Balance for Wholesome Living

Spiritual Balance

Life is what you make it, in this totally amazing universe!

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Spiritual Balance Page 2

  • The Subject of Evil.
  • Justice (law/karma) versus Grace.
  • Reincarnation versus One Lifetime.
  • (Including a note on suicide and abortion.)

More to come! If you have a subject you would like covered, let us know. Some subjects planned are:

  • The balance between following a religion or teacher and following your own path.
  • The balance between prayer (inner communion) , meditation and invocation (spoken prayer/mantra).
  • The balance between non-discrimination and discernment
  • The balance between striving and just being.

Introduction

This page is dedicated to your spiritual wholeness, and includes subjects like spirituality, self-worth, ascension, karma, reincarnation, comparative religion, prayer, spiritual protection, creation versus evolution and the subject of evil.

A note on terminology: [I asked God if I could refer to Him as “He”, and She replied: “Sure, whatever.” : )] God or the Creator is referred to in many different ways, and as being masculine, feminine or androgynous in gender. Gender-neutral terminology can be awkward and at times even confusing. Also, Spirit is usually referred to as masculine and the soul, whether in a male or female body, is the feminine counterpart. Therefore, for simplicity and brevity, the masculine gender will be used when referring to God on this site. This is not intended to exclude females or the feminine aspect of Divinity. There is also more on terminology under Real Self below.

The spiritual path or activity you engage in is something only you should decide, regardless of what faith you were born or baptized into. Some people who have become disillusioned with orthodox religion find that going fishing or walking in nature is the best way to have a spiritual experience.

An aside: Talking about fishing, little Johnny was sitting in the back of the Sunday school class, not paying much attention. When the teacher asked him what was his favourite Bible story, he replied: “The one where Jesus loafs and fishes.” : )

If someone who prefers fishing or just walking in nature is true and caring to themselves and others, then they are better off than any religious person who is not. God or Spirit is omnipresent (everywhere). And as Jesus said: “ ..for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.” (Luke 17:21 KJV). Eastern teachings concur that our inner nature is of God. The biggest problem is that we think we are humans trying to have a spiritual experience. We’ve got it wrong. We’re spiritual beings trying to have a human experience. This makes a major difference in what we expect from ourselves and from life. This is all about attitude. As stated earlier about being true and caring, our attitude towards life makes much more difference on our spiritual path than how often we go to church or how much we pray or meditate. For more on attitude, see the Attitude page.

The material on this page is not to try to convince you to accept or follow anything. We all have different pasts and different needs. As Buddha said: “Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your common sense.” Fortunately we do not have to rely only on our outer academic knowledge to determine what is true for us, as the truth lies within us. The Spirit within us (or our Real Self) knows exactly what we need. Our job is to tune into that truth, and then take practical steps to apply it. This is no small task, and we need a balance between outer study and inner contemplation. This “task” is actually a path that is a wonderful and sacred adventure. We don’t need to know the whole plan in our outer consciousness, only the next step. This page is intended to help you follow your own path in balance by helping you to look at all sides of the subject.

May you walk that path and enjoy this greatest adventure of all that leads to you realizing your full potential and becoming all that you really are! Life is what you make it, in this totally amazing universe!

You can also press Ctrl+F on your keyboard (command+F for Mac) to find words on the present page. Bon voyage!

This Amazing Universe!

We are living in the most amazing universe! The design of our cosmos, from the physical to the spiritual, is so ingenious it is mind-boggling and yet simple in a way. It is based totally on love, justice, reliability and balance. And God, our Divine Parents (who we might call Alpha and Omega), wanted to share this wonderful creation with others. So they made us in their image and likeness, which is not what we see in the mirror first thing in the morning (thank heavens!). Our bodies are like clothes we wear. We are really great immortal beings, sparks of the big Fire, so we cannot die! (For more on this, see the section “Our Real Self” below.) Not only that, but in a sublime act of love, God gave us free will, so that we could do anything we wanted. Isn’t that totally awesome!

