both a <i>subtractive </i>process – intentionally eliminating the unsupportable expectations and constraints of this style of human life; and it’s an <i>expansive </i>process – bringing us into the consciousness of our limitless potential by merging our damaged, earthly egos with a pure, eternal Love, accessible through our hearts.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica";">But unfortunately, you may have to get a little pent-up first...<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "helvetica";">"When you make the two into one, when you make the inner like the outer, and the high like the low; when you make the male and the female into a single One…when you have eyes in your eyes, a hand in your hand…and an icon in your icon, then you will enter into the Kingdom."<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica";">The Gospel of Thomas, Logion 22<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica";">Discover the true Gnosis of the Gnostics, with all its ancient metaphoric mythology, and applications to contemporary spiritual psychology in Gnostic scriptures such as: The Gospel of Thomas, The Gospel of Phillip, The Pistis Sophia, The Gospel of Truth, The Gospel of Mary, and in many fine resources, like: Elaine Pagel's <i>The Gnostic Gospels, </i>Stefan Hoeller’s <i>The Gnostic Jung, </i>and <i>Jung and the Lost Gospels, </i>or in Carl Jung’s <i>Seven Sermons to the Dead,</i> and<i> Answer to Job</i>.<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: cambria, serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-indent: 44.8pt;"><span class="s1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(66, 65, 66); color: #424142; font-family: Helvetica; font-kerning: none; font-size: 12px; text-indent: 0px;">Read about concepts like these and much more in: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/How-Heaven-Without-Really-Dying/dp/0738753211/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8" style="color: #5588aa; text-decoration-line: none;"><span class="s2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(85, 147, 160); color: #5593a0; font-kerning: none;"><i>How to Get to Heaven (Without Really Dying), Wisdom From a Near-Death Survivor </i> from Llewellyn Worldwide</span></a></span><span class="s3" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(2, 104, 165); color: #0268a5; font-family: Helvetica; font-kerning: none; font-size: 12px; text-indent: 0px;"> </span><span class="s1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(66, 65, 66); color: #424142; font-family: Helvetica; font-kerning: none; font-size: 12px; text-indent: 0px;">available direct on this page, or online. The first book: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/How-Survive-Life-Death-Happiness/dp/1573246360/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1384712557&sr=8-1&keywords=robert+kopecky" style="color: #5588aa; text-decoration-line: none;"><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(54, 152, 63); color: #36983f; font-kerning: none;">How to Survive Life (and Death), A Guide To Happiness In This World and Beyond</span></a></span><span class="s5" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(52, 152, 63); color: #34983f; font-family: Helvetica; font-kerning: none; font-size: 12px; text-indent: 0px;"> </span><span class="s1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(66, 65, 66); color: #424142; font-family: Helvetica; font-kerning: none; font-size: 12px; text-indent: 0px;">is available the same ways – but ask for it at your local bookstore!</span></div>
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rjkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15335321348311130963noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-917481311996880590.post-33002480809241522682020-04-07T14:18:00.003-04:002020-04-07T14:18:46.317-04:00What Passing Through Hardships Can Do<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />rjkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15335321348311130963noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-917481311996880590.post-27284835260518125892020-04-05T15:53:00.002-04:002023-02-08T15:48:36.211-05:00Jesus, The Easter Bunny, and the Real Renewal of Spring<div style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36px;">
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At the time of the earliest stirrings of the philosophy that was to become Christianity there were numerous centers of nascent world religion, from the Gandhara region of India thru Asia Minor, Persia, and Greece, to Alexandria and Jerusalem – and other spots within and beyond the Roman Empire and the rest of the known, civilized world. To literate religious academics of the early Christian era, all of this knowledge was available. Christianity, like all religions, was not born in a vacuum.</div>
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You'll notice in the retellings of the Passion Play that Christians celebrate each spring, as well as throughout the New Testament, there are plenty of references to the Pharisee sect of Hebraism, the proletariat and middle-class Jews of the time. The Sadducees, the bourgeois, aristocratic sect get very little airtime comparatively – despite making up most of the temple priesthood. Edited out of the story completely are the Essenes, which were not actually a single sect but instead a collection of differing gnostic beliefs grouped together generically.</div>
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Beyond their numbers, which were significant throughout the middle east at the time, the Essenes were the original Christians, eschewing sacrifice and materiality, living simple lives based in practices of healing and service. They were dedicated to cleanliness, to communal, all-inclusive dining, to the practices of foot washing, vegetarianism, and holistic herbal healing. Their "inns" and white robes were the inspiration for our present-day hostels and hospitals, and doctors' white coats. It's likely that the Jesus of mainstream Christianity was drawn from this model. </div>
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Most sects labeled "Essene" fully embraced a more personal, inward, mystical path to the realization of a divine simplicity, and so were the foundation of the esoteric forms of Gnosticism and Kabbalistic practice. In some groups, Buddhism was very influential, and in fact "Theraputae" Essenism was likely one in the same as the Buddhist community located near Lake Mareotis, outside of Alexandria (from <i>Theraputta, </i>sanskrit meaning "from the old ones"). Buddhism was alive throughout the region for hundreds of years prior to Christian mythology, and it's very important to note that the Buddha sat in the wilderness alone and was tempted by the devil, walked on water, fed the multitudes from a single basket, and drank at the well of an outsider (and more) 500 years before the Christ story came about.</div>
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It's very likely that the teacher Yeshua, whose philosophy – resurrected in the discovery of very early pre-canonical scripture like The Gospel of Thomas – serves as the basis for the teachings of the Jesus of the canonical, Roman gospels.</div>
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The selectivity of Christian myth runs roughshod over much of what is actually known, as is the case with most inventions of organized religion. This is not limited only to religion, the same is true for organized historical dogma, organized cultural dogma, and organized social dogma. In a contemporary American context, for example, we have the assertion that Ronald Reagan brought down the Soviet Union, or that John Kennedy was killed by a lone assassin; both nascent myths that aren't based in fact, but still canonized as historical truth by many. </div>
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Likewise, American frontier identity was actually rooted in the genocide of the indigenous Americans, whose culture was, so to speak, crucified by "Rome." The positivity and popularity of much of contemporary American culture is based on the transcendent adaptations of African people held in slavery for hundreds of years. The implications of these truths are truly biblical, but not in the self-enhancing way traditional white male American historians would have us remember it.</div>
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So the suggestion that the Christian Passion Play is mythic, and was created in the centuries following the decline of Rome to serve political purposes by commandeering an authentically mystical path actually makes much more sense than the assumption of the canonical gospels as historical fact. The first big tip-off is the fact that the eventual authors of those gospels weren't actually named Mark, Matthew, Luke, or John – those were pseudonyms of journeymen writers of their day. If it walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, chances are you might want to duck.</div>
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More recently there are the examples of Mormonism, whose co-creator Joseph Smith is not hard to prove as a plagiarist, philanderer, arsonist, and possibly worse, but not at all proven to be a prophetic witness to an early ancient American Judaic civilization; Scientology, whose inventor was unquestionably a hard-drinking, womanizing, egomaniacal science fiction writer – but highly questionable as an enlightened channel of godlike alien entities; and, going back a little further, Islam, the transcendent, mystical heart of which is regularly betrayed (like the other Abrahamic religions) by random acts of violence. </div>
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Sadly for true believers, the historical references to the actual existence of the Jesus of the canons is still limited to the scant testimonies of Pliny, Tacitus, Suetonius, and Flavius Josephus, whose less-than-second-hand accounts came well after the fact, and were subject to powerful political and cultural influence, and countless subsequent rewritings. The most compelling testimony of Josephus has been known to be a forgery for a long time now, while Judeo-Roman historians contemporary to the times, like Philo, never mention the man or events, despite having every reason to. Josephus, in all his authenticated accounts in fact, mentions at least twenty <i>different</i> people named Jesus.</div>
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Then what should we really be resurrecting today? If the religious establishment now neatly sequesters the whole of the ancient Essene world into the austere walls of the community at Qumran, and the timeless teachings of philosophers like Gautama and Yeshua are respectively redefined as platitudes and tragic morality plays, rather than as the radically effective calls to action they truly are, then clearly what requires resurrecting is the spirit of divinely shared consciousness that Aldous Huxley called the "Perennial Philosophy." </div>
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<i>"The All came forth from me and the All came into me. Split the wood, and I am there. Turn over the stone, and there you will find me."</i></div>
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The Gospel of Thomas, Logion 77<i> </i></div>
