Clifford Mikkelson's Blog, page 7

Question 151: About hearing someone say “God loves you.”

Question 151: What does “God loves you” mean in the Gospel of Oneness?

 

Has anyone ever said to you, “God loves you.”? Since God is the creator of the universe, that is saying a lot isn’t it? If you asked them what they meant, you might have heard, “John 3:16, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.” In other words, God proved his love by taking all our sins upon his earthly incarnation as Jesus, thereby freeing us up to spend eternity in heaven, rather than hell, providing we accept that doctrine.

 

In the Gospel of Oneness God has proven His/Her love from the beginning by giving us free will to choose our way of becoming co-creators. Using our free wills with wisdom is the main responsibility of our lives. God has set up the law of cause and effect so that our choices always come back to us, just as a mirror reflects images. Some of our choices help us to have more freedom, and some choices restrict us because we are bound to the consequences, and we may become very circumscribed by our self-created conditions, even to the point where we may think that our lives are predetermined.

 

God wants us to learn about choices and consequences, but he didn’t just send us out into the physical world with no help. We have always had guides to help us with our decisions. Some of them are in the Spirit realm such as angels, and some are in embodiment as we are. The great sages of the past and present have given us advice on how to live. If we pay attention to them our lives are usually more fulfilling. If we ignore them and act recklessly and unloving, then we may learn our lessons in the “school of hard knocks.”

 

 

So, God has shown his love by giving us free will and by providing guides to help us along the way of becoming full co-creators with God.

 

God also shows His/Her love by keeping after us. He is like the “Hound of Heaven” who is always after us. He will not let us stay in lower levels of consciousness. God’s love will find us no matter how low or how far we have strayed. She is always calling us back to our eternal and infinite Home. Our goal is to realize our oneness in God, even if it takes lifetimes of experiences caught up in the illusions of life and feeling separated from God.

 

People who think that God is responsible for their misfortunes are not paying attention to or taking responsibility for their actions. God doesn’t send any misfortune or punishment to anyone, but he has set up the laws of karma (reaping what we sow) in order that we might learn from our free will choices and gradually become wiser.

 

When some people suffer terrible consequences, they say it is the wrath of God, or maybe the chastisement of God. They say it is the severe side of God’s love that demands justice to be carried out. Yet when we see that many seemingly innocent people are hurt in the collateral damage of wars and natural disasters, we have to ask is this the mercy, love, and justice of God? The only satisfactory answers can be found in the long chain of incarnations that all of us have lived through, and then every consequence can be traced back to our free will choices. Is this not the love of God, or would you rather be a puppet?

 

We eventually come to the point of transcending all the choices that are presented to us in the material (dualistic) world and live in harmony with the will of God by realizing our oneness with God.

 

The experiential proof that God loves us is what we all want. If you read the testimony of some people who have had near death experiences, then you know of the overwhelming love they felt in the presence of a higher power even if it cannot be put into words. Also, the testimony of mystics from many different religions show us that there is a love so great, so thrilling that the only way to understand it is to experience it for yourself. It is the real proof that God loves you.

 

 

Love is higher than the Highest. Love is greater than the Greatest. Yea, it is in a certain sense greater than God; while yet, in the highest sense of all, God is Love, and Love is God. Love being the highest principle is the virtue of all virtues; from whence they flow forth. — Jakob Bohme

 

“Even Kings and emperors with heaps of wealth and vast dominion cannot compare with an ant filled with the love of God.” –Guru Nanak

Question 150: What is the significance of Christmas in the Gospel of Oneness?

 

Question 150: What is the significance of Christmas in the gospel of oneness?

We were all created from the mind and imagination of our Creator God and have taken embodiment on our planet Earth located in a spiral arm of the Milky Way galaxy. Although the universe is immense, our souls are part of the consciousness that sustains the universe, and so we are connected to the whole universe.

After taking birth in our physical bodies we lost the outer knowledge of our oneness with our Creator, and we have thought of ourselves as separate beings—separate from each other, separate from Nature, and separate from God.

Jesus came to Earth at a time when the illusion of separation was very strong, and the collective consciousness of humans was at a relatively low state. He came to teach us that we all have an inner connection to God, a connection that allows us to enter into the kingdom of oneness with God.

