 
### The Loving Soul

###

Anonymous
The Loving Soul

Copyright © 2014, 2019

A. Truth Publishing

Anonymous95221@gmail.com

All rights reserved.

Publishers Cataloging in Publication Data

Anonymous

The Loving Soul

First Edition

1. Spirituality. 2. Philosophy

ISBN 978-0463427002

This Ebook is licensed only for the use of the person who downloaded it. This Ebook is given freely and may not be re-sold to others. If you would like to share this book with another person, please download an additional copy for each recipient. Furthermore, the copyright prohibits the copying any of the text contained in this book without referencing the name of this book.

For those who seek their true Soul Mate

# Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION

Essay One: The Hole

Essay Two: What is Love?

Essay Three: The Ultimate Mystery

Essay Four: A Loving Home

Essay Five: The Perfect Love

Essay Six: The Pleasure Principle

Essay Seven: The Attraction of Beauty

Essay Eight: The Eyes of Love

Essay Nine: Faith in Love

Essay Ten: Love and Pain

Essay Eleven: Love versus Hell

Essay Twelve: The Path to Love

Conclusion: The Source of Love

# Introduction

Today our society throws the word "love" around as if it were a flag or emblem. We might invoke this "love" to communicate our dedication or our commitment to something or someone. _"I just love that,"_ we might say about an activity or material object. _"I would love to go,"_ we might blurt as we suggest our inclination for an activity. Often people say, _"I love you"_ to our family members as a matter of responsibility— feeling we are communicating the need to respect our genetic connections. We might also proclaim our love to our spouses or mates as an obligatory statement— professing our allegiance to them only.

What exactly is love? What is the true meaning of love? Where does it come from? Why do we all have this common need for love?

Certainly, love is not just a word. It is one of most important aspects of being alive. We all need it. We need it from the time our bodies are born to the time of their demise. All of our family members need it. All of our friends need. Every politician needs it. Every famous person has needed it. Every king has needed it. Every slave has needed it. Every poor person and every rich person needs it. No one has been able to escape the need for love.

Love is not just needed by every human either. Every animal needs it. This is quickly observed among pets and their masters. The pet wants to be stroked and cared for. If it is a dog, for example, the dog wants to run and get the ball or bone we throw and bring it back to us. If it is a cat, it wants to cuddle up to its master and be stroked. We can also easily see that animals need love as they go about their lives in the wild. Even the most vicious of animals—such as the tiger—needs the stroking, fondling and playfulness of their mothers and fathers as they are reared. Even fish perform dancingly swim to impress their mates and find union with another fish. Even insects perform mating ceremonies, as the males or females attract the other sex. Every living being needs some form of love and attention from others. As we travel up the scale of consciousness, from plants to animals, we find the activities of love between living organisms become clearer and expressive.

In the human form of life, we are able to more completely express love. Because of our refined evolution, intelligence, mind and brain, we have the ability to discern between the physical aspects of mating rituals and the feeling of true love that has no physical boundaries in its finest and purest manner: That is, if we come to understand it.

While many scientists are proposing love is merely a biochemical or animalistic sexual urge, most of us know better. Must of us know better because we _feel_ love when there is no sex at issue. We _feel_ love when there is no genetic qualification. This inner feeling tells us love is a deeper part of us.

This collection of essays covers some of the finer aspects of love, as they relate to the self—the living being. Here we emphasize the self as distinguished from the physical body: The real person within the temporary physical body. This personality—our _self_ —is the central character of the discussions of love. This is because only the self is able to exchange love. The physical body is simply a temporary vehicle of the self. One physical body may touch another physically, but touching hardly defines love. We might see two sets of couples walking down the street, both holding hands. One couple might be exchanging love while the other is not, however. Although handholding might be an expression of loving feelings, it could also be done without the feelings. This is because love comes from the self, not from the physical body.

We should further clarify the difference between the physical body and the self before we delve further into the topic of love _._ To summarize these points, we can explain that while the self is changeless and eternal, the physical body is temporary—undergoing dramatic change throughout its short lifetime. We can see this when we notice that our body as a baby was quite different from our adult body. Yet the same person inhabited both bodies. The person looking at a picture of the baby body is the same person who was in the baby body years earlier. We also instinctively accept this when we look in the mirror as we age. We are surprised at the amount of wrinkles and grey hair growing on our bodies. For this reason, many people strive to make their bodies look younger than they really are. Here the self—the real person—is feeling an incongruity between the body and our real identity.

This identity is confirmed by science. Researchers have determined that every cell of the body has a limited lifetime, whereupon it is replaced through mitosis. While intestinal cells may only last a day or two, skin cells will be replaced within a week. Blood cells will be replaced within a month. Brain cells will be replaced within a few years. Nearly every cell in our body is replaced within five years.

Furthermore, the molecules _within those cells_ are replaced even more readily. As we breathe in and out; eat and defecate; drink and urinate; we exchange billions of molecules and atoms in a free flow exchange of matter. Just as a waterfall might look in a photograph, our bodies appear to be unchanging, yet the components are changing by the second.

It is our self—the living being—who is the constant. The living self is the entity that drives the body. Each of us is an individual living being. Each of us is non-material in essence. While some have referred to this non-material self as the _soul,_ the soul has also been used to describe the personality or character of a person. The soul of something is also often considered the center or its source. Here as we discuss the individual self or the soul, we refer to the non-material being—each of us spiritual beings.

The essays here discuss some of the heavier lessons we are being taught to us during our embodied physical existence. Each topic relates to a different issue we face, as we travel through the relationships of this world and struggle with inner conflicts. For this reason, we might suggest the reader read no more than one essay per sitting.

We also give a gentle warning: In some cases, these discussions are not accommodating to certain sensitivities. They may address the ugliness and sadness of the human existence along with the beauty of its design and process. They may also question our own integrity and motives. They may dig at our pride.

In the end, however, we also provide viable solutions to many of the dilemmas facing us as we struggle with love and faith. We note these discussions are not sectarian. They are not denominational. They do not promote a particular group to join. They do not promote a particular sect of religion to change to.

The potential solutions provided here should be easy to understand, yet may be difficult to master. They require a determination to dedicate oneself. They require us to probe our hearts critically and honestly. Whatever the result, we must know that any progress made on the path towards real love is beneficial. There are no vain attempts on the journey towards the _Loving Soul_.

The information presented has descended from a long line of devoted Teachers who have lovingly passed on knowledge as given. I thank these Teachers, and hope this writing continues that tradition of giving and love.

### Essay One

# The Hole

As the woman drove through the desert, she was captivated by its mid-day beauty. The golden sand and green cacti set against the layered pastel colors of the desert hills quieted her busy mind for a few minutes. Frustrated about her money problems, she was grateful for the distraction a little scenery brought her.

Just then her car's engine stopped. After trying to restart the car, she decided to hitchhike. After waiting a full afternoon in the hot sun on this lonely desert road for someone to drive by, she figured she had better start walking. She thought there might be a small town or market nearby.

For three long hot days, she walked a barren, treeless road without seeing any signs of humanity. By the third day, her body was completely dehydrated, and she felt close to death. Her feet were on fire. Her tongue was swollen. Her body was dying of thirst. She began to see mirages of water where there was only sand. She could hardly walk any further.

Just as she was ready to lie down and give up, she heard the rumble of an automobile in the distance. She looked up the road to see a fast-approaching car. She stepped out onto the road, waving in distress to stop the car. This is the only car she'd seen in three days! The man driving the car stopped. He rolled down his window, and asked, "you okay?"

"No," she said. "My car broke down 3 days ago and I am dying of thirst. Can you give me some water and take me to the nearest town please?"

The man slumped in his seat, dropped his head for a moment and suddenly reached under his seat. "Take this. I'm sure you'll be fine." He handed her a small paper bag, rolled up his window quickly, and sped off without saying good-bye.

She watched in horror as the car shrank in the distance. She slowly opened the bag and looked inside. It was a wad of cash rolled up in a rubber band. It looked to be about $200 in small bills. Angrily she tossed the bag and the money onto the ground. "A lot of good money will do me right now," she muttered, as she dropped to her knees in desperation.

Why do we feel empty inside?

Consider some of the most wealthy and famous musicians and movie stars over the last fifty years who have either committed suicide or died of drug overdose. What happened? Why did these successful people, some with just about everything a person could desire—fame, fortune, sex and success—become so miserable? Why did they resort to the most desperate measures? How could they be miserable when they had millions of dollars and millions of adoring fans?

There is one common thread amongst these famous and wealthy people: They each complained that despite all their fame, despite all their wealth; despite the millions of adoring fans; and despite being able to get just about anything material they desired, they felt a _hole_ or inner emptiness they couldn't seem to fill. They were lonely. They were depressed. They were unhappy and miserable. Nothing seemed to fill the _hole._

Our society is driven by consumption.

Most of us in modern society have an abundance of physical objects to consume. Most of us have plenty of food, clothes, comfortable houses and apartments, cars, TVs, DVD players, computers, large malls where we can buy any number of objects: We have an over-abundance of _things_. Despite having so much, most of us live our lives looking for the next _thing_ to consume. We seek that _next_ some _thing_. The _thing_ can be a type of food or toy. It can be a show on television, or a movie at the theatre. It can be a computer game or a video game. It can be a new mystery novel. It can be a baseball or football game. It can be sex. It can be a date with a new person. It can be a new hobby or sporting match. There are so many choices for entertainment and leisure time in today's modern society. Someone from a third world country or tribe living in poverty might look at our culture and be shocked by all this excess.

The problem is these _things_ aren't making us happy. Most of modern society is miserable, lonely, and desperately seeking happiness. We simply haven't found happiness within the physical luxuries we've attained. As a result, suicide rates and drug abuse rates are increasingly high. Alcoholism and other addictions are also common—most adults in modern society think nothing of drinking to escape reality for a while. Why would we need to escape reality if all these _things_ were making us happy? Why would we want to escape the comfort and excess we've created for ourselves?

Instead of solving this puzzle most of us simply look for more, new luxuries to consume. As we move through our day we move from _thing_ to _thing,_ we're continually thinking the next _thing_ will do it. We invent new, more extravagant things: More elaborate dishes of food; more kinky sex; more extreme sports; more thrilling movies; more exciting video games. We push the limits on our consumption because consuming them is not enough—we must consume them to an extreme degree. This is because we have put so much hope in these _things_ satisfying us, that when they don't, we figure it is because we haven't consumed _enough_ of the thing, or we haven't consumed the thing _perfectly_ yet.

We look for happiness in success.

Most of us live our lives in this physical dimension trying to achieve some sort of success. We may see success as wealth, because with wealth we can buy various physical comforts and pleasures. We might even see success as the adoration and respect of others. Some of us might even see success as being surrounded by a happy family. Some may only feel successful if we have accumulated all of these things in combination. Success is typically just around the corner for most of us. The prevailing attitude in modern society is that we will feel successful if we have achieved recognition and material wealth. We yearn to accomplish these achievements because we feel that by accomplishing them we will become happy. However, we must logically ask ourselves: Why are the most successful people—who have achieved these things to the ultimate extent—still not happy?

Some of the superstars who committed suicide or died of drug-overdose achieved cult-like success rivaling historical figures and religious leaders. People throughout the world would read and watch every detail of these superstars' lives, collecting even their most trivial possessions as objects of great value. These superstars had more attention and admiration than most of us could even imagine. Still they remained unhappy. Not only were they not happy; they were miserable, succumbing to chemical dependencies to escape their depression. Considering these successful mega-failures, is it logical that the smaller degrees of success most of us seek in modern society—just a portion of this wealth and recognition—would bring _us_ happiness?

Indeed, there are numerous people over the last 100 years who have simply obtained wealth beyond our imagination: Billionaires who accumulated enough wealth to buy just about anything or do just about anything in modern society. Despite these people's incredible wealth, they also complained of the hole. They too complained of the emptiness inside. As a result, many of these billionaires sank into locked-up lives of miserable paranoia and seclusion.

We haven't been learning from  
the experience of others.

Because wealthy and famous people appear in the news media so often, their problems with substance abuse, divorce, etc. are on daily display. It is thus easy to see so many cases of misery and loneliness despite great wealth, admiration and material success. Although we could easily learn from these people who have _'made it'_ that physical success does not bring happiness, most of us are so entrenched in our own plans for success we hardly notice. Despite seeing misery amongst success all around us, we continue to work hard for this success, as if we were being led by a rope tied to a ring through our nose. Every day we see successful people who have enough money for several lifetimes of comfortable living continuing to work hard for the next success. Achieving wealth or success simply isn't enough for us. We must achieve _more_ success; _more_ wealth. One must do the _next thing_ successfully.

As we look around us at our society, so many of us are increasingly struggling and toiling for material wealth and the admiration of others. Even when all the physical needs of our bodies are met, we keep pushing, endlessly wanting more. Despite seeing the misery among those who already _have_ what we want, we choose to push on, sacrificing our time and efforts to achieve these _things._ As a result, our endeavors can be arduous and sometimes punishing. We will struggle with competitors and rivals, dealing with so many difficulties in order to achieve _more. In this way, the hole seems bottomless—huge and gaping._

All this stuff doesn't bring us happiness.

No matter how much material wealth and adoration from others we have, it does not bring us happiness. Not only will it not bring us happiness, but we are tricked into continuing to work for _more_ of it, trapped in the continued illusion that the _next_ achievement will make us happy. Like the mirage of water in the desert, happiness from physical consumption and achievement is an illusion.

Why don't physical things satisfy us? If we were merely physical bodies, wouldn't consuming physical goodies make us satisfied?

Assuming we are intelligent, we might jump to the conclusion that we need some _thing_ else besides physical goodies or name and fame to bring us fulfillment. The endless parade of material toys and goodies teaches us the same lesson the thirsty woman was taught in the desert: _That_ won't do it.

The logical reason why physical things don't satisfy us is simply because we need something else. This is because _we_ are not physical _. We are not the physical body we dwell within. The physical body is a temporary vehicle._ A person who is starving for physical things should be satisfied with physical things. Like money to a thirsty person in the desert, a person starving for something will not be satisfied _until_ they get what they are starving for. Since we continue to crave for more while having an abundance of physical things, the emptiness we feel—our hole—indicates we need something outside of the physical world.

It is rooted in understanding our identity.

How could a physical person want something outside the physical world? This would be a contradiction. In order to utilize something outside of the physical world one must have the ability to _exist_ outside of the physical world. In order to be able to exist outside the physical world a person would need to have a nonphysical existence. _In other words, the existence of our perpetual hole amongst physical consumption indicates that we are nonphysical living beings by nature, and we are starving for what our nonphysical nature needs. Because our real existence is outside the physical body, our happiness lies outside the physical body. This is because the physical body is not us, but rather a temporary vehicle we occupy for a specific period of time. We are not these physical forms:_

Just as a driver of a car is not made of the metal in his car, the living being is not physical.

The admiration of others doesn't touch us.

Most of us feel that if we received the respect and admiration of others we should be happy. Many of us strive to achieve success because we think that this admiration will somehow make us feel complete. Superstars have achieved the ultimate in admiration. With millions of adoring fans struggling to see them, touch them or get close to them, it is easy to see that they receive admiration at an extreme level.

Yet it is also easy to see that this admiration doesn't actually touch them, nor does it fill their hole. After a few years of adoring fans, most superstars, instead of attention, strive for privacy. They want to hide away from the adoring fans. The adoring fans have become a burden and a nuisance. This is because this sort of admiration does not satisfy the self. Someone who gives us attention just because we are famous has ulterior motives.

A person's motives for adoring a superstar are not connected to love. If they don't know them they certainly don't care about _them._ They might be attached to the fact that they liked their music or feel that they are physically attractive, together with the fact that they have many fans. Some may feel that other fellow fans might be impressed with our adoration or closeness to the superstar, or feel a sense of belonging with other fans. Mostly ones motives for adoring a superstar stem from the same hole of loneliness the superstar is trying to fill with his or her quest for stardom. Both the adoration of the fans and the star's superstardom are thus façades. Both are simply seeking to fill their lonely holes. After awhile, most superstars realize the fans are not delivering the expected fulfillment, and become jaded by the attention, seeing the adoration as insincere. It just wasn't the love they were seeking. Meanwhile, most fans will eventually outgrow their superstar adoration.

We are lonely—and looking for a friend.

When we look around us, we see so many lonely people, including ourselves. We see dramatic loneliness amongst crowds of people. One of the most common places we see loneliness is amongst people in a big city. How could this be? Where reaching out to someone else would be as easy as extending ones little finger or hand, crowded cities tend to amplify loneliness. Amongst these crowds of people we can literally look into the blankness of people's eyes and peer right into the hole. In such a sea of loneliness, we can see that _we are all looking for a true friend._

We all look for a true and reliable friend: We look for a constant companion. We look for someone who will listen and care for us. We look for someone who understands us, and won't question what we do. We look for a person whom we can trust. Someone who is will sometimes sacrifice a little to come to our aid. We look for someone whom we can share things with. We look for someone to fool around with and play games with. Mostly we look for someone to exchange a true friendship with.

Many of us have friends with whom we can exchange some sort of relationship. We are not usually satisfied with these friends however. Most of our "friends" are too busy with their own lives to really give us the kind of focused friendship we desire. Sometimes a person will come to the realization that all of the "friends" they think they have are really not _true friends_ , but rather, they are _convenient friends._ Their relationship with us is one of convenience. They spend time with us because they have nothing better to do. Or we do things that they like to do because they don't want to do those things alone. We can easily see these types of "friends" because they will often fade away from our lives when they move or they change hobbies. We usually do not put a lot of stake in these types of friendships, although we often dream of having such a complete friendship. When we look around us and see all these convenient friends, most of us begin to see our gaping hole quite dramatically. As a result, many of us feel lonely, with no true friend to turn to.

Some feel that a loving family will fill the hole.

What about the love and friendship we receive from our family? Won't this fill the hole? What about exchanging relationships with family members who seem to truly care for us? Won't this make us happy?

Most people in modern society—including superstars after losing faith in the fans—feel the family unit offers a more promising opportunity for filling the _hole._ Family members know us well, and seem to express more sincere feelings than do adoring fans who don't know us. The family unit also promises us an exchange of something we critically need: Unconditional love.

Although the family unit can provide tender  
relationships, which give us a glimpse of love, unfortunately the family unit doesn't last, and its love is not unconditional. Many marriages break up in divorce, with each person feeling the other didn't bring them the happiness or unconditional love each partner needed. Children will grow up and leave the nest, many unhappily rebelling against their parents and fighting with siblings along the way. Parent-teenager hostilities and screaming matches are prominent in the modern-day family. Those remaining family relationships, even lifetimes of marriage, will also end, as death causes the ultimate heartbreak. One of the spouses will die first, leaving the other distressed and lonely. A family death, whether a parent or spouse, brings great sadness and distress, regardless of how poor the relationship was. Many people stay depressed for many years after a parent or spouse dies. Some will say that it was the saddest event of their lives.

It is safe to say that eventually _all_ family relationships break up, leaving emptiness and sadness in their wake. We can also say that family relationships do not ultimately bring us happiness, or fill that hole. They may bring us a glimpse of loving relationships, but what little love is there is conditional, and thus shrivels up, leaving that gaping hole even wider.

The hole is revealed through relationships.

As mentioned, when those we share a relationship with in this world die, change or go away, there is usually a residual depression and empty feeling. This is the result of the _loss_ of that relationship. This feeling of loss following such an event is usually described as an empty feeling, or _hole._ In commercial love songs and love stories, the emptiness a forlorn lover feels is often referred to as an _empty heart_ or a _hole in my heart._

All of us seek to love and be loved. When we exchange a little love in this material dimension we experience a temporary, partial filling of that hole. The hunger to fill the _hole_ remains, but for awhile at least, we taste the _type_ of thing we're hungering for. For this reason, we will often keep returning to that person we shared a relationship with, even if we know the relationship is destructive. This is why women often return to abusing husbands, and men keep dating hurtful women. We need some kind of love. Unlike physical _things,_ which we will discard quickly for the next _thing,_ exchanging even a little love with another person hooks us. The taste we experience when we exchange love with another person is an indication of the _nature_ of the _hole._ If a loving relationship fills part of the _hole_ better than physical things or the adoration by others, and the emptiness increases exponentially when a loved-one dies or leaves, this shows us that the hole we all perpetually feel in life is due to the loss of a deeper, permanent loving relationship.

When we experience the loss of someone near to us or a breakup of a relationship, we usually will experience an even greater _hole_ than we might have if we had never had the relationship. Similarly, superstars often relate that the more famous they get, the larger the hole feels. These experiences are because temporary relationships in this world serve to remind us of our _hole._ They put a microscope over the problem, and we become more aware of it. Seeing the many lonely people in the city also will remind us of our hole. Events such as holidays, and anniversaries also serve to remind us of the _hole._

One reason why conditional, temporary relationships in this world only serve to remind us of our _hole_ is that these temporary relationships are not _deep enough_ to fill it. We can quite quickly see that they are not the loving relationships we need. These relationships will not last because they are usually based upon convenience or exchange. If we base that exchange upon identifying the person as their body, that body will eventually die or go away and the exchange will cease. It is inevitable. We need a much deeper relationship in order to fill that _hole_.

We've experienced a deep relationship in the past.

Since we are trying desperately to fill this _hole,_ we must accept that this _hole_ wasn't always there. Why else would we try so hard to fill it? If we were used to it there would be no problem. At some point in the past we didn't have this _hole,_ because at some point we experienced the permanent loving and friendship relationship we are searching for. When we lose a temporary relationship, we can see a glimpse of how devastating it would be to be separated from an even deeper permanent relationship.

If we consider that true love exists on a permanent basis, and temporary relationships only remind us of our need for them, then it makes sense that we need to reconnect to whatever permanent relationship we lost. Permanent loving relationships require a permanent person though. A permanent person is one who does not die or go away. A permanent person is someone who will not change suddenly, deciding they don't like us anymore. A permanent person is someone who we can rely upon—forever.

We had a supremely deep relationship.

The _hole_ we feel is deep because the Supreme Being runs deep. When we think of the Grand Canyon and how deep it is, we can reflect on how powerful the water had to be to make that canyon so deep. Our very being is designed for a deep unconditional relationship with the Supreme Being, and the size of the _hole_ we experience is due to our forgetting this very deep relationship. At one time, each of us enjoyed a deep and loving relationship with the Supreme Being, and at some point or another we lost this deep relationship.

Like water to a thirsty person in the desert, we need a true and loving friend we can trust: Someone who loves us unconditionally. We once had such a relationship, and took it for granted. At some point we lost that deep relationship with our Best Friend. Ever since that time, we've carried around this deep _hole,_ trying to fill it with other things.

***

Conclusion: _The emptiness we experience throughout our lives cannot be filled with the temporary, conditional things and relationships of this world. The hole we feel throughout our lives is due to having lost and forgotten our relationship with our Supreme Friend. By ignoring this essential relationship, we leave a deep hole we cannot fill with anything else._

### Essay Two

# What is Love?

As they stared up at the twinkling stars on a clear moonless night, the boy considered saying those three special words. After three years of dating, the boy's fondness of his girlfriend had grown, and he felt it was finally time to express his feelings.

"I love you," he softly said, his voice dropping off in expectation of a quick reply.

A long silence followed. "I don't believe in love," she finally blurted. "I believe that love is an evolutionary mistake—a form of insanity. I believe that love is a nothing but a chemical: a genetic mutation."

_Stunned at this statement, he quickly changed the topic, face beet red: He was thankful it was at least dark. Through the rest of their talk that night, he could not get her statement out of his mind. He silently concluded to himself as they parted that evening that he'd be looking for a new gir_ lfriend.

Modern science proposes that love is chemical.

Modern chemistry and physics theory tells us that life is the variegated composition of smaller and smaller units: Cells, molecules, atoms, neutrons, electrons, subatomic particles, photons, quarks, strings, etc. These _'units'_ are assumed to be the sum and substance of our existence.

Where then does love come from? Which units contain this substance? Modern scientists theorize that love is simply the result of certain chemical reactions combined with neural events within the brain—an accidental twist of evolution. While some of these scientists propose that love is a product of the brain, others propose that since certain neurochemicals are present in certain tissues such as the brain during times of emotional response, the emotion of love must be come from these neurochemicals. Does this make sense? Can the emotion of love be captured within the physical tissues or neurochemistry of the body?

Emotions do not come from the brain.

Brain surgeons have been able to for instance, provoke certain emotions by stimulating particular areas of the brain. We may have also seen brain images with PET and other types of scanners showing us how the various brain cells and areas will signal with specific thought patterns. From these observations, it has been assumed that emotions come from these brain tissues.

However we must question this logic, because stimulating other body parts will also stimulate emotions; and we don't say those emotions are contained in that body part. For example, tickling someone under the armpit will provoke laughter. Does this mean that the emotion of humor is contained in the armpit?

Although a stimulation of that body part can evoke a particular emotion, the body part isn't the source of the emotion itself. Consider how the eyes are sensitive to certain wavelengths of light and color. Certain images will strike the back of the retina and travel through the optic nerve to the cerebrum. These images can provoke a variety of emotional responses including anger, envy, fear or even attraction, but only after the images were flashed onto the mind and observed by the living being. The responses took place as a result of the observation. Would it make sense to say that these emotions were contained in the eyeball or the optic nerve? How about within the actual object, or radiated energy from the object which struck the retina? Or could the emotions be contained in the impulses traveling from the retina through the optic nerve?

Many doctors and other observers are swayed by the scenes of the brain being stimulated by an electrode, causing a subject to recall memories, or trigger specific thoughts and emotions. However, medical doctors have also long observed that many people who experience a stroke will continue experiencing emotions even though parts of the brain known to control particular emotional responses were damaged and not functioning. The subject will continue to communicate those emotions and emotional memories without that brain area functioning at all. The brain is not the source of the emotions. Rather, the various brain cells and neural networks form a bridge between the gross physical body and the mind. The brain is therefore simply a _relay facility_ of emotional signals from the living being via the mind, and a _relay facility_ of feedback and sensory signals from the physical body to the mind and living being. The brain cells do not contain the emotions, including love, any more than the armpit contains humor. If they did we could transplant emotional identities and memories from one person to another by transplanting brain cells. If they did we could remove a _love chip_ from the brain, put it in another person's brain, and the other person would start caring for the same people the donor had. Although we can certainly damage or remove the ability of a person to _express_ love through their physical body, we cannot take the emotion of love from the living being.

Love comes from the living.

Research has shown that particular neurochemicals will saturate certain tissue and nerve sites following or during an emotional response. These chemicals are released either in response to external stimuli or from an internal emotion. _Vasopressin_ , _dopamine_ and _oxytocin_ are the neurochemicals most associated with emotions of love, although more recently a neurochemical called _nerve growth factor_ (NGF) has been linked with these emotional feelings.

Does this mean those emotions are coming from the chemicals? Or perhaps, as some scientists purport, do the chemicals contain the emotions?

Since the mid-twentieth century, neuroscientists have been toying with areas involving cellular receptors for these neurochemicals in an attempt to connect emotions to chemicals. The primary research method was to inject particular body tissues with radioactive isotopes, which bind to these neurochemicals. This allows the neurochemicals to be seen by radioactive imaging cameras. By tracking the occurrences of particular neurochemicals and their receptors, these scientists have been able to connect certain emotional states with specific neurochemicals. They have also been able to isolate which cells in the body and cells typically release or receive these neurochemicals. A number of organs and tissues have been identified as neurochemical releasing agents, while specific cell membrane areas have been identified as their _'receptors.'_

Biochemicals are messengers.

The eyes, optic nerve, the brain cells, the muscles and the neurochemicals are all tools the living being utilizes to transmit emotions and desires. The self or living being, a creature of a substance beyond the physical dimension, operates the physical body as a person might operate a machine. These tissues and chemicals are therefore merely _messengers_ of the self. They receive and transmit messages _._ The process the self utilizes with the mind and the body might be compared to the operations of computer and computer operator:

Once the computer operator enters typed-in commands, the computer's programming performs the appropriate functions, and sends the resulting feedback to the screen for the operator to interact with.

In the same way, the self sends commands through the mind to the physical body, and using the programming of the mind, the body is stimulated into activity. After and during this process feedback from the body is sent to the screen of the mind where the self can view that feedback and respond to it if necessary.

We could compare the sending of emotions from the mind through the body to sounds from a radio:

Talk-radio plays from a radio in someone's house. The radio picks up broadcast signals from a nearby radio station. The radio station sends the impulses through a broadcast tower. The impulses travel through space and are picked up by the radio's antenna. The impulses are then converted to sounds representing the voice of the announcer. Although the sound comes out of the radio, its source is the announcer at the distant radio station.

We would probably laugh if someone were to say that the radio talk show host was in the radio. The radio and the station are only instruments used to transmit the voice of the talk show host. His voice is being beamed through these instruments in order to communicate his opinion. In the same way, all of the body parts and chemicals involved in emotional responses are also instruments. They convey the emotions of the original sender—the self. Just as the sound impulses are carried to the speaker cone, emotions coming from the self through the mind are sent through specific parts of the body trained to reflect the emotion (e.g., tear ducts for crying; legs for a quick getaway, etc.). Just as the radio speaker reflects the voice of the talk show host, the human body reflects the emotions of the self.

Love runs beneath the physical.

While at a public aquarium, a woman walks over to the shark tank to watch a shark being fed. The first thing she notices when she gets to the tank is that there is blood in the water and the shark is in a feeding frenzy. She erroneously thinks that the shark became hungry because of the blood in the water. She didn't see that the aquarium staff fed the shark clean fish and the bleeding followed the shark's feeding frenzy.

There are many instances where we might put together two observations (such as the shark eating and the presence of blood) and think we can associate the events in a cause-and-effect relationship. It is possible this association will even be correct. However, especially in cases where we do not have the ability to see all the processes going on beneath the obvious, the possibility of being wrong is great. In the case of neurochemicals and emotions, there is a whole lot of guessing going on. Because these well-intentioned neuroscientists don't see the process of exchange between the self and the physical body, they are making assumptions based upon limited information. Just because we can see a few chemicals during an emotional response doesn't mean we know where the seat of emotions is, just as taking apart a radio won't tell us who or where the radio announcer is.

The self utilizes a subtle response-feedback loop with the physical body. Utilizing the mind, intelligence, and false ego as translating mechanisms, the self receives feedback from the physical environment through the senses of the body. Once the self receives feedback, the self, typically seeking enjoyment from the physical body, initiates a particular response:

A person is told that a parent died. The sound of being told, moving through the ears, will affect a part of the brain, which relays the message onto the screen of the mind. The self, misidentifying as a physical body through the influence of the false ego, hears that someone "related" has gone away. Understanding this, the self, feeling sad, will send that sad emotion back to the mind. Through the neural network, the mind will stimulate glands such as the hypothalamus and pituitary to secrete neurochemicals, which, among other things initiates the physical action of crying.

This emotional response is initiated by the living being who is feeling sadness due to hearing of the loss of someone close. Certainly, the living being is the entity that feels sad, not some brain cell or chemical. Who else would be able to initiate such an emotional response other than a living, feeling person?

In this way, not only is the body a messenger for the emotion of sadness, but the mind is a tool used to translate that message into a physical response. The mind stimulates the physical system to affect the release of neurochemicals. These transmit the message through cell receptors to initiate physical responses. The neurochemicals are merely _carriers_ of the emotion coming from the self.

Sometimes the response by the body to stimuli is reflexive rather than directly from the self. This response is set-up by the self using a pre-programming feature of the mind. The mind is designed to be programmed to do many functions, including automatic responses to certain stimuli. This programming is done through the facility whereby the living being's desires set up a sensual/mental feedback-and-response operation. One might compare this to a computer _'if-then'_ statement. An emergency-response program might be developed from the living being's desire to protect the body to assure continued attempts at physical enjoyment, for example. The mind will be programmed to respond automatically to any threat to survival by instantly sending neurochemical and nervous system commands to the muscles and heart to run or defend itself. Or a similar program might be set up as: _If the hand touches something hot, then the hand will quickly pull away before the skin gets burnt._ When the actual event—such as heat— is received through sensory input, the response is initiated without the living being's conscious participation. The mind's programming takes over. The living being's initial desires to enjoy through the body initiate the mind to program the neural network to react automatically to certain stimuli. This might be compared to how a commanding officer initiates objectives and commands for lower officers to complete without his further involvement:

A commanding general determines the objectives of the troop and the operations of a troop by orchestrating certain policies and activities. Then he delegates the oversight of those operations to the lieutenants. The lieutenants will pass on specific orders and design the work of the sergeants, who shout specific commands to each private in the troop.

In the same way, regardless of whether it is via a direct response or a programmed response, the living being is at the root of all physical emotional responses. Some stimuli will initiate only an immediate, automatic (or _'autonomic'_ ) response to an emotion, while stimuli considered more important to the living being will typically sink in directly to the living being who will react directly, much like the general might consider larger strategic issues and issue direct orders. Either way, the self is involved because without the living being's existence within the body, and without the living being's desires to enjoy the physical body and thus keep the body intact, there would be no physical response. The mind and the rest of the body are mere messengers and signal carriers, just as the lieutenants and sergeants are messengers for the commands of the general.

When neurochemicals are extracted from a person during an emotional response, that neurochemical may still carry the message of the response, but this message will be a coded message intended specifically for that tissue or cell stimulation. If the neurochemical was injected into another person, the injected person could not experience the same emotions the first person had because the coding wasn't specific. The injected person's tissues might still be stimulated with a non-specific instruction of the neurochemical such as "stimulate this particular organ or cell," but again, the neurochemical doesn't carry the entire emotional response. For example, a person eating meat will ingest the neurochemical adrenaline produced by the animal when it was slaughtered. This can make the person feel overly anxious. The person won't actually experience the animal's slaughter when he eats the meat, however. (He will have to experience that later.) Rather than being random chemicals, neurochemicals should be more appropriately considered _specific messengers,_ as their transmission is specific to that particular organism. This would be consistent with the sergeants performing only the specific instructions from commanding officers. Those same commands would not necessarily have the same results in another troop and circumstance.

The physical body and all its functions are simply tools for the self to utilize. The actual functions of the body, however, are narrowed by the design of the body. The self can dictate the operations of the body through desires and objectives, which set up programming for specific responses:

A doll is designed to smile when its hair is pulled. The doll may not be alive, but the child who pulls the hair to make the doll smile is. The doll has thus become a surrogate of the child, and its smiling response reflects the intent of the hair-puller.

Though the smile may reflect some emotional intent of the child to make a smile, the smile doesn't necessarily relay the _exact_ emotion of the child. The doll can only reflect an intention to express something within a limited range of possible expressions. In the same way, a person might cry when sad or cry when happy. It might even be difficult to tell the difference. The crying is not the emotion itself, but a _response triggered by the emotion._ The specific neurochemicals, which stimulate the lacrimal tear glands, were initiated through a complex neural network, which can be traced back to the emotion. If we extracted some of those chemicals out of this person's body and injected them into another's body, they might cause the other body to tear, but the specific emotion that caused it (happy or sad) could not be communicated through the neurochemicals.

Emotions originate from the self.

The emotions elicited from a response to an observation or other stimuli would logically have come from someone who was able to make an _interpretation_ of and select a resulting _response_ to the interpretation. For example, visual radiation is received by retinal cells, initiating a pulse that travels through the cells of the optic nerve. Once these impulses are carried to the neural network, the image is then reflected onto the mind of the self. If the neural network is pre-programmed to react to the image, the body will be stimulated automatically. If the self wants to interpret the image and respond to it using the intelligence and false ego, then that response will be ushered back through the mind, which will direct the appropriate physical response. Even in this case, the mind will respond in a manner consistent with how it has been designed and trained by the self and the world around it. In the physical world the living being is limited to interacting with the mind's images, which come from external sensory input and feedback from the body. This could be compared to a person playing the video game through the computer and computer screen. The player responds to only what images are seen on the screen. The computer is programmed to convert the 0s and 1s into graphic display, and the person responds only to the converted graphic display.

The programming of the mind is ultimately directed by the self. The living being projects its desires onto the mind, where they are mixed with sense perception in an attempt to achieve those desires. In most cases, the self desires to enjoy the world, and thus a _concoction_ or formula to achieve those goals will be created by the mind and living being using the catalog of sensory input. Once the mind is programmed with this concoction, it will be able to direct the flow of neurochemicals through the body, responding to events and sensory input in particular ways. In some cases the self can control the response of the mind, but most of the time the mind is functioning on cruise-control—following programs determined by prior concoctions. It is designed to respond automatically to these programmed concoctions. The decision directing the mind's response was already made prior to the event or sensory input. Just as proper training will prompt a person to perform a particular task, the mind is trained by the self, blending its desires with sensory input.

These cruise-control responses reflect the mind's ability to not only record and retain sensory input from the outside world, but to respond to it through programming created by the desires of the self. The living being may not be aware of a current automatic mental response because the mind is able to work on subtle levels (some call these subconscious levels). Thus, while its operations are often out of grasp of the living being's immediate control, the mind's automatic activities will typically reflect _former_ desires and concoctions. This would be compared to hearing an echo long after the words were spoken.

The self can of course _directly_ stimulate physical responses as well. Should the living being have a particular emotion regarding something, that emotion is sent through the mind to the body. Frustration is an example of an emotion sent to the mind from the self. This will result in the appropriate physical action. The type of response may well be blocked or negotiated somehow by the mind due to other desires of the living being, however. For example, if a person desires to keep the respect of others, the mind may hold the body back from physically expressing that frustration. As a result, the body may be instructed to _bite the lip_ in order to block the complete expression of the emotion. This process allows the self to express certain feelings translated into physical responses and actions, utilizing the training of the mind to negotiate those expressions.

Both pre-programmed response and direct emotional expression utilize the mind, which not only stimulates the nervous system to initiate muscular response, but also stimulates certain neural centers to release specific _neurochemicals_. The release of these specific neurochemicals—hormones like endorphins, growth hormones, ACTH, LH, FSH, estrogens, testosterone, thyroid hormones; and neurotransmitters like adrenaline, serotonin, dopamine and acetylcholine—all drive secondary physical responses initiated either by direct or indirect emotions of the living person present within the body.

