Category: Mind

“Feeling” The Prayer

Prayer, as everyone realizes, is a highly personal subject. Some persons pray every day, some only when a grave concern arises, and others never. The manner of prayer also differs greatly. Please know that I’m not trying to tell anyone the proper way to do anything. The purpose of this article is to offer a viewpoint and understanding of prayer expressed by Neville Goddard, which varies greatly from the common approach. Of Barbadian descent, Neville lived in the United States, where he lectured about mysticism and the Bible. Many, if not all, of his books are available in the public domain. I first discovered his numerous books through my passion for studying the Law of Attraction.

One of the key points related to the Law of Attraction teachings is that “we bring about what we think about.” As that relates to the subject of prayer, Goddard added that we must imbue our thoughts with the feeling of the wish fulfilled. When we’re imagining our desire, we must picture it “from” the desired end–whatever that might be. To visualize “of” the end, implies subject-object duality and, therefore, separation from the very results that we desire. So many persons are praying to a conceptual deity with the hope of “getting” a desired result in the future. It’s like trying to get wet from the concept of water. As Oneness and Nowness is the underlying Truth of the Universe, we must align our method of praying with that. To do so, we must claim (in our imagination) what we desire as existing NOW. Time (and space) is a concept rendered via the mind; but all experience occurs NOW–not at some conceptual future date. If this seems nonsensical, please try to experience “next Tuesday.” When Tuesday arrives, it can only be experienced NOW. Below are four teachings relating to prayer, which I’ve borrowed from Goddard’s books:

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Many individuals approach prayer with an attitude of begging. While being humble in all of our dealings is certainly wise, an attitude of begging only amplifies the feeling of distance from the desire fulfilled. Contrary to popular belief, God does not play favourites with His children–bestowing blessings or curses based on good or bad behaviour. In mind, we must exemplifly our ideals (set a clear pattern) before they will become apparent through the senses. We must claim what we desire NOW; for what is impressed in the mind, will be expressed.

Bob Proctor, who is noted for his outstanding career related to the Law of Attraction, adds to this knowledge with the following statement: “You can only attract what you’re in harmony with.” To pray effectively–for improved health (even cure), abundant wealth, greater success greater–is to envision yourself with your desire fulfilled NOW. If you’re envisioning your desires as occuring in the future, such results are doomed to remain in a conceptual future. Given the challenging conditions that so many persons are experiencing, the subject of prayer–and pointers leading to more effective praying–seemed highly relevent.

Dare to dream (and care for one another).

With heartfelt regards,

Art

Copyright © – 2021 – R. Arthur Russell

P.S. Please share this article if you enjoyed it. If you’d like to view my latest book (This Taste of Flesh and Bones–released September 8, 2020), press here. May it help you in your spiritual journey. 🙏🙏

“Thank You” & “Note to Publishers”

The Way of Spirit

Oh, how we’ve become accustomed to existing in the shallows; the superficial strata of life in which we accept circumstances and events as they appear! Habitually, we believe without question; assume without knowing that we assume; complain or celebrate based upon ingrained attitudes about the relative mirage in which we live–blindly accepting it as real. This is the burden for the majority of apparent human beings, and we–Spirit–carry it (Maya, illusion) without knowing. If the content of this paragraph seems just too far “out there” to consider, please read the following few lines from the spiritual classic I Am That:

Questioner: “What am I if not human?”

Maharaj: “That which makes you think that you are human is not human. It is but a dimensionless point of consciousness, a conscious nothing; all you can say about yourself is: ‘I Am’. You are pure being–awareness–bliss.”

“I Am That,” Talks with Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

Isn’t that an eye opener–a far different version of the story called “my life” than the one we’ve been told! It’s certainly different from the story that I was subliminally and explicitly conditioned to believe to be true. We were programmed to believe that we were everything human; so much so, that there was no absolutely no choice but to accept that we were mere flesh and bones; that we were born and would surely die. Not so. Contrary to the story believed by the masses, we are neither the body nor the mind–literally, here and now. I offer you another passage for contemplation. It’s from The Gospel of Thomas, which contains 114 sayings attributed to Jesus that were discovered in 1945 in caves near Nag Hammadi, Egypt:

29 (1): Jesus said: “If the flesh came into being because of the spirit, it is a marvel, (2) but if the spirit came into being because of the body, it is a marvel of marvels.”

The Nag Hammadi Scriptures

Can you see where this article is leading? If you think it’s heading fullspeed off of Nutbar Cliff I understand, but please continue to read with an open–inquiring–mind. This article is intended to present a case for the idealist paradigm of reality; that which is opposite to the materialist paradigm which claims matter as its foundation. With the idealist paradigm, everything and everyone is a concept in Consciousness; that is to say that so-called matter is rendered by the mind. In the passage above, you’ll notice that Jesus seems astonished that persons could believe that the body could ever give rise to Spirit, aka Consciousness. He knew, of course, that the Truth was the other way around–that Consciousness gives rise to the body via the mind. Here’s a question that may help: “What is the only ‘thing’ (non thing) required to have an apparent experience?” Answer: Consciousness. We can’t possibly have an experience without consciousness. Here are a few more quotes from the Bible that may cause you to investigate your assumptions:

Mark 9:23: Jesus said unto him, “If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.”

