Spirit Pages (continued)
I3) Every physical being or being at a lower level than Spirit has the consciousness with which they identify, their conscious minds, and then the consciousness that encompasses all other aspects of their life, such as the consciousness that generates the appearance of their environment and circumstances, the consciousness of their higher selves and their remaining consciousness that exists in Spirit.
This all sounds a bit complex, but the actuality of it is pretty straightforward. First, the person as they exist in Spirit has a desire to exist in a literal, solid body and environment. The desire manifests the body and environment and circumstances, as well as the identity that the person uses in this temporary form.
Only the part of the consciousness of the person in Spirit that desires this experience engages in it. The remainder of the Spirit self is not involved directly with the experience. A being in Spirit can have multiple experiences that are fulfilling using different parts of their minds.
An example would be that you are daydreaming about being in Paris with the love of your life. You see them with you in Paris as you walk the streets and kiss under the stars. The �self� in your fantasy is in essence like the �you� that ends up being experienced by yourself as a Spirit being when you want to have the experience of being manifest. The difference is that rather than the experience being vague and imaginary in its feeling, it feels very real to the part of your consciousness that has the desire and engages in the fantasy.
In fact, you are such a fantasy figure. Your identity in Spirit is imagining right now as we speak. Your whole life, in fact, has already been laid out from beginning to end with no element of free will on your part. Your moods, actions and future are all orchestrated from a higher level.
However, because no being can really become physical, the experience will be remembered when you return to Spirit as being free of suffering. This is how the memory will appear to you because you will see it for what it was in reality, as opposed to how your fictional identity experienced it. It isn�t a matter of forgetting pain, just seeing that it was not really there in the first place. A kind of mental sleight of hand was involved to get to produce the illusion of experiencing pain.
The entire �physical� or lower-than-Spirit experience is in fact the playing out of various ideas. These ideas are false, in the sense that they are meaningless ideas that do not describe reality. However, they describe the �reality� one finds in imagining one�s self as being in fictional world. So, the meaningless ideas generate false feelings, such as emotions, sensations such as pleasure and physical pain, conflict, grief and death. All these experiences, even extreme pleasure, contain an element of pain and so are therefore not real feelings.
The physical world and other lower-than-Spirit worlds are all filled with a constant hum, a sound that vibrates through them. However, in each case that hum is not so much a sound as a kind of psychic pain. It is this hum that in essence defines each plane of existence. So, even �heavenly� planes of existence that are lower than Spirit still contain a frequency of psychic pain that defines them. Only Spirit is free from suffering entirely; it is a state of pure and endless desire fulfillment. Higher than that, within God, there is no perception, only direct communication between beings and therefore no potential for suffering.
The Tree of Knowledge of the Bible may really have been ideas such as these, that were full of �information,� such as the nature of the physical world, the elements, the genetic code, and all other aspects of physical existence, but that knowledge, being false, would have to be built on false ideas. So, it may be the case that being kicked out of the garden, in a sense, was through our own world view, seeing a different world that operates on false laws, and making us see a world of suffering rather than a garden of delight.
At any rate, the fractured and fragmented nature of physical experience, with various elements mixing and clashing violently, with energies and movement and instability and so forth being the rule, are expressions of meaningless ideas. The meaning that they do seem to convey can only be experienced by a false identity, because a true (Spirit) identity would see right through the whole thing.
The healed nature of Spirit could be more accurately described as �never harmed.� There has never been any harm or pain or loss or disease or any other problem or predicament in Spirit. How could there be, when the only purpose of existence it to have what one wants and all experiences are merely thoughts in one�s own perfect mind? There is no enemy agency to insert itself and get into your own mind, assert its desires over your own and then create suffering for you. The hand to mouth relationship of desire-fulfillment works perfectly and endlessly in Spirit. Totally internal and automatic nature of its processes are its best insurance of being incorruptible.
Because in Spirit there is only consciousness, and consciousness only does one thing, evolving, then it follows that all desires being that they are made only of consciousness get their fulfillment instantly by thought and then afterwards desire fulfillment in a new form. Each new form of a fulfilled desire is a step of evolution of consciousness.
