Do We Get Punished By God?

Posted on November 20, 2021 by Author Richard F Holmes

Photo by Monstera from Pexels

So, do we get punished by God if we are “bad?” That is a question that can be answered very easily. No, we do not. For a start, if that statement were true, there would need to be a God to do the punishing. This God would have to exist along the same lines as the God of religion. In other words, an individual entity separate from the rest of the universe and beyond. The God would also have to possess all the worst egoic, human traits you could imagine; just like the God of religion.

First of all, it would have to make a judgement that we had done something bad and then dish out the punishment. Being judgemental is a trait of the egoic mind that does not exist within consciousness. By way of an individual choice, we may choose to refer to Infinite Consciousness as God, but this is just one of many names conjured up by humans to describe the uncreated wilderness of bliss∗ that is our true nature.

The only punishing is inflicted by ourselves in ignorance.

∗ “Uncreated Wilderness of Bliss” – a phrase coined by the yogi, Paramahansa Yogananda, as a description of our inner truth.

The Body; Real Or Unreal?

Posted on October 19, 2021 by Author Richard F Holmes

It’s amazing how our views and perspectives change as we evolve through this life. If somebody asked me the question, “the body; real or unreal?” even 20 years ago, I’d have thought they’d been on the funny stuff. I remember when I was completely immersed in the darkness of ego, there was no question whatsoever that the body was real. After all, is it not who I am? Then as I found my spiritual pathway and I started leaning towards the Eastern school of thought, I adopted the view, “the body is unreal, an illusion.”

The only trouble with that is, that I was also leaning towards the view that the body is irrelevant, that it didn’t matter. Of course, this is not true, The body is essential to our experience in the physical because it is the only vehicle available to us. I have now gone full circle, and my statement to you today is, “yes, the body is real,” However, this doesn’t mean that I have regressed back to the darkness of complete unconsciousness. What it means is that my perspective has changed, therefore that statement is made in a different context.

The body is real in that it is made of the same stuff as my eternal reality. Infinite Consciousness has precipitated, or intensified itself billions of times over into tiny pockets of physical energy that we call human beings; and one of them is me! So, the body is real in that it is made of Infinite Consciousness that has temporarily veiled itself in ignorance. What is unreal is the form the body takes, although to the logical mind it is as real as falling off a log. Consciousness veiled in ignorance as an individual soul, perceives the bodily form, the finite mind and the world to be the reality.

To use an analogy, imagine a play being acted out in a theatre. Imagine all the colourful costumes and scenery, and all the lines uttered by the actors and their mannerisms as they act out each scenario. All of that only happens because they are all bringing the script to life. On its own, the script is inanimate; just words on pieces of paper, just still, doing nothing. But, it is the underlying reality of what is going on during the time the play is being acted out.

We are all acting out the script of Infinite Consciousness, the world is our theatre and the body our costume. Consciousness in its normal state just exists as it is, in eternal bliss. But when it veils itself in ignorance on this dreamland stage that we call the world, it dances out its story; it gets to know itself in its own experience as opposed to the eternal emptiness that just contains possibilities; albeit, an infinite amount.

So, to sum up. Yes, the body is real, but not the form. Rather, the underlying reality, which is Consciousness. Consciousness, as the body and the world vibrates at varying degrees of frequency. What we see as the body and the world is simply the image created by our minds as the interpretation of that frequency. Therefore, the one and only reality is Consciousness itself.

Passing Clouds

Posted on September 24, 2021 by Author Richard F Holmes

In the physical sense, human beings do share quite a lot together; information and food are two examples that immediately spring to mind. But this only relates to the illusion that is life on this dreamland stage we call the earth. In truth, we are all just passing clouds regardless of our relationships with each other. Whether friends, siblings, parents, offspring, work colleagues, or even so-called enemies, we are all nothing more than ships that pass in the night. The only thing truly shared between humans is the experience of being.

Our true nature is that of infinite consciousness, which is all there is. The experience of “being” is the experience of our true nature; all else is an illusion.

I Don’t Know

Posted on April 24, 2019 by Author Richard F Holmes

The emperor, who was a devout Buddhist, invited a great Zen master to the Palace in order to ask him questions about Buddhism. “What is the highest truth of the holy Buddhist doctrine?” the emperor inquired. “Vast emptiness… and not a trace of holiness,” the master replied. “If there is no holiness,” the emperor said, “then who or what are you?” “I do not know,” the master replied.

Here we have a devout Buddhist emperor inviting a Zen master to his palace in order quiz him about Buddhism. It’s quite a common mistake for people to think that Zen and Buddhism are one and the same. The truth is that they are poles apart. Buddhism is an organised religion, although also a way of life, non-dogmatic and closer to the truth than most of the world’s major religions. Zen, in my humble opinion, is something that happens to you; it is an awakening. Most people experience their spiritual awakening in subtle stages that just happen without any prior warning. There is no such thing as Zen philosophy either, so the emperor was on a hiding to nothing in asking the master, “what is the highest truth of the holy Buddhist doctrine?”

The answer came, “vast emptiness… and not a trace of holiness.” This is very profound and clearly not understood by the emperor. Vast emptiness refers to the inner reality; infinite consciousness, which is One. The Indian yogi, Paramahansa Yogananda, would on occasion refer to this as , “the uncreated wilderness of bliss”, which is the same as vast emptiness. What the master is saying is that the “highest truth” is to return to the state of “nothingness” from which we came. This is the non-dual state, therefore “and not a trace of holiness” means that in consciousness there is only consciousness and nothing else. In the dualistic world, if something is deemed holy, it implies that it will have a relative opposite somewhere that is deemed unholy. This is duality and ultimately an illusion, so in the vast emptiness there will be no trace of holiness.

