Conversation with Buddha and TMichael: Truth and Trust
TM: I can see upon reflection of what you have said about reincarnation and karma that I had a notion that it was a form of punishment to correct wrongdoing, or reward for good things done. And one has to come back time and time again to get it right. That’s not it though, is it?
Master Buddha: Getting it right, meaning purifying your essence while in material form, and consequently purifying your material form would be one way to see it. Punishment and reward is wholly a human concept.
TM: But we have so many stories of God(s) punishing people for all sorts of things they did wrong, or for disobeying God(s). How do we change our orientation toward that model?
Master Buddha: I don’t know. You could just give it up because it no longer serves you.
TM: Well, that’s just too easily said. Much harder to do I think.
Master Buddha: You have to make that choice whether to hold on to what you once knew and cherished as truth or to embrace a new idea that better suits your current state.
TM: How do you know when it’s time to do that?
Master Buddha: Ask yourself, what is the worst that could happen if I embrace this new thought? Can you not retrieve the old one? Who gave you all these rules that you must rigidly follow?
TM: I suppose at some point I accepted them as truth and have clung to them because I want to live according to truth.
Master Buddha: Truth shifts with you. It is not a fixed thing that you can cling to and drag it around. Truth represents reality. But remember that your journey on Earth in material form presents you with an avalanche of illusion. You must be adaptable and truth seeking, not truth-clinging.
TM: Don’t you have to have something to hold onto for just a little while? I mean, isn’t truth-seeking a truth to follow? When would you give that up?
Master Buddha: As soon as I believe it no longer serves me. And service to me could mean something very different than when I adopted truth-seeking in the first place. You like many others are afraid of losing control and so you place limits; you reduce meaning and experience. Reincarnation and karma allow for a non-judgmental experience of life in material form. If you are fluid enough in your orientation you can experience all that there is in the world of illusion in a very short time. If you’re not, then you can take a long time to spin around in the same space until you realize that is what you’re doing.
TM: How do we know which truths to trust and to follow?
Master Buddha: You don’t know based upon trust do you? You know based upon deliberation in a mental process. You know based upon what has been handed down through the ages in the form of teachings and social norms. You know according to your familial orientation. And you know according to what serves your ego.
If you knew based upon trust, you would not need those other inputs would you?
TM: So you’re implying that I need to find trust first?
Master Buddha: The ego does not trust; it scans. It searches high and low for signs of agreement or disagreement with its agenda. It will play any role that serves to maintain its primacy. It is, in fact, the most worthy foe of any one you could meet. And it is who you think you are.
Trust is incongruent with ego. That is, unconditional trust is in congruent with ego. Trust based upon conditions and waivers abound with the ego. To seek truth with such a handicap is nearly impossible if not maddening.
In ancient cultures, trust was based upon instinct. With modern civilization, the mental faculty has replaced instinct. Beyond the mental faculty you will discover the true seat of trust for your purposes of living on Earth. Then you may choose truths based upon trust.
Conversation with Buddha and TMichael: Reincarnation and Karma
TM: Yesterday we were discussing reincarnation and I asked you if we could include karma. Will you explain karma and whether or not it affects reincarnation?
Master Buddha: Karma does factor into reincarnation. It does so by the nature of what karma is. Let me explain. Karma is simply the eternal spirit of a human taking personal responsibility for his or her life experience. There is an ethical element of course, but not to the degree that many believe. The intensity of the ethical element is an effect of the person herself emphasizing this aspect. That is to say there is no external force determining which acts of the individualized self are subject to karma and which are not. It is the person who decides.
If for example a person commits an act of violence, a consequence is set in motion. Let’s say that the violence is acted out against someone. There is the consequence of injury to the victim and there is the consequence of how the violent actor feels about this act.
TM: What if the violent actor feels good about the act; it was an act of vengeance? What is the consequence to that?
Master Buddha: It depends on the victim’s collaboration in this particular incident. Believe it or not, there are acts that are requested by victims, even horrific acts that you would say that you would never wish on anyone. But let me explain, because I can hear your mind protesting this claim.
From the time of mind endowment for humans, a sense of right and wrong began its slow development. It was at that time that karma also began for humanity; once humans were able to discern and feel ethically, they were responsible for their actions and consequences. Religion in its many forms became a guide as well as an enforcer and judge of unethical acts and their consequences, and also the reward provider for ethical acts. This system of informing humans of what is ethical and what isn’t, however crude, was the first step toward recognition on a social level of the responsibility accorded to an experiential life on Earth.
Karma has nothing to do with the justice meted out by human institutions. If a person commits a violent act toward another, then justice as administered by fellow humans shall determine the consequences of punishment, and retribution if any for the victim. This is as it should be for now. But this is not karma; this is humanity providing justice for itself as a social act. Karma reflects responsibility of the eternal essence of being and is determined by that essence through its personalized spirit relationship with its creator. This is only possible because the eternal essence is one with its creator ultimately, yet is differentiated for the purpose of experience. It is never in reality separate, but has the experience of being so.
TM: So, I’m not clear yet on how a victim asks for it, so to speak.
Master Buddha: Yes, I know this one is difficult for you because in your conscious human state you can’t imagine that you would ever ask for such a thing and that it is just a way for wrongdoers to justify their actions. On a spirit level there is communication between beings that is not evident in their conscious human awareness. Sometimes you recognize it, but not very often. Personalized spirits, such as you, are at once one with your creator and yet separate for the purpose of experience. It is in the state of separation that experience leads you to that which is not your true spiritual nature. Karma is the correction, harmonizing or balancing act. When you take responsibility, of your own volition, your divine nature leads and no external force or judgment is required. This why karma is acted out over many lifetimes. The eternal essence corrects that which is not of its divine nature by its choice in time, place and lifetime.