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It's forgivable human nature to transmute certain realities into conveniently avoidable practices, or for people suffering from the fearful manifestations of low self worth, greed, and delusional self-centeredness to act out in our shrinking world, but what we really need is to rebirth the elemental compassionate unity, the eternal springtime of human spiritual evolution alive in each Easter <i>every day,</i> if possible. That is the message continuously carried by the spirit of Yeshua (not to mention the Buddha, Krishna, Gandhi, <i>et al).</i></div>
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We can all "sit in the wilderness" – take the inward path to realization of our shared being; "walk on water" – rise above and make foundational our psychic afflictions; "feed the multitudes" – know that we have plenty with what we always have; and "share water from the well" – understand the eternal that unifies us, regardless of our outward labels. The Jesus of the Christian Easter is purely a symbol for the real power for transformation each of us carries within – all the time...not just every Spring.</div>
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<i>"Whoever seeks will find; whoever knocks from inside, it will open to them."</i></div>
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<i>"When you bring forth that within you, then that will save you."</i></div>
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<i>"What you are waiting for has already come, but you do not see it."</i></div>
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<i>"Whoever drinks from my mouth will become like me and I will become them and what was hidden from them will be revealed."</i></div>
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The Gospel of Thomas, 94, 70, 51, 108</div>
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Since I believe that we all only die to this world, and so resurrection is a simple, personal realization that we will all get to experience, is it possible that the spirit of the Easter Bunny could actually be a better shepherd? The brand we want to revive each Spring? Could that be a better metaphor than the image of a good man suffering – the gentle lapine, the playful, prolific, vegan creature of the woods and meadows? Could a bunny be smart and wise enough to easily share that level of consciousness? For the answer to these, and possibly other questions, I invite you to watch this video:</div>
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<span style="color: #333333;"> <a href="http://www.dogwork.com/buhr9"><span style="color: #375999;">http://www.dogwork.com/buhr9</span></a></span></div>
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Happy Easter! </div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333233; line-height: 18px; text-indent: 0px;">The latest book:</span><o:p style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11.44px; line-height: 18.304px; text-indent: 0px;"><span style="color: #333233; font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"> </span><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18.304px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18px;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/How-Heaven-Without-Really-Dying/dp/0738753211/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8" style="color: #45818e; text-decoration-line: none;"><i>How to Get to Heaven (Without Really Dying), Wisdom From a Near-Death Survivor </i></a><a href="https://www.llewellyn.com/product.php?ean=9780738753218" style="color: #45818e; text-decoration-line: none;">from Llewellyn Worldwide</a> </span></o:p><span style="background-color: white; color: #333233; line-height: 18px; text-indent: 0px;">can be ordered direct or online; and t</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333233; line-height: 18px; text-indent: 0px;">he first book: </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #2c8930; line-height: 18px; text-indent: 0px;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/How-Survive-Life-Death-Happiness/dp/1573246360/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1384712557&sr=8-1&keywords=robert+kopecky" style="color: #2d8930; text-decoration-line: none;">How to Survive Life (and Death), A Guide To Happiness In This World and Beyond</a> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333233; line-height: 18px; text-indent: 0px;">is available the same ways – but ask for them it at your local bookstore!</span></div>
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rjkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15335321348311130963noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-917481311996880590.post-27339963079021759442019-11-23T12:53:00.001-05:002020-09-06T12:27:19.964-04:00"The Perspective of Presence," It's Always Been Now, and Will Always Be<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pBWvEDw_qYY/XdlxhSEl2OI/AAAAAAAAHv4/e1FpDVVqo0gaFRlm28zHXgFABoD3qpS5QCNcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Easy%2BPresence%2Btwtr.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="206" data-original-width="400" height="205" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pBWvEDw_qYY/XdlxhSEl2OI/AAAAAAAAHv4/e1FpDVVqo0gaFRlm28zHXgFABoD3qpS5QCNcBGAsYHQ/s400/Easy%2BPresence%2Btwtr.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: #333233; font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"> </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica"; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-size: xx-small;"><i>This excerpt from </i>How to Get to Heaven (Without Really Dying) <i>comes from Chapter 8: </i></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica"; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Finding Presence Now: </span></span><span style="font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: xx-small;">It's Always Been Now, and Will Always Be</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333233; font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"> Maintaining presence allows us to respond appropriately to life's personal challenges. Our ego always wants to be in control by labeling, judging, comparing, and making demands, while being truly present lets us recognize our harsher ego demands and reject them, allowing our deeper, intuitive intelligence to arise within that eternal moment. If we let our ego-mind – our feeling offended, our sense of injustice, our need to be right – spontaneously dictate our actions, we tend to be <i>reacting</i>, or often <i>over-</i>reacting to simple circumstances. We can blow situations out of proportion, losing the perspective that kindness, humility, honesty, forgiveness, and compassion can give us. In fact, we can make proper choices only when we're fully present to do so, because not only does presence give us the priceless gift of <i>constraint – </i>the ability to take that extra moment to let sanity and reason arise – but it also puts us in touch with an existent intelligence that is greater than our own. Just stopping and intently focusing on one breath can instantly allow us to check in with Heaven, so to speak.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #333233; font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"> In Heaven nobody gets caught overreacting in senseless or destructive ways. Everyone relishes taking that eternal moment to adjust to every situation. In fact, in Heaven everyone is quite calm and thoughtful, as you may have already imagined.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #333233; font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333233; font-family: helvetica; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">Read about this and much more in:</span><o:p style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11.44px; line-height: 18.304px;"><span style="color: #333233; font-family: helvetica; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"> </span><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: helvetica; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18.304px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18px;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/How-Heaven-Without-Really-Dying/dp/0738753211/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8" style="color: #45818e; text-decoration-line: none;"><i>How to Get to Heaven (Without Really Dying), Wisdom From a Near-Death Survivor </i> from Llewellyn Worldwide</a> </span></o:p><span style="background-color: white; color: #333233; font-family: helvetica; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">available direct on this page, or online. </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333233; font-family: helvetica; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">The first book: </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #2c8930; font-family: helvetica; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/How-Survive-Life-Death-Happiness/dp/1573246360/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1384712557&sr=8-1&keywords=robert+kopecky" style="color: #2d8930; text-decoration-line: none;">How to Survive Life (and Death), A Guide To Happiness In This World and Beyond</a> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333233; font-family: helvetica; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">is available the same ways – but ask for it it at your local bookstore!</span><br />
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<span style="color: #333233; font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span>robert k.http://www.blogger.com/profile/08504571789986383064noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-917481311996880590.post-14362860578153833262019-11-17T23:16:00.001-05:002022-08-17T15:01:16.467-04:00Announcing: The Zen of Near Death ©2019<div style="text-align: center;">
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: x-small;">I'm pleased to announce the working title of my next book:</span></div>
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-size: x-large;"><b>The Zen of Near Death</b></span></span></div>
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><span style="color: #0b5394;"><b>Afterlife Lessons for Transcending the Mess</b></span> </span></div>
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: x-small;">©2019 by Robert Kopecky</span><br />
<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: x-small;">Watch for it in 202?</span></div>
