To Be Like A Little Child

One of the more recognizable of Bible passages is Matthew 18:3 where Jesus Christ admonishes his disciples as follows:

And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. (King James version, Cambridge edition)

Many interpretations abound as to what quality of little children is most desirable to enter the kingdom of heaven. Some would way it's the capacity to trust and listen or to be obedient. Others would say it's the quality of being impressionable.

They are all reasonable interpretations, but I believe that one of the most important child-like qualities is that of being non-judgemental. Just look into the eyes of a newborn or very young child. The child is not sizing you up on what he/she can get out of you, or if you're smart enough to do the job, or if you have enough money in the bank or if you have the same political leanings. The child simply accepts you as you are, with no hidden agenda (supposedly, the Holy Masters and Ascended Masters are able to gaze upon other people with child's eyes).

Why is being non-judgemental important to getting into the kingdom of heaven? In the Bible, Jesus Christ admonishes us not to judge, lest we ourselves be judged.

Judgement affects us on many levels:

1. It can create too many expectations, or unrealistic expectations. If those expectations aren't met, they may open us up to frustration, anger, a sense of betrayal or resentment. This can lead to embedded negative thoughts and emotions unless one is able to detach and forgive. "I sent you to this top school, the least you can do is find a well-paying job!" "What kind of boss is he? He should know better!" "My parents don't understand me!" Do all of these sound familiar? They may be the hidden echoes residing deep within our psyche. In short, mental and emotional baggage that drag us down.

2. Related to #1, judgement categorizes people based on certain parameters. This is not always bad, because it speeds up the decision-making process, but it can be taken to extremes. For example, janitor = no money = not worth talking to; dresses well = rich = should make him/her my friend, etc. Sometimes when we put people into neat little boxes like this, we remember the box but not the person inside. This is why people can change, but family and old friends still think of the person as the "same old goat." What happens is there is no more accurate perception and correct expression, the critical thinking part of you surrenders to bias. When you couple that with the mental and emotional baggage mentioned earlier, then you throw in more entanglements into the mix.

3. Seeing the previous two items, it's clear that one can trace specific cause and effect relationships based on how one person judges others. When everyone else is doing it at the same time, it can make for very interesting social dynamics.

There are good judgements and there are bad judgements, but "entering the kingdom of heaven" is more than just "good people in, bad people out." The esoteric meaning of the kingdom of heaven is the inner world, or spiritual experiences of the higher planes. We are taught that in meditation, one must clear oneself of all thought and remove all expectations. One must calm the mind, but as I hope I've shown earlier, being judgemental leads to the formation of negative thought forms that suck our energy (it takes a lot of energy to be angry).

Long-standing negative thought forms and emotions are more deeply embedded and harder to remove. Energy is important. Master Choa Kok Sui says that stillness and awareness aren't enough. Without spiritual energy, no expansion of consciousness. It will be hard to make sense of this unless you've seriously tried to meditate yourself.

"Okay, why didn't you just say 'be still and be aware' at the beginning?" Usually, it's helpful to trace out the underlying principles of certain activities, because with better understanding comes better internalization.

Now there's another aspect vis-a-vis judgement and the kingdom of heaven. The opposite of judgement is mercy and acceptance. And at the root of mercy and acceptance is love. God is love, and the Divine also has aspects of unity and oneness. Under the principle of like attracts like, if one has love, then the pull of the higher spiritual world exerts a stronger influence and one is able to catapult one's consciousness further into these supernal realms.

As you can see, that one passage of Jesus Christ has many levels of meaning and interpretation. If we accept the notion that the Bible is also an esoteric guide for deeper spiritual practice, then the Bible makes more sense.

Whether we view the Bible in its esoteric or exoteric interpretation, one thing remains clear: we need to live virtuous lives. In the outer sense, this leads to a more fulfilling and stress-free life and relationships. In the esoteric sense, character building will ultimately free up our energy that we can use to "soar" spiritually. Deeper study of the Bible (and all spiritual works, actually) helps one to tease out those precious jewels of wisdom that are hidden in plain sight. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it (John 1:5).

And so the passage in Mark 6:33 makes more sense: Seek ye first the Kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

Does this article sound positively evangelical? Perhaps so, but if you've read my other articles you will see that spirituality is truly universal and does not cage itself into just any one box. So seek then, and seek with a little child's eyes.

A Holistic Approach

Have you noticed how majority of our social interactions revolve around food? A family often congregates around the dinner table, where we often trade stories about our day, our neighbors or our relatives. We speak of "dining out" or "coming over for a few drinks." Watching a movie with friends just wouldn't be complete without at least getting together for a snack at a fastfood joint or for coffee at Starbucks.

