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Money: Buddha with TMichael

Money, https://conversationswithjesusandbuddha.com/money/ ‎
Money

Conversation with Buddha and TMichael: Money

TM: I’ve received quite a few inquiries about money and requests to talk about it.  There has been a great body of writing on this from a spiritual perspective.  What do you say to someone who asks, “What is the proper relationship to money, how much to have, how to use it, how to get it, etc.?”

Master Buddha:  First of all, there isn’t just one way to view this because each person has his or her particular orientation to money given his or her life path.  Anything I say must be understood as general statements and then I can offer examples of individual circumstances to show how some principles may apply.

As viewed from the spiritual perspective, meaning from a non-material realm, money is as worthless as a bicycle would be for travel across an ocean.  It is purely a human creation.  So your question presumes a spiritual oversight that doesn’t exist except in the form of advice and counsel that may be offered from time to time.  That is the spirit in which I present these ideas today.

Let me attempt to simplify the concept of money in relation to a person.  Humans have decided that money shall represent a value of some thing.   Those things may include the physically inanimate object (house, car, etc.), a personal action (one’s labor), a promise for future delivery of value (speculation), restitution for past value (grievances resolved), a gift of love or social obligation, so on and so forth.  The second premise is that the value of money shall equal approximately the value of that thing in the exchange.  Sometimes the values are not equal, and if they are too unequal, then one or the other person feels either elated or cheated.

The third premise created by humans is a system of ethics regarding transactions between one another using money or the thing valued as the currency.  This is a point of departure between the diverse cultures of the world.  The one dominant force has been the Western philosophy governing the use of money.  The ethics of the Western system have varied over the past two hundred years, but for the most part they have represented an idealism that while noble in its aim has not achieved its goal.

TM: So is it possible to answer my questions?

Master Buddha: I’m getting there, but needed to frame my response for clarity.  The proper relationship to money must take on a general perspective representing larger society (we’ll call general ethics) and the particular relationship of an individual to money.  From the general ethics, the idea of freedom to choose one’s occupation and one’s level of income and expense, is I think the best arrangement.  As we have discussed in these conversations there is a point that one must consider that individual freedom intersects with group harmony.  This means that it is necessary for individuals to contribute to the whole in a way that brings harmony to the whole and doesn’t disturb the peace of the many.  This is the greatest insurance for all.  The current system in Western society doesn’t achieve this goal, but with modification it could.

TM: I’m not clear on what you mean.  Are you saying that there needs to be a balance in interest between the range of individual freedom and the needs of the whole population?

Master Buddha: Yes.  For example, in Western society a person is permitted to amass unlimited wealth.  On the other end of the scale a person is permitted to starve to death or die due to exposure to the elements because he cannot afford shelter.  What is preventing Western society from implementing safeguards at the bottom end of the scale?

TM: We don’t allocate budget for it because we’ve determined other things are more important.

Master Buddha: And the contradiction is that your idealism states that you cherish life above all.  Your military runs to all ends of the earth to rescue those in peril.  Your governments send aid to foreign countries in an attempt to prevent starvation and lethal diseases from spreading.  Yet in your own domestic domain you have families living in such poverty that their lives are at risk daily.

TM: It isn’t a perfect system for sure and most Westerners will agree that we can do more to clean up our domestic programs.

Master Buddha: What do you think is stopping you from doing this?

TM: We have an overly complicated and increasingly corrupt political system that can’t philosophically agree on just how much we are our brother’s keeper.

Master Buddha: It is first and foremost the obligation of your governments, using the general treasury, to prevent starvation and health-related problems derived from poverty.  This cannot be left to the generosity and goodwill of individuals.  It must begin with your domestic sphere first.  It is there that you work out the ethics of being your brother’s keeper as you phrased it.  Once you have mastered that step then sharing that wisdom with other cultures is a natural extension.

TM: We have the resources to do what you suggest, but not the collective resolve to do it.

Master Buddha: This is true, but you asked for a perspective on the proper relationship to money.  You will have to work out the politics in order to deliver a just relationship.

TM: Okay then, maybe you can state what a person should be required to do in order to receive assistance that raises his status above poverty.  That’s where we fail; we can’t agree on that.  Some people say we should be self-reliant and others want to give to others with little or no requirements for self-responsibility.  So, what is the answer?

Master Buddha: Ah you see, now you are into the business of designing a society that grapples with such ethical obligations yet stumbles at the final step failing to complete the mission.  If the US government felt the collective will of its citizens favored a system whereby no citizen would be permitted to fall into poverty, could they achieve that?

TM: Yes.

Master Buddha: Then it must be that the collective will of its citizens do not favor such a system.

TM: How many citizens create a collective will?

Master Buddha: Enough that under your political system you could legislate and implement the system.

TM: Then you must be correct.  Sadly it must be true.  But you still haven’t answered my question of self-responsibility.

Master Buddha: Unfortunately, there is no easy answer.  Your society has through its own design created an array of citizens from the genius to the infantile.  Your society is responsible on a par level with the individuals that make up society.  It will take many generations of enlightened governance to correct the mistakes and injustices created by past policies and practices.  It will likewise take time for individuals to climb out of their ignorance or unfortunate circumstances due to conditions beyond their control.

Wandering your streets are the insane and the helpless.  They cannot take responsibility for themselves in any way.

You have many people who are indolent and averse to responsibility through personal predilection and familial training.  They will have to be educated on a new understanding of their responsibility.

You have a growing number who have turned to crime and are either incarcerated or among the general population.  They will have to be educated, and until they are they will remain incarcerated because you have no other way to assimilate them.

There are those who through no fault of their own have fallen upon hard times due to major shifts in the economy.  They will need to be retrained in new occupations and helped along the way.

When there are enough enlightened citizens there will be a more enlightened government and they will realize the long-term commitment required to correct your system.  It is a race against the clock.

If you do nothing to correct this situation, because as a society you think it isn’t your responsibility, then you will suffer the consequences of doing nothing.  The consequences will include a greater divide between the economic classes, thus more poverty; less efficacy in minimum education achievement among the lower classes; increased criminal activity; reduction of individual freedoms due to crime prevention measures; compartmentalization of community along class lines further reducing the efficacy of government and the erosion of community infrastructure.  You can probably project from there what will transpire next.