robert k.http://www.blogger.com/profile/08504571789986383064noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-917481311996880590.post-34353723685384942982019-10-30T18:45:00.001-04:002020-09-06T12:29:21.878-04:00A Halloween Soul Metaphor—The Zombies Among Us<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica";">Each Halloween, we get a chance to think a little about famous monsters. The monsters of our childhood. The monsters of our advancing age. The monsters our kids might be for the holiday (or that they may seem to become, sometimes). The monsters that we witness in public life, or that, occasionally, we ourselves can become too.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica";">You may notice that the really famous monsters are scary on a couple of levels. First, on the level of the material imagery; and then on a deeper metaphoric, or <i>spiritual </i>level. Take Frankenstein (please!). He's plenty scary on the obvious material level, but he also makes a pretty scary metaphor – as the manifestation of self-will run amok; the consequences of our wanting to play God with the natural world, with our lives, and with the lives of others. Or Dracula, as a symbol of soul exploitation – people who selfishly suck the life out of other people; or out of Mother Nature, for that matter. Or the Wolfman – the potentially violent beast within us all, unleashed by the uncontrollable cycle of life...a curse he passes along whenever he bites someone else.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica";">So what's up with all the Zombies? They seem to be everywhere these days. Zombies in the movies, on TV, in commercials and videogames – almost everywhere you look, there are zombies popping up. What are we trying to say, on a deeper level, with this zombie fascination? Well, let's take a look (if you dare…)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica";"> Most obviously, zombies are <i>the undead. </i>Inhumane humans who've lost their souls, so the only life they have left is spent unconsciously feeding off the souls of the living. They selfishly grope around for the next bite that's going to fuel their empty search. In that sense, they're really much like unconsciously self-centered people (profit-driven entrepreneurs or mindless consumers), lurching about ineffectively, swarming on any situation where their appetites may be sated. So eternally they flounder around, staggering through a soulless system, driven to find something to feed their emptiness, but only finding more remorseful, bottomless hunger.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica";">They would find their solution – their rest <i>– </i>if they'd just <i>die </i>already, wouldn't they? Symbolically, that simply means <i>"dying"</i><i> </i>to the empty, ego-driven life of schlepping from one incessant need to the next. Realizing that the death of "who you are supposed to be" and "how it will look to others" in our often soulless, demanding culture will reveal a real peace, and a responsible purpose that may have been hidden right in front of you all along. It's not really about what any single one of us needs – it's about what every single one of us needs: Love, Purpose, Spiritual sustenance.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica";">I'm sorry to point out that the people responsible for all of this zombie programming, sadly, may just be the zombies "in charge" – which gives us another spiritual challenge to face...how do we recognize the undead among us?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica";">Well, zombies couldn't care less about what you think. They're not at all interested in your thoughts on any subject; and what's even worse, they don't give a damn about how anything makes<i> </i>you feel.<i> </i>You're not going to get anywhere by politely asking a zombie not to eat you. Zombies only think about their own delusion of self, and no amount of actual evidence will persuade them to recognize reality, so zombies dare not allow themselves to <i>feel</i> anything<i> </i>except fear or anger (which are the same thing), and expresses itself as hate or entitlement or arrogant bullying.<i> </i>God bless 'em.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica";">Not being zombie-like yourself means opening up to what others think; and more importantly, to how they feel. Relating, sincerely, to one another’s feelings, and by doing so, to share the experience – and the<i> </i>intelligence <i>– </i>of our shared heart-energy. Forgiveness and <i>compassionate consciousness</i> are the only things that can help a zombie re-enter the real world of the living, and the only ways to deal with a zombie, even if – God forbid – we realize <i>it’s ourselves</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica";">I hate to get too graphic, but they do say the only way to kill a zombie is "to kill the zombie's brain," and they may have a good point there (whoever "they" are). It’s very likely that zombies probably think too much with their dizzy, addled heads, and not with their grounded <i>hearts.</i> That’s where the path to restoring a zombie’s soul (or to help a struggling ghoul to find it themselves) must initiate from. It seems like a long schlep, sometimes, that short stretch from the upturned graveyard of the head, to the peaceful, heavenly realm of the heart.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica";">When dealing with a zombie, try to look past that unkempt exterior – the unconscious self-centeredness, the fearful pallor and fugue-like gaze past you, the blood n' guts everywhere. Many zombies <i>are</i> really good at heart, they've simply been made “undead” by a monstrous metaphor – the Dark Lord of the Unconscious Ego; but look beyond the quickly fading external images, into the compassionate spirit we all share, and you will find the zombie’s struggling heart.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica";">If you fear you’ve become a little zombie-like yourself, simply start <i>living in your soul's life</i>, that's where you’ll find the real, joyful world of the living–not on the shifting horror show of life’s “silver screen.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica";">And for Halloween, I recommend that you don't go as an orange, flesh-eating ghoul, or dress your kids that way, either. Instead, go as a fairy, or an angel, or just as the bright, shining light that you really are. <o:p></o:p></span><span style="font-family: "helvetica";">Happy Halloween!</span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "helvetica";">"There is a light within people of light, and they shine it upon the whole word. If they do not shine it, what darkness!<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica";">The Gospel of Thomas, Logion 24</span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="color: #333233; font-family: helvetica; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; text-indent: 0px;">Read about this and much more in:</span><o:p style="font-size: 11.44px; line-height: 18.304px; text-indent: 0px;"><span style="color: #333233; font-family: helvetica; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"> </span><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: helvetica; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18.304px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18px;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/How-Heaven-Without-Really-Dying/dp/0738753211/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8" style="color: #45818e; text-decoration-line: none;"><i>How to Get to Heaven (Without Really Dying), Wisdom From a Near-Death Survivor </i> from Llewellyn Worldwide</a> </span></o:p><span style="color: #333233; font-family: helvetica; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; text-indent: 0px;">available direct on this page, or online. </span><span style="color: #333233; font-family: helvetica; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; text-indent: 0px;">The first book: </span><span style="color: #2c8930; font-family: helvetica; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; text-indent: 0px;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/How-Survive-Life-Death-Happiness/dp/1573246360/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1384712557&sr=8-1&keywords=robert+kopecky" style="color: #2d8930; text-decoration-line: none;">How to Survive Life (and Death), A Guide To Happiness In This World and Beyond</a> </span><span style="color: #333233; font-family: helvetica; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; text-indent: 0px;">is available the same ways – but ask for it it at your local bookstore!</span></div>
robert k.http://www.blogger.com/profile/08504571789986383064noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-917481311996880590.post-24020893943973114522019-09-15T13:19:00.001-04:002020-09-06T12:30:42.441-04:00Is a Cultural "Anti-Christ" Bringing the Real "Rapture?"<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<i>"...our greatness lies not so much in being able to remake the world...as in being able to remake ourselves."</i></div>
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<i></i>Mahatma Gandhi<br />
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We're a little like moss on a rock here on earth – a simple colony of life. In the same way that any collective life form experiences stress when the conditions for it's survival begin to change, our world is beginning to experience the very real stress of climate change, species extinction, environmental degradation, income inequality, and the spread of unsustainable lifestyles based on exploiting the planet. For all of us – as well as for each of us – there's a need <i>to adapt. </i>The destruction driven by blind predatory capitalism leads to the weird conflations of "patriotism" and religion, self-defeating delusions we see in the ugly ironic examples of market-based "winners," and "christians" supporting diabolical perverts and criminals because they are leading us to "The End of Days." </div>
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Much of this grows out of a serious flaw in our culture's perception of <i>Darwinism,</i> which is not about "Survival of the Fittest," but actually about <i>Survival of What Adapts in the Most Cooperative Way.</i> What is it that carries us through the tough times, with Love? </div>
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It's an altogether different definition of fitness. It's a spiritual fitness, based in a spiritual context – answering our human problems with the recognition of simple, spiritual answers. It's about real, quality <i>survival.</i></div>
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For example, the biggest, meanest guy may clobber everyone who disagrees with him, take all the food, and force himself on the prettiest women; but his karma (created by ego and fear) and the failure to evolve spiritually in a world of expanding consciousness, will cause his destruction (sex specificity intended) – a genetic dead end. The richest guy may have the most secure, most isolated fortress, the largest vault of canned food, and the most guns and ammo; but his isolation and fearfulness will lead to spiritual atrophy, and the inward collapse of his shrinking world. Those attributes and characteristics that are associated with Power and domination are dying out, as those associated with Ethics and compassion are on the rise. Life on earth is always adapting – the parts that don't adapt, don't last on our biological time-table.</div>
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Hard times stress the colony, challenging it, forcing it to change; and now we see the shape that change is taking. It's like breaking up bad pottery, and soaking it until it softens and becomes the clay that forms the basis of real life, in order to <i>start over</i>. People are coming together to re-configure their world on that basis – what's actually real and important in life; inspired by a sudden common awareness of what the management of Earth's abundance actually entails, and what the real consequences of continued unconscious exploitation is leading to.</div>