This was a great risk, because they knew there was the possibility that we would misuse it. It depends what we decide to put our attention on. We are co-creators with them, and this universe is improving and self-transcending itself continually. Cosmic Law acts faithfully and reliably in accordance with our freewill thoughts and feelings. What we put our attention on, grows, because that is where our creative energy goes. If we put it on error (that which leads to crime, self-limitation, disease etc.), the Law follows and we create error. God knew that some might eventually get mixed up in their errors and forget who they really are, and get angry and frustrated, and even try to “take heaven by force”. But They created this cosmos with safeguards against that. When anyone chooses error, they lower their energy vibration level. Thus they automatically descend away from the area of the high vibration of God. That is “totally cool!” as they say nowadays.

What’s more, there’s no cheating in the universe! Seriously! This is how ultimate justice and fairness works. Everything that happens is recorded in heavens memory bank. It’s like a non-crashable, non-deleteable, non-freeze-up computer. (And you thought that was an impossibility, didn’t you?) They are known as the “akashic records”. That is why the law “as you sow, so shall you reap” (a.k.a. karma) works infallibly. The neat thing is, whatever people have ever done that was dishonest has been recorded. It will return to them as an opportunity to make it right, and experience what it’s like to be on the receiving end, either in the physical or once they have passed on. Is this mean? Not at all. It is the ingenious tough love of our wise Parents. It ensures total justice and helps us learn and grow back towards our true Divine nature. Besides, everything good we have ever done is credited to us, even if no one saw it. Neat, huh?

If God’s Laws are infallible, how does grace work? It is by the law of free will. Other people can decide to help us, as you yourself can decide to help others. Jesus is the supreme example of this, helping an entire civilization. He was just giving us a small glimpse of what we are capable of when we remember and start being who we really are. He didn’t say he was the exception to the rule. That’s what some clerics wrote later. What he said was: “He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall ye do,….”

The bottom line is this: Due to mankind’s general ignorance of who and what we really are, we have been conditioned into operating at a small fraction of our true potential! So-called miracles are just the tip of the iceberg. One day we will all realise that our wildest dreams of how perfect life can be, merely scratched the surface of what is waiting for us. So spread the good news of this amazing universe as you feel comfortable doing. But if you really care, you will do it regardless of comfort. For our comfort zone is largely responsible for keeping us in the limited state we have got used to. When we move forward with passion and courage, knowing who we really are, the only comfort we will need is the Holy Spirit, the Comforter which Jesus spoke of in John 14:16 and 14:26, which shall abide with us forever. Try practice being it now, with joy and victory, for NOW is all that there really is!

Our Real Self.

The term Real Self is used on this site to keep it simple. The subject of who we really are is not that simple, and is up to you to decide what you feel comfortable with. But it is highly unlikely we are a lump of clay that has learnt to think, reason, feel deep compassion and love and be an integral part of this miracle called Life. All the major spiritual teachings of the world point to the fact that we are a spark of the big Fire (Divinity), created in the image and likeness of God. This likeness is not what we see in the mirror first thing in the morning (thank heavens!). It refers to our spiritual self that is called by many names, and has different levels of manifestation. The highest level is known by names like our Higher Self, Spirit, God Self, I AM THAT I AM, I AM Presence, Atman, Dharmakaya and Keter.

The goal of life is to balance our karma and then reunite with our Higher Self through the ascension!

The mediator between it and our soul in a physical body is known by names like our Real Self, Christ Self, Christ Consciousness, “hidden man of the heart”, Higher Mental Body, Universal Intelligence, Sambhogakaya and Tiferet. It is the source of our intuition and voice of conscience, one with the Holy Spirit, and is the Comforter which Jesus spoke of when he said: “And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; Even the Spirit of truth; … for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.” (John 14:16). And in verse 14:26 “But the Comforter, … he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.” Our Real Self allows those tests and opportunities to come our way every day that we need for our growth, but never more than we are ready for or are able to handle. (I Cor. 10:13 for Christians.) So there is nothing to really fear in this life. Our Real Self is actually our primary guardian angel. There can be many angels assigned to us, but our Christ Self has unlimited power and is foremost in guiding and protecting us, depending on our free will co-operation.