If however, you find the collective will to make a long-term commitment to correction, then you will begin to see minor changes for the good.  It will take patience beyond one, two or three generations.  That is perhaps the greatest challenge for a society that has come to expect immediate gratifications of its goals (even though this hasn’t really been the case).

TM: What can you say to the questions regarding individuals and their relationship to money?  What are some guidelines to follow is really what I’m asking.

Master Buddha: As individuals you must graduate through levels of ethical refinement regarding the role of money in your life.  What is good for one person may not be good or right for another.  For that reason do not be hasty in judging others for their view in earning or handling their money.

As Master Jesus and I have maintained throughout these conversations, release judgment from your view.  Find your relationship to money based upon your path and your understanding and allow others to do the same without inveighing their choices.  When you have come to peace with your relationship to money then you may offer a helping hand to others who may wish to hear from you.

© Zoe 2015

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Love and Loneliness (Part 3): Jesus with TMichael

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Love and Loneliness Part 3, https://conversationswithjesusandbuddha.com/love-and-loneliness-part-3/
Love and loneliness part 3

Conversation with Jesus and TMichael: Love and Loneliness (Part 3)

TM: I recently had an experience that put to test what we discussed in parts one and two on loneliness.  Someone very close to me wanted to die because of severe loneliness, alienation, etc.  The ideas that we discussed seemed so intellectual and abstract that she couldn’t bear to listen or discuss them.  She wanted to die because she didn’t care about anything.  What would you do for someone is this shape?

Master Jesus: Love her first.  Love her with all your heart.  Let the power of love pierce her fog of confusion.  Each person will respond differently to mental concepts, but all will respond to the purity of love in the same way.

TM: I don’t know what that means or how to do that.

Master Jesus: It means that your heart informs you and moves you to action, not the mind.  When the mind argues and rationalizes a point to her, the heart just embraces her for who and what she is.  The mind suggests changes immediately, the heart accepts first.  The mind demands discipline and compliance, the heart offers comfort.

TM: Yes, but if she has reached this point, it’s because of behavioral patterns that need augmenting.  Isn’t what you’re suggesting just a form of enabling the behavior that is so destructive?

Master Jesus: I’m speaking about first responses.  The changes will come only when she feels love, first from you then from herself.  Any changes prior to experiencing love are subject to disruption with the slightest provocation.  No matter how sound your mental concepts are, they will wither and fall away if the emotional turmoil is present.  The problem is that the emotional powers are tethered to older thought forms that are made even more powerful when denied or left unaddressed through unconsciousness.  Love begins the dissipation process and provides the strength required to weather the battle.  It must be experienced first; that’s why I say to you to lead with love.

© TM 2015

For Love and Loneliness Part 1 click here.

For Love and Loneliness Part 2 click here.

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Anger Management: Buddha with TMichael

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Anger Management, https://conversationswithjesusandbuddha.com/anger-management/ ‎
Anger management

Conversation with Buddha and TMichael: Anger Management

TM: May I ask about anger and its role in our lives and relationships?  Will you begin with offering a definition of anger?

Master Buddha: What may seem obvious to most everyone is that anger is a reaction to not getting what you want when you want it or in the way you want it.  It can be your fault, or it can be someone else’s fault. The second reflex of anger is retribution or evening the score to recover what you didn’t get plus a bonus for having suffered the agony of anger and inconvenience.  There is also anger once removed, meaning on behalf of an injustice done to another for which you have a connection or affinity.  The reflex of retribution is the same.

TM: I have a difficult time knowing when to express anger, that is, when it’s appropriate and when it isn’t.  Sometimes I wonder whether or not anger is necessary or not, even though it seems to arise as an involuntary reaction.

Master Buddha:  Let’s start with the involuntary reaction part of your statement and then move to the rest.  Anger is a natural human emotion just like love, sadness, grief, joy, happiness, bliss, disappointment and others in the spectrum.  They arise spontaneously as a reaction to what is happening in your life.  This as a general statement is true for every human on earth.  Then how do we account for the differences in reactions among people?  Why do some people react violently to the slightest provocation and others almost not at all to severe events?

Humans share in common an emotional body that works in concert with your physical and mental bodies.  There is an influence based upon one’s past life history—what must be experienced this lifetime?  There is group connection—what must be worked out for this group of beings?  There is the influence of parents, family and community that impacts one’s emotional body and conditions its reactions.  Beyond these local influences, there is responsibility from humanity’s role on Earth.

The confluence of these many factors produce differences in reactions from one being to another.

As a social concern, there must be a range of acceptable reactions and for that humans have erected laws to regulate behavior.  Within those laws one will find instances that permit retribution resulting in death of the offending party that passes as justifiable because of the provocation of anger and the acceptance that that person is not liable for such reactions, or as is in some cultures, entitled to the justice of the extreme reaction.  Other cultures don’t condone anger reactions to that extent, but make some allowance for it that support the concept of it being involuntary if acted out spontaneously.  There are also social customs below the threshold of laws that regulate behavior.

To answer your question of whether or not anger is necessary, we must ask to what purpose is it necessary.

TM: Some people I’ve spoken to about this usually say that expressing anger is natural and involuntary and that it releases the energy from you and that’s a good and natural thing, then you move on.  Their assertion is that anger is within the constellation of natural human emotions as you just said and that we eventually evolve to the point that we can freely express anger without killing one another, but express we shall just like any other emotion.

Master Buddha:  Would you say that as a rule, expression of anger has the potential to be more destructive in its effects than the expression of joy or sadness?

TM: In some cases yes.  But maybe that’s because people overreact to some things due to repression of anger until they explode disproportionately.

Master Buddha: That’s possible, but let’s go back to your question to what purpose it serves and so is it necessary.  If our definition of anger described the circumstances of anger, then let’s answer what is anger energetically?  What purpose does the delivery of that energy serve?

