In a few articles we are trying to find out some reasons why it is so difficult for people in the physical world to relate to the spiritual world. The first reason mentioned is that the spiritual senses of each person need to develop through experience. A second reason is that the physical world and the physical senses give a lot of noise putting the weaker spiritual stimuli to the background. Here i want to describe a third reason why it is often very difficult to relate to spirit world.
The spiritual world surely is not a dream world that only exists in our imagination. Of course, each person has a different view on spirit world. One person is not the other and the spiritual world surrounding you is very different from the spiritual world in my proximity. Also the ability to perceive the spiritual world differs from person to person and from time to time. That we experience spiritual world in so many diverse ways doesn't mean that the spiritual world itself would be just fantasy or the result of your own imagination. Your view on spirit world does determine for a large degree your perception of it, but the spiritual world also is an autonomous world, just like the physical world.
This means that what you experience from spirit world depends very much on what spirits of people and other spiritual beings want you to experience. For example, when you are in a house where many people have seen ghosts, it doesn't automatically mean that you are going to experience them. When you are in one room of the house and all spirits are in another room, you could not see them appearing.
Even when a spirit is near you and your spiritual senses are open, you are not going to see that spirit just like that. First, you must make effort to experience anything. Second, if a spirit doesn't want you to see him or her, it's almost impossible to observe that spiritual being.
People who lived a very physical life on earth have a very limited existence in spirit world. Such people did not develop their spiritual self and even though they exist spiritually, their spirit does almost not show. Your spiritual development on earth in your physical body makes your spirit grow and become stronger. Such a spirit can do more things in spirit world and does also appear much brighter and stronger than the spirit of a person who wasn't very much aware of the spiritual reality during his or her life on earth.
Another factor is whether a spirit makes effort to contact you. Suppose someone in the physical world taps you on your shoulder. If the tap is soft, it might go unnoticed. When a spirit makes much effort to communicate with you, his or her spirit shines more strongly and it is much easier for you to experience the spirit.
Often spirits try to make their presence known to someone on earth, but the person on earth doesn't realize it. Suppose your grandfather went to spirit world and comes to you to help you. When you are not aware of him being there even though he tried many times to make his presence known to you, the poor man may get very frustrated and not try it anymore. Many people in spirit world are actually rather upset because they had many of such disappointing experiences.
In a following article i shall write about the main force that makes contact possible between the spiritual world and the physical world.
In my former article about spiritual experiences i gave one major reason why it is difficult for us to become aware of the spiritual reality. Our spiritual senses need sharpening and development. Without that being done, the spiritual reality may appear to be fantastic or non-existent.
There is another reason why it is difficult to experience spiritual phenomena even for those who have practiced their spiritual senses. The spiritual self dwells in the physical self. The spiritual senses are closely linked to the physical senses. I will explain this for the spiritual eyes, but the same explanation would more or less apply to all spiritual senses.
I'm going to speak mainly about the two spiritual eyes that are in or connected to the physical eyes. There is a third spiritual eye above the nose. This third eye is spiritual and not so directly linked to the two physical eyes. In our two physical eyes are two spiritual eyes. They are equipped to see forms and appearances in the spiritual world. The third eye is more to see energies.
A spirit has a spirit body with a certain shape and color, like also the physical body has shape and color. Your spiritual eyes could see that. The physical eyes cannot see spirits just like spiritual eyes don't see the physical reality. With spiritual eyes one can only see energies that are connected to the physical, but spirits don't actually see the physical reality itself.
When you as as spirit are in a physical body, it is very difficult to ignore the physical reality. The physical reality with all its images is perceived by the physical body. The physical reality gives a strong impression to your physical senses. Your desires, your thoughts and feelings respond to that as well. All these physical sensations push the spiritual experiences to the background.
Maybe an example will elucidate this. Suppose that someone shines with a flashlight. When it is dark you can see that light from a far distance. But as soon as the sun comes up its light overpowers that of the flashlight. In daylight you can only see the flashlight when you are nearby. The flashlight is like the spiritual world. It is there but it usually is pushed to the background by the strong power of the physical reality.
Some shamans who want to relate to the spiritual world bring themselves into a trance. Such a trance could mean that the physical body is brought under a kind of hypnosis. The body is not asleep, but also not entirely awake. The spirit of the shaman comes kind of loose from the physical body. Not all types of trance are the same, but always the spirit of the shaman becomes more detached from the physical body.
When you are in the middle of images and noise of the physical world, it is more difficult to experience the spiritual world. It is much easier when you are quietly meditating. Some people get spiritual experiences when they are in a state of mind between being asleep and awake. Some people use drugs to sharpen their spiritual senses.
It can also help when you tell your physical eyes to not consciously see anything. Though they are open, they don't send messages to your brain. You enhance your spiritual awareness and your spiritual eyes can see better and more.
Some environments are spiritually very dark and confusing. At such places it is much more difficult to sense the spiritual world. You may experience spiritual phenomena, but it is more difficult to recognize what you see. In a following article i shall tell a little more about the influence of the spiritual world on our spiritual perceptions.
In my experience there are several reasons why many people don't know about or don't believe in the spiritual reality. Often there is spoken about the spiritual world, but for some this is a dream world, for others it is sheer fantasy and for again others this reality is very confusing. I do believe in a spiritual reality. I even believe that the spiritual world is more real than the physical one. All physical things will one day disappear or transform into other entities, but your spiritual existence is in principle eternal.
Nobody could prove the existence of spirit world. When you experience the spiritual world, it is reality. When you don't see or hear anything, this world is at best a theoretical concept. But how do we prove the existence of the physical world?
Suppose someone comes to you and says that the physical world doesn't exist because this person doesn't feel, see or hear anything from it. How would you prove that your physical world is real? The proof for the existence of the physical world is based on our own perceptions, often extended in the form of observations made with instruments such as telescopes. Many physical phenomena or particles have never been seen directly. We only know of their existence because such particles have an effect on something else that we are able to measure.
My argument is that the existence of the spiritual world is proven either by observing it directly or because spiritual phenomena do have measurable effects. This doesn't mean yet that we understand the spiritual world based on just such observations. It just shows that something is there.