True consciousness in Spirit does not evolve. But that kind of consciousness is beyond any kind of perceptual separateness between beings. It is available to any being in Spirit that wishes to partake in it. And, it has no time or space relationship, no body or language. It is perfect and indescribable. This is the only completely real and true experience in Spirit; the rest is mind restlessly turning over and over as it explores all possible ideas.
The bulk of ideas exist in the abstract realm. The abstract realm is that which is above the literal realm, which includes any degree of physicality to the being/environment that a false identity experiences. A Spirit being, on the other hand, can have a body and is always aware that this body is mind created. This places the �body� in the abstract realm. The same is true for their environment. Because the bulk of all ideas are combinations of abstract ideas and only a small minority of ideas are literal, then it makes sense that in Spirit the literal comprises only a very small portion of all experiences.
The parts of our consciousness that desire the literal experience, but not as absolutely a literal experience as the physical gives us, will have an experience on another level of being, perhaps as a higher self of the physical individual or as the deceased individual in some afterlife state. The totality of the bridge of consciousness from physicality up to Spirit is made up of parts of the Spirit being�s consciousness that desire a less intense level of literalness of experience.
All aspects of the physical experience are made up of the Spirit being�s own consciousness; the experience is entirely internal to the mind of the experiencer. What one sees in terms of the behavior and interactions with others is all happening within the experiencing individual�s mind. The entire physical experience is a metaphoric dream and the other beings seen are only symbolic representations of what the individual feels.
As in dreams, the events, the identity of the dreamer and the entire environment are canvasses painted by the consciousness of the dreamer. The physical is no different. Even though other people are real and we can see other Spirit beings� physical identities walking and talking and doing things, their actions only are broadcast to us as symbolic playing-out of our own ideas and feelings. If we do not have an emotional need that can be symbolically expressed through a particular person then they will disappear from our life. That is why people who are the most similar to us in all ways will have the highest potential symbolic longevity for us, the greatest potential as long-term relationships.
So how does this internal emotional experience that is symbolically expressed somehow perfectly match the actual movements of other beings? It is because ultimately there is only one being and therefore the actions of all individual beings are perfectly synchronized with each other to produce a cosmos of to various experiences that seem to be organized into worlds such as the physical world. It allows the perfect matching and consistency of all these symbolic interactions to create a single consistent picture that we can all live in, a single all-encompassing illusion.
You exist entirely inside your own mind. Thoughts that produce pain are false ideas, meaning that they don�t apply to how Spirit works and therefore are not true. They would be like talking about purple flying unicorns in the physical world; they are nonsensical ideas.
When we see reality, when we see Spirit as it is we can no longer suffer or remember suffering. Instead we remember our suffering�s forms and shapes but not actually suffering itself, because we now remember what really happened and we know that we were simply exploring false ideas, illusions. The fictions become obviously transparent in retrospect.
The person you lust after at the office represents an idea that you desire, whether it be a state of being that you feel that you lack or are trying to become that is symbolized by that person. We crave what we believe we lack. The metaphoric expression of the idea of that attraction is played out in the �physical� context of your relationship and in your interactions with this person. How you treat them, how they treat you and what happens between the two of you are all psychodramas of your own mind.
Exercise: Metaphoric Exploration
This is going to be a more extensive exercise than we are used to doing, but it should also be very fruitful. We are going to explore five major events from our life and then write them out in the form of basic descriptions as we remember them. They can be pleasant, neutral or unpleasant in feeling, but a mix is best. They should be large (in your mind) and significant events that were roadmarkers for you. We are then going to take those five major events and analyze them as metaphoric experiences, exploring what they meant.
First, get out a pen and paper and get comfortable. Write out first of the five major events in simple terms, describing what happened and how you felt.
Next, place yourself in your Spirit workshop and then place yourself in a degree of Spirit awareness that will allow you to easily see and interpret the scenes from dreams or waking experiences and describe what they meant as metaphors for your feelings. Reread the introduction for information on becoming your Spirit self.
For example, I wanted to see out of the top floor of the Prudential building in Boston, which is a very tall skyscraper. They charged $15.00 to look out of the view deck, but thinking myself to be clever, I decided I would just go up to near the top, get off and look out of a window and then leave.