His life and teachings were so powerful that Western civilization and subsequently the whole world began measuring time by the date of his approximate birth. His birth became the Christmas Day that is celebrated around the world.

The Christian religion that developed from his life and teachings has not been perfect at all, yet it has kept his name and the biblical scriptures that testify of his life and teachings in the forefront of society. Almost every town in America has a Christian church. Towns as small as 2,000 people may have ten or more churches. After 2,000 years we are still studying the teachings of Jesus and getting fresh insights and inspirations on how to live.

The Gospel of Oneness says that Jesus came to help raise our individual and collective consciousness to higher levels—to levels where we can understand and realize that we are one with God even as Jesus realized it.

Christmas time is celebrated to remember the life and teachings of Jesus. Perhaps some of his teachings are controversial and not easily understood, yet the core concepts of love of God and everyone else (neighbors all), non-violence, respect for free-will, inner peace, forgiveness, mercy, helping and serving others, and overcoming our egos (taking the beams out of our own eyes) have helped the world in countless ways.

Christmas time has become commercialized because of the tradition of gift giving. This springs from the spirit of generosity and merriment and has actually kept many small businesses from closing down. It has certainly delighted children for generations. Many people have cherished memories of their families at Christmas time.

Everyone has the choice of how much they want to participate in the outer celebrations of Christmas. The Gospel of Oneness encourages everyone to make time to go within their own temple of consciousness and meditate on (concentrate on) Jesus and his Spirit of Christ Consciousness that fills the universe. In the quietness of our inner peace we may have profound realizations.

To summarize, Jesus came as a representative of our Creator-God, and we are all on the way to realizing our oneness with God even as Jesus realized it and is still expanding his realizations. When we celebrate Christmas, we are rejoicing in the truth that we are all one in the Eternal Spirit.

To accept Christ into your life is to accept that oneness is real and that separation is unreal, and it is to know that whatever we do to others we do to ourselves. This is the universal message of the Gospel of Oneness. Jesus is not for Christians only. He was and is the representative of the consciousness of the universal Spirit of God in creation. So, Christmas is a universal celebration, meant for everyone because everyone is on the way to realizing oneness with our Creator, even if it takes millions of lifetimes. Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims, Jews, Taoists, and all other believers in the Eternal Spirit can celebrate their own connection to the personal Spirit of Christ. Even non-believers and skeptics appreciate love, kindness, and other heartwarming attributes of the personal Spirit of Christ.

 

For me, Christmas is externally very simple, while within a great festivity of blissful communion is taking place. As Christmas approaches, my soul sings with joy. I can only describe this experience as a continuous divine romance. –Daya Mata

It is Christmas every time you let God love others through you… yes, it is Christmas every time you smile at your brother and offer him your hand. – Mother Teresa

While we are remembering the physical birth of the baby Christ Jesus, let us realize his eternal loving presence in omnipresent Christ Consciousness, which is always with us no matter where we are or what we are doing. – Paramahansa Yogananda

Realize spiritually, that one Life pervades everything. – Paramahansa Yogananda

Question 149: About Veganism and the oneness of all life.

Question 149: Is being a vegan a test for knowing if someone really understands and lives in the Spirit of the oneness of all life?

Let’s start with the example of Jesus since he is regarded, if not the son of God, then certainly a fully enlightened spiritual master. Since it is not recorded in scripture that he advocated veganism, and apparently, he did eat fish, people will say that Jesus did not make veganism a priority in his teachings. He said it is more important to watch what comes out of our mouths than what we eat. The only argument one can make is that Jesus had compassion for all life, but he came at a time of a generally low level of consciousness and people weren’t ready to adopt a vegan diet.

 

If you look at the record of other spiritual masters in past history, very few of them advocated a strict vegan diet. Mahavira, who started the Jain religion, is the only one who emphasized the avoidance of unnecessarily killing other sentient life. Other spiritual masters have advocated a vegetarian diet, or maybe at least avoiding eating beef and pork, especially in more recent times as the general consciousness of humanity has risen in the past one hundred years. Still, not many have advocated a strict vegan diet.