Emotions stimulate chemicals that stimulate action.

So what is it about love that stimulates the flow of certain neurochemicals? Modern scientists have said that during feelings of love or compassion certain chemicals like serotonin will be released into the body from certain endocrine centers, sparking feelings of relaxation. They also correlate feelings of anger with the release of certain other neurochemicals such as adrenaline. What is going on here?

In a healthy physical body of a conscious, aware person, direct emotions from the self spark clear physical responses. This is normal. In some cases the emotion of caring for someone else may stimulate certain activity such as hugging or stroking. This is a natural physical response to the living being's direct emotion of love. However a person covered by greed and lust may convert this basic need for loving relationships into an attempt for sexual satisfaction—which in the end frustrates the person. In most cases among physical organisms, the need for loving relationships is translated into a desire for physical relationships.

The reason our bodies are designed for relationships and emotional expressions in sharing relationships is because of our very nature—we are geared to connect with others in the exchange of loving relationships, and thus we treasure relationships. The mind or body doesn't need initial training in releasing emotions related to the hope for loving relationships because love is an inseparable part of the living being. The physical body of the self reflects not only our desire to enjoy the world, but reflects an even deeper desire to love and care for others. The mind and the physical body will thus _instinctively_ reflect this emotion because this is our very nature. We cannot be separated from love. Every organism is thus designed to facilitate and attempt to form loving relationships in some way, depending upon the level of self-absorption covering the living being. This is why it is instinctive for animals to care for and respond to their mothers, their mates and their offspring.

We all need loving relationships.

A few decades ago, psychologists studied relationships between monkeys and their mothers, or in many cases, surrogate mothers. Some baby monkeys were cruelly pulled away from their mothers at birth and put in isolated cages. The scientists observed that these monkeys quickly became hostile, depressed, and unstable as compared with caged monkeys united with their mothers. Some of the baby monkeys were left alone with wire-built frames made to look like the shape of a monkey. Some of these frames were even built with milk bottle-breasts so the monkey could feed from a pair of fake nipples. Although the baby monkeys would try to hug the fake monkeys and suck milk from the fake breasts, they also became hostile, depressed, and unstable. Some of the monkeys isolated or caged with wire surrogates were introduced to live monkey surrogates who were not their mothers. These monkeys immediately began to hug the surrogates, and these stressed and hostile monkeys gradually became "normal" (for being cruelly imprisoned in cages).

The instinctive exchange of a loving relationship with another living being is critical to our existence. Once baby monkeys were allowed to exchange a relationship with a living being, they normalized. This is because every living being needs to exchange loving relationships _._ Contact with a physical form without a living being inside of it (like the monkey wire frames) will not replace our need for a relationship with a living being.

The case of instinctively needing relationships is also made as we've observed human babies. Preemie babies who were held more often and stroked or massaged, grew as much as 50% faster; were significantly more alert; and were more responsive to the world around them than preemies who were more isolated during incubation. The touched babies were shown to also be calmer and better adjusted later in their childhood than babies who were not touched as often.

Real love has several key characteristics.

Here are a few commonly accepted characteristics of love and loving relationships that illustrate love's real existence within each of us:

Loving relationships are our foremost focus from the time we are born into this physical body through to our leaving the body. As babies, we seek the attention and admiration of the people around us through physical contact, approval, and acceptance with other living beings. This drive for loving relationships via these external attempts continues throughout life, becoming the central rationale for our choices of mates, houses, cars, sports, careers, etc.

People will sometimes endanger themselves to achieve loving relationships. Some may climb mountains or perform other death-defying feats to gain the attention and admiration (thought of as love) from others. Due to the quest to achieve or maintain particular relationships, a person may put themselves in harm's way. Some may sacrifice their lives in a war while others may sacrifice money, an organ, or other material possessions on behalf of or in search of a loving relationship.

Love is held up in society as an aspiration every person should seek—the key to happiness. It is assumed that a successful loving relationship is the ultimate success in life. No one really understands why love has such a high priority, but most agree that those who love the most are also the happiest.

Love requires a _lover_ and a _beloved;_ the acknowledgement of two distinct individuals. For love to exist there must be a loving relationship between at least two living beings.

True love is selfless and unconditional. It is the caring of another without any expectation of a return. Loving someone is the act of humbly giving oneself to ones beloved. True love will overwhelm all other aspects of ones life—minimizing one's self-regard.

Love is connected to service. Service is thus the ongoing expression of love. Service is performed both as a means to accomplish love along with a natural activity of love.

True love brings joy to both the beloved and the lover. True love is the _food_ of the living being. We all need it because it is part of our constitutional nature: it is our _actuality_.

These points reflect a few of the characteristics of love and the living being. Every living being has an innate need to give oneself to another and to have the unconditional love of another upon oneself. That exchange of love; to serve and sacrifice oneself for a loved one, is aspired to throughout our society as the highest form of fulfillment. Each of us has tasted the joy of love in one respect or another. Our acceptance of the importance of love in real life contradicts any chemical or evolutionary theories of love. Even the scientists who propound these theories of chemical and evolutionary love still at the end of the day seek out love in their own personal lives. They admit by their own lives that love is part of our nature. Their theories may say we are but chemicals, but their actions say we are living beings who share the common aspiration of true love.

All living organisms aspire to loving relationships.

All living beings need to exchange a loving and caring relationship with another living being. This is expressed among birds that care for their chicks; elephants that fend off for their fellow mates; dogs that pine to be stroked; and monkeys who struggle to hug other monkeys. Living beings have a fundamental, instinctual desire to love and serve a beloved, and to be loved and cared for by another. This is the common universal trait of the living being. Regardless of race, creed, gender, or species, love is at the very core of our being.

Although love is often characterized as an emotion, actually emotions _stem_ from love. Love—like the living being— comes from the realm outside of the gross physical dimension. Love transcends the temporary nature of the physical dimension because it is the very _nature_ of the living being. The living being cannot be separated from love. This is why people need other people to love. Without other living beings to exchange love with, we whither away in loneliness. We seek to exchange loving relationships with other living beings because love is a part of our constitutional nature. _We are creatures of love._

Love is a transcendental activity.

Love exists outside of the physical world. Since love is only expressed when one gives of oneself to another, love is not distinguishable from ones self. When someone truly gives their love to another, they are giving the only thing they truly own—their decision to give of themselves. Every other possession is temporary to the living being. The Supreme Being is the only Person with the ability to possess anything else. We living beings were all imbedded with this one transcendental possession by the Supreme Person: The ability to love; and with that, the ability to choose where to put that love.

Lust, greed, and self-love are perverted forms of love.

True love can only be expressed between two or more living beings. Some people talk about _self-love_ but this is a perversion of real love. _Self-love_ is simply _selfishness,_ and it is diametrically opposed to love. Real love is the act of humbly giving oneself to _another_ living being. Note that _giving_ requires a giver, a gift (in this case love), and a receiver. The same person cannot be both the giver and the receiver because the gift has to change hands to be given. Therefore, _self-love_ is merely selfishness and greed dressed up in fancy words.

When ones natural inclination to love _is_ directed at oneself, this creates the perverted form of love—lust. When love is inwardly focused, a fog or mist covers the humble loving nature of the living being, and a vacuum created by this perverted, inwardly projected love begins sucking into a bottomless pit of self-absorption. This fog and vacuum covering the living being's natural propensity to love focuses us onto our physical bodies, and then drives us to consumption, followed by utilizing others in the physical world in our progressively desperate attempts to be self-satisfied.

Once this bottomless lust-vacuum has begun, it is very difficult to stop. It swirls us together with the things we attempt to consume around like a whirlwind. We lose any understanding of our identity and priorities in its wake. As we seek to take advantage of others to fulfill our bottomless lust, two things happen: First, we become frustrated because the consumption doesn't make us happy. Second, we can become angry due to our continued frustrations of not being fulfilled.

'Physical love' does not satisfy us.

We are never completely satisfied with the _'love'_ we find within the physical dimension. We see and experience so many relationships that were supposedly based upon love ending in break up or divorce, sometimes with great bitterness. Why, if love is such a part of us and is so needed, do these relationships end up broken and frustrating?

The main consideration is whether the 'love' that many of us exchange in the physical world is actual love. Usually it is perverted by greed. As a result, in many relationships in this physical dimension, _expressions_ of love are given in order to receive something in return. This type of exchange is not love. These expressions might appear loving but they are simply lust. They are grounded in our desire to receive or consume something for ourselves. These are simply expressions of lust masquerading as love. They might sound and look like love but they aren't. They might even be motivated by our inner desire to exchange love but they are not love. There may even be a small tinge of real love mixed in, but the desire to get something in return will quickly drown out that tinge. Even service performed in the name of this _physical love/lust exchange_ is typically performed to receive some benefit. These types of exchanges would be better described as business than love. They could give us fleeting glimpses of our real nature, but not for long. The exchange of one thing for another is considered business. It subtly squelches any real love that may be felt initially.

The primary symptom of this physical love/lust is when a person becomes angry with the one they 'love' when their 'love' is not returned. If one part of the bargain isn't met or seen as equal, the other party won't feel there is fairness, and will become angry or upset. Since real love is the giving of oneself selflessly—a business deal does not qualify. In the physical world, a truly selfless person is a rare find indeed. The physical world is the world where the greedy and selfish beings come to exercise our desires.

Another reason most of us are not satisfied with this type of love/lust relationship is that the 'love' between two living beings who identify each other as physical bodies is built upon the model of consumption. This is why a seemingly loving relationship will begin with some real feelings, and end up spiraling into failure. Because our identification with this body is caused by our desire to enjoy, it is very difficult to express love on a physical level without desiring some ultimate consumption for our physical body. Sincere love will only occur in connection with our transcendental existence.

True love has a source.

If we accept that love is the deeper and necessary aspect of our being, and we agree that our ultimate identity lies beyond the physical dimension, we must realize that there is a _Source_ of love beyond this physical dimension. After all, how could an emotion that is specifically exchanged between living beings not originate from a living being? Since love requires a lover and beloved, the _Source_ of love must also be able to _exchange_ love. Moreover, since the Source of something must contain its ultimate nature, we must realize that the Source of love is the ultimate Lover and Beloved. Remember the energy equation: all organized energy must have an outside organizing force. Nothing comes from nothing. The ideals of love in this universe have an outside Source for their existence, as they arise not from the physical world, but from a Source outside of the physical dimension.

The very fact that we search throughout our lives for the ultimate loving relationship to complete ourselves indicates we know deep within us the Ultimate Lover and Beloved exists. Since we are constantly seeking to place our love somewhere, seeking others (who primarily care for themselves) to exchange love with us, love is at the very core of our being. It is the essence of our existence. We cannot deny this either scientifically or practically. Since love and loving service are at the core of our existence, yet we remain unfulfilled when we apply it in the physical dimension, we must realize that a more appropriate Lover and Beloved exists outside of this physical dimension.

In considering that we all seek a true loving relationship to become complete, and that love comes from outside the physical, it should be easy to realize that there exists a Person beyond the physical world who has the ability to ultimately love us and exchange the ultimate loving relationship with us. Such a relationship would be completely satisfying to the living being because _this is why we exist._

Love cannot be disconnected from its source.

The central problem with our attempted love in the physical world is that it is disconnected from the Supreme Person. The reason why our lust is such a bottomless pit is because the source of this lust—love—only truly exists in connection with the unlimited Supreme Person. This is because the Supreme Person Himself is a limitless, bottomless lovable Person. Loving Him is an ever-deepening experience, which brings the living being complete joy and fulfillment. When this nature is perverted into lust, our endless attempts at satisfaction through consumption become endlessly disappointing.

Since the Supreme Person is the reservoir of true love, our ability to express and experience actual love is connected to our innate relationship with Him. If we are trying to enjoy without Him, or trying to _be Him,_ we can hardly expect to connect with our natural ability to love. If we are trying to enjoy the world—attempting to consume it for our own satisfaction—we will not be able to relate with the Supreme Being because the Supreme Person is a Being of pure love—His love is pure and unconditional. His love is kind and tender. His love is forgiving and complete. Living beings in physical bodies pretending to love through relationships of exchange are simply not prepared to enter this world of selfless, precious love:

Like a bull in a china shop, a selfish person cannot relate in the world of transcendental love.

Since we are not relating with Him and His world of love now, we cannot truly relate with other living beings with real love. When we are covered by selfishness, we see everyone in connection with what we can get from them. We are not able to see other living beings as they are, simply because we are covered by this cloud of lust. If, however, we become reconnected with the Supreme Person and are able to enter His world of love, our ability to see others as they truly are will allow us to truly love others.

True love is unconditional.

When we speak of the ultimate love, we usually refer to a scenario where the lover gives 100% of themselves, without any conditions. Has this ever happened to us in this world? Have we ever met another human who didn't have any conditions upon the love that was given? If we have, we are extremely fortunate. With just about every human there are conditions for which love will be extended. For some it might be one's gender. For others it might be one's race. For still others it might be age, or sexual preference. For still others it might be conditional on reciprocation, or at least acknowledgement. Would we be prepared to love someone who wanted to hurt us?

We can easily observe that the Supreme Being loves us unconditionally. How? Simply because He loves us even if we do not love Him back or even acknowledge Him. He loves us even though our activities are hurtful to Him. This is illustrated by the fact that we are away from Him now. Many of us in this physical world are ignoring Him now. Many of us who are not ignoring Him are trying to use Him to get something else. In either case, these kinds of actions would be considered hurtful to anyone who loved us.

He could easily force us to serve Him and pay attention to Him if He wanted. But this would not be love though, since love requires the freedom to love or not to love. Because the Supreme Person loves us unconditionally, He not only continues to love us despite our hurtful activities, but He has even given us a place where we can continue to ignore Him. Through all this, He is always ready to take us back when we are ready. Now _that_ is true love.

***

Conclusion: _From birth to death, we seek love throughout our physical lives. We see love as the source of ultimate happiness in our lives. Yet we are always stumbling into relationships that are not satisfying, seeking perfect love 'in all the wrong places.' We are unsatisfied because the 'love' we are exchanging is conditional—it is based upon getting something in return. The ultimate loving relationship comes from the Supreme Person. His love is not conditional. For us to be truly happy, we need to learn to love the Supreme Person and His children in the same way—without condition. Only this will satisfy us._

### Essay Three

#  The Ultimate Mystery

The little brown sparrow circled above the yard looking for seeds, crumbs or worms. She wasn't finding much food these days amongst the barren concrete slab of her new yard. The sparrow was thankful to have her own space though. She was chased off her last yard by some heavyweight blue jays. That last yard had a plentiful supply of worms and breadcrumbs thrown out by the humans, but she had to outmaneuver the muscular blue jays if she wanted to eat. Now she happily circled her new concrete yard, scouting its small-interspersed planter boxes, ready to swoop for anything moving or being thrown. After a hungry week went by, the sparrow was frustrated by the lack of food she had found in her new yard. She wondered by she couldn't find any food. She wondered why the humans didn't throw out food like they did in her last yard. As she flew from one fence post to another, resting between circles, she discovered a new perch. She'd found a wonderful blue box, set on a post in the middle of yard, directly overlooking the entire yard. She was thankful for this comfortable perch, and she announced her perch to all her neighbors with a beautiful song. She could sit atop the box and see almost the whole yard now, including the soil boxes. However, she still couldn't find much to eat. For the next few days, she hungrily continued her circling and swooping, finding only the rare morsel here and there. She was obviously unaware that the wonderful blue birdhouse she'd been sitting on had a full tray of fresh birdseed attached at the bottom.

We are all stimulated by mysteries.

For this reason, we make up mysteries to solve. Some of us do crossword puzzles and or other games in an attempt to unfold a created mystery. Many of us read mystery novels or watch murder mysteries on television. Many best selling books are mystery novels, and many successful movies are suspense mysteries. Millions of people read books written by authors who have created some mysterious problem, only to unfold a hopefully surprising solution at the end. Movies also build suspense in order to deliver a surprising solution, keeping the viewer in rapt attention until the very end.

While astrophysicists search the skies in hopes of solving the mysteries of the universe, archeologists and historians dig for decades to find a few pieces of clay, stones, or bones for the sake of unraveling mysteries of the past. Curiously, such a scientist may spend an entire lifetime trying to unravel the mystery of only one event that took place thousands or millions of years ago. While some might say this particular historical mystery will never help us with any tangible part of our lives, others might say we could learn from our mistakes. Regardless, these types of mysteries haunt scientists incessantly. As a result, millions of dollars and entire lifetimes may be devoted to solving puzzles about humankind's past.

Our yearning for historical mysteries underscores our need to understand our identity. To most archeologists the underlying questions are or should be: _where do we come from? How old are we? Who are we?_

Then there is the ultimate mystery.

However, by far the largest and most pervasive mystery surrounding our lives and our human race—the biggest mystery of all—is: _Does the Supreme Being exist?_ And if so, _Who is the Supreme Being?_

These mysteries are the most pondered and talked-about mysteries in all of civilization—in all of history in fact. In this physical world, the Supreme Being is a constant and pervading mystery. Despite widespread religious organizations with vast membership throughout the world; despite the writings and scriptures pertaining to the Supreme Being's existence; the mystery continues.

Most of us in modern society consider religious opinion to be extremely controversial. People have their most intense discussions regarding religion. As a result, many religious discussions easily lead to heated arguments. For this reason many of us avoid religious discussion because most of us feel ardent about this topic, and there are so many diverse opinions regarding the existence of the Supreme Being. Everyone seems to have a very rigid opinion, and most everyone is stubbornly confident that their own view is correct. For this reason, we are often offended when someone else questions our views on the subject. Yet we are usually quick to question another's views.

We can easily conclude that our stance regarding the Supreme Being's existence is our most guarded and important issue. We are extremely protective of it. Our position regarding the Supreme Being is sometimes the one thing we will fight over and even die over. As a result, huge and disastrous wars are often fought over differences in religious thought.

Even with such a hard stance, most of us are still in constant search of the Supreme Being. Many in our society question His existence altogether. Some keep this questioning private, while others announce it, even sometimes in the media. In polls, a good segment of our society has _agnostic,_ or unsure views: They have concluded that the Supreme Being's existence is a mystery. For others who have more confident views of the Supreme Being's existence, He is still very mysterious, and they really don't know much about Him.

As a result, though most of us may seem confident about our position on the Supreme Being, we still may have many doubts and questions. While many of us act extremely protective about our stance, most of us may be unsure deep inside. This is often reflected in fanatical activities that take place in the name of religion, as these kinds of doubts can result in a person feeling that they have to do something drastic to take control over the situation, not realizing Who is actually in control.

The Supreme Being's existence is the most controversial mystery of our existence. This only makes sense because if the Supreme Being's existence was _not_ a mystery, why would there be so much fighting and intensity over the subject?

These physical eyes perpetuate the mystery.

When one thinks of seeing the Supreme Being, the initial consideration to be made is whether our eyes were _designed_ to see Him. The reality is that since our eyes and other senses do not perceive the Supreme Being, they must not have been intended to perceive His existence. After all, our senses can only perceive limited wavelengths of light, sound and tactile vibration. Outside of these, we are deaf, numb and blind.

Our sense organs and even their extensions—technical equipment such as microscopes and telescopes—are designed to pick up only a particular range of information. Moreover, we must recognize something before we can perceive it. Our range of vision is not only limited by physical restriction, but also by our limited range of recognition and perception. We cannot see what we are not prepared or designed to see.

What is the purpose of our vision then? Why are these eyes so severely limited, and not equipped for seeing anything beyond a certain physical range? As any good detective or mystery writer would understand, in order to solve a mystery we must look beneath the obvious of not seeing, and try to understand _why_ we don't see. In other words, is our not seeing intentional?

If a crime suspect had a great alibi, and was nowhere near the crime scene at the apparent time of a murder, the detective might consider whether there was an intentional reason for the alibi. Did the suspect specifically intend to be seen in a place away from the crime scene while the crime was taking place in order to provide this alibi?

If we took a dead body and compared it to a live body, we would see no physical element missing. Our senses were not built to pick up this dimension of life. The spark of life is out of range of our eyes and ears. So herein is a clue about the mystery: _life_ is not perceivable by the senses.

If the senses were not built to perceive life then it would only be logical that the senses _aren't made of life._ It makes sense to conclude that if we cannot see a substance, the tool we use to see may not be made of that substance. It also makes sense that an instrument made of one type of substance may only be able to perceive another type of substance if it is specifically designed and _calibrated_ to perceive that substance. Our eyes and ears are made of physical matter: water, protein, etc. in particular molecular structures with particular densities. The eyes can see into these elements, but have not been designed or calibrated for seeing much else.

One might ask why our physical senses are designed to not see life, especially since we are alive. However, a skilled detective might ask another question along with this: Do we _want_ to see life? Could it be that we don't _want_ to see into the dimension of life for some reason? What if by seeing into this dimension of life we become disappointed in what we see? Would we want to see into this dimension if it meant that it would smash all our hopes and dreams of achieving something in this physical lifetime? Would we want to see this dimension if it ruined our attempts to attain our goals? Would we want to see into this dimension if it meant that we'd lose possession of all the things we worked hard all our lives for? In other words, would we be willing to give up all our hopes and dreams in order to see into this dimension of life?

We prefer to live illusory lives.

We typically try to ignore what we do not want to see, especially if it interferes with our possible enjoyment. For example, many seek to view the naked physical body of the opposite sex. Many especially seek a view of the buttocks. Yet how many want to see the excrement that lies just inside the buttocks? Most do not. Most will try to ignore that part. Most choose to ignore it because it might interfere with the fantasy.

For the same reason, we are not sexually attracted to our own bodies—we are used to them and cannot ignore their defects. There is no mystery involved, because we see our own bodies every day. We see our own bodies in the grittiest of circumstances: complete with boils, pimples, and just after waking up the morning. Indeed, our own bodies are not attractive to us because there is no fantasy. We know all about them. They not only have many faults, but they are not _us._

Illusions do not last too long, however.

Often we see two people attracted to each other come together. After a few years they no longer have the same attraction because they get to see each other every day. The mystery is gone. They are now seeing more physical defects, and possibly even noticing that the other person is actually not that nice after all. Many of us may refer to this as _"familiarity breeds contempt."_

How about aging? When we think about a young beautiful physical body, most of us do not contemplate how in just a few years, that same body will become old and wrinkled. Would one still be attracted to their wrinkled face covered with moles? We would prefer to not consider this eventuality. We would prefer to see the body in the younger years, with a smooth face, or at least—in the case of many women's faces—covered with makeup and lipstick to hide the defects. In this way, most of us in this physical world prefer fantasy to reality. Because the physical world does not yield the kind of perfection we expect, we prefer to ignore the defects and fill in the blanks with fantasy.

Fantasy makes it easy to escape reality.

As a bird has feathers to fly, we have these temporary physical bodies to try to enjoy the physical world.

It is no accident that we prefer to live in a manicured, false reality, avoiding any hint of defects. These "defects" are actually symptoms of temporary existence. The things we identify in the world as _ugly_ repulse us because they are decomposing or aging in some way. However, decomposition or aging is not actually _ugly_ in itself. Someone could just as well see the beauty of how the physical world continually recycles itself. We could also perceive the aging of the human body as beautiful, representing experience and possibly even wisdom.

Rather, we interpret and filter our perception of the objects in the physical world based on their usefulness to achieving our desires:

A lonely person who wants to find another person for mating or friendship may see a crowded train station as an opportunity to meet someone. Another person, who may be in a hurry to get home to see his or her family, might see the crowded train station as a hindrance to getting home. A thief might see the crowd as an opportunity to steal some money. Each of these people will not only perceive the situation differently, but due to their desires, they will see certain aspects of the situation and not others. A person who sees the crowd as a hindrance will probably notice a lot of other people crowding in one way or another, jostling for position on the train. The person looking for a mate may notice groups of people mingling in a bar, or around a lunch counter. Meanwhile the thief is noticing well-dressed people, especially those with fancy purses or thick wallets.

How could such an important reality be a mystery?

Put another way, if the Supreme Being exists, why is His Existence such a mystery and such an unknown to us? If one were to compare the situation to a ruler of a country, would such a king leave any doubt in anyone's mind as to who was in charge? Would such a king hide himself away? As such, the more logical question would be: _Why has the Supreme Being hidden Himself?_

Hiding someone as important as the Creator throughout an entire physical world and field of vision is quite a huge undertaking. Logically speaking, if we accept the ascription of the Supreme Being as having created the universe and being all-powerful, there is no question _that His hidden nature must be intentional._ To assume otherwise would assume that somehow the universe the Supreme Being created was outside of His control.

The purloined letter concept, put forth by one nineteenth century mystery writer illustrates how something important can be hidden in plain sight.

Reality can be hidden in plain view.

Like the purloined letter, something can easily be hidden in plain view and not be seen because the focus of attention is typically in the direction we see as advantageous to us. Our vision is thus clouded by our hopes, dreams and fantasies of the things we want to accomplish or obtain. Like the sparrow perched on the birdhouse, we already have our vision of what will make us happy. We are focused upon ourselves, seeing the world around us as a means to achieve our goals of happiness. However, this view will overlook the big picture of reality. Because we are focused upon the minutia of the world, judging and sorting through life according to our own desires, the larger reality goes unnoticed:

As a person sorts through the clothes racks of a clothing store looking for the right color and size clothing, so we sort through life focused upon our own desires.

We must question our desires.

Before we question the Supreme Being's existence, we must ask ourselves whether His existence threatens our hopes and dreams of becoming happy in this world. As we look at ourselves and those around us, we see everyone in a frantic pace to gain some enjoyment. Either we seek enjoyment in consuming things, or we somehow seek to gain others' admiration or rule over others. As a result, our goals centralize around our own enjoyment one way or another. Every one of us wants to be a king in one way or another.

A real acceptance of the Supreme Person's existence requires the realization that _He_ is the King and _we are not_. It requires accepting that He is the Master and we are His subordinates. The problem with being a subordinate is that we cannot be the master. If we were to accept that the Supreme Being is superior and we are inferior, then this might burst our bubble of self-esteem. We might be forced to consider a reality where everything doesn't revolve around _me._ If we were to accept that the Supreme Person is the source of beauty and knowledge, then we would have to be prepared to be humble about our own good qualities—especially since all of our good qualities come from Him. If we were to accept that the Supreme Person is worthy of our worship and respect, then we would have a conflict with wanting others to respect us. We would need to be prepared to leave behind the concept that we are _'masters of all we purvey.'_ We would have to see the world as His domain rather than our domain.

Mystery has reason.

It makes sense that the Supreme Person's existence is a mystery to us because we want to avoid Him. His existence is a mystery because it might wreck our ability to accomplish the self-centered dreams and goals we have for our lives in this physical world. His existence is a mystery because His existence threatens our ability to enjoy our lives of fantasy and illusion. While some may be prepared to acknowledge His existence, we may still see Him as our order-supplier, waiting to answer our prayers and take care of our business for us. In this way we avoid seeing Him clearly to keep from having to understand that _we_ are _His_ servants.

The Supreme Being is all-powerful. He is also right here, next to each of us. He could at anytime force us to see Him as He really is, and comply with His wishes. However, He is allowing us to avoid Him. He is allowing us to ignore Him while we seek out our desires for personal happiness and fulfillment. He is allowing us to conclude His existence is a mystery because He is fulfilling our desire not to see Him. Since we do not desire to see Him—and are not ready to see Him even if we have an occasional inclination to do so—He hides Himself from us based on _our_ desire. Though His presence is all around us—we prefer to keep His existence a mystery. With sadness and disappointment, He faithfully complies with our wishes, as any friend would. As the feeding tray awaited the sparrow under the birdhouse, the Supreme Person has been here for us all this time, patiently awaiting our return.

***

Conclusion: Our Creator has hidden Himself and His love from us because we do not desire to see Him. This is because seeing and loving the Supreme Being will interfere with our plans to enjoy life independently. _He thus gives us our space. He leaves us with a mystery regarding Himself, hinting everywhere of His existence. He never forces Himself upon us, because love is based on freedom._

### Essay Four

#  A Loving Home

As the eagle soared above the deep-green forest of redwoods, he saw some movement below. In search of his daily meal, he began to circle the target. Finding the opportune time, he swooped in for the kill. As he came in for his snatch, he suddenly found himself netted. Instead of catching something, the eagle had been caught. After some rough handling by his captors, he found himself traveling in a car far from his forest. He was brought inside a house among many other houses, and put in a large cage. There he was kept warm and given a variety of different foods, including wild game. In the cage was a soft pillow to rest upon and an exercise wheel to spin around on. There was a wooden perch and a chipper in one corner so he could sit and sharpen its beak. There were several other interesting gadgets also in the cage to toy with. Cool water awaited the eagle in one tray, while delicious bird food awaited him in the next tray. The eagle was depressed, however. Regardless of the luxuries of the cage, the eagle could not get out and be in his element. He could no longer fly over the green forest, gliding off the thermals of the cool evergreen air.

Where is our home?

We are all looking for the perfect home. What is home? We might consider home the place where we feel _at home_. We might figure home the place where our family resides: the place where we can be comforted, and feel comfortable. We might consider home the place where we are accepted; regardless of our job, income, looks, or personality. We might figure home that place we yearn for when we are away from it.

All creatures have an innate need to be accepted, loved, nurtured, and to belong—a place to _call home_. Animals, birds, even insects will diligently endeavor to make a comfortable nest. Home is considered a place to rest. It is also the place where the family resides. For humans, we endeavor for a comfortable home in a nice area, preferably with good weather and convenient to schools and shops. The family is typically the most important aspect of our homes, as we seek to provide a good environment in which to raise the children.

Do any of us really feel at home though? Do we feel that we are truly safe, loved, and cared for in our current homes? If we do feel at home, will it last? No. We all can look around what we consider our current home and see multiple problems, or if we miraculously do not have any problems, we have one blaring problem: it will not last for long. We may have problems with family members: squabbling or tension. We may have a problem with the size of our house: it may not be big enough for us. The house could also be too large for us: the kids may have grown and moved away and we are stuck in a big lonely house. The weather may be miserable: too cold in the winter and too hot in the summer. We may have problems with the neighbors: they may be too noisy or even too nosey. Many dream of the "island home" that offers cool ocean breezes and warm weather all year long. However, those who live on an island will undoubtedly tell us about various problems, maybe even wishing to be off the island themselves, as they may be experiencing 'island fever.' We might even have most of the ingredients such as a nice-sized house, good weather, good kids and a good neighborhood. Still we may want to make home improvements or move up to a better house. _"If only ______, then we'd have our perfect home._ " This is the symptom of not _being_ home _._

Home is where our family is.

People who have no cohesive family unit will strive to establish a home and family. Then we will work hard for our family, spending time and energy devoting our lives to making everyone comfortable. Typically this is an endless, thankless duty, however, because none of the family seems to appreciate the hard work, and most family time in modern society seems to be spent putting out the various _fires_ of family life.

Home is where we feel we belong. Those of us who feel separated from our family may travel many miles to see our family each year, often attending large family get-togethers. These holiday gatherings are known for bringing together parents, grandparents and siblings, each arriving with expectations of a day or two of belonging in a loving home and family. While many of these occasions come with many heartfelt times, unfortunately these holiday gatherings are also notorious for bringing out unresolved hostilities and disagreements. Arguments and tantrums are known to overwhelm these holiday occasions, leaving family members stressed and tense while they try to digest their holiday meals. As a result, for some holiday get-togethers often result in depression as our expectations are denied. For those who do not have family or friends to be with during the holidays however, the loneliness can also result in depression. Is there any coincidence that suicides peak during the holidays?

Our yearning for a loving family and a good home remains strong throughout our lives. Our earliest and fondest memories in these bodies are usually among family members, where we were hopefully cared for as children. As a result, our childhood is usually a special time for us. Even kids who were abused will remember the tender moments with their parents. When we remember our childhood we usually remember the fun times, forgetting the times of pain and hostility. We might just forget the fights with our siblings, the discipline from our parents, and the restrictions we may have felt at one time or another through our childhood. We probably also forget how desperate we were to get out of the house as a teenager.

Our positive childhood memories stick with us through adulthood, motivating us to parent our own children. We want to once again feel that exchange and bonding that take place between parent and child. As adults, many of us will carefully plan a family, looking forward to the exchange of relationships and bonding between family members. We usually don't anticipate the many hardships a family demands, however. Many years of stress can accompany being a parent: The pressures of earning enough to keep the family fed and housed; the stress of managing disciplinary measures and keeping the children under control; and the stress of protecting the family from outside threats. It is often because of these types of stresses that many in our society—only a few years after they started a family with so many positive aspirations—become disillusioned and begin to look for love outside their new family.

We all need a happy home.

The need for a happy home follows us throughout our lives. From babies to children to adults we seek to live in a happy home. The nest building process is a strong instinct among all living beings, simply because a happy home is where we all feel most loved. We belong in a happy home. Our ideal happy home involves exchanging various loving relationships; exchanging fun times; performing service on behalf of the family; and sacrificing oneself for the sake of our family. All of these activities remind us of our real selves. The feeling of belonging only comes when we have a chance to give love and work on behalf of our family. Love and the performance of loving service is a necessary part of a happy home because these faculties are a natural part of our real identity.

Nonetheless, these attempts at achieving a happy home in the physical world are always frustrated. Rarely is there a real exchange of selfless love. There is rarely an exchange of selfless loving service. Rarely does one truly sacrifice oneself because here in the physical world most of us are here to try to enjoy for ourselves. We aim to become the _'king of the jungle.'_ Hence, we tend to get in the way of each other's plans for receiving love. We might have a great concept of a happy family, and how all our family members will completely satisfy us, but the other members also have the same goal. The result is a clashing of objectives. Even in families where one or both of the parents make sacrifices and work hard to serve the family, frustration ends up being a result because this 'love' is not unconditional. In other words, the parent will become upset when their 'love' is not reciprocated or acknowledged at some point or another. In some families, the kids simply take the parents' 'love' for granted. Some kids will say stuff like _"I hate you mom and dad."_ This kind of behavior can hurt, and make parents angry and frustrated. Their hopes for appreciation and reciprocation fade like the sky after sunset.

Friction and hostility between family members illustrate how we have expectations of other members returning the service that we perform on their behalf. Many family members of the physical world will feel that the load is not carried evenly. Both parents can easily feel this way. The man may work hard every day, toiling to bring home money while his children want to throw the money away on plastic toys or fashionable clothes. When he comes home, they do not seem to appreciate his efforts to earn the money—they just want some of it. In today's modern society a mother is also expected to go to work and earn a living along with provide the cooking and cleaning mothers traditionally provided before they worked outside the home. The pressures of working an eight-to-five job plus raising children may become difficult for such mothers to deal with. Without appreciation and support from their family, both the husband and wife may feel that the family is no longer a happy home. They both expected more from their family.

Though we expect love and devotion amongst our family, the family of our physical body is often a source of frustration and tension. The bickering and hostility that can break out amongst family members can cause tremendous pain, bitterness, and anxiety for everyone involved. Being unsatisfied with the quality of love in our physical homes, we might join a club, church, or another social group in an effort to achieve that feeling of home. Within these groups, we can gain acceptance through shared ideals or hobbies with others.

This is usually when intimate relationships outside the home begin. As people search for the happy home outside of the stresses of their current homes, they may become dishonorable. However, outside relationships rarely bring any happiness. They typically only cause additional stress and tension, requiring dishonesty and ultimately creating friction and heartache all around. While extramarital sexual relations are common in modern society, they come with a heavy price; causing pain and years of trauma amongst the family members.

Physical families can get ugly.

Cheating on ones spouse has become more prevalent in modern society, along with divorce. As a result, the institution of marriage has become weaker and families are less likely to stay together. This trend reflects the reality that marriage and family of the physical body do not ultimately satisfy the living being's need for a happy and permanent home. Marriage and family may initially appear to offer love and fulfillment, but this does not precipitate. Divorce is merely a symptom of the fact that physical loving relationships are not fulfilling.

Divorces can get messy. As parents begin to fight and tear each other apart emotionally, kids can easily get stuck in the middle. Divorce usually scars both the adults and their kids. The child is usually scarred for the remainder of their physical life and even possibly into future ones. This scaring can result in psychological trauma and perpetual paranoia regarding relationships. One might ask why divorce is so traumatic and painful. After all, doesn't it resolve the problem of a bad relationship? It is not the divorce that directly causes the trauma, however. It is the damage to our _expectation_ of a happy home here that creates the trauma. A person who is left thinking that a happy home might not exist will feel devastated, because we all originate from—and are trying to return to—our real home.

We expect a happy family and home.

We expect the physical family unit to supply us with the love, acceptance, comfort, and protection we innately require within our being. Despite our experiences of seeing so many hostilities among other families, we still put enormous expectations upon our own physical families. We convince ourselves, even if we have seen messy family breakups elsewhere, that _our family_ will be immune to such disaster. As a result, when hostility and trauma do hit our own family, we are typically in shock, not believing that this is happening to _my family._

When that trauma does hit our childhood family, most of us will deny it one way or another. One way that many of us try to heal our trauma is to attempt to create our own family as adults. We thus may marry and parent our own kids, vowing that those traumatic things won't happen to our new families. We may feel that despite the fact that our own childhood family could not supply us with a happy home and family, somehow we will become successful at establishing a happy home. _Our family will be different. Our family will be happy,_ we may think.

Once we start our family, after a few years and hard knocks, most of us realize that our new family unit is not perfect. It has various problems. Blame is usually passed around to the other members of the family for these problems. Try as we may; the love, affection, comfort and protection that we expected did not materialize so well because our husband or wife or kids—someone, but not us—wrecked it for everyone else. In rare cases, we might take the responsibility, blaming ourselves for the miserable family. We may cite our childhood family trauma as the reason for our current family's problems. In either instance, we become disappointed, traumatized, and often depressed by the failure of our families to deliver our expectations of home. Because the expectations of a happy family unit are so great, such a trauma is extremely tough, possibly leading to depression, suicide, substance abuse, and other problems. Even parents who end up with nice and responsible children become regretful for some reason or another. It is never enough. Because of our naturally high expectations of family happiness, the realization of anything less in our physical family can have disastrous effects.

