My spiritual blog & articles - My Spiritual Coach

Plato said that all souls are eternal and indestructible. Do you agree?

5/4/2023

I agree with Plato that Soul is, by definition, eternal and indestructible. Bodies and minds come and go. Everything physical withers away and dies, from the tiniest one-celled animal to the whale. Mountains turn into grains of sand on the beach, worn away by time and weather. And deep rivers have dried up into canyons.

Only one thing is eternal—the fundamental Energy of the Universe, which never had a beginning and has no ending. It always was and always will be. It takes many, many forms, but always originates from the One Eternal Source. That is also true about the Soul because it is through our Soul that we partake of the Universe. It participates in us and we participate in it. But most of us don’t recognize the, because we are run by the mind-stream of endless thoughts, fears, and regrets.

Yet deep within each of us, we know that the Soul we were when we are eleven years old is still the Soul we are now. And when we meet someone who is on the same vibrational level as our Soul, we feel a spiritual reaction. Our Souls are tuned into each other. We inherently know that there is something within us and surrounding us that can never die or be destroyed and we feel it in this connection too. It is in a state of growth and freedom, like the expanding Universe itself.

Plato understood that the Great One Source Energy is the fountain of all that is. And that within each of us, regardless of our individual characteristics, is Divine Consciousness. It’s just a matter of how much are we allowing into our fields of recognition and how much of it we are uncovering. For it is all there, like a lightbulb covered over with duct tape. Take away the layers of the obscuring tape and you will find the eternal light of the Soul within.

What is the relationship between depression and spiritual awareness? Does being spiritually awakened help depressives cope with their condition?

4/4/2023

Simply put, depression is lack of spiritual awareness. Depression is being lost in the quagmire of the ego-mind, the “little me,” and not seeing a way out. It is endless hopelessness and anger turned inward. It is being upset, anxious, and sluggish, lacking in energy. And it is being dragged along by a fearful mind that is bent on survival above anything else, including happiness.

This is because the ego-mind and it’s constant babble shuts out the spiritual vibrational fields that bring inner peace, comfort, joy, and appreciation of all the beauty around us. It focusses on “what’s wrong with this picture?”, finding a flaw in everything and then zoning in on that flaw. This includes finding fault with ourselves, others, and with the world. Of course, at one time this enabled us to survive and rise to the top of the food chain. But now, like the appendix, it is a useless function that causes more harm than good.

Spiritual awareness, which is tuning into another level of vibration and being receptive to it, is the only way out of depression. People have tried drugs for centuries but they are only a quick fix. They usually need augmentation as the ego-mind finds its ways around them (like a fox trying to get into a henhouse). They also do not build coping skills. Some drugs have opened peoples’ consciousness to non-physical realms but they are also only a temporary doorway.

Tuning into the underlying Source Energy of the Universe brings us into an awareness that we are more than our rambunctious minds. We are not so apt to be carried away by the “little me” and it’s perpetual worries. When we allow the natural well-being of All That Is permeate us we are actually harnessing that energy and we can freely flow with life now. We are not stuck in the past and we are not worried over the future because we live in Eternity. This is the only lasting source of happiness, joy, and excitement about being alive. We step back from the mind and all its anxiety and depressive tendencies and allow ourselves to experience eternity, space, freedom and move into the vibrational space of Spirit.

Spiritual awareness needs practice to get there for most people. It’s worth it to find our way to emotional freedom and joy. All other methods, including talk therapy and drugs have been enormous failures, with a few individual exceptions. Also, I am not vilifying our thinking apparatus, the miraculous mind that is capable of creativity, problem-solving, and communication. That aspect of the mind is in keeping with the miracles of the Universe. Being in contact with Source Energy sharpens those aspects of our thinking because we are not giving so much attention to turmoil and unhappiness.

Spiritual awareness also helps people who have chemical or neurological brain imbalances. For they are able to recognize the tricks of depressive thinking. They begin to see how the fretful mind works and are able to put it in its place. They learn to watch their thoughts and even laugh at them, instead of being dragged down into the quicksand. It takes skill and training to do this when we have depressive tendencies. But it’s worth it to uncover the shining light that has always been there: Our Eternal Soul.

Can you explain how quantum mechanics or something similar can be used to understand spirituality?

12/29/2022

Quantum physics and mechanics point to underlying energy forces that are not perceivable through the physical senses. They extrapolate that the entire material world is dependent on the observer. What we consider to be solid matter, composed of atoms and molecules, is actually patterns of energy that can either be a particle or a wave, depending on the observer and on probability.

