If you’re like Jesus, then your soul may be perfect. However, most souls are not, but they are still much happier and more content in heaven then they are here on earth. The swamis tell us that in heaven the soul does not age, get sick, need food, and there is no competition for resources, or any chance of losing anything. So the soul is much happier there, and that’s why people who have had Near Death Experiences (NDE) report how wonderful they feel when they are free of their body. Their soul feels so much more joy and peace when it doesn’t have the burden of the physical world to contend with. The swamis tell us that our body is the physical version of our soul, or what the soul is when it manifests as a body in this world. When our soul is a body, it then has to face plenty of challenges; sickness, fear, suffering, not to mention death. They tell us that it is these physical concerns that bring out the worst in us, and they allow us to see just how much we have actually developed true unconditional love for others. It is easy to be a saint in heaven, but it’s much more difficult here on earth. As a human being we have to learn to love others, and to transcend our self-centeredness. We have to learn to do what is just and fair. We also need to learn how to forgive others who have mistreated us. Once the soul has learned these lessons, it doesn't have to be born here to earth again. However, a perfected soul like Jesus can still come back if it wants to help others. The yogis tell us that our soul tries to communicate with us; it wants to encourage us to do what is right. The swamis say that our soul is our Higher unconscious mind, and it’s also our spiritual guide that’s watching over us. It’s our inner voice, and our conscience; but will we listen and do what it is telling us to do? The yogis tell us that our body and soul are the same, in the same way that an object and its reflection are the same. It’s like the everlasting you is watching over the physical you that is your soul's manifestation here on earth.

It is said that this chapter came from a dream that John had on a Greek island in the Aegean Sea. In those days it was believed that a dream could actually be a prophecy, or God using sleep to take the opportunity to speak to someone. Like when an angel of God appeared in a dream to Joseph, and the angel told him to take Jesus and Mary and go to Egypt to escape from King Herod. We also know that dreams use supernatural symbols to represent their message. So if someone dreamed of a leopard with seven heads, or flames coming out of someone's eyes, it was understood that these images could just symbolically represent certain real life situations or people. So when the people read in John's story about this terrible beast with seven heads, ten horns, feet like a bear, and a mouth like a lion; they may have understood that these were symbols representing their own brutal treatment at the hands of a tyrant. In this same way, when we dream we may see some very bazaar things as well, like what John is describing, but they are also symbolic. So, the "beast" could perhaps be referring to their Emperor Nero, or another cruel and terrible ruler. So, the fear and destruction that is described in the story is perhaps seen by the Hebrews to represent their own plight, and describing their own actual real life events. So you could say that the story is an encrypted message, like in a dream, and because it doesn't name any of their actual rulers, the Christians couldn’t be accused of treason or speaking ill of any real-life person or authority. There are also some real moral and ethical messages in the story that are there for us to understand; such as the consequences of good and evil, suffering, redemption, salvation, and so on.

I like this analogy; what if you have three 100-watt light bulbs, and the first one you wrap in clear cellophane. The next one you tie a paper bag over it. The third one you put two paper bags over it. The bulb is just as bright in each case, but you can see perhaps no illumination from the bulb with two paper bags tied over it. The bulb with one bag you can see some illumination through the bag. You can see, however, the most illumination from the bulb wrapped in cellophane. Here, the bags represent our layers of conditioning or prejudice, and any mental and emotional baggage that we might have. A lack of our own illumination indicates just how strong our prejudices and false conceptions are. If you are dealing with many layers of a limited understanding, then we experience less of our own inner illumination. The swamis tell us that we must start by letting-go of all our false beliefs, including every limited belief that we might have. The yogis tell us that it's only because we are so busy accepting limited beliefs and trying to be a particular person, that we fail to wake up from an illusion that we have created about our life. We often hold tightly to an idea about who we think we are, and whether it is for better or for the worst, we become that person that we're trying to be. In this analogy, when you transcend your bias, fears, prejudices, and all of our other false beliefs (baggage); we become your most brilliant, like a Jesus or a Buddha.