 

That being said, let’s look at the case for veganism as a test for whether or not a person is spiritually enlightened. If you are feeling or knowing that you are one with God and all of God’s creation, then you will not want to harm or take the life away from living things for whatever we do unto others we also do to ourselves since we are all one in the Spirit.

 

However, this world is inconveniently arranged for avoiding the killing of other life forms. Who hasn’t killed mosquitoes, flies, ants, and other small and annoying creatures? And what about all the plant life we have cut down? So, the question is: Where do we draw the line? Only a few people have ever been breatharians, and even fruitarians are very rare among us.

 

The path of realizing our oneness with God is a gradual path for most of us. We don’t jump from being meat eaters to being vegans in one day. If you are on the path to realizing your oneness with God, then you will one day ascend to the spiritual realm and won’t have to reincarnate on Earth or any other physical realm any more. You will live by the spiritual light of our Creator. You won’t need to take the life away from anything else in order to eat and sustain a physical body. On the way to that lofty goal you will gradually enlarge your circle of oneness.

 

So, to answer the question I would say that being a vegan can put you very close to realizing your oneness with all life, but I wouldn’t call it a test. Not all vegans are saints, or have overcome their egos, or have overcome anger, jealousy, or self-righteousness.

 

The rise of factory farms, including dairy farms and chicken egg production, has led to massive animal suffering and the degradation of water, soil, and of our environment generally. Very few of us have a family cow or a flock of chickens. The two items that vegetarians would eat—dairy and eggs, are no longer very pure. Many vegetarians are moving on to veganism. It’s easier than ever to eat a vegan diet. Many food products now have “vegan” on the label. There are vegan supplements for getting some nutrients such

as B12 that we got from animal products. If you are realizing more and more your oneness with all life, then a vegan diet will make sense to you.

 

“Only when we have become non-violent towards all life will we have learned to live well ourselves,” -Cesar Chavez

“It takes nothing away from a human to be kind to an animal.” -Joaquin Phoenix

“I personally chose to go vegan because I educated myself on factory farming and cruelty to animals, and I suddenly realized that what was on my plate were living things, with feelings. And I just couldn’t disconnect myself from it any longer.” -Ellen DeGeneres

“To get mud off your hands, use soap and water. To get blood off your hands, go vegan.” -John Sakars

“The problem is that humans have victimized animals to such a degree that they are not even considered victims. They are not even considered at all. They are nothing; they don’t count; they don’t matter. They are commodities like TV sets and cell phones. We have actually turned animals into inanimate objects – sandwiches and shoes.” Gary Yourofsky

Question 148: About evaluating science

Question 148: How does the Gospel of Oneness evaluate the claims of science?

The scientific method has, of course, been tremendously effective in making astounding discoveries in the past 400 years that have led to ever higher levels of technology for practical and efficient ways of living on Earth.

Not all scientific discoveries have been applied to make life better. It has been a trial and error application of the discoveries. Special interest groups have used new information for their own purposes. For example, the military has used science to create stronger weapons.

The rise of science has also diminished the influence of religion in society to some extent. It has forced religions to get rid of superstitious beliefs, and beliefs that were just plain wrong, such as the idea that the Earth was the center of the universe.

The scientific method is much needed, but a “Science Establishment” has grown up around it that has the power to fund or not fund projects. It has its own biases now, and it deems that some ideas are too ridiculous or far-fetched to invest any money in.
The science establishment limits itself to a materialistic viewpoint. If something cannot be measured with our senses and our instruments that extend the reach of our senses, then it cannot be regarded as real or proven. Spirit is not allowed in the equations of science because we don’t know how to do that yet. Consciousness itself is just beginning to be studied in serious ways and the research does not get a lot of funding yet.
Although science has shown that life is interconnected and interdependent and that the universe is one organic whole, it does not and cannot say that a higher, undetectable force of Spirit is behind all material forms and energy. However, it has shown that every form is condensed energy, and that invisible kinds of energy are all around us and are influencing all the visible forms.

The Gospel of Oneness is about seeing all life as part of the Spirit of Love that created this universe. It is open to all progress in science, especially in the realm of consciousness. We already have methods to explore our consciousness and our minds such as Patanjali’s eight-fold path  of Self Realization. Such methods are for each individual to apply and do take much self-discipline, and one person’s experience cannot be generalized to prove it to others.