The observer interacts with the particle or wave during the act of observation, for the scanning electron microscope alters what it is aimed at through light energy that interacts with the observed. This makes it almost impossible to pin material objects down to solid forms when we are examining them at this level. The basic building blocks of all that is felt, seen, heard, tasted, so elusive that we cannot measure them under laboratory conditions. Furthermore, they are not blocks or structures that can be quantified.

Spirituality is also based on the unseen and unmeasurable. It is observer-dependent. The observer perceives through spiritual senses the underlying energy patterns from which all material forms arise. As Lao Tau says in verse 25 of the Tao, “There was something formless and perfect before the universe was born.” From this formlessness, all forms arose and all perished. But the underlying formlessness from which it arose is eternal, unchanging, and One.

Lao Tzu said this 2,500 years ago and it still perfectly describes the paradox that all this stuff around us that we think is real, perishes and therefore cannot be “really” real. Yet it comes from something that never perishes. It comes from something eternal. Some will call it God, some the Source Energy of the Universe, some the Tao, all in an attempt to understand what seems to be illogical. But it cannot be pinned down to one name.

In Newtonian physics we have measurable laws of cause and effect, gravity, and thermodynamics. In Quantum physics, cause and effect don’t apply because an atom might be a particle or a wave based simply on probability. Everything exists in the realm of possibility. And so it is in spirituality as well. It is a space of infinite possibility, unbounded by physical, material laws. At it’s root, matter is not real because it is not eternal. The only thing that is eternal is the fountainhead from which everything that exists proceeds. And that cannot be seen, heard, named or quantified in any way.

The underlying structure holds all in place, and yet we cannot “see” it. And cannot “see” the atom either. This requires a leap of faith that all is well and perfectly organized, even if the human brain cannot grasp it. And this is the same faith that pervades spirituality, regardless of the form it takes.

Do enlightened people believe in aliens?

11/14/2022

An enlightened person would probably call them, “extraterrestrials.” The word “Alien” means that we think we are the center of the universe and any other life form is a foreigner and doesn’t belong. But we all share the same Universe. It’s almost racist to call them aliens because it is such a people-centered outlook. It’s like, we are the only ones that count. Everyone else not on this planet, is strange and somehow not good.

It is also very people-centered to believe we are the only ones out there. There are about 125 billion galaxies consisting of 100 billion stars on the average. It is preposterous to think that everything in all this centers on earthlings and that the only possible form of life in all grandeur and complexity, is on earth.
Some have postulated that the reason extraterrestrials have not made significant contact with us is because we are not enlightened enough for them to communicate with. They are operating on a higher level of consciousness and why would they bother hanging out with a species still involved in petty ego conflicts as well as large-scale wars.

If they already have the resources to break through earth’s atmosphere and land, what possible benefit could it be to them to befriend us? Some say so they can make us into slaves and mine our resources for their project, but this is just a human view of grabbing things, enslaving people, and being a menace. The human view of extraterrestrials comes from TV and films. For example, Star Wars or Star Trek, where the extraterrestrials indulge in warfare and other power struggles, simply based on human social interactions.

Enlightenment is about expansion of consciousness to ackowledge more than the finite human struggles for survival. It is about acknowledging the vastness of the Universe itself. As Neil de Grasse Tyson says, “To declare that Earth must be the only planet with life in the universe would be inexcusably bigheaded of us.”

How can belief in something that cannot be seen or measured provide strength and comfort?

11/5/2022

We can't see electricity, nor the interconnections of the Internet that makes our communication with each other possible. We don’t see the air, yet we rely on it for our very lives. We put our trust in so many things that we cannot see or measure.

We can measure the outcome or output of these invisible forces, such as how much light or heat electricity puts out. But the actual invisible energy is not quantifiable in that way. All we can do is rely on the thermodynamic laws and laws of electrical flow to predict their outcomes.

Belief and trust are two different things. Belief means, “I don’t know. I’d like to think it’s such and such a way. But I don’t really know.” Or, belief is based on blind trust, as a child believes in Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny.

But when it comes to finding strength in unseen forces outside ourselves and our sensory apparatus, it is more a matter of deep feeling, and an inner knowing that comes from profound experience. If it is based on belief alone, we could find comfort in the Great Rabbit in the Sky, if that is what our culture teaches. Then, a new belief system comes along, such as the Great Turtle beneath the Earth, and we believe that as well. Because belief is not based on knowledge or experience.