Unfortunately, my plans were foiled when I actually got off the elevator and found that there were no windows in the hallways. I turned around and decided to go back down, but there was a problem; there was no �L� for lobby button. I pressed the �1� button instead, which let me off underground in some sort of science laboratory with a wind tunnel in it. I ended up deciding I would walk up the stairs and then go out when I got to the right floor; wrong again!
This time I found myself locked in the stairwell with no way out except a door that set off the fire alarm for the whole building. After trying to get out in every other conceivable way, I ran out the fire alarm door, thinking for sure I was going to get caught and arrested. All in all, a huge debacle!
Entering into my Spirit workshop, I raise my awareness to the level where I can easily read and interpret dreams or physical experiences and reveal their metaphoric meaning to myself.
Now, looking at this experience, I see that I want to get a bird�s eye perspective, an adult perspective on my life. I want to see where I am in a larger sense. But I don�t want to have to pay the price of being an adult to get there. So when I raise my level of consciousness I find that these altered states don�t give me any real feedback about who I am in relation to the world. In other words, my meditative practices and use of altered states of consciousness in visualization was not at the time giving me a view of the world at large that allowed me to see where I stood in it.
Being (feeling) shut out, I tried to return to the ground floor, to �normal,� but actually ended up in a place that was below where I had started out. I felt worse because I was seeing, having insight into, the very workings of society at the most basic level. Rather than the higher insight I had wanted, instead I got an insight into what society really was.
Not wanting this kind of insight, I ended up trapped in the staircase, in my attempt to get back to normal. I couldn�t return to a normal level of feeling. Having seen something that most people don�t see in their very straight-laced lives, my internal work had shown me a confining and limiting view of society that was distressing. The scientists represented the emotionless way in which society works, as a business, trampling on the human element. The wind tunnel represents the force and ferocity with which society operates, frightening, powerful and lacking mercy.
The staircase was representative of how trying to get back to �normal� in terms of how I saw myself in society had itself become a trap. I had come in wanting to see the bird�s eye view and ended up seeing the belly of the beast. Trapped in that uncomfortable awareness, I could only return to normal by expressing to myself fully the alarm (fire alarm door) that I was feeling. I feared being exposed as knowing something about society that I shouldn�t. By pushing through that door, registering my state of alarm at what I was seeing, if I did it in a way that exposed this to others, then I would be arrested (judged and attacked) for my insight, which was technically against the law.
I didn�t trust the adult world, and was only just beginning to enter into it. I thought that if I could get some preview of my life to come I would know how to handle myself and where to go and what to do in the world. But the fact was that I got no such insight, only the debasing and depressing realization of what society was, a powerful and merciless machine of commerce. And trapped in that knowledge, I could only normalize myself by acknowledging to myself how alarming that knowledge really was and by hoping I could keep that realization to myself.
So, the metaphor for this particular situation was played out for me in that particular way. My emotional states actually produced the events that I experienced. Do the same for the remaining four episodes that you want to use from your life. Don�t rush this; if you want, take a couple of days to complete this exercise.
After you have familiarized yourself with this exercise, it can be useful to use it on your current problems and situations. When you experience a troublesome event, it can shed light on what you are feeling that generated this situation.
I4) There is no actual evil in evil, consciousness can only react, not �do� anything.
What this means is that evil is a form given to consciousness but consciousness cannot be evil in nature. The consciousness behind �evil� is totally good. All experiences in consciousness at a Spirit level are entirely created for one�s own benefit as well as the benefit of many others. There is no malice involved in Spirit consciousness.
To unravel this understanding, we should start with the physical situation. Many people behave in a manner that would be considered �evil.� They commit everything from minor offenses such as rudeness to outright murder and all shades of misdeeds in-between. But in doing these things we see only the form of their intention to do harm. We haven�t unraveled what causes that state and how deep it goes.
Imagine that you have a cork floating on the water in a swimming pool. When the pool is full, the cork might float at the 10� marker at the deep end, and when the pool is mostly drained, it might float at about the 1� marker.