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A new cooperation – an evolution – is exploding into reality, based on the spiritual unification of humankind, facilitated by the internet, manifested in an expanding sense of a global community, called to action by the impending catastrophe of climate change. The explosion in clean energy, expanding cooperatives, reuse and recycling, uncontested environmentalism; the elections of Obama, of women, of representatives of diverse religion and ethnic backgrounds; and the impetus for universal health care, local food production, the accelerating growth of animal rights awareness, vegan and vegetarianism, social support systems of all kinds – as well as the public momentum to institute these ethical concepts by means of regulation and legislation (a result of the rise of destructive fascism in the world), is the shape of the change.</div>
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Extremists and fundamentalists – religious, financial, racist and militaristic fascists – are dividing themselves off from the majority of peace-loving, compassionate humans, and defining their differences in preparation to be shed from the whole. They actually constitute <i>just a small part of the world's total population</i><i>.</i> The rise of climate-denying, pro-corporate racism and fascism actually marks the end<i> of their world. </i>It will be a little messy, but it's happening.</div>
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Do everything you can to help it along. If you open your heart, you'll intuitively know what that is. You'll know how to behave, how to shop, how to contribute, <i>how to vote.</i> You <i>already do.</i></div>
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In a manner of speaking, a kind of biblical "Rapture" is actually taking place <i>now</i> amongst those who are awakening to this new consciousness, many of whom are experiencing hard times<i>, </i>and finding themselves and their neighbors falling through the same cracks in the system that allow <i>spiritual evolution </i>to enter. These are fractures in the false world of materialistic consumerism, and a dis-identification with a media that's destructive by corporate design. The Christ Spirit that's returning isn't the bearded redhead in the paintings, it's the spirit of Ethics, Cooperation, Compassion, and Love.</div>
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Those who want it<i> all</i>, who think they have it<i> all</i>, who are trying to get as much as they can, and will do anything not to lose it; who want to prevent change and "make things great again" –<i> </i>who suffer the delusion of their superiority and entitlement – who think they can <i>will the truth to be what they want,</i> are fast being "Left Behind" in their spiritual morass, a private hell of their own making. But they won't remain here suffering while the blessed 80% ascend to Heaven – they'll simply become redundant. Their hateful opinions will hold no sway. Their methods of fear-mongering will become ineffective. </div>
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Your biggest job may be to help those you know and care for, who've been compromised by fear-mongering, to catch up to the change – by generously applying Love and compassion.</div>
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Heaven will return on Earth as we stop poisoning it (because we must), restore natural balance, use free energy, distribute the earth's resources equitably, and evolve into our truest "Divine State" of spiritually unifying our global human family. The balance is returning as it must, and if you're part of that change, you needn't worry about the hard times.<i> </i>What truly matters is what each and every one of us keeps in their heart – just be sure it's Love.<i></i></div>
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<i>"Our present world is conditioned by our present mode of consciousness; only when that consciousness passes from its present dualistic mode...will the new creation appear, which is the external reality of which our world is a mirror."</i></div>
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<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span> <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Bede Griffiths</div>
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<div style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin-left: 37px; text-indent: 18px;"><span style="color: #333233; line-height: 18px; text-indent: 0px;">Read about this and much more in:</span><o:p style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11.44px; line-height: 18.304px; text-indent: 0px;"><span style="color: #333233; font-family: helvetica; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"> </span><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: helvetica; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18.304px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18px;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/How-Heaven-Without-Really-Dying/dp/0738753211/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8" style="color: #45818e; text-decoration-line: none;"><i>How to Get to Heaven (Without Really Dying), Wisdom From a Near-Death Survivor </i> from Llewellyn Worldwide</a> </span></o:p><span style="color: #333233; line-height: 18px; text-indent: 0px;">available direct on this page, or online. </span><span style="color: #333233; line-height: 18px; text-indent: 0px;">The first book: </span><span style="color: #2c8930; line-height: 18px; text-indent: 0px;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/How-Survive-Life-Death-Happiness/dp/1573246360/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1384712557&sr=8-1&keywords=robert+kopecky" style="color: #2d8930; text-decoration-line: none;">How to Survive Life (and Death), A Guide To Happiness In This World and Beyond</a> </span><span style="color: #333233; line-height: 18px; text-indent: 0px;">is available the same ways – but ask for it it at your local bookstore!</span></div>
robert k.http://www.blogger.com/profile/08504571789986383064noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-917481311996880590.post-67277471212564381442019-08-06T14:52:00.001-04:002020-09-06T12:31:25.824-04:00Lessons from an "Out-of-Body Experience"<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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It isn't often that you hear someone describe what it's like to die – that's an experience rarely reported; but I have the dubious qualification of having survived three distinctly different "Near Death Experiences," and I'd like to pass on what I learned from the first one, an "out-of-body experience" – in hopes that you'll never find the need to try <i>this</i> at home. It wasn't what you'd call fun, but it was very informative.</div>
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We most often think of Evolution with a capital E, as in "the Theory of," or as the transitioning growth of successive generations, species adapting across expanses of Time – and so it is. My experiences lead me to consider it as a personal process, largely because of realizing the importance of the Eternal Moment (in which everything alive is always living), and because the evolution of the whole spreads out from the evolution of each individual. As that phenomenon of personal experience, my life's evolution is more directly related to my NDEs than to all but a few of my "conscious" life lessons. It's like peeking behind the curtain...</div>
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So here, preceded by brief circumstantial descriptions, here is the gift I received from my first NDE, set down short and sweet as possible:</div>
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I was in a serious single car accident (I'd like to say through no fault of my own, but it wouldn't be true) and instantly found myself suspended in mid-air over the crash site, observing the wreckage, my body, and the ministrations of the lovely people who rushed to my aid (God bless 'em). After a while into all the hub-bub, I was gently shepherded off by a kindly entity (that remained out-of-view) into what I can only describe as a soft, warm, cotton-wool cloud, and on to a place of great ease and comfort where I was sat down in a congenial but serious conversation regarding the true nature of things, and my position within it.</div>
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The space was idyllic, like a very nice summer's cafe. There was no sense of Time or of gravity, and certainly not of any want or necessity.<i>Thought</i> operated in a non-sequential, undemanding way – all at once easily, as it were, rather than in any urgent, serial way (like after a good meditation). Here's what I learned:</div>
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We are <i>avatars</i> living spiritually within these physical bodies, very much like driving around in a car (...I wish I could afford a new one). Of course, our bodies are us, <i>here</i> in this place we call The World; but they aren't really us – they're the means to experience this sensory experience, "good" and "bad," and to gain as much from it as we can in the service or our own, and our greater collective Self's evolution. This allows us to investigate the karma of our lives, to repair it, and to create it anew by being of service to those we love, and to the world as a whole.</div>
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So when we observe others as well, we can realize that they are simply their karmic energies (as I am mine), filtering through their somewhat limited (and not always easy to maneuver) human forms. That understanding informs a sense of compassion and identification that allows the people and events in your life to clearly be happening <i>for you – </i>not to feel like they are happening <i>to you. </i>Then,<i> </i>we can objectively witness the miraculous diversity of Life – in all it's sometimes challenging forms – with tolerance, respect, and wonder!</div>
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I call this way of seeing: <i>The Gift of Perspective</i>.</div>
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<i>"The fundamental, simple, and great mystical realization is that by which you identify yourself with consciousness, rather than with the vehicle of consciousness. Your body is a vehicle of consciousness."</i></div>
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<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Joseph Campbell</div>
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<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 37px; text-indent: 18px;"><span style="color: #333233; line-height: 18px; text-indent: 0px;">Read about this and much more in:</span><o:p style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11.44px; line-height: 18.304px; text-indent: 0px;"><span style="color: #333233; font-family: helvetica; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"> </span><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: helvetica; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18.304px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18px;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/How-Heaven-Without-Really-Dying/dp/0738753211/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8" style="color: #45818e; text-decoration-line: none;"><i>How to Get to Heaven (Without Really Dying), Wisdom From a Near-Death Survivor </i> from Llewellyn Worldwide</a> </span></o:p><span style="color: #333233; line-height: 18px; text-indent: 0px;">available direct on this page, or online. </span><span style="color: #333233; line-height: 18px; text-indent: 0px;">The first book: </span><span style="color: #2c8930; line-height: 18px; text-indent: 0px;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/How-Survive-Life-Death-Happiness/dp/1573246360/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1384712557&sr=8-1&keywords=robert+kopecky" style="color: #2d8930; text-decoration-line: none;">How to Survive Life (and Death), A Guide To Happiness In This World and Beyond</a> </span><span style="color: #333233; line-height: 18px; text-indent: 0px;">is available the same ways – but ask for it it at your local bookstore!</span></div>