Some people do rather directly perceive the spiritual world with their spiritual senses. They actually see spirits or angels and other appearances. We know of mediums who can communicate with spirit world. The validity of such experiences is not easily proven of course. We have to believe such people or we must have our own experiences.
You can actually learn to have spiritual experiences. You can sharpen your spiritual senses. How is that done? It begins with sensing something. You don't yet know what you experience, but you realize there is something there. Compare this to seeing timber. When you are not experienced, you just see wood. You know it is wood and that's it. You see of course that one piece of wood is darker than another piece, but you would be unable to attach a more precise name to it. People who have worked with wood a lot can discern at a glance from which species of trees that wood came.
I heard that Inuit people distinguish several types of snow. For me, snow may be wet or dry, but that's about it. Our eyes learn to differentiate through experience. We see something, try to give it a name, and bit by bit, over time, we learn to observe better.
A trained musician can hear which chords and tones are used in a music composition. Untrained musical ears do almost hear nothing except a melody and a rhythm and maybe a few other musical elements.
Likewise, we can train our spiritual senses. All people are different. Some people easily observe spiritual phenomena, but also they need time and experience to evaluate and categorize their observations. You can go through such a learning curve by yourself or you could get help from someone more experienced. It's essential to take time to assess your spiritual perceptions, through meditation, prayer and by thinking about it. It also helps to read about such things, though that may also be risky because so much nonsense has been written about this topic. Many people confuse dreams and visions with real spiritual experiences. Some dreams and visions show us something of the spiritual world, but there also are dreams and visions that come from another source.
In my next contribution i shall write something about another reason why it is difficult to observe the spiritual world. That is because our spiritual perception is influenced by our physical experiences.
Right in the middle of all of us there is a potential ideal that once realized could change the world. The ideal world is not far away, is not contained in teachings of religions or ideologies of organizations -- it's right there and probably you are already living in it right now.
What is this wonderful paradise? Where could it be found? It is the ideal of the home. To understand this in the right way -- i don't mean anyone's home but i mean the ideal of a home that should be considered a minicosm.
How could the home become the central element of an ideal world? It is when we understand what is hidden in the concept of the home and it will become a reality when we know how to make our homes to ideal homes.
First, a definition of the home. A home is a minicosm because in your home you can find all elements of the macrocosm right at your fingertips. In a home, there are people, not just people, but the prototype of the smallest gathering of people in which all relations between people can be trained. In a home, there also are all elements of creation. There is a garden, a house, animals, plants, trees, all things, water, the air, the Earth, the stars, the Sun. In a home, there is your gate to the huge spiritual world. And once you make of your home the best possible place, you will pull down God's love and the Creator will live in your midst.
Most homes of today don't contain all elements i just listed. An apartment in a high-story building in a world city could hardly be called a home. A home needs a family with grandparents, parents, children and grandchildren and friends of that family. In that family, each of the members can practice to give love to all others.
You can practice to give love to the eldest and to the youngest, to brothers and to sisters, to parents and to children, to wife and to husband, to friends and to the Creator. Here you have your practice ground to learn to love in all possible ways.
Then you have your house. Don't let your house be built by a professional with a lot of skill but little heart for you and your family! Build the house yourself, fitting the needs of all members of the family. Keep building and rebuilding it each time when a new baby is born or new fascinating tasks have come into your life. Grow your own vegetables, make your own flower garden, cook your own food, learn to do all these things and most of all, learn to do it the best way, with good love and putting the best energies into everything.
Learn to relate to your animals, train them, make them happy. Attract good spirits to your house of harmony, learn to relate to them, after all, many of them probably are your own ancestors. Learn to live in union of love with your grand grandmother and so forth.
Get knowledge about the influence of the sun and the moon and the stars on the growth of your garden, the strength of the medicines you harvest yourself, the daily course of events of your whole group.
You yourself are the center of all this, as each of your companions is as well. So you have to learn to master yourself, you must harmonize to fit into the needs of all others.
All you need to practice your love, to improve your skills, to increase your knowledge, to heighten your spirit, it's all there in that wonderful concept of the misunderstood home.
This is going to be about confusion of terms and an effort to clear up. It's an old philosophical discussion of course, what these concepts mean. It's kind of hard to know what spirit is if you try to approach the topic from the viewpoint of a physical onlooker. I've spent some 30 years trying to figure out these things and hope that the result may be useful. I'm going to present these as facts, but you could consider it a theory or hypothesis, if you like.
The physical world is built up in three dimensions. We could add a fourth one, time. In the realm of the smallest entities, there appear to be still more dimensions, but that's not the world of our daily life. We live in three physical dimensions in a frame of time.
The three dimensions are actually more external dimensions, determining the world of creation in that we live. I make a difference between the words 'external' and 'physical' here. It will get more clear what is meant. The three dimensions are also in the spiritual realm, also there we have space and added to that time. The three dimensions of space are therefore not only physical, they are also spiritual.
In both the spiritual world and the physical world, there are the three dimensions of space and the element of time. These external dimensions show us something about how the universe is built. In space, we extend in three directions, the three dimensions, as they are: the horizontal dimension with a horizontal axis, the vertical dimension with a vertical axis, and the depth dimension with a depth axis. Then there is still the time dimension with the axis of time.
This external partition shows us the way for how the world is built on an internal level. Here also we have the three dimensions, extensions of ourselves also, in space, and the fourth dimension of time.
The first dimension is the vertical one. On the axis in this dimension are placed: the Creator - the heart of all creation - the mind - the body - the things. It applies to each of us, but also to all animals, plants and things. The structure is always the same. My mind is in my body. My body lives in a world of things and is even built out of things. The core of my mind is my heart of love, which is connected to the source, the Creator. God lives in my heart. My heart of love steers my mind of thoughts, feelings and plans. My mind operates in my body that lives in a world of created living beings and things.
The first dimension could also be called the religious dimension. Man stands in a relation to the Creator and to the created things. Religion means to have a good relation to the source, and it means to have a good relation to all things (the Earth).