Furthermore, those adults who do not have the physical opportunity to have kids may feel they have missed out on the happy home. They may be tormented with regrets, feeling that they missed their chance. These adults fail to see that those _with_ physical families and children also feel from some other reason that they have missed their chances for a happy home. In other words, the happy home in physical life is simply a mirage.

Broken families can create broken lives.

There has been quite a bit of social research done on the family unit and the impact losing it can have upon a child. For years, social scientists have been studying the lives of foster kids—children who have been abandoned by their families or removed because of neglect or abuse. Research shows the majority of these kids will have extremely troubled lives; many ending up in jail or mental institutions. A life without a good family foundation can be devastating to a child. Sometimes an adequate foster family or a relationship with a member of the opposite sex followed by the creation of a new family unit can prevent the child from "going off the deep end." Whatever small amount of love, affection, acceptance, comfort and protection a surrogate family can provide will have positive affects. Foster research has found that the vital issue is not necessarily the original parents breaking up or abandoning the child. The vital issue appears to be whether the child is able to exchange a meaningful relationship with an adult or siblings during their childhood. This is because meaningful relationships create adjusted lives. We all thrive from relationships.

Our physical home seems permanent.

Even if we finally configure a peaceful large home full of some physical 'love' without the hostilities typical of most families in the modern world, with nice weather and a great neighborhood, we would still have one basic ingredient missing: permanency. The family unit and the house simply will not last. The situation—no matter how great—will be temporary. The kids will grow up and leave. Our bodies will get old and will not be able to maintain the house. Soon the house will have to be sold to finance our body's retirement home or funeral.

As our parents age and the health of their bodies decline, the rest of the family is often traumatized. The family will be distressed by the various sicknesses and difficulties their elderly parents experience as they age. Death in the family is especially traumatic, as the family members connect their parents to their need for a happy home. The entire family will become mournful, regretting the loss of the parents or grandparents. This mourning can sometimes turn into depression, as the children of dead parents struggle to handle the loss of the false foundation these physical family members provided.

This trauma of death and disease usually strikes a family with stronger bonds harder than a family who was strife with hostility and infighting. The hostile family can say goodbye easier than the stronger family unit because death conveniently ends the trauma associated with the family hostilities. Either way, all families experience trauma in one form or another. Traumas may exist continuously during the relationship or take place all at once when a family member or spouse dies. Regardless of how happy one's physical family and physical home might appear; as long as its members rest their need for a permanent home onto temporary physical relationships, there will be trauma.

Our real home is not here.

After the various family traumas have been experienced, many will attribute _'home'_ to be a place _'within.'_ This is typically hard to grasp because there is no _'place,'_ to envision when we think of _'within.'_ This _within_ concept, though it might be attractive when we have been traumatized, is simply not tangible, and thus it quickly wears thin. The deeper home _within_ eludes us, and after pondering it a bit we head back for another dose of physical trauma.

However, since we spend so much of our lives trying to configure the perfect home in this dimension, we should realize that our true home exists somewhere. Somewhere there is a place where we can practice our innate needs to give and receive permanent true love: A place where the love we give is received and exchanged and the people we care about don't disappear on us. In other words, there exists a place where we truly are _at home._

Furthermore, it would make sense that since we are not our physical body; our permanent home must exist on a dimension or existence beyond the physical plane. Since we are transcendental in essence—not physical—regardless of what kind of arrangement we may concoct to make the perfect home and family in this physical dimension, we will always be unfulfilled. This is because the substance of this world does not match our substance. Like the eagle, we too are caged in an environment that is not natural to us. Even if we have all the amenities like the eagle had in his cage, we will be frustrated because we are not within our _element._ We will only be frustrated if we work to become fulfilled by things of the wrong _element._ The dimension of our physical bodies is also a caged, temporary residence. It is not our permanent home. We are all like the soaring eagle trapped in a temporary cage. This can also be compared to the contrast between our working lives and our 'home' lives:

A doctor works at a hospital as a surgeon. When he goes to work, he must wear the right gear for the job. He must wear a hospital gown; protective gear such as a mask, gloves, hat, and special shoes. He puts on this layer of special clothing to protect himself and others within the environment of the hospital. At the hospital, the doctor is called "doctor so-and-so" rather than by his first name. His activities and responsibilities are regulated by the hospital and his profession, and he must perform particular tasks in ways that are acceptable by the hospital. After his shift is over, he can take off his gown, hat, mask, and shoes and go 'home.' Once 'home,' his family greets him with either 'Dad' or by his first name. He eases into his comfortable chair at 'home' and relaxes. As he plays with his kids, his hospital identity is very far away.

As in most professions, the doctor working in the hospital does not consider the hospital and his job as 'home.' It is an occupation held for a few hours each day, in a particular place away from 'home.' This is why we are paid for working: Work is something we would rather not be doing, and/or at a place we would rather not be.

Like the surgeon, we also wear temporary uniforms: these physical bodies. These bodies do not reflect our actual identities, although these bodies reflect the prior decisions we have made. Since we are only here on this planet for a few years, each of us certainly has a particular task to perform while we are here.

The problem is that while we are in this temporary place, we spend our precious time seeking permanence where there is none. The fact that we can never seem to find a truly happy home in this world is a symptom that the home we seek is not in this physical world. Our continued restless search for a perfect home indicates that each of us _has_ a permanent home and a happy family outside of the physical world. This is the transcendental world—our actual, permanent home.

We have another home with a permanent family.

The physical world is a perverted reflection of the transcendental world. The transcendental world is not a void. It is a tangible location. It is a place of various forms, identities, events, groups, and tasks—just as is the physical world appears. However, the transcendental world is a place where we don't _have_ an identity—it is where we _are_ our identity. It is a place where we don't _have_ a body. In the transcendental world, we _are_ our forms. There is no duality—no separation between our self and our body as we find here in the physical world. Here in this physical world of duality we find a temporary perverted reflection of the real world: This real world is our home, and the Supreme Being and other living beings are our real family.

The transcendental world is a place full of pure love, tenderness, joyfulness, playfulness, and fun. It is a world where we feel at home all the time. It is a place where we strive in ways intended to bring others joy—which in turn brings us joy. It is a place where we are surrounded by the beings we love and we exchange love with selfless loving service. The work we do is part of us, and our service brings us real pleasure because it pleases those whom we love. Here we find our true happy home and real family. There is no need for a vacation in the transcendental world. The transcendental world is a constant vacation.

In the transcendental world, just as in the physical world, there are a number of different realms, each housing particular types of activities and cultures. Each of us has a particular type of home in one of the transcendental realms. Each realm has its own culture, with particular activities as part of our individual identity and function. This function and identity is who we are. It is what we are made of. The reason each of us has a unique personality (reflected by the unique fingerprints, DNA and other reflections of our physical body) is because each of us has a uniquely particular role in the transcendental world.

We each have a unique role in our real family.

Our transcendental home and our unique role cannot be separated from our relationship with our transcendental Best Friend and Companion. It is our unique relationship with Him that defines our unique role and function in our transcendental home: We each relate with Him in uniquely different roles. He also happens to be the head of our transcendental family, constantly bringing His steady hand of permanent care, grace, love, comfort, and protection to all His family. This Person is the ultimate happy Person—gently maintaining His big happy family without difficulty. Juggling the various responsibilities required by so large a family is no big deal for the Supreme Being. He can do this while simultaneously relating with each of us uniquely on an individual basis: Such is the potency of the Supreme Person!

We should realize the happy permanent home each of us strives for revolves around the Supreme Person, our Best Friend and Companion. This is why we instinctively serve our family—service is part of our identity. Since the Supreme Person is the loving Source of all living beings, all living beings are our family members. The exchange of love between the Supreme Person and His family members is a permanent activity, and every part of this exchange is blissful and perfect—even when one of His family members wants to try to enjoy away from home. (In other words, _run away from home.)_

The ability to return home and resume our life with our happy family is always awaiting our decision to participate. At any time—even while still temporarily encaged in our physical bodies—we can re-join our real family by re-establishing our loving relationship with the Supreme Being. The process is quite simple: We can call on Him, pray to Him and serve Him immediately. As we re-unite with the Head of our family, our re-introduction to our family members will shortly follow thereafter, as we will begin to see fellow family members as they are—and unfortunately trapped in their own cages. Once we decide to emerge from the trappings of our physical cages, we can once again _soar_ to our permanent home in the transcendental world, back to our Best Friend and Lover.

***

Conclusion: _We each are searching for the place we can call home because we have 'run away' from our real homes. The temporary physical homes and families in this dimension do not satisfy our need for a truly happy home. Our transcendental home is a place where we engage in activities of transcendental love and service with our Best Friend and Companion the Supreme Person and the rest of our transcendental family._

### Essay Five

#  The Perfect Love

A woman walked alone from the subway through a crowded street to work. Every day she took this route along with the millions of others who work in the tall office buildings in the financial district of the big city. As she walked, she fixed her gaze upon the ground. She was married, with two teenage children.

She was weary today, as her and her husband had been fighting lately. A bad fight that morning had left her exhausted. Just as she was wondering whether the marriage would last, she rounded a corner and ran headlong into a tall, well-dressed man. They collided, and she fell to the ground. He quickly reached to help her up, apologizing repeatedly. As she rose to her feet, she was stunned that the tall, attractive man had stopped for a minute to make sure she was all right. Silently she wondered if 'this is the one,' as she stared into his blue eye. She wondered if this was her 'soulmate' she had been waiting for all these years.

**Why do we look for our soulmate?**

We are constantly and persistently looking for someone special to love. We seek that person who delivers _'the whole package.'_ We look for an attractive person; a person who is kind and considerate; a person who is sensitive to our needs; someone strong and brave; a person who will be faithful; a person who is humble and resourceful—we seek the all-around _perfect person._ Regardless of whether we have a current spouse or mate, all of us seek the perfect person in one way or another.

For many of us this search for the perfect person comes in the form of looking for our _'soulmate.'_ When it comes to our _soulmate_ we seek someone we consider _perfect for us_. During our physical lifetime, however, whom we settle for may be a different story. Most of us end up settling for someone we can trust; someone who is kind; or in some cases, just someone..... _anyone!_ As reality sets in, we usually redefine _'soulmate'_ to mean someone who will put up with us for the long haul.

In those cases where we find someone we feel is our perfect mate, or even in situations where we might _'fall in love,'_ we eventually find out later that this person is far from being perfect. We gradually discover they have many faults. We may even—once we spend some time with them—realize that this person is actually not that nice of a person at all. Sometimes we may even discover that we don't even get along with this person—that our original feelings for them were more fantasy than reality. This happens quite often, evidenced by the many breakups that occur in our society. When we gradually discover they don't measure up to this ideal, we have to decide whether we should just settle with this person or deal with the usually traumatic breakup.

Should we find someone who will suffice as a long-term mate; most people do not really give up the ultimate search. A husband or wife will oftentimes be on the search for someone new even though they have made a long-term commitment to each other. This search can take many forms. It may be a fantasy. A secret fantasy crush on a handsome or beautiful movie star is a common scenario among adults with long-term commitments, for example. Occasionally, however, the fantasy will become reality. We see many instances of married persons leaving their current wives or husbands because they feel they have found a better person. In most modern societies today, well over half of marriages end in divorce, many because one of the partners has found someone new.

What is going on here? Why are we so often wrong about the people we choose to have intimate relationships with? One part of this problem is our misidentification of ourselves and others as the physical body. With this misidentification we assume another physical body-person will bring us happiness. This mistaken identity tricks us into thinking that possessing another person's physical body by marriage will guarantee sexual satisfaction along with our other needs for satisfaction. This backfires eventually because either the novelty of our partner's physical body wears off. Or their bodies get old and eventually die. Either way, such a relationship based upon lust for the physical body is doomed. Both parties will end up miserable and unsatisfied, and will end up looking for something or someone else to satisfy them.

Some relationships may not be based on an initial urge for sex; but may be based upon a coming together of two lonely people each looking for the perfect person in each other. In order to attract the other person, each person may _pretend_ to be perfect: _I am so strong,_ or _I am so courteous and thoughtful,_ we might try to convince the other person. In this way, we may fool the other person into thinking that we are perfect or close to it for a while, but it doesn't last. Although this is a different scenario than simple lust, it will still be doomed. When either or both parties see each other as perfect, and try to pretend being perfect, they will inevitably find out otherwise. If their relationship was based upon seeing each other in that way, the result will be frustration and contempt.

This process is different in more traditional societies. _'Dating around'_ is considered immoral in some societies, while the marriage of a boy and a girl are considered family matters for the parents' ultimate approval. However, even in many arranged marriages today, the desires of the two children and their attempts to find a perfect mate are accommodated to one degree or another.

In modern societies where relationships can turn faster than a season of the year, a battle-weary veteran of relationships may conclude theoretically that it is just not possible to find a perfect mate. We may thus _settle_ for someone who simply comes as close as possible to our idea of the perfect mate. In other words, none of us finds the perfect person in this physical world despite many years of intense searching.

We each want to fall in love.

Upon finding someone we really connect to who seems to fulfill many of our expectations for a perfect person, we may ' _fall in love.' Falling in love_ is a predictable scenario in most instances. In fact, in the physical dimension its cycle is predictable in its origin and outcome. The first event is usually an initial intimate exchange, where each person finds a connection with someone new. This first contact can be thrilling because we have so few real exchanges between people in modern society outside of family relationships. Most of us walk the planet with our guards up. Most of us are afraid of frank, honest communications. Most of us are afraid of the consequences—either what others will think of us, or getting hurt—if we were to communicate openly with others.

As a result, when we do encounter a person with whom we can connect with open and honest communication, we are often a bit stunned. Now should this occur during a time we happen to be looking for a mate we are doubly stunned. And should these two things take place while the other person happens to look physically attractive to us in some way, a type of _"perfect storm"_ may assemble, and we become amazed at the dynamic of all three occurring at the same time—wondering if this was _'meant to be'_. (Which of course it was—as all things are.)

At this time, something very telling takes place: _we project upon that other person our ideal of the perfect person._ This is the critical moment; the moment most of us proclaim that we have _"fallen in love."_ It is this very moment—the moment we truly believe that we have found the one perfect person meant for us—that we surrender to the notion of _falling in love._

In some instances, we might experience _'falling in love at first sight.'_ This occurs when we immediately project our ideal of the perfect person onto someone we have just seen for the first time. It is usually triggered by the person being extremely physically attractive, or showing some extraordinary character that _reminds us_ of our ideal of the perfect person. Note that this reminder may occur because of our concocted image of what the perfect person might look like for us in the physical world.

We could literally _fall in love_ with any living being under this scenario: Occasionally we'll connect with others in relatively open communication. However, the rest of the _perfect storm_ didn't hit at the same time for us to make our projection. This may have occurred because perhaps that person was the wrong gender, was not attractive physically to us, or perhaps we or they weren't 'available' at the time. Or perhaps they didn't fulfill our expectations for the perfect person for some other reason. Perhaps we were already projecting the perfect person onto someone else at the time. For one reason or another, we didn't bother projecting anything onto them—though we easily could have under the right circumstances. We can probably count hundreds of contacts during our physical life that might have resulted in _falling in love_ if a few circumstances had been different. Sometimes we will even hear things like _"where were you ten years ago?"_ when a person finds someone they connect with long after either or both have been married.

Who should we fall in love with?

When we first meet someone in that ' _falling in love'_ scenario, we may see many positive aspects of the person. We project upon them our expectations of fulfilling these positive characteristics on an ongoing basis. Some people will even use words such as 'forever' in their communications with their projected perfect person. In the beginning, we tend to overlook or downplay the weaknesses of such a person, being blinded by our positive expectations and projections. Over a few years, unfortunately the expectations about the other person are replaced by experience. We become familiar with the reality of the person's imperfections. We may begin to see their many faults and incongruities. We may see mannerisms that irritate us. We may begin to see new habits form, some because of our own behavior, which may irritate us further. We may begin to see selfish and egotistic characteristics we overlooked in the beginning of the relationship, decreasing our respect towards the person. In other words, we begin to realize that the person is not the perfect person we projected onto them.

In this way, the _falling in love_ scenario is easily followed by _falling out of love_ within the first few years of marriage or being together. Many in modern society speak of the ' _seven year itch_.' This _itch_ occurs when one or both people have become irritated with each other and are _itching_ for someone new. Seven years is talked about only because by this time the two people have had ample time to get to know the other person's imperfections. In the beginning of a relationship, differences with the other person may excite us. As time goes on, the differences may become irritating factors and barriers to open communication. Our similarities with the other person may also become too familiar and boring. We can also become irritated by the things in the other person that remind us of ourselves. Interestingly enough, in the beginning of the relationship we may project the perfect person onto them, but as time goes by we begin to project _our own faults and failings_ onto the other person. Either projection is unfair to the other person, as neither sees the other person as _who they actually are_.

In rare cases, two people may be a bit more realistic. Even after the _itch,_ the relationship may continue as a partnership of sorts. Both parties may even continue a mutual appreciation of each other if they have similar goals and ideals for life. In some of these instances, there may be an exchange of love between the parties, as they realize their identities are deeper than merely physical. This sort of marriage is often considered a healthy one, as it is grounded in common goals and an understanding that the other person may just be a mere living being, rather than the perfect person they might want to project onto each other.

Finding our mate is not a biological urge.

Many of us might speculate that the locating of a mate is merely an instinctual experience: merely a biological urge to procreate. Biologists have discovered that our olfactory senses and other subtle sensory energies can be involved with finding a mate to procreate with. In many species, this process involves subtle chemicals such as pheromones. For one looking to enjoy the physical world however, the physical urge to procreate leads to lust for another's physical body. This same physical lust occurs in the animal kingdom just as it does in human society.

This is not the same thing as looking for our _soulmate_. Procreation is not the root of our search for the perfect person. This is evidenced by the simple fact that after we have exchanged sexual fluid with another, we are still unsatisfied with that person. If the search for our perfect _soulmate_ was our biological search for a sexual partner, then our search would be over with the achievement of the sexual act. We would be completely satisfied with the other person upon obtaining what we needed.

This is not the case however. Our search for the perfect person in one respect or another does not cease once we have found a sexual partner, even one we have a family with. Like many animals, humans will continue roaming the planet in search for another person to satisfy this need for love. In the case of humans, since we have the ability to probe deeper and find a deeper meaning to existence, our criteria for a mate will typically run deeper than merely the physical makeup and biological function of their physical body. This is where we project our expectations of the perfect person. After all, if we were not looking for perfection, we would simply be satisfied with continuing to have sex with our current partner, or _any_ partner for that matter. We would not bother looking for anyone specific.

In fact, the converse is often the case: many married partners report that what stimulates their ongoing sexual activities with their current spouse is fantasizing about having another person. Another person's body provides fantasy because it is not the physical body itself that results in pleasure. It is the _possibility_ of getting something new that _might_ fulfill us. It is the potential of obtaining something we currently do not have which excites us—not the physical body-person we are currently with. We're already used to the physical body-person we are currently with. Therefore, while the fantasy of enjoying another's seemingly attractive physical body might seem exciting, obtaining relations with that seemingly attractive physical body never accomplishes the perfection of the fantasy.

Being drawn outside of the physical relationships we have is a symptom that someone perfect outside of our physical relationships _does_ exist. Why would we instinctively seek something that didn't exist?

If it were all simply biological machines, there would be no ongoing search for that special someone. We would find a person with a healthy body and the project would be completed. We would not forsake a sexual partner we currently have to go searching for another we might not find. That would not make _biological_ sense.

Consider what happens when the body's sexual functions cease. Does our desire for friendship, companionship and intimacy cease when our body's biological parts fail? Hardly. In our modern society, we see many past their biological sexual functioning separating from their spouses or families to find new mates. This indicates that our search for the perfect person runs deeper than simply procreation and sexual satisfaction.

Dissolving the illusion that somehow the other person will satisfy our need for the perfect person usually occurs gradually. Sometimes it can also occur with a single event or moment. We may continue to hope the other person will satisfy our need for the perfect person, but eventually reality catches up to us. And if it isn't realized during the relationship it will be realized at our body's death or the death of our mate's body. This is because the other person is _limited_ while our needs are _unlimited._

We look for that perfect relationship.

After this eventual dissolving of illusion, a person may try to establish other relationships in an attempt to satisfy these needs. Many will turn their focus on having children. Partners will often focus their search for the perfect loving relationship onto having children, thinking that the children will _make_ our relationship perfect. Some may even get a pet to place their love upon instead or in addition to children. Pets can easily emulate the perfect loving relationship because they cannot talk back and thus cannot irritate us with words and easily disappoint our expectations. Recent research and common observation shows many pets are manipulative rather than loving. This is only logical. Meals without work and petting without any responsibility is an inviting scenario for any living being. Although some affection may be mixed in, most human-pet relationships go one way—the humans give, and the pets take (along with running for a ball now and again). Nevertheless, some people become extremely attached to their pets, and most pets will return this attachment in some respects because after all, the pet may have projected an expectation of the perfect person onto the human.

As we begin to realize others' imperfections, we may put our hopes in a _combination_ of friends to satisfy our need for the perfect person: As if each friend will provide a _portion_ of our expectations for having a perfect relationship. If we add all the pieces up, we may find the complete perfect person, so to speak. To generate new friends a person may join a club or sports team. Relationships can be derived from our places of employment as well. Relationships with common interests are usually sought out, but common interests can also be confused with common experiences, which working together can too easily supply. Through one means or another, either we will attempt to find the one perfect person for us or a combination of people we hope will collectively supply our need for a perfect person.

Projecting perfection often leads to trouble.

In any relationship we project even a partial perfect person ideal upon, we become vulnerable. This is because during this sort of relationship we extend ourselves, trusting the other person will not take advantage of us. Because of this projected trust, we are easily hurt by others. We live in a world where most everyone is out for himself or herself. This perpetually surprises us because we are not from this world. This should not surprise us however: This is the world where the selfish people reside. In this physical world of selfishness, one's trust is often misplaced. People can utilize our trust, seeking to satisfy their own desires at our expense. Some might be downright dishonest or deceptive in order to gain and retain our confidence—pretending to be friends. They may fake their feelings—knowingly or not—in order to gain what they seek from us. In such cases we will eventually find out that our trust has been taken advantage of. When that happens it hurts; and our projection of trust upon this potentially perfect person is replaced by sadness.

So many relationships; so much sadness.

Consider the number of relationships each of us has had in modern society during our lifetimes. By the time most people in modern society marry, we have already had dozens of boyfriend/girlfriend relationships and likely hundreds of "dates" or "hook-ups." Based upon this understanding, together with the fact that about half of marriages fail in the U.S. now, we can safely conclude that _most_ relationships in this physical world break up for one reason or another. Why is this traumatic event such a common occurrence? As most of us know, to be rejected by someone we care for or to be replaced by someone new is extremely hurtful. No one handles this rejection well. We may not express it, but the scar created by being rejected by someone we care for can be tremendously enduring. Why would anyone want to undergo such a trauma?

The answer to this lies in the simple fact that finding our perfect _soulmate_ is an incredibly strong urge for us. It is a basic part of our being. We _must_ find our perfect mate so badly that we will risk undergoing the most traumatic form of pain—rejection.

In fact, in modern societies, and increasingly in more traditional societies, people will go from relationship to relationship looking for their perfect mate, enduring one breakup after another. Some breakups we might initiate, while others may be initiated by the other party. Of course initiating the breakup is usually less traumatic than someone rejecting us. Often to protect ourselves, we _prepare_ for the breakup well into the future of its eventuality to preclude some of the pain and trauma.

We can get hurt in the relationships of this world.

When we extend ourselves in a trusting way, we do not expect our trust to be betrayed. If we did, we wouldn't extend our trust in the first place. Those who have been hurt numerous times or even once or twice very badly may stop extending their trust to others. Or they may become extremely guarded. Often these people are accused as being cold-hearted or jaded. We usually consider that such an existence (not trusting others) as a lonely one. We might even feel sorry for such a person: feeling their trust issues will prevent them from establishing future meaningful relationships. In fact, most of us have become cold-hearted to one degree or another after being taken advantage of a few times. We will be careful about extending our trust because we have been hurt by people we projected our perfect-person trust upon. It is inevitable. This is the world where most of us pretend to be trustworthy. With so many of us pretending to be trustworthy, how can we not be fooled when we are searching for someone we can trust?

We may be fortunate enough to find a person who is somewhat reliable during our physical lifetimes—one who tries hard to be sincerely trustworthy. However, this still will not be enough because they may still hurt us unintentionally. This is because they are not perfect. Like everyone in this physical dimension, they will leave their body eventually. They will eventually leave us physically behind or we will leave them behind when our body dies. This situation also causes great hurt, as we will mourn the loss of the person—just as we might mourn the loss of our trust after someone cheats or lies to us somehow. In some cases of loss, we can become _angry_ at the other person for dying, as if it was somehow their fault their body died. This type of illogical anger is a symptom of the tremendous pain we experience when our trust is broken by an imperfect living being.

The bottom line is that when we project our expectations of the perfect person upon someone other than the real Perfect Person, we will inevitably be hurt. This is because our expectation of the perfect person is of someone we can always trust: Someone who will never let us down. We should remember that this perfect expectation of trust is being unfairly thrust upon the other person. Once we trust them, we will inevitably share confidential things with them. This trust and sharing of ourselves sets us up for the inevitable fall. At some point or another, they will reveal their imperfection and we will get hurt. We should consider that what hurts us is not the other person, but rather our _projected expectation._ We are hurt that the other person did not live up to our expectation of perfection or love. This can even result in trauma and depression, as we consider the possibility that there might not even _be_ a perfect loving person out there upon which we can rely.

Being hurt can also teach us.

Regardless of whether our beloved cheats on us or their body dies on us, the loss of a relationship can be very painful. A cheating relationship can cause distrust and disgust, but a relationship separated by death can be equally as damaging upon us, when someone we thought would be around forever suddenly dies. We have all seen situations where the remaining spouse becomes depressed and traumatized following such a death.

Prior to being hurt a person is naive in extending their trust and love to a person of this temporary world. Learning where _not_ to put ones trust can be a valuable lesson. We can learn that our instinctive need to trust someone means there _is_ someone we can trust, _somewhere_. In other words, the deep-seated feeling that we should be able to trust someone comes from the fact that at some point in our existence we have previously experienced a trusting relationship with a perfect person. We experience surprise and hurt when our beloved's body dies because somewhere we have previously experienced a permanent loving relationship. Why would we otherwise be surprised and traumatized by the ending of a physical-person relationship? Why else would we have such high expectations of our physical relationships, unless we had prior experience of a higher, unconditional loving relationship?

Why else would we stubbornly keep projecting our trust upon others? Why else would we be determined to trust and love others in a world known for dishonesty and betrayal? Why else would we expect our beloved to be around forever? We have obviously experienced a prior relationship that created this expectation. We have obviously experienced a prior relationship with someone who did not betray us or die on us. It would be irrational for us to continue looking for someone perfect to love unless we felt deep down inside that this person exists. Are all living organisms so irrational? Somewhere we have experienced the perfect loving relationship. Why would we all look so hard for a permanent _soulmate_ if one did not exist?

We come from another realm.

Prior to our coming into this physical body, we existed. Following the death of this physical body, we will continue to exist. We can tell this because during the lifetime of this body, cells have died and molecules have been replaced yet we are still our selves. We still exist as an individual with the same personality despite the fact that within five years every molecule and atom in our body has been replaced by a new on.

Prior to descending into the realm of the physical, we existed, albeit in a different realm. This is the realm of honesty and trust. This is the realm where instead of trying to dominate our surroundings and take advantage of others, its inhabitants live lives of loving service. This is the realm where there resides a Person upon whom we can each place our natural inclination to love and trust. This is the realm where there exists our Perfect Soulmate, with whom we can exchange the perfect loving relationship.

Our perfect love is found in that realm.

All the energy and life of this physical world must have an ultimate source. As with any source, an ultimate source will naturally contain all the qualities emerging from it. Thus, the Source of us and everything around us must also have at a minimum, these same qualities to the ultimate degree—to perfection. Among these components would include characteristics such as personality, individuality and the ability to exchange love. In other words, since the Supreme Person created the ability to exchange love, _He has that ability to its perfection._ Similarly, since the Supreme Person created beauty, then He is the most beautiful. The Source of love is the Perfect Lover and Beloved. The Source of humility is the perfect humble Person. The Source of power is the most Powerful. The Source of strength is the Strongest. The Source of our being in every sense of the word is the Perfect Being, comprised of every characteristic that exists to its ultimate perfection.

Since we search for a perfect person throughout our lives, and we expect our beloved to be perfect, and since the Perfect Being exists with every quality to its perfection, we must realize that our search for our _soulmate_ is our search to re-establish our original perfect relationship with this Perfect Being. Since we qualify our _soulmate_ as being someone who is perfect for us, we can know it is the Supreme Person who is our real _Soulmate_.

Real love has purpose.

A _soulmate_ relationship has distinct characteristics and creates real purpose. It is not a vague relationship. A relationship between _soulmates_ involves each person being attracted to the other intimately and deeply. A _soulmate_ relationship thus naturally results in each person acting in practical ways to please the other. In such a loving _soulmate_ relationship, each person strives for the satisfaction of the other by performing activities that make the other person happy. In a loving _soulmate_ relationship, each party also gives the other complete freedom to express their love, without demands or conditions. Each person in a loving _soulmate_ relationship is thus focused upon the needs and wants of the other. Each person focuses their energies upon providing practical service on behalf of their _soulmate._

Such a relationship with the Perfect Person is the perfection of the _soulmate_ relationship. Therefore, it is naturally filled with activities of loving service. A _soulmate_ relationship with the Perfect Person is full of activity and emotion. It is the perfect and ultimate _falling in love_ scenario for the living being. In fact, a loving _soulmate_ relationship with the Perfect Person brings the living being the endless _falling in love_ scenario, because He is perfectly endless: The living being never gets tired of the Perfect Person. Reclaiming our original loving soulmate relationship with the Perfect Person is the perfection of our existence. This is why we are always looking for Him in others.

***

Conclusion: _We focus much of our existence_ _upon searching for the perfect mate because intuitively we know that a perfect person does exist. We expect our perfect beloved and soulmate to be perfectly trustworthy, reliable, and permanent (and not die on us). This type of perfection can only exist in the Supreme Person._ _Only He only can satisfy our need for the perfect eternal loving relationship._

### Essay Six

# The Pleasure Principle

The leaf of a tall tree sat on the end of its branch, soaking up the warm rays of the sun. As it bathed in the rays, it also took in carbon dioxide from the air and, with water and nutrients gotten from the tree, did a little dance called photosynthesis. From the dance, sugar was created. The leaf gave the sugar to the tree branch, which helped spread it throughout the tree. Using this sugar, along with water and other nutrients from the roots, the tree supplied the leaf with the energy it needed to keep dancing. The tree was thankful for the leaf's sugar, and the leaf lived a happy life dancing in the sun.

Then one day the leaf wondered why the tree got all the sugar and why the leaf could not be on the ground standing tall like the tree. It began to think that maybe, if it could just get separated from the tree and fall to the ground, the leaf could enjoy all the sugar and stand tall on the ground just like the tree did.

Sensing the leaf wanted to leave; the tree stopped sending energy to the leaf. The leaf began to brown, and it dropped to the ground just as it wished. The leaf was so excited about being able to be on the ground just like the tree. It thought about all the sugar, water, and nutrients it was going to get, and how tall it was going to grow.

After the fall, the leaf did not have any roots or any other means to bring in water or nutrients. It quickly found that it could not live separated from the tree. The poor leaf just sat on the ground, frustrated in its attempts to grow tall, slowly withering away.

Why do we seek pleasure?

Psychologists and behaviorists throughout modern history have factually established that living organisms are pleasure-seeking creatures. We all seek pleasure in one form or another, struggling throughout our lives to achieve it. We struggle for physical satisfaction: Through the senses of touch, sight, hearing, taste, and smell. We seek pleasure through these senses by attempting to consume physical objects directly or by accumulating physical things such as wealth and material possessions as means to consume through our senses. We also may seek pleasure through the consumption of living sense objects as well. This will include attempting to consume the physical bodies of humans in the form of sexual satisfaction, or consuming animals by way of eating meat. Further consumption can take place as these attempts are frustrated, leading to efforts to control others. Often we see the achievement of wealth and power as a means to accumulate sense objects to consume, while exerting control over others.

All living creatures have a basic need to achieve pleasure and avoid pain. Animals, insects, fish, and all other living organisms carry the same desire to enjoy the objects of the senses—relative to whatever senses their bodies provide. In research, we have seen that animals will overeat beyond their needs or eat sweet substances that are obviously unhealthy because of a common desire to feel pleasure. In fact, living creatures will sometimes risk survival in order to obtain pleasure. Cruel studies on animals have shown that once given a pleasurable substance such as cocaine, an animal will risk starvation in order to repeat the pleasurable feelings cocaine will bring.

Aversion to pain is probably the easiest trait to identify pleasure seeking among lower living organisms. Through cruel experiments on many types of animals, plants and even bacteria, modern science has consistently observed that even the most insignificant living creatures seek to avoid pain. Sensitivity testing on plants and simple observation shows their affinity to the sun, along with their aversion to pain. We have all seen insects scurrying away under the threat of being squashed or hurt. They seek to avoid pain. They seek freedom from pain. This fear of being harmed is part and parcel of the quest for physical pleasure. Pain and pleasure are opposite yet connected elements. Their distinction is merely blurred by their relative assembly. An organism under the constant thumb of pain will feel pleasure with the simple cessation of pain, even if temporary. This type of pleasure is typically called _comfort._

These observations illustrate that the drive for constant pleasure is not unique among humans. Rather, it is a common characteristic among all living beings. Whether or not we are conscious of it, every living being innately seeks pleasure.

Our modern society has gone pleasure-crazy.

Humans in modern society have developed elaborate methods in our determination to obtain pleasure. Restaurants bustle with business as we seek the pleasure of extravagant tastes and foods. Our markets are full of so many various recipes and formulas, catering to every desire for different tastes. Meanwhile, our attempts at sexual pleasure have led to so many different extremes and perversions. We have also developed so many complex devices that cool, heat or massage our bodies. We have developed many other entertainment facilities as well: Many different media and high-tech equipment are now available to us as we attempt to obtain pleasure. These include computer video games, satellite music, high-definition television, and so many other electronic devices. We have also learned to stimulate the pleasure centers within our bodies with various drugs. Morphine, cocaine, and other opiates have been refined over the years to maximize attempts at physical comfort and pleasure. Over recent times, we have invented so many devices in search for pleasure. The government patent files are jammed full of applications for new devices, as we maximize our attempts for pleasure and comfort.

Together with developing new devices, we also maximize whatever facility we have, as we become desperate to achieve real pleasure. As soon as we begin to see that a certain facility or device does not fulfill our need for pleasure, we turn the dial up. As we turn the dial up we continue to be unfulfilled. Then we turn to the next thing, repeating the process.

It is never enough.

Today we can easily observe that our modern society is spinning with the effects of this seemingly endless search for pleasure. Thanks to modern media, we are also seeing among our society a host of negative consequences of these maximized efforts. Famous people are seen struggling for more and better extravagance, sex, success and food, often followed by depression, drug and alcohol abuse, and sometimes even suicide. Wealthy people are seen struggling to acquire more wealth, though the amount of wealth they have is enough to retire and live without working for multiple lifetimes. Meanwhile obesity has become a major problem in modern society. Many of us have become severely overweight as we consume well beyond our needs. This is all in the name of pleasure because after all, _that next meal just might bring us the pleasure we're seeking._

For the purposes of this essay, we will call this endless search for fulfillment through the achievement of pleasure the _pleasure principle._

Pleasure is not chemical.

Modern science has focused on the chemical aspect of pleasure and pain for the past few decades. The way modern science explains it, the human body introduces certain substances into the bloodstream and nerve networks in response to particular events. These _neurochemicals_ are supposedly responsible for feelings of pleasure. If a person's body eats good-tasting food or has sex, for example, certain neurochemicals such as dopamine and endorphins are found increased in the blood and tissues. These neurochemicals apparently impact—or _bind with_ —certain nerve and brain cell membranes (called receptors), sending what we interpret as a pleasurable response surging through the body. Many modern scientists will thus connect our search for pleasure with a theoretical physiological need to attain these neurochemicals.

In reality, these neurochemicals are merely messengers for _instructions_ and _feedback_ between the mind of the living being and the gross body—signaling devices if you will. The living being is connected to the physical body through an intricate system of the mind, chakras, meridians, and the nervous system. This system, coordinated through the facility of the mind, allows the living being to instruct the body to function in certain ways while receiving feedback from it. Once sensual functions are underway, neurochemicals and nerves vibrate responses from the gross body to communicate feedback onto the mind's screen. The living being views and interacts with the mind. Via this facility of the mind, the self is receiving sensual input through various messenger or relay systems, which include the optic nerves, vestibulocochlear nerves, the central nervous system, etc. All these systems utilize vibrational neurochemicals to relay messages from the senses to the brain cells and through to the mind.

Once these various sensual input vibrations have been reflected onto the screen of the mind they are viewed by the living being. The living being can then _respond to these sense inputs,_ and use the mind to send vibrational responses _back_ through the various messenger systems to parts of the body that are appropriate. These messenger systems will stimulate the production of other neurochemicals, which in turn effectively trigger various physical responses. Emotions of the living being such as depression, sadness, or elation for example, are relayed through this system to elicit the release of neurochemicals, which will in turn cause tears, laughter, nervousness or any number of other physical/emotional responses.

Neurotransmitters can also relay sensual feedback from various other tissues of the body onto the mind. This feedback system allows the living being via the mind to respond to things like hunger, thirst, fatigue, etc. These survival-feedback responses by the body can also be misinterpreted as potentially pleasurable by a living being desperately looking for fulfillment within the physical dimension. The feeling of hunger is not directly seen as potentially pleasurable. However, once a person eats after feeling hungry, the digestive system will signal back to the mind that the body is satiated. This neurochemical-relayed feedback can easily be misconstrued as potentially pleasure to a desperate, unfulfilled living being.