 

The history of science shows that theories are perishable. With every new truth that is revealed we get a better understanding of Nature and our conceptions and views are modified. — Nikola Tesla

“The day science begins to study non-physical phenomena, it will make more progress in one decade than in all the previous centuries of its existence.” — Nikola Tesla

 

…to emphasize undivided wholeness, we shall say that what ‘carries’ an implicate order is the holomovement, which is an unbroken and undivided totality. In certain cases, we can abstract particular aspects of the holomovement (e.g., light, electrons, sound, etc), but more generally, all forms of the holomovement merge and are inseparable. Thus, in its totality, the holomovement is not limited in any specifiable way at all. It is not required to conform to any particular order, or to be bounded by any particular measure. Thus, the holomovement is undefinable and immeasurable — David Bohm.

 

Instead of saying, ‘An observer looks at an object’, we can more appropriately say, ‘Observation is going on, in an undivided movement involving those abstractions customarily called “the human being” and “the object he is looking at”—David Bohm

 

We have learned that the exploration of the external world by the methods of the physical sciences leads not to a concrete reality but to a shadow world of symbols, beneath which those methods are unadapted for penetrating. — Sir Arthur Eddington.

 

I was so startled by their [Tibetan Buddhists] method of training and by its results that I figured we were limiting ourselves by using what we call the scientific method (Barbara McClintock; quoted by Evelyn Fox Keller. 1983.)

Question 147: About the military

Question 147: What is the view of the Gospel of Oneness on military forces? Can they be abolished?

The military forces that almost all nations think they need are based on and perpetuate the dualistic illusions that we are apart from God and separate from each other. Some of these illusions include the idea that war is an unavoidable reality of social life on earth, so most nations must have a military.

Many people think that war is the only way to solve certain conflicts because you must kill and destroy an enemy or else they will kill you and take over your land and resources.

Some people think you can fight a small preventive war as a way of stopping a potentially much bigger war. That policy has not worked out for the USA when they invaded Iraq. It was a policy of doing evil to prevent a greater evil, a policy of delusion. The United States is not the only country guilty of this policy. Many other nations, tribes, and clans have done the same thing. In a recent Mission Impossible movie, the terrorists had the slogan of “the greater the suffering, the greater the peace that comes afterwards.” This is the lie of let us do evil that good may come.

 

 

Some people think they can get some real economic and social benefits by waging war on another country and thereby gaining control of natural resources such as oil, mineral deposits, river systems and agricultural lands. You have to be deep into the delusion of separation to believe that.

 

Some people think that war is a way for young men to prove their valor, patriotism and to gain honor and glory. They are encouraged by older people who have vested interests in war.

 

 

Some people think war can lead to an automatic salvation and glorious rewards in heaven such as being with Jesus for eternity, or, for Muslim men, getting 70 virgins for eternal sexual satisfaction. This is an illusion that young men can easily fall into if they are without much hope for a peaceful alternative.

 

When people think they have no alternatives left and must go to war, it is because their minds are muddled by the “dualistic fog of war.” They cannot see the spiritual solution. With the infinite wisdom of God there is always a creative alternative to war. In realizing our oneness with God, we are always serving the greater good by seeking justice, mercy, and compassion for all. By resorting to war and violence we only bring more of the same. Even assassinating a tyrant will not lead to any permanent solution as long as people believe that war and violence can bring a peaceful outcome. Killing Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Ladin did not bring an end to war or terrorism.

 

People who believe in the oneness of all life and trust in the justice and infinite love of God have no need to punish or exact vengeance on people who have used violence. To do so would only enmesh them in the dualistic struggle.

 

“A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual doom.”

― Martin Luther King Jr.

“Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. This is not a way of life at all in any true sense. Under the clouds of war, it is humanity hanging on a cross of iron.”

― Dwight D. Eisenhower

“This topic brings me to that worst outcrop of herd life, the military system, which I abhor… This plague-spot of civilization ought to be abolished with all possible speed. Heroism on command, senseless violence, and all the loathsome nonsense that goes by the name of patriotism — how passionately I hate them!”