In a sense, this should be no wonder, because while exercise is very important, it only determines 20% of our health. The remaining 80% is determined by food, or more appropriately, proper nutrition. I suppose this is why people unconsciously place such importance on food, especially in social gatherings. However, most of us fail not only in the quantity of food we eat, but also on the types of food that we ingest (as evidenced by the rising rates of obesity and the upsurge of chronic diseases such as diabetes and heart disease). Just because majority of our health is determined by food doesn't mean that we need to eat a lot of it or spend so much time eating.

Nevertheless, it is just the nature of the current reality we live in that maintaining one's physical health requires so much effort. While medical science has helped spawn the business of conventional medical practice, it has also helped more people understand the relationship certain nutrients have between each other and the health of the physical body.

For instance, Vitamin D3 is essential for calcium absorption and also strengthens our immune system. Calcium is also important in order to maintain a healthy bone density. However, medical findings show that it's actually calcium that can harden in the arteries, thus causing atherosclerosis. Vitamin D3 can actually worsen this condition because it makes the body absorb calcium better. If you want to avoid this situation, then you need to take Vitamin K2 along with Vitamin D3 and calcium. Vitamin K2 prevents the calcium from forming in the arteries, so that calcium goes to the bones instead of the heart.

Vitamin K2 is found in fermented foods such as natto and unpasteurized cheese. However, not everyone has access to fermented food, so most likely you would need to take Vitamin K2 as a supplement.

The above information is available at the website of Dr. Mercola. You can use the search function to research a lot of articles pertaining to different health issues and how to manage them without immediately resorting to prescription drugs or surgery.

One of Dr. Mercola's recurring advice is to reduce, if not totally eliminate, refined grains and fructose from one's diet. His recommendations have to do with how refined grains and fructose are metabolized by the body. To quote from Dr. Mercola's article:

If you need to lose weight, or if you want to avoid diabetes and heart disease, fructose is one type of sugar you’ll want to avoid, particularly in the form of high-fructose corn syrup.

Part of what makes HFCS such a dangerous sweetener is that it is metabolized to fat in your body far more rapidly than any other sugar.

According to Dr. Elizabeth Parks, associate professor of clinical nutrition at UT Southwestern Medical Center and lead author of a study on fructose, published in the Journal of Nutrition just last year:

    "Our study shows for the first time the surprising speed with which humans make body fat from fructose. Once you start the process of fat synthesis from fructose, it's hard to slow it down. The bottom line of this study is that fructose very quickly gets made into fat in your body."

This occurs because most fats are formed in your liver, and when sugar enters your liver, it decides whether to store it, burn it or turn it into fat. Fructose, however, bypasses this process and simply turns into fat.

Additionally, there’s hard empirical evidence showing that refined man-made fructose like HFCS metabolizes to triglycerides and adipose tissue, not blood glucose. And one of the most thorough scientific analyses published to date on this topic found that fructose consumption leads to decreased signaling to your central nervous system from the hormones leptin and insulin.

Because insulin and leptin act as key signals in regulating how much food you eat, as well as your body weight, this suggests that dietary fructose may contribute to increased food intake and weight gain.

Decreased insulin and leptin signaling is also a main cause of diabetes and a host of other obesity-related conditions.

Since most processed food are hidden sources of sugar, it really is better to avoid eating processed food as much as possible and just eat home-cooked, organic food.

Unfortunately, people on the spiritual path are not immune to getting waylaid by the nutritional disasters we inadvertently eat everyday. I say this based on personal experience and through interaction with other people on the spiritual path.

Perhaps in our zeal to protect the environment, heal Mother Earth and to raise our vibrations and consciousness, we have neglected the role that the physical body plays. In my case, I mistakenly thought that my spiritual practice would also automatically translate into a better physical body without having to exert the same effort at achieving physical health as any other person normally would.

I've come to realize that stewardship of Mother Earth begins with stewardship of our own body. After all, our physical bodies are made up of the same materials that Mother Earth is made of (carbon, magnesium, copper, iron, etc.). This means that educating oneself about what exactly makes the physical body healthier is just as important as what one does for others and the environment. In this case, the focus is on nutrition not only because it determines 80% of our physical health, but because our ingrained habits have made the eating (and cooking) of food into an activity that often takes center stage in our lives.

To give an example, if you were a salesman and your car breaks down every few miles, how effective a salesman will you be? Since the body is the vehicle of the soul, the vehicle needs to be in good enough condition in order to be of better service to others. We don't need to become an athlete but we should at least have normal health and energy. Even the Bible agrees, because the body is said to be the Temple of the Holy Spirit.

