'I' and what is around me

We tend to think of 'I' as an identity on its own. This may be because we experience the center of ourselves as a continuum, or because we put too much emphasis on our ego. But in reality, the definition of 'I' cannot be given without considering what is around me.When i am alone i feel different than when i am among people. When i go over the street back to my safe home, i feel different than when i would be homeless. When we are surrounded by friends, we feel different than when attacked by enemies. I certainly believe that 'I' exist as an individual identity, but that identity cannot be understood without awareness of my surroundings. This is significant for the sake of our restoration. It is through reaching individual maturity that we should learn to be independent enough to know God's will for our lives under all circumstances. But even as a mature or perfected individual, we change continuously while engaging in relations, by getting married, getting children, relating to friends and taking care of our house and belongings and the earth, animals and plants around us and the spiritual world.In our lives we need to build up a reliable and good environment, in the form of good relations to God and people and human spirits and angels, and to the living beings and things of creation. It is by learning to do this in a good way that we can improve the well-being of ourselves and of others. We can live healthily both spiritually and physically only when we build a good relationship to all that is around us.How do we build such a good relationship? It is by learning to love, or by caring in the right way. This is a process that sets foundation upon foundation. We need to keep our good relationship to God and take care of friends (who could be called spiritual children or archangels in other terminology). We also need to build a safe home, a place of a secure and beautiful and harmonious environment around 'I' and my family. 'I' am not just I. I exist by my relations. My spiritual and physical health depends on how well i manage my relationships with God, other people, the creation, the spiritual world.

The energy reality of a garden

Image by lensa13.smugmug.com via Flickr

All that exists also exists on the level of energy.

Sometimes we tend to think that energy is just energy, but in fact, there are many types of energy. Each energy has a certain inner character and it has a special effect. For example, the sun gives off energy that we perceive as light and warmth. But the sun's energy is not just that. Some elements of the sun's energy color our skin, tans our bodies. The sun doesn't feel the same each day. Sometimes the sun feels pleasant and sometimes it doesn't.

It is on the level of energy that bridges are made between the spiritual and physical reality. All physical energies have a spiritual aspect and all spiritual energies affect the physical world.

We can learn more about the reality of energy by working with plants. Of course, there are many other methods to learn about energy, but plants and gardens give an easy access to learning about energies.

Each plant contains its own mix or composition of energies. Energy always radiates out, forms an aura. This aura can be seen around trees and plants. Healthy plants give a shining aura. When a tree is ill, the disease can be seen as a dark spot in the aura and the aura won't be strong.

When more plants of the same species grow together, the individual auras blend into one larger field. Different plants growing together in a garden form a composite aura that can be seen more easily. It needs repeated and long exercise to learn to see such auras and to interpret them better.

The energy aura of a plant gives information about its healing properties. The words 'medicine' and 'energy' are used as synonyms in some cultures that use herbs as medicines.

Rather than sowing and planting plants in straight lines in one field, i like to make compositions of several vegetables, herbs and flowers in a separate field. These fields can be smaller or bigger. In my garden most fields are between 15 and 30 m2. Each of these fields become a creation on their own, and together with the other fields they compose the garden as a whole.

Some plants like to grow together, thrive better when they are sown in one field. This has physical explanations but can also be understood in terms of energy. Some energies blend well together, others don't.

A method that i learned from a Native American tradition is to take very well care of one particular plant and to put this plant in the center of a field with other vegetables, herbs or flowers. The central plant makes a strong and healthy aura that protects all the other plants.

When you manage to make your garden into a strong energy reality, it will attract good spirits. They will like to be there, just like physical people enjoy being in a lovely garden.

When you eat the plants from such a garden, they fill your body with good energy. Even when you eat a small quantity, you feel well-nourished and full. You won't feel the craving to eat more and much. Many people become obese because they eat junk food that has no energy content. It's just physical food and it doesn't nourish your body's energy systems. You may get all the physical elements that your body needs but you still get sick easily as your immune system works to a large degree on good energy.

To learn to relate to the energy reality of a garden is a good method to nurture and maintain your garden. You don't always need to know the physical properties of fertilizers and your soil when you center on improving the energy in your garden. You will intuitively know what the soil and plants need.

Each living organism and therefore also each plant works as a receiver of energies. These energies come from various sources. For example, flowers take in much energy from the sun while plants with big roots take in energy from the earth. Other plants assimilate special energies that the cosmos provides. Plants process such energies and then transmit them to their environment. This is why plants growing together in a garden can mutually benefit each other.

Information about individual plants in my blog Research Topics

Training in the Home

The normal order of education is that we first grow up to a mature individual. It means that as an adult we know how to live life as an individual, without the need of supervision by parents and elders. In an internal sense, that maturity means that we do what is good, that we know how to follow God's will in each situation.

