When I was quite young religious teachers informed me that I was guilty of “Original Sin” and that the rest of my life would have to be spent making up for that “sin”. They never seemed to nail it down, though, except for stories about Adam and Eve and Serpents and Apples. Just what exactly did I do that could be such a grievous evil deed without being aware of it? This idea of “Original Sin” cannot be valid unless one can elucidate the nature of this heinous act.
Well, here is my explanation and I defy anyone to supply a better one:
The process of being born is one of separation physically and also spiritually.
By residing for a time in a physical body that requires almost total identity we immediately assume that we are separate from the rest of the universe. Obviously we are not actually separate, but that’s the ubiquitous impression that colors every aspect of our self-awareness. The conviction that we are somehow separate is the
“Original Sin.”
It is not evil. It is natural. It is the challenge that is presented by our having chosen to experience this existence. Inevitably we will forego this physical existence and then there will be nothing more to what we are other than the non-physical (spiritual) aspect of our being. Please accept for the moment that each of us is a spiritual (non-physical) being just for the sake of argument. I will treat the validity of this position subsequently.
For now simply ask: ‘What am I other than all this that I know I am not?’

FOREGIVENESS AND PROSPERITY
What does the word ‘forgive’ mean? If we apply the meaning of ‘fore’ as in foregone, foresworn,
forethought, etc, we get the idea of before. So that forgiveness somehow means that something is given before
the need for it arises.
Just what could be given to us before the need arises by the Creator of the universe?

Why, everything!

I believe that everything we need has already been supplied and is waiting to be realized. This is the idea embodied in the ‘Law of Attraction’ that has become so popular recently.

When bills keep coming in and income doesn’t cover everything it is difficult to believe that these

needs are already paid, but that’s what it takes to survive when the lack appears overwhelming. One must remember that the tools that worked yesterday when all was well still work today regardless of their resale value. Our economy is a function of the confidence people have in the government. Tough times mean that it’s time to change the government and that is something the forefathers of the United States foresaw. The Declaration of Independence embodies statements to the fact that the people have the right and the ability to change the government when it no longer serves its constitutional functions. We have come to a crossroad

internationally and we must choose between freedom defined in terms of responsibility and license defined in terms of dependence. The former supports the individual and the latter supports the collective.

I favor freedom because the problem of separation must be addressed by the individual and that it is the most important challenge one faces in this life. Identification with a group further enforces the perception of separation from the rest of the universe by the false empowerment of ‘membership.’ For example, joining a club, or a union or a church automatically interposes a label that separates those so labeled from all others who do not share that label. Labels are barriers that complicate our relationships. Now some of them are necessary and beneficial, but words are tools and, as such can be used creatively or destructively.

Now the concept of freedom is directly related to the idea of free will. Free will is not a matter of

permission from authority. Free will is the quality of creativity that resides in each of us by nature. It is closely akin to the universal creativity that is the basis of Reality.

Actually we are using free will all the time to define our experience. Even if we believe we are helpless in changing our situation it is the application of free will that has taken us to this pass. In order to reshape our experience in life to a more pleasing and fulfilling one we must first acknowledge the first aspect of freedom as responsibility. If one allows others to be responsible for the outcomes of his life, then he is relinquishing his freedom to them. No longer can he make the choices that steer his life. Over the years we have allowed responsibility to be redefined as an onus that one needs to avoid in order to have an enjoyable life. After all, immediate pleasure is always more attractive than .working hard now for some reward on down the line.

We are taught by our parents from the start to obey their authority, but rarely taught why it is efficacious to do so.

Therefore, when we reach the age of rebellion, it is easy to assume that freedom is freedom from

responsibility rather than the manifestation of having assumed responsibility. A dispassionate view of our society today readily discloses our collective abhorrence of responsibility. That’s a mistake we’ve been nurtured to make...and for which we are paying.

OUR KEY TO POWER

How can each of us wrest fulfillment from the dire situations we are told are befalling us?

The answer is to reject what others tell you and begin to trust that invisible forgiveness that is as real as the atoms of which everything seems to be comprised. It starts with us looking at ourselves in a mental mirror as a self-creative manifestation of the rest of the universe. That means that we first recognize that the universe is an incalculably vast oneness. Diversity is simply an illusion manifested by our creativity. Our power lies in our ability to visualize. We can dream awake and by doing so we make our expectations manifest, literally. Whether we believe that or not, it is exactly what we do day in and day out throughout our lifetimes.

When we look at other people and suppose that we know how they feel and what they are going through in life we are actually imagining how we would feel and what we would be experiencing given their situations as we understand them to be.