This rise and fall can represent the human psyche, which naturally rises, like the cork, to the highest level available to it at any particular moment. That moment might at times be high and at other times be low, but the cork will always be at the highest level it can rise to in the water based on its natural buoyancy.
The �cork� of the human mind can be at any moment at the heights of goodness or the deepest levels of what we would call evil. The person�s psychic position is determined by their capability in the moment. A high capability yields high results and a limited capability, like a drained pool, yields low results. In either case, certain criteria of consciousness must be met for their psychic level to be higher or lower.
Higher mind is like a ladder. It is built on basic reasoning and observation, experimentation and so forth. A person who develops higher mind has the capacity to deal with the higher levels of reasoning and feeling that are involved with higher levels of consciousness. But without the necessary connections, higher mind cannot be built and a person remains stuck in lower mind. An underdeveloped intellect can interfere with the development of basic reasoning. The person can at some point in their early development lose faith in the importance of mind and intellect. They might feel more empowered by unbridled emotion. These conditions prevent higher reasoning abilities from developing.
For example, altruism as a higher state requires a certain kind of understanding. It is a state of complex thought, advanced understanding and higher feeling. But if the mind does not have the basic skills or materials to built a ladder to higher mind, then altruism remains out of reach.
A person might possess the feeling-tone of altruism without explicitly understanding how it works. But that basic understanding to make it function is within them. Tremendous self-knowledge might not be involved, just a very particular combination of beliefs and feelings that create a structure that allow altruism to exist.
Because we have not mapped the human psyche in any real way, although theories have been put forth about its nature, we will have to say that like any structure it can be well constructed, poorly constructed, or anything in between. A psyche can contain elements that are neurotic or psychotic, disassociative and so forth. The psyche remains fairly unchallenged by most people in adulthood, but it can be shaped and reformed with effort even as an adult.
Long story short, if the structure of the psyche is faulty, higher connections cannot be maintained. And even a person capable of higher connections can fall into deep pits within themselves at times. The cork floats, but the water level is not stable. So the state of mind is not who we are. Just as the cork is not the same thing as the water it floats on. Self-definition rests on temporary circumstances that are always changing. Who we are in reality are stable beings who do not feel or engage in �evil.�
By adding logic and information to a person�s mind, their state can sometimes be raised. By lying to a person, confusing them, causing them to forget information and so forth, you remove information and their state can fall. No free will is involved, the up and down motions are automatic based on current levels of understanding. Understanding is controlled by circumstances. So it is ultimately our circumstances that cause our level of being to rise or fall within our own mind.
This is why an evolving person has to have an �Aha!!!� moment where they realize that they are not the water but the cork. They never engaged in evil at all. Rather, the appearance of an impossible thing occurred, i.e. �evil,� which seemed to happen through them and their own actions. But such actions were not reflections of them at all, but of the motion of circumstances causing them to enter into various states of consciousness.
Consciousness in our physical identity has been created, just as our circumstances have been. They were all laid out before we were even born. Every minute of our lives is pre-scripted and that includes our whole identity.
Evil is based on the idea of the interloper, of a being or consciousness that feels cheated by reality and wishes to destroy the happiness of others. That being must have in some way been unhappy or it would not have chosen to attack reality. There would be no reason to attack it otherwise. Also, reality has to be �attackable;� it has to be something that can be destroyed by an outside force.
But thinking about it, the story doesn�t make any sense. If who we are in reality are beings who exist within entirely through our own minds, then there is absolutely no being that can insert itself into our mind and force negative experiences on it. We are not victims.
In reality, we don�t have a body, just a mind, and we create bodies if and when we want them. We only do what we want as Spirit beings. We are not on a schedule, we are not �busy� with projects, soul-work or self-improvement. We are not rushing around trying to please God. We are not planning out our next lifetime or doing anything else because it is expected of us. What we do entirely comes from our own desires. We are not subjected to a patriarchal authority figure that demands that we obey and comply, even if that pressure is softer and more compassionate. There is no pressure because we own our minds and we are in our minds and no one and nothing can stand between our mind and our self.