― Albert Einstein

“God created every man to be free. The ability to choose whether to live free or enslaved, right or wrong, happy or in fear is something called freewill. Every man was born with freewill. Some people use it, and some people use any excuse not to. Nobody can turn you into a slave unless you allow them. Nobody can make you afraid of anything, unless you allow them. Nobody can tell you to do something wrong, unless you allow them. God never created you to be a slave, man did. God never created division or set up any borders between brothers, man did. God never told you hurt or kill another, man did. And in the end, when God asks you: “Who told you to kill one of my children?”

And you tell him, “My leader.”

He will then ask you, “And are THEY your GOD?”

― Suzy Kassem, Rise Up and Salute the Sun: The Writings of Suzy Kassem

Question 146: About evaluating political leaders

QUESTION 146: How does the Gospel of Oneness evaluate politics and political leaders?

 

Here are some key questions that we need to ask of politicians: Are they leading us deeper into delusion and division? Or, are they trying to bring us into the realization of the oneness of Spirit? And, how are they leading us into one of those directions?

Many political rulers do want to have unified support. In dictatorships they try to have as close to 100% support as they can get. When they hold their sham elections some dictators get over 95% support because the people know if they don’t support the regime there will be severe consequences for them. Dictators jail or kill or intimidate their opponents.

That is not the kind of oneness that we know in the Gospel of Oneness, which is a realization that everyone is equally a part of God, albeit with an infinite variety of unique expressions.

In democracies the elected leaders will get maybe 45-60 percent of the vote; how do we evaluate them in the Gospel of Oneness? Here are some guidelines we can use to evaluate any political ruler:

1) Do they take a strict party-line or do they look for the greatest good of all?

2) Do they have the heart of a servant leader or are they out for personal gain and recognition?

3) Can they take criticism and change their minds if they are proven to be wrong about some issues?

4) Do they seek to take revenge on their “perceived” political enemies? Some politicians have famously had their “enemies” list. A person living in oneness does not perceive anyone as an enemy.

5) Do they make personal attacks on their political opponents or do they treat everyone with respect as being part of our Creator-God?

6) Will they be vulnerable to bribes and the pressure from rich and powerful lobbyists?

 

Politicians will always have different ideas on how to solve our various political, economic, and social problems along the conservative to liberal continuum, but that doesn’t mean they have to cut down people who have other solutions. The idea is to find the greatest good for everyone. We are still a long way from that ideal. We need to keep trying to find and raise up politicians who believe in the oneness of all life.

 

How do we get such advanced politicians? When enough of us reform ourselves and realize the oneness of all life we will attract and raise up advanced souls who will be qualified to take on political leadership. The more we raise the collective consciousness by raising our own consciousness, the better it will be. It is a gradual process.

 

Those who believe religion and politics aren’t connected don’t understand either.

Mahatma Gandhi

I distrust those people who know so well what God wants them to do, because I notice it always coincides with their own desires.

Susan B. Anthony

I find that all these subjects that I’m dealing with tend to lead me to religion and politics one way or another. It’s not something that I necessarily want to address, but it seems like it’s screaming at me to pay attention to it.

Robert Longo

The political tactics of division and slander are not our values. They are corrupting influences on religion and politics, and those who practice them in the name of religion or in the name of the Republican Party or in the name of America shame our faith, our party and our country.

John McCain

Question 145: Where Can I Find the first 108 questions and answers?

When I published them on Kindle E-books I had to remove them from by blog. The e-book will be on sale for 99 cents from July 20 to July 27.

 

Question 144: About evaluating religions

 

 

Question 144: How does the Gospel of Oneness evaluate religious teachings?

 

You can evaluate any religious teaching, preaching, and prophecy by asking a few key questions. One of the first questions to ask is: Is this a teaching of an external salvation wherein you need to believe a certain doctrine, or do some rituals, or behave in a certain way, or have a specific mental image of a deity? Or is this a teaching that asks you to go within yourself and discover your own Self-realization and oneness with God? Does it encourage you to expand your consciousness and go for direct experience of God?