robert k.http://www.blogger.com/profile/08504571789986383064noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-917481311996880590.post-11965113558797022762019-06-29T10:48:00.002-04:002020-09-06T12:31:59.121-04:00Take a (Spiritual) Summer Road Trip, or: How Rte. 66 Can Lead You to Bliss<style type="text/css">
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<span face="">It’s Summertime…and the highway is calling. With vacations planned and wanderlust on the rise, now is the time that we find ourselves striking out on the road to adventure and discovery. On our drive to discovering a few different Americas out there, it can be all too easy to find a disheartening drone of interstate arteries, drained by identical off-ramps evenly spaced, fed by the same corporate fast-food chains, pitching a kind of fabricated heartland patriotism – a navigated, located, ATM card “freedom” that’s only designed to free you from your vacation savings while propelling you past an alien, deeply divided America. It almost makes me just want to stay home and cry…but wait—there is another way!<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></div>
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<span face=""><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span>The Buddha said this about Life’s transit:</span></div>
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<span class="s1" face="">We are created by our thoughts; we become what we think.</span></div>
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<span class="s1" face="">Pain and suffering follow negative thoughts like the<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></div>
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<span class="s1" face="">wheel follows the ox that pulls it.</span></div>
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<span class="s1" face="">The Dhammapada, 1:1</span></div>
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<span class="s1" face=""><span class="Apple-tab-span"></span> What if we struck out on a different route instead? On a path inspired by our longings<i> </i>for a truly fulfilling vacation – healthful, connected, and discovering our uniquely diverse American wholeness, lined with joyful creativity and camaraderie? Well here’s the good news: <i>That America is out there, waiting for you</i>…but how do we find it?</span></div>
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<span class="s1" face=""><i><span class="Apple-tab-span"></span></i> Recently, my wife and I left our home of many years in New York City, and drove cross-country for twelve days to our new home in the West; across a southern route we’d never taken before. Along the way we accidentally – almost magically – discovered a beautifully <i>spiritual</i> route, right through those limited options and glaring cultural divisions we might otherwise drive by without investigation. It happened as a result of one amazing “secret” trick that I’ll give you in a minute, but also by following a couple pretty intuitive tips that made it all possible. So here’s the dharma of the road trip we discovered…</span></div>
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<span class="s1" face=""><span class="Apple-tab-span"></span> First of all, don’t crowd the drive into fewer days than necessary – getting there really is half the fun. Lay out your days in a general way, and limit yourself to four or five hours of driving per day, starting in the morning, and arriving to your daily destination in the early afternoon, giving yourself time to explore along the way, and to settle into your overnight surroundings with some space and energy. The variety of excellent lodging apps makes finding a place to stay as easy and worry-free as spending five minutes after lunch to book your top pick.</span></div>
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<span class="s1" face=""><span class="Apple-tab-span"></span> While traveling, be willing to venture off the beaten path, and be positive and open-hearted to everyone you meet. Remember that practicing <i>radical, unconditional kindness</i> is an incredibly powerful way to open doors and possibilities. It’ll precondition every experience you encounter, and magically gain you upgrades and invitations that you could have never dreamed of. <i>Let the trip show you where to go next –</i> synchronicities and “magical” meetings will pile up as evidence that the Universe is showing you where you have to go, and what you have to see next; and introducing you to exactly who you’re supposed to meet. The coincidences will be custom-made, but won’t appear unless you’re fully flexible, and open to the energies generated by each experience. You’ll find yourself being mysteriously woven into the fabric of everywhere you are.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></div>
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<span class="s1" face=""><span class="Apple-tab-span"></span> And naturally, If a place is telling you not to stay, get in the car and leave.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></div>
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<span class="s1" face=""><i> Now here comes the secret trick –</i> and it came to us because my wife is a vegan, and I’m a vegetarian, but whether you’re a non-meat-eater or not, you’ll find this method works <i>miraculously well.</i> (It worked especially well considering that we traveled across the old Route 66 – through a slice of the heartland where you wouldn’t expect veggie-types to find many easy meals…)<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Now <i>here’s the secret:</i></span></div>
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<span class="s1" face=""><i> <u>Do a search for vegan/vegetarian restaurants before getting to your daily destination</u> – </i>whether you’re a veggie or not,<i> </i>and watch how it will transform your trip, and maybe your life!</span></div>
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<span class="s1" face=""><span class="Apple-tab-span"></span> It (literally) turns out that as you navigate towards those destinations, you’ll find yourself completely avoiding the big boulevards lined with corporate tourist-traps and “neighborhood” chains, and heading into the artistic, architectural, entrepreneurial, and “alternative” neighborhoods instead – the parts of town where you can really eat well, and feed your soul at the same time.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></div>
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<span class="s1" face=""><span class="Apple-tab-span"></span> There aren’t any aggressive 24-hour TV truckstops blaring where “alternative lifestyles” are quietly creating the new sustainable businesses of the future; bringing the solid old (often industrial) neighborhoods back to life after having been abandoned by the rigid corporations and their forced, soulless “food and fun.” They’re the parts of town where you find new galleries, boutiques, coffee shops, music venues, live theater, and of course, cutting-edge food. Right away, you’ll thank God it isn’t Friday.</span></div>
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<span class="s1" face=""><span class="Apple-tab-span"></span> There you’ll also find the greatest local diversity – people bridging ethnic and generational differences who may have had to live outside of local expectations – <i>the real innovative rebels, </i>often rejected by common dogma and unconscious politics. These are people who’ve learned the real value of tolerance and compassion, first-hand. They’re the people who are growing new alternatives towards a new reality, preparing for the actual challenges of our changing planet – without burying their heads in some shallow Fox-hole, or blindly consuming another Bud and double-double bacon cheese burger…and <i>they’re in every town,</i> forming brands that are timelessly fresh, inventively earned, and altruistically authentic…and there’ll be a tattoo or two…</span></div>
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<span face=""><span class="s1"><span class="Apple-tab-span"></span> Along Interstate 40 and the old Route 66 you’ll find incredible vegan cuisine at the stylish bistro <a href="https://www.bizoudowntown.com/">Bizou</a>, on the resurrected Main Street Mall in Charlottesville, VA (the most sadly maligned beautiful little town in recent media history). At the delicious <a href="http://laughingseed.com/">Laughing Seed</a>, in the cool part of downtown Asheville, NC. Then on the outskirts of Knoxville, TN, tuck into comfort food at <a href="http://sanctuaryvegancafe.net/">Sanctuary Vegan Café</a>, whose proceeds go to save condemned animals…and you’re on your way to the heartily excellent <a href="https://thewildcow.com/">Wild Cow</a>, in the globally-countryfied neck of Nashville. From there, wander over to Oklahoma City, OK? for the </span><span class="s2">truly super-deliciousness</span><span class="s1"> of <a href="https://www.theloadedbowlokc.com/">The Loaded Bowl</a> (where they have weekly alt ok-bingo and watercolor classes too); and before you bust out across the Texas panhandle, load up on delicious dumplings at <a href="https://www.eat3fold.com/">Three Fold</a> Noodles & Dumplings, on South Main in Little Rock. AR. Take a Texas break at <a href="https://www.the806.com/">The 806</a>, for great coffee, veggie-fare, local color, and live music, in old Amarillo. When you officially hit the semi-hip Southwest, stop for a chile relleño at the iconic Rte. 66 <a href="https://www.facebook.com/silvermoonsantarosa/">Silver Moon Café</a> in Santa Rosa, NM…and drop in for excellent locally-roasted coffee and not-to-be-beat breakfast at <a href="http://downtownjavajoes.com/">Java Joes</a>, on the edge of downtown Albuquerque, NM.</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1" face=""><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span>…and absolutely DO NOT MISS one of the best meals you’ll ever have at Chef Ahmed’s amazing <a href="https://jambocafe.net/">Jambo Café</a>, just a little bit south of Old Santa Fe, NM. As you roll towards the sunset, don’t miss the beautiful Palestinian family that really is the <a href="https://www.yelp.com/biz/oasis-mediterranean-restaurant-gallup-3">Oasis Mediterranean Café</a>, out on the western edge of Gallup, NM.</span><br />
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<span face="" style="font-size: xx-small;"><i>...beautiful food and beautiful people at The Oasis, Gallup, NM</i></span></div>
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<span class="s1" face=""><span class="Apple-tab-span"></span> To paraphrase what Mahatma Gandhi said: If you be the change you’re looking for, you’ll find it – by following your heart, and your health (mental, physical, and spiritual). All the food you encounter on this path tastes like Love, because it’s being brought to you with that secret ingredient, wherever you go..</span></div>
