The mastery of life. Lesson 0

 Synopsis.

This section examines the nature of God, the universal life force, or whatever you choose to call it. It raises the questions how did everything begin.

Physicists, cosmologists and quantum mechanics scientists have answered, or attempted to answer, many of the big questions facing humanity. Who are we? Where did we come from? Where are we going? These are big questions that are currently being answered by great minds. But all the scientists, all of the cosmologists, and all of the quantum physicists can't answer one simple question.

How did it start?

There are those who assume that it is just a cycle that goes on forever. Matter expands, acceleration decreases to zero, everything smashes together again, all over the course of billions of years. It still does and explain how it first started.

There are those who believe that matter spontaneously generates itself. For example, Stephen Hawking, the renowned physicist, believes that matter is spontaneously generated at the edge of space around a black hole. Matter is always generated in pairs of two particles. One particle is drawn into the black hole, one particle is ejected into our universe. What's interesting about this concept is the spontaneous generation of matter. But, where did the black hole come from?

Wherever there are human beings, someone asks the question -- where did we come from? The answer from the physicists is usually, "I don't know." Where there is a knowledge vacuum, mankind has always filled that vacuum with an idea.

Religions

Before the more modern religious beliefs involved, there were a variety of religious systems. There was a belief that we were ruled by planets and stars. There were beliefs that omniscient beings, living in the heavens, controlled by destinies. The earth was flat. Earth was borne on the back of a giant. There were all sorts of manifestations of all sorts of gods. Men always searched for the answer to the question, where did we come from?

There is the biblical version. God always has existed, and always will exist, is all powerful (omnipotent), all knowing (omnicient), and everywhere at once (omnipresent) and created the universe we now live in, in six days. He rested on the seventh day, the Sabbath. Everything you see around you, according to this belief, was the work of one being, who completed it in a week, starting with nothing.

The Bible

There are also those who believe in the Bible's rendition of creation, but believe that the Bible speaks metaphorically, or there wasn't the language at the time the Bible verse was written to express the concept accurately. For example, would someone from ancient Egyptian civilization, in 1000 BC even have the words, the language, even analogies, to explain an automobile, trained, or what about a personal computer or radio or cellular telephone? Things we take for granted would be considered magical by those civilizations.

Similarly, the language of the Bible conveys messages with concepts that were known and understood by people that live 1000 to 2000 years ago. The methods of explanation were limited by human understanding of the time. Some of it is factual, some of it is allegorical (told with fables or stories). The language of the Bible, and the translations through several languages such as Aramaic, Hebrew, Greek and Latin, have made it ultimately more difficult to understand the real meaning behind what people wrote -- even if inspired by God.

Sufficiently advanced technology

Arthur C. Clarke, noted scientist and science-fiction writer, and inventor of the communications satellite, tells us that "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."

Was the Bible full of magic, advanced technologies, parables, or something else? These are difficult, if not impossible, questions for modern-day man to answer. The real question is, does it matter? Can enough of the Bible and its messages be understood by modern man?

Which brings us to the second concept. Should we assume that the Bible represents all metaphysical knowledge? Can everything that needs to be said, and all lessons that need to be learned be expressed in a single book? Was that the creator's intentions? Was all new now let's suppose to stop being formed 1500 years ago?

Assuming, for a moment, that there was a creator, it is highly unlikely that communication of knowledge from the deity, were such a deity to exist, would have abruptly ended some 1000 to 1500 years ago. Perhaps, however, people stopped listening. Perhaps, people do not understand the implications of what they have learned. Perhaps, there are some people who still believe that the deity, God, has a message and a purpose for mankind, but the vast majority of mankind does not understand the message or understand the purpose.

We are told, by the monotheistic religions (modern day religions which believe in one God), that the Bible is indeed the word of God. However, they are curiously silent on whether God continues to speak to man, and whether that communication should be written down. Yet, on the other hand, we have the Saints who perform miracles in life, and in the afterlife. It is hard to reconcile the acts of the Saints with the writing of the Bible, or, the writings of the ancient prophets. How are they different?

The nature of a higher power

This we can say with some certainty.