The living being will utilize the mind to _concoct_ various other activities in attempts to gain pleasure from the physical body. By initiating neurochemical feedback responses from the body then responding to those with immediate action, the living being can use the mind to effectively _jolt_ the body with neurochemicals. Such activities can become extreme. For example, a person might jump out of an airplane in an attempt to achieve a neurochemical pleasure response. In the beginning of the jump, the state of fear of falling to death will _surge_ a number of fear-response neurochemicals into the body such as adrenaline and nor adrenaline. After the active physical response to jumping out of a plane, these fear-response neurochemicals are contrasted with the release of endorphins and enkephalins after the jump is over. The contrasting effects of the two adrenaline neurochemicals give the physical body a _jolt,_ followed by the numbing effects of the morphine-like endorphins and enkephalins. From these and other activity-stimulated neurochemical jolts, the self attempts to achieve pleasure through the physical body.

The feedback response of the physical body onto the mind using the nervous system and neurochemical messages might be compared to the instrument panel on an automobile:

An automobile will typically be equipped with a gas gauge, an oil gauge, an RPM gauge, a speedometer, and an engine temperature gauge. These various gauges are all designed to indicate how well the engine is running, and whether there is any specific problem. Once assured that all systems are operational, the driver can start the car and drive. While underway, the driver checks the instrument panel often to make sure that the automobile is operating correctly, often responding to the gauges with different actions. If the speedometer shows too high of a speed, the driver will slow down. If the fuel gauge gets low, the driver stops to get some gasoline.

Now if the driver is really thinking that he will gain some pleasure through the operation of the car, he might try to get some gauges to indicate high levels. A driver might think that if he can get the RPM gauge or the speedometer to higher levels, he might experience some pleasure. When that doesn't work, the driver might concoct a way to get the gauges way up by going real fast, and then slam on the brakes in an attempt to _jolt_ some pleasure out of it. Of course, the passenger might also interpret the high gauge levels and the jolted activities differently, fearing the car might crash.

Here we seek pleasure through concoction.

The living being, wishing to gain pleasure through the physical body, utilizes a system of complex _mental concoctions._ Concoctions are created by the living being by utilizing the cataloged images of the mind to develop methods for attaining pleasure. Once a concoction is designed and visualized, the mind develops a formula to manage and operate the particular sense organs and brain centers to _capture_ this concoction. Throughout our physical lives, each of us has formulated innumerable pleasure-seeking concoctions through this process. An example of a concoction: _I will watch the sunset in a lawn chair on a tropical island sipping a cool drink._ Or: _I will make a million dollars and use it to buy all kinds of expensive toys._ Another common concoction: _I will have sex with a person with an attractive body._ In this way, the living being stacks one concoction after another onto the mind in hopes of connecting with the elusive pleasure principle. Once these concoctions are created and formulated by the mind; through the illusory energy of the physical realm, we become subject to the _enslavement_ of the concoction. This enslavement pushes us to complete the concoction, even if doing so is against our better judgment.

Just before a concoction is realized, the mind and neural network will often trigger the release of various neurochemicals in anticipation of accomplishing the concoction. These neurochemicals can create a physical response of excitement. They include cortisol, lectins, and insulin among others. For example, the neurochemical stimulation of the salivary glands will create the "mouth-watering" effect, and the neurochemical stimulation of the vagus nerve and gastric cells will create the well-known "butterflies" effect. Interestingly, these _anticipation neurochemical effects_ often provide our body with a greater _jolt_ than the achievement of the concocted event does. As a result, these anticipatory neurochemical effects boost our hope that the event will be satisfying, followed by the typical _let down_ effect at the completion of the concoction. This _let down_ effect is instructive in that it confirms to the living being that the concoction was not fulfilling.

A programmed concoction typically moves the body and the senses to _"capture"_ an object of the senses. (Capture as in the type of capture a camera might do.) The sensual capture is then flashed onto the screen of the mind. The self gets to observe that mental reflection immediately thereafter. Note that the sense object is not actually really _captured,_ but rather its image or sensation was flashed onto the mind's screen. Even when we eat something, the taste sensation is still a flash onto the mind of the screen. Thus, the living being never actually connects with the sense object. Instead of feeling pleasure, because there is no actual uniting with the sense object, the living being will feel _let down._ This is a result of the living being not being fulfilled with a sense object capture expected to be fulfilling.

Again, the physical consumption or _capture_ of a sense object does not actually touch the self. The fact that the anticipation of it brings more response than the actual event is one symptom of this. Another is the fact that there is a diminished response when the sense object _capture_ is repeated, as the level of anticipation decreases. However, the most telling indication is the fact that the living being is not only let down rather than fulfilled from the capture, but the living being immediately begins to look for a new sense object to _capture_ onto the mind's screen.

The first concoction did not connect to the living being, so the living being uses the mind to quickly move to the next concoction. The lack of connection is because the living being is of a different substance from the mind and the gross body. This might be compared to viewing a reflection of something:

A person sees a reflection of a tree in a mirrored window. The person walks up to the reflection and tries to pick an apple off the tree reflection. Instead of connecting with an apple, the person simply collides into the hard glass.

We must understand that the realm of the living being—the transcendental realm—is the realm of life. The temporary physical world is merely a reflection of the actual world. Though it is real in the sense that it truly exists, the physical realm is not real in the sense that it is permanent and consistent with our true identity. As a result, the physical realm does not touch the living being. The living being cannot become fulfilled by interacting with the physical world because it is not the same substance as the living being. This might also be compared to a person filling his car with fuel:

Even if a hungry driver fills his car with a real good oil and high-octane gasoline, none of the added fuels will feed the driver. Although the gas gauge may show full, because the driver is separate from the car and made of another substance, the driver will still be hungry following the fill-up of the car.

Just as a person is not filled up when the car is filled up, the signaling of pain or pleasure through these neurochemicals does not touch the living being. Rather, they leave the hopeful living being with a persistent feeling of emptiness.

"I can't get no...."

The symptoms of physical pleasures not bringing the living being satisfaction are obvious everywhere around us: Crime, divorce, obesity, depression, suicide, drug abuse—these are all manifestations of emptiness in a society where the facilities for attempted physical pleasures are immediately available. This emptiness throughout our modern society is complete and continuous. We see a perpetual parade of desperate, unfulfilled people walking this world. A simple walk down a downtown city block or a crowded mall will reveal this to any casual observer.

Consider just one of these symptoms: suicide. Why would anyone commit suicide if physical pleasures brought fulfillment? Once a person has gotten to a point of suicide, they must have completely run out of ideas for fulfillment. They must have tried enough different concoctions for attempted pleasure to realize that none of these will bring any real fulfillment. _A suicidal person has concluded that there is no happiness in the physical world._ That is why they are prepared to leave the physical realm so quickly by killing their bodies. Drug abuse and alcoholism are the same efforts to escape this dimension. Numbing ones body is a bit less immediate and tragic. We might consider drug and alcohol addiction as a gradual form of suicide.

As attempts at sensual pleasure leave us empty, we may begin to target our search for pleasure towards others. We may use the mind to concoct new attempts at pleasure beyond simple sensual input, attempting to use other living organisms in some way. We might initially feel that gaining the attention of others will give us satisfaction. Not being satisfied with mere attention, we may feel that controlling others in some way might deliver the means to other sensual pleasures or satisfaction in itself. These efforts however lead to a very dark place because we can never actually control or possess others. When such a controlling person sees others acting outside of their control, they can easily become frustrated and angry. This can easily lead to violence.

The pleasure principle has several characteristics:

All living beings are designed for and addicted to the continual seeking of pleasure.

Those living beings who misidentify with the physical body seek pleasure through the physical means of the physical world.

Physical means for attempted pleasure include the five perceptive senses for hearing, touch, sight, taste and smell; the five action senses of the hands, legs, speech, evacuation, and reproduction; and the three subtle senses of the mind, intelligence and false ego.

The objects we attempt to consume with these senses (the sense objects) are captured by these senses and reflected onto the screen of the mind for the living being to view. They are not actually consumed by the self. It is like trying to touch an object in a mirror by touching the mirror.

In an attempt to establish a means for future concocted sensual enjoyment, we may endeavor to accumulate wealth and possessions.

In an attempt to gain further future pleasures, we may seek to control other living organisms through the misuse of power and governance.

None of these physical attempts for gaining pleasure provide fulfillment. They do not satisfy the transcendental living being.

There are different varieties of physical pleasure.

The type of pleasure we seek in the physical world depends upon our state of consciousness and thus the type of physical body we have embodied. Passionate people will seek pleasures associated with immediate sense objects such as eating and sex. Others, being more ignorant of the pain they cause, might seek pleasure at the physical expense of others. In contrast, those who are oriented towards goodness may seek the more subtle pleasures of music, art, and physical fitness—possibly even seeking peacefulness and purity as they evolve further. Each living organism seeks physical pleasure in primarily one or a mixture of these ways. Most of us can easily see a unique mixture of these types among others. The saying _'different strokes for different folks'_ would probably apply within the context of our common search for pleasure.

"'Tis better to give than to receive."

This is a popular expression; accepted amongst most societies and most individuals because it is a real experience. Although it seems diametrically opposed to gaining pleasure, for some reason people will experience a greater sense of fulfillment from giving than they do from attempted pleasure seeking. We can personally experience this quickly and easily, simply by helping or giving something to another person. Most humans have all felt this at some point in our lives. In fact, it can be done as an experiment, and has been done by many a wealthy person throughout recent history. We often see a wealthy person who has accumulated an excess of wealth being miserable until he or she begins to help people with that wealth. They actually experience a glimpse of _joy_ with this turnaround. This is also something many of us have experienced dramatically during the holiday season. As we give and receive gifts, we can compare the feeling between getting and giving quite easily. Giving a gift will simply feel better than receiving a gift because this is a trait common amongst all living beings.

Another indication to consider is how we each feel when exchanging feelings of affection and caring. These feelings can be compared to say, beating someone in a competition of some sort, for example. When we give someone affection and care we typically feel a little joy. When we hurt someone we typically feel bad and remorseful. When caring for another living being, we feel a deeper sense of joy, while hurting someone brings us sadness.

What does this mean about our constitution? Why would we feel better giving than receiving? Why would we feel joy from caring about another and feel empty in our various attempts to accomplish sensual pleasure?

Our actual nature—or constitutional position—is related to serving and giving rather than attempting to enjoy in a self-centered way. Our actual nature is related to giving and loving rather than consuming things for ourselves. We can easily see in our everyday lives that our core being needs the exchange of love with another. Since we feel alive when we care for someone, and empty when we are selfishly consuming or hurting someone, we should realize that our natural condition and identity is one of giving and caring.

Why is our need for pleasure so strong?

Some wonder why the pleasure principle is so strong that it will sometimes lead us to do things we do not want to do. It has been known to lead people to cheat on their spouses. It has been known to lead people to steal from others. It has been known to lead people to perform all sorts of violence against others. Through a tremendous mechanism of pleasure seeking, we will sometimes forgo our moral principles as we strive to get something we desire for ourselves. Why is pleasure so strong of a need that it can drive us to do things we know are wrong and ultimately may regret?

This takes place because selfish pleasure seeking, or _lust,_ is love perverted. Love is a part of each and every one of us. We all need to give love and exchange love. However when we direct this tendency to love inward towards ourselves a _vacuum_ forms. When we focus our love upon another, we feel joy, but when our love is focused upon ourselves, we become empty: not just _empty—_ vacant. Our search for pleasure is simply our tendency to love turned _inside out_.

The reason the pleasure principle is so strong is because in our natural state our love is focused on the Supreme Being. This brings us each the deepness of real pleasure. Our actual love is naturally directed at the most powerful, deep Being in existence, and our love for others is centered around Him. To say our natural love for Him runs deep would be an understatement. Now when we direct this deep need to love Him towards our shallow tiny selves, a powerful vacuum is created. We just do not have enough depth to fill our tremendous need for His deepness. Once we direct our natural tendency to maintain that deep loving relationship with the Supreme Person onto our shallow selves; attempting to gain satisfaction through obtaining physical self-pleasure, the vacuum effect sucks us into a tremendous emptiness we cannot fill: No matter how many things our physical body may _capture._

It is because we are not enjoyers by nature.

We are not enjoyers by nature. Rather, we are lovers and givers by nature. If we accept the existence of the Supreme Being then we must also accept that the Supreme Person is the Ultimate Master. If we accept the Supreme Being as the Ultimate Master then we must accept His constitutional position of being _in control. If He is in control, and He produced us living beings, we must realize we_ are under His domination. That makes His constitution the _Enjoyer_.

Since we are not actually enjoyers, we are frustrated in our attempts to enjoy the world. It is not our constitutional position. This is only practical, noting that we feel happier when we give, love and serve. Our natural position is that of servitor rather than enjoyer. Our pleasure comes when we give loving service. The Supreme Being is the actual Enjoyer. In order to achieve ultimate happiness, our inclination to give, love and serve is most appropriately directed at the Supreme Enjoyer. Real pleasure for the living being comes from serving our Best Friend.

Like the leaf that could not survive without being connected to the tree, we need to be connected with the Supreme Being to be fulfilled. Our true pleasure is obtained only when we are connected with Him in our constitutional position as His loving servant. Just as the leaf wanted to stand tall like the tree, we are prone to becoming jealous of the Supreme Being. Once we become jealous, we may desire to enjoy as He does. As we fall away from Him, we shrivel up as the leaf did. Being the master is just not our real position.

What about our physical senses? The appropriate use of the senses is to utilize them in the service of the Supreme Person. Should these physical senses be used appropriately in His service, gradually our actual transcendental senses will begin to re-emerge into our view, and we will be able to exchange a loving relationship with our Best Friend as was originally intended for us even while we wear these bodies. These _actual senses_ are the senses that will bring us real pleasure because they are the senses of love.

When we hear the concept of "master" or "servant," we may automatically think of slavery. We might imagine a cruel master who forces his slave into service. This is what our minds have captured in our physical world, so it is all our minds know. Yet if we analyze carefully our actual situation as living beings, we can logically see that we are being given the choice to love and serve the Ultimate Master or not. We are not being forced. Since He is the Supreme Person, He could certainly force us if He wanted to. We can know from this that He gives us choice. Should we choose it, He will allow us to live away from Him. Should we choose it, He will even allow us to pretend He does not exist.

The type of love and service the Supreme Person wants from us is voluntary: Done with a free will and out of our own volition. This is because, along with our constitutional position of being servant rather than master, we also have another strong constitutional position: Love. Love _requires_ freedom. Love requires a free exchange between two lovers. Since our highest aim is to love, and loving service is our most satisfying activity, we will only achieve the _pleasure principle_ once we return to our loving relationship with the Supreme Person. _This_ brings the only pleasure that will truly touch us.

***

Conclusion: _As we have directed our natural tendency to love Him inward towards ourselves, and because we misidentify ourselves as physical bodies, we think that physical sensual pleasures will bring us happiness. We need a deeper form of pleasure—one that is of the same quality we are: transcendental. Transcendental pleasure lies within the context of loving service: The living being is only satisfied when rendering loving service to the Supreme Being._

### Essay Seven

#  The Attraction of Beauty

A family of four decided to go on a weeklong summer camping trip in the mountains. They all cleared their busy schedules for a week and prepared for the seven-hour drive from the city to the retreat. The retreat surrounded a large crystal-clear blue lake at the base of a stunning snow-capped mountain. On one of the hiking trails, there was a beautiful waterfall as well. As they drove towards the mountain, the family gazed out the car windows at the evergreen scenery. The family had been to the retreat before; and they were each looking forward to swimming, hiking, relaxing, and most of all, camping next to the backdrop of the scenery of the big mountain.

As they entered the camp, they were a bit disappointed that the campground was nearly full. They proceeded to drive through the campgrounds looking for the right site to set up camp. As they drove, they compared the few available campsites: "This one looks pretty flat," the wife said. "But it is right next to several other campers and you can't see the mountain," the husband responded. "This one is near the bathrooms," one of the kids piped in. "The bathrooms are too noisy and it is too close to the road," quipped dad.

As they circled the grounds for the third time they discussed the pros and cons of the available campsites they had looked at. They finally agreed on a site that had some uneven ground and was fairly close to the road. However, this site had a spectacular view of the lake. Although the pine trees covered the view of the mountain, they could see the mountain beautifully reflected on the surface of the lake.

Why is beauty so attractive to us?

Like magnets to metal, we are perpetually drawn to beauty. Whether it is a beautiful spring day, a beautiful view of the ocean, a beautiful full moon or a beautiful man or woman, we are seeking beauty throughout our existence. Humans will endeavor through years of difficulty and toil to achieve a home in a beautiful location. People will sometimes set up their entire existence around the goal of attaining the hand of a physically beautiful mate. Some dedicate their lives to the acquisition of beautiful objects such as artwork or photography.

In these ways and many others, we are constantly hankering for beauty. It is as if by achieving beauty even for a moment, we achieve a moment of perfection. Once we obtain a little glimpse of beauty, we aspire to capture it. It is as if by capturing that which is beautiful, we somehow feel that we will become _complete._

What is it about beauty that is so strong a draw that we will sacrifice so much for its capture? What is it about a picture or painting that is so attractive to us that we will spend thousands of dollars on it, put an expensive frame around it and display it on our wall where we have to look at it every day? What is it about a mountain retreat or tropical island that makes us endeavor so hard to get there, sometimes spending thousands of dollars on plane fares and/or fuel to get there? What is it about a beautiful person that we would endeavor so hard to get close to that body? Do we actually physically consume any of these? Are they tangible at all?

Certainly a week in the mountains will have physical benefits such as fresh air and possibly some peaceful moments amongst nature. Yet often these elements are ignored by campers who bring their boom boxes and televisions, ruining the peace and solitude of nature. For many campers it is only a matter of driving up with their RV and parking, whilst their RV is stocked with all the comforts of home. In these cases, being out in nature is somewhat muted, although there is still the stunning scenery to gaze at. Indeed, the big draw to traveling and vacationing is to find a place close to the beauty of nature, even if it means "roughing it" in a tent, eating not-so-home-cooked meals and risking getting bit by ticks or attacked by bears. We will endure these things all in order to be in close proximity to that beautiful setting for a few days.

What is the physical benefit of beauty?

Some of us will struggle for many years, and spend our entire life savings in order to live in a house located in a beautiful setting such as a beach or mountaintop. Again, can one actually consume these beautiful settings? Outside of being close to nature, which has an obvious physical benefit, there is no physical element being consumed from the beauty itself. Examples more obvious are pictures and paintings we hang on our walls for many years. The same painting hung ten years ago is still hanging. There is no physical element missing. Has anyone absorbed any paint while marveling at the beauty of the painting?

On the physical level, a beautiful image is being reversed onto the retinal cells of the eyes and sent flipped-upright through the optic nerve into specific brain cells. Resonating through brain neurons, the image is flashed onto the screen of the mind. The living being can then observe the image, differentiating it from other images in the mind's memory banks. Sorting through the images of the mind's memory, the self utilizes intelligence as a sorting device, cataloging the image together with a _beauty rating._ This rating prioritizes and compares it with other images. The self can thus recognize how this particular image compares with others stored within the mind. _"This is the most beautiful lake I have ever seen,"_ the person may say after cataloging and comparing the image with others.

Using this sorting method, a person could also compare a beautiful sunny day with a dreary cloudy one with the same landscape. Certainly, the mental image of the sunny landscape will be more attractive to the living being than the dreary landscape. Why is that? The only difference between the two landscape views, assuming the same landscape on two different days, would be that the sunny landscape reflected more light onto the scenery, resulting in a greater variety of colors and greater vibrations of light.

One might conclude based on this that greater light vibration and particular wavelengths of light or sound are more attractive to the living being. Although this is true, they are not the only characteristics for recognizing beauty. Research on people of various ages, genders and races have studied relative attractiveness among faces flashed upon a screen in the same light. These revealed, as we might expect, that some faces were attractive to most everyone, while others were not. Research on beauty recognition has led modern scientists to observe that people—from infants to teenagers to adults—will be attracted to faces that are more symmetrical and balanced with regard to face size and shape, eye position, nose size, etc. Faces closest to flawless—healthy teeth, no blemishes, clear eyes, full lips, etc.—were also seen as more attractive. In fact, this research illustrated that there is a common ideal of beauty. Rather than each of us having dramatically different perspectives, we trend towards recognizing beauty from certain types of faces with particular characteristics. It is as if certain faces more closely remind us of a beauty we recognize: A beauty we have experienced before.

One of the basic faults in these studies is that in order to provide _control,_ these scientists showed test subjects only _photographs_ of people, rather than the actual living people. As we all recognize when we look around us, there are various other features that attract us about others, including the color and radiance of a person's eyes, the way they may move their bodies, or the way they handle themselves. These features appeal to us because they express a living force—life within the body. Furthermore, the consistency among what appeals to different people—even infants—indicates a common standard of beauty with which we all aspire to connect.

Indeed, when sound or vision frequencies vibrate certain cells or organelles in our eyes or ears, it is not the actual object that is vibrating our body parts, but it is a vibrational byproduct of the object—a reflection of the object. In the same way that an object is reflected by its photograph, we receive a mere _snapshot_ coming from the reflection of the object onto the screen of our mind. A face or beautiful scene we look at is not actually consumed by our eyes. The scene is still there. Its reflection is simply flashed across the screen of our mind.

What makes something beautiful?

While there is a standard of beauty amongst images of nature and faces that most people agree upon, there are also some rather glaring differences between individual recognition of beauty. In other words, in some cases one person may interpret something as beautiful while another person may not. This fact highlights the role of the observer in the recognition of beauty. Rather than having a linear quality, beauty has a relative quality. That object being beautiful is relative to the observer. Living beings typically agree that pristine nature is beautiful. Almost with no exception, most everyone accepts that the ocean and the mountains are beautiful. This is because these scenes portray a consistency between nature's origin and our origin.

Beauty can easily be separated from the object stimulating our sense of beauty with a simple experiment:

We can think of several words that sound beautiful or bring beauty to mind. A few examples of words considered beautiful include: "tender," "soft," "supple," "graceful," "blooming," "lovely," "delicate," and "harmony." Used in the context of poetry or discourse, one might even say that writings containing such words were beautiful; or a poem was beautiful. What makes these words more beautiful than words like "aggressive," "repulsive" or "hateful?"

Between the two word groups mentioned above the alphabet and the type of lettering used is no different. In some cases, a word conjuring up our sense of beauty can simply be achieved by replacing, changing, or even adding a few letters. This indicates that our sense of beauty does not come from the physical object itself. It is rather the _reference_ to an object considered beautiful which promotes our sense of beauty. The conjuring of beauty reflects something from within—reminding us of something already perceived. The external object simply reminds us of that sense of beauty. In the case of words referencing beautiful objects, they too would be reminding us of a sense of beauty we have perceived before.

Another example of this effect is when we hear about activities of people considered selfless, giving or merciful. We will often describe these types of activities as beautiful. In other words, a person's activities can reflect beauty as well. We may become attracted to that selfless person even without seeing their body—rather simply by hearing about their activities. We may even refer to the actual activities as being beautiful. On a physical basis, the person may be helping people with leprosy, for example. The act of aiding leprosy victims is hardly pleasing to the eyes, yet we see this activity as beautiful because it reminds us of something beautiful: A beauty we have experienced before.

Thoughts can also be beautiful. A person can be sitting in a concrete jail with no window and yet have thoughts most of us would consider beautiful. For example, the prisoner may be thinking of a quiet place in the forest by a trickling stream. He may imagine himself offering something of value to a dear friend there, exchanging feelings with that person. Here not only would the thought of the scenery be beautiful. The thought of giving something special to a friend would touch us as beautiful. This would strike most of us as beautiful because again, it reflects something beautiful we have experienced.

Often we might see a person who appears physically beautiful, but then when we hear them speak, our attraction to their physical beauty is erased or greatly diminished: they do not seem beautiful to us anymore. This effect illustrates several points about beauty: First, it shows that the person actually did not possess that physical beauty after all. Second, it illustrates how instead of our being attracted by the person's physical beauty, we were _reminded_ of something beautiful we had experienced prior to seeing them. Third, it shows us how beauty is connected with character. Once we understood that the person did not have a nice character, they no longer _reminded us_ of what we have experienced before: A beautiful Person whose appearance and character is both beautiful and attractive.

Beauty comes from a permanent world.

Since each of us living beings are independently observing, thinking, or hearing about beautiful things throughout our lives, the question remains: Where is this beauty coming from? If we are simply reflecting beauty from an inner source, what is this source? And why do some objects remind us of more beauty than others?

When one considers the molecular nature of life, we can easily see that theoretically there is no structural difference between a supposedly ugly body and a body appearing beautiful. The molecules are lined up in structured arrangements, with slight differences in the total symmetry of the arrangement. On a molecular basis, there is no difference between one form and another. Thus, the source of its beauty cannot be coming from the actual molecular structure of the object. In terms of the _shape_ of those molecules, just as a shadow might remind us of a living person, the molecular structure only stimulates a reminder of beauty we recognize from elsewhere.

Consider how we will become adapted to or accustomed to someone, after initially being captured by the beauty we saw in him or her. Typically, this takes place after we spend a great deal of time with the person. This has often been described as _'familiarity breeds contempt.'_ With repeated views of the physical body, we notice all its imperfections and gradually these physical reflections will not stimulate the same beauty reminders. We may see their body's physical idiosyncrasies, like their wrinkled skin, or flat nose, for example. Or we may see various details about their body, which specifically remind us of the temporary nature of this world. Their body might smell or look funky now and again, reminding us of their body's temporary, mundane nature.

In addition, our beauty reminder may also slowly be replaced with negativity, as they begin to _remind us of ourselves._ They might begin to remind us of our selfishness and all of our other character flaws that have been expressed as we've spent time with that person. As we are reminded of our selfish character, we become disgusted. Instead of reflecting that we are the cause of that disgust, we prefer to find fault in the other person. These combined effects gradually replace the feelings of beauty the image of their body first reminded us of.

The reality is that although the physical vision might have initially reflected beauty, the body in itself was not the beauty we were feeling. The body initially only reminded us of a deeper beautiful nature we've experienced sometime in the past. This is instantly proven as we get close enough to this body to touch or try otherwise to connect to its supposed beauty. Upon getting closer, the feeling of beauty evaporates. The physical object never contained the beauty we were initially reminded of.

The familiarity model also applies to beautiful natural scenery. During the first few weeks after we travel to a natural site with gorgeous scenery, we may be captivated by its beauty. Should we spend months or years there, this beauty gradually wears off as we become familiar with the scenery. Gradually over more time and experiences around the scenery, it will begin to remind us of whatever experiences we've had while living there. It may begin to remind us of a disappointing family life or a lost love for example. This is why we always see houses for sale on the beaches and mountaintops. The sellers are now all to familiar with the scenery and are seeking beauty elsewhere.

An interesting personal experiment is to contrast people we know who live in either more or less scenic surroundings. Typically the people living in the less scenic locations will be somewhat envious of the people who live in the more scenic locations (such as on a beach or mountain). Yet the people in the more scenic surroundings will not necessarily display happier or more fulfilled lives. They may even be more stressed because of the higher payments needed to afford those scenic homes.

This effect can be observed among those who live in "enviable" tropical places such as Rio in Brazil, the Virgin Islands, or Southern California. In these locations, we find high crime rates, destitution, hate, greed, and violence despite the natural scenery surrounding the population. The crime rates can be just as high if not higher than cities without such spectacular scenery to offer. Outside of a greater possibility for solitude and peaceful meditation, living in a scenic location does not deliver any special state of fulfillment in itself. This is because there is no physical acquisition of that beauty.

Similarly, while a mundane sound vibration may initially conjure up beauty, it will become familiar after we hear it enough times. This is why songs and movies _get old._ Music also has a reflective quality. When we hear a song as we are rehearsing our various concocted desires, we begin to associate that song with those desires. Thus, when we hear an old song again that we heard ten years ago we are usually reminded of the activities and desires we were focused on during those times. The music is captured onto our mind's screen alongside those desires and activities of those times. With current songs however, we will quickly become disgusted as we hear them too much, because these songs begin to reflect _our current activities and consciousness._ Just as our voice or photograph will typically disgust us because they remind us of our not-so-good-selves, overplayed music will be connected to our current selfish thoughts and behavior, resulting in our eventual contemptuousness for them.

The physical world is a place of _temporary_ vibrational structures. The beauty that we are reminded of by these various vibrational structures, on the other hand, is actually constant and permanent.

Beauty comes from the world of the living.

As we have pointed out, the beauty we feel when we look at some scenery is not contained by the scenery. It is a reminder of previous beautiful experiences. Since the mind is an instrument the living being uses to record sensory inputs and physical feedback, beauty also cannot be coming from the mind. _"Beauty is in the eye of the beholder,"_ is oft said. A screen or recording device cannot be the original source of something, however. It would be like saying that a movie actor is inside the television set. The television reflects the actor's image, but does not contain it. The mind can also _reflect_ an image, but again it is not the source of that image.

These points clarify that the experience of beauty felt by the living being is coming from a previous experience of beauty. The temporary physical object is merely a _reminder_ of this beauty. Now we might ask just where was this beauty experienced before?

Permanent beauty—beauty we can actually connect to—exists only within the permanence of the transcendental realm: our actual world. The reason we say that the transcendental realm is our actual world is because this is the realm where there exists no duality—we are ourselves in this realm. There is also no separation between beauty and the object of beauty in the transcendental realm. There is no death in the transcendental realm. There is no ugliness in the transcendental realm. In the transcendental realm, everything is beautiful. Everything is alive in the transcendental realm. Parts of the physical world merely remind us of this realm.

The physical realm is a reflection  
of the realm of the living.

In order to remind the living being of this previously experienced beauty, a physical object must itself have some features that somehow _reflect_ the beauty of the transcendental. After all, if the object did not reflect this beauty somehow, it could not remind the living being of that beauty. Reflections of actual beauty are seen all around us, just as a conversation can reflect an actual event:

A woman and her friends gather and talk about a ceremony they attended the day before. They discuss various events, which took place at the ceremony. "Do you remember what happened when....?" They each successively ask each other as they narrate those events.

The talk about the ceremony is not the actual ceremony, yet it reflects the ceremony. The conversation reminds everyone about the ceremony, and by talking about it, they are effectively reflecting on the events of the ceremony. By listening to their gossipy conversation, one might conclude that their conversation didn't reflect the ceremony very well however, because instead of focusing objectively on the events of the ceremony, they talk about who wore what, and who came with whom. Thus we might conclude that the conversation about the ceremony was subjective—it was a _perverted reflection_ of the ceremony.

The physical realm also reflects the transcendental realm with a perverted reflection in much the same way. This might be compared to looking at a mountain reflecting on the surface of a lake:

The lake reflection isn't the mountain itself, yet reminds us of the mountain because of its reflection. We can partially see the details of the mountain from its reflection off the lake. Because the lake has many ripples, we cannot see many of the details of the mountain clearly. More importantly, the mountain is pointing downward rather than upward. While the lake perverts the mountain image drastically, it nonetheless still reminds us of the actual mountain.

In the same way, beauty is reflected yet distorted through this dimension because this dimension is a perverted reflection of the transcendental dimension. This physical dimension is a temporary place driven by living forces, but it is not actually alive in itself. It merely reflects the living dimension, in the same way that a television show might reflect real-life events. The living dimension, on the other hand, is a dimension that _is_ alive. Every transcendental form is alive, and everything in the transcendental realm contains permanent, actual beauty. We are from this permanent dimension.

We are born with the ability to recognize beauty.

Experiments with newborn babies done over recent years confirm that we are all born with an innate sense of beauty. This conflicts with any notion that beauty is taught to us through media and repeated impressions. Research on infants has shown that a baby's ideas of beauty are not much different from most adults. Basic symmetry, light, and colors are commonly seen as beautiful. In addition, softness, eye color, posture, and facial expression were noted in these studies to be commonly attractive among all infants.

The reason we are born with an innate sense of beauty is that we have each experienced beauty previously: we have each experienced the beauty of the transcendental world.

In nature, we find a clearer reflection of the transcendental dimension, thus a greater reminder of beauty. For thousands of years, scientists have identified precise symmetry existing in nature. Nature's symmetry is seen in the golden rectangle; the golden spiral; the sine wave and so on. Our sense of beauty is provoked by these symmetrical designs of life because they reflect their Designer. Beauty is easily conjured from the living vibrancy of nature, whether it is a green forest, or a translucent blue ocean. These are all surroundings that reflect life in the transcendental world more clearly, because they are less tainted with the greed reflected by modern human civilization. A clear-cut forest or a polluted lake is hardly seen as beautiful because these things remind us of our society's shortsighted view of nature as our place to exploit rather than respect and sustain. These actions reflect a disharmony with the living nature.

A dead body is rarely considered beautiful because it is devoid of life. It no longer _reflects the living being_ who once operated it. For this reason, dead people are usually quickly covered, gathered up, taken away to be buried or burned.

The singing of birds and the chirping of crickets are considered beautiful sounds, as their melodies and beats reflect their melodious Maker. The trickle of a mountain stream or the pulse of the ocean's waters rushing onto the shore appeal to our general sense of beauty because these sounds oscillate to the tempo of their living Source. Typically, the more natural look and clearer complexion a person has, the more attractive they are to others. This is because they simply reflect their Creator more accurately. This is why we are enthralled by the beauty of a baby—attracted by the beauty of their bright, clear eyes. Those clear eyes reflect the Source of life more clearly.

The reason why certain activities remind us of beauty is that activities of giving and loving come from the dimension of life. They come from the home of our Best Friend. Actions that relate to greed or lust, on the other hand, are not attractive because they remind us someone who does not live in harmony with the Supreme Being. They also remind us of _us._ For example, no one would consider stealing to be a beautiful act. The reason why is because in the dimension of life there is no greed; no lust; no stealing. These things occur in the physical dimension because this is where those who want to enjoy selfishly come to play. In the dimension of life—the dimension of beauty—there is an abundance of love, humility and service. Therefore, activities that reflect those sentiments are considered beautiful.

The unavoidable reality is that both the observer of beauty and the object observed which conjures beauty are reflecting the living dimension. Otherwise, there would be no acknowledgement of the beauty. Certainly, there can be no recognition of beauty by the observer without the observer being from the dimension of life. The vibrations that conjure the images of beauty within us are ultimately tied to reminding us of the living _Source_ of beauty—the Source of the dimension of life.

Perfect beauty exists.

Since the living being is constantly drawn to images reflecting beauty and remind us of a beauty we have experienced before, we should focus on when and where we experienced this. The dimension of life is not an inanimate structure like a stadium or tall building. The transcendental dimension of life _is_ alive. It is inseparable from the life of the Supreme Person. This Beautiful Being is the most attractive person, and the life and beauty of His dimension is emanating from Him. He is therefore distinct yet connected to all of life. It is His beauty we are constantly being reminded of when we perceive beauty around us. The Beautiful Living Person attracts every living being: Otherwise why would we seek something beautiful outside of ourselves? Some might conjecture that that we are simply looking for ourselves when we seek beauty. This is not logical. We look for a source of beauty outside of ourselves because the Source of Beauty is distinct from us, and we wish to reconnect with this Source. Furthermore, since we incessantly seek for _boundless_ beauty, we can understand that the Source of beauty is boundless. We need to connect with this Boundless Beautiful Person to feel complete.

The beauty we ourselves contain and reflect is merely a fragmented reflection of the Great Beauty of the Supreme Person. Our incessant need for beauty is our need to reconnect with the Supreme Person. Otherwise, we would be complete once we reflected upon ourselves—and there is plenty of _that_ going on around here in this selfish dimension. We can see this again with the mountain reflecting on the lake:

As we observe the mountain reflecting off the lake, we see how the reflected mountaintop points downward rather than upward.

This is very analogous to the difference between the physical and the transcendental worlds. Not only does the physical realm perversely reflect the transcendental realm, instead of its inhabitants being focused (upward and outward) upon the Supreme Being and His living beings with love, the inhabitants of the physical realm are focused (downward and inward) upon ourselves in greed.

We are able to connect to true beauty when we each re-establish our loving relationship with the Supreme Person. This loving reconnection with the Supreme Person will allow us to finally latch on to the beauty we perpetually seek.

The source of beauty is the most beautiful.

The Supreme Being is the Source of beauty because He Himself is the _most_ beautiful Person. The beauty we see around us—the lush green forests; the crest of a breaking wave; the sparkling stars and moon in the night sky—are all merely reflections of His Personal beauty pulsing through the physical dimension. The reason we pine for beauty throughout our lives is that without realizing it, _we miss the Supreme Person:_ We miss His deep beauty. We miss His graciousness. We miss His tender caring for us. We miss the joy of sharing time with Him.

Let's reflect upon just how great is His beauty! Although the mind cannot comprehend such beauty, we can consider the beauty of this little planet: It _pales_ in comparison to the unlimited beauty of the Supreme Person. _This_ is the beauty we yearn for. It is the Beautiful Person we are ultimately attracted to. It is the Beautiful Person we need to re-establish our eternal relationship with in order to become whole again.

***

Conclusion: The Supreme Being is the most beautiful Being. He is not only the Source of beauty, but He is the most beautiful. We have an insatiable and endless need for beauty because we are ultimately seeking to reconnect with the Supreme Being. We seek beauty because we have become separate from Him, and the beauty we see around us ar _e fleeting reflections of Him. Ultimately, we seek beauty because we seek to reconnect and re-establish our eternal relationship of loving service with this Beautiful Person._

### Essay Eight

# The Eyes of Love

The baby's body was blind at birth. Out of the womb she came, in pitch-blackness. Through her first year she listened carefully to the voices and felt the touching of her mother and friends. As she nursed from her mommy she felt cared for and protected. Feeling connected, she trusted her mommy. Sometimes her mommy would hand her to other people who would hold her. Some were friends she could tell, so she usually felt somewhat comfortable. But there was one different person who picked her up from time to time. She didn't know this person but mommy apparently knew this person well. This person had very big hands and a deep voice. Although the voice and touch were assuring and comfortable, she didn't know him. Thus whenever he would hold her, she would struggle to return to mommy's arms.