Anger, energetically speaking springs from the desire nature, which in turn reflects human survival needs, and desires beyond the necessities of life.  Anger is the defender of those personal and group needs and desires.  If they are threatened, then anger arises to defend.  Energetically, it is linked to desire and it does not discriminate between basic needs and frivolous wants without the help of the mental body.  Anger at its root level, just is the defender that can be, when combined with mental energy, an impetus to aggression.

TM: In the desire nature and its list of wants, do you include things like dignity and respect?

Master Buddha: Yes, of course.  That is a matter of ego interpretation of necessities that we have covered elsewhere.

I wish to draw your attention to the fact that anger derives its force and origin from its role as defender within the human realm of physical, emotional and mental.

TM: From that are you implying that anger doesn’t exist in other realms, such as spiritual?

Master Buddha: I say emphatically that anger does not exist in the spiritual realm because there is no need that goes unfulfilled.

TM: What about the whole Lucifer rebellion?  That sounds like some needs unfulfilled.

Master Buddha: That was a matter of pride and desire, not of anger.  It was a calculated, creative execution of a perceived right of domain.  It failed.

TM: So spirits in the universe weren’t angry with Lucifer and his minions for disrupting and corrupting everything?  I mean it seems like a major conflict and you’re saying there was no anger involved and I find that hard to believe.

Master Buddha: What can I say other than what I know to be true?  There was disappointment in the whole affair, but not anger or retribution associated with anger.  There were consequences that were accepted with responsibility by all involved.

TM: Okay.  Please go back to your line of thought.

Master Buddha: Anger finds its origin in the human realm.  Given that, we can look for its necessity there.  Its purpose is to defend.  But is that necessary?

TM: I think I know where you’re going.  You’re going to argue that our desires aren’t necessary, neither is defense of them; so, anger isn’t necessary.

Master Buddha: That would be a difficult argument wouldn’t it?  Many people would disagree that desires are unnecessary.  What about basic survival needs?  Don’t those need defending?  Can’t anger be necessary for that?

TM: Yes, I suppose so.  But couldn’t they be defended without anger?  Why is anger necessary to arouse defense?

Master Buddha: Because it is.  This is where humanity is right now.  As the human race evolves closer and closer to its spiritual nature there will be a diminishment and eventually a disappearance of anger as the impetus for defense.  Over time there has been and will continue to be this gradual receding of anger.

TM: I’m surprised.  I never would have guessed that the official ‘Master’ position is that acting out anger is okey-dokey.

Master Buddha: Well, we have to cover this a bit more to qualify that position.  I think what you’ll discover is that our understanding of human nature encompasses a realistic perspective of long term evolution of human characteristics and traits.  The expression and use of anger as a defense mechanism is one.  There are others.

TM: I think I need some elaboration on this, because it goes against what I believe.

Master Buddha: And you believe?

TM: Anger is a natural emotion arising from our attachment to what we desire and feel entitled to have.  I don’t believe it’s necessary, but we are conditioned to express it, violently sometimes, and to accept it and actually be entertained by it. I believe there are ways to express anger without being harmful to others and that seeking revenge and retribution create more attachment to the experience.  I agree this is an evolutionary process, but surely we at the point where we can see that anger isn’t necessary so that we can explore other ways of providing for our survival.

Master Buddha: Does it make you angry that others can’t see this point and share your belief?

TM: A little.

Master Buddha: This is one of those conundrums for which we can’t assert what should be based upon what we’d like it to be—it just is what it is.  And at this point in human evolution there is a substantial number among the world population that experience anger differently from the belief you have stated and it’s going to take some time for the weight to shift.  In the meantime there is progress toward peaceful solutions among people who have recognized, if nothing else, that peaceful solutions grant more security to the protection of needs and wants than it does by using anger and retribution.  It’s a start.  You don’t make the shift by being angry or judgmental towards those who still regard anger, violence, war, or force as the natural solution to feeling threatened.  It is the natural solution for those grounded in the materiality of humanity, and that is the majority population of the world.

It will change over time through the enduring examples by those who have mastered peaceful solutions to threatening situations.  It will happen.  Patience is required.

TM: It always requires patience doesn’t it?

Master Buddha: Patience and a non-judgmental perspective.

© TM 2015

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Jesus Answers A Reader’s Questions: Jesus with TMichael

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A Readers Question, https://conversationswithjesusandbuddha.com/a-readers-question/
A reader’s question

Conversation with Jesus and TMichael: Jesus Answers a Reader’s Question

TMichael: Christine C. submitted the following questions.  Your sincere questions are welcome and I’ll do my best to include them in a conversation for publication from time to time.

Q: Christine C. asks:
“It is written that our DNA is many strands short of what was originally intended for “human beings”, and that unseen powers (to us earthlings) altered DNA.  I agree that humans have spiritually existed primarily from faith as our awareness is veiled for reasons possibly connected to the same powers (or for the continued exercise of faith?). At what point does the planet deserve divine assistance, possibly in reconnecting the DNA, thus greater awareness and resulting better health?  When does the veil lift for humanity? What purpose does the veil serve?”

A: Master Jesus: There are many perspectives on what has happened on Earth to interfere with humanity’s progress.  This is a major one and the ones making the claim do so without complete disclosure of the facts.  While they are well-intentioned in their aim, they are withholding information about their own role in this ordeal.  I will not go into to the detail, but I will summarize by saying that there was a heated dispute around the DNA issue, and the prevailing side took advantage of a technicality to rush their point of view into place.  The group who caused publication of this claim created the technical default through their actions.  So, while the outcome is as you have stated, the motives behind it were not sinister as has been portrayed.

It does not matter what could have been, we must take responsibility for what it is now.  Divine assistance, meaning assistance from the spiritual realm, has been and continues to be an integral part of the evolution of Earth.  There are at present over 3 billion spirit beings attached to Earth service.  Some reside within the sphere and others work from distant posts.  The dedication and loyalty to humanity is unsurpassed.

Some humans are ready for higher levels of awareness, but most are not.  It is our role to lift those who are unprepared to a point that they can receive greater awareness.  We do so by offering love and light to all who live upon Earth.  We work diligently with individuals and groups to open their senses and their understanding to higher ideals.