The difficulty for you to accept this is that you are accustomed to the human ethical nature, which operates in the norm of “don’t get caught”. For you to imagine that you would deliver your own justice is nearly impossible.
TM: You’re right it is nearly impossible, but not entirely. What if human justice is experienced, does the essence still have to do a correction, or karmic experience, separate from the human one?
Master Buddha: Yes. But again I emphasize that it may not be in the way that you will interpret based upon your code of justice.
TM: In the case where the victim doesn’t arrange to be the victim, what responsibility does the perpetrator have in karmic terms?
Master Buddha: As I said, it is up to the personalized spirit essence to determine that. That means it is specific and particular to that essence in bringing relationship to his creator back into harmony and unity.
Conversation with Buddha and TMichael: Reincarnation
TM: What is reincarnation exactly?
Master Buddha: Every living thing on Earth has an eternal essence, or spirit. That spirit or essence cycles through life experience in material form and in various other forms, and what may be called non-forms from the perspective of material being. In the material form on Earth of which we are speaking, there are many choices. The essence chooses according to the experience one has been created to experience.
TM: Does this mean that those of us in human form would choose human form in the next life on Earth and not that of an animal, insect or plant?
Master Buddha: That’s correct.
TM: Does that also mean that no other past life we were any of those other forms and then graduated to human form?
Master Buddha: It is correct that individual essence, or personalized essence does not vary in forms in successive incarnations on Earth. Each kingdom, mineral, plant, animal, human, and spirit has a role to play for the uplifting of vibration of the whole. It means that as each tiny life fulfills that role to a greater and greater point of perfection then the whole rises in vibration and thus contributes to the likelihood of greater perfection, so on and so forth.
TM: What is meant by ‘vibration’?
Master Buddha: Vibration is measured by frequency, as you may be familiar in sound frequency or light waves. A wave is produced and the shorter the wave, the higher the frequency, i.e. the faster its frequency of repetition. Another way to think of it is in density. Slower or lower frequencies are denser, and the opposite is true for higher, faster frequencies. This happens at a subatomic level and then is reflected in the ultimate form composition intended by the inhabited essence. The choosing of a form is instinctual according to the essence’s creative prerogatives. That is, a human essence will instinctively choose a human form, a plant essence a plant form. As that essence progresses over many lifetimes, it will increase its vibration within that form. As each individual increases the vibration of its form there is a phenomenon that occurs in that other forms within that kingdom also increase slightly, and to a lesser degree the vibration life forms within other kingdoms increase as well.
TM: What is actually vibrating then?
Master Buddha: The essence within the form, which then reverberates throughout the form.
TM: And the essence is made up of what?
Master Buddha: The essence is comprised of light and sound waves, plus energetic qualities that resemble light and sound, but are distinct in their vibration apart from their binding with light and sound.
TM: So is consciousness the same as essence?
Master Buddha: In all discussion about these matters, it is a good idea to differentiate between individual and group reference. Consciousness, like essence, can be either individual or group. It is a part of essence as I am speaking of it here.
TM: Is there a set number of lives that an individual essence must fulfill and what happens at some point of fulfillment?
Master Buddha: If you mean, is there a quota of number of lives, the answer is no. Each individual essence progresses as its free will and experience determine. All benefit from the most progressive for the reasons stated earlier. This ensures progress for all. Each kingdom progresses and thus assists the other kingdoms to also progress.
TM: So what is the aim eventually? Is the progression infinite or finite, and how is that decided?
Master Buddha: From our perspective, the progress is infinite. This is because we haven’t the capacity to comprehend the finite within divine expression.
TM: May we speak later about the role of karma in reincarnation?
Background to A Prayer from Maitreya with TMichael
TMichael: This meditation was given to me many years ago by Maitreya. After reciting it daily since then I have just begun to understand its significance and meaning to me. Prayer and meditation are often emblematic of the mystery of life, subjective and personally revealing in their own way and time. Please receive this prayer in that spirit.
Love in Abundance
With every breath that I breathe in I receive love in abundance, and
With every breath that I breathe out I send love in abundance into the world,
I am filled with love in abundance.
As I receive love in abundance I use my courage, truthfulness, goodness and beauty to enhance its value for the benefit of all.
I follow the path of love and wisdom.
I am grateful for all that I receive in love in abundance,
And I am grateful for all that I share with others.
I am that I am and thus receive the blessings of love in abundance.
Conversation with Jesus and TMichael: Conditions on Earth (Part 2)
TM: Let’s say I’m sufficiently confused. A story without a beginning or an ending is unimaginable to me. It defies our understanding of science, our framework for history, drama, literature, everything. But do continue.
Master Jesus: You know when business innovators tell you to think outside the box? This is one of those times. Only I’m not so much a business innovator as I am a spiritual innovator working with life concepts that happen to include business.
Humans are organized energy, as are plants, minerals, animals, oceans, atmosphere and every living thing on this planet and in this universe. The pattern that forms the visible form is one part to be understood, the creator of the pattern, another, and the energy itself yet another. Most humans are not aware (except some scientists and philosophers who at least explore this thesis) of these basic concepts and therefore lack understanding of their origins and motivation for living. In short, they don’t know where they came from, where they’ve been or where they are going, or why as a species they are on this journey. They do, however, desire to know at some point in their lifetimes, but usually it’s on their deathbeds. There’s not much time to explore the meaning of life at that point.
It is much easier to let the storytellers create tales that have a beginning, middle and end. That’s logical and neat. But that isn’t the way it is, only the way it has been told to pacify humans. Parents do this with their children. Spirits have done this with humans. It is time to undo this. It is time to lift the veil and reveal things as they are.