The vertical dimension is ruled by love. Love is the energy that determines your relation to the Creator and to all other beings and things.
We come to the second dimension, which could be called the depth dimension (the directions of the dimensions are rather interchangeable, depending on the viewpoint you take as observer). This is the dimension of spiritual - physical. The driving element of this dimension is energy. Energy is also what binds the spiritual and the physical. The spiritual world is an expression of finer energies. The physical world is an expression of rougher energies.
The dimension of spirit-physic is also the one of creativity. It is by being creative that you expand your foundation in the physical world. Likewise, it is by learning how to be creative in the spiritual realm that your spiritual life will evolve.
The third dimension, the horizontal one, is that of positivity and negativity. All things are built as expressions or constitutions from positivity and negativity, for example, the charges in protons and electrons on the level of atoms. On the level of living beings, this dimension refers to masculinity and femininity. The driving element of this dimension is harmony. By harmonizing masculinity and femininity there comes about the most wonderful world of peace and happiness.
This is just a very comprehensive first introduction to the topic. It would need hundreds of pages to explain it better. For now, i want to return to the terms 'mind,' 'spirit' and 'brain.''
Brain: this is rather easy. It is a part of the physical body. Your mind expresses through the brain, but not only through the brain. The brain is like the chip in a computer. It is hardware, not software. The mind is the software. 'Brain' is a concept on the dimension spirit - physic. The brain is physical. Just like the chip in a computer, it consists out of myriad of connections.
Spirit: this is a concept on the same dimension. The spirit of man is the eternal element of your being. Your spirit exists in all the aspects that were mentioned for the vertical axis. You have a spiritual body that lives in a world of spiritual creations. In your spiritual body lives the spirit mind that is steered by the spirit heart of love centered on the Creator.
Your spirit means your whole spirit being. Brain is just one organ of the physical being.
Mind: this word comes from the first dimension, the vertical one. The mind is the seat of plans, thoughts and feelings. The mind expresses through the physical body, but more fundamentally, it expresses through the spirit as well. That means, like you have a spiritual body you have a physical body; and like you have a physical mind, you have a spiritual mind.
The physical mind can be compared to the instinct of animals. It is centered on survival of the physical body. The spiritual mind is centered on the future of the spiritual life.
The mind is the software in the computer. The computer is the physical body, with ears (microphone), limbs (robot), eyes (camera), brain (microchip). The spirit is the expression of physically invisible energies. The spirit is your vehicle for eternal life in the spiritual world. A physical computer usually does not have an independent spiritual life, but it has certain energies in it that are spiritually visible or sensible.
Most houses are built as constructions in which we can live. Not much thought is generally given to what a house could mean in terms of relation to the environment around it and the meaning of houses for the development of people as spiritual beings.
A home is more than a house. A house is understood here as a mere physical construction in which people are dwelling. A home is much more than that.
A home is a place where you can feel home. What makes that you feel home in a house?
It is a big question, but important enough to ask it and to find some first answers.
This brochure is meant as a first exploration of the matter. Complete answers are not given. You are invited to read and are called to start your own thoughts about it.
Using natural materials for building houses seems logical, but our thoughts have to go far beyond that.
How houses are built reflects the culture of the society. Germanic and Celtic people built houses of natural materials. Romans built houses of stone. Hippies tried again to learn from our oldest ancestors.
Houses have to do with culture. Culture has to do with the more internal aspects of our lives.
How we build our houses has much to do with how we want to live. We can therefore not answer the question of how to build houses without contemplating about our way of life.
Do you want to live in harmony with nature or is it that you don’t care much about that? Do you seek for higher values in life or are you just trying to make money?
I assume that the readers of this brochure do care about nature and also do care about more internal aspects of life. Hopefully you find a stimulus for trying new building methods and an invitation to contemplate the culture in which you live when you read the following pages.
Practically all people live in houses. Some people live in tents. In the present time, many people live in apartments in big flats.
In the Western world, most people let their houses be built by building contractors. Many people don’t own their house but rent it.
In historic times, most people built their own houses. Also in many present-day societies, people do still build their own huts, houses or tents. Though often such homes are built in a more simple, some would say primitive way, there is deep satisfaction and great benefit in building your own house.
In this article i shall try to explain why i think it to be beneficial to learn to make your own furniture, to build your house and to make it into one united body with the garden around your dwelling.
Let us begin with thinking about the meaning of a house. A house is made for people, first of all. Many people let also animals live in their house. Still, when you think of a house, you first think of a dwelling for people.
There is a house and there are people. A house offers protection and shelter for people. People engage in many activities in their houses. There is a kitchen in which you prepare food. There is a bedroom in which you sleep. Many farmers also use their houses for performing their profession.
People live in houses. There are of course also houses made for other purposes than giving a home for a family of people. There are buildings made for businesses, schools, hospitals etc. In this article i shall focus mainly on family houses, houses built for people to live in.
Houses are made for people. People do live in houses. The question of what is a house, what should be a house, cannot be separated from the question of what is the identity of man. We can only understand about the meaning of houses when we have an idea about what man really is.
Though many people did or do live in bad ways, people originally are very highly developed and beautiful beings. Modern scientists have gotten far in their ability to understand and control life of man on earth. Potentially, human beings are able to understand the world around them, the world of living animals, plants, and microorganisms, and the world of non-living things. When we are able to understand the nature of the world around us, we also should be able to have good dominion over this world.
I know that many people misuse their abilities. Instead of living in harmony with nature, they exploit its riches to get material benefit. In this article i am not speaking about the reality of human daily life, i am speaking about the ideal of how it could and should be.
How can people get understanding of the world of nature? Why can we understand something about how our bodies are made? How can we send spaceships to the moon? How can we understand about the world in that we live?
It is only because the cosmos around us is not strange to us. The cosmos is made in exactly the same way as humans were. Microorganisms that live in a healthy soil do also live in our intestines and on our skin. Our bodies are constructed from the same chemical elements that make out the rest of the cosmos.
