the mental treasure (revised version)

My God, well the mental treasure, it is of course gigantic. We may misuse our thinking, but that we can think, ponder, look back, look forward, all of this is of course a real miracle. And I'm not even talking about all the phenomenal inventions such as finding your way in a car by satellite, listening to music in an easy chair at home, keyhole surgery in the hospital, and so on. I'll just park the gruesome inventions of torture instruments and weapons. There is so much to say about it, I am curious what Your focus will be.

My son, we can dedicate 20 blogs to this topic. I will limit Myself to what is the number one challenge and opportunity for mankind in the perspective of the spiritual world.

Thinking distinguishes man from the rest of creation and even though this is not very popular in these times: man is the crown of creation. Always intended and always cherished, even in this time when man is seriously polluting creation. Here it comes. Our message and your mission.

There is much more in your head than you think. God knows about the genetic predisposition, the rigid character thing, the limitations of an upbringing, the coincidence or just plain bad luck, that make you experience a lot of physical or psychological suffering.

Yet there are also things born in your head and your attitude to life, which you can influence yourself. Some diseases, almost all addictions, many attachments, destructive fascinations, insane fake news, a gloomy attitude to life, pessimism and disbelief, the belief in an eternal hell, all this is born in your mind. But of course also the world of fantasy, beauty, inventions, the love of nature, the love of fellow man, the belief in a good God. That too, everything.

Since no one but yourself can change your thinking, it is up to you to change that which you have created. This allows for really big, great, spectacular, groundbreaking steps.

You are then gods in your own universe. We do not like it when you behave as victims or creators of unnecessary suffering and sorrow. You are gods in your own universe, and there is always, always, always more possible in your life than you think. And in what area those opportunities arise, that is up to you, to your will, to what you focus your heart on, what you find important.

Go for it.  

My blessings  to you all

No 584

Will and intellect are one and the same thing (Baruch Spinoza, 1)

This statement of Spinoza is reaching quite farly. We tend to think that the will and intellect are two completely different things, but in fact the more I think about it the more I realize that man and the development of his intelligence might coincide with the development of his will. And so man distincts from animals by this individual not by instinct but by intelligence driven will.
Would You like to comment on this?

When the ancestors of man took their first decision based on their own will, not out of instinct and habits of the group, then the planet Earth has been recognized by the spiritual world as a spiritual-evolutionary planet. The dignity of will was born * and that could only be developed by individual intelligence.

But Spinoza's too easy to say that intellect and will are the same. They are certainly not. Earthly evolution shows many examples of primitive bloodlust and evil-intelligent expressions of will. Apparently, too much.

But Spinoza has a point with regard to the higher will.

In addition, the following equation might help.
The will can be directed by the intellect as strength comes from muscles and water will cook by fire. The intellect is then the cause, one sees something, one understands something, one realizes something, different from the other creatures in the area, and then the will will follow to do something with that insight. The one can not exist without the other. Without the will one lives in an ivory tower and the intelligence is useless. Without intellect the will is not more than action-driven instinct. But together they are the realizers of human destiny and the builders of future spiritual worlds.

So you have a point that they walk part of the way as you call it. Should walk part of the way,  I should say. If not so, it will bring evolutionary noise.

But Spinoza shows great insight by stating that they together are very important, almost indispensable to each other and in the spiritual human development they are actually one and the same.
Spinoza is blessed.

My blessings to you all

* See: the urantiaboek, p. 710

Nr. 361

 

Mental and emotional awareness of animals (2, biodiversity)

 

I watch my master walk away. I know he is going to kill me. I have seen him shoot other animals. The energy around his body is heavy, filled with sadness. I live only in the moment, so I do not fret. There is only now, and right now I live.
When he comes back, he is carrying a gun. He is very upset. I wag my tail furiously. I am not afraid, even though I know my death is here, I need to work cattle, not live on a chain. I want to run free, chasing on the heels of huge herds of cattle. A dull thud smashes my head to the ground, an explosion of light, and I am up and running. Free as the wind……..*

Is this an useful quote?

Rest assured, well chosen!

Michael Roads is a gifted medium and is very capable of phrasing the thoughts and feelings of animals.
Still it’s all very idealistic and there is a perception of anthropomorphic projection or a perception on a different level than the earth level, and over there much more is possible of course. So the thought and emotional life of man is too much imposed in this example.

But animals do have brains and a certain mental consciousness, with a certain "thinking."