I am the Master Jesus, as you know me. But my indwelling spirit is not of this world as I have stated. What does that mean? It means what I said; my indwelling spirit is not of this world—Earth. Neither is yours. For that matter, neither is it the case for any human on Earth. No living spirit is of this world. The human forms were created here and are of this world and will die here and return to the stuff of their origins.
The indwelling spirits shall return to their places of origin. Many spirits have journeyed here repeatedly for millions of years, even though you would reckon human history in the thousands of years, I tell you it is much longer than you can imagine. The patterns for all forms visible to you now are not identical to ones that have existed here before now. The patterns change, as does the composition of energy that fills the patterns. The creators of the patterns and the energy change as well. So you see all things change.
The originating points for the indwelling spirits are manifold in the millions. Humans ponder the prospects of alien life visitors when in fact your very essence of spirit is precisely that. There are indeed physical-form, alien life visitors who frequently come to Earth. They are no more or less spectacular than you. As a matter of fact they think you are pretty spectacular; that’s why they visit Earth. They are advanced in ways that you are not; mainly in scientific terms. But it is only necessary for you to accept your far-flung origins to accept the presence of others here from points far and wide. There are spirits who are in forms invisible to humans who visit here and have done so for millions of years. They leave clues of their presence, but very few humans pay attention.
It’s okay if you don’t know about these things. Now is the time to learn. Learn about yourselves and from where you have come. You will know me as a teacher, as I have always been. I will tell you about yourselves and assist you in learning how to live together in peace. Despite your long history of conflict and wars, it is now time for peace. The observations of others in the universe are focused on this point—can the humans of Earth live in peace, or will they slide further into unmitigated conflict that will destroy life. It’s the question we asked and humans will answer it with their choice.
TM: When you talk about beings from other planets, it sounds like, well, no offense, but it sounds kind of out there. Crackpot comes to mind.
Master Jesus: Of course it does. Humans have created a story of denial around this fact. You should have seen how difficult it was to reverse the story that the sun and the planets of this solar system revolved around Earth. It wasn’t just the clergy who held onto this story. Remember our opening to this conversation? When enough people hold a belief with enough emotional force for long enough, then it becomes unshakeable truth. Your governments, and I mean all of them as the leaders of the world, know about these things to some degree. They have taken the position that it is better to keep a lid on this because it would destroy the story and the world would collapse into chaos. There comes a point however when there are enough experiences outside the boundaries of the story that the story has to shift. Now is that time. The story is changing just as it did when the proper order of the solar system was revealed. Crackpot is actually a very appropriate name. The pot will be cracked, shattered more likely. The contents will be revealed. Your government leaders who have kept secret this information initially feared chaos, now they fear massive anger by the populace for them withholding this information and denying they were doing so for so long. Remember the denials have been going on for many decades.
TM: I don’t believe there will be so much anger as there will be curiosity for answers and if the governments will be forthcoming, people will quickly get past the anger.
Master Jesus: Therein lies a problem for your world leaders. They have so mismanaged this situation that they fear anger coupled with complete loss of confidence will result in their loss of power. Chaos, they believe, will ensue. Once people realize that their power has been held in place by major deceptions, people will revolt and overthrow the governments. They have been informed that their containment of this information shall be pierced and that is why events are unfolding they way they are at this time. They are scrambling to cover themselves.
TM: All of this seems far a field from what you usually teach. What happened to the render unto Caesar approach?
Master Jesus: We’ll get to that. As I said earlier, things change. Everything changes. This includes what is being taught and the methods of teaching. Humans have assumed, wrongly, that they are the only ones affected by their decisions. This is the egocentric aspect of the story. First, the story must be enlarged to include everyone and everything affected by decisions. Then everyone must be given a voice in those decisions. Those of us working from the side of spirit are here to ensure this happens. From that point, humans in their dominant position will decide the fate of Earth and all living things on Earth. That will be judgment day.
TM: Why is humanity in the dominant position to make such a decision and doesn’t that contradict what you said about everyone having a voice?
Master Jesus: There is no contradiction. Humanity was given this prerogative under conditions of fairness and full understanding of all points of view. The struggle as you can see is between factions of humanity who believe they have the right understanding. This will have to be resolved and will be soon.
TM: Back to the alien visitor part—when will we learn more about this? Why can’t these aliens make direct contact with the general populace? By going through corrupt leaders, it seems they are in league with them to perpetuate a deception for the general population.
Master Jesus: Despite what you may think, there has been very little direct contact between alien visitors and government leaders. If you can realize that there are mischievous visitors among the ranks of aliens as there are among humans. The most contact has been from that group and your leaders have rightly observed their dishonesty. Secrecy and fear and the power accrued to those in the know has blocked the process up to this point. But as I indicated earlier, this is about to change. Those visitors who are here to assist in the fulfillment of humanities’ role are notifying the government leaders of their intent to communicate with the general population of Earth.
TM: Aren’t you and others violating that protocol by revealing this to me and thereby to others who may read this?
Master Jesus: This revelation through this method is how it is to unfold. That has been conveyed to the leaders. There will be a gradual unfolding.
Conversation with Jesus and TMichael: Conditions on Earth (Part 1)
TM: This being our second writing, where shall we start?
Master Jesus: We shall note for the record that we are beginning this series of conversations on Easter Sunday in the year 2004. That may be significant to some folks.
TM: Should it be significant and if so in what way?
Master Jesus: First of all, there isn’t a ‘should’ involved. It either is or it isn’t significant based upon one’s orientation to these things. For some people, Easter is a big deal, wouldn’t you agree?
TM: Yes. But I have to say that for me, it’s not really.
Master Jesus: You say that but it’s not entirely true. When you were younger, in adolescence, you went to a Christian church every Sunday and Easter was a big deal in your life. Even your father who rarely attended services attended Easter Sunday. So, it was a big deal at one point.