The veil, as you call it, represents the darkness of ignorance.  Humanity must take responsibility for its part.  So long as humanity’s focus is steeped predominately in materiality, ignorance of your true essence will be concealed.  The deeper your daily lives become intertwined in material survival and accumulation of material security, the less energy you have for discovering the truth about yourselves.  Humanity has the power to turn this around.  Those of us in the spiritual realm are here to assist and stand ready to offer all that is needed.

Q: Christine C. asks:
“From another perspective, it is written that this marvelous Earth is the place for emotional healing, divine healing, from the original cause.  It is easy to see that if we each heal individually, if we are fortunate enough to have the tools for understanding, that the resulting connection with each other is another path to awareness. Again we are pulling in other “times” of our existence for which we are now responsible.  Is this also deserving of divine help on a world wide or even universal scale to assist in blowing away the mists of misperception, thus clearing the way for more wonderful loving vistas?”

A: Master Jesus: This is true.  A key to understanding the potential is to discover the minimum of your own.  That serves as inspiration to continue and to connect with others along the lines of love and light.  Those terms, love and light, are used often and yet what do we mean by them?  In these conversations we have talked much about love and what it is, but never can we do justice to the complete experience of love through these words.  Light understanding is in a similar predicament.  The two go together in a way that makes a description feeble in capturing the true experience.  And yet the faithful, those who have glimpsed even a moment of the experience witness to others the splendor achieved.  Who is insane?  Who is misinformed?  Is it the one who clings to material possessions and property rights as supreme to human rights?  Or is it the one who claims spiritual sovereignty in the face of doubt and contradiction?

Your better human nature is pitted against your false concepts of reality and it is a battle that shall conclude in victory for the better nature.  How you get there is your choice as well as how long it takes.  Each generation is challenged with living with, through and transforming to some small degree, the actions of previous generations.  Be gentle with yourselves as you evaluate your progress within each turn.  Love and light shall be yours.  It only requires your openness to receive.  Once you receive it you will share it, and once you share it you will rejoice in its endless bounty.

© TM 2015

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The Role of Religious Organizations: Jesus with TMichael

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Religions and Religious Organisations, https://conversationswithjesusandbuddha.com/religions-and-…-organisations/ ‎
Religions and religious organisations

Conversation with Jesus and TMichael: Religions and Religious Organizations

Master Jesus: The role of religion is to share this common knowledge by way of a social support and educational network.  Through the human epoch of living as savage beasts to dining in a restaurant there is much suffering and challenge along the way.  Religious organizations are educational first and foremost in intent.  That they have been corrupted in that aim is not sufficient reason to abandon the concept. The first thing that humans do when they reject religious organizations is form another one in contrast to the one they rejected.  There is nothing inherently wrong with religious organizations as an educational facility.  There is something wrong in the clergy inserting themselves as the gatekeepers for all that is holy and righteous.  Let them stand down and reclaim their roles as leaders and custodians of an institution of learning and comfort.

TM: It seems that there has been a gradual decline in organized religion.  Is that true and if so, what’s happening and why?

Master Jesus: It is true and there are several reasons.  First of all, it is time for the religious institutions to dissemble and reassemble.  What is in decline is the foundation and structure that organized religion has been established upon.  This is not the disaster many believe it to be or the mark of justice that others believe.  It is the evolution of education.

Religious leaders could have transformed religions without the destructive blow they are receiving, but their historical resistance to change prevented them from doing so.

Religions by their nature tend to naturally erode because they are thought-forms and thought-forms tend to weaken as they age because the environment that would keep them strengthened changes.

So you have that which is intended by those of us who monitor and instigate change in the evolution and advancement of education; you have the failure of the human custodians to be in-sync with that process and resist it, which causes a more severe change; and then you see the natural dispersion of thought-forms over time.

TM: It seems though that many of the religious leaders and a good many in the congregations are doing everything to revive and rebuild based upon the traditions.

Master Jesus: Many are and just as many are rebuilding with new ideas.  This has been the way with religions throughout human history.  There are always those who disagree then break off and form a new branch or create something completely different.  Every generation thinks that the times and events are unique to their generation, which is true on some things, but for the most part the patterns repeat.

What is happening now more than in the past, although not without exception, is that more and more people are claiming spirituality for themselves without a hierarchical intermediary.  This has a lot to do with the weakening of the churches.  It is also a major part of our work at this time as I have mentioned.  Eventually though, religious thought and experience must be shared.  It is not just an individual event to be kept in secret.  You’re right in that you are witnessing a revival and it’s shaking the roots of religion.  The leaders will no longer hold an authoritative advantage over their congregations.  All will unite in order to share the blessings and experience of a spiritual life fulfilled.

TM: I feel inspired by this but I’m not sure everyone does.

Master Jesus: In the end everyone will embrace the truth of spirituality as a form of education and then they can understand how much power they have within themselves to do all the things they wish God or their priest, Rabbi or their Lama would do for them.  Imagine how their hearts will sing when they realize how precious they are.  That will be a day to rejoice.

TM: I’ll rejoice with you.  That will be a glorious day for sure.  It does seem a long way off sometimes though, and that can be disheartening.  I know, I know, patience.  Damn, that’s hard though.

A point of clarification for me, if you will.  I’m addressing you as ‘Master Jesus’ in these conversations, and that was your name during incarnation.  Why do you keep the same name while in spirit form?

Master Jesus: Master Buddha and I are using these names because they are familiar.  We are known by many names and it doesn’t matter for these purposes of communication.  It is simply easier and requires less acceptance of spiritual complexity for us to present ourselves by these names.

TM: So, others may address you by other names?

Master Jesus: Yes.

TM: Back to the topic at hand.  I think it would help a great deal if you will explain how you and the other Masters work with humanity, especially within religion.  So many of the folks who write to me after reading these conversations wonder how this is possible since you were to them the Son of God, were crucified, were resurrected, tarried on Earth for awhile with your disciples, then what?  And I present these conversations with many things contrary to what they interpret from the bible and I can understand why it’s a bit confusing and confounding.