So when you are sick, you display the symptoms of sickness, but you think of the symptoms as the �sickness� when you are sick because they are what make you suffer. However, sickness is not the runny nose or sore throat, but the virus that is running around inside of you. Likewise, �evil� is just a description how a person thinks and acts in a lower level of mind, the symptoms not the disease.
We don�t see the illness, which is lack of knowledge, which would form a structure that would allow higher thought. The sickness of evil is the lack of knowledge, but that is not a thing but a state of being brought about by understanding deprivation. That deprivation can be internal through a kind of mental disability or emotional problem or it can be environmental. Regardless of the cause it is pre-created.
We see the impact of poor education indirectly through poverty. We learn to associate criminal behavior with poor people. We then learn to hate the poor for being �low� in their behavior, as if it was a trait rather than a symptom. We forget about the initial absence of education and good food that led to this situation, the years of starvation and abuse, stress, pain and fear. We learn to associate the symptom with the person who is sick and not to see the disease itself that is the real problem. It is like saying that a person with the flu has become the Flu Monster as if they were the embodiment of some desire to harm others with illness.
Exercise: You Into Me
Begin by relaxing and getting comfortable. See yourself as standing before a being that is very advanced in a Spiritual sense. They are glowing with unconditional love and tremendous knowledge fills their eyes. They look at you with supernatural compassion.
Now, converting them into pure knowledge in the form of light, draw them into yourself, adding this knowledge to yourself. Everything this being knows becomes your knowledge as well.
Notice how this deeper understanding and higher mind now functions within yourself. See how the feeling-tone is very different from what you are used to. This shows you that you are the cork not the water that carries you. You can be high or low but it is circumstance driven, not based on some internal worthiness or quality that makes you better or worse than anyone else.
Now, we will repeat this exercise but in a different form. We will identify with a person who is in some way driven by their hatred of a particular group of people such blacks, whites, homosexuals, liberals, etc.
This person is standing in a blank space. Facing them is yourself. However, in this case we are identifying with this other person with the intense hatred for a particular group. So, seeing yourself through their eyes, and assuming that you do not possess this same deep hatred, this person sees you turn into pure knowledge in the form of light. Then they merge with this light, in other words gaining all of your knowledge.
Do this and then get a sense of how this shift has changed their feelings about that particular group of people that they hate. How has their internal feeling-state changed? See how simply adding knowledge changes the whole internal complexion of a person instantly.
Now we will do a third version of this same exercise. In this case you will be yourself, standing in the blank space facing someone you really hate or dislike. It could be someone from far in your past. Facing them, have them turn into knowledge in the form of light and then merge with that light/knowledge, adding it to your own knowledge.
Having done this, reexamine the things this person did to you. Do you have a better sense of why they did this? You may not have real closure if they didn�t understand why they did it, but it might fill in some of the blanks.
I5) As human beings we live within the boundaries of our ego for the most part, but there are levels of being where identity becomes broader and includes other peoples� experiences and identities; also, it includes the sharing of identities in a manner that is open and yet still in some way a �self.� The lack of ego simply allows self to include people/experiences outside of self in �self.�
With ego, we have several characteristics in common with all other beings with egos. First, we are free of the restraints of conscience to a certain extent. Conscience is who we are in reality; we are all one in love. But when that is taken away, the ego dictates to the self how things should be. It is a petty tyrant set up in a vacant throne that should be occupied by conscience and is not.
Whether a person is �conscientious� or not, they have ego as long as they experience being a separate entity discrete and cut off from the feelings of others. So you may feel love or compassion for others, but if you do not feel their pain as it happens then you are still tied to ego. So physical beings of an ordinary nature are automatically cut off from the conscience that is their true nature and have an ego that rules in its place. The conscience that is part of our nature is more than just the ability to feel what others feel, but the necessity of it; it is our oneness.
So, the nature of ego is to rule, but also to fail at rulership of the self, because it is not equipped to rule in the place of the conscience. Being not properly equipped to do this, it is lost and confused. The ego is too limited and the job is too large. This overwhelming situation leads the ego to act in a dictatorial manner, reducing tasks to their simplest forms. The reality of the situation is too painful, because the success of rulership is mixed with the fear, pain and the despair of death.