Yoga tells us that our soul is both male and female, and that it's ultimately beyond both. And sometimes we are born as a female, and sometimes as a male. The sexes are just two different sides of our nature, that together form a whole. And in each culture rules are created that allow for a society to function and survive during their particular time. Rules vary from culture to culture. For example, in Biblical times when there were so many men dying as a result of war, it made more sense for the surviving men to have more than one wife. This way the surviving men could take care of the surplus women, and this arrangement would also produce more children. And in those days due to the physical demands of survival, this was a critical issue. Men were also considered in-charge, and they literally owned the women and children, as if they were their property. It was thought that women and children couldn't survive on their own, so they had to belong to a man. That's why one’s lineage was considered very important in those days, to determine who you belonged to and who was responsible for you. So important that they even stoned women to death for cheating on their husbands! Today, these customs have changed considerably, with single parents, stay home dads, female firefighters, and women CEO’s; we no longer except these views that one sex is superior to another. So, the question is; what if a person today wants to marry someone of the same sex? Why not, as long as they love each other. People are having same sex marriages right now in some states, and it is becoming more accepted every day. And same sex partners don't lessen what other heterosexual couples have, it just says that a women can love another women as much as a man can, and vice versa.

The eastern scriptures say that the real "you," or soul, is at peace right now. They say that we are really a non-physical soul, and our soul is a manifestation of a Universal Spirit. The yogis tell us that our soul experiences peace because it’s free of all our bodily concerns and worries. And the source of our soul is the Spirit, which is infinite and has become all the souls and everything that exists. The scriptures say that our soul is who we are in heaven, and that our soul manifests as our body here on earth. When our soul is experiencing life in a body, we feel insecurity, a sense of fear, shame, and so on; this causes us to develop defense mechanisms, competition, violence, and prejudices. The swamis tell us that our soul knows that our ego is just a part of our body's consciousness, that believes that it exists separately as a person here on earth. Our ego is convinced by the world, that something must be done to insure its continued comfort and survival. And when we go to sleep, and we're in our deepest state, then even our mind is finally at peace, because it has no thoughts at all in that state. Our soul, which exists free of our body, knows that the ego is just a subjective aspect of the mind, and it knows that our mind is just operating on its own subjective based reality. It is caught, so to speak, in a version of reality that it interprets in a way that is of interest to itself. And our ego feels that it must always support its own reality to feel justified; if justified, it then feels validated in being who it thinks it is. However, we can still consciously feel this inner peace while awake, if our mind can just let-go of trying to perpetuate any idea about itself at all, or defending itself, or projecting anything at all; in this complete state of peace and acceptance the swamis tell us that we experience the joy and peace of our soul. And from this perspective we see that things here on earth are just the result of what they inherently are, based on everything that went into making them what they are. And at this level, which is Christ's perspective, everything seems very obvious as to why things happen the way they do.

In the Bible they also acknowledged that there were other Gods. When Moses was with the Pharaoh in Egypt, he never said that the Pharaoh didn't have his own God. He just said that his God was superior and mightier than the Pharaoh’s God. Even the commandment says "thou shall have no other Gods before thee." It doesn't say that there are no other Gods. In the Bible there are many references to people having different Gods, it just says that their God is the Supreme God. Hinduism also believes in many gods, but they also have a Supreme God called “Brahman." Both of these religions believe that there is one Supreme God, but the Hindus believe that you can't speak to Brahman, or the ABSOLUTE, because it is beyond words and language. Their Supreme God is beyond linear thinking or reasoning. The yogis tell us that we can only speak to God when God has a personality. So as a personality, God can talk to Moses, or incarnate as Jesus, and we can also communicate with God in this way. But you can't communicate directly with an Ultimate God that is beyond time, space, and duality. And just as Christianity says that Jesus was God here on earth, the yogis say that they have had several God-men like Jesus, such as Rama or Krishna. The yogis also accept Jesus as God, but they include these other incarnations of God as well. So they say that it is really the same Ultimate God that has become Jesus, Buddha, Krishna, and it is each of us. Jesus said, "God is in each man."

