Conversations with Zoe and Buddha: An Affirmation of Success
Buddha: There are those who think how will I survive if I don’t do? If I don’t achieve? If I don’t succeed? But ask yourself- survive what? Living? You cannot survive this as it is your destiny to leave living through death. This is inevitable. Does this mean put yourself in harms way? No. But learn to cherish the living one within. The one that unites you with all other Ones. The eternal. It is here to enjoy and explore. So why not enjoy and explore? Perhaps you can do this as you go about your daily life and business. Perhaps you can make this your affirmation of success.
Conversations with Zoe and Buddha: The Three Musketeers
Buddha: The Three Musketeers- I like that story. The story that resolves itself around a principle that I myself taught and continue to witness being taught.
One for All and All for One!
You are bonded by your heritage- part of the cosmic force that defies time and space, form and formless and conceptual reality. You are all one species, physically, here on earth.
Yet you spend time distinguishing self for others. ‘This makes me special, unique, individual’. I say ALL FOR ONE AND ONE FOR ALL! Be your selves. You are separated by the unique combination of the parts that make a body look a certain way, a voice sound a certain way, a mind influenced and think in ways. All of you are unique aspects of the other. This is what your differences are- a reflection of the other parts that you are currently not in this life. So are you unique? In a very tertiary and transitory way. Like a fleeting thought, a small gasp of air. But truly you a real part of the kaleidoscope of ALL. Unite your perspectives and physical forms and see the ALL that you are.
Conversation with Jesus and Zoe: Heed The Murmurings
Jesus: So you think you can do this on your own, this life? This existence?
You can’t. You are all interconnected and interwoven, dependant of the well being of all, all than the one. All of you at the day of reckoning will be held accountable to Us for your ignorance, misdemeanours and misnomers towards others.
Each of you must learn to turn the other cheek, help the stranger, love your neighbour before the ascent of your race is possible. This is why highly evolved beings return to earth – to ease the suffering. Thinking of the All not just the One. The suffering tide is coming. It will come in TV shows and books, churches, synagogues, mosques, earthquakes and hurricanes and it will ask each of you to look within and find the humanity, the strength, the willingness to help those who are weaker, more vulnerable and less able than yourselves.
For those of you who worship at the bank and in “goods” this will be shaken or taken away and a New world order, a New earth will emerge and fill the cracks, the voids in the old ones.
The prophets are in place. The time is now. Those that feel the move will move with it.
For those that ignore and refuse the inner murmurings (it’s in you All) there will be consequences.
Hail the new order has come and with it a new beginning, a new possibility a New Way of Being for you All.
Heed the murmurings, awake to the realities of your life and your consequential affect on the lives of others and you will hardly notice the change take place.
Jesus: The time is now to rest your arms against your fellow man. The time for destruction based on separation (you there, me here) is over. Unite.
This isn’t just warring parties but for each individual.
Who carries destruction through separation in his/her mind. End the discrimination. End the bitterness and envy towards others. End this now and you will be freed from the coming wave.
So for today work to see the similarities in one another. Resolve to explore what you share and not desire to withhold apart.
Jesus: There is much talk about “Race” in your culture today. So much associated with this. Your past dictating your social future, etc. In spirit we are all one with no concern over pigment of skin, caste and creed, kith and kin. Unite as one and you shall find peace within. Your skin is temporary. It sheds, renews and eventually will lose its form and you will find yourself with us, without any thought of it. Rejoice for this truth can be yours now. Celebrate the differences in form that you have for so few years. Work today to let go of mind or social based judgements. We are all one. Learn to look for this in those that are “different” and you will move closer to us.
Jesus: It is often asked of me why do I need to do this work? Why can’t it be easy? Better? Different!
Work provides a focus for time. It provides challenges, thrills, highs and lows. It means productivity and ultimately civilisation as you understand it.
If everyone let go of work your worlds would become chaos. Without focus, discipline and effort humans do not aspire to greatness.
So work is a way of striving for something better, brighter and bigger than you have.
This does not mean that I condone workaholism or results based efforts. No. I merely bring understanding on the importance of focus, effort, discipline. So why not work?
More importantly learn to love your work. Try this for one week – consciously engaging and positively expecting good things to happen. Focus, effort and discipline can lift you to higher and greater things so do not dampen these talents with negative thinking towards your boss, job or colleagues.
Once you are striving for greater states it will become easier to meet me. And this ultimately is my work for you.
Conversation with Master Buddha and TMichael: Faith
TM: What is the nature of faith as it relates to matters spiritual or religious?
Master Buddha: The nature of faith rests on the premise that there are things one can’t know for certain through direct observation, and so one must imagine that given a strong feeling that something must be true, then it is accepted as true. It becomes a belief in one’s truth based upon the strong feeling.