Job 22:28: “Thou shalt also decree a thing, and it shall be established unto thee: and the light shall shine upon thy ways.”

Mark 11:24: “Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.”

King James Bible

The implications of this are profound. It will undoubtedly take those of you who are earnestly curious (to even consider that the materialist paradigm of reality is erroneous) several days to assimilate the information you’ve just read. Just so that you know, science backs this claim, perhaps if only indirectly: Despite earnest efforts, scientists have been unable to determine how biological processes give rise to consciousness (they don’t); and if you delve into research about quantum physics, you’ll see that it has long been known that mind and matter are inseparable. Paramahansa Yoganda stated: “Mind is the creator of everything.” Another of my articles, This Mental Universe (press here to view it), may help increase your understanding. You are an eternal spiritual being having an apparent human experience. This, my dear friends, opens up a world of possibilities.

Dare to dream (and care for one another).

With heartfelt regards,

Art

Copyright © – 2020 – R. Arthur Russell

P.S. Please share this article if you enjoyed it. If you’d like to view my latest book (This Taste of Flesh and Bones–released September 8, 2020), press here. May it help you in your spiritual journey. 🙏🙏

“Thank You” & “Note to Publishers”

This Mental Universe

In this article, we’re going to briefly depart from our inquiry into the nature of our true Self and take a deeper look at the Law of Attraction. For persons who are unfamiliar with the subject, the law is basically summed up as follows: “We bring about what we think about.” One well-known case is related in the Bible, through the account of Job, who suffered tremendously: “For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me, and that which I was afraid of is come unto me.” That to which we give our attention–whether favorable or unfavorable–becomes real. If you doubt this can be true, please read the passages from various books in the photos above and also contemplate the quotes from various teachers and authors below. For this article, we’re going out on a limb…way out.

Socrates (470 – 399 BC) was no slouch when it came to philosophy. He was also an idealist, which basically means that he believed that everything is a concept in mind. Think opposite of a materialist; a person who believes in a world made of matter. Before scoffing at the idea that matter doesn’t exist in the “concrete-real” way that most persons assume, please contemplate the following question: “Do you believe that you actually come into contact with matter?” If so, you might want to think again. All that we experience directly are our perceptions–basically sight, sound, taste, touch, and smell, which are modulations of thought. Beyond these, we are only assuming that a correlative and fundamental world made of matter actually exists. Quantum physics has yet not discovered the tiniest bits of matter; and it never will.

A few quotes may help us understand how the Law of Attraction really works, beginning with Socrates: “To be is to do.” Mahatma Gandhi pointed to the same understanding through his famous quote: “Be the change you desire to see in the world.” Bob Proctor, who has been studying the Law of Attraction for almost sixty years, says: “If you can see it in the mind, you’re going to hold it in the hand.” Mike Dooley, who is a noted speaker and author about the Law of Attraction, states it this way: “Thoughts become things.” Neville Goddard, who lectured extensively throughout the United States and authored many books about deliberate creation, stated that to create effectively we must “assume the feeling of the wish fulfilled.” Andrew Carnegie, who was once one of the wealthiest men in the world, stated the premise the following way: “Any idea that is held in the mind, that is emphasized, that is either feared or revered will begin at once to clothe itself in the most convenient and appropriate form available.”

If all of this sounds like lunacy, trust me, I hear you. At one time, I would have definitely agreed. However, if we engage in even a little self-inquiry, we can come to realize that we are neither the body nor the mind. In other words, you’re not the person you have assumed. Through time spent in stillness (the Bible stated: “Be still and know that I am God“), we can directly experience a deeper dimension of Self; one in which we recognize that we are the witness of sensations, images, feelings, and thoughts. All of these arise and subside; we, however, are the eternal, unchanging witness (Universal Consciousness) of all that appears. Persons (aka body-minds) are appearances in consciousness that are known by Awareness. Our true nature is Awareness–Spirit. Just for the record, the source of consciousness due to biological functions has never been found in the body (coined The Hard Problem of Consciousness by David Chalmers) …and it never will be. Why? Because the body is rendered by the mind.

We are co-creators–not persons. How do we create? We create by imagining what we desire to manifest, and we do so by believing that what we desire is ours already. This world is not made of matter; it is made of mind. This explains why Nikola Tesla stated the following: “If you want to find the secrets of the universe, think in terms of energy, frequency and vibration; “and why James Jean, noted astrophysicicst and author of The Mysterious Universe, stated “The stream of knowledge is heading towards a non-mechanical reality; the Universe begins to look more like a great thought than like a great machine. Mind no longer appears to be an accidental intruder into the realm of matter… we ought rather hail it as the creator and governor of the realm of matter.”