The difference is mainly in terms of how many times we are born. Christians believe in an afterlife, and coming face-to-face with God after death (Judgment Day). Then it is off to heaven or hell. In the East they believe the same thing, except they believe that we are born many times, and that we have many different lives here on earth. The yogis actually agree with Christianity on a very similar experience in the afterlife, but they say that we are born and die over and over again. Krishna says that after you go to heaven or hell, you eventually are reborn on earth until you achieve Enlightenment, or Christ Consciousness. The east and west also differ on a few other things. The Christians, for example, they say that the universe is only about 6,000 years old, and that it was created in six days. They also maintain that God only spoke to the Hebrews, starting with Adam. In addition, they deny the truth of other religions by saying that only their prophets have actually been contacted by God. On the other hand, the yogis accept Jesus as God here on earth, and they also believe in an afterlife, but they say that the universe has been evolving for billions of years, and that their prophets were also God-men like Jesus. Krishna says that he comes back to earth in every age to restore the truth; which has led some people to believe that perhaps Jesus could be Krishna reincarnated. All of the powers that Jesus is reported to have had; walking on water, raising the dead, materializing objects--these are all powers said by the yogis to be possessed by their own incarnations of God.

It all depends on the person. After enlightenment, Ramakrishna said that a person will still have an ego if they’re going to be able to function in the world. Even a person like Christ has to have enough ego so he can get done what he has to do. If a less spiritually evolved person experiences Enlightenment, or this Synchronistic Oneness--perhaps as a result of an accident or a near death experience-- they too will be profoundly influenced by this experience, but they may resume a fairly similar life afterwards. Take India’s Rajneesh for example, he experienced enlightenment when he was 21 years old, and at that time he was in college studying philosophy. He was also a champion debater, and he really liked to win augments. And it was at this time that he experienced enlightenment. So afterwards he could explain enlightenment so beautifully and clearly, but he also remained mentally very competitive. In his case, as he got older he even wanted to move to the United States and have a new Rolls Royce automobile for every day of the year. This may seem eccentric, or opposite to what you might think of as enlightened--and it is--but he’s not living in a state of enlightenment. Enlightenment is described in the scriptures as an Ultimate Unified state of consciousness, and it cannot be sustained continually as long as we are still in a body. Ramakrishna would go in and out of samadhi (God-consciousness), but he could still get irritated or upset by something; like someone not showing up on time or being late. And we see this with Jesus as well when he said on the cross, "My God, why have thou forsaken me?"

Yes, they're like guardian angels or spirit guides. They want to assist us to live a more peaceful life here on earth, and to avoid destroying ourselves or the planet. If after you die you hold on to the idea that you are still a separate being, then you may continue to experience a separate existence as a soul. So, for example, let's say that you really want to help others--if you die feeling that way, then you may still want to do that in heaven, or be part of a group that helps people. And, for the more advanced there are also enlightened souls on the other side that want to help us to experience enlightenment. In this case, the challenge is that we must transcend any sense of separateness, and experience a synchronistic Oneness--a complete Unified state beyond any sense of "me," or "I" (Samadhi). So, if you want to transcend duality, they tell us that our spiritual work is to realize that any perception of separateness, both here and in the hereafter, is only an illusion created by the mind that keeps us from experiencing Enlightenment.

Yes. Everything is inter-woven and relative to everything else. It may be impossible, for example, to establish a correlation between a single atom in my fingertip, and where the moon is right now in our solar system; however, there is a correlation in this case no matter how impossible it would be for us to determine. In astrology for instance, there is an observable correlation between the position of the planets and our tides, or our seasons. And some correlations are much more obvious than others. For example, in the case of the tides resulting from the moon's relationship to the earth, this is now scientifically accepted, but according to the swamis there is actually a very real interrelationship like this between everything that exists. The yogis say that there is a complete synchronicity in existence, all the way from the largest phenomenon, down to the most subtle. Pantanjali says that "seeing" is simply observing any of these correlations; and this is possible when at any moment there isn’t any interference from any other mistaken assumption. He says that when you see, you experience this directly, and this is very different from when you are just assuming something or just believing in something. And, he says that we can actually see everything in this way. Jesus said all we have to do is, "Knock and the door (to knowledge) shall be opened."