People have bodies that are incredibly ingenious and complicated. Human bodies are beautiful instruments that beat any man-made robot. Our physical bodies are the instruments that enable us to think, feel and desire. Like the hardware of a computer allows computer programs to run, the human body allows for programs of human thinking and feeling and will. The functions of thinking and feeling and will do together constitute what is commonly referred to as the ‘mind’ of man.
Man is not just a materialistic being. Man has a mind of intellect, emotion and will. It is difficult to understand the relation between mind and body. When we compare the mind of man with the instinct of an animal, we could say that the mind of man and the instinct of an animal are taking an internal and a guiding position in relation to the animal’s and human body.
The instinct of an animal guides the body of an animal. Likewise, the mind of man is capable of steering the body of man.
The instinct of animals is not directly visible. We assume that animals have an instinct, a kind of animal mind, because animals do behave in similar and particular ways in certain situations. The mind is invisible and internal in relation to the body.
The mind of man is capable to comprehend the principles of the universe. Mind and body of man together are like a small cosmos, a microcosm. If man develops further and refrains from acting in evil ways, man is potentially able to have good dominion over the cosmos.
It is necessary that man uses his or her mind well. This is possible because each human being is able to love. Deep in the mind of man there is still a more internal function that makes out the essence of man. It is the heart of love. Though people often are controlled by emotions of hatred, when people choose to do right, they are capable of feeling and expressing deepest love for other man and for all of nature.
I would call this ability of man to love in good ways, man’s ‘Divine Nature.’ You may believe in a God or in many gods or in no god. I hope that you, at any rate, do believe in the potential ability of man to love and to be good.
With the heart of love, human beings can embrace the beauty of the cosmos. They can enjoy nature. Parents feel happy when their children are happy.
Man is a microcosm, because man can embrace the universe with her or his love, can comprehend the principles of nature with his mind, and have dominion over the world of things with the sophisticated human body.
What does all this have to do with building houses?
People tend to flock together and form families or groups. Such a family or a group often lives together in one house.
That house offers shelter for the group. The house also enables the members of the family or group to perform all kind of tasks in relation to society.
When you live in a house that others made for you, it might easily be so that you aren’t happy in that house. Often such a house doesn’t suit your needs.
Because man is a microcosm, man can only be really satisfied in life when man does develop all latent talents. It is my firm belief that a lot of unhappiness comes because people got stuck in a type of life in which they do not anymore experience the challenges of continued growth.
When we look at it from this viewpoint, a house could get the meaning of an instrument extending the functions of the human body. A house is then not just a personal instrument, but it is one that is shared by a small group of people living together in harmony.
The concept is the following: Each human being is a microcosm. Each human being is potentially able to understand and have good dominion over the universe. People live or try to live together in social groups. In most cultures, a man and a woman forming a couple make out the main unit in such a group. Said in a different way: a man and a woman form a couple, get children and grow into a family.
We could say that what a human body is for an individual, the house is for a family or small group.
What should a house be?
A house is more than just the walls made from brick stones. A house is an atmosphere of love, a place where you can rest, where you can think properly; it is a home where you feel well. Included in the house are machines such as a washing machine, computers etc. Such a house could function for a small group as a healthy body does for an individual.
To get a good atmosphere in a house it is very important that good materials are being used. Certainly, no poisonous matter should come into the house. The more you try to elevate your life by meditation, prayer, learning about spiritual life, etc., the more that you will feel the need that your house is a good place.
It is not enough anymore that you let your house be built by anyone. Preferably, you would wish to build your whole house yourself. When you make a chair for one of your children, you want to put into that chair all the love you feel for your child. You don’t want that chair be made by a stranger whose thoughts are going to the money he will earn.
All the small details begin to matter. You want your garden to form a harmonious unit with the house. You want to determine what kind of color the flowers next to the entrance door should have.
All this has to do with the fact that man has so big potentials and has gotten such a high mission in life. Man can grow to become a real microcosm. When you want to fulfill your destiny as a microcosm, you will have to make of your house a beautiful home of love, a real mini-cosmos of harmony. (February 2, 2003)
GOOD MATERIALS FOR A HOUSE
Please join me on a journey to discover more about what a house should be and which materials are fit for building houses.
There are built all kind of houses in the world. Houses are also made for companies and organizations to do their business. What i want to write about are houses to live in.
It seldom happens that one person builds a whole house for him- or herself alone. In most living houses, families or small groups of people reside.
When a house is made it should be fit for the people to live in. The big question is how this can be done in the best possible way. What kinds of houses do people need? What kind of materials are best applied for building a good house?
Thousands of years ago all people built their houses from resources that were available to them in nature. Also many people who presently are living in rather primitive circumstances do use the materials nature provides them.
In modern advanced societies there are available all kind of synthetically produced materials. Though such resources are often durable and cheap, it remains a big question whether they provide for happy living.
I am proposing here a thesis for this. This view does not claim to be a recipe for your happiness, but it is meant as a tool that helps us to find out how houses can be built in better ways.
The thesis is that the happiness of people comes from them having good relations with each other and to the world around them. When the members of a family live in good harmony they all will feel happier than when they engage in continuous strife.
A living house is a dwelling for a group of people or for a family. What function does this house perform for this group of people?
A house is comparable to the body of man. A house is for a family what a body is for an individual. The body of man is seen here as the instrument for a person’s mind. Your body does what your mind tells your body to do. You have certain thoughts and feelings and desires, and your body is the instrument to express these thoughts, feelings or desires.
When we see a living house as more than just the skin that the walls and roof make out, then a living house is actually extending the functions of the individual bodies of the people living in that house.
In a house you have a telephone that extends the ears. There is a television that extends the eyes. The walls of the house protect the people inside like the skin of your body protects the organs inside.
A living house is seen here in its entirety. The living house is practically a living organism. When you open the mouth of your body, you can eat food to maintain your body. Likewise, the door of a house could open to bring in food and equipment that makes the house and its inhabitants live well.
Your thoughts, feelings and desires make up your mind. Your mind makes use of the instrument that your body is. Likewise, a group of people living in a house could be compared to the mind while the external house itself is like the body of that group-mind.
