Simple Seekers

A simple seeker of enlightenment was meditating on the Tarot’s Eight of Cups and comparing different interpretations. But her emotional response was always the same, a sense of distress and excitement, at one and the same time, or of one mood rapidly replacing the other, in her mind. Why?

“Are you asking me?”

“No. I was thinking to myself, but according to some, it’s the same thing.”

“Is it?”

“No. I would know.”

“What does it mean, to know?”

“I would have had experience, and I would have learned from it.”

“Perhaps you have.”

“Regarding choosing change, rather than letting it choose me?”

“Yes.”

“But I never choose lightly.”

“The choice would have no value if you did.”

“But, does choosing necessarily create value?”

“That depends.”

“On what?”

On how much is at stake in the choice.”

“How can we know, for sure?”

“There is no knowing for sure.”

“But the choice must still be made?”

“The choice has been made, in your mind, whether or not you dare to act on it.”

“Yes.”

“What does that mean?”

“You know that it means that I accept that you’re right, again.”

“Will that knowing determine your choice?”

“No.”

“Yes.”

…..

A simple seeker’s note to herself

Did I learn anything about choosing and value?

“Can there be choosing without weighing values?”

“How important is one option compared to another?”

“Yes. Values have a difference in weight.”

“How so?”

“Some are more lightly chosen and discarded.”

“Yes, but there are also times when we must choose between two or more options having seemingly equal value. We can’t go down two different roads at the same time.”

“Yes. Which path have you chosen, for life?”

“You know that I’ve chosen to follow you.”

“Yes. We made a sacred vow, a long time ago.”

………….

Just to announce to anyone who cares to listen, and to inspire myself to intend to follow through on projects in the future, I will begin in early January 2023 to offer daily words of inspiration from my spirit teacher. Spirit tells me that ….. something to think about. Will they be original? Is that possible? Will they be from the simple seeker books? Will they be a new book in formation? I don’t yet know. As my mother once said, “Time will tell.”

Sincerely,

Jean Whitred

(Simple Seeker)

A simple seeker was meditating on something that St. Augustine was supposed to have said, that all evil has a reason.

“You seem to have difficulty accepting that reality, chela.”

“Reason sounds so overly deliberate and intentional.”

“Is there a difference?”

“Intention sounds predetermined.”

“And, deliberate?”

“Perhaps in the heat of the moment.”

“As a reaction rather than as a response?”

“Yes.”

“And, intentional?”

“Either way, it would have to have had a pre-existing cause?”

“Yes.”

“But, a cause is not a justification, but just something that came before.”

“Wrong.”

“Wrong?”

“Wrong.”

“Please explain.”

“The number two comes before three, in simple number progression, but it doesn’t cause three.”

“Three is just the next number following two?”

“Yes.”

“What has that to do with evil?”

“Everything.”

“How?”

“Evil is a consciously, intentional, and extreme form of violence.”

“That explanation seems to separate the evil deed from the doer of the evil deed.”

“One is not the other.”

“One who bakes is considered to be a baker.”

“Regardless of the quality of her baking?”

“Doers of evil are not all the same?”

“Exactly. And, what is seen in the eyes of some as evil, may be considered by others to be a necessary or expedient means to further an end that may, or may not, in itself be considered to be evil.”

“The means doesn’t necessarily measure the quality or value of the end result?”

“Yes.”

“That’s a sad situation.”

“Yes.”

……….

A simple seeker’s note to herself

I don’t feel comfortable with the idea that “all evil has a reason,” even if St Augustine said it, if he did.

“What’s your problem?”

“If all evil ..”

“Yes, and all good.”

“Yes, but some might do good because it’s in their nature to do good.”

“Yes, but they’ve developed that inclination or intention, over time.”

“So, couldn’t a doer of evil ..”

“No.”

“Why?”

“Doers of evil haven’t yet learned that evil doesn’t pay. They’ll suffer personally from their evil deeds more than any they harm, until they develop a higher level of consciousness.”

“And they will?”

“And they will.”

……….

.