As mentioned above, our destiny on earth is to unite with and fully outpicture our Real Self here below, which is wise and powerful love in physical action. We do this balancing our karma and then reuniting with our God-Self through the ascension. So that’s the challenge! Do you have what it takes? Of course you do, because that is who you really are! The rest of our “stuff” is just a temporary overlay. So good luck! And you might as well enjoy the adventure. We’re rooting for you (and for ourselves)! There are some useful spiritual techniques for sealing your aura and accessing the power of your Real Self, including through powerful “decree” prayers, on The Summit Lighthouse website (www.summitlighthouse.org). For instance, search for “tube of light”. See also the Cosmic Law Insight website.

The balance between trusting in divine destiny and forging your own.

Being on earth needs teamwork. We have great latent spiritual resources to draw upon, whether you call it God, Universal Intelligence or whatever. There is a divine plan for each of us, but it is not predestination. Think of it like your plan for your child to go to school. You know the overall plan for them, how many years to graduation, what subjects will be compulsory and which will be optional. They don’t know all of that, nor do they need to. Thinking about the next year is enough for them. They trust you and the school system to lead them through.

However, free will still rules supreme, so if they decide to steal someone’s lunch, you’re not going to buy their story if they say, “Well it happened, so it was meant to be.” If they make a big mistake and deviate widely from your original plan for them like failing a whole year, is all lost? No. You adjust the plan and tell them the consequences and what is the best thing to do from here on. It’s up to them to take your guidance into consideration, including in choosing what courses to take or how to balance their academic and sports activities.

So it is in life. God has a plan for each of us, which we do not know in its entirety. We trust Him to take care of the future and guide us along the way. But we still have to make our own decisions and do our own planning. God gave us the loving gift of free will, and He expects us to use it wisely. The more choices we make, even though some will be wrong, the more we learn. God does not want us to sit around like puppets waiting to be told what to do. He expects us to be proactive, to use our ingenuity and help make things happen to make the world a better place. He helps those who help themselves. The more spiritually mature we become, the better we’ll be able to get a good balance between trusting in divine destiny and doing our part to help it manifest.

The balance between seeking spiritual powers and getting them when you’re ready.

Being able to see people’s auras (clairvoyance) or read people’s minds is usually equated with spiritual attainment and eagerly sought after. These are just two of many spiritual powers or gifts that are possible to attain, and that many people have. However, they are sometimes more of a curse than a blessing, especially if they were eagerly sought after. Why so? Eagerness for spiritual powers is usually a telltale sign of human pride and ambition, justified by the subtle ego that says it is purely to help others. It is actually more often to get praise and recognition for having powers and spiritual attainment. When your motive is not pure and pride is involved, you are much better off, and of more value to God, without these powers.

Secondly, if you desire gifts before you receive them spontaneously, you may not be ready for them. If your desire is first to serve God, there is nothing wrong with pursuing the gifts of the Holy Spirit, which is part of God’s kingdom or consciousness. As Jesus said: “But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all things shall be added unto you.”(Mat 6:33) God will grant them to you when you have proven yourself worthy and responsible. And he will test you! With knowledge comes responsibility. This includes the knowledge you will gain from reading people’s auras or thoughts.

This brings us to the third point. Spiritual gifts can sometimes be more of a curse than a blessing because you may not only see or hear “nice” things, but all the garbage on the lower astral plane as well, including discarnate entities and foul spirits. Plus, you can’t just turn these powers off when you get tired and burdened from them. (For more on entities, see The Subject of Evil on page 2.)