Master Jesus: It need not be confusing or difficult to embrace if you grasp the essential message behind all my teachings.  I am the son of God and you are the son of God and each and every one of you is the son of God.  You are born into the flesh and given life on Earth and you die of the flesh and experience death on Earth.  You have eternal life in a form unique to the sphere you inhabit as you progress through stages in your universe ascension.  Love is the guiding force of this area of the universe; it is the glue so to speak of all that is.  As you love yourselves and love others you connect to all that is in this universe.  That is at the core and the very basic of what you must comprehend.  Everything else is guidance on how to deal with the illusion that you create as an obstacle to getting to this understanding.

TM: And the role of religion is what then?

Master Jesus: As I’ve said, the role of religion is to share this common knowledge by way of a social support and educational network.  Through the human epoch of living as savage beasts to dining in a restaurant there is much suffering and challenge along the way.  Religious organizations are educational first and foremost in intent.  That they have been corrupted in that aim is not sufficient reason to abandon the concept.  The first thing that humans do when they reject religious organizations is form another one in contrast to the one they rejected.  There is nothing inherently wrong with religious organizations as an educational facility.  There is something wrong in the clergy inserting themselves as the gatekeepers for all that is holy and righteous.  Let them stand down and reclaim their roles as leaders and custodians of an institution of learning and comfort.

© TM 2015

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Sexuality in Western Society (Part 1): Jesus with TMichael

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Sexuality Part 1, https://conversationswithjesusandbuddha.com/sexuality-in-w…society-part-1/
Sexuality part 1

Conversation with Jesus and TMichael: Sexuality in Western Society (Part 1)

TM: I realize that we may not be able to cover this topic in one conversation, but at least we can start.  Please talk about the role of sex in Western society.  Specifically, what do you observe as the general state of sexual health among our population?

Master Jesus: This is sure to provoke more than a few people who stand in judgment of sexuality when it deviates from their spectrum of acceptable behavior.  Likewise, those who feel that anything goes will likely rise in defense of their personal honor if Master Buddha or I speak disapprovingly of their behavior.  You’re right in that it will require several conversations in order to present a full picture of the state of sexuality in Western society.  It is not our intent to approve or disapprove of human sexual behavior, but we can speak to what we observe from a perspective of what is serving humankind positively and what isn’t.

TM: Okay, that’s fair enough.  I didn’t expect either of you speak from a judgmental perspective, but certainly some folks hope that you will.  So, back to my question, do you want to begin with an overview?

Master Jesus: Ask a more specific question and let it lead us into what you really want to know.

TM: It seems that over the past century we’ve come through some dynamic changes from a moralistic and conservative view of sexuality to a liberal, more open view.  Even though I know that doesn’t represent everyone, I’m referring to the norm.  Has that shift been beneficial to our society?

Master Jesus: Yes, Western society has made a dramatic turn, more so than you are implying in your question.  Observing from our perspective it is quite astounding.  Most people will agree that there have been some benefits as a result of the shift, while others believe it has planted the seeds of ruination for your society.  As with most subjects, there is a little bit of truth found in all points of view.  But let’s see if we can shed some light on the various parts to indicate what has been beneficial and what needs to be adjusted to provide future benefits.

First of all, it’s difficult to speak about human sexuality without carefully painting a context for each part.  For this part, let us talk about heterosexual conditions within the institution of marriage and romantic relationships in which there isn’t a marriage.

It’s clear from our perspective that many benefits have accrued to married and unmarried men and women from the shift in attitudes about sex over the past fifty years.  However, with the relaxing of judgment and guilt around sexual behavior there has sprung up a great deal of confusion.  This confusion has contributed to a lot of stress and tension between men and women over their respective roles.  Over time this will work out and the major benefit will be a sense of equality.  This was missing before the shift and has been slowly coming after a sudden lunge forward.  The natural reaction has been two-fold.  One is an opening of the floodgates to celebrate the release of age-old restrictions and the second is a recoiling of restriction to maintain the old ways.  There is a growing middle that represents the balance between the two extremes.

TM: I agree with your observation.  But there still seems to be a guilt-shame axis running through sexuality.

Master Jesus: Yes, this is true.  But keep in mind that it is less than it was only fifty years ago.  And fifty years from now you will observe even greater erosion in the role shame, judgment and guilt play in the enforcement of restrictions in sexual relations.

TM:  But there are some folks who will argue that shame, judgment and guilt are sturdy enforcers and that we shouldn’t allow them to erode.  If anything, we should reinforce their power to keep good people in line and get bad ones back in line.

Master Jesus: Shame, judgment and guilt have been the faithful servants of a philosophy that people are inherently bad and need the threat of punishment in order to deter them from wrongdoing. The problem in that philosophy arises in that it forces a belief contrary to the true nature of humankind, which then conditions you to perceive yourselves in constant need of redemption.  The fatigue that comes from such an exercise is understandable.  But the greatest harm is that it stunts your growth because you are constantly vigilant for wrongdoing and judging one another in an effort to correct or prevent wrongdoing.  Add to that you have identified things as wrong that are social conventions created out of ignorance in some cases, and then perpetuated through superstition.

TM: But some things that have become social conventions regarding marriage have served to build families and then community, haven’t they?

Master Jesus: Shall we keep the context to sexuality so that what I am saying does not get confused with statements about marriage in and of itself?

TM:Yes, that’s what I meant.

Master Jesus: Let’s take the social convention of sexual monogamy, or partner exclusivity within a relationship.  This is for the purpose of forming a family unit comprised of a husband and wife with one or more offspring.  It provides a tight unity and strength to weather challenges on many fronts, economic, health, etc.  It does that while at the same time connecting to families once removed from the immediate family.  This forms a larger family unit that again provides reinforcement to the core family unit.  Containment of sexual partners to the husband and wife ensure this family unity by restricting the likelihood of offspring from various sexual relations.

What protects this arrangement is fidelity to one sexual partner during the lifetime of the family.  What has disrupted this pattern is a loosening of the shame grip on divorce and the subsequent remarriage and combining of families from more than a single pair of parents.  In some cases this new family unit shares the connection with as much grace as a family unit from single parentage.  In other cases, this is not true.  Infidelity is the chief cause of hostility between marriage partners and can last a lifetime.  Fidelity is considered a sacred trust and when one partner betrays that trust, the sense of betrayal is felt by the extended family and in some instances by the community at large.

