When I was a little boy one of my treats was to go to the local candy store and get my penny bag of candy. I went into the store and looked around at all the fabulous glass jars of candy on the shelves and the aroma of all the flavors sent me on a trip of delights. I now had to choose which jar of candy I would like. Tough decision for a six year old with only one penny to spend. Once I pointed to the Jar that was making my mouth water the old man would take the jar off the shelf, unscrew the lid and carefully weigh out a few ounces of candy on the little scales. A four ounce weight went on one side and the candy was poured on the other. I thought him to be a mean old man for not one fraction of an ounce was given away. The scales had to balance exactly on the mark.
The amount of candy I bought for one penny was just the correct amount to last me through the week. I would eat a few pieces each day and at the end of the week I would eat my last piece and it was time for my allowance of one penny again. There were a few occasions when I was given more money by an uncle or aunt and I would buy a huge bag of candy and stuff them down all at once. Rolling round the room with stomach ache and a few bouts of being sick soon cured that. I realized very early that you can have too much of a good thing. If the old man in the candy store would have tipped the scales and given me more candy I would have been sick more often. I realize now he was being kind to me by balancing the scales spot on.
Balance in all things is the correct way to live. So how do we balance our scales to get the correct perspective of life. Spirit and Soul are words that are used more and more and there are dangers attached to the misuse and abuse of Spirituality. The Churches and Temples are quite empty these days and second and third generations of non church goers are seeking their own truths. Some of the Media look at the whole of the New Age Movement and say it is all mumbo jumbo. Some of it is. Most of it holds real truths. At least with the media they are open with their distaste for the truth and are no lasting danger for most are good men and women with conditioned intellect. They know no better and in time will find a more meaningful path to the truth.
There are cults, organizations and a few authors who have used the umbrella of Spirit to inject the hatreds and far left and right political doctrines into the minds of the gullible. When someone starts talking about bloodlines and Aryan races of people with alien genes then the dangers are quite clear. Hitler used lies and propaganda to successfully sway a nation into hideous crimes. Religion is on the decline because of the Hell and Damnation fear it sends into peoples lives. As new generations come along, the field is wide open for evil minded people to mask their doctrines and gain support from the innocent seeker. The Internet is the new age platform for all manner of insights and we must be vigilant against unsavory web sites which hide behind Spirits banner.
We all have our own ideas and beliefs and if they bring Joy and love into our lives then we are on the correct pathway. When life seems to take a nasty turn and things are not going well the dangers start to appear. We thought we found the answers to our prays but it has not worked out. But we did everything by the book. We meditated, we silenced our minds, we went to Spiritual retreats, read more books and still we cannot solve our problems. We still feel uncomfortable, we still get sick. We still have less money than we would like. Then up pops Mr. or Mrs. propaganda and under a cloak of Spirit and starts to point the finger at a minority group of people. Blacks, Jews, Muslims, Catholic, Protestant, Yellows, Gays, Gypsies, Ect. They tell us some or all are responsible for our bad luck. It is easier to sway people in the wrong direction when life is not reaching our expectations.
Winston Churchill was a man charged with spirits energy. He once said "If you will not fight for the right when you can easily win without bloodshed, if you will not fight when your victory will be sure and not too costly, you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all the odds against you and only a small chance of survival. There may even be a worse case: you may have to fight when there is no hope of victory, because it is better to perish than to live as slaves." It was his spiritual essence that gave Britain the strength to carry on under extreme pressure. In the long run True Spirit will always overcome false doctrines of prejudice and bigotry. It is the power in Spirit that encompasses peace and tolerance. Hatreds, bigotry and prejudice will never command the minds of genuine Spiritual Teachers and leaders.
Then there are other dangers with a mask of Spirit. Some cults will try to entice the gullible to try Drugs to heighten our awareness of God. They will tell a story of how a drug can increase the intensity and longevity of a Spiritual trip. When we progress through the realms of spirit in a natural way, we will find the intensity and longevity of Joy & Love magnified every day of our life. The experience with drugs is no match for a true closeness with God. We have no need to try any drug. We learn each day of higher highs. We have an inbuilt natural essences. It is an auto response from God to our soul and back again. No effort is required for there is no substitute for Trust and Faith. Spirit is Truth and everything has been planned for our enjoyment. We got a ticket to the show at birth and the Maestro conducts our orchestrations.
Many other dangers lurk to entrap our curiosity. There is an old saying, Curiosity killed the cat. We must weigh up each situation that comes into our lives and balance our minds to understand what feels good and what doesn't. As we learn to walk in wisdom's pathways our instincts become sharper. Our intuition takes on greater meaning and we follow a more profound thought pattern. We ask questions and find answers without help from books or other people. We realize our contract is with God and we are learning to understand the small print.
We all have much to learn about our Soul and Spirit. We are constructed from spirits blueprints and we are all part of its pureness. Evil only exists in the minds of misguided thinkers. There is no evil in our souls and we must not let a badly conditioned mind dictate messages of hate and jealousy. To obtain the sweetness life has to offer we cannot afford to tip our scales over or else we will become frustrated and angry. This will lead us to making the wrong decisions and once we are on that road it can only lead to ruin.
Our candy shop is the world we live in. We are born into a magical Globe full of beauty and bliss. We are intoxicated with all the aromas and visions of all the candies of nature. We only need our share of wealth, brought to us by the fruits of our labor. Too much will make us sick. If we think we have too little we will think life is mean and build jealousy and hatreds. Balancing the scales of thought to embrace the Joys of a human experience is Spirits guidance. We will then be able to spread out our delights to last us until the day we leave for the next journey. We only have a small allowance of time. We must spend it wisely.
© Copyright 2000 by Michael Levy. All rights reserved.
Michael Levy lives in Fort Lauderdale is the Author of Three books:
What is the Point , Minds of Blue Souls of Gold , and the new Enjoy Yourself, It's Later Than You Think .
For more information visit: http://www.pointoflife.com
Email: mikmikl@aol.com |