So, if you desire spiritual gifts, seek the Holy Spirit and its gifts. And a good one to start with is the gift of discernment of spirits. Discernment is like spiritual gold. (See also The balance between non-discrimination and discernment – not completed yet.)

Creation vs evolution.

This might surprise you, but it is not either/or but both/and. The either/or mindset has been one of the biggest causes of division in society, needlessly pitting brother against brother. But have you ever thought that we may be living in an amazing universe that is ingeniously created to improve on itself and evolve? There are keys that have been given to us through the ages. Remember that the Bible is written partly in allegorical form, so when God created Adam and Eve in his image, it is not necessarily the human form that was referred to but the Higher or Spiritual Self. When they left the Garden of Eden they incarnated into physical bodies (their “clothes”).

The entire process is described in the teachings of the Ascended Masters through the Theosophical Society and summarized in the book Space, Time and Self by E. Norman Pearson (The Theosophical Publishing House, 1957). Some important keys are also found in the book Climb the Highest Mountain by Mark and Elizabeth Prophet, especially in the chapters A Heap of Confusion and God in Nature. (Summit University Press). And a small piece of the puzzle that scientifically explains why scientists have not been able to find the “missing link” in evolution between ape and man is covered in the book The 12th Planet by Zecharia Sitchin (Avon Books, N.Y. 1978).

On a lighter note: Scientists have made tremendous contributions to mankind and have improved our lives in countless ways. However, not in all ways, and Mother Nature still confounds them in many areas. On the subject of creation:

Science vs. God. A group of scientists got together and decided that mankind had come a long way and no longer needed God. They picked one scientist to go and tell Him that they no longer needed Him. The scientist walked up to God and said: “God, we’ve decided that we no longer need you. We are able to clone people and do other miraculous things, so why don’t you just go on and get lost.” God listened patiently to the man and after the scientist had finished talking, God replied, “Very well, if you think you no longer need me how about this? Let’s have a man making contest.” The scientist replied, “OK, great!” But God added, “Now, we’re going to do this just like I did back in the old days with Adam.” The scientist confidently responded, “Sure, no problem.” He bent down and grabbed himself a handful of dirt. God lovingly looked at him, grinned, and said, “No! You get your own dirt!”

The balance between self-worth and humility.

The word humility often brings up the image of self-denial like “I am nothing” or “I am a miserable sinner.” But to understand it and self worth, we first need to decide who “I” and “self” is. There are several references on this site to our Real Self, that spark of divinity in us which was created “in the image and likeness of God”. It is also known as the I AM Presence, or the Atman in the East. In any case, there is our permanent Real Self and our temporary unreal self composed of our bad (or self-limiting, unhealthy) habits and worldly consciousness, based on pride, vanity etc.

The key to true self-worth is to acknowledge that it is our Real Self that has all the worth and the unreal self that is unreliable, erroneous and not worth keeping. So we trust in our Real Self and God, who are one, to help us make the best decisions to transcend our lower self, get self-mastery and the Christ Consciousness and fulfill our divine plan on earth.

Only your Real Self is permanent.

This is best accomplished by acknowledging two things. Firstly, that our lower self can still cause us to make mistakes, and secondly that our excessive appetites for carnal pleasure or recognition etc. still get the better of us now and then, but they are only temporary and have no ultimate power over our Real Self. So there is no cause to worry who will win the “battle between Good and Evil” within you. You are made of Good, and the apparent evil is temporary and on its way out, unless your overall long-term desire is more for evil (illusion and unreality). (For more on evil, see The Subject of Evil on page 2.) Such a person would never be interested in reading a web site like this, so in case you think deep down somewhere that you are really evil, forget it! One of the biggest hindrances to souls on the spiritual path is their lack of self-worth.

Many of us have allowed our carnal mind (erroneous beliefs) to convince us that we are bad or that we are unworthy of being accepted by God or others. This is aided by believing the jealous criticisms of others. Note that true self-worth comes from ourselves acknowledging the worth of our Real Self and soul, not from what others say about us. If our self-worth is dependent on other people’s opinions, we will always be a needy victim of outer circumstances, like the precious young boy who committed suicide as described on the page How This Site Started.