TM: True it was then but it hasn’t been that way for over thirty-five years. I think I can say it isn’t a big deal now.
Master Jesus: It’s okay if it isn’t. The one fact you can’t escape in the influence of religious practice on society is that the significance of major religious events is en-grained in your being like DNA imprints on your physical body. They affect you whether you are aware or not. Human consciousness on the whole is not an individual affair. You can increase or decrease the affect by conscious awareness. The affect is there nevertheless.
TM: So, I’m affected in ways I’m not aware? Will you elaborate and give an example?
Master Jesus: You reside in a Judaic-Christian society. On Easter and during the weeks preceding Easter there is a build up of energy in the form of thoughts and emotions based in ancient traditions and expectations. Every year this energy recycles, gaining momentum from the previous cycles. When enough people experience this recycling of energy they perpetuate it through their contribution. And so it builds over time. Even though you may not participate in Easter services, you experience the affects of others in your society who do participate. Because you participated as a young person your connection to the experience is greater than someone who has never participated. Even that person will experience something despite his/her religious orientation.
TM: There is an air of worship and reverence I sense on Easter.
Master Jesus: That’s what I’m referring to, although it may register as something else to someone else.
TM: How many other beliefs and mass experiences does this same phenomenon occur?
Master Jesus: Whenever there is a strong belief tied to an emotional commitment with a large number of people, sustained for a long period of time, then this phenomenon occurs. Sometimes there are competing thoughts existing at the same time. When this occurs collectively you feel the energetic tension of opposition. This is the great duality that plays out constantly in human affairs. There is a saying to avoid politics and religion in polite conversation. That is recognizing the deeply engrained opposition and emotional force behind the tension—it is uncontrollable at times. It is reserved then for a different arena; one in which conflict can be explored.
TM: Is that why it is so difficult to change the way we do things in our society even when they are destructive?
Master Jesus: Did you have a particular example in mind?
TM: Yes I do. I’ve been thinking about our economic system of capitalism and how it has deteriorated over time. I see the initial guiding principles and see how it was altered. Along with many other people I want to change it so that it serves everyone, but the forces opposed to change seem enormous.
Master Jesus: What would you change about it?
TM: It’s almost too much to list here. In short, capitalism cannot be just about more—producing more, consuming more, pursuing more wealth for the purpose of perpetuating the cycle of production and consumption of more. We have to integrate higher values into the equation. I had a friend say to me that he thought that maybe the destruction of the Earth and many or all of the species was the right path and the inevitable outcome of this life experiment, and maybe then new life springs from that and a new cycle begins. He is a well-respected, financially successful businessman. When I heard him say that I began to understand the rationale behind the opposition to change.
Master Jesus: So, is your friend correct?
TM: I’m working from the premise that we don’t have to destroy everything if we have a consciousness that is inherently creative and can alter our path creatively to support life in an ever-changing dynamic.
Master Jesus: What if you’re both correct? What if these two points of view are true, then what?
TM: Then it’s a matter of choice. Our society can choose one or the other.
Master Jesus: And you’d like society to choose your point of view?
TM: Well, yes I do.
Master Jesus: And your friend would like it to go his way?
TM: Yes, I believe so.
Master Jesus: Then will you and your friend continue to support your respective points of view in how things work out in your society?
TM: I suppose we will unless one of us changes our mind.
Master Jesus: Then this is how it is for everyone on Earth at this moment. It’s about making a choice. Will you destroy life as you know it or will you creatively re-frame it? Does that seem over-simplified?
TM: I was hoping for a little more help I suppose. Maybe you could tilt it one way or the other.
Master Jesus: I guess you can say that I’m working on the side of humanity, which by the way includes your friend and all those who believe as he does. My work has been and is dedicated to assisting humanity in its decisions about living. A major decision is facing humanity now. Will you collectively choose destruction, death and eventual rebirth, or will you choose the next evolution of life from this point. There is no judgment either way, good or bad.
TM: You almost sound indifferent.
Master Jesus: You really want me to choose a side don’t you?
TM: YES! Choose, validate my point of view and give me the strength and courage to fight these bastards!
Master Jesus: And what about your friend? Shall I tell him I support his view so that he is encouraged as well? Or would you prefer I tell him he is wrong and he better get with the program, or else?
TM: Or else what?
Master Jesus: Or else he shall burn in hell of course. Isn’t that what happens to people who don’t get with the program? I’m pretty sure I hear that message quite often, throughout the world and from almost every religion, and evoked in political circles as well. I guess we’ve moved beyond polite conversation haven’t we?
TM: I think if you just simply told my friend and his fellow believers that their path of destruction is wrong, and then they would change because it’s coming from you and you’re the man. They aren’t convinced if I say it or if others in my tribe say it. But they’ll listen to you.
Master Jesus: Really? Why would they listen to me? What am I offering as proof that what you want is right and true for them?
TM: They will accept it on your authority. You are Jesus. In case you’re not aware, that carries a lot of weight. I think they would yield to your point of view.
Master Jesus: Believe me I’m aware of the weight I carry. So, it’s that simple. If I appear on Earth and say to humanity, listen, here are a few things I’d like for you to do at this time, then you believe that everyone will respect my authority and follow those simple directions?
TM: Well, not everyone, but enough of them to swing things the other way.
Master Jesus: Your way?
TM: Yes, for the umpteenth time, my way.
Master Jesus: I just want to be clear about whose way it is.
TM: Since you’re such a stickler for this distinction, many of us who believe this is the right way draw that belief from your teachings. So, I guess we assumed it was also the way you believed was right.
Master Jesus: I’m not sure I remember in which lesson I encouraged you to ‘fight the bastards’.
TM: Touché. But that’s just my emotion speaking. I’d rather not fight. I’d rather you persuade them with your magic and then we could all live happily ever after.
