The Candle of God is awesome, but it is quite religious in nature, and I think I may already be over-representing that part of my life here, compared to in practice. It is easy to write about spiritual things because the ever helpful fountain in my mind could probably feed me stuff to write for a thousand years, if I were worthy to write it all. I am not, so let us ration it for realism.
I still managed to complete one Incarnate trial in City of Heroes, and do a couple rounds in Mission Architect with two Masterminds. Â Technically they are in City of Villains, but they stay in the Architect building and only do heroic missions, waiting to become old enough to move over to “blueside”, as we call the Hero part of the game. The other part is of course “redside”.
(It is worth noticing that in Europe, and presumably the rest of the world outside the USA, red is the color of socialism and blue of conservatism, as is good and proper. That’s why China does not fly a blue flag, for instance.)
The weather is a bit chillier here again, but not anywhere near snowing. Today was overcast most of the way to work and all the way home, meaning I could read on the commute bus! I love the relatively few overcast days we have, since I get migraine if I read in direct sunshine. It is only a 5-point disadvantage, and well worth the extra points I got to spend on IQ. :p  But the south coast of Norway has a LOT of sunshine, not that this makes it warm except in the summer.  I love overcast days and the dark season because of the reading.  Of course, I can always meditate, but the commute is like my dedicated reading time, when the weather allows.
That should be enough! It is midnight. Oh, and in the programming language C, the expression ++ after  a variable means to increase that variable by one, which can be done in passing, so to say. Thus “day++” means we’ve added one more day. But unlike in programming, I can’t see how far this variable will go before it ends.
On the other hand, nobody knows how far the US DEBT CLOCK will go before it ends either. Feel free to stare at it for some hours and gain wisdom in the heart, or something.
Let’s pray that God,….. I mean the Federal Reserve makes money fall from the SKY!
This is a job for Helicopter Ben!
An email from the author of the No-self site.
First, let’s specifically talk about your ego-self causing you to feel pain and suffering. I can totally relate – I was there. Ok, this is what I learned and it enabled me to move on (from my own pain & suffering). To begin with, all SUFFERING is caused by the failure to accept “what is”. Suffering ONLY occurs as an outgrowth of struggling against the moment. I’m sure you’ve heard the phrase, “What you resist, persists.” Through complete acceptance of “what is”, peace and joy are gained. Of course, this does not imply that one has to remain contented with “what is”. To do more, be more, achieve more, can still be your underlying desire. But only through accepting “what is”, at this (and every) moment, is true peace obtained.
It may sound cliche, however, you are where you should be at this very moment. If your current situation weren’t of value to you spiritually, you wouldn’t be going through it. Of course, your ego-self will resist this and try to convince you otherwise. I tell you this – Once you completely accept, and embrace (welcome), your current situation, the situation will be conquered. It loses it’s power. And once it is conquered in your mind, it will then manifest in your physical reality. Complete acceptance of “what is” – This is very powerful and is the secret to moving on and rising above ANY situation in life.
Llama, I think the following will help show you the “big picture” and why I said that your current situation is an opportunity for you.
By the way, substitute the term “God” for whatever label you prefer (i.e. Spirit, Higher-Self, Consciousness, Source, Infinite Intelligence, Divine Creator, etc.)
God is in All. God is everything. Thus, we ARE God. God KNOWS itself to be unlimited Power, unconditional Love, the infinite Creator, etc. However, KNOWING the beauty of unlimited Power, unconditional Love, and infinite creative ability is different from EXPERIENCING these qualities. God desires to EXPERIENCE the wonder of this awe-inspiring beauty.
There is KNOWING. This is God as the Unmanifest. This is the Infinite Field of Potentiality. Quantum physics is now able to prove that this “Infinite Field†exists.
There is EXPERIENCING. This is God in manifested form. This is the Universe.
There is BEING. This combines God’s KNOWING and EXPERIENCING. This is a higher state (sometimes called bliss) because of the combination of KNOWLEDGE and EXPERIENCE.
So, how does God EXPERIENCE the wonder of its inherent beauty? Through YOU! Your bodily form enables God to EXPERIENCE its inherent qualities: unlimited Power, unconditional Love, infinite creative ability, etc. However, FORM, by its very definition, is limited. FORM can only exist in a Relative Universe. Thus, we need to consider the Relative Universe before we continue.
Everything has to be examined through two different lenses: THE ABSOLUTE TRUTH and THE RELATIVE “TRUTHâ€.
Through the lens of Absolute Truth, there is no suffering, no pain, no struggle. We are all One in Consciousness (Spirit, Source, God, whatever you like to label it). All is perfect and in perfect order. All is unfolding and expanding exactly as it should be. All is well. How can perfect Consciousness suffer or die? How can God (Consciousness) victimize God? In terms of Absolute Truth, does it matter if suffering continues since the Consciousness behind it remains unaffected? No, it doesn’t matter at all (through the lens of Absolute Truth). However, let’s consider Relative “Truthâ€.