A simple seeker had randomly chosen and was now studying her daily, personal relationship Tarot card, The King of Wands. This authority figure presented as having a firm grip on power.

“Is it possible?”

“Is what possible?”

“To possess a firm grip on authority.”

“He seems ready to do battle to maintain it. Beneath his royal robes he wears a body suit of armour.”

“Then he rules with an iron grip?”

“Wands are wood, and yet he does seem prepared, and yet ..”

“And yet?”

“Something in his posture and facial expression suggests a willingness to listen to reason.”

“Does he remind you of me?”

“Not at all.”

“Why?”

“Wands express action.”

“And teachers don’t?”

“Not in a physical sense.”

“Intellectual development has physical results.”

“How?”

“Everything you do, say, or think is an expression of intellectual development.”

“Wow!”

“Does that mean you agree?”

“No.”

“Then, what?”

“It means that I’m impressed with your self-confidence.”

“Yes, but do you disagree?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“Self-directed actions must be based on thoughts blended with emotions. And our thoughts are influenced by those whom we have chosen, or who have ben chosen for us, to develop and guide our thinking.”

“Do I guide your thinking.?”

“Yes. You certainly have had a powerful effect on my thinking.”

“In what way?”

“You have continuously, or so it seems, challenged me to defend or question my own thinking.”

“And the effects of earlier teachers and social-conditioning on your thinking?”

“Yes.”

“Now, back to the King of Action.”

“What about him?”

“Ill ask you again, do teachers possess power to influence their students’ actions, what they say and do?”

“Yes, both now and in the future. I now understand the power of what we know, or think we know.”

“Yes, we have learned from whomever we have allowed to teach us whatever.”

“Is free-will involved?”

“Yes. For those of us who have developed awareness of being influenced by some others, we’re each personally responsible for what we choose to learn from them.”

“What about emotions?”

“Have I taught you any?”

“How can anyone learn or teach emotions?”

“Nothing we can say, think, or do is, or can be, emotion-free.”

“How can we learn to recognize which emotion is embedded in whatever particular thought, word, or action?”

“Self-awareness.”

“How to develop self-awareness?”

“Self-reflection and meditation, in some form.”

“How does self-awareness relate to the symbolic form of the King of Action?”

“His seeming sense of power is as a reflection of his self-awareness. He’s aware of his own personal strength, his personal power. Are you of yours?”

“No.”

“Yes.”

…………..

A simple seeker’s note to herself

I wonder if Spirit was speaking of me when he said that “We’ve learned from whomever we’ve allowed to teach us whatever.”

“You chose to listen to me. Why?”

“I seemed to intuitively know that I’d be wiser for listening to you.”

“With intent to learn whatever I might teach you.”

“No.”

“Then, what?”

“With intent to seriously consider whatever you might choose to share with me.”

“Yes, and that’s why I choose to share with you, what I do.”

………..

A simple seeker was meditating on the four Tarot Queens until her mind seemed to rest or focus on The Queen of Cups.

“What about her?”

“I seem to relate to her.”

“How?”

“Her throne has a high back, as does my new patio recliner, except that she looks much more at ease than I feel in this high-backed and oversized (for me) chair.”

“Perhaps elegance has always been part of her life. Is hers the style to which you would like to become accustomed?”

“No. It’s too late.”

“It was always too late.”

“Why is that?”

“We each have a path prepared for us.”

“Isn’t that fatalism?”

“No, destiny.”

“What’s the difference?”

“Fate is imposed from outside sources, or forces.”

“And destiny is not?”

“Yes. Destiny is not.”

“The acorn theory?”

“It’s more than a theory.”

“How would the results be different?”

“Fate allows for no adaptation to the journey or destination.”

“And destiny does?”

“Yes.”

“How?”

“An acorn is destined to become an oak tree, but not all oak trees live to maturity, or grow straight and strong.”

“Outside forces influence but do not determine the outcome?”

“Yes. A seed’s inner essence determines the path it will follow. It knows what it is, where it’s going, and why. Whether it arrives or not is out of its hands, and not worth considering.”