The next level is that mature individuals learn to live together as husband and wife getting children. The family structure is very much more demanding than life as an individual; it also is a great environment for learning to love and live together.

In that family environment it is possible to be trained in the care for all things, all things firstly meaning the living animals and plants. There are many elements to be harmonized and many factors to be taken into consideration. We live between heaven and earth, heaven meaning the environment of spirit world and earth meaning the environment in which we were born and are growing up.

The place for these levels of training is what we all know as the Home.

We tend to think of 'home' as the place where we grew up and where we live with our families. That, in practice, is our home, but the Home ideally is more than that. The Home is actually meant to be a Garden of Eden, a family living in a house and a garden where everything is under God, where people and angels live in harmony, where family members among each other have balanced relations, where the entire cosmos comes together in a focal point of attention and a center of past, present and future generations.

The Home is a mini-cosmos in the sense that we can find there all elements of life and creation. Above you are the sun, moon and stars and below you is the earth and around you are the birds, animals, trees and flowers. In the home you have access to all elements of physical creation and all beings in the spirit world. You will attract the entire spirit world to your place when you make it into a thriving and fulfilling home.

Most problems in the world are because leaders haven't passed the most fundamental training of all, the training in the Home. They learn about life at universities where professors teach from books written by scholars who also haven't completed the Home training.

The Home is the school or training environment for everyone to learn the implementation of God's Principles. It's where the Divine Principle from ideas and concepts become substantial bodies of truth.

The correct order needed for the Foundation of Faith

The fall meant that the universal order as created by God was turned upside down. Lucifer the angel, who should have been object to Adam the child of God, became subject to Adam.

Always fall means that the original subject-object order is turned upside down, and restoration of faith means that the original subject-object order is restored.

Peace under God is good. Peace is good as long as there are maintained the original positions of subject and object. But if peace means that Adam is obedient to an angel, and that Adam does not revolt against the angel, then that peace is evil peace.

Harmony is good when God’s side is subject. But when you in heavenly position are accepting to be object to someone who takes a worldly position, then that harmony will lead to trouble.

Fall always means that the position of original object dominates the position of original subject. Faith always means that the position of original subject can maintain or regain the dominating position in relation to the original object.

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Let us try to understand what this means for an individual who is going the way of religion to restore his or her faith. An original person has a heart, mind and body relating to creation. The heart of the person relates to God.

If the mind dominates the heart, then fall takes place.

An example of this could be when someone wants to give a speech to pass on God’s principles. If you teach God’s Word from a heart united with God, then it is good to teach God’s Word. But if you teach God’s Word with your mind while your heart is not with God, then your teaching promotes fall.

Your heart is created to be subject to your mind. Any activities of your mind that are not under control of your heart centered on God, are evil. All activities of your mind under the control of your heart centered on God are good.

If you speak to other people, for example by giving a speech explaining God’s Word, and your heart is not with God, then your speaking can only be to take people away from God.

Only when your own heart is united in love with God you can speak words of truth in which God’s love is actually conveyed.

What does this mean in the life of practice for a teacher?

A teacher of God’s Word should never speak to people if he or she did not make an acceptable Foundation of Faith. Each person has to daily bring offerings to God. If you brought a good offering to God today, then on that foundation you can speak God’s Word in a truthful manner. But if you failed to bring a good offering to God today, then you should not speak to so-called pass on God’s Word to people. Because if you did not make an acceptable offering to God, then you were egoistic. Your heart is not with God, but with yourself. And then it is impossible for you to give a speech in which you pass on God’s love.

In God’s world, everything has to be whole and completed. Words should not be spoken if they are not coming from a loving heart. Actions should not be done if they don’t come from a truthful mind.

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Suppose that you want to do a task as given to you by a central figure under God. This task has to be done with your body. If your body is operating under a truthful mind, then the actions of your body will be acceptable to God. But if your body is operating under a mind that has feelings against God, then your offerings are not acceptable.

Cain brought an offering to God that he had prepared with his body. But God could not accept Cain’s offering, because Cain’s mind was not truthful and Cain’s heart was not desiring to give to God. Cain had feelings against God, even though Cain had prepared an offering.

If Cain had really only wanted to please God with his offering, then Cain would not have gotten angry when his offering could not be accepted. If Cain really had loved God, Cain would just have thought that he still wanted to give something to God, and he would have figured out how to change his offering in such a way that it would please God. But when God did not like Cain’s offering, Cain’s concerns were not for God, but they were against his brother Abel. Cain was just wanting to get blessings by making offerings to God, and when Cain thought that Abel would get the blessings that Cain wanted for himself, then Cain got jealous and angry at Abel and he murdered Abel.