TM: I think wounded pride, loss of self-esteem, shame, embarrassment and ego also play a part in this.

Master Jesus: Without question this is true.  However, those personal components are activated because of the larger context of social convention that defines what causes shame for an individual or disgrace upon the family.

TM: So, you’re saying what some folks argue is that shame of getting a divorce kept the family together through tough times and in turn preserved the family values of unity and strength.

Master Jesus: You keep leaping over the sexual issues and grasp for the marriage issues beyond sexuality.  We can have that conversation if you like.

TM: Thanks for keeping me on topic. Let’s stay focused on sexuality because it’s expansive enough as it is.  So, you were saying that infidelity, that is, marriage or romantic partners who don’t honor sexually monogamous agreements, create discord within their relationship and the family and is likely the eventual cause for divorce.  Most people would agree.  What’s the point?

Master Jesus: The point is that if you take the social convention of sexual monogamy as a sacred trust and then violate it, you begin the breakdown of that institution.  If it becomes widespread, then more rapidly does it breakdown.  Once shame is removed as a barrier to divorce the offending mate, then you compound the acceleration of breakdown.  Shame and guilt once prevented the infidelity, but in most societies males were often excused from this public humiliation.  Although, this isn’t entirely the case.  Witness the standard that your politicians must withstand in this regard.  The general public still holds the sacred trust of fidelity as an accepted standard for your leaders, while lessening its application to your peers.  And divorce is still considered a shameful failure in some circles.

To summarize, you began with the question of what is the health of your general population in regards to sexuality.  We have taken a part of that in order to avoid generalizing across all relationships.  Now we are only talking about heterosexual relations; specifically long-term monogamous relations.  We are discussing the role of fidelity to a monogamous agreement and the results of infidelity.  Are you ready to continue?

TM: As usual I want to know where this is going.

Master Jesus: I ask for your patience.  In order to have some understanding you must go through the exercise of discovering what your beliefs are around sexuality in marriage.  There must be some context in order to gain that understanding and to draw out your beliefs.

TM: Okay.  Let’s continue.

© TM 2015

For Sexuality and Western Society Part 2 click here.

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I Want My Spirituality Now: Jesus and TMichael

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Spirituality now

Conversation with Jesus and TMichael: Spirituality and Patience

TM: Oftentimes I feel the undercurrent of impatience in spiritual matters.  I want it all to happen immediately and in complete fullness.

Master Jesus: The knowing is not of the mind or of logic.  It just is and you know it by feeling it, not thinking it.  It is a hard corner to turn if the mind is doing the driving.  For the ego and the mind, knowing from the heart represents self-destruction, which in turn, goes against survival instincts.  The mind is so clever in that way.  It’s a house of mirrors.  Everywhere you see a way out; that is indeed just another mirror.  There is no escape through the mind or by the mind. That is my point and yet it appears I am appealing to your logical mind to embrace this, but that isn’t the case.  I’m strengthening your soul to tap your spirit that holds the key to your power that unlocks your heart that alters the mind that frees you from the illusion.

TM: I suppose the biggest frustration I experience with spirituality is the shroud of secrecy surrounding it.  Of course, we are fascinated with what we can’t sense in our physical world.  But it seems like you could make things appear in our sensory form that would make things much clearer and universally understood.  Why don’t you do that?

Master Jesus: Have you never the noticed the many similarities found in all the world’s religions and customs?  Throughout the centuries, humanity has received the transfer of knowledge from the spirit world.  This has been in many forms including human incarnations of master teachers, appearance of masters in visible spirit forms, demonstrations for non-believers of feats beyond human ability and inspiration channeled directly to humans in all fields of earthly creation.  Remember that until recently the population of humans worldwide has been relatively developed in isolation.  In the last few hundred years has commerce between continents developed to such a point that sharing of cultures has become more prevalent and thus an education in how other people interpret social and religious events.

The stage is being set for what you are clamoring for, but it can only come when there are universal points of recognition and understanding.  Again, it is human tendency to view things from a present and provincial point of view without the longer time interval needed for events to ripen.  We are making more revelations worldwide now than in any period of human history.  You take it for granted because you don’t have the memory of all the other epochs.  Also, you have instant communication tools that never before existed, which makes news travel so much faster.  What was once a communication barrier is slowly being lifted to make it possible for teaching to be at once universal in language and delivered to people worldwide instantly.  That’s quite an opportunity, wouldn’t you agree?

TM: I agree it’s an opportunity.  But where’s the evidence of revelations in a universal language and experience that everyone can breathe the big Ah-ha at the same time?

Master Jesus: It’s coming.  There has to be preparation.  That’s where these writings and many others are going to lead.  You have to accept that revelation of truth is not an easy task, because it generally differs from what the majority has accepted through faith and experience as truth.  You have already said so yourself in your own wrestling with what we have to say.  Do you think you’re so unique in that regard?

TM: No, I know what you mean and it’s very frustrating and so I keep putting my hope in the spirit world to be so awesome in power that you can instantly overcome these obstacles in human ignorance and make it all better.  Childish I know, but it’s part of me nevertheless.

Master Jesus: When someone is in the pain of the moment it’s natural to want relief immediately.  But what if the pain was due to psychosomatic causes instead of real flesh and blood injuries?  You would take a different course of treatment wouldn’t you?  Emotional distortions and mental delusions require a longer time period to work through.  It isn’t so cut and dried as strapping on a bandage or committing to surgery.  Humanity has evolved to the point that these other issues are predominant and that’s the field we’re working.  The chief reason why physical wars and threats are no longer sufficient to quell dissent and discord within and among nations is that people will no longer accept the servitude explicit in that arrangement.  They will literally die fighting against it.

TM: But in Iraq and Afghanistan people were living under horrific oppression of their freedoms and they did nothing but endure it.  Where was the revolution?

Master Jesus: Had the US allowed it to run its course you would have seen the revolution.  Everything within its time and when outside interests force revolution before its time, then the forces of premature revolution become the new oppressors and will have to reckon with real agents of revolution eventually.  The US will discover this is true.  The old ways of command and control through wars and might do not work any longer.  You are witnessing the decline of those methods in this generation.  Just three generations ago if anyone had made these statements it would have been received with such incredulity as you cannot imagine.  But today you sense that it’s true, even if you’re not sure, you know it’s possible.