The next series of questions would start with: Does this teaching claim to have an infallible scripture, doctrine, and world view? Or is this teaching free of making absolute claims about truth? Does this teaching permit doubt and encourage the asking of searching questions about everything?

The third series of questions would be about the after-life since every religion has some opinion about it. Does it say that humans will go to either heaven or hell for eternity after one life on Earth? Or does it say that every soul is on a long journey of many physical incarnations before it fully reunites with the Creator God?

You can listen to most Christian and Muslim teachers, and they will say they have an external way of salvation that one must follow. They will also claim to have infallible scriptures and absolute truth on their side. If this is what you accept then you would be in the majority of the followers of these religions.

So we can see there are two types of religion—the outer and the inner. The outer religions emphasize certain beliefs and rituals that people should follow in order to be saved. For the Christian religion the outer part is a belief in Jesus Christ as God’s only begotten son and that he died on the cross in order to pay or atone for the sins of mankind, at least for the ones who accept that idea. Other outer rituals include a water baptism of some kind that marks you as a member of the religion, holy communion that symbolizes your discipleship, confession of sins because we are all sinners, and belief in the Bible as the word of God, whether entirely inerrant or not.

Within these outer activities there is much variation that Christians debate about. Some say the Calvinistic doctrine is the correct one, but plenty of people disagree. Other debate topics are about faith versus works, the correct way to baptize, the role of music in worship, the end times and whether or not Jesus is coming back soon, and whether salvation is universal or just partial. These debates have gone on for centuries and so appear to be endless.

This type of outer religion is what Jesus criticized the Jewish priesthood for. They had all kinds of rules and regulations for proper religious behavior such as not working on the Sabbath day and what actually counted as work. Their emphasis was on keeping a respectable outer appearance of religion.

Jesus taught that the kingdom of God is within us, and so he said we could have a direct inner experience of God if we put our hearts, souls, and minds into our quest for God-realization. He said love and compassion are the keys to living a holy life. He advised people to get rid of their own faults before criticizing others. Help everyone you can, especially the down and out, the forsaken, the sick and the lame.

In the inner religion you don’t need to debate all the nuances of the outer doctrines. Instead, the idea is to keep your mind and heart centered on your personal relationship with God and Jesus, if Jesus is your guide. If someone else is your guide back to God such as Krishna or a more recent teacher, then follow his or her advice. (the idea that Jesus is the only way back to God is an outer doctrine.)

Let’s go within and raise our consciousness so that we can get a better idea of the truth through intuitive experience. The inner connection with God is known by experiencing bliss, deep peace, ever-new joy, creativity, expansion of your consciousness, and ever increasing love for everyone.

You have to grow from the inside out. None can teach you, none can make you spiritual. There is no other teacher but your own soul. – Swami Vivekananda

It is not the end of the physical body that should worry us. Rather, our concern must be to live while we’re alive – to release our inner selves from the spiritual death that comes with living behind a facade designed to conform to external definitions of who and what we are. – Elisabeth Kubler-Ross

“Beautify your inner dialogue. Beautify your inner world with love light and compassion. Life will be beautiful.”

― Amit Ray, Nonviolence: The Transforming Power

Question 143: About loneliness

 

Question 143: If we are all interconnected in the oneness of Life, why is loneliness such a problem?

 

Loneliness is definitely a problem when you live in duality with a sense of separation from other beings. It is a health problem for people who have feelings of loneliness in a chronic way. Studies have shown that the effects of chronic loneliness can be the equivalent of smoking 10 to 15 cigarettes a day. Other studies have shown the beneficial effects of living in loving communities of people, and also the good effects that pets have on people. The good effects can be measured in health indicators and in increased life expectancy. Most people need to be in situations where they can love and be loved in return. Solitary confinement is such a harsh prison experience because people are cut off from human interactions.

 

Although some people can thrive with very little human interaction, (like people who enjoy solitude), most humans thrive when they are surrounded by people who love them. Everyone needs a place to be somebody who is loved and respected as a unique person.