When you break a leg, you don’t only feel pain in your leg, but your whole life suffers. When your skin is open because of having a big injury, you will have to wait for that skin to heal before you can feel happy again.
When you live in a house, you don’t want the glasses be broken, because you would feel very uncomfortable.
When you go outside in the rain and you put on a plastic coat, you are protected against the rain, but your sweat might run out because of the bad climate within the plastic tissue of the raincoat.
Like the clothing of an individual extends the function of his or her body, so a house extends the functions of a group of people. You don’t feel good in a plastic raincoat and people don’t feel good in an artificial house.
Apparently, a house is a very complicated organism. A living house should be designed in such a way that many functions can be performed inside of that house. Like the body has exits for what remains from consumed food, so a house should have a toilet. Nobody would like it when the entrance for food in your body would be very near the exit of food remains. You would not like it when the door for your toilet is placed inside of the kitchen.
When we see a living house as an extended body for a group of people, we can learn many lessons for how to design and build a house well.
In this article i want to focus on the question which materials are adequate for building a good house.
People feel happier when they have good relations to the people around them. You also want to be in harmony with yourself. You want to do what you think is right. When you do something that you know to be wrong, your bad conscience plagues you. While you could call the relations to the people around you to be horizontal, your relation to your own conscience could be considered to be vertical. Also the relation of you to the earth is a vertical one.
For a living house we see the same kind of horizontal and vertical relations.
A house is ‘rooted’ or founded into the earth. Each house takes its very particular place on the surface of the earth. There are places on earth that are hardly fit for building houses. Underneath the surface of the earth there are running water streams, just as there are visible rivers and brooks on the surface of the earth. When you place your house on the wrong place, it could be that you will always have trouble with moisture inside of the house.
A house also takes its place in the environment. Usually houses are built on the surface of the earth. Around the house is a garden, there are other houses, there are plants, animals etc. around the house.
When our living house relates well to its environment, that house will be equipped to perform some of its functions well. People living in the house will feel happier. When you come out from your house in an ugly environment, you will feel less well than when your house lies in a beautiful piece of nature.
Finally, each house is situated in relation to the sun, moon and stars. When you make of your house a bunker, no ray of light coming from the sun, moon or stars would ever enter that house. When you live in the northern hemisphere and you put the entrance and windows of the house to the south, sunbeams can enter your house.
A house is founded in the earth. This is called the relation of the house to the earth. It is a vertical relation going downward.
A house is relating to the environment around the house. There are other houses, there are mountains and rivers and lakes, and there are animals and plants surrounding each house. This is called the relation of the house to the environment. It is a horizontal relation.
A house is also relating to the sun, moon and stars. This is called a vertical relation going upward.
A living house relates to the place where it is built. A house should have a good relation to the earth on which it stands.
A living house relates to its direct environment on the surface of the earth. A good house should be in harmony with that environment of plants, animals etc.
A living house also relates to the sun, moon and stars.
When we see the house in its whole as comparable to the body of man, then what function does the structure of foundations, walls and roof have? Inside the house there are computers that compare to the brains of man, there is a television and there are windows that compare to the sense of the eyes, there is a telephone that corresponds to mouth and ears, etc.
When we look at how a house appears to us, we see the structure of the house with its foundation, walls and roof. It is like you have a look at the outside of a human body. You see the skin of the body with on it antennas that correspond to the auricles, the windows that match to the eyes, etc.
Our conclusion is that an empty house that is not yet inhabited and furnished is like the skin of the body.
Let us try to come to conclusions about what kinds of materials are suitable for building a good house.
We should make a differentiation according to the three main kinds of relations that each house has to its surroundings.
First, each house relates to the earth itself in which it is founded.
What kinds of materials are fit for making the foundation of a house?
The function of a foundation is to make a solid relation between the house and the earth on that it stands. The location of the house on the surface of the earth is also a matter of feeling or personal liking. One can get the help from someone who knows about geomantics. Geomantics is the knowledge to find the right location for houses. There have to be considered such things as watercourses underneath the earth’s surface and also energy lines that run through the earth.
Of course, a foundation of a house also needs a stable layer to stand on.
It seems rather logical that foundations of houses are made of stone. Natural stone is a material that comes from deeper inside the earth.
We could choose natural stones or we could choose for man-made stones. In the latter case we have the choice between some kind of brick or concrete.
Brick stones are made from materials such as tone, sand and lime that come from the surface of the earth. This material is heated in processes that are similar to what takes place inside of the earth, where under big heat and pressure new stone is produced.
Concrete is a mixture of sand, small stones (gravel), and cement. Cement is produced from heating grained limestone. Sometimes also other material than limestone is used for producing cement. Concrete makes a kind of artificial stone.
What kinds of materials are suited for the part of the house that relates to the horizontal environment?
Here we are speaking about the function of the house comparable to the skin of the body.
The skin of the body and the skin that the walls and roof of a house are making should have some main functions.
The skin of a body protects the inside of the body against the outside climate.
The skin of a body has a breathing function. This breathing goes in two directions.
The skin of a body has the function to emit harmful substances that came in the body or were produced in the body.
The skin of a body has the function to maintain the form of the body.
The skin or the outside of a body has the function of allowing it to be sensitive itself and to provide for other senses like eyes and ears to perform its work.
The skin or the outside of a body also has the function for allowing for food to come into the body.
Summarizing, both the skin of a house and the skin of the body should fulfill the six main functions of:
1.Protection
2.Breathing
3.Excretion
4.Form
5.Sense
6.Feeding
It can be argued that those materials that have performed skin functions in their original situation or environment are also equipped to perform these same functions when those materials are used for building a house.
When you make walls of stone, you get a strong house. Form is not a big problem, but stones don’t breathe and also don’t give much protection against the cold. Natural or man-made stones don’t appear to be the best kind of material for building walls and roofs of houses.
The earth itself is protected with a layer of materials that make a kind of skin of the earth. These are materials such as loam, sand and tone.
Trees and plants are extending the skin function of the earth. Materials such as wood, straw and reed are also equipped to provide for a good skin function of the walls and roof of a house.