For us the supernatural is anything that we can’t presently explain or understand. For example, we tend to think that something definitely exists, or it doesn’t. The yogis tell us that there are beings in neighboring dimensions that are almost existent here on earth, but not quite. At times a person might even see or hear a voice, or they may feel like they have just seen something? The swamis tell us that there are yogis that are very psychic, and on occasion they do hear and see things from these other dimensions. It’s like they see or hear something, but not the sustained way that I see you. Maybe they see something out of the corner of their eye, or in a reflection, or when they start to look away, or maybe as a barely visible image. You can say that someone is there, but they may not be there in the next moment. This may also be true of some reports of UFO’s, miracles, and angels. According to the swamis there are dozens of different dimensions that exists, and the earth is in the middle. The higher regions are what people call heaven, and the lower are what people call hell. Our physical universe consists of what the yogis call prana (energy), which expresses itself through the laws and principals of chemistry, including all the other laws of nature and science. And each level has several different levels or dimensions; for example, the earth is made up of a dimension consisting of atoms or energy, and then it also has an electrical dimension or nature, and so on. The yogis say that the spirit world, or higher realms are less dense and more expansive than our physical world, and this is the reality that we experience when we die and this is where our soul resides. This is the world that we wake-up to after our body dies, just like waking up from a dream. In the spirit world we realize that our physical life has just been a temporary experience in a dimension that we have imagined our soul to be a part of. There is also a higher region in heaven for very pure advanced souls, and another world beyond that for the saints. And then there is the highest realm, what the swamis call God’s “Supreme Abode.” Only the most advanced souls go to this heaven. Many lower realms are also mentioned in the scriptures, and some are subterranean, with the first being very similar to earth but even more unpleasant. And then they become progressively worse the further you go.

The swamis tell us that we are currently in an Age where quite a few people are reincarnating that still have very violent histories and tendencies, and there are plenty of future victims being born due to their own past negative actions (fate). This has been true during our past two Ages, the past Bronze and Iron Ages, or the past 5,000 years (which includes all of our recorded history). Change is slow, and often people don’t want to see a correlation between now and the past. People tend to think that the "past" is only that, the past. Actually, the past also eventually manifests as our future. Jesus put it this way, "Yea shall reap as yea has sown," and Buddha called this "karma." Many souls are being born these days with a lot of violent history in their past. For example, let's say that you are in the Second World War; the way karma works is that you could be reborn again and be in the Iraqi War. This is a very simplistic way of explaining it, but this is the basic idea. If you go to war against someone, you are liable to be attacked by them in another life. It becomes a vicious circle. Jesus proposed a way to break the circle; he said to love those that despise you. What he was saying is; to end this circle of abuse we need to break the cycle. However, when you look around the world today, the theme all too often seems to be about retaliation and vengeance. Each time someone kills someone from the other side (whether it's a Sunni, Shite, Muslim, Palestinian, Christian, Hindu, or Jew), the cry is for revenge and someone else dies. Then, spiritually speaking, these souls are eventually reborn and they take turns killing each other over and over again. The only solution is what Jesus said, to stop the fighting. To raise the white flag, and to put down our weapons. That's why Jesus spoke of the importance of love and forgiveness.

I’m just explaining what I’ve learned from others over the years. The ideas that I talk about here aren’t new or original. They are very old, in fact they are some of the oldest teachings that exist. What I’ve tried to do is to explain them from as modern a perspective as I can. Most of all I have tried to present this information in the way that I would want it explained to me. Once at a meditation class a lady from India said to me, "You’re not from India, and you’re not a swami, so you have no business talking about the Gita" (Hindu Bible). I told her, I’m not talking about anything that hasn't already been explained many times by other westerners. I’m just talking about what I've learned from the scriptures, and I'm trying to explain it as if we were taking a college class together. And these ancient teachings, which most people never knew about for centuries, are now available to everyone on the internet. Or another way to look at it is this; for someone to write a travel book about Rome, do they have to be from Rome, or even Italian? And if you suggest in such a book where people should eat, do you have to be a chef or own a restaurant? This is just another explanation from a perspective of someone who grew up with a middle class, English speaking, American background. 