How can it be any other way?

So the key to personal power is within each of us whether we are aware of it or not…whether we

use it in a coherent manner, or not. Our attitudes, expectations, beliefs…all those subjective, inexpressible impressions that become associated into a cohesive feeling about what we are and who we are and about the rest of the world are all the result of our own free will manifesting our experience. Can anyone imagine more realistic power than that?

So far I’ve been generalizing about the individual as an all powerful entity separate from all other such entities and yet I am also talking about our need to overcome the conviction of separation that pervades our awareness. That sounds self contradictory, but it isn’t.

The Golden Rule, gravity and Karma are all expressions of universal laws. None can be broken.

Actually the law of Karma and the Golden Rule are expressions of the same principle and both are essentially expressions of the law of attraction, too. They are all as pervasive and inevitable as gravity. To some that is a great comfort and to others it seems a threat of unspeakably horrendous consequences. Attitudes and expectations prevail.

To get what you want, give it.

If one wishes to be more intelligent, then one should recognize intelligence in others.

If one wants love, then one must love others.

This fundamental reciprocity works on all levels of endeavor and aspiration. So that one’s situation can be ameliorated simply by recognizing the fulfillment of such a situation in others. The trick is in knowing exactly what the needs are. I submit that they are always mental needs and not physical. I say this because I assume that the basis of reality is non-physical.

Now if the physical universe is the manifestation of mental activity, then the mind must be a precedent agent. Let me demonstrate that as briefly as words allow:

WELCOME TO GEOMETRY 101

Well, here we are sitting in the classroom as our theoretical professor attempts to demonstrate the composition of the physical universe in the simplest possible terms. He marks a small dot on the blackboard and then gazes about the class expectantly.

“This dot that I’ve drawn on the board represents a point. However it is not a very good likeness because a point really does not exist. It is only a theoretical figure for the sake of explanation. Now, if I move this point in a

direction I get a line segment.”

The chalk makes a screech as he draws in across the slate.

He continues, “This line segment is also theoretical and, therefore imaginary. We recognize it as a figure of one dimension.” He pauses and then gazes about the classroom to note that we are all in rapt attention.

“Now if I move this line in a direction I have a plane.” At this point he completes the figure of a

trapezoid on the blackboard. Here we have a two dimensional object, but it, too, has no real existence. It is simply a theoretical figure.”

Again he casts his professorial gaze about the classroom just to make sure he’s still there.

“Now, if I move this plane in another direction,” his chalk seems to take on a life of its own as he

completes a picture resembling a lopsided cube, “we arrive at a three dimensional figure.”

Obviously the professor is overjoyed at having created something “real”, but his glee is short-lived because he must admit that this three dimensional figure must remain theoretical until it has duration.

“Yes,” he admits, “even a three dimensional figure can only be theoretical until it exists in time. the fourth dimension.”

At this point a shrill bell signals the end of the class session and we find ourselves in the locker room getting ready for Phys Ed.

One problem that our geometry prof. failed to address is that time has no physical component that can be isolated. Time is not perceivable except as relative motion in space which has been demonstrated to consist of purely theoretical terms only. In order to perceive the existence of time there must be a fifth dimension.

I choose to call that dimension ‘memory’.

Now the existence of memory implies mental activity which requires a sixth dimension that

could be called intelligence.

And that would require a seventh dimension that could be called ‘consciousness’.

And so it goes with each dimension more inclusive of the previous, the implication is that there must be infinite dimensions.

From this, one must conclude that the basis of reality resides in dimensions far more inclusive than the first four that are normally considered the basis of the physical universe.

To me, the contrarian, the assumption that the basis of reality is physical just does not make sense.

If that “fundamental” position is not borne by logic, then what else can I accept as granted from the authorities?

Suffice it to say that the only sensible explanation for the universe in my cosmology is that some vast intelligence creates it and that everything we experience, including ourselves is a manifestation of this mental activity. I want to be as intelligent as I can be and so, by the Golden Rule, I grant that all that I experience physically and non-physically is intelligent somehow.

Now because intelligence is a quality, it cannot be truly defined in terms of quantity. It is like love or beauty, the result of mental acuity, a non-physical attribute.

So, in order to be personally empowered we must rely on our own ability to create in our minds the outcomes we wish to experience more fully in life.

To do this should be easy for an artist. All it requires is a modicum of relaxation and the ability to

visualize with the inner senses and the imagination to realize our most beneficial outcome. To do this in the face of seemingly contrary evidence requires courage and stubbornness.

What creative person can there be without a liberal share of those attributes?