Animal skins are used for making tents. It is good material but it is hardly used for building houses.
Why could we not make use of other materials than the ones that nature provided for us?
When i build a house of wood and loam and straw, my house will never do any harm to the environment. What shall i do with synthetic materials such as plastics or noxious chemicals that were added to my building products? When the house is broken down, i have to get rid of them. Usually we don’t see where this stuff goes. But suppose you could only dump them in your own garden? There they bring harm to the food that you grow for your animals and yourself. The problem becomes visible when you think on a smaller scale.
Suppose you live in a house made of concrete plates. You hear it each time when the children of the next house walk over their floor. Is this good for your nerves? Do these sounds please you? Do they help to maintain your good health? Or do such contact sounds add to the level of stress in your life?
Several mistakes were made in building such houses with concrete walls. First, the material itself does not isolate enough against sounds. Second, there has not been thought well about what is a good environment for a living house. Do apartment flats or long lines of houses built as one unit give us a good living environment?
Of course, there is also the matter of financing. But is building in a cheap way an excuse for building in a wrong way?
I would argue that building in the right way, with the right materials, will be much more economical in the long term. What is the cost of destruction of your good health and the nature around you?
Let us look at some materials in more detail.
Wood comes from trees. Trees are standing strongly up in the winds blazing over them. They tower high above the surface of the earth. The material of wood is very well equipped for building the structure of a house.
Loam is a mixture of tone, sand, stones and sometimes organic particles. Loam covers the earth. The material has good breathing qualities and can be formed into stones or moulds to put up walls. Loam walls can soak up a lot of water damp and provide for a rather ideal in-house climate. Comparatively speaking, loam looks very much like the flesh in a human body. It gives beautiful shapes, but it can’t stand direct rain.
Lime is a material that comes from protective shells of animals. Lime can be used from fresh shells or it can be taken from lime rocks of sediments that came from shells of animals that lived millions of years ago. In either case, lime is a very good material to cover the walls of loam to protect it against rain and crumbling.
Straw and reed can be used for making a roof and also for adding to the loam from which your walls were made. In nature, grasses and leaves of trees fall down on the surface of the earth. They don’t only feed the organisms living in the soil, but they also provide for a not-too-cold and not-too-hot climate in the soil. All animals live from plants and plants live from what the soil gives them. The isolation of layers of decaying plant materials on top of a soil make sure that such a soil is healthy and fertile.
In our houses we can make use of the isolation value of materials such as reed and straw. Straw can be applied inside of loam walls and reeds can be arranged as a thatched roof. You never get a better isolation against cold or heat!
When you want to enjoy the morning rays of the sun, you make a window that catches those early sunbeams.
If your house is isolated well, you might be able to keep it warm most of the year with the heat of sunrays.
Not everybody is so aware of it, but also moon and star rays help to make us feel healthy, energetic and good.
With the sand of the earth we can make sun collectors that give all the energy our house needs. Is it not a tremendous difference whether you get your energy from such a clean and energetic source as the sun instead of from energy produced in dirty power stations?
I am using the word ‘spirit’ because i find it the best suitable to describe what i mean. The word ‘spirit’ is used here in the meaning of atmosphere. At the same time, spirit means more than just atmosphere. Spirit also means real nature or real character. Spirit refers to something that though invisible is yet something that can be experienced in some way.
With ‘spirit of a house’ i do not mean that a house would be a kind of living being that could live independently from the existence of the house. I also do not refer to ghosts or something like that.
The word ‘spiritual’ can only be understood in relation to the word ‘physical.’
While physical is an adverb referring to that what we see, touch and experience with our physical senses, spiritual refers to what can only be sensed with what many people call their ‘sixth sense.’
In a certain house you feel good, but in another house that doesn’t differ externally from the first house, you might feel bad.
We want to feel good in the house in that we live. To a certain degree, feeling good is a matter of having chosen the right design, materials and so forth. But even when all external conditions were chosen right, you might still feel bad in a house.
I write this article because i want to increase your and my awareness of how to build and furnish a house in such a way that it feels good to live in it.
Try to understand what spirit is from the following example.
Suppose you make a chair, or you make a meal, or you play a piece of music, or you do anything that is creative. If you just do it without giving much love and effort into your work, if you play the notes in a mechanical way, your creation will be all right, but you won’t touch the heart of anyone.
That what you do to just mechanically perform your actions could be called the physical aspect. That you what you have given into your creativity as extra love and concentration could be called the spiritual aspect.
It makes a big difference whether you made your own house, giving into it all the thoughts and love that you have for your future or small children, or you let the work be done by workers who got paid for it but who just could not have equal love for your children.
‘Spirit’ could be defined as a kind of energy that was brought into a creation. When you make something with good energy, with energy that is accompanied by good thoughts and feelings, then you make things that have a good spirit. If you make things without giving much thought to what you do, for example because you just work for money, then you will not be able to bring much spirit into your creations. When you do things but your heart is against it, you might even bring bad energy or bad spirit into your creations.
‘Spirit’ is the result of energy of your mind, your thoughts and feelings and your love or hatred and desires. When someone makes things in a mechanical way, not much ‘spirit’ will be attached to what is manufactured. It is the extra energy of love and desire that makes the ‘spirit’ of a place.
There is spirit in everything. There is spirit in each stone, in each animal, in each human being, and also in each house.
‘Spirit’ as it was defined here can be influenced in a number of ways.
1.The materials that are used. Materials can have all kind of origins. Materials that come from good places in nature do always have a good spirit. Most of the materials that were produced in factories have a rather cold and lifeless spirit. When we see a piece of wood, we get reminded of the forest where the tree was growing. The wood carries in it a memory of where the tree grew, and that memory comes to us and gives us a good feeling. When the design of the nerves in the wood are drawn on a piece of plastic that covers a wall, that fake-wood will never give us the same excitement. Fake is fake. Fake things never make a good spirit in a room. Fake things make a fake spirit. And poisonous materials carry in them a spirit of warning to those who are sensitive for it.
