Dear wil; it is a pleasure indeed to have your ear again.
I take we are not talking about the possibility of one sperm finding its way into an egg at.the opportune time.but...souls waiting on the other side? Where have they been born before winning the human on earth lottery?
The reply to this question would be standard teachings on reincarnation and karma. These teachings are explained much better by other sources online, so please excuse me for passing the buck. Here is a link if desirable (
https://www.spiritualresearchfoundation.org/spiritual-research/afterlife/life-after-death/)
I have tons of friends...are they attached to my ego or I to theirs?
Enemies I have very few....folx I prefer not to engage with that would be more...but I surely don't see them as enemies.
The ideas that have been given to me concerning friendship are to look at it like this: You have a friend. Why is he your friend? Because he thinks you are a knowledgeable person, also nice to talk with, witty, trustworthy, knows when to be quiet, and an all-round good guy. This makes us think that being knowledgeable, nice, etc. are good qualities we should retain. Our ultimate goal in life is experiencing bliss. Bliss is found in the soul. The human character, emotions, memories, thoughts, intelligence and self-identification (which for sake of brevity can be called 'ego') covers the soul like a shroud. Thus, unusual as it may sound, friends are 'enemies'. They make it more difficult to get rid of ego. Whereas people who dislike us will refer to aspects of our ego in a negative light, and thus makes it easier to get rid of.
Just imagine this situation: you suddenly get the news that 20 of your friends were together on a bus, there was an accident, they are all dead. How would you feel? In another situation you suddenly get the news that there was a bus accident somewhere in Africa, and 20 people died. How would you feel? Comparing our reactions, most would feel worse about situation 1. Why? Because of ego! That says it all!
32.... Half my age...there was a.time I would think...oh to be that age again...but I surely would.not.want to give up what has happened since then as I have enjoyed the ride.
We are honored to be able to harvest rich fruits of insight from people such as yourself who have walked ahead of us and can warn us of dangers that lie ahead.
May the blissful soul shine in your life to the glory of God
Thanks for sharing that. So your reasons were reasons of the heart? I can see that, I understand what it means to experience Love.
When you say "eternal", can you go into detail a bit more? I'm asking because another deep Eastern teaching is about the transience and impermanence of everything that exists depending on something else.
Dearest Cino; so nice to be able to communicate with you again. You come across as a person who is skillful in knowing when to speak and when to refrain. I lack this quality.
Concerning the experience of being in a Guru's presence. Words fail. Imagine the feeling you would experience if you saw a house completely on fire, then a woman comes rushing up shouting that her baby is inside, and she runs full speed literally into the fire without any thought for herself... The Guru's presence is a much stronger ''feeling'' than that.
Concerning ''eternal''; I read you had experience of Theravada Buddhism. What those dear people would call ''non-self'' is what some would call ''eternal''. But having these BIG concepts alone are of little value. The words can actually cause more harm than good. The best then is for us to do the spirituality until we can experience ''non-self'' for ourselves. :-D
May peace fill you and your dear children's hearts
I have no idea what heavens you are talking about now, so I shall bow out ...
I am inclined to suggest the 'heaven' you've been talking about is not the Christian heaven.
I'm sure your heart's in the right place, but if you're addressing Abrahamics directly, might I suggest you make some effort to understand their understandings, as you seem to have drawn some erroneous conclusions?
No offence to either you or your guru, but one really can't address a question of the eschaton to 'Abrahamics' as there are significant differences between the Judaism, Christianity and Islam.
Dearest Thomas; what a joy fills my heart to write to you again. Thank you so much for your compliment concerning my heart, and your detailed responses to the thread.
I feel now that you are correct in that I addressed the question poorly. My intention was just to look into the matter of how in Western religion the Heavenly Beings are looked up to, whereas in Eastern religion they are looked down upon. This issue has given me both curiosity and worry, but I see now that I went about the wrong way to address it. Please forgive me, and thank you again for your sophisticated responses.
May the love of God and the Communion of the Saints carry us all