• It is highly unlikely that the universe and all its matter and energy always existed.
• It is unlikely that intelligence, human intelligence, is a mistake of nature -- an accident.
• With the billions of galaxies in the heavens, and billions of stars in each galaxy, and planets circling some percentage of them, it is quite likely that some small percentage of those stars contain life. If the number is one in 1 billion, the number of planets containing life is still astronomical.

Probably, mathematically, we are not alone. Did God choose to send his only begotten son to a minor planet at the edge of the mediocre galaxy, alone? Were we part of a plan to visit all sentient (capable of thinking) life?

Exercises

1. Imagine the absolute nothingness. It's difficult to do. We move about in space, but there was. Time marches forward, yet there is no time. Nothingness, absolute nothingness, is the complete absence of time and dimension.

 This

2. Before you have the following terms:

A. Monotheistic

B. Omnipotent

C. Omniscient

D. Omnipresent

E. Allegorical

3. How old is the present Bible?

A. 6000 years
B. Over 2000 years
C. 1000 to 1500 years

Archived at: https://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0AZ1nweotz-8MZGNiNHB6YzhfNTloc2o1N2RjdA&hl=en

Focusing Intention Lesson 41

continued....


In real life, intention operates much the same way as the Genie's magic, and quite often not as intended by the person who wielded it.

As Arthur C. Clarke once said, "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." Focused intention, to the uninitiated, may seem like magic. However, like Clark's magic or advanced technology, focused intention behaves according to specified laws, with certain predictable results.

The path of truth.

Throughout these my graphs we will attempt to separate



"Anything you believe you can achieve." Anthony (Tony) Robbins

...https://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0AZ1nweotz-8MZGNiNHB6YzhfNzZjcW56d3ZmOQ&hl=en

The road to Hades

There is a saying. The road to hell is paved with good intentions. The implication is that by intending to do good, we cause harm. The implication is also that when we do something, there are often unintended consequences, side effects that we are incapable of predicting, evil spreading from good. When you think about it, it is a rather fatalistic point of view. Also, the saying in itself implies that we are not in control of our own destiny. Some power, good or malevolent, is actually in control of our fate. That is a very disconcerting thought. All this time I thought I had free will. Free will is nice when things are going well. Free will stinks when events turn against us. She

The power of ritual. Lesson 170

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Domine, non sum dignus, ut intres sub tectum meum: sed tantum dic verbo, et sanabitur anima mea.
-- Pre-communion liturgy of the Tridentine Rite

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Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.
--Arthur C. Clark, science fiction writer and inventor

The longest running public ritual, with the largest number of participants, in modern recorded history is, arguably, the Roman Catholic Mass known as the Tridentine Rite. There are arguments for the Jewish Shabbat Temple service rivaling the Roman Catholic Mass in terms of length of time, however, we believe the mass has been more formulaic and had the participation of a larger population. The Tridentine Rite version of the ritual was practiced daily by millions of people worldwide, and on Sunday, as was mandatory at the time, by perhaps 5 to 10 times As many people as the daily service.

The Tridentine Rite, commonly called the Latin Mass, was made the standard by Pope Pius V in 1570 A.D. and was practiced millions of times around the world until Pope Paul VI in 1962, when the current version of the Mass in the vernacular (local language) was introduced and made mandatory. Later popes reintroduced approval to celebrate the Latin Mass with local approval.

We use the Latin Mass only has a very large example of a ritual practiced regularly around the world. There are many other examples of ritual, public, private and secretive which to a greater or lesser extent exhibit the same properties.

We call this property focused intention, or more commonly, just intention.

There are many organizations which have specific rituals for initiations, progression through the ranks of the organization and so forth. Most college fraternities and sororities (often called the Greek societies), The Masons, the Rosicrucians, the Knights of Columbus, the Lemurian Society, the Shriners, the Fraternal Order of Eagles (FOE), the Elk Lodges and Moose Lodges the YMCA, even organizations expressly for young people such as the Campfire Girls, Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts have initiations and advancement or progression rituals which have been practiced for years, sometimes even centuries. Certainly there is a social aspect to these rituals, a sense of brotherhood or sisterhood. But the idea of ritual has a rich history that extends 2000 years or more BC.