It all depends on a person's fate, due to our own past history and karma. God allows us to learn by our own mistakes. Jesus said that we reap as we sow. Buddha called it "karma," and reminded us that it is in this world that we suffer due to our karma. There may be someone who lives their entire life without ever seeing any violence. Then someone else may live in a neighborhood where drive-by shootings are common place. Very few people go through life completely undamaged, either physically or psychologically. Life for as long as we have known is full of suffering; there has always been violence as far as we know. That's why when many of us have even a little bit of joy, it means so much to us. Violence may vary from place-to-place, and from year-to-year, but it has always been around for as long as we have known. For a long time, there have been wars, murders, corruption, and so on. Over the centuries even extreme violence has always existed--where groups have plundered and slaughtered each other. During World War II alone it’s estimated that over 50 million people were killed, and most of them were civilians. Whether large numbers of people die in our lifetime or not, the yogis tell us that it depends on our own karma, or fate. People often complain about the way their world is going, when we have all actually collectively created it. Therefore, we have no one to blame but ourselves.

Yes. We are each responsible for both our actions, and to a less extent the actions taken on our behalf by our elected officials. You can't receive something from your government that was gained in an unethical way, without incurring part of the debt. And this goes both ways, for both good and bad actions. For example, if our tax dollars go to aid another country, then this adds to our country's good karma for helping someone else in need. And if our country exploits another country, and we directly or indirectly benefit from this, then according to the scriptures a debt is therefore incurred. And even though your own personal intensions may simply be to maintain your own economic or social advantage that your country has made possible for you, you are still responsible if you are benefiting from any evil actions taken by your officials. That is why helping and serving others is considered so important by the yogis, to neutralize any of this collective negative karma that you may be accumulating. The swamis tell us that there is also another way out of this. They tell us that if we wake up and realize that we are just imagining that we are this person here on earth, then like waking up from a dream, we actually see that we are no longer that person, and therefore not subject to the consequences of that person. This is also how you become a servant of God, by completely surrendering to God. For example, let’s say you are an actor, and you are portraying a character that is in a failed marriage, and you're suffering from cancer. When you walk off the stage, are you still suffering from these things? No, your soul doesn't have cancer, but a character in the play can have cancer. But if you wake up and realize that you are a spirit, and just a witness to these events of your life, there are no future consequences to a witness. Because as a witness you see that you aren’t really doing anything, and the action-reaction phenomena is not a part of who you really are. As a witness you transcend the drama, and you have just stepped off the stage. Like when you wake up from a dream, are you still caught in the circumstances of the dream? Do you see why Enlightenment is regarded as so important to the yogis?

If a reaction to us was always instantaneous, our behavior would naturally be modified through these immediate consequences, but you would not necessarily grow through any additional understanding. For example, if as a child I touch a red-hot stove, I will avoid touching a hot stove again in the future due to my memory of the pain. The connection between touching the stove and the resulting pain is undeniably clear to me. Likewise, if I were to emotionally hurt someone, and then feel this same emotional pain myself, then in the same way I would avoid hurting others in the future to simply avoid hurting myself. This wouldn't mean that I've learned compassion, or that I've learned to care more about others. On the other hand, if the pain I have caused someone else is delayed in coming back to me, this gives me the opportunity to learn over time what it actually means to be hurt. Eventually I will avoid hurting others out of compassion, and due to an understanding of what it means to hurt others, and not just wanting to avoid such pain myself.

Yes. There are three kinds of freedom--physical, mental, and spiritual. And there are different degrees of freewill in each of these cases. For example, if you're confined to a prison cell, or a wheelchair, or whatever your physical limits are, your physical freedom is limited in this way. Or, if we have a fear, an insecurity, or a phobia; we are also mentally limited or restricted to some degree. And spiritually, we are ultimately an Eternal Spirit, but we imagine ourselves as being somebody, therefore our ultimate nature is limited by who we currently think we are. And in all of these cases, sometimes we have more freedom than at other times. For example, let's say that at this moment in your life you are a widow who has just learned that her dearly departed husband was killed by friendly fire overseas. And, of course you are in grief and outraged- right? You are saying to yourself, this is deplorable, that our own forces have killed my husband! At that moment perhaps any other reaction is not possible for you. You are completely upset, and you are very much in a state of despair. You don’t feel that you have a choice as to how you are going to feel. But, what if eventually you say, "What a crazy life! So, this is the part where my husband leaves this world. I wonder what will happen next?" Do you see that you could perhaps eventually feel this way? This complete acceptance may actually come in time, but this may not seem possible at first. But when we are detached (free of any attachment to an idea) we see things from a higher perspective, and then at this point you're just watching things unfold. From a spiritual vantage point, you see that all things happen for a reason; and you see that things unfold as they will according to their own nature or destiny. You are free if you can step outside something, and you’re not a prisoner of your own thoughts, emotions, and the past. Developing this complete acceptance is also what Buddha taught. The realization of Spirit (or Self-realization) is the ultimate freedom according to the swamis, or what they call "liberation."