Master Jesus: Again I ask you, why would they listen to me if they believed I was on your side opposed to their beliefs?
TM: You are beyond humanity and know things we don’t. You are the man, the boss, he who rises from the dead. They will just be relieved to know you really exist and that you have an opinion on these matters. Of course they will follow what you say.
Master Jesus: They don’t believe I really exist?
TM: Maybe some of them do, but they think you’re returning some day and you’ll set the record straight then. But until then, they are not going to follow your teachings unless you explain it to them in modern terms. So, I guess I’m asking you to reveal yourself now and tell it like it is.
Master Jesus: You mean in your terms?
TM: Why don’t I just ask you to define it in your terms whether or not it resembles mine? I’m really not caught up on it being my way.
Master Jesus: Okay, I’ll do that for you. It’s a long story are you ready for that?
TM: Sure.
Master Jesus: Long, long ago in a galaxy far, far away….sorry, different story. But one closer than you can imagine to the real one. All of these stories have their origins in truth. There are many entry points for stories because there isn’t a beginning you see. At least there isn’t a beginning that we can identify in words that will express humanity’s story. We can also include humanity’s spiritual journey and that gets us closer to a beginning, but even that isn’t completely a beginning. I’m emphasizing this beginning business because humans are tethered to truth having a beginning and anything that doesn’t have a beginning must be false or non-existent. You’ll have to accept that your story doesn’t have a beginning or an ending. Are you with me so far?
Conversation with Buddha and TMichael: Fear of Death and Life
TM: How does one accept death and the will to live at the same time?
Master Buddha: That’s not so easy to explain or understand. The reason is because of attachment to living and then attachment to accepting death in order to be free from fear. There is, in between the actual truth of acceptance of death and the first step, a period of elation at no longer sensing any fear around dying. When the fear of dying has so long ruled the physical life it is quite a relief to no longer walk in fear of it. However, there will come a test. And that test will present an option to die or an option to live and that is when you’ll discover how attached you are to the notion of dying versus the notion of living and which one actually carries the most fear. There are two parts to the fear aspect of living in the flesh. The first is fear of dying and that preoccupies all your thoughts, emotions and energy to avoid its actuality. Then there comes the fear of living, which exposes all the painful self-inadequacies. That’s enough to make one embrace death, now no longer feared, as an escape from the fear of living.
Just as one has to face the fear of death, one has to face the fear of living. The fear of living is the more difficult of the two because it is more difficult to imagine. Death is universally the same, except perhaps in the actual method or circumstances of death. Living on the other hand can be a slow form of death or a joyous expression of all that is. You can choose which it is. Again, just because one has the power to choose doesn’t make it easier. You must understand what it is that you are choosing and have the skills to choose according to your individual nature.
TM: So, my question assumed there was no fear of living, only fear of dying. How does the will to live then resolve with the fear of living?
Master Buddha: The will to live requires no effort because it is your innate spiritual will, which in the flesh is instinctual. The fear of living is concerned with those matters of quality and choice. How shall one live? What occupation shall one choose to provide the essentials of living? Shall one create a family, a marriage? What will engage my thoughts and my energy? Those are the questions of living that determine the quality of one’s life.
TM: Where do the self-inadequacies come in?
Master Buddha: That is the lifetime struggle for most humans. It depends greatly upon the wisdom of one’s parents and the living environment that one is exposed to during one’s formative years. But even under the best of circumstances it is unavoidable to deal with self-inadequacy to some degree. In the middle, that which is normal, one sees that before a child reaches school age already the seeds of self-inadequacy are planted and many more shall also be planted during the years of attending school. This is a tremendous challenge to change because parents are still struggling with their own self-inadequacies while trying to raise children, schools are populated with adults who are struggling with their own self-inadequacies and of course the children are in the thick of it as well.
TM: So, if I understand what you’re saying, it is self-inadequacy that is the root of our fear of living, not fear of dying.
Master Buddha: Fear of death is first, but it’s a mask for fear of living based upon self-inadequacies. One must first confront fear of death and then begin the process of awareness of self-inadequacies and correction in order to reach the joy of living instead of the fear of living.
TM: What similarity is there between self-confidence and self-adequacy? In Western culture anyway, adequate is mediocre and not good enough if one is to get ahead in life. So where does this reconcile?
Master Buddha: Well, adequacy is a relative term in this case. If the standard in Western society is excellence then that is what is meant by adequate, that is one must be excellent to be self-adequate.
Self-confidence can be genuine or a rationalization that one has created to cover for self-inadequacy. There are only a handful of truly self-confident people, those who have mastered the fear of death and the fear of living. Most people are spread along the spectrum of self-confident, yet still self-inadequate underneath, to self-inadequate as a constant in their daily lives. The meaning of self-confident is to be truthful with one’s self. So, in that case, there can be a conscious level of self-confidence and fears around self-inadequacy at the same time. What I mean, is that you can be aware of your perception of self-inadequacy and still be self-confident in an honest way. That is the point of transition that many people find themselves now. They are exploring self-awareness, which leads to coming face to face with their self-inadequacies, which is giving them a genuine self-confidence that they are progressing toward joy in living. It’s not always perfect and there is still illusion, but it is in the right direction.
TM: Can any of us really be inadequate?
Master Buddha: That’s for each person to determine.
TM: Yes, but we’ve determined for the most part that we are inadequate and you’re saying that’s a problem. So, clearly we’re incapable of making this judgment.
Master Buddha: And by what standards have you determined that you are inadequate?
TM: We set the standard by looking around us and seeing the ones among us who are adequate and then compare ourselves to them.
Master Buddha: And how do you know what makes someone adequate?
TM: We’ve determined through our social consensus the traits that are desirable and those are the ones that form the foundation of our adequacy. Then there are individual traits that one can have that deviate from the social norm that enhance our adequacy.