The most important things in the world are those unseen things, such as love. We can’t see love or peace. We can only feel love, peace, and joy. Also, it doesn’t depend on sight at all. Sighted people rely so much on what they see to believe what they think is real. What about our blind brothers and sisters? They can feel the presence of the Holy Source Energy of the Universe too. Because, Spiritual forces are not dependent on our senses, which can easily be lost, destroyed, or diminished by age.

Therefore, the only things that are truly comforting, are the eternal things, which cannot be destroyed or diminished. That is what brings comfort. But don’t try to measure them with any scientific instruments. You must feel them to know them.

Does consciousness depend on the brain, or is it dependent on something else like soul or spirit?

10/23/2022

There are different levels of consciousness. They range from simple mental awareness, depending on the brain, to body-levels of consciousness that include the gut and the endocrine systems. We also exist within a higher level of consciousness, called Cosmic Consciousness, which is the organizing intelligence of the Universe.

The level of awareness that most call consciousness is dependent on the brain and body. It would go away if we starved ourselves to death or didn’t drink anything for 10 days. That level of consciousness, which is what helps us survive and navigate through the physical world, would just vanish. When we are brain dead, we don’t know our name, gender, or any of our physical attributes.

Yet we also have a circulating nervous system, or second brain or layer of consciousness. It is called “the Enteric Nervous System.” It is located inside of our gut. It causes us to feel emotions, such as butterflies in our stomach when we’re excited or nervous. Or feeling sick to our stomach when we’re frightened or repulsed. The Enteric Nervous System is made up of more than 100 million nerve cells. These cells line our gastrointestinal tract that runs from our esophagus all the way down to our rectum.

This second brain communicates directly with the brain in our head. But it is non-verbal. This is called the brain-gut connection or gut brain link. For a long time, doctors thought that anxiety and stress were the root cause of gastrointestinal problems, but it’s actually now thought to be the opposite. Poor gut health can send signals to the central nervous system and influence our moods, and how we perceive the world.

The endocrine system, our hormones, are also another layer of consciousness within the Enteric Nervous System. Hormones and other neurotransmitters travel along the gut-brain axis to send chemical messages. So we now know that he brain is not the only origin of thinking, feeling, and the operation of intelligence. “Messenger molecules” associated with the brain circulate throughout our body via the bloodstream. They also affect our health, the way we think and perceive our environment and other people.

As I said, outside the brain, intelligence and consciousness is nonverbal. For example, the immune system can identify and fight invading bacteria and viruses, and is sometimes called “the floating brain.” Yet it does not use language to communicate. It can be influenced by our thinking but it can also influence our thinking, causing us to have moods and other reactions, inducing ill health.

Then there is Cosmic Consciousness. That is the overall, underlying organizing intelligence of the entire Universe, in which we live. We abide within this level of consciousness and it is beyond our control. Even after we are brain dead, that level of consciousness, of which we are a part, exists for eternity. That is our Soul. It is felt within our hearts as well as all around us. Most have to enter a mystical state to perceive this level of consciousness. Yet, even people in a coma exist within this Cosmic Consciousness, for it is the underlying structure of the universe and all that is.

In other words, our Cosmic Consciousness is using the physical brain and the circulating brain as processing devices, moving molecules where they are needed to create the sight, sound, touch, taste, and smell of the world. Cosmic Consciousness does not depend on the brain’s mechanics of thought, perception, and transforming raw data into the world around us. The brain depends on it.

Does stoicism have a cosmology and views of a soul or life beyond the human experience, or is it more so a philosophy of how to effectively live life?

10/18/2021

For the most part, people think of Stoicism as an extremely practical way of living. It is about accepting what we cannot change. It is also about living life to the fullest because we never know when it’s going to be our last day.
But the Stoics also had a cosmology and a concept of the soul.

They believed in what in Hinduism is called Prana—the breath of life. But they called it the pneuma The pneuma a mixture of the elements air and fire.

This pneuma is the creative force behind the all life, all inanimate objects, and the cosmos as a whole. The highest form of the pneuma is our soul, which they called the “psyche.”
The psyche is a a small part of the overall pneuma, which is the soul of God. Everything that exists is part of the pneuma in some way. Stoics divide it all into two categories:

Passive—matter and the material world, including us and our bodies

Active—divine purpose, or the “logos”

The Stoics saw the cosmos as an all-encompassing presence, with a mega-soul. This is where the god Zeus come into play. He’s the one that holds it all together with the power of the pneuma. And everything in the world is imbued with the pneuma.