TM: I don’t know.  I hear what you’re saying and I believe it to some degree, but we still witness so much violence that it’s hard not to see the opposite condition.

Master Jesus: Your impatience is staggering at times.  And it’s not just your impatience, it’s all those who wish for immediate solutions to problems that are ancient.  That’s not an excuse, but an explanation that what has been created by humanity over millions of years cannot be rectified in one generation without the will of the entire populace behind it, and that simply isn’t happening.  So, your hoped for solution is that there be some sort of divine intervention to set things right, to speed up the process.  We have covered this and you understand it, right?

TM: Yes, I do.  Thanks for reminding me though.  You know what I really want?  I want for you and Master Buddha and all the rest to walk among us; sit in the chambers of our governments and address our leaders and representatives; visit our religious institutions and seize the pulpits; lead the classrooms in our schools; and really just be among us everyday to provide the guidance we need.  It’s the physical presence I want.

Master Jesus: All in good time, my friend.  The leadership you’re seeking is already among you.  It’s just that their voices cannot be heard at this time.  Well, not entirely heard, but they are growing in number and positions of strength.  For one who listens they can be heard.  Soon all will hear and then you can decide what you want to do.  I repeat, it is humanity’s decision and will that determines the next stage for Earth. As much as you would like to shuffle it to others it is yours.  You will be given a fair and informed opportunity to make your collective decision.  Don’t look for someone to take that responsibility for you.

TM: Our orientation to spirits, gods, heroes and the lot is deeply engrained.  We like being rescued in the final hour.  You’re saying that’s not going to happen?  There is going to be an Armageddon?

Master Jesus: That’s a loaded question in many ways.  The struggle is within humanity—it is your Armageddon.

TM: In reference to biblical scripture and even esoteric revelations, there is a war in the heavens between light and dark forces, good and evil, the mark of the beast, all that stuff.  A lot of folks say it’s happening now.  Explain what you mean by ‘humanity’s Armageddon’.

Master Jesus: Humanity has created crisis within itself.  It’s the crisis that has been prophesied.  But it’s not external forces using humans as puppets as your stories are telling.  That is part of the illusion created.  Humans have so convinced themselves that there are forces of evil and darkness that are in constant pursuit of them that they literally believe it is a race to the finish between good and evil.  The problem is that they can’t decide if they are inherently good or inherently evil.  Which is it?  If they are good, then Satan (or any substitute for him) is using every trick in the book to lure them into devilish insanity.  If they are evil, then they must use all their being to return to God and forsake their wicked thoughts and ways.

I’m not going to pretend that there isn’t a real experience of evil at the level of illusion, but it simply isn’t real on the spiritual plane and ultimately it is the spiritual plane that counts.  We’ve been through this discussion and I understand how difficult it is to accept that much of what you experience in life isn’t real.  Eventually you’ll see and that’s all I can say for now.

TM:  It’s very frustrating to hear that.  Because I don’t know what’s real and what isn’t.  You say love is real and everything else isn’t.  But how do I know what is real love and what is the illusion of love?

Master Jesus:  You don’t know it; you feel it.  But you can’t feel it if you live inside your mind.  And your mind manufactures the belief system to keep you in the illusion because knowledge is perceived as power and safety.  As long as that is the cycle then that is your trap as well.  You are imprisoned by your beautiful mind; that mind that is so wonderfully creative.  You have to admire it.  That level of creativity is astounding.  But it isn’t serving you to stay there.  Love is from the heart and uses the mind in a reality that isn’t inverted like humanity’s.  That is the next stage of evolution.

TM: That’s a hard corner to turn it seems.  I don’t trust that I know my heart from my desire that may spring from thoughts or my lower nature.  How do I know the heart and trust that is the source of my desire?

Master Jesus: The knowing is not of the mind or of logic.  It just is and you know it by feeling it, not thinking it.  It is a hard corner to turn if the mind is doing the driving.  For the ego and the mind, knowing from the heart represents self-destruction, which in turn, goes against survival instincts.  The mind is so clever in that way.  It’s a house of mirrors.  Everywhere you see a way out; that is indeed just another mirror.  There is no escape through the mind or by the mind.  That is my point and yet it appears I am appealing to your logical mind to embrace this, but that isn’t the case.  I’m strengthening your soul to tap your spirit that holds the key to your power that unlocks your heart that alters the mind that frees you from the illusion.

TM: In other words, that understanding is buried within me?

Master Jesus: Your spirit knows all that I’m saying.  Your soul struggles in the space between spirit and human consciousness.  Integration is the aim and the purpose of life on Earth.

TM: But what then?  What happens when there is integration?

Master Jesus: That is for another time.

TM: One thing mastered at a time?

Master Jesus: That’s right.

TM: So what can people do to help this process along?

Master Jesus: It’s different for each person, but let me offer stereotypical descriptions.  For those beings who are on the path so to speak—they have stimulated their spiritual awareness and are questioning their everyday experiences looking for spiritual significance in what they do—the path will lead to actions that set an example for others who have not yet awakened.  Those actions will consist of sharing, compassion, non-violence in relationships, acceptance and a willingness to separate their identification with aggressive materialism.  They will exhibit an increasing kindness in their daily affairs and less concern for what they own.  As a matter of fact they will feel that they have too much and begin to sell or giveaway many of their belongings without any effort to replace them with new items. Material acquisition will no longer satisfy their emotional needs.

It is no secret that many people in the West have buried themselves under mounds of debt in order to acquire vast stores of material items.  As this trend reverses it will bring relief to the pressure that many people feel to keep up with the pace of spending and earning.  At first it may feel a little painful or lacking in some way, but very soon after that brief phase they will find gratification in the challenge of living within their means and reducing their means in order to enjoy the many insights they are now experiencing.

TM: Our US economy and to a growing degree the world economy is based upon increasing consumption and production.  The fear, of course, is that if it stops or slows down real economic problems go into effect.