Master Buddha: So, under your system the guidelines are derived by social consensus and then measured by each of you as you see it in others in contrast to yourself. Do you see others who are less adequate than you are?
TM: Of course we do. There are others who are more and some who are less.
Master Buddha: Have you ever heard someone say really flattering things about you and you felt those things weren’t true?
TM: At first it feels good to hear those things, but there have been times then when I doubt those things are entirely true, maybe a little.
Master Buddha: Do you tell yourself about your qualities that make you adequate?
TM: Not often, but sometimes.
Master Buddha: Do you tell yourself about the times you are inadequate?
TM: Probably more so than the other way.
Master Buddha: Why is that?
TM: Because I’m inadequate more often than not?
Master Buddha: Well, you were a good sport to fall into my trap on this one. Although I know that a part of you believes there is much truth in what you said. It’s hard in this world to counter the many messages of self-inadequacy. And that’s what everyone wants the most, to feel adequate and have others recognize them for this. It’s understandable that if you are telling yourself than you are inadequate that you would turn to others to get the feedback that you are adequate. What happens though when they confirm your belief that you are inadequate?
TM: That’s the worse when it all coincides to tell you that. That’s the worse kind of depression and despair I think; to feel worthless and incapable of living a good life.
Master Buddha: You have a fairly simple prayer that you recite to accept yourself as you are and know you are loved. Because ultimately adequacy has to do with being lovable, don’t you think?
TM: Are you saying they are synonymous?
Master Buddha: I think so, even though adequacy has to do with a performance of talents that in total can make you lovable, what is someone if they are adequate but unlovable? Are they happy? What if they conform to all of the social standards of adequacy, yet they don’t feel others see them in that light and they don’t experience love in their lives?
TM: Well, that pretty much sucks. So you become bitter or you try harder and harder to prove your adequacy, and lovability I guess.
Master Buddha: What is the prayer that you recite?
TM: It’s Love in Abundance. There’s one line in particular that resonates with me in terms of self-acceptance and self-love. “I am that I am and thus receive the blessings of love in abundance.” If I’m feeling critical or judgmental of myself, I often recite that line with a substitution for “that I am”. It could be, “I am selfish and inconsiderate and thus receive the blessings of love in abundance.” It has the effect for me of embracing the worse things I could think about myself in love and then I just feel love and not the power of the criticism or judgment.
Conversation with Jesus and TMichael: Loneliness and Love (Part 2)
TM: Is it an addiction?
Master Jesus: Of course it is. You cling to the old story out of comfort in the fact that it is known, while the new story isn’t known. Humanity has struggled with this dilemma for eons. Always there are those who support change and those in the majority who resist it. This is built into the evolution of the species. If change was too rapid, the status quo might never reach its peak of efficacy. Remember the status quo was selected as the story to abide by at some point. When it begins to wear down in efficacy a new way is discovered. Those comfortable with the old way resist the new way while the others champion the cause of the new way. The tension is created and at some point things change. The addiction is the rationalization that something is good for you when it has passed the point of being so.
TM: So loneliness is an addiction?
Master Jesus: Loneliness is an experience of what love isn’t, which leads to a bridge experience of hope that leads to the promise of love. Back and forth it goes. It is the story that is addictive; the experience of loneliness is part of the story.
TM: Easier said than done to change it. How do we just let the old story go?
Master Jesus: That’s not easy. But consider that it starts with awareness that the new story may be true. Then gradually you begin to notice evidence of the truth. Over time as you welcome the truth the old story wears down until it no longer holds you in its grasp. The ones who understood the truth and who agitated for change usually go through this process too. The timing is different for everyone.
TM: It seems overwhelming at times, the idea that we have so much to understand in order to alter our present course. Sometimes the will to keep things the same over powers the forces of change. But you’re saying it has always been that way?
Master Jesus: Yes, and every generation thinks it’s worse for them; that the stakes are higher. By the way, the forces of change challenge the bedrock of status quo. The energy of the status quo is not so fluid, having crystallized over time. I say that metaphorically to underscore how thought forms behave.
TM: May I change the subject given the subject of change?
Master Jesus: See how easy it is?
TM: What are the greatest expressions of love that you observe in our culture of modern times?
Master Jesus: There are expressions of love through individuals and through institutions and they are in abundance throughout the world every second. Believe it or not it is the predominate emotion.
TM: Really? It doesn’t seem that way. I thought you said in our last conversation that the other energies were stronger right now and that you guys are trying to strengthen love to make it dominant.
Master Jesus: We are strengthening the manifestations of love, so that when the force that comes in behind it comes, love will be expressed so fully that everyone will experience it. It’s not what you observe so much because of the filters of observation. To many, expressions of love are signs of weakness, or at the very least non-productive. I observe the intimate moments between a parent and child, which is possibly the most intense expression of love. There is romantic love that for some is the only expression of love that they have ever known. There is the expression of love between friends; that love being rooted in loyalty and forgiveness and most closely imbibed with no conditions.
When I witness communities coming together to help one of its members through a crisis; that is an expression of love. An act of creation inspired by love can be a beautiful song, a painting, a home crafted with the hands of its inhabitants or a building 50 stories high that embraces the dreams of its residents. I find expressions of love in the works of many. You call it survival, but I say that it’s love. Providing for one’s survival is love. It has been distorted and made into a material quest for more, but it is nevertheless the ultimate expression of love for one’s self. It doesn’t matter if it is used to gratify the ego or punish one’s neighbor or competitor. It is an act of love to survive.
TM: Hang on just a second. You’re saying that love can be used to gratify egos and punish people and that’s okay?
Master Jesus: I’m saying that survival is an act of love, perhaps the ultimate act. The act itself is not diminished by misinterpretation.