Yes, I think it's possible. In the Eastern scriptures they explain that there is intelligent life like ours on other planets. There are even descriptions of these various worlds in the Srimad Bhagavatam scriptures. And they refer to UFOs as a "vimana," which is a flying celestial vehicle. I've seen a flying saucer, and I believe that they may be interested in our DNA. As a hypnotherapist I have worked with clients that wanted to use hypnosis to recall what happened to them during what they suspected was an alien abduction. Before hypnosis they could only remember coming face to face with an alien, and then they couldn't remember anything that happened after that. However, under hypnosis they could remember their experience with the aliens. A lady from Canada recalled being unable to move and feeling frozen when she came across three aliens in her home late one night. They communicated with her telepathically, and told her to "relax." The way she described them, they looked like what we call "grays." Under hypnosis she recalled that they performed an invasive medical procedure on her, and she suspected that they may have harvested some of her eggs. The next day she went to see a doctor, and there was a small incision on her skin right above where her ovaries were. Skeptics would say that she just imagined all of this, but she felt very certain that it really happened.

The eastern scriptures tell us that a wise person knows that sometimes you fight, and sometimes you surrender. If you are severely outnumbered, then to fight could surely result in defeat. So perhaps it is better to surrender, or non-violently resist. For example, the Jews would have been slaughtered if during Jesus' time they had risen up against the Romans. Jesus taught to simply "give unto Caesar that which is Caesar's, and give unto the Lord that which is the Lord's." The Indian prophet Krishna on the other hand encouraged the Pandavas to fight a battle with the Kurus. The Pandavas had a fighting chance to win a victory against a really evil adversary, and Krishna said that it was surely righteous to fight a battle against such evil rather than just letting it destroy you. Krishna said that it was spiritually proper to fight against injustice and defeat those who want to selfishly destroy you. However, again what if you are extremely outnumbered? You could fight to your death! Some have done that rather than surrender. However, you could also act non-violently toward your opponent in hopes that you might be in a more advantageous position in the future. Gandhi knew that a battle against the British would surely end in defeat for his countrymen, so he also encouraged non-violent refusal to cooperate. And he fought this way and achieved India's self-rule.

Yoga tells us that to know who we really are, we first have to realize who we ARE NOT. Yoga says that we are really an eternal soul, so to find out who we are we have to think in terms of what is beyond everything that doesn’t last; that which doesn't end. And it's through this inquiry that we realize that we aren't our body, our relationships, our past, or even our present physical location, and so on. You eventually realize that you are purely consciousness, or an unlimited awareness. The Yogis say that all we need to do is just let-go of all our attachments and desires in order to see this truth. Instead, our individual consciousness is formed by our mind accepting a multitude of impressions, associations or ideas of who we think we are, in regards to our surroundings and others, so that we might feel that we have a plan to continue to get what we need or want. It is instead, through this process of self-inquiry that we see that you are not really these associations, or something in particular, you simply ARE. After meditating on this for some time, this awareness that "I am," but "I’m not my body"--and all of the implications and considerations that arise from contemplating this, you eventually realize for yourself that you are just a witness, or a free unlimited awareness. Take animals for example; animal behaviorists tell us that animals that have the least developed consciousness, like worms and insects, operate on just instincts. They are only aware of such things as their position in space in regards to their prey, or their shelter, or a food source. Then the more conscious animals, such as chimpanzees and dolphins, they even have a social hierarchy, emotions, and a social etiquette. Humans, however, have a consciousness that can understand the concept of a tomorrow, and they even have self-awareness. The Yogis say that with our human consciousness, when we let-go of the very need of desiring or creating anything at all, then we can actually transcend ourselves or our ego, and experience Self-awareness, and that "peace that passes all understanding" (or "Samadhi" in Hinduism, and "Nirvana" in Buddhism).