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What is important in religious life is that we accept the positions as God created them. God made love to be higher than intellect and emotions. Good love should reign our thoughts and feelings. If your thoughts are so-called good and original and principled, but your heart is not united in real love with God, then your thoughts will not be acceptable to God.

In practical daily religious life, this means that we should always keep the good order as installed by God. We should only act from good thoughts and feelings, and we should think and feel only out of love for God.

How can we assure ourselves that we are acting from the right order?

It is possible to check ourselves by demanding that we make a Foundation of Faith before we make a Foundation of Substance. Or: bring an acceptable offering to God before you speak and act. In any situation of life, our relation to God has to be in order.

The standard that is demanded for us is really very high. If you have a good relation to God today, then based on that you could do all kind of things. That is the same as saying: before you can make a good Foundation of Substance you have to make a Foundation of Faith.

If your relation to God is not in order, you cannot really act in any good way. You cannot make offerings, you cannot speak God’s Word, you cannot go out to prepare financial offerings to God.

Before you can make a Foundation of Substance, you have to make a Foundation of Faith. That means that you have to make your relation to God in order first.

If your relation to God broke down, then what you have to do?

You cannot make offerings to God as long as your relation to God is not in order.

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There is one fundamental rule for life under God: You cannot deal with God as long as you are having love for and connections to evil. Before you can make a Foundation to receive the Messiah, you must have made a Foundation of Substance. Before you can make a Foundation of Substance, you must have made a Foundation of Faith. Before you can make a Foundation of Faith, you must separate yourself from evil.

The catchword for Foundation to receive the Messiah is: LOVE FOR YOUR NEIGHBOR

The catchword for Foundation of Substance is: PRACTICE OF TRUTH

The catchword for Foundation of Faith is: OFFERING TO GOD.

The catchword for separation from evil is: SEPARATION FROM EVIL.

Religious life is the life in which you each day practice the following four demands:

1. SEPARATION FROM EVIL

2. OFFERING TO GOD

3. PRACTICE OF TRUTH

4. LOVE FOR YOUR NEIGHBOR.

When you do really practice to live your life in this way, then you will surely grow. But if you try to offer to God without having separated from evil, you will be in trouble. If you try to practice the truth without having made your relation to God in order, you will be in trouble. If you try to love your neighbor without having practiced the truth, you will be in trouble.

God’s world is a world of exact order.

April 15, 2001

Reading books and spiritual life

Image by EyalNow via Flickr

Sometimes people ask me which books to read or not to read for good spiritual development.

This question is very difficult to answer. I have always kept some principles for myself, but will first give a comparison that has helped me.

We can compare spiritual food with physical food. In the physical world our body needs love and light and warmth and water and substantial food. We also breathe in air. Our body also needs enough rest in sleep and relaxation.

In the spiritual realm we also need love and we need the light of inspiration which we can receive through meditation and prayer. We need the spiritual warmth of a loving and caring environment. There also is advantage of living in a pure spiritual atmosphere, which could be compared with air. Food and water in a spiritual sense can be compared to reading and hearing truth.

The physical body should not just consume. It also has to act and do exercises or workouts. The same is true for our spiritual life. We cannot just read books and meditate or pray because in a spiritual sense we would become very weak or even fat and unhealthy. In a spiritual sense we must give out to others and fulfill the mission we received.

We cannot just always give out in spiritual life. Just like it is true for the physical life, the spirit can only build up its muscles in times of rest.

For the physical body it is true that we need different food in different stages of life. Food that is good for adults could be detrimental or even deathly for small children. When we eat the wrong kind of food we could get ill and eventually die from it.

Very much the same is true for spiritual food contained in books or expressed through spoken word or in films.

Unlike it was for our ancestors, we have easy access to practically all that once has been written. There is a certain danger here lurking around the corner. Even if the content of a text is entirely trustworthy, it could still give us a spiritual food indigestion because we are not ready to understand it.

Still much more danger is in words in which truth and untruth have been mixed. This is like when we eat processed food to which all kind of harmful ingredients have been added. In the beginning you don’t notice how this affects the body, but eating such food for many years gradually can weaken the body and make it ill.

Some books are written with the purpose to make you believe lies. They are almost always wrapped as an attractive package.

How to deal with this in such a way that your spiritual life will prosper and not suffer? I don’t think it is possible to give strict rules for this. It is very personal and of course also always an individual decision.

When you read something you might try to pay attention to how this affects your thoughts, feelings and life. When you feel getting inspired and moved to give out love, chances are that what you read is good for you. If however you feel getting darker, depressed and negative and more doubts come in you, you may decide that these books are not a good choice for you at this stage of your life.

Some people need to read books that spread lies, not to digest those lies but to expose them. This is only advisable when you have advanced far enough to really distinguish between true and untrue. There is a danger of getting too much involved with this. Then your outlook on life might be to always criticize what is not good while you yourself don’t prosper as you don’t receive enough good spiritual food.