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<span class="s1" face=""><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Stick to the Blue Highways, follow your heart, <i>Google Vegan/Vegetarian</i> and you’ll find people—and food—that you’ll swear you’ve loved all your life, and that you’ll never forget.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></div>
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<span class="s1" face=""><span class="Apple-tab-span"></span> Blessings, and safe travels…<i>vaya con Dios!…</i>and remember what the Buddha said about heading out onto the road:</span></div>
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<span class="s1" face="">The Dhammapada, 1:2</span></div>
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<br /><span style="color: #333233; font-family: helvetica; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">Read about this and much more in:</span><o:p style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11.44px; line-height: 18.304px;"><span style="color: #333233; font-family: helvetica; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"> </span><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: helvetica; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18.304px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18px;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/How-Heaven-Without-Really-Dying/dp/0738753211/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8" style="color: #45818e; text-decoration-line: none;"><i>How to Get to Heaven (Without Really Dying), Wisdom From a Near-Death Survivor </i> from Llewellyn Worldwide</a> </span></o:p><span style="color: #333233; font-family: helvetica; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">available direct on this page, or online. </span><span style="color: #333233; font-family: helvetica; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">The first book: </span><span style="color: #2c8930; font-family: helvetica; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/How-Survive-Life-Death-Happiness/dp/1573246360/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1384712557&sr=8-1&keywords=robert+kopecky" style="color: #2d8930; text-decoration-line: none;">How to Survive Life (and Death), A Guide To Happiness In This World and Beyond</a> </span><span style="color: #333233; font-family: helvetica; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">is available the same ways – but ask for it it at your local bookstore!</span>robert k.http://www.blogger.com/profile/08504571789986383064noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-917481311996880590.post-62168187485211266602019-03-13T11:26:00.001-04:002020-08-13T21:27:12.890-04:00"The More Your Eyes Open, the More Sacred You See" <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fBRAvWle3WY/Xsrh60PJmkI/AAAAAAAAKL0/x4o4n1KpLzssKgQrXX1X-uidf0ZhTcNmwCNcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Fellini%2BBuddha.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="459" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fBRAvWle3WY/Xsrh60PJmkI/AAAAAAAAKL0/x4o4n1KpLzssKgQrXX1X-uidf0ZhTcNmwCNcBGAsYHQ/s320/Fellini%2BBuddha.jpg" width="293" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This excerpt is from</span> <span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>How to Get to Heaven (Without Really Dying), </i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>Section 3: Purpose. </i></span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: "helvetica neue";">Caught
up in day-to-day life, it’s easy to overlook the miraculous nature of <i>everything
</i>(especially in the morning before our first miraculous cup of coffee), but
all we have to do is be present for one moment and there it is again, pouring
out in every direction we look. Unconsciousness clings onto its defenses, but
when you’re really honest with yourself and recognize the undeniable
interconnectedness of all Life, it’s hard not to appreciate the concept called
<i>pantheism</i>, the idea that absolutely everything is a manifestation of
the Divine. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: "helvetica neue";">If
you’ve been practicing the spiritually perspective-enhancing principles from
the first chapters (kindness, humility, honesty, forgiveness, compassion, and
service), you have probably noticed something happening as a result of your
changing view of Life—the undeniable connection that changes you forever<i>. </i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "helvetica neue";"><span style="color: #0b5394;">This
is the realization that <i>it deeply hurts you to cause pain. </i>Causing
injury to another sentient creature creates bad karma for you, and effectively
causes an injury to yourself. You begin to notice that when you say something
that isn’t particularly thoughtful or considerate, it just <i>sounds wrong </i>to
you. Like spilled coffee on a clean white shirt, you can’t wear it well—your
ego may want you to conceal it, but your true self knows you need to quickly
blot it out. Soon, small things that never mattered before come alive in your
conscience. When you see a person being wasteful or exploitative, being a bully
or a braggart, you sense the energy of injustice, of insecurity, of pain; and
you increasingly feel like intervening somehow to possibly correct the impropriety.
Pretty soon you’re capturing bugs in a jar and releasing them out the back door
saying <i>Go be free, my little bug friend. </i></span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">You
may start feeling a little out of place from the growing sensitivity to your
surroundings, but this perceptual and behavioral change is really a very good
thing. When you notice the harm you can do to Life when you’re not conscious of
your actions, </span><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; text-indent: 15pt;">it means you’re beginning to develop the sensibilities of an
angel.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">You’re beginning to see and feel what Heaven looks and feels like.</span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333233; font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; text-indent: 0px;">Read about this and much more in:</span><o:p style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11.44px; line-height: 18.304px; text-indent: 0px;"><span style="color: #333233; font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"> </span><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18.304px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18px;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/How-Heaven-Without-Really-Dying/dp/0738753211/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8" style="color: #45818e; text-decoration-line: none;"><i>How to Get to Heaven (Without Really Dying), Wisdom From a Near-Death Survivor </i> from Llewellyn Worldwide</a> </span></o:p><span style="background-color: white; color: #333233; font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; text-indent: 0px;">available direct on this page or online. </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333233; font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; text-indent: 0px;">The first book: </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #2c8930; font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; text-indent: 0px;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/How-Survive-Life-Death-Happiness/dp/1573246360/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1384712557&sr=8-1&keywords=robert+kopecky" style="color: #2d8930; text-decoration-line: none;">How to Survive Life (and Death), A Guide To Happiness In This World and Beyond</a> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333233; font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; text-indent: 0px;">is available the same ways – but ask for it it at your local bookstore!</span></div>
<!--EndFragment--><i></i>robert k.http://www.blogger.com/profile/08504571789986383064noreply@blogger.com19tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-917481311996880590.post-57420713576581103572018-12-18T14:32:00.002-05:002021-03-23T14:04:36.164-04:00Beatitude Adjustment – Our “Sermon on the Mount” Top Hits, Unplugged<style type="text/css">
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<i>“Materiality is a metaphoric manifestation of our ‘invisible’ spiritual nature.”</i></div>
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Perhaps the biggest challenge that faces any theology is the tendency for its most fervent proponents to insist on literal interpretations of their basic scriptures, when really all ancient spiritual texts are intended as metaphors for spiritual conditions and approaches, meant to help you align yourself to the energy of Love in the Universe (to put it simply).<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
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Translating those texts can be very important too, as certain translations may only be appropriate for very particular agendas; take for example the common Biblical translations for the terms “sin,” which comes from the Greek word <i>amartia, </i>and really means: <i>to miss the mark;</i> and “repentance,” from the Greek word <i>metanoia, </i>which actually transliterates as: <i>beyond thought</i> (transformational). You can see what a different spin those choices give to the pure meaning.</div>
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<i> The Beatitudes</i> – everyone’s favorite list of righteous suggestions from “The Sermon on the Mount,” Matthew 5–7 (firmly based on the Old Testament <i>Psalms)</i> are no exception. Plugged into their institutional translations, they can be a little confusing, or subject to rote interpretations that overlook the underlying <i>spiritual technology </i>they describe. In fact, overlooking in a different way is the real meaning of “The Mount;” whether anyone ever spoke from on top of a hill or not isn’t the point – “The Mount” really only means to assume a spiritual point-of-view, where you can get a clear view of the hardships of being human. With all that in mind, allow me to try to Unplug the Beatitudes for you, and hopefully reveal their natural spiritual suggestions.</div>
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<b><i>Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.</i></b></div>
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The idea of Heaven is always easy – it means being in alignment with the energy of Love in the Universe, it’s just “the poor in spirit” part that gets a little confusing. It seems to suggest that we’re talking about poor people, or that we’re talking about people who come up short in “the spiritual” department – yes to both. It is easier for people who don’t have lots of money, and all the demands and obsessions it brings, to be serenely connected to our Divine Source; and back in those days, the powerful leaders of organized religions were considered “rich in spirit” (the same could be said about today's Evangelical mega-preachers). Theirs was not “the kingdom.” <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
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<b><i>Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.</i></b></div>
