Life Itself is still a great mystery for those of us who don't accept
black and white versions of religious opinions. But like all
good mysteries it gives us a multitude of opportunities to consider
all the different ideas, concepts and opinions including religious,
spiritual and scientific. And let us not exclude our own
intuitive thoughts about life. We love life; we mourn the loss
of physical life and we seek within our philosophies and religions
what is revealed beyond this life.
Life
eternal is a conceptual idea woven throughout the ancient wisdom.
For those who rely on their religion for the right concept for them
they will find in most religions a caveat to gaining eternal life.
Yet, in the highest concepts of spirituality derived from the Holy
books throughout history we find no true reasoning for this but only
man-made concepts derived from a sense of separation from G-d.
This separation is the cause of a conclusion that life is
subject to mortality.
" I know that,
whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever: nothing can be put to it,
nor anything taken from it; and God hath done it, that men should
recognize him.” - Ecclesiastes 3:14, Ancient Wisdom
If we read "God" as Intelligence, Power and Mind, then we
shall find within these words from Ecclesiastes a guide to a greater
realization of the nature of Life. We each must find
within our own soul (consciousness) what we can accept as true for us
and this is why no one else can make this conclusion for us. I
personally believe that any concept about Life that takes on a morbid
or exclusionary concept is a false one.
I arrived at this conclusion based on my belief that we are a
“part of” G-d and therefore I reject the idea that G-d would
destroy a part of Itself based on human understanding or man-made
concepts of morality.
In Buddhism we find a fascinating idea of the afterlife: "Based
on his no-soul (anatta) doctrine, the Buddha described reincarnation,
or the taking on of a new body in the next life, in a different way
than the traditional Indian understanding. He compared
it to lighting successive candles
using the flame of the preceding candle. Although each flame is
causally connected to the one that came before it, is it not the same
flame. Thus, in Buddhism, reincarnation is usually referred to as
"transmigration."
I have found that several religions, including Hinduism, believe that
the human spirit returns to Earth in different forms again and again
as it strives for perfection. I
have not found this personally to be credible when we realize the
impact this would make on the world’s population.
What I do find fascinating is the Master Mind Jesus’
statement, “in my Father’s House are many
mansions” … I take the word “mansions” to mean “dimensions”
and since physicists are discovering more and
more dimensions in the universes that make up the world I find
this to be very credible and worthy of further attention. Concluding his statement Jesus tells us that he goes to
“prepare a place for you” speaking from his subjective mind or
consciousness. And in
this I conclude that he is telling us that there is a place for all of
us determined by the level of consciousness of the individual or the
degree to which our soul has journeyed along its path.
We can find an even more provocative statement in Ecclesiastes
12:7; "…
then man's
dust (body) will go back to the earth, returning to what it was, and
the spirit will return to the God who gave it.” Now, this is just as mysterious as the
universe in which we live and the Intelligence that created it.
It provokes us to think and perhaps to re-think what we have
believed about Eternal Life and mortality.
The Book of Ecclesiastes, according to conventional wisdom was
authored by King Solomon in approximately 935 B.C. although not put
into its current form until several hundred years later.
The statement is patterned after the nature of G-d and Life
that is present throughout all legitimate religious and spiritual
writings. It speaks to
the “universal” relationship that we all have with our Creator; in
other words, this will be the same for everyone contradicting most
religions emphatically.
In conclusion, the mystical James Dillet Freeman gives us great
food for thought in his poetic revelation of his truth in the poem “I
Am There” …
Do
you need Me?
I am there.
You cannot see Me, yet I am the light you see by.
You cannot hear Me, yet I speak through your voice.
You cannot feel Me, yet I am the power at work in your hands.
I am at work, though you do not understand My ways.
I am at work, though you do not recognize My works.
I am not strange visions. I am not mysteries.
Only in absolute stillness, beyond self, can you know Me as I am, and
then but as a feeling and a faith.
Yet I am there. Yet I hear. Yet I answer.
When you need Me, I am there.
Even if you deny Me, I am there.
Even when you feel most alone, I am there.
Even in your fears, I am there.
Even in your pain, I am there.
I am there when you pray and when you do not pray.
I am in you, and you are in Me.
Only in your mind can you feel separate from Me, for only in your mind
are the mists of “yours” and “mine.”
Yet only with your mind can you know Me and experience Me.
Empty your heart of empty fears.
When you get yourself out of the way, I am there.
You can of yourself do nothing, but I can do all.
And I am in all.
Though you may not see the good, good is there, for I am there.
I am there because I have to be, because I am.
Only in Me does the world have meaning; only out of Me does the world
take form; only because of Me does the world go forward.
I am the law on which the movement of the stars and the growth of
living cells are founded.
I am the love that is the law's fulfilling. I am assurance. I am
peace. I am oneness. I am the law that you can live by. I am the love
that you can cling to. I am your assurance. I am your peace. I am one
with you. I am.
Though you fail to find Me, I do not fail you.
Though your faith in Me is unsure, My faith in you never wavers,
because I know you, because I love you.
Beloved, I am there.
AND
SO IT IS!
Keep
the
faith!
Rev.
Henry Bates
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