Be able to laugh!

The best solution to being a victim of our carnal mind is to be able to laugh at ourselves and kick the unreal self in the butt! It thrives on us being over-serious and judgmental. (See also The balance between joy and serious on the General Balance page.) Being judgmental of ourselves is part of false humility. Our proud ego is the one that is clever and “wise” enough to decide and proclaim in front of others: “I am no good. I am a humble sinner. God will just have to accept me as I am.” On the other hand, true humility comes from trusting and allowing our Real self, as God, to work through us, not needing any recognition from others for the works we do, and giving Him the credit. And when we make mistakes, we take it as just being part of life in a physical, impermanent body, and as a lesson and opportunity to help us to do better in the future.

A light heart will always help to keep self-condemnation and false humility at bay. For example, if you drop something on the floor, instead of getting angry at yourself and proclaiming that you’re totally useless, just say to whatever dropped: “Hey, mister, are you trying to get away from me? You’re gonna have to think of something better than that next time. Come here!” If it happened to be a bowl of beetroot that fell and messed up your new white carpet, it’s a bit more challenging. But instead of trying to downplay how serious it is, try going the other way to the extreme, like: “Oh no, Lord, this is the end of me! This house is now a write-off. All of my life’s work and savings have just gone down the drain. What is left in the world for me?” Then smile and count your blessings while you start the clean-up job. This comes a lot easier when our heart is right with God, which involves our attitude to life. (See the Attitude page for more.) We will never have true self-worth if we try to perfect the imperfectable human self. And we will never have true humility if we try to be humble through the human self and it’s intellect.

The balance between growing via spiritual experiences and getting on with spiritual growth regardless.

It is important to try out spiritual teachings and see if they work for us or feel comfortable. Once we have become familiar with a certain teaching or teacher, we can start testing and having faith in what they present. But we should always pass it by our own Real Self or conscience and never blindly accept anything. Some people can hear or sense the voice of God (their Real Self) or conscience immediately, whether something is right for them.

Hearing the voice of God or conscience.

Hearing (or otherwise sensing) this is a great gift, although quite rare. We actually all have this ability within us, but our karma and density have tuned us out of that high frequency, just like a radio that’s a bit off the station. The fact that we are not yet enlightened beings operating at that high frequency probably means one of three things:

  • We are not fully attuned to it, or
  • We are attuned to it but don’t always obey it, or
  • It is not the voice of our Real Self but an impostor we are hearing.

Unfortunately the last possibility is more common than many would like to believe (1). That is why the most valuable gift to pursue is the gift of the Holy Spirit of discernment of spirits, which will help to clearly hear or sense the voice of God.

The Holy Spirit and other spirits.

In order to receive the Holy Spirit, our motives must be pure. If your desire to receive it or other spiritual gifts is too strong, for instance before you are ready for it, you are likely to attract spirits that are anything but Holy, and they will tell you everything you want to hear.

A smile-break: A nurse walks into a psychiatric ward and sees one patient doing something totally against the rules in his cubicle and asks emphatically: “Who said you could do that?” The patient replies: “God said I could.” A loud voice is heard from the next cubicle, with utter contempt: “I DID NOT!” : )

There is much teaching in the world about how to purify our motives, thoughts, feelings and auras, and how to rid foul spirits and receive the Holy Spirit. The more mystical paths of the world’s religions have described different stages of purification and purgation. More modern teachings have also been released from the Ascended Masters for today, including invoking the sacred fire and the violet flame (2). Hearing the voice of God is just one of many possible spiritual experiences, but the most important. Note that people might have other gifts or experiences, like reading auras, but that does not guarantee that they hear the genuine voice of God. Thus the importance of purification and motive (3).

Other spiritual experiences.