One day the person with the big hands and deep voice picked her up, and her mommy said, "this is your daddy." The baby was confused. She was not even sure what a daddy was. The baby squished her face with confusion. She wondered what those words "daddy" meant. Seeing her curiosity, her mommy sat down with her and lovingly tried to explain who daddy was: How he loves her and supports everyone in the family; and how he gave mommy the baby's seed. Of course, the baby didn't understand this very well. She'd obviously never seen her daddy and didn't know him. She trusted her mother though. She trusted that her mommy would never lie to her. From that day forward whenever daddy picked her up, she would snuggle up close to him, remembering how mommy had lovingly described him. Soon she found herself calling him "da-da."

Someone else is the center of existence.

The definition of God, according to The New Webster's Dictionary, is _"the Supreme Being, seen as the Omnipotent Creator and Ruler of the universe"_ and _"the object of worship."_ This definition would allow us to include _He who is in control,_ along with _He who is the center of attention._

But we want to be the center.

Currently, however, most of us consider ourselves the center of attention. Our thoughts regarding life usually centers around ourselves and our own happiness. We usually are focused upon accomplishing goals for ourselves; be it more money, a better car, a bigger house, looking better or simply having more pleasure. We are also usually focused upon gaining things that will make _us_ happy. If not, we are focused upon the extended _us:_ our family; our teams; or maybe even our country or state. We may focus our efforts upon these extensions of ourselves as we work to please our family members, teammates, or fellow citizens. The group goal becomes our goal in an effort to remain at the center somehow. Our focus remains self-centered—self-serving.

Even when some of us consider the Supreme Being's existence, His existence is still a self-centered proposition for us. Many will see the Supreme Being as a means to get us what we want, when we want it. For these people, prayers are often "please make _this_ happen," or "please do _that_ for me." Thus we remain the center of our focus—the most important person.

Modern science has in effect given us the rationale to remain at the center of our lives. Modern science's proposition that life is a random accident and we (humans) have evolved to become the strongest and smartest creatures in existence allows us to claim we are the grand culmination of the evolutionary process. We feel all-important, as if we are rulers, and all of evolution has now concluded with the wonderful arrival of humankind. These speculative theories allow us to ignore the Supreme Being and take center stage.

So we try hard to be the center.

Some philosophical speculators even go to the extreme of saying that we are ourselves the Supreme Being. These confused commentators speculate that we have created the universe, and we are playing in our own creation.

Does this argument make any sense though? Could we be the rulers and creators of the universe? If we ruled over something we created, could we then become overwhelmed and controlled by that very creation? Could we lose control over what we have created? This simply does not make sense. If we created something, and its survival required our energies to maintain it, it could not suddenly gain control over us. If we maintained it, we could easily just shut it down if it did not comply with our wishes.

We cannot control nature. We cannot control the weather. We cannot control the movements of the earth. We cannot control the movements of the sun. We cannot even control each other—though some of us try pretty hard. We simply are not in control. Though we try repeatedly hard to gain control over our environment, we are not successful. We may even play word games to pretend that maybe we have just forgotten that we were in control. Yet this would mean that the power of forgetfulness now controls us. How could the Supreme Being forget He was the Supreme Being? How could the Supreme Being be overwhelmed with a mechanism that _He_ created—forgetfulness?

If this were true, then the Supreme Being would be controlled by another power—the power of forgetfulness. If the Supreme Being were controlled by forgetfulness, He would not be the Supreme Being.

We simply are not in control. About the only thing we can control are our decisions. Decisions can influence events in the physical realm through an arrangement ultimately controlled by the Supreme Being. In this way, we can influence events to some degree. Influence and control are two different matters altogether. We can influence certain behaviors and these behaviors will have particular results. While we can influence our behavior, we cannot control the results. We surely cannot say, _"I am going to do something and I will control the results."_ The results will be out of our hands. We simply are not—and cannot be—the Supreme Being. We are not in control. We can certainly use a lot of mumbo-jumbo to try to _pretend_ we are the Supreme Being, but this hardly makes us the Supreme Being.

We want to pretend we are the center.

Ultimately, whether it is through the speculation that we have accidentally evolved into the greatest creature, or whether it is through bluntly proclaiming we are the Supreme Being, our goal is to _play the Supreme Being._ Those living in this physical plane are here because we want to enjoy _as if_ we were the Supreme Being. We want to have power and authority, even if we have to fantasize to experience it. We want to enjoy the pleasures of life though these pleasures do not satisfy us. We want to forget the Supreme Being, though our hearts scream for Him. We want to play the Supreme Being but we cannot.

Our desire to play the Supreme Being—to be the center of attention—directly conflicts with our ability to perceive the Supreme Being. If we are focused upon pretending we are the center and our enjoyment comes first, our ability to see Him will be naturally blocked:

A boy stands up amongst a classroom full of students to ask a question while the teacher is still speaking. While the boy is asking the question, he cannot hear what the teacher is saying.

Whether it is in the form of saying that we ourselves are the Supreme Being, or that we are simply the most important person in our lives, we are putting ourselves at the top of the heap. An appropriate expression to describe this might be when someone becomes _"blinded by ambition."_ Most living beings in the physical realm have become _blinded_ by our ambition to enjoy the world.

We cannot really see with these senses.

The limitations of our physical bodies exist for a reason. They are no accident. Because our physical bodies are designed around our desires and past behavior, the limitations of our senses reflect our consciousness. Our limited sense organs allow us to attempt to enjoy separately from the Supreme Being because that is our desire:

During a movie, a public theatre house will shut off the lights inside the theatre. With the lights off, moviegoers can pretend that they are not surrounded by a crowd of popcorn-eating, gum-smacking, soda-slurping people. With the lights off moviegoers can escape reality for a while, as they focus in on the movie plot.

If our physical eyes were able to see the Supreme Being how could we ignore Him? If our physical ears were able to hear the Supreme Being how could we pretend to be Him? If our physical bodies were designed to live in the Supreme Being's personal realm—where He is the center—then how could we possibly pretend _we_ were the center?

A boy had a date at the bowling alley with some friends. Instead of casual clothes, however, he put on his football uniform with a full set of pads, cleats, and helmet. His bowling date was a disaster because he was not properly dressed. He could hardly bowl or sit down because his pads were in the way. His cleats scratched and slid around the floor. His football uniform simply was not suited for the bowling alley.

Our physical eyes were not designed to see life.

Consider that these bodies were designed for a purpose _other than_ to see and be with the Supreme Being. More specifically, they were designed to avoid His existence. Why would we be wearing such bodies otherwise? Did we inherit bodies that could not see Him by accident?

Certainly not: We desired to escape from the Supreme Being. We wanted to ignore the Supreme Being's existence for a while. We may not have _specifically_ chosen the actual body we are in, though. We probably would have preferred a more glorious, perfect body. Nonetheless, since we are not in control, its final selection and design was outside our control. Because the Supreme Being unconditionally loves us, and because He gave us the freedom to love and serve Him out of our own volition, He designed for us this virtual suit of armor which, when wearing it, shields us from seeing Him. Not only is the armor perfectly set up to not see Him, but the environment surrounding the armor is perfectly set up to allow enough darkness for us to ignore His existence on an ongoing basis.

Our eyes see what we want to see.

In the human form of life we are given just enough intelligence to probe deeper into our existence and decide whether we want out of the material dimension or not. At the same time, the physical world has been set up to taunt us; inviting us to stay and forget about our search for Truth. Why does this happen? Why is it so difficult to get beyond our physical existence and refocus upon the Supreme Being? The basic reason is that most of us who live in the physical world do so because we want to avoid the Supreme Being. Those of us who want to continue to avoid Him also want to remain here in this realm. This is why people struggle so hard to stay alive, despite the fact that their body has become virtually useless. This is why our society spends billions of dollars devising ways to heroically extend the body's life: we want to stay here, avoiding Him. We often will use the term _"meet your Maker"_ when we refer to death. Instinctively we realize that upon death, we will encounter the Supreme Being directly or indirectly. So why, if we wanted to see Him so badly, would we want to delay death? If we wanted to see the Supreme Being, why would we struggle so hard to extend our lives? The simple answer is that most of us want to stay here in this physical world where we can continue to avoid the Supreme Being.

Some may ask: Why, if the Supreme Person wants us back, would He put so many temptations and diversions in front of us? We may not want to admit this, but it was _us_ who caused this situation. We wanted to be away from the Supreme Being. Now should we want to return home all of a sudden, _maybe just because things got a little rough down here,_ He does not want us to be making a flimsy, equivocal decision: one that we might regret later.

_He wants us to make a firm, resolute decision._ Temptations of the world are simply tests to see if we are serious about returning home to Him. If we are not serious then we will surrender to the temptation. Again, _we_ were the ones who decided to leave Him. He wants a resolute determination from us to return home. He wants us to be _sure_ we want to return to our relationship with Him:

The boy now wants to join the ice hockey team. He has been playing football and basketball for years. Now he wants to learn this new sport. He inquires, and the hockey coach tells him to come to the next practice with ice skates on, ready to work out hard in order to learn the sport.

The boy instead shows up to practice late, in his football cleats and pads instead of ice skates as the coach had requested. The coach sends the boy home, telling him that if he is serious about playing hockey he had better get some skates and come to practice on time, ready to play hockey. Instead, the next day he again shows up late to the rink, and again in his football pads, jersey and cleats. Should the coach let him play?

Should we not be determined to regain our relationship with the Supreme Being, the world will tease us and tempt us until we either _become_ determined, or give in and return to forgetting Him. After all, maybe we would rather remain in our fantasy world where we can continue to pretend to be the center of things.

Many of us struggle with doubts as we try to approach the Supreme Person. Doubt is a perverted reflection of freedom. We were manifested by Him with complete freedom of choice. This freedom of choice is part of love, and it is necessary for love. Without choice, there can be no love. Doubt is that very same freedom perverted by our choosing to ignore Him. Once we choose to ignore Him, what was granted as freedom translates into doubt. He has moved further away from us, covering our eyes with doubt. Doubt is that covering that guarantees our continued choice without prejudice.

Continuing to strive in this world; focused on ourselves, struggling for wealth, sensual pleasures, and the attention of others keeps us here, distracted and thoroughly avoiding our Best Friend. Striving for the various carrots dangling around the physical world do not keep us here— _we_ keep us here.

The physical world is designed to reflect our consciousness: as long as we maintain our desire not to see the Supreme Being, we will hang out here, away from Him. As long as we bathe in our doubts, questioning Him in one way or another, we will stay covered.

Now should we whimsically demand to see Him while not being very serious and openly doubting Him: Why should He grant this wish? Who would want to put effort into resuming a relationship if one party wasn't sure? Consider whether we are determined to return to our Friend. Are we showing much determination with our life? How about our demand to see Him: some will even challenge Him. Some will state or think that if He does exist, He should _prove it._ Who would want to show up after that sort of challenge?

We do have the eyes to really see.

Consider the inability of these physical eyes to perceive into the dimension of the transcendental universe. If we accept that the transcendental world is beyond the perception of the physical shells we are caged within, and we accept that the Supreme Being and His living beings exist on that same transcendental plane— _our actual plane of existence—_ we should realize that we _do_ have eyes for seeing into the transcendental dimension.

These eyes, however, have a specific purpose of seeing and serving the Supreme Person. Their purpose is tied to our relationship with Him. Since the Supreme Being is in control of our eyes, just as He is in control of our relationship, our eyes will naturally be closed if we are not interested in returning to our relationship with Him. As a result, as long as we continue to desire to be away from Him, and are thus focused on trying to enjoy in the temporary physical plane; our real eyes are shuttered:

A front door will be locked to prevent thieves or the uninvited from coming in the house.

Just as a door is locked to prevent intruders, the actual eyes of those of us who choose to avoid the Supreme Person are covered. In the physical world we are not our bodies. In the transcendental realm each of us _is_ our transcendental body. Beneath this gross physical shell, and beneath the mind and the false ego exists our transcendental form. In the transcendental plane there is no duality of existence. Each of us has a unique transcendental identity, complete with transcendental senses. These transcendental senses are our _actual senses,_ and they are equipped to see the Supreme Person and all living beings as they actually are. Unlike the physical senses, these senses are _specifically calibrated_ for seeing the Supreme Person.

Just as the movie theatre lights are turned off so that the moviegoer can focus on the movie, our transcendental eyes are closed to enable us to pretend we are our temporary physical body and the center of everything.

Those eyes can be opened.

Consider the tremendous focus each of us living beings have upon our temporary physical identities: Our focus on our physical body's age, looks, gender, health, etc.; our focus on our physical body's family and its various needs; our focus upon the goals we have established in an attempt to become happy in the physical world. These are all tremendous forces we have applied to our consciousness. How can we redirect our focus away from these forces for long enough to focus upon our real nature and our Real Friend?

During our dreams, we forget our waking identity. We forget our position in society, our occupation, our family—everything. In our dreams, we may be flying or even doing things we would consider shameful during our waking lives. During our dreams, we cannot remember our responsibilities, as we are captivated by our dreamscape.

Our physical lives have many similarities with our sleeping dreams. They are both temporary. While dreams may last minutes or an hour at the most, our physical lives might last a few decades. In both, we will take on occupations or relationships that have nothing to do with our real or waking lives. In both, we will identify with a temporary body and a temporary situation. Both allow also allow us to forget our waking identities.

Then there is the problem of waking up on time. When we go to bed, most of us will set an alarm clock to wake us from our dreams at a certain hour. This particular trick sets up a signal outside of the dream to remind us in our sleep that we should awaken immediately because there are other things to attend to in our waking lives. In order to accomplish this, we choose something to wake us; we might set an alarm bell or music. We essentially train ourselves that _this_ is what will wake us.

This is why we can sleep through an even louder sound like the telephone, yet awaken immediately to the alarm bell. This is the same strategy hypnotists use to awaken a hypnotized subject. Prior to putting the subject under, the hypnotist will tell the subject what signal will awaken them from hypnosis. The subject will agree. Often a _snap_ of the fingers is agreed upon.

When the subject hears the _snap_ during their hypnotic state, they awaken as suggested. Many of us can also accomplish this during sleep as well. We can awaken at a particular time by suggesting to ourselves what time we will wake up. If we suggest this just to ourselves prior to falling asleep if usually works. This is a form of programming but is also a result of determination: As long as the self makes a determination to wake up with that signal or time, we prepare our physical selves for that signal to pierce through whatever is taking place.

In the same way, our pure consciousness is buried under these physical layers, covering us from our actual nature—and from our actual Friend and Companion. Therefore, we must link onto a process that _wakes us_ from our dreaming state. We must coordinate with an _alarm_ to jolt us from our slumber, awakening us to our actual transcendental state. Just as the alarm bell or hypnotic snap requires our determined consent, we also need to make a determination to be woken up.

If we become determined to be awakened from the temporary fantasy lives we live—pretending to be the center of existence—the transcendental alarm bell will begin ringing to awaken our pure consciousness. It is this alarm, stemming from the Supreme Being and proportionate to our determination that will eventually open our transcendental eyes.

We can see if we were to wake up.

We might ask: How do we know we have this True Friend and Companion? This is where introspection, trust, and prayer come in. Often the word _faith_ is misunderstood. In the personal context, _faith_ is the same as _trust._ By putting our trust in someone, we put our faith in them. To have faith in something we do not trust would be contradictory. This trust requires some insight. Insight is something that is given. We can therefore simply ask for insight.

Through insight, we can receive a signal or understanding regarding the basic existence of the Supreme Being. Most humans have already had this insight at some point in our lives. This insight signal can echo from deep within us, while being reflected in our physical environment. It does not matter whether this insight feels like it comes from "within" or through external events. Regardless of its delivery, we know it because it gives us some realization regarding the Supreme Being's existence.

The origin of this signal of insight is not our physical eyes, ears, nose, or brain. It does not come from our physical database—the mind. It does not come from our imagination. It comes from a deeper place—the transcendental place. Like an alarm clock echoing from outside of the dream state, it comes from another realm, piercing through the layers of this world, sometimes at the oddest of moments.

Once we have this internal signal from our Friend we must trust and follow it. This is where faith plays a role. Surely we could doubt the insight, thinking it an aberration of some sort. Surely we could try to ignore it if we want: Then of course we'd stay asleep—unconscious to its signal. We can surely wash it in with our self-centered existence, just as a dreaming person might imagine the alarm bell is a doorbell occurring within the dream—and we answer the door in our dream. By washing the alarm in with our dream we can easily ignore it, as we imagine it is something else. This is called _illusion._

Having faith in such an inner vision or insight is the same as trusting in Him. Do we trust that the Supreme Being has the ability to communicate to us? Do we not believe the Supreme Controller has that kind of authority and power? If we do, then why would we deny Him the ability open communications with us? The choice we have in this area reflects the freedom He has given us to continue to ignore Him if we wish.

The Supreme Being gives us the freedom to continue sleeping in our dreamland. If we deny Him the ability to remind us—by using various mental theories to conclude it is impossible—we are in effect washing the alarm bell into our dreamscape to allow us to continue sleeping.

The best and most certain way to _wake up_ is to ask our Best Friend and Companion to wake us up. If we have not received a signal already, we can sincerely ask Him for such a signal. This can be done easily through prayer, or simply through sincere thoughts. Since His senses are not limited as our physical senses are, He can hear even the slightest of thoughts, especially when they concern our relationship with Him. In fact, it is these thoughts that He particularly likes to tune into. Like any reliable friend, He is always awaiting our request to renew our relationship.

We must want to wake up though.

Our desire to awaken must be sincere. Like the boy wanting to play ice hockey, a whimsical approach will not cut it. A request to be awakened while still wanting to stay in the dream is simply not convincing. In the same way, a focus upon ourselves—struggling to enjoy the world and continue to ignore His existence—will naturally block our re-awakening to His and our actual transcendental existence.

As we focus upon a television show, we cannot be focused upon what may be going on elsewhere in the room, even though it is within plain view.

This is the same relationship between our waking and sleep dream states. While our waking environment is all around the bed of our sleeping body, we instead are focused upon our dreamscape. There can be all kinds of household activities going on around the house while we sleep, but we will be oblivious to them when sleeping. Similarly, our focus on our physical existence with our day-to-day struggles to be the center of our existence blocks our ability to focus on our transcendental existence. In the transcendental realm the Supreme Being—not ourselves—is the object of loving worship and the center of attention. A clear understanding of this is the starting point toward admission into the transcendental world.

Once we sincerely desire real love,  
our eyes will be opened.

A key requirement of seeing the Supreme Person is realizing that He has the ability to choose when and whether we are ready to see Him. This prerogative naturally belongs to the person in control. However, the nature of transcendental love is that He also determines when it is in _our best interests_ to see Him. Once we truly desire to see Him, _He_ will ultimately pick the most perfect moment for our reuniting. If we are not currently seeing the Supreme Person, we can know that the perfect time has not come. We are either not ready to see Him or we are not yet truly desirous to see Him.

Thus, once we decide we want to return to our relationship with the Supreme Being, and that desire is sincere, it is then up to the Supreme Person to reveal Himself as He determines we are ready. Seeing Him is not some kind of automatic response, as if we were the order givers and the Supreme Being was our order taker. _"Come out where I can see you,"_ is a statement that a superior might make to an inferior, not the other way around.

The superior always has the prerogative when it comes to the showing. The inferior may _ask_ the superior, but never is it a demand. Also, a friend would never make a demand like that upon another friend. A further understanding includes knowing the nature of our actual relationship:

A loving friend would not come around if they knew we wished not to see them. A loving friend would accommodate our wishes and stay away.

This is also the nature of love—a true lover will never force himself upon his beloved. He might occasionally call or send a gentle note indicating a desire to be with us—but he would never force himself. What kind of a friend would force himself or herself upon us? If an old friend did that, we would probably question their motives. We would probably feel that they had an ulterior motive for wanting to reunite with us so badly. At the same time, a friend who sincerely cared for us would gently try to get together with us. Yet they would never force themselves. They would be courteous—maybe even a little shy—in asking if we wanted to get back together.

On the other hand, if we suddenly called a friend we've been ignoring out of the blue, wanting to see them immediately, the reunion may not be as motivated. Our old friend (especially a wealthy and famous one) may want to be sure we were sincere and not whimsical before they will commit fully. This is natural in any severed relationship.

It only makes sense that we need to be sincere and honest in our wish to return to our Best Friend, the Supreme Being: Certainly before we expect that He would automatically accommodate our request to immediately see Him. After we rejected Him and ignored Him for so long, it might be appropriate for us to first check our own objectives. We ought to examine our own motives and intentions a bit closer. We should check our own sincerity before we hastily blame Him for any lack of communication.

Transcendental eyes see transcendental forms.

Some speculate that we cannot see the Supreme Being because He is formless. This speculation may also be something of a semantic nature, because the Supreme Person may not have the kind of _gross physical_ form our minds might expect to perceive. The fact is, He has transcendental Form, and He is a unique, individual personality. His Form certainly has arms and legs. Yet at the same time, His Form and Personality is transcendental to the physical universe.

Although He has one original form, He can also assume many different forms—all of which are also transcendental. The Supreme Being has numerous Expansions to accomplish His different activities and pastimes. There are many direct Expansions of the Supreme Person in different aspects of the transcendental realm, where He relates with His family of living beings in various kinds of loving relationships. His relationships—as He is—are complex and multifarious. He relates with each of us in a unique way: each of us has a slightly different _relationship flavor_ with Him.

Regardless of how many Expansions the Supreme Being has, He is still an Individual Being. He is a unique Personality, though unlimitedly complex and varied in attributes. He indeed is the greatest of Personalities—deeper than any ocean, and sweeter than the sweetest of sugars.

Real vision comes only from the eyes of love.

The bottom line is that if we want to see the Supreme Person we each need to sincerely desire to re-establish our innate relationship with Him. We need to re-develop our love for Him. This means we must first accept that He is the center of everything—including our lives. This means we depend upon Him. This also means we need to sincerely ask Him to wake us up from our slumber of selfishness. It means we need to trust Him, rely upon Him, serve Him, and dedicate our lives to Him. As our commitment to these activities becomes stronger, He will gradually re-awaken our relationship with Him as our love for Him gradually increases. With our growing love for Him comes a natural opening of our actual transcendental eyes. These are the eyes of love—our actual eyes. These eyes allow us to see the Supreme Being as He is: A loving, caring, and gentle Being who cares deeply about each of us.

***

Conclusion: We are unable to focus upon and see the Supreme Being's existence while we are focused upon our own efforts to enjoy this physical world. Seeing the Supreme Being requires us to awaken from our fantasy wherein we are the center. Waking up requires a sincere desire to renew our relationship with Him. The opening of our transcendental eyes is ultimately His gift, as He is in control, and He is looking out _for our best interests. By re-establishing our loving relationship with Him through sincerity and loving service, our actual eyes will be re-opened._

### Essay Nine

# Faith in Love

A young man won a major sporting event and became immediately famous. Soon old childhood friends he hadn't heard from for years were contacting him, requesting to see him. Some of these "friends" came to visit the young man at his house, and began squabbling amongst themselves at his front door. Some claimed to know him better than others did. Some criticized others, saying they hadn't known him as long as they themselves had known him. Some claimed they were better friends, and the others didn't have a real connection like they had. Disappointed in these "friends," the young man avoided visiting with them. He didn't answer the door. He pretended not to be home.

Why are we fighting over religion?

Many in modern society have become disillusioned with organized religion. They have become frustrated and confused by the bitter ideological power struggles between the various religious organizations and their proponents. It seems the situation is not getting any better either.

Sect against sect, faith against faith: we see so many of different faiths expressing hostility towards those who worship differently. Violence between faiths has become so dangerous over recent years that it even threatens the very existence of humanity on this planet.

This trend is very similar to the widespread dividing of countries that has taken place around the world over the past few centuries. More cultures and territories have felt the need to differentiate and divide themselves from other cultures and territories. The result has been the establishment of so many new independent or sovereign countries. The central theme in this territorially divisive behavior is the need some of us have to differentiate ourselves from others by finding points of difference.

We are focused on our differences.

The desire to separate and create independence from other groups—whether religious or territorial—is a symptom of a larger disease: A disease resulting from a lack of understanding of who we each are; who ultimately is in control; and what ultimately is the purpose of our existence.

If we accept that the Supreme Being is all-powerful, and is the Creator, then we have to realize that the Supreme Person must own and control everything. Since He owns and controls everything, we are, and everything else is, _dependent upon Him._ By recognizing this fact we can accept that He is in full control.

If we are confident that He is in full control there will be no need for any of us to fear that another method of worship will threaten Him or us in any way. It is _He_ who ultimately allows everyone the freedom to love Him or not. It is _He_ who ultimately provides the path to return to Him. It is _He_ who ultimately establishes religious activities and sacrifices.

Furthermore, if we are confident of His ultimate control, there is no need to discredit others who may worship Him otherwise. There is no need to argue over who might have the best connection to Him or worship Him with the best method. As any friend would feel about such behavior, such efforts serve only to offend Him. While we are focused upon judging others, our own relationship with Him withers.

There is but one Supreme Being.

In looking at the arguments put forth by the various sectarian faiths around the world today that condemn other faiths, the most relevant question would be: _Could there be more than one Supreme Being?_ There could be no ultimate control if there were more than one Supreme Being. As the reference to the Supreme Being or God means the Master and Ruler of Everything, there could only be one Supreme Being. With regard to which faith is right, we should first consider whether a person can have more than one means of contact:

A man drives into a strange town, goes into the library and asks the librarian "who is the mayor and where can I find him?"

The librarian says to the man: "The mayor is the guy in the big office in the large building on Main Street."

The man drives to the large building and goes into the lobby and asks the security guard where the mayor is. "Oh, he just left to go to the restaurant across the street. His name is Mayor Smith and he's wearing a blue suit and red tie."

The man walks across the street and goes into the restaurant. He asks a waitress if she could direct him to the mayor. "You mean "Johnny?" she asks. "Johnny already ate and left. He went to the drugstore to buy an umbrella I think."

The man then walks over to the drugstore. He looks around the store for a man in a blue suit and red tie but finds no one. He asks the cashier if she has seen the mayor. "Oh that's my husband—my sweetie-pie," she says. "What do you want with him? He's using the bathroom."

Are any of these people wrong about how they referred to the mayor? They all certainly referred to the same person. They each referred to the mayor in a different setting. Each had a different name for him, and each had a different relationship, depending upon their situation; their occupation; or their particular dealings with him.

While it was correct that the mayor was the person who holds a particular office in the government and works in a particular office building, he is also the person who would sit in a particular restaurant at lunchtime. Since there was only one mayor in the town, it would be pretty hard for any of them to have been mistaken about who the mayor was. There can only be one mayor.

What is religion anyway?

The word _religion_ actually comes from Latin _ligare,_ meaning, _"that which binds."_ Thus, religion can be directly translated as being the act of connecting or _binding_ oneself to the Supreme Being. Religious activity then, is the _process_ of establishing our natural relationship with the Supreme Person. It is the process of coming to know and love the Supreme Person.

If we accept that we have been created by the Supreme Being, then it only makes sense that He has at least the same capabilities that we, His offspring have, and more. As each of us is an individual living being, the Supreme Being too is an individual Being.

Since all living beings share the desire to be loved and to exchange love, it should be easy for us to understand that the Supreme Person also has that same capacity. If the Supreme Person wants to exchange love with us, and yet gives us the choice to love Him or not, then we must allow Him the capability of providing to us a method of resuming our lost relationship with Him. Just as we can try to contact a former love, inviting them back into our lives, the Supreme Person too can try to contact us using various means to invite us back into His life. _This is typical of any loving relationship._

The exchange of loving relationships between living beings is the most basic, fundamental quality we all innately possess. From the time we enter our bodies to the time we leave our bodies, we are constantly absorbed with attempts to establish loving relationships.

Whether it is reaching out to a family member, struggling to get attention amongst our peers, going out on dates, marrying our spouses, or striving for accomplishments to impress and gain respect from the people around us—we all seek loving relationships with others.

Everyone needs a loving relationship.

There is no question that we all seek the attention, admiration and ultimately the love of others. We seek to receive, and give love. The question is: Where do we put our love and who do we want to love us? As we travel through physical life, we all experience other living beings sometimes giving us attention, sometimes but rarely, admiration, and sometimes but even more rarely, love.

Real love is somewhat scarce among the living beings who have taken physical bodies _._ Nonetheless, we have all experienced receiving attention, admiration and even a little care from others during our lifetimes in this body.

Does this satisfy us? As we can see from our own experiences along with the many suicides and drug abuse occurrences among famous people—who received attention and admiration from millions—the answer has to be no. The attention and admiration, even care from fellow living beings—though we struggle for it—is simply not satisfying.

Why do we struggle to achieve these things if they don't satisfy us? The answer lies hidden within our real identities—we are loving creatures: We live to love and love to serve. By nature, we want to love our Best Friend and Companion, the Supreme Being.

By nature, we want to serve the Supreme Person. By nature, we want to receive love from our Best Friend and Companion. Beneath our envy and quest for enjoyment, He is what we ultimately seek. Each of us has an innate form and relationship with Him. It is our innate nature to love and serve Him.

Our constant need for loving relationships is part of our actual nature. This is because our actual position is based upon our original loving relationship with the Supreme Person.

Religion is the process of regaining that relationship. Once regained, the living being is truly satisfied living within this revived relationship to the Supreme Person. This is our constitutional activity. Loving the Supreme Being is the living being's heritage and original condition. This is why we spend our lives going from one relationship to another—because we are seeking one particular relationship, and cannot find it here in this physical world.

We chose to leave love and live in this place.

Unfortunately, we forsook our actual nature to come to this physical world. We chose to leave His world. Because we became envious, and wanted to enjoy as He does, we needed to get away from Him in order to try to accomplish that. So He granted us these physical bodies to attempt this separate enjoyment and ignore His existence for awhile. As any true friend would do, He continually gives us the freedom to either stay here—away from Him—or return back to Him.

If we choose to not re-establish our relationship with Him, we can continue our struggle to exchange physical relationships with other living beings who are also trying to be enjoyers. The problem with choosing the relationships of this physical dimension is that they will not satisfy us—because we are not physical. We can continue to strive for satisfying relationships, but relationships of this world will never satisfy the transcendental living being.

We can continue to avoid love if we wish.

Since the Supreme Being is in control and we have a choice whether or not to reconnect with Him; should we desire not to reconnect, He will provide us with the means. This is one reason for the many philosophies and science theories that ignore or deny His existence. He provides us with a physical body, an environment to live where we do not have to see Him, and even the rationale to deny His existence.

Once we have rationalized away His existence, He arranges for us all the tools to continue to pretend He does not exist. He also allows an arrangement where we can achieve our desires with obvious limits: He cannot allow us to be the Supreme Being because we aren't, but He can put us in situations where we can pretend to be Him. Should we desire to become respected by others; that can be arranged. Should we desire to become wealthy; that can be arranged. Should we desire to become a ruler of some sort or have large followings; that can be arranged as well. Of course there are always costs of accomplishing these goals, and there will be accompanying lessons to help us understand why these positions do not satisfy us.

We may or may not heed those lessons. Nonetheless, He allows us an arrangement where we can be away from Him. He will allow us the ability to rationalize away His existence. He will even allow us to pretend we are Him in one respect or another for awhile. This is called unconditional love.

We will use anything to avoid love.

Some of us may concoct at some point that if we _appear_ religious, others will respect and honor us—even worship us. Though it makes Him unhappy to do so, the Supreme Being will even allow us to use His Names and teachings to attempt to find fulfillment through achieving the respect and attention of others.

Meanwhile, some of us may simply join a particular religious group or faith to simply be accepted by our families, friends or others. Some of us may join to share in the church bake-offs and other community activities. Some of us may join to simply feel we belong.

Of course none of this is wrong. It simply may not be giving us the result we think it might. The Supreme Being may well be included to some extent, which is good. The group may honor Him once a week together, for example. He certainly sees and appreciates the efforts each of the individuals of that group make. We may also fall into _groupthink_ , forgetting our personal need to embrace the Supreme Being as we cozy up to the group consciousness.

We may also fall into a relationship that sees the Supreme Being as our order-supplier. This makes the focus of our worship upon asking the Supreme Being for physical benefits like health, wealth, and/or success. Certainly, the Supreme Person is our ultimate provider and we can bring Him our concerns. He certainly does and will always take care of all of us. The question is whether a good use of our precious relationship with Him should be asking Him for temporary physical stuff.

Meanwhile, some of us may join an organized religion because of guilt, or because we are afraid of going to hell. Should we feel guilty for doing things we know are not right, the focus of our worship may be to be cleansed of our sins. Some of us may join an organization feeling that if we declare our allegiance we will be _'saved,'_ and thus avoid going to hell.

There are a number of reasons one may initially seek out the Supreme Person. None of them is particularly wrong. As long as our sincerity eventually redirects our focus toward re-establishing our love for Him, we make progress.

However, if our continued intent is a focus on obtaining things from Him in order to increase our enjoyment of the world, we may also offend Him. It is also easy to become proud of our religiosity, which will offend Him. Just as offending a friend by trying to use them will damage our ability to renew that relationship, offending our Best Friend by attempting to take advantage of Him in the name of religion can have similar consequences. The bottom line is that the Supreme Being is not an inanimate object or machine. He is a Person: A Person who has feelings and emotions. _He is a Person we can care for, not just use._

Still, prior to committing to any group, we should be cautious, as it is easy to fall in to a group led by a teacher or philosophy not empowered to help us grow. It is easy to be misled by large followings. We should carefully and personally check the teachings of any particular teacher before we jump in. We have seen many instances of teachers leading students to tragic or otherwise unfortunate conclusions. We should realize that the potency of the teacher is not granted by groups of people or the status quo:

The Teacher's potency is granted by the Supreme Being.

We are directed according to our sincerity.

It is ultimately the Supreme Being who directs each of us when it comes to developing our transcendental love for Him. He directs us exactly to the level we desire to go, aligned perfectly to our level of sincerity and our stage of growth. He provides just the organization or situation to fit our objectives, yet gives us enough messages to help direct us towards Him further should we want to go in that direction. Should we want to appear religious to others, He will sadly give us the opportunity.

If we want to feel saved, He will give us the ability to feel that way. If we feel guilty and want to be forgiven, He will naturally give us that because He is a gracious, forgiving Person and He loves us unconditionally. Though some activities may not directly increase our love for the Supreme Being, they may increase our focus upon Him and lead us towards _desiring_ a true relationship. However, any activity aimed at self-centered gain in the name of religion has an inborn risk of offending the Supreme Being, making it harder to regain our relationship with Him. Self-centered activities in the name of religion can also lead to the sour fruits of insecurity, intolerance, and fanaticism.

All of these aspects are focused at the personal level: between the individual self and the Supreme Person. It is the sincerity of the person and their approach towards the Supreme Being that counts. The group or organization they may have joined is secondary. Note also that selfish objectives can be practiced while dressed in any a number of garbs. Indeed, we can also serve and learn to love the Supreme Person within various bona fide teachings—as long as we are sincere and working to honestly connect with Him.

True religion has a core message.

Should we be sincere in our desire to reconnect with our Supreme Friend, He will give us the opportunity. He has thus set up specific methods to enable us to re-establish our relationship with Him. These methods are communicated both directly and through those who already have an established relationship with Him. He will communicate to us through His trusted messengers because they will pass on His instructions without altering its meaning, while showing us the meaning of that message by example.

Despite the fact that various religious proponents argue that their teachings are superior to others; all bona fide religious teachings descend from the Supreme Person either directly or through one of His loving servants. Certainly, there are various differences between them. Each was introduced into a particular culture at a particular time and place. Naturally, we will find practical, cultural and methodology difference. The teachings of the bona fide master who revealed the transcendental path into that culture had a particular purpose of educating those particular people in ways they could apply to their then-current lifestyles. As a result, there are minor cultural and ceremonial differences among many of the specific rituals or language of these faiths. These minor differences do not change the intent or message.

As we review the common threads of these various teachings, we must build a larger perspective. This perspective requires an understanding of the core message of the teachings brought forth from the various scriptures and messengers. The messenger may deliver the message according to the time, culture, circumstance, and the degree of transcendental awareness among the audience—just as a coach might tailor his coaching to the playing level and age of the players:

A baseball coach coaches three baseball teams of different ages. The players on the youngest team are playing baseball for the first time. During practice, the coach shows them how to catch and throw the ball, and he runs them through basic drills to teach them other fundamentals of baseball. His next oldest team contains players who have learned most of the fundamentals, but they still need basic drills to increase their proficiency. The oldest team is made up of players who are proficient in most of the fundamentals of baseball. Their practices, although still including basic drills, will teach more technical skills to further increase the players' proficiency and skill refinement.

In fact, since a master's teachings are often targeted to particular individuals or groups of individuals, each teaching contains topics tailored to the level and culture of that particular student or group of students. In other words, the specific lecture may often accommodate the audience to attain the best possible comprehension. Because of this, teachings of the masters will have numerous cultural differences and ranges of depth when compared historically.

Furthermore, different societies use different languages, and have various degrees of education among the population. These will also yield differences in how the master's teachings were recorded and practiced. Sometimes masters have revealed teachings specifically meant to counteract certain popular practices during the time, which displeased our Friend.

These teachings again were meant for that time and circumstance, and thus may be difficult for a person in another culture and time to understand them fully. As a result, ancient teachings may seem difficult to practically apply to our lives today. It is for this reason a living Teacher is necessary.

A humble and prayerful approach to the lives and teachings of each of these actual masters; paying close attention to the core messages of their teachings, with a careful examination of _what they said, to whom they said it,_ and _what they themselves did_ (teaching by example) should reveal the essence of their teachings. When considered in context with the time and circumstances surrounding their teachings, the conclusion should be the same. A trusted translation of the spoken words of these various masters should be combined with the history of their activities in the service of the Supreme Being, because a true master speaks not only with words, but by example.

Direct guidance on these issues will be necessary. A living guide and master will not only differentiate cultural issues from the central message of past Teachers, but will show us how to apply the core message to our current lives, disclosing the essential elements of that core.

What is the core message?

The basic tenet, common to all the masters, is boiled down to _a request for each of us to put our attention, focus, love, service, and dedication towards the Supreme Being_. This basically boils down to a request for each of us to re-establish our loving relationship with Him.