The emperor then came back with, “If there is no holiness then who or what are you?”

“I do not know,” the master replied.

The master answered the emperor’s question in the most perfect way possible; “I do not know.” Enlightenment is the shedding of all knowledge. All knowledge relates to the past and is of the mind-created world. In “vast emptiness” there is no knowledge; only pure knowing.

Blasphemy Anyone?

Posted on October 10, 2018 by Author Richard F Holmes

Fancy a bit of blasphemy? Well, you’re out of luck because it doesn’t exist.

Oh, go on then, it does… but only in people’s heads. How can you insult a deity that is apparently above and beyond anything we can imagine? Being “insulted” is something that us humans feel because of the presence of our egos. It’s the relative opposite of feeling smug due to being praised. In fact, there isn’t even a deity to blaspheme against. There is however, Infinite Consciousness; which transcends the human condition, is therefore without ego and cannot be disrespected. Even if we try we cannot insult consciousness.

The only deity that’s of any relevance is the one you can see when you look in the mirror. Don’t be fooled by religious dogma!

Here’s a picture of a rainbow for you; completely random! Wishing you sunshine and happiness!

A Rainbow in the Cairngorms.

It’s Nearly That Time Of Year Again – Part Four

Video

This is the story of Adam and Eve that the church doesn’t want you to know about. I’ve split it into two videos, Would You Adam and Eve It – Parts One and Two. For my friends across the pond, the term, “Adam and Eve”, is Cockney rhyming slang for “believe”. The first video explains how the Christian Church tries to instil fear into the masses by spinning them a cock-and-bull story about being sinners. Thus using their fear of being punished by a deity to keep them under control. The second video explains the deeper meaning of what is actually a very beautiful parable. The second video is a few minutes longer than what I intended, but I hope my wit and charm stops you from falling asleep.

It’s Nearly That Time Of Year Again!

Posted on October 26, 2016 by Author Richard F Holmes

It most certainly is nearly that time of year again; when the Christian Church dusts the cobwebs off its story and peddles it once again to the unsuspecting masses. I must say that I do find the whole “epic” just a tad ironic. First of all, let me just mention that I have no doubt in my mind at all that Jesus Christ actually existed; and I have no doubts at all that he was a truly incredible soul. However, the story that organised religion wants us to believe just does not stack up.

We have to understand that Christ was not a Christian; Christianity is the man-made religion founded by unscrupulous religious leaders in an effort to control the naive and the gullible through fear. Christ was strictly non-religious, however, if you really had to pigeon-hole him, you would have to say that he was a Buddhist. He studied the teachings of Buddha in the monasteries of the Himalayas and he also hung out with the Essenes and the Nazarenes, who were religious sects that practised a form of Buddhism. Christ was attracted to these people because their religion was non-violent. It was common practise in those times for live animals to be sacrificed in the temples, and Jesus was against this (and made his feelings known in no uncertain terms). Christ was the original hippie activist and was considered to be a subversive by the religious leaders of the time.

It’s worth noting that it is because of his association with the Nazarenes that Christ is often incorrectly referred to as, “Jesus of Nazareth”. Historically, Nazareth was nothing more than a tiny hamlet that Jesus may or may not have passed through at some time or other. So, why do I find the whole Christmas story a tad ironic? It’s because the church peddles their messiah as being, “the one and only begotten Son of God”. According to Christians, God is an all-powerful entity that is separate from us mere mortals, and Jesus is his son. This theory completely contradicts the Buddhist teachings, amongst other belief systems, that Christ followed. Buddhists do not believe in a deity as such, rather in a Creative Force, or infinite consciousness that permeates the whole creation. Christ’s message was simple. He said that we are all the same as him, we are all Gods and that we will find the Kingdom of Heaven within ourselves; it is not a place we can go to.

So the Christian messiah is marketed by the church as something that he would never have considered himself to be. I also can’t help thinking (cynically perhaps) that the reason the church marketed their messiah as a meat eating wine drinker, which he wasn’t, was simply so that they could justify their own gluttonous desires.

Merry Christmas!

Reincarnation Simplified

Posted on May 16, 2016 by Author Richard F Holmes

It’s a subject that is quite often pondered; reincarnation; do we or don’t we? There are a number of arguments for and against, but for me, the simplest way to explain this conundrum is as follows. The Self is all there is. It exists in an eternal state of bliss as infinite consciousness. The entire creation, and all the drama that goes with it, is simply consciousness projecting itself while at the same time imposing temporary limitations on itself. The Self is ever-present and changeless and has neither birth nor death. So we should ask the question:

Who is it that reincarnates?

The answer is that it is only the ego that reincarnates.

The Unreal Reality

Posted on January 26, 2016 by Author Richard F Holmes

Reality, as such, doesn’t exist. What we perceive as reality is simply our interpretation of vibration. A flower, for example, exists as vibration within infinite consciousness, not as a flower. We see the flower because that is our mind’s interpretation of that particular vibration. The reason that, by and large, we all see the same thing is because we are all precipitations of energy within the same field of infinite awareness.

Passing Clouds

Posted on December 6, 2015 by Author Richard F Holmes

Our true nature is that of infinite consciousness, which is all there is. The experience of “being” is the experience of our true nature; all else is an illusion.