TM: So what we consider to be evidence of truth through direct observation of facts is not faith?
Master Buddha: Well, that is faith also to some extent, because has one ever experienced absolute proof of truth? Can you truly say that even the things you thought you proved to yourself through direct observation have always been really true? Have there been occasions where you observed a thing to be true and later discovered your observations were not so accurate? There is usually some element of doubt and faith fills in the gap.
TM: Aren’t all these considerations about truth relative to time and our progressive understanding of many things that change over time?
Master Buddha: Yes, of course. Your understanding of truth changes as you grow to reach new understandings about yourself, others and the universe. There is always a measure of faith thrown in to close the gaps and to bridge your doubt and what you perceive is truth in that moment. Once you think you have reached some absolute truth, you will soon discover the illusion inherent in that notion. It is better to say, for now I think I know the truth of this matter and I’ll take it on faith as I continue searching for new information, new knowledge, new understanding about this.
There are those people who believe in a mechanistic universe. That there are physical laws that behave in a way that explains all the phenomena that surrounds you. You might say that even for those believers there is a measure of faith to fill in the parts that are missing.
TM: Some people allow more room for faith and some it seems allow less room. But you’re saying that we all allow some room for faith regardless of our beliefs?
Master Buddha: Yes, I’m saying that. As science has progressed, it has revealed the vast knowledge that humanity has amassed in understanding your world. It has also revealed the vast ignorance. If you plot that on a time continuum you can see that the more that you know, the greater your understanding that there is so much more you don’t know. So, you take what you know and you project a little further into the future of the possibilities of things that could be true. That is a form of faith. If you act upon faith by assuming the projections are true, then it is meaningful. To speculate is to explore ideas about truth and to act upon faith that something is true is commitment.
TM: It seems to me that people of religious and spiritual faith rely upon teachings of the past to form their foundation, which requires faith that the teachings were accurately recording and interpreted.
Master Buddha: And that the projections of those truths are applicable to humanity today. There are many new teachings brought forth today and they are received similarly as were the teachings given long ago. There is a resistance to new teachings by humanity, because they cling to the old ones, the ones they were taught are true. There is a lag in time for new beliefs to be accepted.
TM: No way around that is there?
Master Buddha: Not likely it will change any time soon. It is human nature and probably a good characteristic if it is moderate.
Background to Conversation with Buddha and TMichael on Smoking Cigarettes
Note from TM: This topic may be a bit off from the typical spiritual topics we talk about, but it’s one that I have been wondering about for some time from a spiritual perspective. Many people I know, including myself, have struggled with trying to quit smoking cigarettes. We all know about the health issues associated with smoking, yet continue. Is there an understanding about smoking cigarettes that could help people quit?
Master Buddha: It’s a good topic because it bridges the material and spiritual realms. On the purely physical level smoking cigarettes is well known to create a physical addiction. That is not so difficult to understand or accept.
It weakens the breath capacity and reduces the nutrients that can be carried by the blood. Additionally, it carries with it potentially harmful chemicals throughout the body. This is the part that is established. Just a small amount of common sense can grasp this and say that it is not necessary to smoke cigarettes to achieve good health and that to the contrary it degrades health.On the emotional and mental levels other addictions are at work. Smoking also creates an illusion of power. And this is much harder to give up than the physical addiction. Power can mean different things to different people, but I mean it I the sense that one feels powerful to do whatever one needs to do. If one feels weak in some way, he will compensate by finding some way to feel powerful. This is why so many people begin smoking as a teenager—a time in which a great sense of weakness is experienced. Others experience the attraction to smoking during emotionally upsetting moments. Still others enjoy smoking when they are drinking alcohol (this is more complicated because the source of weakness is not so apparent).
It should be obvious that real power is not gained from smoking cigarettes, but that is exactly what makes it a illusion. For those who derive power from it, it is real, and thus an effective illusion.
There is a proverb that states, “The best way to eliminate is to substitute”. In order to do this in a way that supports substituting real understanding for an illusion, one must understand that the apparent weakness for which the illusion is compensating, can be addressed through self-awareness and contemplation. Some people, when quitting smoking, will substitute another substance or activity that supplies the power they seek. This could be substituting one illusion for another; perhaps one that is less harmful in other ways. The real benefit will come from a true understanding of the weakness perceived in the first place, and then proceed to cure it. Some people can make the behavioral change without this deeper understanding I’m speaking of, and for them this is a success. For others it requires the deeper contemplation and cure. Most likely the underlying feeling of impotence, or weakness, is affecting them in other ways as well and this approach will be more helpful.