2.The location of the house. There are places where you feel good and there are places where you feel bad. This could be explained in all kind of ways, but whether we know an explanation or not, most of us will agree that not all locations give the same feeling. There are places on the earth very much fit for living, there are other places unsuitable for dwelling. Whether a location is good or bad depends on many factors. Also how you situate your house in the environment can be of much influence. For example, when your house is built at the slope of a mountain, there is a big difference in putting the backside or front side facing the mountain.
3.History of materials or things. Things get filled with the spirit of the environment in which those things were placed. When a chair was used in a church for attendants offering their prayers, that chair will take into it the spirit of those prayers. Another but similar chair might have been used in a bank where people only spoke about money. Also the spirit of that chair will change and be affected by the environment. Some people are very sensitive for such things. Maybe you are less sensitive but that doesn’t mean that you are entirely insensitive for such things. It means that we have to be careful with the materials that we apply for making things. Used things, second-hand things are always a little risky. It is not advisable, for example, to use the wood of a used floor to make an eating table. The memories of feet walking over that floor are forever inscribed into the spirit of those boards.
4.How things were made. Someone who has much pleasure in making a house will contribute to the spirit of the house in a good way. The joy of this person will somehow attach to the house. We don’t need to exaggerate such influences, but we should also not simply discard them. I surely don’t want my house to be made by someone having a very bad mood! It adds very much to your house if you make it yourself, having joy and good hope for what you make.
5.People living in the house or visiting it. More than by anything else, the spirit of your house will be affected by how you live in it and by which people you allow to come in. People all the time have a big influence on their environment. Did you never experience how the presence of some people makes you feel good while the presence of others makes you feel bad? An old person gives another feeling than a young baby. Though the spiritual influence that people have on their environment is difficult to measure, it nevertheless adds to the overall atmosphere in a house.
6.The form and design of your house. There could be written very much about this. Forms and structures have a big influence on the atmosphere in a house. You feel very different in a room with a low ceiling than in one with a high one. A round room has another ‘spirit’ than a square space.
7.The way that you furnished your dwelling and the inner-architecture of the house. There are many examples to be given for this. Do you like it when the front door of your house would be placed in your living room? Probably not. When you live in a busy city, you want to place a barrier between the atmosphere of the street and that in your home. So architects design halls that form a buffer between outside and inside the house. Such a hall has a completely different atmosphere than your living room. Also how you furnish your house makes a big difference. A stone floor gives a different feeling than a thick and warm carpet.
8.Activities performed in a room. A room and all things in it become affected by the activities performed in that room. All what you did in a space had influence on all things standing there. The energy of the words you speak is entering the wood of your ceiling and all other materials in that room.
9.The cleanliness and order in a house. There is no doubt about it that dirt brings a bad atmosphere in a room. Though by cleaning a room you can’t make up for the bad effects caused by other kind of conditions, you can improve very much the atmosphere of a house by keeping it orderly and clean.
10.Influence of good air and good smells. When there is clean and fresh air in your house, you also provide for a better atmosphere. Certain nice-smelling natural products, for example incense, can be applied to improve the atmosphere in a house. A house also needs good ventilation to bring in fresh air.
11.Light. A light room with windows through which the sun shines in makes a better atmosphere than a cellar where it is always dark. Though electrical light can be of some help, there is nothing so beautiful as direct sunlight.
12.Colors. Colors and harmony between different kinds of colors can make a big difference in atmosphere.
I did not try to be complete in my description of how to improve the spirit of a home. I just hope that you start thinking more about it, so you can improve the liveableness of your own environment.
The world of building and furnishing your own house is rich and full of rewards. It is part of the entire life we live. It is impossible though to create a great home without you or i going a course of self-improvement and spiritual growth. That’s why it is not only beautiful but also rather necessary that we get part in building and furnishing our own homes.
YOU HAVE HEARD ABOUT THE OFFERING OF ABRAM. ABRAM OFFERED ANIMALS TO GOD. YOU CAN OFFER ALL KIND OF THINGS TO GOD. YOU CAN OFFER ANIMALS TO GOD. YOU CAN OFFER MONEY TO GOD. YOU CAN ALSO OFFER GOOD IDEAS TO GOD. WHEN I WRITE THIS BOOK, THAT ALSO IS AN OFFERING TO GOD.
ALL WHAT YOU DO HAS TO BE OFFERED TO GOD. TO OFFER TO GOD MEANS TO CONNECT TO GOD. TO OFFER TO GOD MEANS TO GIVE TO GOD. TO OFFER TO GOD MEANS TO BECOME UNITED WITH GOD.
ONE OF THE OFFERINGS THAT WE GIVE TO GOD IS PRAYER. PRAYER MEANS TO SPEAK TO GOD. WHEN YOU SPEAK TO GOD, YOU MUST ALSO LISTEN TO GOD. NOBODY LIKES IT WHEN YOU SPEAK, YOU SPEAK AND YOU NEVER STOP TO SPEAK. WHEN YOU PRAY TO GOD, THEN YOU MUST ALSO LISTEN TO GOD’S ANSWER.
WHEN YOU DO SOMETHING IN YOUR LIFE, YOU MUST PRAY BEFORE YOU DO IT, YOU MUST PRAY WHILE YOU DO IT, AND YOU MUST PRAY AFTER YOU HAVE DONE IT. FOR EXAMPLE, WHEN YOU WORK IN THE GARDEN, YOU MUST FIRST ASK GOD IF IT IS GOD’S WILL TO WORK IN THE GARDEN. YOU ALSO MUST ASK GOD HOW TO DO THE WORK IN THE GARDEN. YOU CAN ASK GOD WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THE WORK IN THE GARDEN. WHEN YOU DO THE WORK, YOU MUST DO IT WITH A GOOD SPIRIT. THAT MEANS THAT WHILE YOU WORK, YOU MUST PRAY TO GOD. WHEN YOU HAVE FINISHED THE JOB, YOU MUST OFFER YOUR WORK TO GOD. THIS YOU DO THROUGH PRAYER.