Master Jesus: This is truly the belief and one that has been carefully planted to keep the factories rolling.  The group of people who will at first experiment with reduction and gradual separation from this practice will discover that the economic destruction and collapse is false.  Your economy has these periodic problems anyway.  Those episodes seem more severe because you’re still in the old paradigm of earn and spend without cessation.  Once enough people do it willingly and with a sense of grace, the severity will not be a part of the experience.

TM: As a brief aside, who planted the idea “to keep the factories rolling”?

Master Jesus: It’s just part of the story of developing materialism and wealth and power.  There is nothing sinister or improper about how the story came to be.  Commerce through the advances of the industrial period has served humanity in many positive ways.  It has run it’s course in its current form and now it’s time to change it.  The citizens of Earth have created this and are the ones to change it.

TM: What can other people do who may not fit into the description you gave?

Master Jesus: Witness.  They may not be ready to do anything other than observe and that is okay because eventually they will see that their fears are unwarranted.  For the more advanced souls, teaching the ones in the middle will be their role.  Thus you have these three major segments.

TM: It sounds like it’s more a profile of Western society and countries with strong economic positions.  What will it look like in the weaker economic countries?

Master Jesus: The profile will shape up to be similar, but the pace will be delayed.  They will not spend as much time at the levels experienced in the stronger economic countries.  And by stronger and weaker we are clearly referring to a definition that measures production and consumption.  Since many people in the weaker economies have not developed habits of over-consumption they will not have the same sort of withdrawal fears that people in the stronger economies face.  For many, just having the basics will be satisfactory.

© TM 2015

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Sensual Pleasures & Enlightenment: Buddha and TMichael

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Sensual Pleasures and Enlightenment, https://conversationswithjesusandbuddha.com/sensual-pleasu…-enlightenment/
Sensual pleasures and enlightenment

Conversation with Buddha and TMichael: Sensual Pleasures and Enlightenment

TM: I’d like to talk about one area that seems to be rejected by Christianity and Buddhism (maybe for different reasons) and yet Hinduism embraces it in part.  And that is pleasures of the flesh. Two questions come to mind.  When you say give up the pleasures of the flesh, or give up the sensory pleasures, what do you mean?  Why do we have to forego pleasure in order to appreciate and live a spiritual life in the flesh?

Master Buddha: Those questions allow me to clarify some misunderstandings that have arisen from my original teachings and Master Jesus’ teachings too.  Let me emphasize too that those teachings were provided for an earlier time in which the conditions of the time were different than they are now and so adjustment is required.

First of all for context, the questions posed that aroused the teachings had to do with achieving enlightenment or salvation.  They were intended for disciples who had dedicated their lives to tread the path. Those who recorded the essence of the sermons and discussions were biased by their own personal beliefs toward the ideas presented.  This doesn’t mean they are completely inaccurate, it just means that one must make allowances for the bias.

Secondly, we were in our own time biased by our own lives while incarnated.  While it is true that Master Jesus and I achieved states of enlightenment beyond the norm we could not escape the effects of being human.  This is often forgotten or is dismissed because we are elevated above our actual experience in the flesh by devotees and followers.

Now let me address your questions.  Sensuality is a natural part of being human.  It is so natural in fact that it can be mistaken as the primary aspect of ones being.  It is in reality a reflection of higher consciousness.  For those treading the path I ask, do you wish to play in your reflection in the pond or do you wish to know the one casting the reflection?

This was not and is not to be interpreted as an admonishment to those beings who are playing in their reflections.  It is saying to the one upon the path, this is the way.

TM: So you are saying that one can’t find their way to enlightenment by exploring the pleasures of the flesh?

Master Buddha: It is knowing the distinction between the true self and the one who pretends to be the self.  One will not find the true self by only exploring the reflection.  Likewise one cannot deny or ignore the reflection and truly know oneself.  I think what you want to know is can one experience and appreciate the pleasures of the flesh and pursue enlightenment.  The answer is in each ones heart or center of ones intent.  The non-self is a trickster beyond belief.  To answer yes means that it is possible and to answer no is to exclude that which is possible.  It will be different for everyone.

TM: So it is possible but it depends on the individual?

Master Buddha: Yes.

TM: How do I know if it is possible for me?  How do I know what is the center of my intent?

Master Buddha: You will know when the power of your heart and your true desire for enlightenment out weighs all other considerations.  All that isn’t from that place melts away and leaves the purity of true self.  In other words until that point you won’t know.  You will try this and that, and mostly you will try to strike bargains and negotiations with the true self to bring with you all the things that are important to the non-self.  Until that day when you realize what you have been doing and it all falls away and leaves who you are.  Then you’ll know.

TM: It sounds like what you’re saying is that the pleasures of the flesh are the parts that the non-self is bargaining to keep and that they will be the parts that melt away.  Is that what you mean?

Master Buddha: I believe you were one of the ones who recorded these teachings many centuries ago.  Why don’t you just find out for yourself?

TM: Well, of course I will.  But I’m asking you as a teacher for a lesson that will guide me along the way.

Master Buddha: And I am a teacher along the way who is offering a lesson to a student who wants me to provide shortcuts that obviate his own need for experience, which in reality cannot happen.  What more can I say except that you will have to find the way to the center of your heart to know your true self and in time know that which is not the true self.  The pleasures of the flesh represent the reflection, but are not the true self.  Is that clear?

TM: Humbly, yes.  Although, I must say you are being forceful and adamant about this in a way I haven’t before experienced in your teaching.

Master Buddha: Sometimes that is what is needed.  I am adamant that you experience life for yourself.  A teacher shall point a way, but shall be cautious about dictating precise directions.  It is through discovery that you truly learn the lesson, not through intellectual comprehension.  The motivating force that propels you into discovery is from within yourself.  There is no harm in vigorous stimulation of the mind on spiritual matters.  But ultimately it is living experience that counts.

©  TM 2015

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Truth and Trust: Buddha with TMichael

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Truth and trust

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.

TM: How do we get there?

© TM 2015

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Reincarnation & Karma: Buddha with TMichael

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Reincarnation and karma

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.

TM: We may need to continue this discussion.

Master Buddha: Most likely this is true.

© Zoe 2015