Pleasure by definition is enjoyable.
It is something to look for.
Something to seek out.
Like a delightful treat, it will lure you in.
Suffering by definition is not enjoyable.
It is something to be avoided.
Something to flee from.
Like a scourge, it will drive you before it.
Would you rather be lured by pleasure?
Or forced by pain?
In which manner do you prefer to be controlled?
In the Christian Bible, Jesus is recorded to have said:
“The Kingdom of God is ‘within’ (or ‘among’ or ‘amidst’ depending on the translation) – you.”
So this guy who is roundly regarded to be an expert on the subject, did not say that the Kingdom was elsewhere. He said it was right here. Right now.
How could this be so? We all know that this world sucks. Life is one damn obstacle after another. A planet swarming with predatory governments and corporations who victimize the poor and the helpless with impunity. The world is crazy. The world is sick. We might as well be living in hell.
At least, that’s what some folks think.
I myself look around and see only the Kingdom of God. We are all so beautiful and noble (and funny). Each of us is a star in our own fascinating little play. Such freedom and fun! Billions upon billions of interesting and amusing dramas everywhere you look. And the beauty all around! I could watch the plumes of smoke belching from a factory smoke-stack all day. I love to see the amazing play of colors that sunlight creates on an oil-spill. Every bit of understanding is a sparkling treasure. All adversity is a chance to learn more about ourselves; our fellows. There is no evil. Only ignorance. It’s all so perfect!
If you can’t refrain from simply Being, if you feel you must interact with the world, then look at it all through the eyes of love, understanding and forgiveness. Remind yourself to do this again and again until it becomes automatic.
What you see is what you are.
Heaven cannot be entered until it is first constructed.
People like to say they want freedom. Freedom from what?
Restrictions. The manacles of laws that prevent us from accomplishing our will. Natural laws. Human laws.
I am aware that there is or was a television show based around a serial killer who only preyed upon other serial killers. Since this killing could be seen as just, the audience could allow themselves to vicariously root for the “hero” as he dispensed his idea of justice upon the bad guys. They could also imagine what it would be like to do the killing themselves.
That’s okay though. Can’t hurt to just imagine something. Can it?
There is a dangerous state of consciousness that I have seen occasionally wherein a person attains Enlightenment in an incomplete manner (often through the use of psychoactive chemicals). They come to realize the absolute relativity of all things. They gain a mental freedom that few will ever know. They see that only the Absolute is real. Everything else is smoke and mirrors. Their problems; their lives. Other people’s lives. All illusions.
Then the drugs wear off.
They drop back down to earth, clutching their little piece of stolen god-fire. They retain the memory of what they have seen but they cannot incorporate this knowledge fully. Seeing that death is also an illusion, they lose all fear of it. Then they extrapolate this to see that when any of us dies, the illusion is broken and we all return to God. Return to being God.
So everything is absolutely okay. Nothing is truly evil. Not even suicide. Not even murder.
I call this the Manson Miscalculation.
They understand that love and fear are the same thing but they assume this means they can be interchangeable. In mastering their minds, they’ve lost their hearts.
One thing that held me back for a long time was the idea that accepting the truth that love was only relative was reprehensible to me. I wanted Love to be better than it’s opposite. But my mind demanded I yield to it’s inescapable logic.
Then came the Stone and I saw that I was quite literally out of my mind! Was I Spirit? Sure! Why not? That’s a nice, undefinable label. My logical mind had reached it’s utmost limit.
But I had not.
I Am Spirit. Love calls unto Spirit and needs no reason. Love is it’s own reward.
Evil is not forbidden. It’s just stupid.
Let’s explore killing people!
Not actually doing it, of course. But just thinking about it.
Let’s start with one of the scariest types of people we can imagine. Serial killers. People who, for whatever reason, decide to kill innocent others. Their prey are generally strangers who are just going about their lives. People who have done nothing to deserve such a brutal death.
Without going into the intricacies of their psychology, I think we would agree that these killers are being totally selfish. They are inflicting their will in the most terrifying manner with no thought or compassion for their victims. They do it for their own pleasure. It’s thrilling. The free manifestation of anger. Murder feels good if you are filled with hatred.