 

If you live in the realization of the oneness of life you will never be lonely because you will know that you are connected to all life everywhere. Usually people who are dedicated to seeking the truth about life gather together to support one another. So people who believe in the oneness of life support each other in various ways. Not everyone is at the same stage, and in this world of duality some of us can fall back into feelings of separation from others and from our very Creator. Sometimes life conditions can drag us down if we let them

 

If you have a friend or spiritual mentor who has realized his or her oneness with our Divine Spirit then you have a friend who will always be connected to your consciousness, and you can call on them to help you reconnect to your eternal and infinite soul. For many people that person would be Jesus, or Krishna, or Buddha, but there are many more Self-realized beings who are helping the people on Earth get back to realizing their own oneness with our Creator God.

 

 

 

The key point in this life of realizing our oneness is that we need to take responsibility for our own state of consciousness. Nobody else can make the realization for us. There is no external savior who will make the decision for us. We must do it on our own volition. Even if one has a great support group, loneliness can creep in until we are fully liberated and living in complete oneness with our Creator and thus in oneness with all life everywhere. We do have a great support group of ascended beings cheering us on.

 

Once you do realize your oneness with all life then you can befriend all of life. Trees and plants will become your friends, animals of all kinds will be looked upon with love and understanding. You will see the Divine Spirit everywhere and in everything. And from then on Life is ever new and ever fascinating.

 

If you go deeper and deeper into your own heart, you’ll be living in a world with less fear, isolation and loneliness. — Sharon Salzberg

 

 

At the innermost core of all loneliness is a deep and powerful yearning for union with one’s lost self. –Brendan Behan

 

 

What is man without the beasts? For if all the beast were gone, man would die of a great loneliness of the spirit.  — Chief Seattle

 

 

The eternal quest of the individual human being is to shatter his loneliness. — Norman Cousins

 

Question 142: About the Black Panther movie

 

Question 142: Does the “Black Panther” movie have any relevance for living in oneness?

 

The “Black Panther” movie is based on comic book literature which often deals in epic dramas of cosmic proportions as well as personal problems the characters have to deal with. So the “Black Panther” has some outstanding themes to talk about in relationship to living in the oneness of all life.

 

A central theme of the movie arises from the question of how do we achieve our goals in this life. The villainous Killmonger character who tries to take over the leadership of Wakanda (the Black Panther’s country) would use the idea of “let us do evil that good may come.” He may have had some good intentions to set things right in the world, but he had hatred in his heart and was willing to use violent force to reach his goals. This relates to real history wherein people like Hitler, Stalin, Mao and others like them may have held a vision for a better society, but they tried to force people into their ideas of the best society. People who resisted or opposed them were declared to be enemies and were eliminated in one way or another.

 

We can look at these major historical figures and easily see their faults, however, a lot of people think along the same lines. They think they have to hurt other people in order to get their way. They may justify their actions for what they think are good reasons or possible good results. Killmonger had his reasons. He thought that using forcewith superweapons would wipe out the established military powers of the world. However, you cannot defeat the power elite in a dualistic battle. The only winners are the hidden power elite who benefit from constant war and poverty.

 

So the lesson for living in oneness is that there is never a need to use violent force to get your way. When We are living in oneness we want the best for everyone. There is no need to step on anyone else in order to move up. We are all equal parts of the One Divine Spirit.

 

If you have personally been oppressed by the power elite, your recourse isn’t to fight back on their terms or their home turf because they have too much fire power, and you have to play by their rules, the rules inherent in a dualistic world view.

The only way out is up, that is, to transcend your condition and circumstances. The unlimited power of the soul, existing in harmony and love for all creationpower has to be accessed. Non-violent protests and actions can be used to some effect, but the best solution is to rise above the duality of this world and reach for the Christ consciousness of oneness. It is a gradual path, but it can be accelerated if you want it like a person held underwater wants air.

 

In the movie, the Black Panther also uses force to defend himself, his people, and his country. The heroes in the comic book world are the ones fighting for truth, justice, and liberty for all. They represent the good side of duality. However, their battles will be endless because there will always be some relative evil that will arise to threaten them. The solution is to realize our oneness with all life and thus banish the idea of “having enemies.” A deeper understanding of life will come to you.

Non-violence leads to the highest ethics, which is the goal of all evolution. Until we stop harming all other living beings, we are still savages. – Thomas Edison