And animals do have a sense of emotional life and experience a lot more in life and also in dealing with man than one suspects.
People dealing intensively with animals can tell you more about this all. And there are plenty of stories.

Such as:

• A guide dog for the blind sacrificing himself for his blind boss
• A whale slain by man, and knowing that man does wrong here
• A pig in his too small loft, nevertheless blaming the farmer nothing
• A bird in a cage noticing the different feelings of his boss
• A dog who willingly takes the stresses of his boss
• A horse feeling someone is afraid for him.

One recognizes man has a life of thought and feeling.
One recognizes man, thanks to evolution, is coming from the animal world.
Why should animal life not experience some thought and emotional life? Possibly different, less, less developed, less strong.

But every animal has a spiritual counterpart, and every species has a group soul who cherishes and nurtures this species. And these group souls or devas are mighty spiritual beings.

Animals are more open to their spiritual counterpart and to their deva than man with his delusions in the thought and feeling area is standing open for his soul.

That is why animals are knowing a storm or a tsunami will show up.
Therefore, birds find their way back flawlessly.
Therefore even insects are observing a greater whole and listening to it.

So who is mankind to despise the thought and emotional life of animals, to neglect or deny it?
There will surely come a time when mankind will live in a more respectful relationship with the animal world, and will treat seriously the thought and emotional life of animals.
The first signs of it can be observed.

My blessings to you all

From Journey Into Nature, p. 83, Michael Roads

Nr. 313

Man is contributing to mental biodiversity (Evolution, 4)

Did the emotional diversity explode with the arrival of thinking of man, simultaneously the mental biodiversity increased enormously with his emotional development. For as richer emotions lead to deepening of thinking, in the same way deepening of thinking is leading to richer emotions. They are interacting.

The joy of the spiritual world concerning every creation of man is great. We in the spiritual world do wish to help you all with a better perspective, with more truth, with more awareness of the spiritual side of life. For you are suffering anyway of a inferiority complex despite all the pride and conceit of the ego.

Know that you are beloved and cherished and respected in everything you do and think and feel. And don’t be fixated on the excesses and miseries of the world, do consider life as a whole.

Your mental biodiversity is grand, compelling, intended and supported and nurtured by God .
Because of your focusing on misery and difficulties, I do deliberately leave out of consideration the concentration camps, the nuclear bombs and instruments of torture.

I recall a few glorious aspects of mental biodiversity:

• Science: A heart transplant, where before someone would have died. Healing of AIDS, this new leprosy. Cataract surgery, so someone can see again. Pedagogy, with new insights into the psyche of children. Astronomy, bringing mankind to the cosmic community.
• Technology and inventions: Autonomous making of fire has inspired thinking. The wheel making you explore the world. Electricity enlighting your dark houses and nights. Photography and film helping you to relax in tough times.
  Internet, bringing you all together and changing the world into a village.
• Art: the paintings of the masters, moving you into your heart. The works of composers bringing you into heaven. The directors of theater and choreographers helping you to be distracted from hard life and showing you beauty and truth.
• Architecture: The houses with heating and lighting and plumbing giving you a sheltered place in a tough world. The architectural structures giving you a glimpse of heavenly structures. The Dutch cities with its canals and parks. The African villages with their protection and nurturing of vulnerability. The skyscrapers of New York with their inspiring creativity and their spirit of commerce. The houses of worship of the world summoning to God.
• Society. The guardian of the sick by a joint insurance. The protector of vulnerable through its institutions and professions. The custodian of the rights of liberty (USA) and of equality (China) and of brotherhood (Russia). The stimulus of morality and thinking and philosophy. The breeding ground of culture and recreation and happiness.
• Working with nature: The growers of rose varieties, blueprints of heavenly flowers. The upgraders of species for feeding, for beauty, for variation. The architects of parks, integration of culture and nature. The builders of tropical greenhouses. The discoverers of materials in nature for medicine (antibiotics) and beauty (precious stones, pigments).
• Theology and Mysticism: your philosophies on life and God and cosmos. Your prophets and the religions inspired by their messages. Your mystics, coming nearer to God than the ordinary man. Your saints bringing The Kingdom of God on earth.

Mankind is indeed the crown of creation, and in the next centuries you will act increasingly on behalf of a real kingship: guardian of nature, of mother earth, of vulnerable fellowmen and of spiritual values.

My blessings to you all

Nr. 125