Hedonism.
That’s kind of the opposite of altruism right? Being selfless and generally loving and caring about others is the best way to be. Right?
Why?
Why does one volunteer at the animal shelter or donate money to feed the homeless? Why do we do everything we can for our children?
Because it feels good to do so. Love feels good.
Hedonism again? Is it selfish to be selfless?
Does this mean that everything we do is selfish?
Would you give up your life to save someone you love? I certainly would and I think most people would also. Would you give up your life to save a stranger? That’s a tougher one. I mean, you might be making your kids into orphans just to save someone who might possibly be a serial killer or at least a total asshole. Would you die to save your pet dog? Many people do. How about a stray cat? We’re coming up to the line here aren’t we?
So we will die for love but only if it’s in our own self-interest.
So everyone is trying to do what they want to do. Now, who controls what it is that you want? You are certainly the door-keeper of your desires and compulsions, but are you their originator? No. But you will give in to them if it seems to be in your best interest.
Okay, let’s get back to killing people!
Everybody is going to die. That’s the way it works. Nothing is forever. Death is not evil. (It is actually a necessary illusion but that is fodder for another post.)
Nor can we predict the future. The end result of randomly killing a young lady might result in her never giving birth to a child who grows up to be a serial killer. Killing her could save many innocent lives. (I know, not likely. I’m not trying to make a case for serial killing. I’m trying to get to the heart of what evil is.)
The killer is not the source of the evil he visits upon the world. He is just allowing it in because he does not know that hurting others equally hurts himself.
There is a popular idea that can be summed up as the Golden Rule or the Law of Reciprocity. Most of us are familiar with it. This is based on the fact that the world you experience is a reflection of how you are on the inside. The state of your mind alters your reality.
Have you heard the popular teaching story about the two wolves? The gist of it is that there is a black wolf and a white wolf that are constantly fighting inside of people for control of their hearts. The one that will win is the one that gets fed.
Your overall outlook on life is built upon the myriad little outlooks you have taken over the years. Each time you decide to look at the bright side of a situation, you get a little closer to heaven. Each time you chose to see the dark side, the world will slowly become ever so slightly more hellish. As you change the way you see the world, the world will change to become whatever it is you wish to see.
To choose love is it’s own reward. Whether or not that is selfish is an important clue as to what the nature of the self might be.
So the next time you meet a serial killer, tell him to look on the bright side!
In a previous post, I described my experience of realizing that everything is relative. Not only did this make sense to me, it also allowed me to make sense of everything else. Seeing that no part of reality was set apart from the rest was a breakthrough for me. Like Ouspensky’s ashtray writ as large as the universe.
And at the center of this One Thing was I Am. Simple Consciousness. Not my individual, human-limited consciousness (although that is part of It) but the One unified Consciousness of Everything.
“Ehyeh asher ehyeh”, answered God when Moses asked for It’s name. “I Am that I Am.”
God sure says a lot of profound shit, doesn’t It?
So, the point here is that I had discovered Relativism before I even knew there was a word for it. I learned that word shortly afterward when I brought some of my ideas up in conversation with my dad.
I immediately learned that “relativism” is a word that Christians say with a sneer. It is a trick of the Devil’s to make us indecisive and tepid in our outlook. To even entertain this idea is to become immoral. It is like building your house on sand instead of rock. There is Good and there is Evil. To question these things is to become lost in a swamp of illusion and lies.
I mean, think about it. Once you start to understand your enemy’s point of view, it becomes much more difficult to destroy him. We can’t become heroes if there are no evil-doers.
Understanding is for fools.
So needless to say, I understood his position.
But he has never been able to understand mine. The result has been a lot of suffering on his part. Despair for me, his foolish son who will be sent to hell and a pleading sort of anger directed at the god who will be consigning me there.
Fear of the Lord may be the beginning of wisdom, but it sure as hell isn’t it’s culmination.
It is sad, is it not? That our lot and our destiny, brings us misery as the price we pay to love each day? Are we asking too much? Now we reach out and touch the faces, the traces that hardly exist in the mist that is Mind and always we find that the ones who we loved now are gone.
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