Death is the counterpoint to the loss of the conscience. It is the part of the psyche that takes away the condition where the ego rules. And so, as the state of defeat constantly threatens, ego knows it is doomed. And in desperation it may do many self-destructive things.
The ego has a dark gift, which is the ability to see itself as the dealer of pain and harm. It can cause a person to be the �bad guy,� to kill and maim, torture and destroy and generally to wreak havoc on others. It can also use its bright gifts, such as generosity, mercy, love and kindness. But all these gifts serve the ego, and in being self-serving, the ego has no real agenda but self-aggrandizement, self-empowerment and harm to others.
It may serve the ego to help others, but like a vicious serpent, it turns and strikes with its fullest fury when provoked. Some come to identify with their ego while others simply exist under its whip, but all are under its merciless regime until they are given some alternative to it.
However, despite what I said earlier about the relationship between ego and being in the physical world, the fact is that a person can also tread a different path while physical. If they choose, they can by degrees learn to lay aside the ego and its tyranny in favor of God, which is the portion of the true identity that has been separated from self. We see and feel God, but God is just our own true mind, reaching through internal separation to reclaim us. And it must and will succeed because it has all the real power.
The element of choice is real although free will is not. The level of function away from ego and towards the true self is the factor that moves us forwards or backwards. But our true process is always forward towards the day when we learn that our true self is all we really want. Everything else is something that the ego has latched onto and asserted that it needs or wants. The pursuit of and having of enjoying of this thing seems like a temporary triumph for the ego. But these kinds of experiences must eventually run dry and the ego will be faced with coming up with new and more ingenious ways to fill the hole.
It is possible to have both ego and to identify with multiple beings on some level higher than the physical. Ego is definitely not limited to physical experiences. However, in the level of function beyond ego, there can be no limitations such as exist in physical experience or on other levels of being that might be encountered after death that are lower than Spirit.
So, as an exercise to try to help us understand how the above-ego identity functions, we are going to try to briefly have a glimpse of this experience for ourselves.
Exercise: Mind Beyond Ego
In this exercise we will meditate as a means of entering into a series of mental states that are connected with each other, and in doing so we will experience each state one by one, leading to a final cumulative state. For directions on meditation, see the labeled section in the introduction to this book.
Choosing counting meditation as the form, meditate for twenty breaths on �rest.� This will feel like calm and relaxation as well as a focus on the present.
At this point, visualize the ego as a human form made of black gelatinous material. See it bow down before the Truth, which is the God within you represented as a glowing being of light. Continue with a counting meditation for a one to twenty count with the focus being both the form and meaning of this visualization. The emerging state will feel like you are resting your mind in acquiescence with God�s will, like putting your head on a pillow and relaxing as a higher will takes care of things.
When this is completed, visualize ego and see yourself as being able to see through it with a kind of x-ray vision. The black gelatinous material it is made of becomes clear to you. Continue using counting meditation with a focus on the idea of a feeling of exultation at being able to see through ego. This may at the end of the meditation feel like you are seeing the sun for the first time after a month of continuous rain. You will feel joy as a palpable force fills you.
Now, visualize raising your head and seeing the light of God as it illuminates your being with golden light. See it and feel it. Continue with your counting meditation for a count of one to twenty as you focus on this visualization and a feeling of your soul taking flight. This will feel like you are weightless, flying and happy, free and at peace on a sunny day.
Lastly, visualize raising your hand and with it grasping and engulfing the source of God�s light. Hold it in your clenched fist and allow the light to flow through your being until you glow with this light yourself. Your whole body becomes a lantern full of the light of God. See this light spreading out and enlightening everyone around you.
Enter into Spirit, which is a feeling of being completely at peace with higher existence, while holding onto the form of this visualization. Let this feeling come to you as you count from one to ten. Hold this state for at least ten minutes.
Now, gently allow yourself to come back. Take notes on your experience in your journal.
I6) There is no aspect of existence, whether it is a �thing� or a being that cannot be observed from an �inside-out� perspective as part of greater, or in some cases lesser, consciousness.