I am completely in agreement with this view of the cosmos, minus Zeus. But I understand the need for humans to embody the forces of the Universe, and put a label on them, such as “Zeus” or “God.”

As part of the divine consciousness, do we already know everything?

7/13/2021

As part of the divine consciousness, we really don’t know anything from the standpoint of our limited brains. We think we know things because we have accumulated many facts and educated ourselves so we can gain some measure of control over our lives. We believe that “knowledge is power” and on one level it is. It is better to have skills and understanding than to be completely clueless, especially when performing tasks.

But when we talk about divine consciousness, we are talking about something that is so large, we are simply not equipped to know about it fully. We may be able to see pieces of it, like an ant looking at an elephant. The ant may see just the toenail and think it is a huge mountain. It could never even see the whole elephant.

That is how we are in the realm of divine consciousness. We can get glimpses of it and live in it. We can experience it. But it is difficult to put words to what the experiences are. We can only hint at it. We can only talk about sensations but we can never pin it down. We aren’t meant to. It is arrogance to think that one day we will know everything.

The human race knows a lot already and it still hasn’t increased in happiness or peace. It has not taken itself into higher levels of consciousness and continues to chase after things that do not last. Knowing a lot does not provide much consolation on a cold and stormy night.

Is the law of attraction/manifestation simply a way for people to just believe in themselves, and therefore take action, or is it more than that?

1/25/2021

The Law of Attraction, which is “like attracts like,” makes a lot of sense when we see it in nature. Geese don’t hang out with skunks, they attract other geese. It is also about the energy that we put out there. It is invisible, but is comes back to us as we magnetically attract it.

However, I take issue with people thinking that they can sit on their sofa all day long and pet their cat and all the goodies they ever wanted in life will magically appear. My experience is that you have to meet the Universe at least half way, through action, to manifest anything you want in your life.

It is the lazy way out to think that you can lose weight, for example, by just thinking thoughts that you are thinner. You have to put in the work and the discipline. You must take some form of action. That is what sets the whole Universal ball rolling. If you just sit there and indulge in magical thinking that just because you are a good person and think nice thoughts everything good will come to you, I’m sorry, it won’t work.

Unfortunately, the Law of Attraction has been so commercialized, it has lost its original meaning. It is all about the energy forces of the Universe, which are unseen but can be harnessed by our own energy fields. It is not about brining in all the stuff money can buy and everyone lives happily ever after.

The physical plane is not easy and we a driven by the media to believe we need so many things to be happy. The Law of Attraction appeals to people who want lots of things. And therefore, it has become tarnished from misuse. We believe all these things lead to a happy, successful life. But they don’t. Inner peace, joy, love, bliss—our minds need to be all of those first things to attract them.

But we cannot be a huge SUV, a McMansion, a $1,000 pizza, and those things all go away or get digested and turn to excrement or dust. So, using the Law of Attraction for such things may be amusing, but it is not fulfilling and often doesn’t work. We are coming from an energy level of need and want, rather than fulfillment and that is the flaw. Law of attraction, without the necessary energetic work to supplement it, will not work.

Can you trust the law of attraction to solve all our problems?

7/11/2020

No, solving all our problems is not so easy as sitting on a couch and thinking positive thoughts.

The Law of Attraction does work. Like always attracts like, as we can see in nature all around us. Skunks don’t hang out with geese and fish don’t fraternize with sparrows. But it is not so simple as just being a positive source of energy and opening yourself up to the abundance of the Universe. All the goodies are not going to fall into our laps automatically.

The way it is designed, which many people would not like to face because they think it is easier to just wish and hope, is that we must meet the Universe at least halfway with action. It sounds like such a wonderful fairy tale to think that all we have to do to lose weight is to think about being thin. No, sorry, we must also stop eating fattening and non-nourishing foods and do some form of exercise.

And if we want to be wealthy, all we have to do is stop our negative vibes about cash flow and money. But again, this is wishing and hoping. It is not the whole picture. Yes, we can be unobstructed conduits for all the good of the Universe, but we must put in the effort. Not the struggle, not the grueling slavery, but the effort that shows our intentions.

The goal of “solving all our problems” is unrealistic and not the reason for our existence on this planet. Our problems are instigation for growth. And once they are “solved,” opportunities for new growth appear. It is never solved. It never gets done. and our opportunities for growth are endless.