A careful analysis of the lives of these masters reveals that each of these masters _themselves_ focused upon living their lives for the Supreme Being—loving and serving Him—and thus practiced what they taught. To teach others to give their lives and focus their love and attention on the Supreme Person would simply have no meaning without performing activities pleasing to the Supreme Being. Quite simply, they lived their lives in loving servitude to the Supreme Person.

The core or essence of the message is consistent: Someone with a confidential relationship with the Supreme Person is requesting us to re-establish our own personal loving relationship with the Supreme Person. They have asked us to serve the Supreme Person, learn to love the Supreme Person, pray to Him, sing and repeat His Names as much as possible, and give our lives to Him. This teaching is accompanied by the Teacher also following these instructions—leading the way by example. Furthermore, this message reveals an intimate relationship between the messenger and the Supreme Person.

The message of love is worth passing on.

Since these masters all performed acts pleasing to the Supreme Person, it would only make sense that the actions and teachings they taught represented the will of the Supreme Being. Since their teachings are immersed with requests for us to give our love, attention and service to the Supreme Person, we must realize that this is the Supreme Being's prime directive because He knows only such a loving relationship will also make us happy.

It is evident by these various faiths throughout the world that the Supreme Person has made numerous attempts throughout the ages to invite us to exchange love with Him. Over and over, in each age and in each culture we see His servants working diligently to pass on this single message. In many cases we see these Teachers sacrificing everything—even their very lives—to spread this key message.

All the bona fide faiths that accept the Supreme Being in one Name or another are each founded in the documented messages of lovers of the Supreme Being. If we explore the lives of those Teachers central to that faith, we discover a common characteristic: They each displayed an apparent confidential relationship with the Supreme Being, and they put a lot of energy towards pleasing and worshipping the Supreme Being.

In a loving relationship, one performs the wishes of his beloved. Like the statements of a foreign diplomat representing the wishes of the leader of the government, the teachings of these various masters throughout the ages reflect the wishes and desires of the Supreme Person.

The efforts of these Teachers reflect their confidential relationship with Him. The efforts of these Teachers also illustrate how love for the Supreme Being expands to others. This is the concept of _saving._ These messengers are in effect _saving_ us from our continued ignorance of what will ultimately make us happy.

There have been many debates regarding the concept of oneness between the Teacher and the Supreme Being as referenced from historical teachings. For some this has created confusion regarding the individuality of the Teacher and the Supreme Being.

A clear understanding of this concept requires seeing the nature of the loving relationship between the Teacher and the Supreme Being: The Teacher is a devoted and loving servant of the Supreme Being and thus becomes linked with the will of the Supreme Being. Aligning ones will with another merges their purpose and objectives.

The loving servant of the Supreme Being assumes the same will as the Supreme Being because the loving servant desires whatever the Supreme Being desires. They become linked through common desire. They become one in their love and compassion upon us. This does not mean they do not remain individuals, exchanging love. The Supreme Being remains separate. Otherwise, love and choice—love's prerequisite—become moot.

Our minds rather focus on petty details.

It is the trap of our minds—coming from a desire to ignore the Supreme Being—to focus on the differences presented by the time and circumstances surrounding of these great Teachers and their teachings. This is the same desire that causes us to focus on the faults of others around us in our everyday lives. It is the desire to have superiority over others. This desire for superiority is part of our central disease of envying the superiority of the Supreme Person.

Surely, we can find so many differences between the cultures and ceremonies of various societies throughout history with respect to their ceremonies of worship. Who are we to sit in judgment?

The purpose of the various forms of worship of the Supreme Person is the same: To re-focus our life upon the Supreme Person and re-develop our love for Him. Someone who represents the Supreme Person will never steer us wrong as long as they truly represent Him and maintain their relationship with Him.

Different times, different places, same message.

One over-riding message these various Teachers make with their lives is that we can re-establish our relationship with the Supreme Being in any culture, in any society and at any time.

This communication emphasizes how important it is that we re-focus our lives toward the Supreme Being now. It is a message that tells us that we do not have to be born in a particular region of the world to have access to Him. He brings the facility to reconnect to Him to where ever we might be. There are no physical or territorial barriers to reaching Him.

Some of us may fight because we disagree about the specifics of _who_ the Teacher of a particular teaching was. We may disagree on a Teacher's position, rank, level, or birthright. We may disagree on trivial historical specifics.

All of these disagreements distract us from the essence of this Teacher's teachings. They focus on issues that are _not relevant_ to the actual message. The only relevant issue we have to be concerned about is whether the Teacher was representing the Supreme Being in his teachings and life. The only relevant matter about the Teacher's history is whether he was surrendered to and lived his life for the Supreme Person. The only relevant matter regarding the Teacher's teaching—their actual message—was whether they communicated the need for us to give our hearts, our love and our lives to the Supreme Being. All the rest is trivia.

A pertinent question to ask would be: Do we think that this Teacher would be pleased to find that instead of us using our precious time to learn to love and focus upon the Supreme Being, we chose to spend our efforts _arguing and fighting_ over the specifics of their position, rank, or personal details?

The authentic Teacher teaches by example.

Today many teachers teach various things in the name of religion. We may wonder which teacher and teaching is correct. Which one we would want to listen to and follow.

There are certain signs of a true Teacher. These are evident from the lives of the great Teachers from the past and present. A true Teacher is not interested in teaching in order to gain his or her own glorification, wealth or following. On the contrary, the actual Teacher may be discredited by society. The actual Teacher will be consistent in following previous Teachers who represented the Supreme Person. The actual Teacher will be a student before they are a Teacher, and the teaching of the Teacher should be consistent with the teachings of the Teacher's Teacher. A teacher who says we need them as a teacher but they never needed a teacher is a living contradiction.

It should be noted again that a Teacher's potency to personally guide us on our path towards fulfillment is granted by the Supreme Person. He ultimately chooses His representative. The central qualification of a representative of the Supreme Being is whether this person (and their Teacher, and their Teacher's Teacher, and so on) has an established personal relationship with the Supreme Being. After all, one cannot introduce someone they do not know.

The quality of the teacher reflects  
the sincerity of the student.

This might beg the question of why, if the Supreme Person wants us to come back to Him, do sincere Teachers seem so rare? Why do there seem to be so many teachers with ulterior motives? A close examination would reveal that this situation reflects _our own_ sincerity. The Supreme Being is in control. He gives us the option of deciding to return to Him. Many may choose not to. Some may choose to _use_ Him in order to accomplish selfish objectives. Meanwhile, there may be those who sincerely want to re-establish their relationship with Him.

Those of us who want to use Him will be directed to those that teach how we can use Him, while those of us who want to truly return to Him are directed to those who teach how to re-establish our relationship with Him. In this way, we are attracted to the teachers who reflect _our_ sincerity. Therefore, the quality of the teacher reflects the sincerity of the student.

The method of love is glorification.

Although various cultures practice with different ceremonies, the common feature among all bona fide practices for accomplishing the goal of love for the Supreme Person is the same: Communicating with the Supreme Being; Praying to Him; Calling out His Names; Singing His Names; serving Him; thinking of Him and Glorifying Him. It is conclusive from all these bona fide practices that the Supreme Person responds when we call His Names out in song or prayer. He wants us to communicate with Him. It is as if He has established a personal _hot line_ between us and Him, and anytime we want to open communications, we can humbly and respectfully call His Name and talk with Him.

In any relationship, calling out the other person's name is considered an expression of love: to call out a beloved's name or sing it in song is a universal activity when one is seeking or involved in a loving relationship with another person. Although some may argue that their form of the Supreme Being's Name is right and others' are wrong:

Each of us typically has more than one name. We usually have two or three basic given names; a first, a last and a middle name. Then we may have nicknames. Someone named "Robert" might be called "Bobbie" by some people for example. Or maybe "Robert" might be called nicknames like "squirt" or "speedy" because of certain characteristics. We may also be greeted with endearing names by people close to us. We may be called "sweetie" or "buttercup" by our spouses, for example.

We also each have different methods people can use to approach us and communicate with us. People may call us on the phone, come visit us at our house, or meet us at a restaurant. People may also write us a letter, or even send an email to communicate with us.

We must ask ourselves: If each of us can have more than one name, and more than one way to approach us, why should the Supreme Being be limited to only one Name, and one method of communicating with Him? Therefore, any number of Names revealed by one of His representatives would certainly be acceptable Names to call out, as long as they are called out with sincerity and respect. We can call the Supreme Being the Father, the Creator, our Friend, the Supreme Person, and many other references. We can also use scripturally revealed Names of the Supreme Being such as God, Eloi, Jehovah, Allah, Vishnu, Yahweh, and many others, each referring to different features and aspects of the same Supreme Being.

True love is spread by love.

These points should illustrate that the basic tenets of the many bona fide teachings boil religion down to a method of re-establishing our loving relationship with the Supreme Person. Each of these various teachings throughout the ages show us that the Supreme Being is attempting to exchange love with us by extending Himself through the words and writings of His representatives. There is but one religion: the religion of re-establishing and acting upon our individual relationship with the Supreme Person. Regardless of the specifics of culture, time and circumstance, the message has remained the same.

When we step back with this vision we can see that the various faiths and religions throughout our history illustrate clearly to us that the same Supreme Being is reaching out to us, wanting us to return to Him. They tell us that He wants us to love Him and that He loves us enough to reach out not just once or twice, but through innumerable communications; through various scriptures; through various representatives; along with messages emerging deep within our own being. The fact that He does not force Himself upon us, giving us so many opportunities to ignore Him together with so many opportunities to approach Him, shows that He is our Ultimate Friend. They tell us that He wants us to decide with a completely free will whether we want to love Him and return to Him, or whether we'd just rather squabble amongst ourselves at His doorstep while continuing to ignore our actual relationship with Him awhile longer.

***

Conclusion: There is one Supreme Being. He has been trying to bring us home through innumerable attempts delivered by so many personal messengers through the ages. A focus on the purpose and intent of each message uncovers the ultimate desire of the Supreme Being to invite us to re-establish our relationship with Him. Attempts to discredit other faiths are simply ways to keep ignoring this basic message.

### Essay Ten

# Love and Pain

A man entered a demolition derby. Into the derby, he brought an old car—dented and beat up, yet still running. He put on a crash helmet, buckled up, and he was off. Other cars immediately began to bang into his car, and he banged into others. It quickly became a free-for-all, with cars banging into each other from all angles. This went on for a couple of hours. Once a car stopped running it was out of the contest. The man's car eventually got pretty badly smashed up by the other cars. The car's fenders, doors, bumpers, and engine were all severely damaged. Finally, the car's motor stopped running. The man got out, took off his helmet, and walked away, leaving the car to be towed off the derby track. He never saw or drove that car again.

"If the Supreme Being loves us, why is there so much pain and suffering in the world?"

Many ask this question at one time or another in their search for the Supreme Being. Unfortunately, the answer to this question is rarely adequately explained. This is due to a lack of understanding of the living being and the nature of the physical dimension.

Life in this physical dimension is very similar to a _demolition derby._ Like drivers in demolition derby cars, we are temporarily embodied. In actuality, we are transcendental to these bodies. We are of a different nature. At some point—just as in the demolition derby—we also have to _walk away_ from our bodies. A dead body is lifeless because the living being—the actual personality operating the body—has _walked away._

Being inside of a body is very similar to a person driving an automobile for a number of reasons. When we are inside our cars, we utilize them as if they are external extensions of our selves. Many of us identify with the cars that we own and drive. We will also judge others by the cars they drive. We might think a person driving a smaller car is an unsuccessful person, or one who drives a big car as an important person, for example.

The demolition derby as an analogy is also appropriate for other reasons. It illustrates how people get into cars that serve as their extensions. By the nature of the _derby,_ their cars will quickly get smashed up until they won't drive anymore. This is analogous to our physical body. Once it stops running, the driver will get out of the car and leave it, just as we leave our bodies at death. Of course, we can eliminate the derby winner from the analogy. In the physical world, there are no winners. Every body dies.

Now if the derby driver was emotionally attached to his car he would have a rough time in the derby. His prized car would constantly be getting crashed into. For this reason, a person usually does not take a valued car into the derby. It would undoubtedly have an early exit to the junk heap. Instead, derby drivers bring in their heaps with big bumpers. They will also wear protective gear to help keep them from getting hurt, so they can smash up their car and safely get out.

We value our bodies.

Our bodies start getting banged up the moment we are born into them. They get diseased or injured and die after just a few decades. Some get diseased, some get in accidents, some are purposely destroyed as in suicide. These vehicles are designed to be broken. Like the demolition derby cars, no body makes it out alive.

The logical question we must pose is why—if we know our bodies will simply be demolished—are we so attached to them? Why do we hang onto them so desperately, even when their destruction is certain? The answer lies in the fact that when we arrive in our bodies we begin to _identify_ with them and become _attached_ to them, just as a person might with a new car.

If we realized the body will become a pile of decomposing flesh one day and we would walk away unhurt, then we might not be so attached. In the physical realm we try to ignore the fact that our bodies will be smashed up and disposed of. We are simply too busy trying to enjoy them to ponder their future.

Tolerance to pain and suffering can vary greatly.

Dentists and anesthesiologists understand that there is a huge range of pain tolerance between different people. Some people are very tolerant and can withstand lots of it. Boxers or rugby players, for example, can tolerate a lot more pain than the average person might. At the dentist's office, some people don't even need Novocain while others want to be knocked out with nitrous oxide. Some people cannot tolerate even the faintest feelings of pain, and they exert great effort to avoid it. Others will approach life head on—colliding with painful experiences on their way towards accomplishing their goals. This is because we all have relative degrees of pain _sensitivity._

Around the world we see huge variances between the tolerance for suffering among different societies. While some societies will consider a small percentage of the population being homeless and cold as great suffering, other societies deal with massive starvation, dehydration, and even mass genocide. Although none of these situations is acceptable in a world where some live in excess, it is easy to see a range of tolerance when it comes to human suffering around the world.

Indeed, many cultures have varying acceptable notions of pain. While some cultures have undertaken such traditions as fire walking and body piercing, other cultures have pampered their bodies with hot baths, whimpering with the slightest of temperature deviation. Meanwhile soldiers have been known historically to endure extreme pain, while their rulers may have been sensitive to the slightest of discomforts.

Why such a large difference in tolerance to pain and suffering? If we were simply chemical machines and pain was strictly a biological issue, then the same amount of pain would affect each of us the same. Yet this is not the reality. Such a variance in pain sensitivity can only indicate that some of us feel more _connected_ or _attached_ to our body than others.

This can be illustrated by measuring physical consciousness and pain tolerance together. Anesthesiologists widely agree that the less conscious a person is, the less sensitive they will be to pain. This is why invasive surgical anesthesia will usually consist of knocking a person unconscious. Physical consciousness is the level of focus we might have upon our physical body. We must be conscious of something in order to be connected or _attached_ to it. This attachment to our body is thus the key element associated with pain sensitivity and tolerance.

Our pain is relative to our attachments.

If we accept that each of us is a living being and not our physical body, then we must accept that the pain and suffering that our body experiences is not actually happening to _me_. If the pain is not happening to us, the only way we will experience it is through misidentification and attachment with the body. In the same way, if we brought a new car we identified with into the demolition derby we would be more sensitive to each bang to our valued car.

By being more sensitive, we are _focusing_ upon the car and what it means to us, increasing our attachment to the future of the car and how it will affect our image (misidentification). It is this focus—pondering how it might affect our image and how it might affect our future enjoyment of it—that creates our sensitivity to it. This sensitivity leads to our focus upon our experience of pain.

Now if we knew the old banged up car was a _clunker,_ and we kept it locked in the garage, we would not care how badly it got banged up. It did not affect our image because we hardly drove it. Each bang in the derby would not be associated with such a negative response and if we were prepared for it, unattached to the car.

The purpose we hold for the physical body is also one of the keys to pain sensitivity. If we have concocted various plans for using our body in ways we think will give us pleasure, we will naturally be very concerned about any contact that might prevent those concocted plans from taking place. For example, losing our eyesight would be extremely damaging to our ability to enjoy visual sensations. In the same way, if we had plans to drive our car across the country, we would be very concerned about it getting smashed up in the derby. Therefore, any potential threat will be met with increased focus and concern.

Physical pain by itself is simply a signal that our body may be in danger. We can simply respond to each pain as just our vehicle's signals, or we can dwell on each and every pain, dreading anything that might cause future pain. We dread future pain because we fear that it may interfere with our concoctions for the future enjoyment of our body. This attachment to future concoctions for physical pleasure causes this attachment to our physical body.

We can see the relativity of pain sensitivity elsewhere in our lives. For example, the more attached we are to a particular event or person, the more something affecting that event or person can cause us pain, trauma, frustration, etc. We can see this when people become wrapped up in sporting events and attached to certain teams. Because of this attachment, a loss for the home team can leave the person significantly affected. We have seen disappointment even turn to anger in some cases.

Meanwhile, the same loss wouldn't affect the person not following or involved in that team whatsoever. Without the focus and attention, there is no disappointment.

Becoming attached to another person can become a source of pain as well. The more attached we become to that person, the more a breakup or death will cause us pain. The bottom line is that the level of pain we experience is relative to the amount of attachment we have for that specific person or event. Gross physical pain works the same way: pain is relative to the attachment we have to our physical bodies.

Our goals are reflected in our pain.

An example of the relativity of pain sensitivity is an athlete who will endure tremendous pain for the sake of winning a contest. A competitive long distance cyclist, for example, will cycle several hundred miles per week for many years for the sake of winning one big race. During this time, not to speak of the race itself, the athlete is bringing upon himself or herself the kind of pain that we might compare to a torture chamber. Yet the athlete, because he or she is attached to the _goal_ rather than the body's comfort, will endure that pain as though it were a mere byproduct of the contest. Their attachment to the body's comfort is minimized by the purpose created for the use of their body.

On the other hand, a competitive cyclist who was determined to avoid pain would not do so well in the race. As soon as feelings of pain or discomfort arose, this biker will slow down or stop to avoid the pain. While the winning cyclist accepts pain as part of the race and thus doesn't focus on it, the slower cyclist is focused upon avoiding pain due to being more attached to their physical body's comfort. Although the winner's body might feed back more pain signals, the winning cyclist will not focus on these because of their stronger attachment to winning the race, and their subsequent unattachment to the physical pain.

Another example of the relative effect of pain is self-mutilation. In modern society, there are now millions of kids who self-inflict their bodies. They do this with razors, knives, pins and other painful tools. Surveys on self-mutilation reveal that kids do this in response to their feelings of frustration and emptiness with the world around them. Many sense a feeling of numbness, and through mutilation, they hope to achieve a connection to reality (which does not work of course).

In reviewing many of these cases, we discover that kids will say when they self-inflict they do not feel much pain. They are more attached to filling their emptiness than they are to their bodies at that moment. Proving this point, many of these same kids will say that if they were to have an accident or minor injury, they will feel more pain—unlike the muted pain they felt during their self-mutilating. When they return to their more "normal" attachment to their bodies, they return to being more sensitive to pain.

It is surely an absurdity to most adults who can't understand why someone would inflict pain upon themselves, as most of us normally avoid physical pain. Some people feel the same about athletes like long-distance runners, cyclists, rugby players, or boxers. Some would feel that these people are insane to inflict such pain upon their bodies. However, these athletes and self-mutilators are simply focused upon achieving objectives they have become attached to, so their attachment to their physical bodies during these contests or episodes decreases.

The bottom line is that pain is relative to our attachment to our body and the specific goals we set up for using our body. _Physical pain does not actually touch the living being, who is nonphysical and transcendental to the body._ Just as the demolition derby car driver can disconnect and walk away from his crashed-up car without a scratch, the actual living being can disconnect with the physical body and its various pains and sufferings. This disconnection can be partially achieved through the attachment to certain goals outside the comfort of our bodies. It can also take place at death, when we are forcibly detached from our body. Or it can be accomplished more completely through transcendental activities of our actual identity. In other words, we are only affected by the pains of our physical body relative to our attachment and practical application to it.

Attachment to the physical body is due to our intent to be the enjoyer of it. As we desire to enjoy through a particular body, we become attached to it. With this attachment, we begin to identify with the body—confusing it with our self. In the same way, if a person wants to use their car for a long road trip or to impress their friends, then they will become more attached to the car and thus sensitive to any little scratch or damage to the engine.

There is a deeper reason for pain.

Our constitutional position is related to the Supreme Person and this physical world is His creation. We all strive to exchange loving relationships and so does the Supreme Person. Loving relationships require choice. For those of us who choose not to engage in a loving relationship with the Supreme Person, He has created a facility enabling us to be away from Him. How else could we get away from Someone like the Supreme Being?

A child becomes angry at one of his parents. He says that he wants the parent to go away. Since it is the parent's house, the parent is not going away. Yet the parent must find a way to accommodate the child's desire for independence. So the parent builds a tree house in the back yard, and explains to the child that this fort is the child's private area. The fort is a space the parent created to give the child his own little world to play in. This gives the child the perception of independence, though the fort is still part of the parent's property.

This is a typical response of any loving parent, because no one feels comfortable forcing themselves upon another person while expecting to exchange a meaningful relationship. This is an innate, widely accepted practice in any true relationship. Love cannot be slavery, and slavery cannot be love.

In the same way this parent wanted the child to have a feeling of independence; the Supreme Being has given us a temporary world in which we can play while ignoring His existence. Not only does He give us this virtually independent world, but he also gives us the freedom to make our own choice about whether we want to come back and love Him again.

Our Friend allows us this perception of independence, but this is not our constitutional position. We simply are not happy being away from Him. This is the _actual_ pain and suffering of the living being. We get a chance to try so many different concoctions in different physical bodies, all in an attempt to enjoy separately from Him. Unfortunately, these all end in disaster: We fail miserably at becoming independently happy.

Our Best Friend does not want us to suffer like this. He wants us to be happy—not shriveling as we are in loneliness, away from Him. So not only has He given us this place of independence to act out our desires, but He has _rigged it_ in such a way to allow us to learn (but only if we want to) that we cannot be happy without Him. Thus, while we might consider the pain and suffering of the world to be errors in the design of creation, they are in fact, perfectly designed to help us to grow and evolve towards our constitutional state of happiness.

Consider that discipline creates a learning experience. When we teach children, we notice that usually both positive reinforcement and negative experiences create learning scenarios. Both positive feedback and negative feedback are natural teaching tools to any living being, and that is why parents utilize this approach with children. Disciplinary measures like _timeout,_ _being grounded,_ _losing privileges,_ and _logical consequences_ are used by parents to show a child that certain actions are simply not acceptable. At the same time, however, positive actions are reinforced with praises and rewards. Positive and negative experiences can teach us which decisions are good for us and which decisions may not be good for us. If we only had positive feedback, we could never realize how bad decisions were harmful for us.

There is a definite difference between _punishment_ and _discipline._ In punishment, a person may be forced to _pay for_ an action, without regard to any redemption or learning experience. The punishment for the action is also often arbitrary and unrelated to the actual action, and it thus is considered unfair:

A child was caught throwing food at the dinner table. His father punished him with a painful spanking. The spanking was unrelated to the activity of throwing food. It was also arbitrary, and probably didn't teach the child anything other than the fact that there will be violent punishment for doing this action.

Discipline on the other hand, is an _intentional_ process of specifically enabling a clear understanding of the consequences of taking that particular action, allowing the person to truly learn why that action should not be taken:

Another child at another dinner table also was caught throwing food. His father made the boy pick up all the food, wash all the walls, and wash the floors. This consequence is related to the damage the boy made when he threw the food. This enables the boy to experience the direct result of what happens when food is thrown, increasing the likelihood of the boy learning from the discipline.

The system in this world is _discipline,_ not _punishment._ If we look around us at the various consequences related to the decisions we make while in this physical world, it is obvious that the facility of cause and effect is perfectly tuned to enable us to specifically experience and correct the various decisions we made and actions we took. We can see this day-to-day system working all around us. We are constantly being put into the situations we cause; allowing us to experience the results of our prior actions. Although some of us may not be able to see why some suffer more than others during their lot in physical life, once we open the picture up to multiple physical embodiments, we can understand how one lifetime can be set up to perfectly reflect and discipline us for prior decisions made in prior physical lifetimes.

Again, painful events are not actually touching the transcendental person. They may certainly affect the living being who is attached to their body. This effect might be compared to a video game character:

A child's video game character is attacked by some giant video creatures during a video game quest. The assault results in the video game character getting his head chopped off. The child loses some game points. When the child's mother calls her for dinner, she turns off the game and heads for the dinner table.

Though they do not actually touch _us_ , the pains we feel physically are created by our desire to enjoy independently. The temporary physical pains and sufferings in the world are caused by the decisions each one of us has made and the actions each one of us has taken which continue our need for learning. When we, seeking to enjoy independently, cause pain to other living organisms in some way, our virtual physical bodies in turn will experience—at some point in the future if not immediately—that very same temporary physical pain.

That enables us to learn through these virtual selves. Using the analogy of the tree house, we might build the tree house for our child but if they damaged it—especially if they did something they know would damage it—then the parents would probably establish the rule that the child had to make this repair himself. This will help the child understand the consequences of breaking something. Although the parent may not think that the tree house was in itself such a big deal, they would consider the situation an important learning experience. They would feel that the child's fixing it would teach the child the principle of the event: the _moral_.

If we carefully analyze the world we live in, we can see particular consequences for our every decision and action. Sometimes the consequences are positive. When we help someone, it creates an atmosphere of helping others. Others will readily help us when needed as a result. On the other hand, some consequences are negative. If we steal, for example, we will have to suffer jail time. If we murder, our own body may be executed as a result.

If we create painful experiences for others, we will receive painful experiences at some point in the future. Once we begin connecting our actions and decisions with their consequences, we learn. This is the powerful and intelligent aspect of the Supreme Being's perfect yet temporary physical realm of learning.

We all experience relative amounts of pain and suffering because of our attachment to our physical bodies and our mistaken goal of being enjoyers. Other circumstances of the physical world—death, disease, old age, and so on—are also functional, fundamental aspects of our temporary world. Why?

We are wanted back.

If this temporary physical dimension was nothing but fun and pleasure, we could play all day with His stuff without learning anything. We would eventually forget Him altogether and be lost in the cycle of birth and death forever, shriveling away in loneliness and emptiness.

We would never get a chance to reclaim our real identities, and never again experience the joy of our loving relationship with our Best Friend. Without pain, we would never be prompted to remember our actual transcendental existence, the world where we exchange love with the Supreme Person and His other playmates—our fellow living beings. Why would the Supreme Person, who wants to exchange a relationship with us, create a world where we would permanently forget His existence? If our child wanted a little independence, would we send him away to a foreign country and forget him for the rest of our lives? Of course not. We would want him back in the house after he has played in his fort for the afternoon.

Pain and suffering exist in this virtual world as signals to teach us that this place is not our home. We must remember that physical pain and suffering do not happen to _me,_ which is why we can so easily forget physical pains of the past.

It is not that the Supreme Person wants us to suffer. Rather, the physical pains that irritate our physical attachments serve to teach us that this physical shell is not our real identity. The arrangement of painful responses to selfish activities is set up by Our Friend to encourage us to re-examine our existence, and consider starting the journey back home to Him. He wants us home because He knows that is the only way we will be happy.

***

Conclusion: Pain and suffering do not actually touch the living being, who is transcendental to the physical body. The living being's attachment to the body and the desire to enjoy fleeting pleasures separately from the Supreme Being is the cause of pain and suffering. Ultimately, the reason for the existence of all the discomforts and complications of the physical world are to signal to us that this is not our home. The Supreme Person has set up this system to remind us of our true nature and that we will only be happy once we assume our actual identity as His loving servants.

### Essay Eleven

# Love versus Hell

A young man was hired as a camp counselor for the summer. He arrived by car at the camp deep in the woods, and was greeted by the camp's owner. The owner was a mild-mannered, polite yet warm and smiling gentleman. "Have a good night's rest in our guest cabin for the night and we'll give you the grand tour tomorrow. Then we'll give you the choice of where you want to work this summer," he said courteously.

The next morning the young man walked with the owner around the campgrounds. He discovered that there was not one camp, but actually two. They decided to tour one camp that day and the other the next day. During the morning they began the tour of the first camp. This was a large camp with beautiful and well-maintained cabins, a large swimming hole, a waterfall with various streams, a playground with baseball field, tennis courts, basketball courts and a host of recreational equipment. The young man found this camp full of happy kids and happy counselors. The kids seemed to be playing most of the day, moving from one fun recreation to another. They were laughing, hooting, playing tag, telling jokes and every one of them seemed to wear a huge grin. The owner and the counselors all joined in the fun, engaging in water fights, pickup stickball and other games. When it was time to eat, everyone was very comfortable eating together at the picnic tables. They laughed it up and had fun, all the while keeping good manners. He noticed distinctly how they passed around the food, checking to see that everyone got enough to eat. No one went hungry here, and they were all in good health and spirits. In the evening they sat together around the campfire telling stories and laughing. The owner played guitar and they performed sing-a-longs. As the owner took the young man through the camp that day he explained how he loves to take part in the activities. The kids all adored him and he was usually one of the first to be it when they played tag. The kids didn't relate to the owner as an adult. They played with him as though he was one of them.

After another deep sleep in the guest cabin, the young man was awakened by the owner at dawn. "Are you ready to see the other camp today?" he courteously asked, as the young man rubbed the sleet from his eyes.

"Yes, I'm ready" the young man said. "Yesterday was so much fun, I can't wait to start."

"Today will unfortunately not be as fun," the owner said sadly.

As they walked through the woods over to the second camp, one of the first things the young man noticed was that the cabins didn't look so nice. Some look blackened, as though they had caught fire and been put out before being burnt down. Others looked ransacked, with gaping holes, missing doors and broken windows. He saw paths scattered around these unsightly cabins, and they had a smell of rotting flesh. He felt immediately sickened by the smells and sights of parts of the camp. There was disarray everywhere—old toys, rusty bikes and other trash strewn all over the grounds. Nevertheless it was breakfast time and the young man was hungry for a good meal.

As they entered the mess hall of the second camp the young man quickly lost his appetite. He was repulsed by the rioting and chaos inside. Kids were screaming at the top of their lungs; fighting; jumping on tables; cursing at one another; throwing food at each other and acting completely out of control. Camp counselors were trying to control the kids, but the kids didn't seem to be listening. They were angry at each other and the camp counselors. Screeching, screaming matches overwhelmed the noise. He saw kids even screaming at the counselors. He noticed that while a few kids were overweight, many kids were not getting enough food. There seemed to be plenty of food to go around, but a few of the stronger and heavier kids seemed to be controlling the food distribution. They sat together in a corner of the mess hall, surrounded by a row of kids to guard them, chomping and slurping down their over-stacked plates of food. Outside of this group, the kids were all fairly skinny, and a few even looked as though they were starving.

When breakfast was over, the kids burst out of the mess hall doors and ran out onto the play area. The young man and the owner followed them. The camp counselors were screaming instructions, but no one seemed to be listening to or following them. The young man was repulsed at how trashed the play yard was. It looked more like a junk yard. He also couldn't help noticing that instead of playing fun games, these kids were mostly fighting each other. They formed sides—the bigger kids against the skinnier ones—and they held violent fights. Around these fights, crowds of kids gathered, some cheering the skinny side, but most cheering the big ones. The counselors weren't able to break any of this up because the kids formed organized barriers between them and the counselors.

After seeing all this, the young man asked to leave the second camp. He'd had enough. As they walked back through the woods to the first camp, the young man asked the owner how this camp became that way and why it was so out of control.

"First of all it is not out of control," the owner said with a humble smile. "There are very strict rules that we enforce, which the kids may not be aware of. Then many of the rules are established by the kids themselves, but we watch those carefully and disband them when they get out of hand. Even the big kids are under control. We've set it up as an automatic process. Those that beat up on others or take advantage of others will get their privileges taken away, which put them into a less-protected situation, leading to their eventually being punished by the kids they had beat up on. Since there is always this changeover, the kids themselves exert the punishment. The appearance of the cabins is a result of the kids' actions themselves.

Fixing the cabins is their responsibility. I supply enough materials for them to easily repair everything. We will demolish and rebuild every so often, but they only destroy everything again. The trashiness of the play area is their doing. They destroy it with their various fights and battles over turf. Most of the kids are angry at each other most of the time, and I can't do anything about that. We try to give them enough food to eat and a good place to sleep, but they prefer to rip things apart. The way we set up the rules, they have to maintain the camp. We will help them, but we're not going to do it for them."

"How and why are these kids here?" the young man asked as they walked.

"Each of these kids originally came to the first camp," the owner explained. "In the first camp I have a personal relationship with each child, and we enjoy sharing, giving and having fun. But sometimes, because I like to play with the kids personally, a kid will get jealous of me and want to take control and act like the owner. They may start ordering others around; maybe even start fights, steal, or do other things that offend everyone. They will eventually get to a point where they want privileges that only I have as the owner. Of course I am saddened by this, but they want it their way. So they are put into the second camp, as they don't belong here with us. There they can play owner all they want, because they won't see me around. The can act out being the boss all they want in the second camp. They don't have me around to remind them that they aren't the boss either. But I've set it up so they learn as well. They hopefully learn how to act right and be part of a loving, giving group again."

"How do kids in second camp get back to the first camp?" asked the young man as they neared the entrance of the first camp.

"Any kid can come back if he learns from his or her mistakes and wants to come back and join us again. If a kid wants to share and have fun without hurting others, and decides to accept that I am the camp owner and they are not, they are on the right track. Usually a kid will need to prove to me or one of my counselors that they truly want to change before I begin to help them personally," he said. "If they show me that they are serious about coming back to the first camp, I and my counselors will spend time with them and show them how they can learn to come back. If they are serious, I make sure they make it back to our fun-loving camp again."

"Do you ever spend time in the second camp?" the young man said as they finally re-entered the first camp.

"Occasionally I will disguise myself and go over there to see if I can influence some of the kids to come back to the first camp," he said. "I will also go over there to spend time with my counselors. And I'm always sending over counselors and kids from the first camp to try to persuade the kids to come back. As for my preference, I really like engaging in the first camp's activities because we always have fun and everyone shares everything. The kids in the second camp are always fighting over everything. They don't like to share, and they think that everything belongs to them. They are jealous of me. They are too greedy to have fun with. So I leave them over there to hopefully learn their lessons, yet am always eager for them to decide they want to come back."

By this time they had returned to the first camp office. Of course it was now time for the young man to indicate where he wanted to work for the summer. After listening to all this and sitting down thoughtfully, the young man made his choice. "I would like to work in the second camp this summer," the young man firmly stated. "Maybe I can help those kids somehow."

Hell is a big concern in our society.

There are so many references to the existence of hell among various writings and discussions. Many teachers discuss the possibility of going to hell should one not act _'good_ ' in this life. As a result, the fear and avoidance of hell is oftentimes the reason a person begins to attend a church, mosque or temple. A person threatened with eternal suffering in a hellish atmosphere will often react with fear and repentance. Not many of us want to end up in such a place.

It is taught that hell is a place of suffering: a place of anguish and unhappiness. It is taught that hell is a place where misery, sadness, pain, and suffering exist. Hell is said to be a place of heat and fire. Popular depictions of hell show people chained up in red-hot, fiery dungeons with monstrous horned devils, usually red in color, torturing those who are chained up. There is usually a lot of screaming going on, and the people there are enduring intense pain.

We think we are in a good place now.

As many of us consider the hellish regions, we distinguish hell from our current state of existence. Most of us consider that now we are in a _good_ place, and if we don't play our cards right, we'll end up in that _bad_ place.

But what about the various miseries, pain, and emptiness existing here on this planet? Are these parts of the good place? What should we call the state of existence where one is dying of starvation in a remote third world country? What is the state where someone lives in a barren desert, scratching for every drop of water? What should we call it when someone is locked up in a closet by lunatic parents and beaten or raped throughout their childhood? What shall we call the situation when one is condemned as insane and locked up in a mental institution—tied down to their bed and given drugs that cause horrendous ghoulish nightmares? What shall we call it when someone is jailed in a small cell as a criminal in a place dominated by violence and rape? What would we call the situation where a person is locked in a dark cell and tortured as a political prisoner by a violent regime?

Would not it make sense to consider that these states of painful existence might be described as being hellish? Most of us don't relate with these states as actually being _hell_ however. It would seem that these sufferings are not in the right physical location to be called hell. Possibly each of these tortures did not occur in a hot-enough or red-enough place to be called hell. Perhaps because we don't see any horned people or fiery dungeons around these situations, we can't identify them as hell.

How about the rest of us, living more average lives here in our modern society?

Our sufferings begin in the womb.

The reality is that the physical body each of us wears is designed to continually feed back discomfort and pain. Our bodies begin by forming in a hostile environment—the womb. We find ourselves trapped inside this dark womb for many months. Research and various types of observation have revealed that not only do babies feel pain in the womb, but they are extremely sensitive to physical sensation. The slightest of jolts can create a painful experience that can only be expressed by recoiling or trying to adjust, as babies in the womb will do. It has also been explained that various organisms like bacteria and yeasts will come in contact with the baby, irritating the baby's new skin.

When our bodies are pushed out of the womb at birth we immediately cry because of the harshness of the physical environment both inside and outside the womb. Yes, our bodies are born in pain, expressed by the screaming cries of a newborn baby. Of course, most of us do not remember this excruciating experience.

We suffer within the childhood body.

Throughout childhood, we must adapt to a harsh physical reality. Our bodies undergo various physical aches, pains, and diseases, with a few hugs and positive neurochemical spurts in between. There is even a common expression— _'growing pains'_ —which refer to some of this. Feelings of intense hunger alternate with teething, bloating, gas, fever, nausea, mumps, measles, and other childhood maladies. A dose or two of laughter and a few games only provide us short breathers. Even innocent games can easily turn competitive and hostile however, as children can often be hurtful and callous towards one another. In between a few doses of "fun" games like _dodge ball,_ our childhood suffers more physical pain combined with mental anguish caused by siblings, other playmates, and parents, over which we have little or no control.