This now leads me to one other aspect of Dr. Mercola's health recommendations. He advises that people should eat right for their nutritional type. According to Dr. Mercola, people may be classified as Protein types, Carbohydrate types or Mixed types. These types of people metabolize food differently, so the types of food they eat as well as the way they eat them differ. For example, Protein types would do well on an Atkins type diet and they need to take lots of healthy fats. Carbohydrate types would do well on a Fit for Life type (vegetarian) diet and they do not metabolize fat so well (although they still need a certain amount of healthy fats). Mixing up the diets would spell disaster and frequently lead to sickness and reduced energy (it's like the case of one person's food being another's poison). But note though that whatever your nutritional type, you need a combination of protein, carbohydrates and healthy fats. The difference lies in the proportion of each. If you would like to know more about Nutritional Typing and to take the free online test to determine your nutritional type, you may follow this link.

Now, for those on the spiritual path, I know what you're thinking: What if I'm a vegetarian but find out I'm a Protein type? This does present a conundrum, doesn't it? Most spiritual traditions advocate a full vegetarian diet for one reason or the other. However, it's already one's choice on how to handle one's own physical health. I myself am a Protein type and I tried the diet recommendations (I only eat chicken and fish though) and so far I do notice that I feel better after eating, that I don't have as much of those food cravings immediately after a meal (if you still feel hungry after eating a full meal, or you suddenly feel lethargic after eating, it's a sign that you're likely not eating right for your nutritional type).

Just going on a slight tangent, I encountered one site that advocates against full vegetarianism. He says vegetarian diets are not appropriate nowadays because of the changed nutritional content of the soil. He may have some conclusions that go against conventional wisdom so they may be hard to accept, but his thoughts are well argued. Either way, it's an interesting read and he offers even more explanations why he doesn't recommend a full vegan diet.

Going back to the conundrum of what to do if one's nutritional type is not compatible with a vegetarian diet, in the Bible Jesus did say that what comes out of the mouth is more important than what goes in the body. This is in reference to a question posed about the eating of proscribed foods (prohibited foods in Judaism are listed in Deuteronomy I think; allowable foods are called kosher).

The esoteric explanation of Jesus' words is that being of good character is more important than being a vegetarian. Master Choa himself said that it is useless to be a vegetarian if one lies or slanders other people or is otherwise nasty to others. Dirty food only dirties the physical body, but injurious words dirty the soul.

Still, what I'm saying is that this is your body you're talking about, so only you can decide what you think is best for you. Whatever lifestyle you choose to follow, learn to listen to the signals your body is giving you.

The question of one's diet is not an easy thing to resolve, but I hope this article has provided you with enough (pardon the pun) food for thought.

Who's Behind The Steering Wheel?

I remember a conversation I was having with a couple of friends earlier this year. One of our friends was explaining the different astrological predictions for the upcoming months. However, another of our friends countered that she would rather not put stock on these forecasts because they have a tendency to take over our lives.

She does have a point. There is indeed a danger of becoming so obsessed with an astrological forecast or prediction that one's life would revolve around the forecast, or be unable to do anything unless a forecast is made. Astrological forecasts have their uses, but are supposed to be guides, not mandates. The same way a stock broker keeps abreast of the latest trends and market news, it is us who makes the final decisions on how to act on the information at hand.

I suppose one point of discomfort regarding astrological forecasts is the pre-determined aspect that is implied. We do cherish our free will, but the question is, are we really that much in control of our destiny? Another way to put it is, have we been using our free will in the correct manner?

In the occult novel Frabato The Magician, one of Franz Bardon's conversation partners (let's call him Mr. A for convenience) believed that he was in control of his own destiny. So Franz Bardon told him that if he could avoid being at a certain plaza at a certain time the next day, then Mr. A indeed had control of his destiny.

Mr. A then resolved to simply stay at home the whole day in order to avoid ending up at the aforementioned plaza. But come evening, a couple of Mr. A's friends invited him out to watch a play. Since the theatre was at the other end of town from where the plaza was, Mr. A figured that it would be no problem. Then after the play, Mr. A and his friends went out for dinner along with some drinks.

As is sometimes the case among inebriated friends, Mr. A's group started going around town, from bar to bar, getting drinks and generally having a good time. Mr. A totally forgot about his conversation with Franz Bardon.

Unfortunately, in one bar, Mr. A got into an argument with another patron and knives were pulled, resulting in Mr. A having to run for his life, with his opponents in hot pursuit. As Mr. A was in the middle of his run, he realized that he had ended up approaching the plaza that Franz Bardon told him about. Realizing how foolish his previous statements to Franz Bardon were, Mr. A was just about to give up in desperation when Franz Bardon stepped out from one corner and told Mr. A not to worry. Bardon had anticipated that Mr. A would end up there so Bardon was just waiting for him to show up.