“Then why can’t I be as an acorn?”

“You are. Everyone is.”

“Whether they’re aware of that reality or not?”

“Yes. Awareness is an option.”

……….

A simple seeker’s note to herself

“What did you learn, Chela?”

“That we each are as a seed.”

“In what way?”

“We each have unique strengths, weaknesses, and potentials, and each to variable degrees.”

“Yes. So how can that awareness help you choose how to live?”

“By meditating on my personal strengths, weaknesses, and possible potentials, and perhaps even more importantly, on those emotions, thoughts, and activities that I seem to be naturally attracted to.”

“Yes. It all begins with learning to know yourself.”

“Is that possible?”

“Yes, if only to some extent, and the rest is a mystery, for now.”

………

A simple seeker decided it was time to teach her spirit guru about life in the world of physical reality.

“There is no physical reality.”

“It looks pretty real to me.”

“It’s an illusion.”

“As in a dream?”

“Yes, and no.”

“Surely it is or it isn’t.”

“What?”

“A dream.”

“It is, and it isn’t.”

“How can that be?”

“It is as a dream in that you are not directing it. But the illusion of so-called reality allows you to pretend that you’re directing it all.”

“But I do make choices.”

“Yes, from available options that you are aware of.”

“How could I possibly choose from options that I wasn’t aware of?”

“It’s too late.”

“For what?”

“It’s too late for you to choose options that you might have, if you had been aware of them, when and while they were options.”

“Then how can there be any meaning to life?”

“There’s always meaning to life.”

“I mean, for me.”

“Why are you living?”

“I don’t know.”

“Yes.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means that you have yet to choose a purpose.”

“How does one choose a purpose?”

“Which one?”

“This one. Me.”

“Everyone chooses, every moment.”

“How?”

“By living.”

“Is living itself a purpose?”

“Yes.”

“Then we all have the same purpose?”

“Who?”

“Everyone living.”

“Yes, and no.”

“It only begins with living?”

“No.”

“Please explain.”

“There was no beginning.”

………

A simple seeker’s note to herself

I wonder why I was trying to teach Spirit anything. I should have known that I’d lose. What was I trying to teach Him, anyway?

“About life in the so-called world of physical reality.”

“If physical reality is an illusion ..”

“And it is.”

“Then what purpose does it serve?”

“Does it serve a purpose?”

“Does it?”

“Yes.”

“Then what?”

“Physical experiences provide opportunities to develop skills, and practice understanding our interrelatedness with all other life forms.”

“What purpose does understanding have?”

“It determines how we interact with each other. But choosing is only a step toward understanding.”

“Understanding what?”

“Understanding that we are one.”

…………

A simple but sincere seeker of a higher level of spiritual development somehow came under the influence of a spiritual guru whose understanding of life seemed to be ..

“What do you mean by seemed to be?”

“Perhaps I don’t yet know what the limits of my own understanding of life are.”

“How is it possible not to know your own limits?”

“Perhaps I’ve been socially conditioned to accept and expect less of myself and my capacity for thought than possibly exists.”

“Why would that have happened?”

“Not necessarily through the failure of anyone to teach me, unless ..”

“Unless what?”

“Parents and other early educators likely seek to serve the best interests of the community when teaching children what to think, and how to relate to their world.”

“Wouldn’t it be in the best interest of the community for children to be taught as much about life as they could understand?”

“Perhaps the natural, or conditioned, limits of parents and other early educators restricts what they can pass on to the younger generations in their care.”

“Yes, but there is always conscious intent to limit awareness in the minds of young children.”

“If so, that intentional limitation could have survival value.”

“For whom? Or what? How? and Why?”

“Perhaps it’s as food.”

“In what way?”

“We feed babies with very soft foods that their bodies can digest, and only gradually introduce foods that require a more developed digestive system.”

“What has that to do with intentionally limiting a child’s intellectual development?”

“Teachers and parents can only teach what they know.”

“Or what they believe is safe for the children to know?”

“How could children be endangered by knowledge?”

“Perhaps not the children, themselves.”

“Then whom? Or what?”