TM: So, if someones intent is to survive, that’s love. And if they happen to kill a few people along the way, that’s okay?
Master Jesus: Hmmm…. that’s a bit extreme isn’t it? We’re talking about love and you’re mixing in attributes of what love isn’t. I appreciate the confusion that exists around absolute rules and definitions. That is what humanity wants you know, precise definitions and guidelines. I’m sorry to disappoint you in that regard, but it doesn’t work that way. Every time you create a black and white answer to a complex system you inevitably end up with contradictions in practice.
Let’s take these one at a time. Survival is an act of self-love. Providing for one’s loved ones for their survival is an act of love. The next part of your question then moves to the means of survival; how one goes about securing the provisions for survival. The means to an end debate has gone on for some time, but hasn’t really been decided has it?
TM: It has for me, although it is a major struggle at times depending on how refined you make it. I wouldn’t kill someone in order to get food or water.
Master Jesus: Let’s say a group of people in your community formed a militia and commandeered the food and water supplies. They are determined that only certain people are entitled to these supplies and the rest shall perish through starvation. In a sense, they are killing you and others like you. Assume you have no other outside resources. Is it self-defense for you to harm them in your quest for survival?
TM: I don’t know what I would do. To do nothing means I would die and if killing them was the only means to survive myself, then that doesn’t seem right either. What’s the right thing to do in that case?
Master Jesus: There isn’t a right thing to do in this case. There is only what you would do and what they would do. We’re assuming this scenario from your perspective of survival. But what if we peered into their perspective and discovered that their actions are necessary to the survival of the community because they have discovered that there is a lethal, communicable disease running rampant throughout the community and they are able to isolate the infected ones from the healthy members. The food and water provisions are likely to be disrupted because of this calamity and so a quarantine of the sick ones and rationing of the scarce provisions is the only way for the healthy members of the community to survive and rebuild the community. Should all the members of the community perish because they haven’t the will to allow the ones with a lethal disease to die without wasting their means of survival?
TM: These are the scenarios we pray we never have to face; the stories of stranded expeditions where people resort to cannibalizing to survive. It hurts to even imagine what I would do.
Master Jesus: We have examined an extreme case that most people never have to face. But by degrees from this, people do experience it in some form or another. That is why it is so difficult, for example, for a wealthy person who is many degrees from starvation to understand the plight of those who are inches from starvation. People don’t know to whom they should attribute their good fortune to survive comfortably. Some thank themselves, some thank God and some thank others. Others don’t know whom to curse for their misfortune.
TM: As of this writing, the aftermath of the tsunami that struck countries in the Indian Ocean bears witness to much suffering and at the same time much compassion by wealthier countries. What can you say to this situation?
Master Jesus: You’re right the suffering is immense and the outpouring of aid once it was realized the amount of devastation has also been immense. This is an example of what I’m talking about. The next step is to recognize the chronic suffering by hundreds of millions of people throughout the world every day. In some cases emergency aid is warranted, but for the most part it is the long-term commitment of resource sharing that is needed. The tension exists between the aggressive tendencies of humanity against the tender heart of humanity. This can be measured by the level of fear in the minds of those in control of the resources. The greater their fear, the more they rely on aggressive tendencies (even though they’re couched as defensive). As fear is diminished, so they are open to loving response.
It’s rare to find an individual with the capacity to share what they have with others. Sometimes their sharing is limited by their fear that maybe they won’t have enough for themselves when the time arrives. Sometimes it’s because they don’t know where to begin. Sometimes they follow the institutional giving route that makes it easier to identify to whom to give and how much. Groups behave in a similar manner. To the government sharing add the component of strategic politics. Sharing starts with increasing individual capacity for sharing by reducing fear. For this reason individual awareness is a major focus of spiritual work.
Background Conversation with Jesus and TMichael: Love and Loneliness (Part 1)
This is the third conversation with Masters Jesus and Buddha. I’m never sure how it’s going to start. I sit. And wait. I think of things to say but they’re not really the things to say only forced ideas that my mind impatiently pushes into the foreground to get it going. But then a question springs up and that’s the beginning.
Conversation with Jesus and TMichael: Love and Loneliness (Part 1)
TM: Why are people in my culture so lonely and are people in other cultures lonely too?
Master Jesus: That’s a good question. Relevant for many people, yet misunderstood in this age of plenty and hectic daily living. As I look at the times that have passed and note that throughout human history and human suffering, never has there been as much loneliness relative to so much material and social progress. How could this be?
TM: That was my question.
Master Jesus: Don’t you have an idea why it is so?
TM: I don’t really know. I observe people who are lonely and I feel sad for them. Sometimes I see people who are surrounded by friends and family and still they are lonely. They’ve somehow lost contact in a way that they don’t know if they exist or not I suppose. I’ve had moments when I felt alone, but they seemed fleeting like a day or two and then I remembered something that connected me and I was back.
Master Jesus: Do you imagine hope has anything to do with the feeling of loneliness?
TM: I don’t think so, but since you brought it up I imagine that you think it has something to do with it. Do you?
Master Jesus: No I don’t. But I can tell you that people who are experiencing loneliness feel as if there is no hope for them. They are hopelessly isolated.
TM: If that’s so, then hope does have something to do with it.
Master Jesus: Really? And how is that?
TM: Well, if there’s an absence of hope, then hope has something to do with it then hope has something to do with it—the reason why they’re feeling lonely.
Master Jesus: What if they’re wrong? What if hope is just something that fills the gap in a perception of life filled with holes? What if hope merely replaces for a moment the underlying sense of despair that is the theme of a disjointed view of life?
TM: Yes, but that is the point of hope. It’s sort of a wild card, a get out of jail free card. It bails you out when you don’t know exactly what has you down, whether it’s loneliness or depression or sadness. Hope is a handy antidote.
