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Word Gems 

exploring self-realization, sacred personhood, and full humanity

Editor's 1-Minute Essay:

Government 

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Government, of the limited, representative sort, based upon rule of law, reined in by “checks and balances,” constitutes a high-water mark achievement of civilization.

US Founding Mother, Abigail Adams was not deceived concerning humanity’s current frailty:

"I am more and more convinced that Man is a dangerous creature, and that power whether vested in many or a few is ever grasping, and like the grave cries give, give. The great fish swallow up the small, and he who is most strenuous for the Rights of the people, when vested with power, is as eager after the prerogatives of Government. You tell me of degrees of perfection to which Humane Nature is capable of arriving, and I believe it, but at the same time lament that our admiration should arise from the scarcity of the instances."

Yes… we “lament" for the "scarcity."

Let us all take solace, however, that, as per the afterlife evidence, we shall soon be living in Summerland, a world without ostensible government: no “keep of the grass” signs; so “Senate” or “House” as legislative bodies; no “thou shalt not” posted restrictions; no police, no attorney general, no army.

How then, it will be asked, is societal order to be maintained? As Big Religion of our world demands, “Will the people not run wild without the holy law?” Well, they’re right, of course, but the answer plays out as to exclude their self-appointed professional services.

freedom as autonomy, a 'law unto oneself'

Summerland has a “Ruler of the Realm”
 

Father Benson explains that the term “ruler” here is misnomer and that “one who presides” would be more descriptive. Summerland’s “Ruler,” according to Benson, is thousands of years old, replete with wisdom, and acts as a kind of senior advisor and father/mother-figure to all within advisory jurisdiction. He or she is on hand for any questions that might come up and lives as servant to all.

In Summerland, expert advice is always available – and if no one nearby has an answer for us, a request will “go up the line” to beings far more advanced who, if necessary, will personally come and help us with any issue of concern or project we might be contemplating.

While advisors always make themselves available to the sincere heart, in a sense, we are on our own over there. It's part of the glory of human personhood. We have to decide; we have to live our own lives.

If we choose to lollygag and stroll on a white-sand beach, or sit in a rocker under a plumtree, we are free to do so, even for a hundred years if fancy should demand such indolence – and no one will bother us or say a word against it. It’s up to us.

We can develop ourselves to a high level of proficiency and become expert in all manner of subjects – as I outlined in the “Experience” article – or we can play crossword puzzles and eat pizza all day long, and no one will say a word to interfere.

For better or worse, we shall become a “law unto ourselves” – and the Dark Realms are filled with sorry creatures who live for no higher purpose than immediate gratification.

stirring beneath the ashes of existential malaise

One day, however, that “spark of divinity” within each of us will assert itself, and we'll no longer be able to live only unto ourselves and diminished purpose. In that day, feeling fed up with the nothingness of our lives, we will experience a stirring toward soul evolvement. And that’s when the real fun starts, as Spirit Advisors stand at-the-ready to direct awakening souls.

It is this “inner stirring” that constitutes the real “government” in the astral realms. Elizabeth Fry, along with Abigail Adams, is my favorite wisdom-lady. Listen to her instruction now as she speaks from “the fourth level,” one beyond Summerland (which is “the third”).

There is, in a sense, organization here [on the other side] -- there is a feeling that everything is in its place, but there is no conscious organization here… there is always the realization of greater possibilities… because nothing is static here, everything has the opportunity for change; and when a person begins to seek, begins to change in themselves, begins to desire things of a better order, so, automatically, gradually, they will find those things – it’s all a state of being, a state of mind. Every existence in which one might find himself is a state of mind, a state of awareness, a consciousness…
 
There are no actual  leaders [here] as such – we have an organization which is so subtle and yet so natural – because, a person here, for instance, does not, in a sense, ‘give orders’; we have groups of souls who do special work – but we all realize, automatically, within ourselves, what our part is, what work we have to do; and we realize that we are all interwoven, one with another – I think it is [that] we are all very conscious of this oneness of spirit. Here, no one glories in being a leader – whereas in your world [in various organizations] you do get this sort of glorification of the individual [leader]; the first thing a person must learn here, if they are to progress, is to lose this idea of self-importance.
 
Those who are really progressed on this side never, never, give that impression -- because it is not even in their nature to appear, or want to appear, important. Everything that we talk about, everything that we do, is done in a complete love, in a complete harmony, one with another. No one wants to override another person; all of our influences for good are [done] in love; and therefore we don’t have, on this side, organization, as such. We don’t recognize leaders, in the sense that you do…
 
Christ himself had no intention, no desire, to found any religious organization. This is completely, absolutely, a man-made thing - which over the centuries has misled mankind; and, indeed, I think it is pretty obvious, that if you analyze the whole of Christ’s teaching, you will find that he was the most humble of souls; that he had no desire to form any kind of an organization; he chose his disciples among the most ordinary of men; he did not try to dictate; he did not suggest, in the sense that some people assume that he dictated that they should do this or do that – he gave them, completely and absolutely, free will -- free will to choose the path that they should follow.
 
I think that people will only recognize … what Christ really was, when they begin to discount a lot of untoward creeds and dogmas, tacked on over the centuries by men who desired power and position – I would say to you, above all things, if you want to discover truth, avoid men of power and position, because … [they desire] power and position because of their material perception of things - you cannot, surely, build a truly spiritual realization of God on something which is of a material conception – God is not found, in a sense, in buildings or places … God is found within one’s soul, within one’s inner consciousness.”