Nirmala, I struggle to reconcile the Human and the Divine.

You make an excellent point about sharing our true feelings and emotions.

I accept everything God says in Heavenletters. That's all I know, what God says in Heavenletters, and a lot of that I forget. I do understand that our thoughts and emotions are key. God says we serve Him and the Universe best when we are happy.

If you mean by tight focus even loving one tiny leaf and by wide you mean loving further, I think it wouldn't matter. The love matters.

But, for instance, if someone in the business world is focusing on taking advantage or he is focusing on giving, then it matters a great deal. Our intentions, motivation, and actions matter.

If we are the Power of the Universe, it must be that we have to focus on matters beyond ourselves. Our power has even created wars. We are indeed powerful. We can do better than that.

George, I love the way you contrast: "The question is not whether to exist or not to exist" with "The question is....how to center your life experience always and only in the sacred, divine instant of presence in the NOW." How true! Whether we exist or not exist is a given; we have no control over it. Whether we center ourselves in the now is the real question we are always answering. You are always amazing, George.

Precious Jochen you ask: "Where is there time for you to simply be?"
If being were of time we could feel it.
If being were touchable we could touch it.
If being were doable we would try to do it.
Stop being and you get that "oh he looks so natural." statement.
You don't have to do anything to be.
Being in the Now is the only thing to think about.
Try being out of the now and you see that it's only a state of mind.
You strike me as a Being who knows about BEING.

George

Jochen, you say: "As long as I do not ask or try to understand what Beingness is, I find I know what it is;" What a tremendously insightful reminder! This is so true. Trying to understand never gets us there, it gets us to analyzing and reasoning. But quieting this mind chatter does get us there because with the mind quiet, only being is left. I love the things you say, Jochen.

Thank you, Berit, for bringing me back to this lovely Heavenletter to reconsider its messages. Though I don’t remember it well, I obviously read it and was one of those who commented on it. I still agree with all the comments, but now I see some new aspects I would like to comment on.

Like, Jochen, I also have some problems with certain ideas that are often central to God’s messages in these letters. One stumbling block for me is the concept of illusion. To call my physical life and body an “illusion” connotes a lack of importance, almost as if life is a mistake or distraction from what is real and important. This seems to contradict other Heavenletter messages in which our physical lives and the universe are described as wonderful gifts from God. Which is it? Is life an illusion of no real importance to be tolerated and moved on from as quickly as possible, or is it to be treasured and plunged deeply into and appreciated with every fiber of my being?

I certainly resonate powerfully with the idea of physical life as a treasured gift, but what of this idea of life as illusion? Maybe the problem that gives rise to the dichotomy of this question arises from the word illusion itself and how I understand its implications.

I usually take the meaning of the word illusion as all-encompassing: something is either not actually there (illusion) or it is real and solid and can be depended on (truth). We describe the vision of an oasis out in the desert as an illusion when what we see is just a trick of light refracting and our imagination telling us a watering hole is there when it is not. Of course, there is another sense in which we use the word illusion, we can be talking about the meaning we attach to what we are actually seeing and experiencing. In this sense the illusion isn’t out there, it is in us. One example from this letter is that we watch plants, animals and other people’s bodies die all the time. That the living physical bodies are gone is not illusion, but that this means that my consciousness will be permanently obliterated when my body dies is the true illusion.

Another example is that we sometimes experience attacks of others or “bad luck” that make us feel like an innocent victim, but in truth we create our experience through our thoughts in ways that we are just now becoming aware of. Death, pain and unpleasant events do happen to us so they are in that sense real, but they are also an illusion that we are victims. Berit, in today’s comment, selects highlights from this letter that point to the truth behind our illusory interpretations of these events. This way of looking at the concept of illusion helps me to see what Jochen describes as “staying in two worlds that are different but not in conflict.”

This resolves one question, but leaves me with another: Which view of the world do I accept as the foundation upon which I build my life? Do I accept the physical as real and the spiritual truths Berit has highlighted as only lovely possibilities to consider, or do I accept the spiritual view portrayed here as the basis of my life and try to constantly keep its perspective in mind? I have built my life in the past pretty much on the physical view of things, but now I have the sense that this physically based worldview is being dissolved and re-constructed through my attention to this work. To the extent that my previously unquestioned assumptions are being replaced in this way, my life is feeling more calm and optimistic and fulfilling.

Love and peace to all.

Chuck