Through the lens of Relative “Truthâ€, we live in an illusion of dualism (up/down, “good”/”bad”, health/illness, light/dark, etc.). This is the GREAT PARADOX of life. Even though suffering is an illusion, we are here to “master” this physical, dualistic realm.
In terms of Relative “Truthâ€, even though it’s all an illusion, this illusion (the “physical” realm) has immense value and no value at the same time (another GREAT PARADOX). The challenge, then, is to see the illusory nature of suffering, death, illness, struggle, etc. Once this is seen AND demonstrated, suffering, pain, illness, etc. cease to exist. They disappear. The illusion is seen for the falsity that it is. Illness transforms into health, suffering transforms into Joy, death transforms into eternal Life, hate transforms into Love, etc. Jesus, Buddha, etc. exemplified this “mastery”. “Mastery†is simply the demonstration of Absolute Truth in the Relative Universe.
Again, your bodily form enables God to EXPERIENCE its inherent qualities: unlimited Power, unconditional Love, infinite creative ability, etc. However, since we live in an illusion of dualism (Relative “Truthâ€), you cannot EXPERIENCE being unlimited Power until you experience being no power (or limited power). You cannot EXPERIENCE being unconditional Love until you experience fear. You cannot EXPERIENCE being the infinite Creator until you experience the inability to create.
This is WHY WE’RE HERE. You, as God, want to EXPERIENCE your inherent qualities: unlimited Power, unconditional Love, infinite creative ability, etc. However, you, as God, also want to EXPERIENCE the opposite of your inherent qualities in order to give context to your unlimited Power, unconditional Love, and infinite creative ability. In other words, if you never experienced lack of power, fear, and creative failure, you’d never be able to fully EXPERIENCE (and Appreciate) your true, awe-inspiring Power and Beauty. This dualistic, illusory realm (the Relative Universe) gives you this INCREDIBLE opportunity!
So, how do you EXPERIENCE Who You Really Are? The key is to dismantle the ego. As you conquer the ego-self, it metamorphoses into the God-Self (or pure Consciousness, Spirit, whatever term you prefer). You become an instrument (or channel) for God to manifest through you. Once you eradicate the ego-self, you can channel your True Power like Jesus did. Healings, Abundance, True Joy, overcoming the illusion of death, unconditional Love, manipulation of matter (i.e. walking on water), etc. Your individual passion can also be channeled in this way.
How does one dismantle the ego?
There are two powerful “Keys” that I’ll mention.
1) SURRENDER is one way to overcome ego-self and ultimately gain “mastery”. Over time, you surrender everything to God. Whenever you have FEAR = EGO = CONTROL, you surrender it to God. For example, say that you like to control everything with respect to your career/money. You start by giving up control to God. The more CONTROL you release, the more FEAR you conquer, and the more EGO you diminish. FEAR, EGO, and CONTROL are interchangeable. Lessen one and you lessen all THREE. Surrender always conquers these THREE – It’s not always easy, but it works. SURRENDER is the greatest of all weapons against FEAR = EGO = CONTROL. In most situations, “surrender” is identical to the phrase: Complete acceptance of “what is”.
2) The second Key to conquer ego-self is through PRACTICING THE PRESENCE OF GOD (sometimes it’s also called Unceasing Prayer). You’ll notice that these 2 Keys work together and strengthen each other.
When you PRACTICE THE PRESENCE OF GOD, you feel and see God’s presence in everything. You practice feeling and seeing it everywhere you go. You FOCUS on it as much as you can. This is the way to “mastery”. By seeing and feeling God in you and everyone and everything, you naturally manifest the God in you. As you consistently do this more and more from MOMENT TO MOMENT, you manifest yourself as God. Of course, this takes time, focus, and trust in the process. However, the more you practise this, the more trust you gain, the more faith you gain, and the more Love you feel. It becomes a metamorphosis (from ego-self to God-Self). Meditation can also be a powerful tool in practicing the presence of God.
When you have the No-Self experience, you have a direct experience of the Absolute Truth. Embodiment is living this Truth. HOWEVER, YOU DO NOT NEED TO HAVE THE No-Self Experience TO LIVE THIS TRUTH. You don’t need the No-Self experience in order to overcome suffering.This is important to realize.
Every experience that occurs in your life affords you the opportunity to face your FEAR, EGO, or CONTROL issues. This is a BLESSING. Of course, most people don’t look at their “negative†experiences as a blessing (or even an opportunity) because they are not conscious of this underlying mechanism that is in operation. Thus, they experience the suffering that they associate with these “negative†events.
As you eradicate the ego-self, you manifest the God-Self. This is not done in one great, momentous occasion. You dismantle the ego-self through a systematic process over time. The more ego-self you eradicate, the more the God-Self manifests through you.
As the God-Self manifests more and more, you become an INDIVIDUALIZED EXPRESSION of God. As such, you will know YOUR unique reason for being here. You will have no doubt as to what your PURPOSE is on this earth. You will live YOUR deep-seated PASSION.