Master Jesus: That’s an interesting way to view it. I see love fulfilling that promise. So is hope a bridge then to something else?
TM: I guess so in a way. It’s getting out of someplace, an emotional place that feels yucky. I’d say it’s more of an escape “out of” rather than a bridge. Although I think in order for it to work, obviously it has to be a bridge to something better than the thing that one is getting out of. But since you brought up love, how is that different from hope? Isn’t it the promise of something better but in a more generalized way?
Master Jesus: Love is more than the promise of something better. It is all there is. Any other state is a creation of someone who isn’t connected consciously with the only state there is. So that that doesn’t confuse you, let me state it another way. When you are experiencing loneliness, fear, doubt, depression or sadness, you have created those states, but they’re not real. They’re illusions. Love is real and the only state.
TM: When you say they’re not real and love is, what do you mean? What does ‘real’ mean?
Master Jesus: The limitations of language are real. ‘Real’ means the genuine thing, the enduring, absolute thing. It is the be all, end all. There can be no other. Something is unreal when it poses as something real. Sadness poses as reality, and so does loneliness. Those states pretend to be real to give you the experience of what it would be like if they were real.
TM: That’s fine for you to say, but how can we know that is true? When people are lonely or sad they are those things. That is a real experience.
Master Jesus: I see how you trap yourself in believing that those states are as real as love. Let’s say that only one thing can be real. Let’s also say that everything other than that thing is unreal. The only reason you would believe that the unreal things are real is that you believe the real thing is unreal.
TM: Now you’re messing with my head. I don’t follow you. I know love is real. When I experience love I know it and it’s real. Then there can be a moment when I experience loneliness and it’s different than love and for that moment it is real and love isn’t activated or present, at that moment, so the other thing is and it’s real. Why can’t they all be real?
Master Jesus: So, by your reasoning all things are real and none are unreal?
TM: Yes, I guess that’s true.
Master Jesus: But only one of them can be real at one time, is that it?
TM: For the most part, yes. But I think there are times when I experience more than one state at a time, or there’s some overlap. Often I can sense the transition from one state to another.
Master Jesus: What causes the shift then, from one to another?
TM: I don’t know, it just shifts. Thoughts trigger the shift I suppose.
Master Jesus: And you create the thoughts, is that correct?
TM: Yes.
Master Jesus: And you create the thoughts with the intent to shift from one state to another, or is it involuntary?
TM: Well, mostly I think if you’re depressed or lonely then you’re motivated to shift out and so it’s a conscious act. If you’re in a happy or joyous state and you start to slip into another state it seems more of an unconscious act. I mean people basically want to be happy and so they strive to stay that way. If they’re sad they try to get to the happy state.
Master Jesus: I noticed you used happy and joy, not love. Why is that?
TM: I remember what you’ve said, that happy and joy are states of love.
Master Jesus: So does that make love a meta-state?
TM: Could be I guess.
Master Jesus: If love is a meta-state and happiness and joy are states that reflect love, then what meta-state does loneliness and despair reflect? Or do you consider them to be meta-states?
TM: I consider them to be undesirable states. But I don’t know the answer, maybe they reflect evil.
Master Jesus: Now we’re getting somewhere. So, you believe then that love and evil are the meta-states and from those the others come into momentary reflection?
TM: I wasn’t aware that I thought that, but maybe I do or maybe I just don’t know and you’re putting words into my mouth. I have never thought that deeply about it. I guess I’m like most people I just live my life from one state to the next trying to stay a little longer in the good ones and avoiding the undesirable ones.
Master Jesus: Well, that’s an honest answer and one that represents the majority, if not all, the human race. But surely you have thought deeply about these things, as have others. Is it that you don’t trust the conclusions you’ve reached?
TM: I think it’s more like I’ve never really concluded anything. I resort to the old story of love and evil, good and bad, happy and sad, because that’s easier than risking a new story that may not be true. And at least the old one is accepted by nearly everyone.
Master Jesus: It’s time to risk a new story. I think you already have, but you’re not sure whether or not you want to tell it. What if you’re wrong, right? Then you’ve duped yourself and everyone else who believed you. I’ve told it and others have told it. It gets changed a little here and there so that it looks more like the old story to make it more comfortable for everyone. So, I’ll tell it again.
TM: Please do. I’m willing to listen. Is this going to answer my original question about loneliness?
Master Jesus: Yes, and more. Love is all there is in this universe. It is the meta-state. Every other state of emotion you experience is either a reflection of love, or it is a state you have individually and collectively created in order to experience that which isn’t love. Evil is the creation of humanity and is unreal. It appears real because you believe it is as part of your collective agreement to do so.
You experience life one moment at a time on Earth. You experience life on more than the Earth dimension. The meta-state of love is on all dimensions. You create within the realm of Earth during your incarnation here. Your creation does not extend beyond this dimension. You can choose to create with love or you can choose to create with that which is not love. At the point when your creation is purely from love then your boundary of creation will expand. That is the moment we are all waiting and working for.
The challenge of humanity is to synthesize all that is in your human nature with all that is in your spiritual nature. Love is in both and will temper the fusion. Give up your addiction to your own creation when it isn’t in alignment with love.
Humans are organized energy, as are plants, minerals, animals, oceans, atmosphere and every living thing on this planet and in this universe. The pattern that forms the visible form is one part to be understood, the creator of the pattern, another, and the energy itself yet another. Most humans are not aware (except some scientists and philosophers who at least explore this thesis) of these basic concepts and therefore lack understanding of their origins and motivation for living. In short, they don’t know where they came from, where they’ve been or where they are going, or why as a species they are on this journey. They do, however, desire to know at some point in their lifetimes, but usually it’s on their deathbeds. There’s not much time to explore the meaning of life at that point.