As much as it might seem that we are the doers and the personal knowers of the world, we are not. Those effects are produced by Maya (Sanskrit term, meaning illusion). There is One Knower and One Doer: God, or “That” which is manifesting through a multiplicity and diversity of beings. With regard to our waking dreams (which the majority of persons assume to be reality), if we hold onto our visions long enough–and imbue them with feeling–they will manifest. Just know that they’ll be made out of “mind stuff.” For more on this subject of consciousness, you might be interested in this Ted talk by David Chalmers, and/or this presentation about quantum physics by Lothar Schafer.

Dare to dream (and care for one another).

With heartfelt regards,

Art

Copyright © – 2020–R. Arthur Russell

P.S. Please share this article if you enjoyed it. If you’d like to view my latest book (This Taste of Flesh and Bones–released September 8, 2020), press here. May it help you in your spiritual journey. 🙏🙏

“Thank You” & “Note to Publishers”

Dream Within A Dream

landscape nature sky person
Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

Alan Watts (1915 – 1973) was no lightweight when it came to philosophy and a deeper understanding of our true nature. From The Book, On the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are, Alan states the following: “Apart from you brain, or some brain, the world is devoid of light, heat, weight, solidity, motion, space, time or any other imaginable feature. All these phenomena are interactions, or transactions, of neurons with a certain frequency of vibration. Thus vibrations of light and heat from the sun do not actually become light or heat until they interact with a living organism, just as no light-beams are visible in space unless reflected by particles of atmosphere or dust.” In short, he’s stating–as Paramhansa Yogananda did so concisely–that “mind is the creator of everything.” 

What is the use of such knowledge? Basically, it can help us know What we truly are (not who), and gain a deeper understanding of the nature of the universe in which we apparently find ourselves. Understanding of our essential nature–which most persons shun in favour of the conceptual version fed to us by society–can help alleviate suffering related to all sorts of issues; including the current story related to a certain virus.

For the majority of individuals, this world seems to be filled with a multiplicity of subjects and an even greater number of objects. This error is called duality–the world of subject and object; in contrast to the Truth, which is Oneness. For persons, we have personal names such as Bob or Carol and Ted or Alice. For the impersonal objects, we have words such as tree, rock, school, and house. Duality can basically be summed up as follows: “I (insert your name) see (an object) the tree. However, what’s going on behind the curtain of reality is much more mysterious. If we refer to the quotation from Alan Watts, we can understand that the tree is actually viewed within the dark space of your brain. The same holds true for our body–and all other objects. The person and the thing are actually comprised of streaming energy that is translated into shapes. The mind puts both in motion; even though we feel–with absolute certainty–that we move ourselves. There is only one doer; and that doer is Infinite Living Mind. Our body appears to move due to the power of Maya, which is a Sanskrit word that basically translates as illusion. What most people assume to be Reality is actually the waking state; which is merely a longer, more highly defined dream that engages all of our senses to cast its spell. The word dream, dream, dream echoes throughout every spiritual book about our true Self. Everyone who is not yet awakened is, in fact, still asleep in the dream that we call “our life.”

“Okay, so you may think, “but there’s a real world of trees and rocks and schools and houses, right?” The short answer is “No, there is not.” It will be very natural to argue that this cannot possibly be the case; for we’ve been conditioned to think of ourselves as a body and a mind in a very real world. However, the world that we experience is made from our perceptions. That’s it. Quantum Physics has known this for many long years; since the search for the tiniest bits of what we term matter first began. Atoms, which were once believed to be the building blocks of a solid universe, are, in fact, 99.999% empty space. Yes, there are forces that are very real, but they are not translated into things called matter until our mind renders them as things.

What we experience enters our field of consciousness via the Law of Attraction; a law that decrees: that which is in harmonious vibration will be drawn together; in much the same way that two tuning forks of the same key will both resonate if only one is struck. That’s how reality streams to us–as vibration, which is interpreted by Awareness. Our habitual thoughts and words–especially those imbued with feeling–cause our true nature (Awareness, Consciousness) to vibrate at certain frequencies and, thereby, attract to us that to which we’re attuned. That’s why the rich get richer; and the poor get poorer. The rich (via thinking and feeling properous) attune themselves to prosperity; while the poor (via thinking and feeling impoverished) enslave themselves to poverty. This of great import these days (given the current world story), for the same applies to our health. Our habitual attitude–whether we are grateful for health, or fearful of disease–plays a huge role in what we apparently experience.

Nichola Tesla, who was one of the greatest inventors the world has ever known, stated the following: “If you want to find the secrets of the universe, think in terms of energy, frequency, and vibration.” Perhaps the subject is worth a little investigation; especially if doing so can lead us to awarness of our true Self–not the costume comprised of name and form–and protect our health at the same time. We can deliberately create our well being. Such doesn’t occur by chance.

Dare to dream (and care for one another).

With heartfelt regards,

Art

Copyright © – 2020 – R. Arthur Russell

P.S. Please share this article if you enjoyed it. If you’d like to view my latest book (This Taste of Flesh and Bones–released September 8, 2020), press here. May it help you in your spiritual journey. 🙏🙏

“Thank You” & “Note to Publishers”