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Sadness opens our hearts, and causes our energies to resonate with deeper structures of the Universe. It’s a call for connection, and that call is always answered by the Divine, which is absolutely indivisible. What we mourn <i>is always alive—</i>and we know it in our hearts.</div>
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<b><i>Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.</i></b></div>
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A Zen sage once said, “Water finds its greatest power by seeking its lowest point,” and it’s true of the life of this planet. Humility grounds us in our most profoundly connected way, and the more dogmatic, the more egocentric, the more intellectually self-assured – the more <i>willful – </i>we are, the less chance we have of survival. The greatest chance for humans lies in our sincerest humility, because Earth will always default to the energy of <i>the authentic, the most cooperatively adaptable.</i></div>
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<b><i>Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.</i></b></div>
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The willingness to take part in the inner exploration – the deep <i>need </i>to discover that energy, that light within (our spiritual sustenance); and to reunite ourselves – to <i>restore </i>ourselves to that Divine energy, is absolutely essential. It’s only by opening up and digging-down (for sustenance and refreshment) that we can be repaired and re-filled by the energy of Love.</div>
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<b><i>Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.</i></b></div>
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“Do no harm,” is the first precept of Buddhism, and it’s that absolute Golden Rule that informs not just the way we live life in each moment – with (and as a part of) the grace that compassionate consciousness grants us – but also aligns us with the energies of Love in the Universe. It creates our positive <i>karma – </i>as we respect the Divine in all living things, the Divine Love Energy of the Universe reflects that grace into our lives.</div>
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<b><i>Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.</i></b></div>
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“The Kingdom of Heaven is spread across the Earth, but men don’t have eyes to see it,” said Yeshua, the Gnostic “Teacher of Righteousness,” meaning that it’s the misperceptions created in our minds that prevent us from aligning ourselves with the Field of Love. When we practice kindness, honesty, humility, forgiveness, compassion, and service, our cognitive hearts are cleared, and open to the intuitive intelligence available – the way to live with perspective, presence, and purpose. Then we can witness the Divine in every direction we look.</div>
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<b><i>Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the Children of God.</i></b></div>
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Really little kids are so innocent and gracious (when they’re not crying…), the ambitions and expectations of life haven’t painted them into any corners they need ‘to fight their way out of’ yet. Those judgements create the aggressive instincts to “get ahead” materially – what we want, what we think we need, what we must hold on to – that cause us to lash out, or try to forcibly control; that’s the painfulness our narrow, short-lived human desires create, not the eternal playfulness our authentic selves deserve.</div>
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<b><i>Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.</i></b></div>
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People look at you funny when you purposefully and unashamedly pursue your spiritual path; they think you’re crazy (because they’re thinking with their heads, not their hearts). I survived three traumatic incidents, and three “Near Death Experiences” – so I had no choice in the matter, my spiritual beliefs are literally immaterial. Most folks try to navigate in a material world, grasping little pieces of serenity, wonder, and joy here and there; and if you turn that approach around 180º and live as a spirit in a world of arising matter, naturally you’ll be misunderstood a lot...</div>
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...but you’ll live in a world alive in the Field of Love, connected by a powerful, “unseen” <i>spiritual technology</i> that transforms you “beyond thought,” and lets you “hit the mark” – almost every time. It’ll give you a real experience of grace, serenity, joy, and wholeness like you’ve never known. In truth, it’ll put <i>gratitude</i> in your beatitude!</div>
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<br /><span style="color: #333233; font-family: helvetica; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">Read about this and much more in:</span><o:p style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11.44px; line-height: 18.304px;"><span style="color: #333233; font-family: helvetica; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"> </span><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: helvetica; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18.304px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18px;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/How-Heaven-Without-Really-Dying/dp/0738753211/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8" style="color: #45818e; text-decoration-line: none;"><i>How to Get to Heaven (Without Really Dying), Wisdom From a Near-Death Survivor </i> from Llewellyn Worldwide</a> </span></o:p><span style="color: #333233; font-family: helvetica; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">available direct on this page, or online. </span><span style="color: #333233; font-family: helvetica; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">The first book: </span><span style="color: #2c8930; font-family: helvetica; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/How-Survive-Life-Death-Happiness/dp/1573246360/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1384712557&sr=8-1&keywords=robert+kopecky" style="color: #2d8930; text-decoration-line: none;">How to Survive Life (and Death), A Guide To Happiness In This World and Beyond</a> </span><span style="color: #333233; font-family: helvetica; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">is available the same ways – but ask for it it at your local bookstore!</span>robert k.http://www.blogger.com/profile/08504571789986383064noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-917481311996880590.post-65472543994355973502018-11-14T10:52:00.002-05:002020-12-18T12:33:28.495-05:00The "Spirituality Today" Review, by Peter J. Morris<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<i><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: x-small;">While Spirituality Today is no longer with us, this book review from it's Editor, Peter J. Morris, still is:</span></i></div>
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<span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Writer Robert Kopecky has the extraordinary distinction of having died and gone to heaven not once but no-less than three times during his life. On each occasion he has been unceremoniously sent back down into physical reality and these dramatic experiences have, quite naturally, led him to develop a unique perspective of what it means to be a human, alive on planet Earth at this time.</span></div>
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A Place of Being</span></h3>
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<span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">In his book, <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">How to Get to Heaven</em>, Kopecky identifies the specific life lessons each near-death experience (NDE) has taught him. More specifically, he has come to recognize that his three NDEs were not separate events at all but that they formed an important part of an evolving sequence. He qualifies these as; Perspective, Presence, and Purpose; with each one heading up a different section of his book.</span></div>
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<span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">The experiences of death and brief awareness of life on the otherside’ to which Kopecky was party, leads him to conclude that what we perceive of as ‘Heaven’ is less a ‘place’ and more a ‘state of being’. He qualifies this further by saying, “Going to Heaven isn’t about dreaming a dream of the afterlife. No, going to Heaven is about being right where you are — wherever that may be — and waking up.”</span></div>
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A Threefold Perspective</span></h3>
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<span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">In Part One of <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">How to Get to Heaven</em> the author examines our core human traits and in particular those that require development. These include humility, release of ego-control, love and kindness. He is of the opinion that practicing honesty and forgiveness aids this process.</span></div>
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<span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Part Two focuses upon the state of presence as a means of creating quality to our lives. Kopecky describes this in the following way, “Awareness in this very moment informs and determines where we’ve come from in life, where we are, and the amazing potential we can access to empower where we are going.”</span></div>
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<span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">In the third and final part of his book the author explores how by carrying all of these spiritual principles into everyday actions it becomes easier to discover our own special purpose.</span></div>
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<span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">So many reports of near death experiences include a single, common theme, which is that the recently deceased needs to return to the Earth plane specifically to fulfill – or complete, a personal destiny; or in order to undertake an important task for humanity. This also seems to be the case with Kopecky – someone who has clearly taken this challenge to hand and unravelled a personal destiny from which so many people can now benefit.</span></div>
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<span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Whilst the spiritual philosophy that permeates his book has been drawn from mainly Eastern or Buddhist principles this does not color the book to such a degree that it becomes detached from its central theme. Indeed, the result is a deeply satisfying read for throughout its pages Kopecky presents a very personalized style of writing – one that keeps the reader thoroughly engaged and hungry for the next round of insights. The depth of revelation and enlightenment here is rarely found in spiritual publications and comes as a breath of fresh air.</span></div>
