LEARNING LIFE'S LESSONS

Learning is something everyone does whether or not they consciously set out to learn. Our brains are always looking for new information.  No matter how much you may learn, however, you'll never know everything there is to know--and it is certainly not a good idea to think that you have!

There are basically two types of knowledge:  (1) knowledge of facts and skills and (2) something called "wisdom."  All learning of facts and skills is done in three ways or a combination of these ways.  There is auditory learning that takes place when you hear something.  There is visual learning that takes place when you see something or read something.  The third and most permanent form of learning is when you do something or experience something through actually touching or manipulating things in your environment.

Wisdom is achieved internally or spiritually.  You might learn that a knife is sharp.  You can learn this fact by hearing about it, seeing it demonstrated, or by actually cutting yourself.  You still do not have wisdom until you begin to behave in a cautious manner when handling a knife.

Factual learning can be achieved by formal learning or by experience.  Formal learning is important; but it is not the method by which you will learn most or best.  Life is a lesson.  What other purpose do you suppose living has?  If you accept that there is a Supreme Being or consciousness behind all reality, then what is the point of this life?  Gaining Wisdom and understanding is the purpose.  Those who do not grasp this are doomed to a very frustrating and unhappy existence.  They spend all their energy attempting to gratify their appetites and desires. Life's lessons can be very painful; but they can also be quite pleasurable.  Wisdom is gained when your behavior is modified in such a way that you are a blessing to yourself and to others.

You can wait until you experience pain or other traumatic experiences; or you can take a shortcut to wisdom.  I believe the central teaching of Jesus was lost to mis-interpretation by later church organizers who were more concerned with obtaining personal power over others.  His central teaching was that each of us has the ability to obtain wisdom directly from something He called "the Holy Spirit."  Each of us can tune out the "babble" that goes on inside our heads and become silent "...and know that I Am God."  I cannot teach you how to do this; but is worth striving to do it, because the vast knowledge and wisdom is out there and available to you for the asking.  Many people call this "intuition" or "inspiration."  My point to all of you is that this is real, so don't scoff or turn your back on the possibility.  "Seek and ye shall find."

QUESTIONS I HAVE ONLY PARTIALLY SUCCEEDED IN ANSWERING

 Who? What? Where? Why? When? Those are the questions every good newspaper article is supposed to answer. The answers about myself and about my fellow humans are given here to the extent I can give those answers.

 Who am I? Well, in this current life I am Raymond Lewis Haggard (born May 2, 1932, in Needles, CA), father to two children, husband to their mother, Dolores Brigham, and then husband to my second wife, Maureen McNelly Doyle. I say my current life because I have become convinced by extensive evidence that reincarnation is a fact of our existence. We exist as conscious, spiritual entities separate from our physical bodies. I know this for certain because I left my body for a short time when I was knocked unconscious in a motor scooter accident in 1957, looking down at my inert body from a few feet above. I later read about several other similar incidents experienced by many other people.

 Where are we? We know for sure what city we are in, what state we live in, and what country that state is a part of. We also know we are on a planet called Earth, which is part of a solar system, where this planet orbits around a minor star at the edge of the Milky Way Galaxy in a Universe which contains billions of such galaxies! Earth is a globe which is eight thousand miles in diameter and takes one year to orbit the star (Sun) that is ninety-three million miles away. If that isn't enough to boggle your mind, consider this: The nearest star in our galaxy is four light years (distance light travels in four years at 186,000 miles per second) away from our Sun. The last part of this knowledge has been available to us humans for only a few hundred years.

 When am I writing this post? It is now the middle of the year 2014 (82 years since I started this lifetime). I am old enough now to know that my opinions and philosophies do not fit in with other people's; nor do I expect them to. I simply put them forth in the next couple of paragraphs to help my progeny better understand me.

 What is this universe? How did it come to be? How did we come to be? Many people still believe that the Bible, specifically a book in the Bible (which contains 66 separate books), namely, Genesis, contains all we need to know about all that. I do not believe any book in the Bible was written by anyone but inspired men who wrote from ancient perspectives. At the time that Genesis was written it was believed that Earth was the center of everything; and the sky was an inverted bowl over the earth upon which various "lights" circled the earth from horizon to horizon. God was viewed as simply a very powerful being. Even though I reject this simplistic view of God, I do not reject the idea that whatever created this universe and us did so in ways that are infinitely more complex than even modern man can fathom. This Creator is a spirit (invisible in the physical world) which has consciousness and whose essence is eternal all-pervasive Love.

 What, then, is our essence in this universe? We are also spirit beings whose purpose is to unify with the creative Spirit that originally brought us into existence. In order to accomplish this purpose we must first manifest in the physical universe. This physical existence is only an illusion in which we pass through a series of "ego-centered" lifetimes to tune our consciousness to the Creator's consciousness--also known as the "Holy Spirit" or "Christ-Consciousness". Prayer and meditation are key to reaching the "Kingdom of Heaven," which you will find that Jesus taught is "within you." He also taught, "Seek ye first the Kingdom of Heaven; and all these things shall be added to you." And, finally, I definitely do not believe in a Supreme Being who sentences all but a very select few to eternal fiery punishment. This terrible idea originated with ego-centered humans who used various versions of dogma-centered religion to gain power over the masses. Humans create their own personal "hell" by their own ego (self-gratifying) behavior.

 Unfortunately, one lifetime is usually not enough to "get it right." That is why we have reincarnation.

FEAR NOT!

Fear is the primary emotion that prevents people from achieving the best things in life.  I can't remember how many times I was plagued by fear: asking for the first kiss; trying out for the school play; asking the girlfriend to marry me; reporting for duty in the Air Force; applying for a job; etc., etc.  Fear cannot be avoided--only overcome.

One of the main fears that keeps coming up over and over is the fear of failure.  The way to overcome this fear is to ask yourself, "What is the worst that can happen?"  Will you be killed?  Will you be stripped naked?  On the other hand, you just might be successful in whatever it is you fear doing.

The most dependable way to overcome fear is to ask your Creator for assistance in facing the fear.  More about this "Creator" in my next post.