We often cry as children because we are either in some kind of pain, or simply feeling frustrated with our situation. Crying seems to do little to alleviate the pain and frustration we feel. It might bring us a little attention—which we crave—but not always the type of attention we were looking for. We are not able to do much to change things, though we desperately try, winning a few slight victories here and there as we throw a few tantrums. Many of us will learn to cry for affection as we strive to be loved. Our parents may figure this means we want another toy or bottle of milk. After being given these things often enough, we may start to think that perhaps this physical stuff is what we need too.

Once our bodies grow a little, we are thrust into school, which feels more like prison. This experience results in new kinds of pain. Most of the other kids are as miserable as we are, and as a result we struggle with each other, fighting for pecking order and attention. Some kids might want to physically fight with us or want to compete over petty disagreements. Our childhood soon becomes a race of which kid can get others to like or even fear them the most. Or we may struggle just to fit in. Meanwhile we must deal with strict or even seemingly unfair teachers who may get angry with us if we talk out of turn or otherwise act out our frustrations.

As our bodies grow older, we are introduced to new types of pain. Middle and high school opens an entirely new level of greed among our classmates. Sports and other activities, which bring attention to successful children, bring out stiff competition, often leading to violence and discrimination as kids jostle to win. As we age, new stresses are added: The pressure to get good grades, qualify for a good college, and choose a career is added onto our list of things to do. As a result, we are forced to spend many hours each day memorizing facts and figures in order to pass exams (not that these aren't good learning experiences).

Meanwhile we experience so many heartaches, bouts of loneliness, growing pains and the feeling of being trapped. Fights with parents can get worse, as our parents don't seem to understand us. Between the pressures of fitting in with our schoolmates and pleasing our parents, we find ourselves strung between two worlds, as we attempt to figure out our place in society. _"What do you want to be when you grow up?"_ is the common question we're supposed to have an instant answer for. These various pressures combine, leading to various physical and emotional anxieties. On top of this, we must deal with various forms of discipline from our parents. Some parents may be worse than others. For those who escape physical and mental parental abuse, there is a host of other types of bullying; with siblings or schoolyard bullies ready to inflict physical and mental punishment upon us. It is no wonder many teenagers in western society are on various medications; are depressed and/or suicidal; or are developing perversions such as self-mutilation.

We suffer within the adult body.

As we graduate into adulthood, another level of suffering emerges. We now must figure out how to survive on our own in a competitive adult world. In the world of physical survival, there are so many people who make a living out of scamming or otherwise taking advantage of us. The free market system is set up to allow the bullies of society to con or otherwise take advantage of the weaker, nicer people. In some places, we see wealthy corporations capitalizing on the efforts of children and poor adults to make clothing and other goods for wealthier people. We also still see people being bought and sold as though they were commodities in some parts of the world. Active slavery isn't as prevalent as it was just a half-century ago, but there are still subtle forms of it in many societies. While wealthy people can make one million dollars during one phone call, others may make a few cents or a few dollars per day toiling in drastic factory conditions, or laboring on industrial sized farms choked with pesticides. While some gorge themselves on super-sized meals, people in many parts of the third world are lucky if they can get a bowl of rice for the entire day. Oh, what a wonderful world we live in?

Regardless of where we live, and upon which economic level we stand, we experience an increasing level of discomfort and pain as our bodies get older. None of us makes it through adulthood without our bodies repeatedly getting extremely sick. Most adult bodies get multiple colds and/or flu viruses each year. No one—not even those with the healthiest of bodies—is spared from illness at some point. The hospitals are constantly lined with sick people, suffering in pain and agony from either disease or injury.

Almost everyone ends up in the hospital at some point in their physical lives. There are thousands of different illnesses we can contract in our lifetimes. Medical books are thick with the various illnesses, and each sickness creates its own special form of misery. Illnesses are directly related to our past or recent past activities, and there is little a person with a physical body can do to avoid some of them. Escaping illness in our physical lifetime—though modern medicine tries heroically—is not possible. Our physical body is designed to be inflicted.

We face physical and environmental stresses.

In addition to the various pains associated with illness, there are many other stressors that affect us throughout our lives, causing us various degrees of discomfort and pain. The environmental stress brought on by the transcendental living being in the physical dimension—outside of its natural condition—is stressful alone. Is there any place on the planet we are truly comfortable? Some of us think that a tropical island is a perfect location for our body. However even tropical places have their environmental problems: Mosquitoes; horrible rainy seasons which can result in floods or hurricanes; and hot, humid jungles that cause the body to sweat through the day and night are just a few issues tropical regions deal with. Meanwhile the rest of the world deals with varying degrees of frigid wintertime temperatures rotating with muggy hot summers, and two short-lived breaks of moderate weather between these two extremes. Add to this various human-created environmental problems including air pollution, water pollution, overcrowding, noise pollution and so many other stressful conditions _we've_ created in our modern society.

We face psychological stresses too.

Meanwhile most of us deal with many psychological stresses of living in a materialistic society: Stresses associated with hassles from our bosses or people we work with or people who may want to outmaneuver us or gain authority over us. Stresses associated with competing with other businesspeople who wish that we were out of business. Stresses associated with neighbors who disturb us. Stresses associated with disagreements or controversies between friends or family members. Stresses related to crime and violence, which occur around us on a daily basis. It seems the physical world delivers an unending parade of one stress after another. As soon as we think we have escaped one kind of stress, another arises. Then when we are exhausted from all the stress, other forms of suffering will arrive to break the monotony.

Intermittent relief is only fleeting.

In between so many of these pains and stresses are short bursts of positive neurochemical vibrations; so brief that we are not even sure if they are truly pleasurable. They may better be described as _relief_ than pleasure. These brief episodes of neurochemistry allow us to temporarily forget all the stresses and pains for a minute or two. Once forgetting pain and stress shortly, our focus becomes repeating and maximizing these brief neurochemical flashes. A good example of this is the sexual orgasm. The orgasm is something that many humans _live for_. Many humans strive for the sexual orgasm throughout their sexually active lives, continually seeking that momentary rush of neurochemistry. Humans will struggle for many years—enduring many hardships—to arrange their lives in such a way that will attract the opposite sex. Humans may even sacrifice their reputations and the health of their bodies to achieve this momentary urge.

Getting to the orgasm with a partner is not an easy task either. First one must find a willing partner, which can take years if not months or weeks of determined searching and dating. Through the process of finding a willing partner, we may endure painful confrontations, the pains of breakup, and many other forms of rejection. Then to get to the organism—assuming we have found a willing partner—we must partake in various forms of ritual and foreplay. These rituals and foreplay can take time, and if not done just so, the whole thing can be ruined. It is a tightrope scenario. One slip-up—a bad joke, ill-timed flatulence, or the wrong moves—could easily ruin the whole occasion and lead to embarrassment and pain. After all of this effort, the culmination—the actual orgasm—will only last for a few seconds, and for some it may not happen at all. Should the orgasm come, all the built-up expectations and anticipation will immediately be over—leaving an experience of _letdown_ due to our expectation of fulfillment. Afterwards, the flow of neurochemistry might surge through the body for a few minutes as the bodies collapse with fatigue. This is typically followed by physical drowsiness and a nap, a smoke or something to eat. Why so quick to move on to another attempted fleeting pleasure? Isn't the most sought after part of physical life satisfying? No. This is because the sexual organism is: 1) only fleeting; and 2) not satisfying to the transcendental living being.

Often this entire effort only leads to additional suffering. Should the man not perform well, he will be embarrassed and anxious, as his reputation becomes damaged. Should one of the partners have a sexual disease, the other partner will suffer from an often excruciating experience requiring drugs and possibly even resulting in protracted diseases such as AIDS or herpes. The event can also result in an _unwanted child_. This can lead to a whole new array of pain and suffering with unwanted children in the mix _._

Our attempts at other physical pleasures can be even more fleeting. The pleasures of eating good tasting foods, getting toys or other physical possessions will only bring brief sensual/neurochemical flashes. They may be anticipated for many hours, days, or weeks in advance, but they will often be accompanied by struggle and frustration. They will usually be preceded by hard work, planning, anxieties, and other struggles. Typically our plan for the acquisition is never what we envisioned, causing frustration in itself. Then once the brief _capture_ is over, we are usually surprised that it did not deliver any fulfillment. Then we are stuck having to clean up the mess—the fallout. This stage can often be the most miserable, because not only does it require work with nothing to look forward to, but by this time we usually regret the whole acquisition because it wasn't satisfying and thus was a waste of time. All this work and anxiety is in vain, as these anxious attempts to acquire pleasure do not actually deliver any.

We live in constant fear and anxiety.

Most of us live our lives in constant fear. As children, we may be afraid of the bogeyman. Then we may be afraid of schoolyard bullies. Then we may be afraid of gangsters. Then we may be afraid of being embarrassed. Then we may be afraid of losing money. Then we may be afraid of getting sick or injured. Then we may be afraid of dying. Fear drives so many of our actions and consciousness during our physical lifetimes. Fear can easily overwhelm someone with anxiety, as we may ponder our temporary, frail physical situation.

We typically alternate between three key anxieties in physical life: First, we are anxious about getting something we desire. Once obtaining it, we are anxious that we might lose it. Then, once we lose it—which we inevitably will—we are anxious with regret over having lost it.

Consider the other bodies that fellow living beings occupy on this planet such as animals, insects, birds and fish. Most live in a constant and desperate state of fear for their lives, evidenced by their quick motions of the head and constant watchful eyes. Most organisms deal with multiple threats from various other organisms. Many are faced with terrifying situations: A bug is faced with monstrous creatures of all kinds that can immediately crush it. A mouse is faced with gigantic cats with sharp teeth that can chase it down and devour its body on the spot. A rabbit is faced with giant hawks, wolves, foxes and other beasts that can ambush it, ravishing its body within minutes.

We face similar frightening scenarios, many caused not by other animals, but caused by our own technology. Machines humans have made have become extremely frightening, for example. An automobile, plane, or train will move so fast that we are literally on the edge of death, and the simplest of interruptions—such as a deer in the road—can instantly cause a nightmarish and disfiguring accident if not death. Other threats we can thank our modern scientists for include various dangerous medications, genetic mutation, electromagnetic radiation, pesticides, toxic waste, air pollution and global warming. These created threats of ours more than replace any of the protection technology may have afforded us from natural predators like bears or lions (which still threaten us after all our technology).

Then there is the loneliness.

The most brutal part of living in this physical environment is the loneliness. As we pretend to enjoy relating to all our friends and relatives, underneath we all experience a tremendous amount of pain. Why? Because we are lonely. We feel alone here in this physical world, where everyone is out for themselves. We feel alone in this place where others seem to be doing just fine while inside we feel empty. We feel alone in this world even when we are surrounded by friends. We feel alone when we discover that our friends are not real friends, but merely are _convenient_ acquaintances. We feel alone when the family we depended upon either breaks up, goes away, or bickers all the time. We feel alone when we see others, who seem to be surrounded by family and friends, commit suicide.

Then death comes knocking.

Just as we may start to figure out how to adapt to this hostile environment and become attached to the things and people around us, we are yanked away from it all forcefully by death. Death rages in without notice to remove all of our attachments: our family, our house, our car, our wealth or lack thereof—everything—is taken like a thief in the night.

Death not only creates a dread within every living being who has become attached to their physical body, but it causes tremendous misery associated with others dying and leaving us. We may become attached to family members, friends or spouse during our lives, and regardless of these attachments—regardless of how tight we try to hold onto them—they will be snatched from us by death. Either death will snatch _us_ away first, or death will snatch _them_ away first. Regardless, it is a miserable experience for all who become attached. Some like to pretend to have joyous burials and wakes full of remembrance for the living being that passed. Regardless of these masquerades, we cannot deny that death delivers a brutal punch, creating the ultimate in sorrows and regrets. This event serves to cap off our _"wonderful"_ life within our physical body.

Where is the line between hell and not hell?

The logical question is not only whether this is hell, but which of these miseries is _not_ hellish? Is the constant state of alternating anxiety, illness, injury, sadness, anger, frustration, hate, loneliness, violence, and fear bad enough to be considered hell? What should we call the state of being where one feels that he or she doesn't have a real friend in the world? What is the state where everyone around us seems to only want to use us or even hurt us? Are these physical and psychological scenarios, experienced over the length of a physical lifetime, somehow not hellish enough to classify this lifetime as hell?

When all of the various pains are looked at one after another, with the added bonus of possible extreme physical pain from torture, violence, or starvation, wouldn't it make sense to describe this planet and the physical bodies that occupy it as part of hell? Or does the fleeting absence of physical pain or brief neurochemical surge now and again qualify this world as being better than hell? And if it is above hell, how far above hell is it?

Sorry, but this is hell.

Yes, we are in hell now. To varying degrees, each of us is suffering in hell. Some of us live in a worse hell than others, however. Some of us—especially those living in lower forms of life—are living in a brutally more hellish hell than we are. A living being subjected to living inside of a physical body designed to constantly experience various levels of pain mixed with fleeting physical relief is most certainly hellish. The level of pain and attachment may vary from person to person or species to species, but suffering is a constant of this physical planet. In fact, "burning" is a good description of the various sufferings of this world. We've all heard someone describe a particular pain as a "burning pain." We have also heard of situations where someone is "burning with anger," or "burning with desire." The "burning fire" of material existence can range from these physical pains to the suffering related to the various stresses of the world and the heated nature of selfish competition, violence, and psychological torture. Although there are hellish planets worse than ours we are, to one degree or another, _'burning in hell'_ right here on this planet.

There is no way the body can escape physical pain. Pain can be lessened, however. We can decide to try not to _cause_ as much pain, which will result in less pain coming back to us. A simple display of this effect is when we cause others pain, others tend to defend themselves against us; an act that is sure to inflict pain on our own bodies. Thus, by being less aggressive and more caring we will receive less pain. This is the way the physical world has been designed. There is a price for any selfish action. If we decide we want to try to control others for example—utilizing some sort of governorship or business ownership: this will require us to pay a price for the opportunity and the results of such leadership. If we want to become comfortable at the expense of others' comforts, there will be an eventual cost for that, too.

Increased pain follows increased desires. If we do not desire much, we will not have as much pain. We simply are not out there overcoming difficulties to reach so many physical aspirations. A person satisfied with the current physical situation will experience less complication because there is less effort put out to get more. Though it is impossible not to create reaction to keep the body going, we can surely minimize the complications of life by keeping things as simple as possible.

Withdrawing is only a temporary fix.

A practice some propose to transcend this painful world is for us to withdraw our attachments to the world by not desiring anything. However, methods that attempt to eliminate desire will not solve the problem permanently. The living being is perpetually active, and must be attached to _something_ (or stated more correctly, _someone)._ The living being cannot simply disconnect from desire.

Rather than try to withdraw and disconnect from everything, our solution is to become re-attached to the Supreme Person. This is our natural constitution, and the only way that we can permanently become detached from this hellish environment. Becoming attached to the Supreme Person solves a number of problems: Because He will protect and deliver us from suffering we can depend upon Him. Because He is our Best Friend, we no longer need to experience the distress of loneliness. Because He is always there for us to console us, we do not have to be concerned with any future stresses of the physical world. Because He is from the transcendental world, we can transcend our various physical miseries by focusing our senses, efforts, and results towards Him simply by giving our lives to Him. By becoming attached to the Supreme Person, the various anxieties caused by being attached to these physical bodies will evaporate.

Our situation is a reflection of ourselves.

The physical body is a vehicle for the living being. It becomes an attachment because the living being wanted to be separated from the Supreme Person—and try to enjoy the way He does. The reason a living being wants to be separate from the Supreme Being is because we've become envious of Him. Due to this enviousness—combined with our constitutional need to be attached to something—we became attached to a temporary physical body. This attachment leads us to identify with this temporary body. The result is our attempt to enjoy an existence away from the Supreme Person. The physical body is simply a tool designed for that purpose. It is the vehicle we use to attempt to set up a virtual universe under our command—where we could play lord and have others respect and serve us.

Although we attempt to adjust this perfect virtual world for our enjoyment, it is designed to reflect our desires to enjoy right back at us: Like a grand mirror, all of our greed, lust and selfishness are reflected right back at us with our bodies and our circumstances. It is easy to see that without the selfish activities of its inhabitants, this physical environment could be a lot more hospitable. If the living beings who occupied bodies were kind and giving, many of the hells of the planet would not exist. But then again, if we weren't selfish and greedy, we wouldn't be here in the first place. We wouldn't have a need to scramble with the other selfish people for crumbs of emptiness. We would have no need to take on physical bodies and struggle with the rest of the inhabitants of hell. We would not have wanted to be away from the Supreme Person.

Selfishness never brings happiness for a reason.

If we accept that we are all ultimately seeking happiness and yet we are not happy because of living selfishly, we can realize that living in an unselfish manner is our actual nature. In fact, most of us feel happiest when we care for and do something for someone else, whether it is for someone close to us or simply a charitable act for someone we do not know.

The deep-seated sense of joy we feel when we help or care for others indicates that our natural identity is tied to service rather than selfish behavior. It is not a coincidence that unselfish behavior often relieves pain for our fellow living beings. What we probably don't see is that unselfish behavior also relieves our own pain, replacing it with a subtle state of joy. The fact that unselfish acts benefit not only us but others reveals that our natural constitution is more related to being a servant and a giver than a self-centered, greedy enjoyer. It is actually this drive for selfish enjoyment that is at the root of the "place" called hell.

We have created our own hell.

We may not have intended to live in the type of world we live in now. We may not have intended to live selfish lives within a world of selfish people, some willing to kill one another in order to get what we want. We are often shocked at finding out that some third world regime is causing the starvation and suffering of its own citizens. We wince when we discover that a fellow human has tortured another, or has blown up a building with innocent people inside. These things are shocking to us, but those people who did those horrors do not share our opinion. They do not look too much different than we do. They also eat and sleep just as we do. They also perform their brutal acts feeling justified in some way. They feel they have a valid reason to cause the suffering of others.

Research on criminals has discovered that the overwhelming majority of criminals feel somehow justified in their crimes. They felt they were somehow forced to commit suffering upon other humans. Why is this? Are these people evil while we are not? Are we completely innocent of ever causing the suffering of another, even unintentionally? Quite simply, progressive selfishness causes increased insensitivity for others, maturing at a point where ones selfish concerns outweigh the suffering of others.

We have each created the hell we are in. The world we live in is a reflection of our own past selfishness, which is rooted in our original enviousness of the Supreme Being. The original enviousness of our Best Friend is the cause for our fall into this hellish physical world. The root feeding this hellish tree is our desire to enjoy as the Supreme Being enjoys. This act of _'eating the fruit'_ of this particular tree of envy can also be referred to this as _"the original sin."_

This world was designed for our hopeful recovery from this disease. It was designed perfectly to allow us to hopefully grow and learn that selfishness and enviousness do not make us happy. This world is designed to teach us that only love will satisfy us. To get to that goal, the world is designed to precisely mirror our past behavior and our past consciousness. The extent of our cruelty upon others in turn puts us in precisely the same scenario: In other words, we each reap what we have sown. The reaping hopefully shows us what to sow in the future. When we sow love, we receive love. When we sow hatred, we receive hatred. We may not always receive what we sow immediately; but we do sooner or later. It is a perfect system.

If this diseased root of enviousness were to be cut off, and we were to decide to throw off our enviousness in exchange for a renewed relationship of loving service with the Supreme Person, we might still temporarily physically live in this hell, but it would not matter which body or which world we lived within. The hell within us would be cured. Whatever physical place our body was dwelling in would become surcharged with our new purpose of pleasing our loving Friend. We would effectively transform our current 'space' from hell to heaven, wherever we may be.

So who is the devil?

Those of us who live in the physical world trying to enjoy life without the Supreme Being—who remain envious of the Supreme Person's position as Enjoyer—are each little _'devils.'_ We don't have to bother looking around us for some other culprit: _we_ are the culprit. It is _our_ enviousness and lust for enjoyment that drives the evil that is done in this world. Oh, but we aren't feeling that we do anything evil or sinful? We might clarify what evil is: _Evil is the nature of acting in a selfish manner._ Selfish acts are defined as activities meant to please _us._ Are we so unselfish that we commit no evil?

Consider the situation in its entirety. Each of us is here in this dimension because we wanted to enjoy separately from Him. This mood established our envy of Him and His enjoyment, and we immediately became subject to illusion. Now that we have become embodied in this physical environment, some now doubt His existence. Some even outwardly proclaim His non-existence, teaching philosophies that deny Him or claim to be Him. Now where again is the devil? As most of us understand, the devil is considered as one who stands against the Supreme Being. How about becoming envious of Him, getting evicted from His kingdom, then questioning His very existence and even proclaiming this to others: Would this not well enough be considered standing against Him?

Once a living being becomes envious and revolts against the will of the Supreme Being, that living being is evicted from the transcendental world of the Supreme Person's inner kingdom. Once we decide that we would rather not lovingly _serve_ Him—wanting to enjoy as He does—we are by that decision removed from the transcendental world and placed into the temporary physical kingdom. We then are allowed to play out our futile desires to enjoy separately, hopefully learning that our true enjoyment is connected to our natural condition of loving service.

The devil/satan is often depicted as a being who tempts or tortures us. As we look around us, we can certainly see that there are many who play these roles quite well in this physical world. In fact, many of _us_ play may play these roles from time to time, knowingly or not. Some may suggest to others—by our dress, actions or communications—things that encourage selfish behavior. Or we may simply wave others on to our selfish behaviors: _"Come to my party and have a great time,"_ a person might say. _"Come have sex with me,"_ another person might say. These are clearly temptations. So what is at the root of these temptations? Are we just innocent players being tossed back and forth between the devil and the Supreme Being? Have we just gotten suckered into some kind of contract with the devil?

In a symbolic way, yes: But _we_ are the root of these temptations and selfish contracts. An example of such a symbolic _contract_ might occur if we were to commit ourselves to achieving a certain selfish goal at a certain price or sacrifice. By sacrificing something to attain that goal, we are establishing a selfish contract, or exchange. At the end of the day, it is _us_ who desire to achieve that selfish goal. It is _us_ who are willing to make the sacrifice to achieve the goal. _We_ are the ones writing the contract.

_We_ are the ones who are trying to enjoy at the expense of others. _We_ are the ones who became envious. If we were not envious, there would _be_ no temptation because we would be putting everything within the context of our relationship with Him.

Temptation cannot touch us if we were focused on our relationship with the Supreme Person because our desires would be connected to His enjoyment. We would recognize that everything in the physical and transcendental world is meant for His enjoyment.

Our hellish world only mirrors us.

The physical world and the physical mind are designed to _mirror_ our enviousness. Our Friend built into this world various systems, which allow us to believe that we _are_ the physical forms we temporarily occupy in order to act out our desires. Therefore, we are given the appropriate facilities to act out these desires: these facilities—our mind, our physical body, and our environment—simply mirror those desires.

Through these facilities and through the design of cause and effect, our desire to enjoy leads us further and further into embodied forms that continue to reflect our desires and previous choices. At the end of the day, all of these forms and facilities reflect who we are, and what we have become. Our body, family, country, groups, and environment all reflect the state of our personal consciousness. They reflect the kind of person we have become.

The facility is also set up to deceive us into believing that this physical world will satisfy us due to our identification with this physical body. Many relate this _facility_ as 'satan' or the 'devil' because this _facility_ serves to keep us in the illusion that we will be happy without our Supreme Friend. Through the forces of this facility, we are led into believing that the _next_ physical thing will satisfy us. Once we get to that _next_ thing, it tells us that the _next_ thing will do it. Repeatedly this facility binds us, as we live out the duration of the prisons our enviousness built around us. However hard we may try to put the blame on the facility, this facility is only acting in response to our desire to try to enjoy the physical world separately from our Best Friend. The facility was set up to _facilitate_ our selfishness.

We may try to appoint another cause for this situation other than us. We may want to pass the blame onto the very system we brought upon ourselves. We might blame this facility—not realizing that our Friend also designed it to help teach us how to get out of it and come home. We should know that we will never graduate out of hell until we realize that we are the cause for our situation. Would we hate someone who handed us a mirror?

Consider simply what we would do if our young child became envious of us and wanted to get away from us. We would probably want to establish a _facility_ where our child could have some independence, but at the same time teach the child to reflect upon him or herself and understand why they are doing what they are doing.

We might say something like _"go to your room and reflect upon what you just said and did."_ We would know that at the end of the day, it is the child who must take a hard look at himself or herself and decide whether that is who they want to be, and whether that activity is truly what they want to be doing. In the same way, _we_ are the ones responsible for being here, and our environment merely mirrors our choices, reflecting the kinds of decisions we have made. Our own rebellion got us here. No one else is at fault. At the end of the day, it is _our_ decision whether we want to turn things around, and resume our actual transcendental condition; or stay in our hell and reflect some more on our choices.

Deep within, we are loving and unselfish.

One of the central lessons of the physical world is that that beneath our temporary illness of envy, we are essentially unselfish and caring at heart. The reason we each have uncertainty, doubt, pain, anxiety, loneliness and suffering is because our actual identities are _not_ selfish and greedy—we are each caring, giving living beings underneath this selfish covering.

Enviousness and selfishness is not our real nature. He knows that. Just as a parent knows a child is only _'acting out'_ while having a _tantrum_ and this is not the child's true nature; the Supreme Person knows that this selfishness is not really _us._ He knows that our actual existence is to be involved in a unique loving and joyous relationship with Him. However, once we had our _tantrum_ and each strayed from our joyous nature, we set up our fall into self-centered existence. From there we created our own living hell by our continued choices.

Consider that the Source of our actual existence is the Perfect Loving Person—always caring, always giving. Since our nature is to be attached, our pure attachment is to our Best Friend. Since our nature is to desire, our actual desire is to please our Best Friend, the Supreme Person. Since our nature is to exchange love, our pure love is to be exchanged with our Best Friend, together with all of His other children.

In our heart of hearts, each of us aims to please someone special with loving service. Who is this someone special? Who ever heard of a loving servant without a beloved master? Who would we lovingly serve if we didn't have a loving Master? A master does not have to be a ruthless dictator. What kind of dictator would offer us a way to escape him and forget him for so long?

This Master of ours is a kind, loving Person who cares for us, and only wants the best for us. We are here only because _we_ wanted to live away from Him. He helped us get away from Him with this temporary physical universe, one which He also designed to teach us that we'd be happier coming back home. It is _we_ who have made this physical world hellish with our selfishness.

Here in this physical world we all live feeling we are round pegs trying to fit into square holes. We are lonely, frustrated; sad much of the time, bored a lot of the time, and unhappy all of the time, regardless of how much _stuff_ we have. Deep inside of all this frustrated self-centeredness, we have a truly unselfish nature. Even though we may perform evil actions out of selfishness, we are still each a saint in our core being.

If we were to focus our naturally unselfish nature towards living with the purpose of loving and serving our Perfect Friend, we would immediately fit the round peg (of our need to love and serve) into the round hole (of transcendental love for our Best Friend). Today, even from this hellish physical world, we can immediately decide to re-establish our original relationship with our Supreme Friend. All we have to do is ask.

Just as the campground owner played with the kids in the first camp, the Supreme Person shares a confidential, transcendental relationship with each of us. Why wouldn't the Supreme Person want to have close relationships with His family? We all love to play and have fun, sharing, and playing games with our family. It is part of our nature. It is part of the Supreme Person's nature too. Loving relationships are _truly_ fun when the Supreme Person is involved.

Noting that the Supreme Person has a deep loving relationship with each of us, yet gives us the choice to decide to leave, we should realize that He does not want us to stay away for long. What kind of friend or lover would not want his friend or lover to return soon?

This hellish physical world is intended to urge us to return home to our Best Friend as quickly as possible so that we can resume our actual existence. The funny thing is, once we resume this joyous relationship, we can be anywhere. We can even still be within the physical world.

When we redevelop our love for God we will _be_ _home,_ because we will have transported the transcendental realm right down here with us through our loving relationship and service to the Supreme Person.

***

Conclusion: _Hell is oftentimes referred to as a place down below, full of fire and brimstone. Hell more accurately describes the situation where the living being has rejected our innate loving relationship with the Supreme Being, being envious of His position. Once the living being makes this decision, the world we occupy simply reflects that original choice, combined with our ongoing choices as we strive to achieve our self-centered agenda._

Our hellish situation mirrors our consciousness because it is designed to help us to grow and hopefully return home to our natural constitution. We belong back home with our Eternal Friend and Beloved, the Supreme Being, in a relationship of loving service. By recognizing our actual transcendental nature, and by realizing that we are empty and alone without our True Friend, we can begin our journey out of our hell of selfishness and find our way back to the world of love.

### Essay Twelve

# The Path to Love

The young boy and his father trudged through the melting mountain snow. They were lost. They had survived a plane crash high on a mountain range. They were now faced with the prospects of icy snow-bound mountains, wild animals, starvation, and frostbite as they attempted to walk the hundreds of miles to the nearest town. They had been walking for two months.

For the first two weeks, they walked together, westward. From his navigation recollection, the man estimated that the closest town was west of where they crashed. So each day for two weeks they followed the sun as it moved into the western sky. After two weeks of walking, the boy became upset at his father. The boy felt that they should be walking the other way. They argued. Then the boy cursed his father and began to run eastward, yelling to his father that he never wanted to see him again. The man, knowing his son would never survive the cold and rugged conditions alone, turned to follow him.

For six weeks, the father followed his son, staying just far enough behind so the son didn't see him. The father carefully walked behind the rocks in the near distance, close enough to fight off a bear or save the boy from falling, but far enough away to stay hidden. At night, the man would sleep behind a rock near where the boy slept, staying awake to protect him from animals. He would also put out food for his son to find. Twice he had to silently kill an approaching animal on behalf of the boy.

By the sixth week, the boy was exhausted and lonely. He regretted getting upset at his father, and wished that his father were still around. He realized too that his father was right: they would have surely found a town by now had they continued westward. After a few more days of loneliness, the boy began to cry out for his father. He even turned and began to walk westward in an attempt to possibly catch up with his dad. The man, remembering his son's curses at him before he took off eastward, stayed hidden but always watching to make sure his son was safe. The man had already forgiven his son; he just wanted to be sure that the boy was ready to reunite with him.

After several days of hearing his son crying out for him, the father became convinced that his son sincerely wanted to be with him again. The man came out from behind a rock and greeted his son. The son and his father hugged long and deep. The son, grateful that his father remained by his side all that time, humbly apologized. Hand in hand, they walked westward together.

All paths do not lead to the same place.

Sometimes we will hear that all paths lead to the same place. Does this make sense though? If we wanted to wind up in Florida and we lived in California, should we head north? If we did, we would end up in Canada or even the North Pole. Despite this obvious point, people still make this statement regarding their transcendental path.

The central issue is whether the path we embark on will ultimately give us the fulfillment we strive for. To travel towards a goal, we must be sure that the path heads in the right direction and ends up at the desired goal.

The first step of the path is to realize our identity.

An understanding of our actual identity is necessary to begin the journey towards fulfillment. If we want to become fulfilled, we should first know _who_ is it that needs to be fulfilled. Understanding our identity is the key to gaining the context of what will make each of us fulfilled.

Each of us is transcendental to the physical body we wear. We are each individual, transcendental living beings temporarily encaged in physical bodies. Like vehicles, we get in and drive them around for a while. Our _actual_ identity is transcendental.

Once we come to understand that we are transcendental, it becomes essential that we must travel in a transcendental direction, rather than a material direction. Many of us are currently seeking happiness from the physical point of view—we are seeking happiness from money, fame, and sensual pleasures. Unfortunately, none of these leads to real happiness. They result in fleeting, temporary bursts of tingling neurochemical sensations, followed by disappointment and emptiness. Repeated attempts eventually result in frustration, depression, anger, resentment, and sometimes, even violence.

Speculation will stray us off the path.

From this point, it is tempting to speculate about our actual identity using the mind. The mind is a subtle recording instrument, which can be programmed for retrieval and concoction. (A concoction is a mental plan to complete a sensual or active experience.) Over lifetimes of use, our minds have become filled with so many recordings of sensual experiences, concoctions for pleasure and various speculations about the physical world.

As a result, speculation using these recordings of the mind will not reveal our transcendental direction. The rumbling rewinds of the mind and the various programmed concoctions might be tempting to listen to, but they will merely repeat varied scripts of previously recorded concepts and images. Have any of these images and ideas brought us actual happiness in the past? No. Throughout our physical lives, our minds have been fed ideas from the physical world such as _"if you eat this delicious food you'll be satisfied,"_ or _"if you become rich and famous you'll be content."_ More complex concepts fed to the mind have included _"love yourself and you'll be happy."_

With all these various messages and physical input over the years and physical lifetimes, the mind will mix them all together, creating whatever speculation appeals to the living being at the moment. Listening to the speculations of the mind together with the various ideas input into it over the years only increases our blindness to our actuality—they serve to cover our identity further. Some may tell us that if we ponder the universe long enough, we should be able to figure it all out. This too is speculative. On the other hand, a humble realization that our speculations are not reliable will automatically reduce the roadblocks and detours that block the opening of the transcendental path.

The path is a single track.

A single track is a path, which permits one traveler at a time. Similarly, real transcendental growth is a personal affair: It is one on One. Regardless of any organization or group we may become a member of, we still have to travel the path personally.

No one will travel the path for us, and although being amongst those who share the same goals is very helpful and even recommended, at the end of the day it is up to each of us to make our own choices and make our own decisions about which direction we want to go. No matter how many people we have surrounding us, each of us journeys through the death of this body alone. This arrangement has been specially designed for a reason. The reason is that each of us is an individual and we each have our own distinct relationship with the Supreme Person.

Therefore, our path is a private one: there is no hierarchy to climb, nor any recognition to achieve. There is no sainthood to reach, nor a public position to be elected for. It is simply a question of whether we want to personally reach the ultimate destination. Thus, neither uniforms, postures, public acknowledgements, votes, elections, stamps of approval nor respect from others will help one to achieve the actual goal of life. Rather, the goal is attained through sincerity, proper guidance, loving service and commitment.

Humility is the footwear for traveling the path.

Beginning the path, traveling the path, arriving at the destination, and staying at the destination all require humility. When we speak of humility we do not mean the _act_ of humility, we mean a _realization_ of humility. When many of us think of humility, we think about acting meek. One can surely _act_ meek without feeling meek, however.

Meekness itself must be truly _realized_ in order for it to be real. If it isn't _realized,_ meek actions have no meaning. In fact, true realization of transcendental humility may sometimes not even translate into physical acts of meekness. It could be that a physical act of meekness would be an unnecessary _display,_ which brings attention to the realized humble person. A person who stands before the Supreme Being with realized humility does not need that sort of display.

Why is humility important and how can we realize it? The first step in realizing humility is when we admit that _I don't have all the answers._ The natural progression of this humble realization is when we realize that _I need assistance._ Humility is realized more completely when we reach out to the Supreme Being and ask Him to _please help me. Please guide me._

As we progress on the path, we learn that humility is also the _medium_ of transcendental love. Humility is the _vehicle_ for love between the Supreme Being and the living being. Humility is required for us to appreciate our current position with respect to the _exalted_ position of the Supreme Person. Humility is required to realize how beautiful the Supreme Person is. Humility is required for us to realize that even though we are each tiny living beings, the Supreme Person pays close attention to each and every one of us, loving each of us uniquely and unconditionally.

Consider how many living organisms there are, just on this one planet. Now consider our relative importance amongst the sheer numbers: A humbling experience in itself.

Humility is the atmosphere of the transcendental world, as all living beings are humbled and awed by the Supreme Person's beauty, kindness, strength, and personal character.

As our transcendental growth develops further, we may realize the pure humility of feeling oneself the lowest of the lowest. In the transcendental world, this feeling of the lowest is actually the most exalted position.

In the physical world, pride and self-esteem are exalted. In the physical world we are encouraged to have pride in ourselves. We are taught to maintain our self-esteem. However, these are facades masking the reality of our situation: _we are dependent upon the Supreme Person._ Pride and self-esteem in the physical world are simply _perverted reflections_ of the pure humility existing in the transcendental world: The living being struggles to deal with appropriate feelings of inadequacy and dependency in the physical world. This is a result of our forgetfulness of the Supreme Person. We thus compensate with a masquerade of self-sufficiency and self-esteem.

In some scriptures, this feeling of being _humbled by greatness_ is often translated into the English word _'fear.'_ Although this may be correct from a grammatical context, _fear_ and _love_ are not always very compatible. One rarely loves the one he or she is afraid of. However, if we can understand _fear_ as _humbled by greatness_ or _awed,_ then we can see how humble love for the Supreme Person can become manifest as the living being realizes the awesome greatness of the Supreme Being.

A guide is needed to illuminate the path.

Once we realize that the physical world will not deliver fulfillment, and we are ready to learn from an expert, progressing further on the path requires the humble seeking of guidance. Every difficult path requires an expert guide, especially paths outside of the visible, physical plane. There are three essential types of expert guides for us to draw upon: (1) written transcendental works (scripture); (2) living or past teachers; and (3) the Supreme Being within, residing next to each and every one of us (and not to be confused with the mind). This trilogy of communication allows us progressive guidance proportional to our sincerity and focus. An expert guide ultimately represents the Truth of the Supreme Being. They may appear to us physically, but we can also seek the teachings of past living teachers to guide us. Regardless, we must be careful to check the authenticity of anyone proposing to guide us.

For example, when we read scripture we can receive guidance from the Supreme Being within to give us understanding of it. We can also check the Supreme Being from within when we are choosing the appropriate Teacher to learn from. We can confirm our Teacher by checking scripture as well, as their message should be consistent.

We can check what the teacher is saying with both scripture and the Supreme Being from within. If we do not do these checks, we could easily be cheated by those who pretend or speculate, or be misled by fraudulent scriptural translations or quotes out of context. While we are checking these guides, we must be cautious by humbly checking our own sincerity. If _we_ are fraudulent in our desire to re-establish our relationship with the Supreme Person, we will be attracting fraudulent guidance.

The more advanced our teacher, the further our path will go.

Considering the nature of the transcendental path, one who has traveled such a path successfully can certainly lead us appropriately. By taking guidance from such a Teacher, we will be escorted in the proper direction. We will be escorted with the proper speed and progression. A master Teacher will know our present status, and will be able to determine what is needed for us to continue to make progress on the path.