Enjoy your carefully selected and prepared meal of good spiritual food!

March 1, 2008

Right after an experience with God

There is a danger lurking for each of us who want to come closer to the Creator. This hazard does not wait for us in our struggles of initial deepening our relationship with God, it arises right after we made a breakthrough.

Originally we each are creations or children of God. Normally the relationship between each of us and the Creator is very close. It is a love relationship. But the world as a whole is not very close to the Creator. There is much misery and pain and egoism and misuse of power. All this does not come from God.

Also in ourselves there are barriers that prevent us from deeply feeling God all the time. In order to overcome these barriers we do all kind of things. We pray, meditate, do cleansing ceremonies, go in therapy, study religious texts and so forth and so forth.

The barriers are not only in the physical world around us and in our selves, they also are kept up in the spiritual world. In fact, here lie the main causes of why man got separated from God.

I have seen this happening to many people who made much effort to deepen their relationship to God. They struggled for long with themselves and finally reached a most welcomed and inspired result. And soon after that they fell in deep darkness once again. Some people realize the darkness, others get sidetracked there and believe they still have this relationship to God while in fact it is more in their imagination than real.

How and why does such a thing happen?

I believe that it mainly has to do with a misunderstanding of God’s love. When you try to come more in God’s love and you believe God’s love is mainly for you to feel good and elevated, then you certainly will be trapped several times.

God’s love as I understand and feel it is not only for us to enjoy it and indulge in it. God’s love is for me, it is for you, and it is for everyone. This means that from the moment that we feel more deeply God’s love, a new task is waiting, the task to spread on this love to others. This task can only be accomplished by keeping our own inner relationship to the Creator. The love we pass on is not our own, it is given to us by God and only when we give it out in real life, this love becomes part of us.

I have seen people who once had a deep experience with God and after this they set out for their life’s journey and mission and never even really attempted to go back to their initial deep connection with God. They fill out the details of their mission themselves and believe that the task once given to them can be fulfilled in such a way. Some of such people are well-known worldwide public figures.

Other people who are more sincere lose the light they found as they failed to act from it. They enjoyed the love and light they felt but did not right away begin to pass it on to others.

To gain a deep feeling of connection to God is something very precious. It is also something that is much resented by those forces of darkness that try to keep the world under their control. When light shines somewhere in the darkness, it is seen immediately by such spiritual dark forces and they go to it and try to extinguish it, as this light hurts their eyes. This means that when we make a breakthrough in our relationship to God we must expect life to get harder after that, not easier. It is the beginning of a lifelong new and difficult responsibility. Such a life is profoundly rewarding, but it will never be easy.

March 20, 2008

Diving deeper into the self

Image via Wikipedia

The way to our deepest self is the same as the way to God. We cannot describe the Creator by giving names. When we say ‘the Creator’ we refer to a function of God. When we call God ‘The Great Spirit’ we speak about the invisible aspect of God which reveals through spirit.

When you give a name to someone or something, it means you can somewhere locate that person or thing and then say, this is this person or thing. With God this is impossible. God is always bigger than what we can comprehend and to give God a name is to make God small. It means to put ourselves above God as if God would be a theological concept that we studied.

There is no other way than to find God deep in ourselves. Here we cannot discover the ‘entire God,’ because all we can do is to meet God, and meeting doesn’t yet mean to fully comprehend.

When we search God deep inside of us, we must penetrate deeply, all the way to where we have put off our clothing, our habits, our studied knowledge. On the way to the Creator in ourselves, we also must pass by and overcome the energies of self-centeredness. Self-centeredness means that we make ourselves to the center. But we are not the center of the cosmos. God is the center of the cosmos and I understand God to be the always-giving one and giving to all and everything. We can also be like that, at least for certain moments. We need to give up all attachments, because each attachment also causes a restriction in our giving. We need to give up all desires that are centered on the self.

When someone prays to God for blessings, this can hardly be called unselfish. When we pray to God like that we cannot meet the real God. The real God will not make you the center of the cosmos when you have ego-centered desires. The cosmos would soon crumble.

Still we can be the center of the cosmos in a certain way. When we meet God we can receive from God the love to be unselfish and in that unity with God we unite with the center of the cosmos. This is not to be the center in the sense of being able to create or control like God, it is a unity in love. Being in that state of love, we can feel God in us and we can feel ourselves to be in the centre of the cosmos, not centred on the ego, but centred on the Creator and on loving all that is.

We cannot be unselfish unless we find God. Love that is not self-centred has a source. That source is God. When you try to be giving but you are disconnected from the Source, your giving will have a double layer. On the surface this may look like giving, but deeper under the surface you find again ego-centeredness.

Words are just words and are limited. The truth is in the spirit behind the words.

Love to you my friends.

February 12, 2008