Bob sits down in a chair in his living room. Bob sees the chair and his body sitting on it. He feels the chair. All these perceptions build a sense of the following conclusions: the chair is a thing outside of Bob, the chair is real, Bob�s body is real and is outside of Bob.
In actuality, the chair exists within Bob�s own mind. It is a symbol in his mind. He sees the chair because it is a symbol that represents something. It doesn�t pop in and out of existence because it is part of the illusion of a physical world. Bob�s body is likewise a symbol in his mind.
Bob�s mind appears to him to be trapped in his body. He can�t position his mind outside of his body and he can�t make his body go away. Every day he wakes up and it is still there. It looks more or less the same from day to day. It appears to be an object. It is in actuality a symbol in Bob�s mind only, not external to him in any way.
Jane comes in the living room and sees Bob sitting on the chair. Jane sees Bob�s body and the chair and what she sees is consistent with what Bob sees. What Jane sees is actually a symbol in her mind. She sees the same thing as Bob because she and Bob and everyone else are all ultimately part of one being and because Bob and are both beings exploring a single idea, of physicality, more specifically, physicality in this particular place and time. Bob represents symbolically something to her, as does the chair. If they didn�t, they wouldn�t exist for her.
Jane is experiencing her feelings in a material and symbolic form. She is seeing �things� and �bodies� rather than directly experiencing her own feelings without symbolic representation. She has objectified her feelings through this symbolic process, as has Bob. She sees a world of things outside of her because some part of her mind wants to see things rather than her own and other beings feelings directly.
The chair is not a thing, but a symbol in the mind of Bob and Jane. We can imagine being that chair and experience it as having some kind of rudimentary consciousness. This seems impossible as the chair has no nerve endings and so no capacity for perception. But because the chair is made of consciousness, it can be experienced as if it were a living thing. What we are actually experiencing is the chair as a symbol within our own consciousness, given a kind of external life and consciousness.
But if we imagine this consciousness, is it real? Does the chair actually have experiences? For every person who sees the chair, part of their consciousness is tied up in that particular symbol. The �chair� is something slightly different in each person�s mind although it takes on the same symbolic form. The difference is in the individuality of each person seeing the chair.
All identities have to be created, just like things. Your identity and mine are both creations. They had to be created in Spirit before they could exist in the physical. The same is true of all physical objects. They all exist as ideas in Spirit first, in physicality second. And, they have a creator or creators in Spirit, although at another level of understanding they have always existed in Spirit and were never really created.
The real unit of measure in Spirit is desire. Desires create identities as well as objects in order to be fulfilled. Identities serve desires in the sense that a desire can create an identity and through their identifying with that identity the desire is fulfilled through its experiences.
Exercise: Manifestation
Think of something that you want. It can be a book or a piece of furniture or some other ordinary thing that you would like to have. Now go to your Spirit Home Base and locate yourself there firmly. Think of the object you want and see it in front of you in Spirit. Try to see some detail of the object that is peculiar that will identify it to you later. For example, if it is a book, see it as being stamped with a particular symbol. If it is a piece of furniture, see it as having a word or peculiar marking carved into it.
Think to yourself, �This is mine; it belongs to me and it is in my physical home.� See the object as being in your current home, unless you are moving soon. See it and feel that it is, in a sense, already there. Say, �I place this object here in my physical environment; it is mine.�
Now, release the object at the Spirit level. It still exists at Spirit level but you are just done with it for now. Now it will come into manifestation. You will know that it is your Spirit creation because it will have the peculiar mark on it. This will be your confirmation that it is the particular object you thought of.
Once you have this confirmation, you can use this technique to create other things that you want. Never focus on the cost of the object or any other particulars. You might have to pay for it, but if you do it will be only what is reasonable. It might come to you for free. Whatever the case may be, it will be yours and you will always know that you consciously brought it to you.
Never use this to take a particular object from someone else who already owns it. Rather, see yourself getting one just like it, but different in terms of it having the special marking. By using this process you can never take anything from others in a hurtful way. This process happens at Spirit level, so that would be impossible. Rather, it will come to you in a way that works for everyone.