All this being said, many people do have genuine spiritual experiences, and these are precious gifts from God along our spiritual path. They may be answers to our prayers or just surprises to encourage, comfort or inspire us. They are sacred and usually meant for us personally, and therefore best kept to ourselves. It is good to keep a record of them in a journal or diary. Having the continual desire to tell others can attract lower spirits. These genuine spiritual experiences are an essential part of our growth and can confirm that we are heading in the right direction or that what we have read or heard is true for us.

No spiritual experiences?

But what if you do not seem to get any spiritual experiences? Or the clearest message you seem to have got during meditation before bed is that you would be better off sleeping right now? What if an angel or Master has never appeared to you, or you have never heard the voice of God? Does that mean that the spiritual path is not for you? Definitely not! It probably means one of two things:

  • Firstly, your experiences have come in a form that you haven’t recognised. We all have different experiences for different reasons, and some are less obvious than others, like feeling a burning sensation in your heart (one that is very different to heartburn!). It may just be a sense of deep comfort and inner peace. If you’re not sure, take the time to recall in detail, in a meditative way, all your experiences in the past when you were either greatly inspired or challenged. You’re sure to come up with at least one! From now on, each time you make a mistake or a poor decision, look back in retrospect to when you were trying to decide which way to go on the issue, and try to remember anything that pointed to what would have been the better choice. It might be as subtle as a vague thought in the back of your mind. You’ll start seeing a pattern that will lead you to the way your Real Self communicates with you, and how your spiritual experiences manifest.
  • Secondly, it may be your test in this life to have faith in God despite no obvious spiritual experiences. If this is true for you, it means you have the previous experience and inner strength to pass this test, for God never sends as a test that we are unable to pass. You may actually be going through the “dark night of the soul” or the “dark night of the spirit”, which are spiritual dry periods described by many of the saints like St. John of the Cross (4).

In either case, you cannot put your spiritual growth or sense of joy on the shelf until you get the experiences your outer mind wants. This would indicate a deep unconscious anger towards God. Rather take it as a difficult test that comes only to those who are ready, and keep on keeping on. Ironically, sometimes we make more spiritual progress in apparent dry periods when we feel we aren’t going anywhere. Maybe it’s because, below the surface, our soul is striving the hardest.

References:

  1. For more on the subject, listen to the lecture On Dealing with Death, Discarnates and Malevolent Spirits with commentary on the movie Ghost by Elizabeth Clare Prophet (available via The Summit Lighthouse), and the book Remarkable Healings – A psychiatrist Discovers Unsuspected Roots of Mental and Physical Illness by Shakuntala Modi, M.D. (Hampton Roads Publishing, Charlottesville, VA. 1997)
  2. The Violet Flame is a powerful tool for clearing blocks in all 4 of our “bodies”. It has been referred to by many, including Edgar Cayce, Dannion Brinkley, Elizabeth Clare Prophet and Godfre Ray King. It is a high-frequency spiritual fire, an action of the Holy Spirit which you can invoke into your aura to transmute (change and purify) all discord and impurities in your physical body, mind and soul. It therefore helps to transmute negative karma and the cause of disease. This may sound too good to be true, especially as it’s free! But it is worth trying out. For a start, see this website dedicated to the violet flame: The Violet Flame
    There is also a good pocket book called Violet Flame to Heal Body, Mind & Soul by Elizabeth Clare Prophet (Summit University Press – Pocket Guide to Practical Spirituality series). See also Simone’s Violet Flame Videos for some great hands-on videos.
  3. Saint Germain, in the book Saint Germain on Alchemy – For the Adept in the Aquarian Age recorded by Mark and by Elizabeth Clare Prophet (Summit University Press, Livingston, MT. 1985) has some great teaching on purity of motive for change.
  4. See The Living Flame of Love and The Dark Night in the Collected Works of St. John of the Cross (ICS Publications, Washington D.C. 1991)

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abaez

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