In America the term "New Age" is often most associated with the introduction of Eastern spiritual traditions with Western religion that occurred in the 1970's. This included a blending of Christianity with Hinduism, Buddhism, self-help psychology, healing, music, yoga, and much more. One event that was seen at the time to mark this new age, was the Beatles introducing Maharishi Mahesh Yogi to the United States in the late 1960's. However, the actual beginning of a new age may have started much earlier, with the beginning of the Dwapara (Bronze) Age in 1700 AD. This goes back to the time of the signing of our United States Constitution. Several authors of the Constitution were Freemasons and they believed that there was a common ground underlining all religions. This included a belief in God, and in the importance of love and of equal rights for all. When they wrote the Declaration they said; "All men are created equal," and, "One nation under God, with liberty and justice for all." They even printed on the one-dollar bill; "New order of the ages," and it pictures an All-seeing eye. Also printed in Latin at the bottom it says; "Out of many, One." Then in the late 1800's we had the writings of Helena Blavatsky, who also wrote about an essential core wisdom that is found at the heart of all the world's religions. Then in the 1900's we've had Vivekananda, Nisargadatta, Krishnamurti, Maharishi, Yogananda, Muktananda, Sai Baba, Thich Nhat Hanh, Ram Dass, Chopra, and many others.

Enlightenment is an experience, and it can be an isolated event, or it can be part of an overall transformative experience. Enlightenment occurs when a yogi mentally and emotionally lets-go of everything, including who they think they are. When a person experiences Enlightenment they see that all of existence is emanating from one Essence or Spirit. They see the whole universe as actually residing in the Spirit. They see all things as synchronistic and interrelated, and that all things are ultimately conceived of by the Spirit. Afterward they may be in a state of bliss or a trance for some time, and they are usually quite detached. They are non-judgmental and accepting no matter what is happening, and they don’t appear to have any ego. It is impossible for them to do anything selfish or harmful to anyone at this time. They now see that everything is what it is, because of what it has become, and how it relates to everything else. However, after a period of time their ego may begin to come back when the effects of this experience eventually begin to fade. The person's former personality and any flaws that they may have had may come back due to the fact that these were deeply ingrained habits that they had, and a strong part of their former conditioning. The transcendental aspect of enlightenment will always remain with that person, so from then on, they truly know about this Cosmic Unity, but they may retain some of their former personality traits. A Master is different, because they are completely ripe. A "Master" means that they have achieved complete Self-mastery through transcending any egocentric impulses. So, you can be enlightened, without being a Master, and you can have self-control without being enlightened. So even if someone has experienced enlightenment at some time in their life, they can still at times act selfishly or foolishly.

A religious person believes that there is someone who knows the true nature of the spiritual world, and can explain its laws and principals. I will often ask someone two questions; first, if they believe that there is another world or dimension besides this physical one? If the answer is "No," then I consider that person a "materialist," or an "atheist." If they say "Yes," then I consider them a "spiritualist." The second question is; if they believe that there is someone who actually knows the true nature of this spiritual world, either living or dead? If they say "yes," then I consider that person "religious." If they say "No," then I consider them "agnostic." To me a person doesn't have to go to church to be religious, just that they believe that there is someone who can provide us with an accurate knowledge of the true nature of the spiritual world, such as a Jesus or Buddha.

Perhaps, everything is cyclic. Over the centuries there have been many nations and empires that have risen and fallen, and democracies that have turned into a autocracy or dictatorship, such as Egypt, Venezuela, and Chile. And, there are many similar events that usually proceed these transformations, that we are seeing now in the United States. Things such as a political polarization of the citizens, where the different parties are no longer willing to work together. Also, when the wealthiest in the society feel that the democracy is no longer serving their desire to acquire more wealth and power. Usually there is also a charismatic leader, a lack of honesty and an ignoring the truth, and a distrust in the judicial or authority systems. Does any of this sound familiar these days?