IN ALL OFFERINGS, PRAYERS ARE INCLUDED. WHENEVER YOU GIVE SOMETHING TO GOD, YOU MUST ALSO OFFER THAT IN PRAYER. SUPPOSE THAT YOU HAVE BIRTHDAY AND YOU GET A PRESENT BUT THE PERSON WHO GIVES IT SAYS NOTHING TO YOU… WOULD THAT NOT BE VERY STRANGE? WOULD YOU LIKE THE GIFT THAT YOU GOT? YOU WOULD NOT SO LIKE IT ANYMORE. IT IS NORMAL THAT WHEN YOU GIVE SOMETHING TO SOMEONE, THAT YOU ALSO SAY SOMETHING. YOU SAY, FOR EXAMPLE: “HAPPY BIRTHDAY, THIS IS MY GIFT FOR YOU.” OR YOU SAY: “DEAR BROTHER, YOU HAVE WORKED SO HARD FOR ME, THEREFORE I WANT TO GIVE YOU THIS BEAUTIFUL GIFT.”
IN THE SAME WAY YOU MUST SPEAK TO GOD. YOU GIVE SOMETHING TO GOD, AND THEN YOU SPEAK TO GOD. ABRAM SHOULD HAVE SPOKEN TO GOD BEFORE HE GAVE THE OFFERING TO GOD. ABRAM SHOULD ALSO HAVE SPOKEN TO GOD WHILE HE WAS CUTTING THE ANIMALS IN TWO. ABRAM DID SPEAK TO GOD AFTER HE FELL IN A DARK SLEEP. BUT THEN IT WAS ALREADY A LITTLE TOO LATE.
ABRAM DID NOT PRAY SO SERIOUSLY BEFORE HE BROUGHT THE OFFERING TO GOD. ABRAM OFFERED WITHOUT THINKING MUCH. ABRAM WAS NOT SO SERIOUS. HE DID WHAT HE HAD TO DO, BUT HE DID IT WITHOUT LOVE FOR GOD.
ALL OFFERINGS THAT YOU BRING TO GOD MUST BE GIVEN IN THE RIGHT WAY. THAT ALWAYS MEANS THAT YOU PRAY TO GOD IN A SERIOUS AND DIRECT WAY.
BUT THE PRAYER ITSELF IS ALSO AN OFFERING. I WANT TO EXPLAIN YOU A LITTLE MORE ABOUT PRAYER. PRAYER IS AN OFFERING TO GOD. THAT MEANS THAT YOU GIVE YOUR PRAYER TO GOD. THE OFFERING OF PRAYER MUST ALSO BE PURE. YOU CANNOT JUST SAY ANYTHING TO GOD.
DID YOU SOMETIMES SEE PEOPLE WHO SPEAK A LONG PRAYER BUT THEY HAVE NO LOVE IN THEIR HEART FOR GOD? SOME PEOPLE PRAY LIKE THAT. THEY READ THEIR PRAYER AS IF IT IS FROM A BOOK. OR THEY MAKE THE PRAYER SOUND VERY NICE, BUT ACTUALLY IT IS MORE LIKE A PLAY, LIKE AN ACT. SUCH A PRAYER IS NOT REAL. WHEN YOU SPEAK TO GOD, YOU ALWAYS MUST SPEAK WITH MUCH RESPECT FOR GOD. AND YOU MUST HAVE DEEP LOVE FOR GOD. YOU MUST ALSO BE HUMBLE. YOU MUST KNOW THAT GOD IS THE ALMIGHTY CREATOR. YOU CANNOT TREAT GOD AS YOUR SERVANT.
SOME PEOPLE ARE ALWAYS ASKING GOD TO HELP THEM WITH THEIR PROBLEMS. THEN YOU TREAT GOD AS IF HE IS YOUR SERVANT. IT IS VERY WRONG TO DO THAT. WHEN YOU HAVE A PROBLEM, YOU CAN ASK GOD TO HELP YOU. BUT YOU MUST BE SERIOUS THEN. YOU MUST ALSO KEEP YOUR PROMISES TO GOD THAT YOU WILL DO WHAT GOD TELLS YOU TO DO. YOU HAVE TO SOLVE YOUR OWN PROBLEMS. GOD CAN HELP YOU, BUT YOU MUST DO WHAT GOD SAYS TO YOU.
PRAYER TO GOD IS AN OFFERING. AN OFFERING IS A GIFT. AND A GIFT IS SOMETHING THAT GOD MUST LIKE. YOU MUST MAKE SURE THAT GOD LIKES YOUR PRAYER. GOD MUST FEEL HAPPY WHEN YOU SPEAK TO GOD.
WHEN YOU HAVE DONE YOUR OWN THINGS DURING THE DAY, THEN YOU HAVE BECOME IMPURE. WHEN YOU ARE IMPURE, YOU CANNOT SPEAK A NICE PRAYER TO GOD. ABRAM WAS IMPURE WHEN HE BROUGHT THE OFFERING. THEREFORE, ABRAM COULD NOT PRAY IN THE RIGHT WAY. HE WAS A LITTLE ARROGANT.
BEFORE YOU CAN HAVE A GOOD PRAYER, YOU MUST CLEANSE YOURSELF. ACTUALLY, YOU CAN ONLY PRAY RIGHT IF YOU HAVE DONE GOD’S WILL. YOU CANNOT DO EVIL THINGS AND THEN JUST GO TO GOD IN PRAYER. YOU CANNOT PRAY TO GOD IN THE RIGHT WAY IF YOU ARE LIVING IN THE WRONG WAY.
SO, YOUR PRAYER BEGINS WITH YOUR GOOD LIFE. WHEN YOU DO YOUR MISSION, THEN YOU CAN ALSO HAVE A GOOD PRAYER. THEN YOU CAN OFFER YOUR PRAYER IN THE RIGHT WAY TO GOD.
All the articles published here were written by John Eagles. The inspiration for these came from my desire to live a life under God. I have been inspired by many models from past and present, but always Creator has given me my greatest spur. Many articles are based on my spiritual experiences.
Temporarily i am not adding new articles to this blog. Go to Eagle-Rock.org to find overviews with many of my older and newer essays.
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