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<span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><em style="box-sizing: border-box;">How to Get to Heaven</em> by Robert Kopecky is a comforting book for anyone concerned about the fragility of life. More importantly though it is the sad, the lost and the lonely, the dispirited, disillusioned and disengaged who will gain most from reading it. For those readers I”d personally guarantee that <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">How to Get to Heaven</em> offers the chance of a major personal transformation long before reaching its final page.</span></div>
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<div style="box-sizing: border-box; color: inherit; font-family: "open sans", helvetica, arial, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin-bottom: 15px;"><span style="color: #333233; font-family: helvetica; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">Read about this and much more in:</span><o:p style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11.44px; line-height: 18.304px;"><span style="color: #333233; font-family: helvetica; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"> </span><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: helvetica; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18.304px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18px;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/How-Heaven-Without-Really-Dying/dp/0738753211/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8" style="color: #45818e; text-decoration-line: none;"><i>How to Get to Heaven (Without Really Dying), Wisdom From a Near-Death Survivor </i> from Llewellyn Worldwide</a> </span></o:p><span style="color: #333233; font-family: helvetica; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">available direct on this page, or online. </span><span style="color: #333233; font-family: helvetica; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">The first book: </span><span style="color: #2c8930; font-family: helvetica; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/How-Survive-Life-Death-Happiness/dp/1573246360/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1384712557&sr=8-1&keywords=robert+kopecky" style="color: #2d8930; text-decoration-line: none;">How to Survive Life (and Death), A Guide To Happiness In This World and Beyond</a> </span><span style="color: #333233; font-family: helvetica; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">is available the same ways – but ask for it it at your local bookstore!</span></div>
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robert k.http://www.blogger.com/profile/08504571789986383064noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-917481311996880590.post-61523194006109089732018-11-07T13:27:00.003-05:002020-08-26T16:08:19.839-04:00Earth is Like a Spiritual Elementary School (that’s on fire…)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-9Zv-u0-YzIM/W-MudC5quNI/AAAAAAAAD84/4MLxdwNv9UwoTZvAg3p-m7SNTudXKiUAwCLcBGAs/s1600/TFK11%253A29fin.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1446" data-original-width="1500" height="385" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-9Zv-u0-YzIM/W-MudC5quNI/AAAAAAAAD84/4MLxdwNv9UwoTZvAg3p-m7SNTudXKiUAwCLcBGAs/s400/TFK11%253A29fin.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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The day after a big election is a day like any other, really. A lot has changed, but then, not that much has changed too. The problems don’t suddenly get solved, and in fact the differences and obstacles may seem more distinct and dramatic than ever. It helps me to think of it this way, just for the sake of simplifying things:</div>
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<span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span>The Earth is like a spiritual elementary school, with evolving souls attending grades one through six, simultaneously. The first and second graders tend to be unsure of themselves, to feel vulnerable – they tend to isolate, feel victimized, or to become bullies – whatever it takes to make them feel acknowledged, respected, cared about. They can become intolerant, even violent…they’re <i>fearful, </i>they haven’t got much wisdom yet, or what you might call “ more expanded consciousness.” They get tribal, follow manipulative leaders, and want to control things without really thinking it through. They tend to believe that Darwinism means “survival of the fittest,” but it doesn’t, really…it means <i>“survival of the most cooperatively adaptable,” </i>so they tend to be less cooperative, and more entitled, “independent,” and “self-reliant.”</div>
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<span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span>The fifth and sixth graders have gotten a little wisdom. They’ve developed a little “expanded consciousness.” They’d never hurt a fly, tend to naturally like all different kinds of people, and feel connected to everyone and to the natural world in an easy, graceful way. They’re learning that <i>the world isn’t happening to them – it’s happening for them. </i>They’ve learned that fear is seldom real (unless there’s a bear approaching, or a fire is out-of-control). Their community is less a ‘tribe,’ and more a collection of tolerant, “cooperatively adaptable” spirits, all along on the same ride. They know that <i>no one can be truly independent, or totally self-reliant. </i>We are all the same thing, on the same ride, called <i>Earth. </i>They possess what you might call “spiritual sanity,” and have learned that intelligent, mature, responsible stewardship will benefit everyone the most.</div>
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<i><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span></i>Our biggest problem always stems from this situation: The sixth graders can’t <i>give </i>their wisdom to the first graders without the first graders feeling like someone is trying to push them around – insinuating that they’re “better than them” (which in a spiritually-evolved sense, they are, but in a spiritually-evolved sense, <i>no one is better than anyone else). </i>So the first and second graders have to get some wisdom for themselves (usually by making painful mistakes); they tend to be haters before they become lovers. This is their hard karma, the cause-and-effect of life that everyone must pass through, to graduate, that is. Wisdom and expanded consciousness can only be attained by direct personal experience. <span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span>Unfortunately, everyone in the school falls subject to the struggles of the early-grade students, and those struggles have to hurt enough to make them realize their self-centered pain is unnecessary and self-inflicted – so it’s painful for everyone. They calm down a lot, in the third and fourth grades, thank God.</div>
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<span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span>Sadly, the unconscious “control” of first and second graders for the last thousand years (a drop in the geological bucket-of-time), has led to the destruction of life as-we-know-it on our Mother Earth that we see around us—the catastrophe approaching. The school is on fire. Fortunately, that sadness makes our hearts resonate more deeply with the unseen, benevolent structures of the Universe; and impending doom tends to mature a lot of people fast. Fifth and sixth graders can stay present with all the goodness in their hearts, and try to hold things together, providing enough Love to balance things out…until the kids come around.</div>
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<span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span>If you think people don’t respect you; that you’re being victimized by ‘elitists’ or ‘aliens;’ that you’re somehow different (or better) than other people, or know ‘the right’ way to live; if you think violence is sometimes necessary, and that we can reserve the right to kill or inflict pain on others ‘for their own good,’ or ‘to protect our rights;’ and impose our will on others to ‘make them get it right,” well, welcome to school. Open your heart—and your ears—and realize that no one is all that important. We really are <i>all the same, </i>even if we don’t look like it, or dress like it, or eat like it, or pray like it…we do all <i>love the same.</i></div>
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<i><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span></i>If you’re constantly shocked at the level of ignorance and violence in the world, <i>don’t be—</i>there’s always been that 30%, and there always will be. Bring on da Love, in large enough quantities to put out all the little fires you can. There’s a tide of Love on the rise (along with the sea level) that’ll quench the conflagration.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span>Things <i>are</i> changing – at this school they always have and always will. But if you love it here anyway, don’t worry, soon you be moving on to Middle School.</div>
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<br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333233; font-family: helvetica; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; text-indent: 48px;">The latest book:</span><o:p style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11.44px; line-height: 18.304px; text-indent: 48px;"><span style="color: #333233; font-family: helvetica; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"> </span><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: helvetica; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18.304px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18px;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/How-Heaven-Without-Really-Dying/dp/0738753211/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8" style="color: #45818e; text-decoration-line: none;"><i>How to Get to Heaven (Without Really Dying), Wisdom From a Near-Death Survivor </i></a><a href="https://www.llewellyn.com/product.php?ean=9780738753218" style="color: #45818e; text-decoration-line: none;">from Llewellyn Worldwide</a> </span></o:p><span style="background-color: white; color: #333233; font-family: helvetica; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; text-indent: 48px;">can be ordered direct on this page or online; and t</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333233; font-family: helvetica; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; text-indent: 48px;">he first book: </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #2c8930; font-family: helvetica; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; text-indent: 48px;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/How-Survive-Life-Death-Happiness/dp/1573246360/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1384712557&sr=8-1&keywords=robert+kopecky" style="color: #2d8930; text-decoration-line: none;">How to Survive Life (and Death), A Guide To Happiness In This World and Beyond</a> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333233; font-family: helvetica; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; text-indent: 48px;">is available the same ways – but ask for them it at your local bookstore!</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-indent: 48px;"> </span>robert k.http://www.blogger.com/profile/08504571789986383064noreply@blogger.com1