What is humanity's fascination, one could even say obsession with ritual practices? Is there a reason that the practice of ritual has been such a significant, compelling and enduring part of human society?





References:
https://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0AZ1nweotz-8MZGNiNHB6YzhfNjlobTljNmhkOA&hl=en
http://www.dailycatholic.org/holymas5.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tridentine_Mass#Recent_Popes_and_the_Tridentine_Mass

The power of symbols & talismans. Lesson 175

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... For words, thoughts and deeds, though they rankle and smart, May never delude us or hold us apart Who treasure this talisman deep in the heart...

-- Arthur Guiterman, poet

The old saying goes, "A picture is worth athousand words." Modern businesses are well aware of this. Many, if not most businesses have a logo, or a symbol or picture which connotes the company. We know immediately when we see a Ford motorcar symbol that it is, in fact, a Ford motorcar.We all recognize the four colored square icon that tell the sum product for software is from Microsoft. The Gerber baby and the Aunt Jemima smiling woman set our expectations at a glance. Symbols can also connote thoughts or ideas. We immediately recognize the RX symbol as representing a doctor's prescription or a pharmacy. That happens to be a universal symbol that is recognized worldwide -- at least where the Roman alphabet is used.

Like rituals, symbols and talismans have had a rich history with mankind. Symbols and talismans, being physical or drawn thingscan be traced to prehistoric times, many thousands of years before written language allowed us to record the words and actions performed in rituals. Talismans are far more enduring, like prehistoric cave paintings were Native American arrowheads. They have a permanence, the meaning of which is often obscure, lost to history.

One find symbols and talismans everywhere in modern day religion. The Jewish Star of David, the Christian cross, the Roman Catholic crucifix all paint a rich mental image for us, a complex tapestry of ideas that would take many words to describe. We also ascribe certain supernatural powers to certain symbols. A St. Christopher medallion is supposed to protect a traveler.

Do they work?

In short, yes. They can. It is possible. But, talismans and symbols do not work because the objects or pictures have any particular supernatural or magical powers.The objects are just objects. They are like most currency or coins issued by governments, or even gold bullion. They have no intrinsic value. You can't eat a coin, plow a field with it, or drive it to work. The dollar bill or the quarter is a symbol or representation of an idea. It represents the value to society of and amount of work you performed, and allows you to transfer that value to somebody else. The coin represents an idea. The coin is, in essence, a talisman. Giving the coin to somebody transfers ownership of that formalist thing (work) to someone else.

We don't generally think of money as a talisman. We generally think of a talisman as something, some physical object having supernatural power. In reality, Talismans are, when used properly, a physical reminder of stored intension! If a St. Christopher medallion protects us when we travel, it is because the lump of metal with an image stamped upon it reminds us to invoke our banked intension.

The parking rock.

In the late 1970s, we did an experimen, and called the parking rock. This is a brief description of the experiment. It is quite remarkable, and you are invited to give it a try.

Step 1, find a rock. Go out in the yard, beach, local park or on the street and find a nice rock that can fit in your hand. It should be like a stone that you would use for skipping at the beach, flat on both sides. This stone will become your parking rock.

Your new parking rock is like a new car battery bought at the store. Like the car battery, you must charge your parking rock before you can use it. Hopefully, however the charge on your parking rock lasts longer than the charge on an ever ready battery that you buy at the drugstore.

Charge your parking rock's battery. For a parking rock to work, you must first charge it. The power of the parking rock is directly proportional to its charge. Since you can't plug it into an electrical socket, we have to have another way.

Find a nice place in your home, and place your parking rock on a plate or tray in that place. Twice a day, at the same time every day, go to your parking rock, turned it over, and concentrate for just a couple of seconds, imagining yourself finding a parking space every time you look.

Do this for 30 days in a row. Don't miss a day. If you miss a day, you have to start from the beginning and do 30 consecutive days. After that, carrier parking rock in your pocket. When you go to the college campus, the mall, or market or wherever, think of your parking rock, drive to the nearest entrance, and watch the amazing result.

Try this amazing experiment for yourself, and let us know what happens.

Next: How the talisman is like a electricaln transformer or capacitor.





References:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amulet
http://talismanicidols.org/video.html