Bardon then approached Mr. A's pursuers and uttered a kabbalistic formula that resulted in the attack being stopped. Mr. A eventually became one of Franz Bardon's students.

Reading the above, we see another case of apparent esoteric contradictions at work.  I've mentioned before that in Master Choa Kok Sui's teachings, service and tithing (basically planting good karmic seeds) are some of the best ways to create your future now. On the other hand, there are still stories about people who do a lot of service and tithing who still encounter misfortunes or see little improvement in their lives. What gives?

The workings of karma as well as the interplay of cosmic energies that constitute one's astrological forecast are very complicated subjects, and I believe only a true Adept (such as Franz Bardon) can trace the influence one thread of energy may have on the other. However, we do not need to get into that deep a level of knowledge in order to esoterically manage ourselves.

If we take a closer look at the purpose of karma and its relationship to astrology, we will see that it's about learning certain lessons. Before incarnation, a soul is briefed about the different situations that will come up in the soul's physical life in order to bring about the environment the soul needs in order to learn a particular lesson. For instance, if the soul needs to learn patience and self control, perhaps obnoxious officemates would be part of the situation that the person will find oneself in. We would tend to term those negative situations as "negative karma" while positive situations, like getting a raise, as "good karma." The situations have to become part of one's life because of one's past actions (perhaps in a previous life, the soul had hurt a lot of people because of impatience, so patience needs to be learned in the future life).

The different cosmic bodies give off certain energies (Venus pertains to love, Jupiter to luck, etc.). Certain combinations of these energies will lead to the different situations mentioned earlier. It is this play of energetic influences that the science of astrology tries to ascertain. Once the correct mix of energies are "dialed in" then the soul incarnates and then is born on the date and time that allows this play of energies to come into effect. This then becomes your birth chart and a really skillful astrologer can give you an idea of the different situations you may encounter, even your date of death.

Alternatively, as per Master Choa's book Achieving Oneness with the Higher Soul, a really skilled and powerful clairvoyant can look at one's physical permanent seed (located in the heart) and get a movie view of one's life and destiny. According to Master Choa, it will play out like a movie but certain scenes may be different from what actually happened because of free will.

By learning one's lessons (the proper use of free will), one can prevent some negative situations from coming up. In the example earlier, if one learns the virtue of true patience (meaning, not merely holding one's anger in only to explode much later), then the situation of having obnoxious officemates could disappear.

Of course, there is another way to learn. A Latin saying goes: a fool learns by his own mistakes; a wise man learns from the mistakes of others. This type of learning can also prevent future negative situations from coming up, or if they do, they are much mitigated and easier to deal with. This is because the Law of Mercy supersedes the Law of Karma.

Where do service and tithing come in? In Master Choa's words, they mitigate one's negative karma. Meaning negative situation(s) are easier to bear, but that does not excuse one from the need to learn one's lessons. Service and tithing are supposed to develop one's capacity for love and compassion, especially among those less fortunate. As one is filled with love, one starts to learn all the other lessons anyway, such as patience, tolerance, forgiveness, etc.

So you can see that service and tithing are not free passes. This is why you cannot do something negative and then use service and tithing to "pay off" what you did.

Another way to look at all of this is that if a negative situation happens, you simply did not learn enough of the lesson inherent in that situation, so it had to happen again. But it takes a lot of self honesty and introspection in order to trace out one's negative behavior. It's really hard, because it's so easy to make excuses for oneself ("It wasn't that bad" or "He/she deserved it" or "I don't deserve this") and we don't want to think of ourselves as being that bad. I also fall into that trap of self-delusion, so I've experienced how hard it is.

The thing is, certain situations will keep repeating themselves, in increasing severity, until one "gets the hint." This is why simply removing oneself from a certain situation is not the answer. Sometimes it's needed, but again, without learning the lesson associated with a negative situation, it'll just come back in a different form. This is why you will hear stories of people who resigned from their jobs because their officemates gossiped about them (or were bullied by other officemates) only to end up in a new job in a different company but faced again with being gossiped about or being bullied.

There is a very nice quotation from Kabbalist Yehuda Berg that relates to what I've been writing about and I would like to share it here:

Reality is a fruit grown from the seed of our consciousness. When we want to work on changing our physical reality, we have to work on our inner reality, instead of just focusing on gaining money and physical possessions.

We can take control of the growth of our physical life by having the right consciousness.

I believe right consciousness can be summed up in the simple statement: Know thyself. So simple, and yet so difficult at the same time.

There are so many unknowns. This is why it's always important to invoke for Divine Blessings for every aspect of one's life. By doing this, one thus acknowledges that at the end of everything, it's God who is ultimately behind the wheel.