The worst thing that can happen is for one to come from an approach of judgment, self-loathing, guilt, shame or anger at oneself. Be gentle with yourself as you begin to unravel the complexities that lead to behavior that is inherently harmful. At one point, however erroneous, the smoking habit derived from an intent to cope by providing a power that compensated for a weakness. Seeing that error in choice and seeking a new one confirms self-love and care.
Conversation with Buddha and Zoe: Mind is Strength, Faith, Focus, Union with Spirit
Buddha: Zoë, you have been hearing my words in your head, ‘resist nothing, resist nothing’ and so on. Let me explain what this means.
For mind and mastery to be complete there needs to be a full understanding of the nature of mind, the workings of mind and the ability from that therefore to direct mind. “Resist nothing” does not refer to earthly pleasures or deliberately indulging in squalid, dirty, self gratification states. However, the fear that that is where the mind could take one, means that one resists certain thoughts, urges and in the resistance, one becomes unable to see what is real. In other words, the fear of what might be real creates resistance so that reality is never quite achieved albeit heavily sought by the individual.
Your mind takes you in a myriad of directions always towards the same point though: truth, honour, trust, faith, strength. Yet this is not the experience of mind that people have. For most, ‘mind’ equates perpetual thinking; perpetual thoughts that take you in a myriad of directions. When one approaches a type of thought that one identifies as ‘bad’, such as what we have already spoken about, one immediately censors those thoughts.
Yet where do these thoughts come from? Why would you censor one and not all thought?
If we were fully present we would be aware of the nature of our thoughts and the thinking process.
I will try to keep this clear and simple on this occasion.
Mind is strength, faith, focus, union with spirit. It is a gateway to the essence, to the soul, to God, and the God experience. The road to this union is paved and littered with thought. These thoughts are like leaves fallen from the trees in autumn. How do we choose to respond to our journey whilst in body? It is often to become distracted by the thoughts that are on the path to the point that we become concerned only with the nature of the leaves and the nature of do we like the leaves. And we have forgotten that the purpose of the path is to bring us to union: union with ourselves in the arms of God. Therefore, resist no leaf. As you are dedicated to following your path, the path to you, the path to union with God, falsehood comes only from focusing and identifying and creating relationships with thought forms. Therefore, resist nothing. Accept all and continue on your journey where we will await you.
Buddha: We wish to speak to you today about extremes. Because extremes move in different ways from a perceived central point, are they any different? No. To clarify, if one is looking to get fit, becoming a couch potato could be extreme, exercising for five hours a day could be perceived as extreme. Are they any different? While the behaviors of a couch potato person and someone who is exercising five hours a day may seem radically different, extremes are extremes.
People who move into extreme behaviors are cut off from their center, so, although we are speaking about extremes, we are actually speaking about those who are devoid of center.
At Wimbledon, the most prestigious court is center court. I like this! One of the best thing or compliments that can be given to a person is that they are centered. Would you trust someone more or less if you described them as centered? Would it be easier to love someone more or less if they were centered?
Humans were designed to be centered yet many spend their lives rushing around in extremes. What do I mean? I mean that ‘centered’ means feeling strong, feeling safe and sound within your own being. How many people actually spend time practicing this within their day-to-day activities? Equally, as there are so few people who practice feeling centered, there are also fewer people who exist in their center; center is all there is.
I ask that all readers find their center. How do you know where your center is? It’s the mind state that makes you feel ‘centered’. I try not to play with words. Sometimes I resist the opportunities to play with minds other times I don’t. The irony is that it is the mind that takes one out of ones center! But let’s not toy here.
To get into your center stop, breathe. You can still do all that you need to do in your day-to-day activities. You can go to work, be at work, come home from work, cook, sleep: centered. You can wake up the children, feed the children, take the children to school, get on with your daily chores, collect the children, feed the children, feed yourself: being centered. Or you can become un-centered and end up in extremes whereby you are in a rush to get to work, rush to complete your work, rush to get home, rush to cook, rush to get to bed. Similarly you can become lost in the chores or lose you own center by focusing on the children’s centers. Are the children fine, are the children fed, are the children ready are the children this, are the children that? These are extremes. I will speak about child rearing at a different time for now it is suffice to say if you are lucky enough to be raising children physically, then be aware- as they say on the airlines, fit your own oxygen mask before you fit that of the child’s. In this case center yourself. A centered parent will raise centered children: simple as that.
So this is your message today from the center to the center, saying find your center. How do you do that? Stop, breathe, be present. Once you have this go about your day to day activities and you will be successful. Success follows center. Spend a minute now thinking about how mundane tasks feel when you’re centered and how mundane tasks feel when you’re not. Similarly think about a big event. How does a big event feel when you’re centered and how does a big event feel when you’re not.
This exercise itself should conclude the importance to you of being centered at all times.