There are certain key characteristics of an authentic Teacher. One major characteristic is that _the Teacher must have also taken an authentic Teacher._ Any person who wants to become an expert at something must first become an apprentice of an already established expert in that field. Likewise, a bona fide transcendental guide will themselves have taken apprenticeship under a bona fide transcendental guide who themselves took apprenticeship. Such persons are rare.

Today there are an abundance of "teachers" who have invented their own speculative interpretations about the Supreme Being, simply because there are people who want to hear speculation about the Supreme Being. These "teachers" are to be avoided. They encourage continued speculation amongst their students and a loss of the Truth among our society.

We must be introduced.

The bottom line is that if we seek true fulfillment, we need to find the Supreme Person. We need to locate, approach, and establish a loving, serving relationship with Him. If we should be fortunate enough to find a transcendental who truly knows the Supreme Person and has a relationship with Him, we need to humbly establish a relationship with this guide, follow this guide's instructions. This exalted process has been followed throughout time.

The most logical means to meet someone unknown or estranged is by being introduced by a person who is a friend of that person. If one wants to know the Supreme Person, the recommended way is to be introduced to Him by someone who knows Him well. Being introduced by a friend is common among all relationships. A person who is introduced by a trusted friend is naturally accepted. This is a traditional custom in all cultures because relationships are our nature, and the rules of relationships are universal.

This Teacher-student introduction process is well documented throughout religious history. It is also accepted among every institution of knowledge. All of our famous saintly persons throughout the ages have documented a confidential relationship with their Teacher as an apprentice or student. Sometimes we will find in history that a Teacher's Teacher was also the father to their physical body, but this of course is not required—but suggested should we be fortunate enough to have a transcendentally advanced father willing to teach us. In some scriptures, a Teacher's Teacher may not be so obvious, but further research usually reveals that every bona fide Teacher humbled themselves to a Teacher prior to their taking on the role as the Teacher.

Real love requires a relationship.

A relationship is necessary before confidential knowledge can be passed on. A relationship with ones transcendental Teacher will allow the guide to direct the path of the student. A bona fide Teacher will not desire the student to worship him, but will motivate the student to establish the student's own relationship with the Supreme Person. A Teacher who is not continually pushing the student to re-establish their own relationship with the Supreme Being must be questioned. A bona fide Teacher is one who _represents_ the Supreme Person's desire to re-establish our unique relationship with Him. As a result, the Teacher is to be appropriately honored as such.

While we might imagine finding the Supreme Person requires some mystical experience, the key element in establishing a relationship is simply _hearing._ Students who wish to progress on the transcendental path can humbly open our ears and minds to the sound vibrations coming from the Teacher. These sound vibrations pass the transcendental message to us, allowing us access to the Truth. Through these sound vibrations, the Teacher connects us to the transcendental world. From the Teacher comes not only the message, but our Friend's Holy Names, vibrating from a loving, devoted heart.

If we don't have the sound vibrations from a living Teacher, we can go to the next best thing: The written word of a Teacher of the past. These written vibrations can still touch our soul, leaving our consciousness expanded and purified.

Like a rope to a drowning person, the written or sound vibrations of the Teacher can pull us from our ocean of misery.

The loving path is paved with service.

Any loving relationship will naturally include loving service. In fact, loving relationships are founded upon loving service. A person who loves another will naturally want to perform actions that please the person they love. Even prior to establishing a loving relationship, a person will serve someone who attracts them—someone they would someday like to have a relationship with. The transcendental path is no different. The transcendental path requires that we establish and maintain our relationship with the Supreme Being by serving Him with devotion.

In the physical world, serving a servant may not seem that special. In the transcendental world, the world where humility reigns, serving the servant is an exalted position. In fact, serving the Supreme Being will also be a service to our guide, because the true guide points us to the Supreme Being.

Ultimately, the basis for knowing and loving the Supreme Person is through this service of devotion. It is ultimately the Supreme Being who reveals Himself to the seeker. The seeker cannot, with a snap of the fingers, order the Supreme Being to reveal Himself. The Supreme Being must be satisfied with the seeker's sincerity. The Supreme Being must see that we are ready to exchange a loving relationship. Loving service is the method of achieving such a state of consciousness. Serving the Supreme Person is thus the standard method for achieving the transcendental consciousness of love.

Holy Names light the path of love.

One may ask: "Does serving the Supreme Being mean I must perform slave labor?" Although menial labor on behalf of the Supreme Being is an exalted practice, it is not necessarily the service preferred. After all, true service in devotion focuses not upon _appearing_ to serve, but upon performing activities that _please_ the one being served.

The most exalted and pleasing service, sanctioned, and requested by every bona fide Teacher and every scripture is the glorification of the Supreme Person. This activity of praising the Supreme Person and His Names—done with song, done with prayer, done with meditation, done with writing, and done with humility and sincerity—is the light of the transcendental path. It is the heart of service, because it is an activity pleasing to the Supreme Being, helpful to others, and directly beneficial for building ones relationship with the Supreme Person.

Consider how the physical world is saturated with various vibrations, originating the various levels of consciousness. Consciousness is transmitted through vibrational frequencies. Above and beyond the transmission of physical consciousness exists a higher level of transcendental vibrations. These vibrations extend directly from the Supreme Person, containing His personal potency. These vibrations are His Holy Names. The Supreme Being has revealed either directly or through His representatives these Holy Names, each one endowed with His essence and personal potency. The vibration of the transcendental Holy Name is the easiest and most direct way of connecting directly to the Supreme Person.

These Holy Names, when vibrated with sincerity and humility, effectively purify the mind and the living being of lifetimes of accumulated activities and concoctions. They allow the living being to rise above the physical coverings that blind our vision. The vibration of the Supreme Person's Names delivers to the physical world the transcendental existence of the Supreme Being.

Singing the Supreme Being's Names, repeating His Names in prayer, and speaking in praise of Him—done without envy or need for reward—unfolds ones flower of love for Him. Singing and glorifying the Supreme Being's Names with humility reveals His Nature and our individual relationship with Him. Singing and repeating His Names _is_ the traveling of the transcendental path. It is both the means for achieving the destination and the destination itself, because within such glorification lies the soul's goal of life: _a loving relationship with the Supreme Person._

Along with singing His Names, an exalted and beautiful process of connecting with Him can be done by repeating His Names in meditation. This can be done while sitting in a peaceful place or walking in a peaceful area. The process is simple: After breathing deeply in through the nose we can repeat His Holy Name while exhaling out the mouth. By doing this meditation, we will be focusing our self increasingly upon the Personality of the Supreme Being; connecting with Him via His Name as we re-develop our relationship with Him.

This process also makes sense from a practical basis. By repeating the Supreme Person's Names in meditative prayer and song and speaking in praise of Him, we can naturally re-direct our focus and our interests from ourselves towards the interests of the Supreme Person. We can also re-program the mind to help us remember Him and think of Him. In this way, the mind can gradually be converted from a disturbance to an assistant, reminding us of our permanent relationship with Him.

Put another way: To re-establish a relationship with someone there must be a way to get in touch with them. As the boy in the mountains cried to his father, we must also call and cry out our Best Friend's Name. We must reach out to Him:

To reach an old friend a person we will typically pick up the telephone and call them. The first thing done upon making the connection is to call out the friend's name, praising the friend's virtues and how much the friend has been missed.

Our True Love is waiting for our call.

We all use various means to relate to our friends. Regardless of the method, in the final analysis we approach each other by calling out the other person's name. This is universal. Calling out our friend's name is a sign of respect; a sign of our interest; and a sign that we want to exchange or renew a relationship with that person.

If we want to show the Supreme Person that we are serious about re-establishing our relationship with Him, then we need to communicate with Him. An occasional letter or card hardly shows an old friend we are very serious to re-establish our relationship.

However, frequent, consistent and sincere attempts to communicate indicate to that person we are serious about rekindling our relationship. In the same way, if we are serious about re-establishing our relationship with the Supreme Person, it is necessary to communicate with Him through calling His Names as often as possible. We can communicate with the Supreme Being in so many ways: We can pray to Him any time, with outward expression or inwardly.

We can talk to God at any time. We can sing His names anytime and anywhere. We can cry to Him. We can discuss our problems with Him. We can write to Him. He is here for us—any time we wish to reach out to Him, He will be here. Whether we address Him as God, Father, Abba, Creator, Yahweh, Shen, Om, Jehovah, Vishnu, Allah, Yah, Elohim or simply Dear Lord, we can immediately reach Him by calling, singing and repeating His Holy Names.

The real path has bends and bumpy spots.

The transcendental path may be simple but it is not necessarily easy. During our physical lifetimes, we are met with various challenges and temptations that can easily take us off the path of focusing our attention onto the Supreme Being. These challenges include the distractions of physical possessions, sensual pleasures, wealth, and the desire to be respected by others. These challenges can not only distract us from the Supreme Person, but may become addictive by their association and lead us into complicating factors that pull us further from our focus upon our Friend—further covering us with the selfish behavior which got us into this mess in the first place.

It would be nice to be able to withdraw ourselves from living within this physical world, but this is not practical. Every physical organism has particular tendencies according to the type of body and talents we have been given. We have to use these talents and tendencies to help us learn and re-develop our relationship with Him. It will thus be necessary to keep the body healthy and the mind clear to enable it to help us continue on the path. In other words, until we are able to transcend this school of temporary physical existence, we have to utilize the physical body and mind for a while. The question is; how do we maintain them without being pulled down by them?

One rule of thumb is that we should try to live lives that inflict as little pain as possible onto our fellow embodied living beings. This includes harshly dealing with others or taking advantage of others such as cheating or stealing from them. Noting that the Supreme Person is pleased with kindness, we should try to be kind and respectful towards others, and avoid harming others to the extent practical. This includes our activities that affect living beings in other species of bodies as well. Causing as little pain as possible to other living organisms when deciding what business to conduct, what to eat or what to wear has the affect of increasing our own consciousness and awareness while we maintain the body. Of course, we have to be practical. But we can still be practical and always look for ways to inflict as little harm as possible onto others. Even if in the beginning we merely do this outwardly, eventually the effect will be that as our consciousness grows we begin to actually care about others _._

The central process of raising our consciousness and purifying our mind is done through a combination of reducing the sensual inputs that can pull our focus away from the Supreme Being to whatever extent we can, while adding or increasing activities that remind and focus us on the Supreme Person.

As we remember the Supreme Being increasingly in our daily lives, we will automatically become more attracted to Him because He is the most Attractive and Beautiful Being. As our focus on Him grows through our efforts to connect with Him, we will be gradually less attracted to the temporary attractions of the physical world. In other words, as we become more attracted to the Supreme Person we'll naturally become less attracted to the physical world, and our bad habits will gradually fall away.

Central activities that remind us and connect us to the Supreme Person include repeating His Names and glories in song, prayer, etc. In addition, we can offer the fruits of our labors to the Supreme Person. The Supreme Being will accept so many other things we may offer. He will accept simple gifts such as water, gems, flowers, leaves, and even fruits, vegetables, grains and milk products before we eat them. He will accept the results of practical efforts as well. We can offer our house to the Supreme Person and use it as a place to glorify Him. We can donate money to projects that spread His glory. We can offer the fruits of our labors to the Supreme Person in so many practical ways. We can also ask Him to let us know how we can please Him. We can also simply pick a flower and spontaneously offer it to Him, saying His Name with sincerity.

It is the love we extend that He appreciates. He does not need the _thing._ _"It's the thought that counts,"_ as the saying goes. These offerings and acts of devotion, if done with sincerity, love and humility; will not only be graciously appreciated by Him, but will increase our remembrance of Him. This remembrance will gradually allow us to experience our own personal and unique relationship with Him.

We can simply incorporate these personal methods into our lives without extraordinary change in our occupation, family ties or lifestyle. We can gradually add new activities as we are comfortable. We can also maintain privacy in these activities, as they do not require we join any sect or organized group. We can also partake in these activities together, sharing our common bond with the Supreme Person with others in gatherings of song, praise, and offerings.

As we walk this path, using these practical methods, we will see an increasing amount of joy in our lives as we begin to see everything in relation to Him. We will see all of the physical things around us as things to offer Him rather than objects to try to own and enjoy. We will see every talent we have as coming from Him and want to use them to please Him. We will see the children of our bodies and all the rest of the family of our body as His children rather than belonging to us. We will see our _actual_ family grow, as we start to see every living being related to Him. Gradually we will see our function as being a caretaker and servant rather than owner and master. We begin to live our lives desiring to do _His will_ rather than our own will _._

And the secret to transcendental fulfillment? As we strive for our own fulfillment, we remain empty. Should we strive for the Supreme Being's pleasure, we become satisfied. This is our actual loving nature: we are happy when we work to make Him happy. And what makes Him happy is when we are happy. It is a joyous cycle of love.

By using these practical and natural methods of reaching out to Him, we can travel the transcendental path of refocusing our lives towards living for the Supreme Being, eventually leading us to the ultimate destination of _true love for the Supreme Person._

***

Conclusion: _Understanding one's identity as transcendental is the first step onto the path towards the goal of life. Finding a guide who has accomplished a loving relationship with the Supreme Being, and humbly taking guidance from such a Teacher is the time-honored method for being re-introduced to the Supreme Being. Rendering loving service and calling the Supreme Being's Names is the vehicle and destination of the path because His essence travels through His Names. The ultimate goal is true, selfless love of the Supreme Being, and it is in establishing this loving relationship that we find our complete fulfillment, and ultimate success._

### Conclusion

# The Source of Love

As she walked down the hallway all the lights went off. Pitch-blackness ensued. Stepping lightly and slowly, she felt the walls to guide her. As she walked carefully, running her hands down the hall, she had hope that once she reached the end of the hallway she'd feel safer. At the end of the hallway was her bedroom, where she could take refuge in her bed to ride out the power outage.

As she felt her way to the doorway to her bedroom, her sense of panic decreased. She was almost there, she thought. The hallway felt so dark and lonely that it had brought her doubt and uncertainty, turning to worry and anxiety.

Once she reached her bedroom she began to relax a bit, but her anxiety did not reside. The room was still pitch black. She felt for the bed, remembering the corner it was in. As she found it she lay on her back staring into the darkness. She soon understood that her bed didn't relieve the uncertainty created by the pitch blackness: She still felt alone and afraid.

Just then she heard a familiar voice. A very close friend had entered the room. She took great comfort that her friend was present. She breathed a true sigh of relief as her friend assured her that she was safe, and that the power outage was only temporary. She trusted this good friend.

As she approached him to make contact, she could not see him in the pitch blackness. This didn't matter however, because the assuring nature of his voice and their tender conversation reminded her of their close relationship. The darkness didn't bother her now. As they hugged, she became immersed in the feelings of being with him. Her anxieties about the darkness were quickly forgotten in the presence of her friend.

Are we alone?

Every living being on this planet walks with loneliness and anxiety due to the pitch-blackness of this world. This world is dark because our physical bodies are not equipped to see reality. Without the trust and exchange of a relationship with the Supreme Being, we are stuck feeling our way through a frighteningly dark house. We may think that we will find comfort in one of the objects of this dark world, and we will confidently feel our way towards them, but once finding them we are only reminded that they do not relieve our loneliness nor do they bring true light to our world.

Should we come into contact with our Best Friend or one of His loving servants however, we may begin the process of resuming our lost relationship with Him. Once reunited with our Best Friend the darkness of this world will no longer be a problem because the relationship itself will bring light to our world.

Until we make real contact, we may be tempted to imagine who the Supreme Being is. For this reason, many speculate regarding the Supreme Person's identity.

Some, as the classical painters have done, depict the Supreme Being as an old man with a long white beard, sitting on a big golden thrown. Some have depicted the Supreme Person as flying through the air with angels, with long grey hair and flowing robes, while some depictions have had Him wearing nothing but a leaf. By far, the old man with the long white beard sitting on the golden thrown is probably the most prevalent depiction amongst western civilization and modern society.

Some have even depicted the Supreme Being as just a normal person walking the planet undisclosed. There have been movies that have depicted the Supreme Being as an older gentleman living amongst us, playing jokes. He is shown moving around stiffly in a suit and tie, smoking a cigar. Again, in this depiction He is assumed to look old, with grey hair. The assumption is that since the Supreme Being has been around for eternity, He must look old.

Others have speculated that the Supreme Being is impersonal. They speculate that He is a vague "force," without form or individuality. They imagine the Supreme Being as a cloud or energy moving throughout the universe, coordinating things and flowing through everything.

This speculation has led some to a theory that we are all the Supreme Being yet somehow forgot. Somehow, the Supreme Being was stuck in a physical body, and if we just meditate a little then maybe we can remember, and regain our control. In other words, it is proposed that the Supreme Being is spread out amongst all of us, forgetting His true identity as the Supreme Being.

Still others, desiring to further deny His personal existence, prefer the Supreme Being to be a void, or a state of nothingness. It is imagined that we might reach our own personal state of nothingness some day and merge into that great void.

Each of these speculations is the result of a combination of a lack of information and a confidence in one's own mental prowess. Unfortunately, these concoctions will not relieve us of our darkness because they are imaginary. They are not based upon reality and thus do not bring us any true comfort or fulfillment.

There are reasons for the Supreme Being's mysterious identity: like maybe _us._ Though His presence is near, we prefer that He remain mysterious. This enables us to maintain our illusion that we are the masters of our domain. To be aware of a governor would interfere with our own attempted governance. This only makes sense:

A plant supervisor at a work site would feel compromised should the owner of the business walk in and begin ordering him around in front of his workers. The workers would realize that the plant supervisor wasn't really the boss.

As a result of our determination to be the boss, some of us will fashion the Supreme Being's identity to accommodate our self-image. Those of us who prefer to pretend to be the center must maintain a concocted theory of the Supreme Being that will allow the pretense to continue. It makes sense that those who want freedom without responsibility will fashion themselves as the _top dog._

As a result, they are compelled to declare that they are the Supreme Being while the rest of us are figments of their imagination. This is often added to the teaching that we too are the Supreme Being but we just need to realize it. While they claim that we too are the Supreme Being, we have to listen to them teach us this before we can realize it.

Presumably, it was because they discovered this before we did. We would have to question this: If we were all the Supreme Being, why did some of us remember before the others did? When they realized it why didn't we realize it? Certainly if we were "all one," as many assert, we would at least realize it when they did. Lastly, we ask: If we are the all-powerful Supreme Being, why is forgetfulness more powerful than we are?

We are each individuals, active by nature.

The speculation that the Supreme Person is some sort of void or nothingness is absurd. Can nothing logically exist? If nothing exists, then something does not exist. Anything ascribed to be nothing could not logically exist. Nothing comes from nothing and something comes from something. Let us be reasonable here: All of the energy, activity, personality, events, and purpose arising from each living being are actual realities. If we were nothing, we would not exist.

When we consider something as void, we speak of a state where there is no action, no thought, and no individuality. Currently we are all individuals, and part of our natural constitution is activity. We each exist separate from each other, acting in unique ways. Each of us has unique thoughts and actions, expressed by our unique facial expressions, unique choices of words, and many unique activities.

This uniqueness indicates that we are individuals. If we accept a speculation that after we die we merge into a void, then we are contemplating a time when we cease our individual existence and activity. The characteristics of our current existence conflict with this. A person is born active, with a distinct personality, distinct talents and a distinct disposition. This indicates a _prior_ active, individual existence. A person born with a talent to play the piano like an expert obviously picked up that skill in a prior active existence.

If a living being has an active existence prior to being born into this body, and an active existence while the physical body undergoes its constant recycling of physical matter, it is only logical that an active existence will follow the death of this body. Since no one is born with the exact same talents, we obviously were uniquely distinct before birth. We learned those talents through distinct activities. If we all merged into the void when we died, then we would all have the same voided, inactive personalities and empty heads when we were born.

This is not to say that a person cannot develop the discipline to pull away from their senses, _temporarily_ merging into a peaceful, non-active state for a while. This practice has been documented. From the Supreme Person emanates an effulgence—an ocean of light—which will temporarily support living beings who through great austerity purify themselves enough to merge into this effulgence state.

However, this state of inactivity, though it may bring one some peace for a while, will not last. Such a living being will once again fall back to activity, and unless they have established a loving relationship with the Supreme Person, they will be sucked right back to the physical world of sensual emptiness.

Sorry, but we are not supreme.

Individuality also conflicts with the notion that we are all the Supreme Being. One might speculate that the Supreme Being spread Himself as a number of different people, each being born with separate personalities.

The plausibility of this fails when we observe that all of these separate personalities—each of us within separate physical bodies—are individually and distinctly bound and controlled by the laws of nature. We do not have authority over the laws of nature either individually or collectively. In other words, when it rains, our bodies get wet. When it snows, our bodies get cold. When we cannot obtain food, our bodies starve. We may be able to change our situation slightly, but we have no authority over nature. We cannot make it rain or shine, or otherwise control nature. The Supreme Being means all-powerful.

To say the Supreme Being would remove Himself from power and be controlled by the very nature He created is simply not logical. If this happened, could he still be called the Supreme Being? Absolutely not. A being who became controlled by nature could not at the same time control that nature.

Maintaining that the Supreme Person would forget He was the Supreme Being would be saying that the Supreme Being could come under illusion and thus become forgetful. Is it reasonable that the Supreme Being could become forgetful? Is it rational that the creation He controls would control Him?

Some might get into semantics around this area, declaring that we are pretending to be controlled by nature for a while so that we can enjoy a pastime. The problem here is that again this would imply that this pastime has severely gotten out of our control. We might ask a mother in Somalia whose babies are starving if she is the Supreme Being.

With this said, it is a fact that everything is manifested from the Supreme Being. He can also personally expand Himself. He can also create individual, _separated_ expansions—the living beings like us. Though the physical world and the living beings are separate from Him, they are still _from Him._ Therefore, there _is_ a oneness about everything: everything manifests only from Him. Yet there is also differentiation and individuality: _There is oneness yet differentiation._ The sun, sunshine and the effects of sunshine (like photosynthesis and vision) all come from the sun so there is oneness there. Yet the sun itself is separate from the sunshine and its effects. There is oneness, yet individuality: The Supreme Being is an Individual who has created individuals inherent with certain freedoms.

Anything produced reflects its producer.

In the case of the Supreme Being there is no doubt that He has dominion over His creation. His creation reflects His ultimate authority. His creation is also an expression of Himself. It is only logical that a creation will reflect its creator and the purpose of its creator. Anything produced is a reflection of its producer, just as a statue reflects the talent of the sculptor.

Because the Supreme Person is the Producer, we can understand that He possesses individuality since He produced individuality. The reason we each have distinct individuality is because we were produced by Someone who wanted to distinguish each of us from each other and distinguish ourselves from Him. By producing individuality and distinction, the Producer reveals a distinct purpose for each of us other than as simply extensions of Himself. Herein we find the difference between an extension and an individual: _free will._

The living being has a separate identity and free will. A free will distinguishes a tool or a slave from an individual. A free will gives someone the choice to perform a function or not. A free will distinguishes one person from another person because they each will make different decisions. In the eyes of the Supreme Being, the ability to make different decisions gives His kingdom diversity.

As we look around us at the individuality existing in even a small population of the human race, we see individuality to extremes. The Producer is also an individual. Not only is He an Individual, but He is the Ultimate Individual. He is not a follower—He is the Leader. He is the ultimate Alpha-Male. For this reason, the Supreme Being is typically referred to as "He."

At the same time, the Supreme Person also contains feminine expression. While we would not go so far as to refer to the Supreme Person as "She," the Supreme Being's feminine expansion has been scripturally documented. Certainly, the Supreme Being contains all the elements of strength and creativity, along with the ultimate ability to nurture and care for each of us. He is the reservoir of all we have experienced, and our ultimate shelter.

The Supreme Being is His own Person. He is completely independent. He is involved, yet independent. He is caring, yet aloof. He is always with us, yet He is in His own abode. He is the maintainer of everything, yet He has no obligations to anyone. He is the ultimate perfection of individuality and leadership. He is the Source of love, and the ultimate Lover.

The Supreme Being can display and has every different characteristic and emotion we can display to its perfection. Why? Because He is the origin and reservoir of our emotions and characteristics. He has these characteristics _to utter perfection._ His emotions and characteristics are not tainted and perverted as ours can be as we twist them towards self-interest at the cost of others. For example, we may display anger when we are selfishly frustrated with someone, and cause him or her distress with that anger. This anger has benefited no one: It may even harm ourselves along with those around us. The Supreme Being's anger however, is perfect and beneficial. He will become angry only out of love, and His anger will manifest itself only into situations that ultimately benefit those He may be angry with. His anger is a loving, caring anger. This is anger to its transcendental perfection.

A kind person likes kindness.

We must also consider that since the Supreme Person is an individual, with particular likes and dislikes, He can communicate those preferences. These preferences are also beneficial to others, since the Supreme Being is a being of love. It is logical that many of these loving preferences would naturally be displayed among bona fide teachings regarding the Supreme Being.

It would be logical that these same preferences are also echoed through everyday life. In other words, we should not only be able to hear His preferences through scripture and the teachings of our guide, but we should see those preferences reflecting evident in our practical lives.

For example, it is common among all scriptures and bona fide teachings that killing, causing pain to one another, and in general disrespecting each other are not condoned. Not only do we see these commands documented throughout the scriptures: we can see these working within our everyday lives. If we hurt others, we ourselves will be hurt. We can see that disrespecting others will result in ourselves being disrespected. A disrespectful person is rarely be respected. These types of basic instructions have not only been taught by bona fide Teachers and scripture, but they echo through our physical lives. It is thus easy to realize that the Supreme Being lovingly prefers us to be kind to each other, and to care for one another. He is happier when we are loving each other. He is happier when we are caring for each other.

This same type of confirmation is evident in the case of renewing our loving relationship with Him: As multiple scriptures and Teachers teach this conclusion, our lonely state of affairs without love and without Him in our lives confirm these teachings. This ultimate request to direct our love towards the Supreme Person also tells us a great deal about His personality.

The fact that He likes to exchange love, and prefers kindness and caring amongst His children tells us that ultimately the Supreme Person is a kind and caring Person. He is a Person who values kindness, compassion, and forgiveness. For this reason, we can confidently conclude that the Supreme Being is ultimately kind, compassionate, forgiving, and loving.

Life is composed of relationships.

As we look around us, we find that life is full of relationships. From the largest to the smallest of organisms, relationships are to be found. Almost every living organism is involved in relating with other living organisms during their physical lifetimes. It is no accident that most procreation requires developing some sort of relationship with another living organism. From the smallest of insects to the largest of mammals, each living organism focuses much of their energy towards establishing relationships with others. Modern science has discovered that even separated plants relate with each other through the disbursement and reception of pollen and pheromones. As the level of consciousness grows among species, relationships become more obvious and more focused. As we rise to the consciousness of the human organism, we find that relationships among families, friends, and spouses become a major focus. From the day we are born into the physical body to the day we leave the body, we pine for loving relationships with and from others. Relationships are simply part of our natural constitution.

Relationships are held in the highest esteem because our natural function is designed to exchange relationships. Our functions are wrapped around relationships. Each of us has many different kinds of relationships. In the physical world, we each have relationships with parents, mates, spouses, children, work-mates, and so on. As our consciousness becomes more purified, we find that these relationships all stem from our unique relationship with the Supreme Person.

The characteristics of relationships reflect our Creator. The Supreme Being enjoys so many relationships. His relationships are multifaceted, and He enjoys these simultaneously with various living beings. He will be playing with one living being somewhere while He is dancing with another elsewhere. He will be nurtured by one living being while He is tricking another. He will be laughing and joking with one living being while He is lovingly fighting with another. In this way, His relationships all give Him loving pleasure, which gives those He is relating with loving pleasure as well.

He is also happy to see living beings exchange sincere loving relationships amongst themselves. Of course, real loving relationships require those living beings to recognize each other truthfully—as children of the Supreme Being rather than physical bodies. He is particularly pleased when living beings lovingly share discussions of Him or glorify Him together. This increases His pleasure exponentially because He knows this ultimately makes us happy. This is the perfection of love.

The Supreme Being's abilities are beyond our physical sense perception and beyond our ability to mentally comprehend. They exist outside of the physical dimension, and thus do not have the same limitations we experience in this physical world. However, the Supreme Being is not outside of our loving sense perception. We can all relate with these loving senses because these loving senses are part of us.

Is judging the core activity of a relationship?

Many of us relate to the Supreme Being as though He sits on a golden throne all day doing nothing but judging us. We imagine Him just sitting, yet we see around us a variety of activity. The Supreme Being is not a voyeur, enjoying life by simply watching us. In the physical world, we have access to parks, entertainment and so many activities and recreational opportunities. We have mountains to climb, oceans to surf and sail, snow to ski and streams and waterfalls to play in. We have food to taste and share, and we have comedy to laugh at. All of these elements have been ultimately produced by the Supreme Person. Why would the Producer not have _at least_ these facilities? Why should He be forced to merely watch over us while we do all these activities?

Without diminishing the Supreme Person's ability to watch over each of us, the Supreme Being has His own world. This is the transcendental dimension, wherein He dwells personally, performing His various pastimes. In fact, He is the _ultimate_ active Person. The Supreme Being partakes in the most extreme activities. He also partakes in the most relaxing activities. The Supreme Being can eat good food, play in streams, climb (or even lift) mountains, and do all of the activities that we can do and more within His transcendental world. He enjoys _mixing it up_ with His various relationships with living beings. He is, after all, the Supreme Enjoyer.

Beauty comes from the beautiful.

All the beauty of nature we see around us reflects just a glimmer of the beauty of its Producer. From the shimmering of the blue ocean to the sparkling of a diamond and everything in between, we should know that all of this spectacular beauty is _only a dim reflection_ of His majesty and beauty. If we consider the expansiveness of outer space, the beauty of the stars, and the bounty of sights such as the Grand Canyon or the Himalaya mountains, we can see that not only is our Precious Friend beautiful, but He is strong and bountiful.

Not only is His beauty bountiful, but He is ever changing and ever fresh. Just as every day brings new beauty—never is a day exactly like another day—His beauty is always unfolding and endlessly new. As a result, we could never tire of His beauty. Whether we are seeing Him directly or simply thinking about Him, His beauty is always shining, always fresh.

The Supreme Being is also the Ultimate Comedian. He is the funniest Prankster, having the ultimate in dry wit along with drollery and tom-foolery. We can see His humor all around us. This is why comedians can be so funny when they talk about everyday existence. Everyday existence is funny because all of these comical situations have ultimately been designed by the Supreme Person.

This is why natural functions such as flatulence are comedic. Assuming we have a bit of humility, we can easily see how the Supreme Person's humor plays into our everyday lives. While we try to take ourselves so seriously, our Friend is constantly introducing hilarious scenarios as subtle reminders of the reality of our existence. All this is a mere dim reflection of the fantastically humorous and happy nature of the Supreme Person.

The Supreme Person is also supremely tender and delicate. The tenderness displayed by babies and children—how they are easily hurt; or quickly become shy or embarrassed—is a reflection of the Supreme Person's ultimate tenderness. While His awesome strength and power is certain, most of us do not realize that His Personality also contains the ultimate in tenderness and shyness. It is for this reason that He does not push Himself upon us. He loving nature is complete in its softness and gentleness.

Intentions reveal character.

Consider the purpose of caring about someone we love. This purpose would naturally be held in higher esteem than a hurtful or vengeful one. When we look around us in this temporary dimension, we see a multitude of continuous and simultaneous learning experiences, all pointing to lessons of love. We see people searching to love someone special. We see people helping others in different ways, and being helped by others. We see people needing others to love and respect them. We see people toiling day after day, exceeding their need to keep their body alive, to prove to others that they are worthwhile and loveable.

When we see others helping someone or caring for someone, we often reflect those emotions and wish to participate. In contrast, when we see someone hurting someone else we often feel upset and angry. Meanwhile we see that they eventually receive an appropriate reflective negative response. Likewise, when we see someone doing something nice we feel better. When we give something to someone, we typically feel better.

When we help someone, we feel better and they feel cared for. By all of this response, we should realize that there is a system in place pointing us towards loving and caring for each other. Like a pinball machine, one can simply follow the point scoring system to understand which things are intended to be good for us and which things are intended to be not so good for us.

Within these lessons is an intention. Schools are set up to educate people for specific purposes. Some schools are set up to teach technical skills, others focus on academia, while still others might teach scientific theory or military operations. The school of life is structured toward learning how to love and properly exchange loving relationships. Our school of the physical world is set up to teach us that we are unhappy without our loving relationship with our Best Friend, the Supreme Person.

The Supreme Being's purpose with us is to exchange a unique relationship with each of us. Any true relationship requires freedom, however. Because we have been granted this sort of freedom, some of us may choose to avoid our relationship with Him—instead wishing to enjoy separately. For this reason we have been given this place of _virtual independence_ to act out our desires.

At the same time—knowing that we will never be happy separate from Him—He has set up a facility to re-establish our unique relationship with Him. He knows this is only way we will be truly happy because this was the original purpose for our existence. All of this is done out of love and care for us. He could easily let us go, never to return. Real love, however, is something else altogether. Real love provides a constant method for return, yet without any force or obligation.

We can certainly continue to choose not to exchange a relationship with the Supreme Person. It is His intention to give us continual freedom out of love. However, He is trying to guide us back to a loving relationship with Him because He knows this will make us happy. He never forces us. It is His unconditional loving and forgiving nature to want us back.

Consider for a moment how we have _snubbed_ the Supreme Being during our lifetimes. How we have been ignoring Him as we seek our selfish desires, while He has patiently awaited our decision to return. This tells us that the Supreme Person is a softhearted, forgiving Person. He is quick to love and quick to forgive. Why should we want to stay away from this Person?

Like a fish out of water, we are unhappy without a true loving relationship.

The Supreme Being is our Best Friend. He is the Person we are always seeking. He is the Person we can depend upon. He is the Person we can have the ultimate fun with. He is the Ultimate Comedian. He is always personally with each of us, despite the fact that He is simultaneously with everyone else. He is here, yet He is hidden by the veil of material nature. He is also aloof and independent. He does not need us.

Despite His independence, the Supreme Being actively pursues a continued loving relationship with each of us. This is Who He is. The transcendental dimension is the place where He resides. The activities in this transcendental dimension are what we all always pine for and what He truly enjoys: fun-loving activities involving tenderhearted exchanges and pure loving emotions.

Unfortunately, most of us are stuck in this temporary realm as the result of our envy of the Supreme Being. We wanted to _eat the forbidden fruit:_ we wanted to _be_ the Supreme Being rather than to be _with_ the Supreme Being. So within this temporary physical dimension He created temporary bodies for us to pretend we are independent enjoyers for a while.

He also created a number of levels, with various types of bodies and various types of environments, to be able to provide rewards and incentives in our learning program. All of this was designed as a facility to enable us to return to the loving relationship that ultimately will fulfill us.

Like any loving parent or friend, He has established lesson plans for us to learn during our lifetimes in this temporary dimension. They are set up for us to realize our transcendental identities built upon love. These lessons are set up out of love, and set up for us to re-learn how to love. The lessons we learn here are akin to a virtual reality game: We score points when we take actions that benefit others somehow, and lose points when our selfish actions hurt others.

Gaining points will usually result in material or physical improvements, while losing points will include receiving what we have doled out. The process may result in temporary physical pleasure or may inflict pain upon our physical _virtual personas._

At the same time, we should know that physical pain does not actually directly hurt the self. We can still walk away from this _temporary virtual realm_ unscathed, having learned its essential lessons. We should realize that the Supreme Person does not cause _us_ pain. The physical pain of the body is only a momentary blip to the virtual body. It is only our attachment to and identification with these virtual bodies that creates discomfort.

The ultimate lesson we hopefully take away from this virtual realm is the ability to love again: The ability to truly care for our Friend and all His children. The ability to devote ourselves to Him and give of our selves. The ability to serve our Friend with love. These are the ultimate goals of life. If we step out of the body having truly learnt these lessons, we will go back to our loving home.

Those who imagine the Supreme Being's existence with mental concoctions are sadly cheating themselves. The Supreme Being has a _real_ Form. His Form is more _real_ than the temporary bodies we wear now. Sorry, but He is not old with a white beard. Rather He is ever-youthful and vibrant. He is illuminated, colorful and beautiful. He also walks, talks and plays individually with each of us in a variety of ways. At the same time, He can travel and communicate instantly whenever and where ever He pleases.

Like any individual, God has distinct likes and dislikes. He is also the Individual we can depend upon, take refuge in and exchange a unique, loving relationship with. He enjoys many activities and multifarious pastimes. Most of His activities revolve around His loving relationships with His children—each of us.

One can know the Supreme Person personally, but one must first sincerely and humbly _desire_ to know Him—and then be invited. The rules of love the Supreme Person maintains both here in this dimension and in His personal dimension are similar: to be introduced we approach someone who already has a loving relationship with Him. This is the concept of _family._

Those who have relationships with Him are around. They may seem difficult to find, but that is only because we may not sincerely be looking for them. Once we truly seek, they will become available to us. The Supreme Person can easily arrange that, should we sincerely desire it. Once we discover this relationship, it is loving service that fully develops the relationship. Love without service is simply a contradiction.

As long as we want to ignore the Supreme Person's existence He will graciously allow us to live in this lonely physical world ignoring Him. However, this is not His desire, nor is it what will lead to our ultimate fulfillment. He wants us back. He wants us to regain our original loving relationship with Him. He knows this is the only thing that will give us actual fulfillment. This is because He is, after all, the Source of Love _._

***

Conclusion: _The Supreme Person is not a void or a vague force or someone who has forgotten that he is the Supreme Being. The Supreme Being is a beautiful, fun, gracious, ever kind and loving Individual with form, personality, character, and activities. We were separately manifested by Him to exchange a relationship of loving service with Him out of our own free will. He is the Ultimate Loving Person who loves us each unconditionally. Therefore, we can give our lives to Him, trusting that He will protect us and care for us. We can truly love Him and depend upon Him. With Him, we have nothing to fear. With Him, we can live happily ever after within a fulfilling relationship of love and loving service._