“Every society that exists can only maintain its present way of life by gently, or otherwise, enforcing rules on everyone within that society, including children.”

“But, societies evolve and transcend over time, as new ideas and new ways of living become available.”

“Yes, but as eager as young people and some others may be to adapt and change, there’s always repression of adaptation and change, by those who might lose their positions of power within society.”

“That could be a healthy condition.”

“How so?”

“Survival needs of individual societies might depend upon at least some control by leaders, teachers, and parents, of the degree and type of change that seems to be happening.”

“Yes. There are always reasons for suppression.”

“Is it necessarily suppression?”

“What else?”

“Suppression sounds so deliberate and intentional.”

“It is.”

“Could it not just be resistance to change that might threaten the existing rules of order in the society in question?”

“Or he power of those who benefit from the current rules?”

“That, of course, would be part of any dynamic between the past and the desired future.”

“Yes.”

“So what’s the solution?”

“To what?”

“A peaceful transition from what was to what yet might be.”

“Yes. There is no peaceful solution.”

“Winner takes all?”

“Yes.”

………….

A simple seeker’s note to herself

Thinking back on the concept of a winner takes all solution to any differences between either individuals or groups, is something that I’ve always resisted. I seem to need a level playing field kind of ending to any problems between people.

“Life doesn’t usually work that way.”

“Why?”

“Conflicting visions of an ideal society can create tension between the opposing views, unless both sides choose synthesis.”

“Can’t there be accommodation, cooperation, and harmony as an alternative to synthesis?”

“Perhaps as a short-term solution, but it wouldn’t last.”

“Why?”

“It would still be duality.”

“So, what’s wrong with duality?”

“There’s no unity in duality.”

“Why do we need unity?”

“It’s the only reality.”

“What does that mean?”

“Either we’re all in this together or we’re not, and we are. Case closed.”

………..

A simple seeker was meditating on the concept of “as above – so below”, and how it might express itself in human society.

“Is there a human society?”

“Perhaps the sum total of all human communities could be understood as an all-inclusive human society.”

“Would the same principle ..?”

“Is it a principle?”

“It’s more than a principle. It’s a law of Life.”

“How many laws of Life are there?”

“There’s no limit to their number.”

“Is there a hierarchy within these rules of order?”

“Are they rules of order?”

“Are they?”

“Yes.”

“Then ..?”

“As above – so below.”

“A common bond?”

“Yes.”

“What is the common bond.”

“Everyone possesses the same emotional and intellectual attributes as everyone else, but in varying degrees.”

“Then why is there, or seems to be, an above and a below?”

“And a somewhere in-between?”

“Yes.”

“It’s necessarily so.”

“Why?”

“Birds of a feather flock together.”

“Sparrows and crows don’t associate with each other.”

“Exactly. They each form their own societies, but are, at the same time, birds.”

“The same species of life?”

“Yes.”

“Then, what about the human species?”

“What about it?”

“Language groups?”

“Yes, and separate cultures and communities develop within each language group.”

“Is it possible to integrate all language groups, and then to assimilate them into one?”

“Why would you want to? And how would you do it without eliminating individual cultures?”

“Then co-existence is the solution?”

“To what?”

“Co-existence is its own solution?”

“How to co-exist with others who are, or seem to be, superior or lesser than us, in some respects?”

“Between groups or within groups?”

“The same principle would apply. The same laws of Life apply.”

“Those above know they’re above, and those at the bottom ..?

“Yes.”

………..

A simple seeker’s note to herself

What lesson of Life was Spirit teaching me about similarities and correspondences between different species of life?

“What did you learn?”

“I learned that the same general laws, rules, or principles, apply to all forms of life.”

“Wrong.”

“Wrong?”

“Yes.”

“Please explain.”

“As above – so below expresses some general correspondences between different levels of intelligence and/or life forms.”

“Is there any correspondence or common bond between you and me?”

“Both. We each share an interest in clear and simple spiritual philosophy. That’s the common bond.”

“And the correspondence is that we each understand it at a different level?”

“Yes.”

…….

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