"What is the purpose of not knowing?"

[Guest guest]

I Don't Feel Perfect

by Bruce D. Schneider, Ph.D.

 

Some of the most difficult questions I've ever been asked are: If we

are one with God, then why wouldn't God have created us with that

thought to begin with? What is the purpose of not knowing? Why don't

we feel perfect?

 

I meditated upon these questions for two decades before I was ready

to see the answer.

 

Before we are born, we choose to exist and decide how best to help

ourselves and the One Spirit in the process of re-discovery. This is

because each individual soul develops as it wishes, while assisting

all other souls in their journey. All are experiencing and gaining

more of an understanding of the nature of Love. We choose who we will

be and to whom we will be born, to best serve that purpose.

 

We also choose to experience "transformational amnesia", to

temporarily forget our spiritual consciousness in order to adjust to

the physical world and allow us "real" physical experiences. If we

knew we were invulnerable spiritual beings, the effects of these

physical experiences would have little or no significance for us. We

would know they were not real.

 

Imagine that you are a passenger on a flight during a severe storm.

The plane is shaking and you see lightning all around you.

The "fasten seat belt" sign is illuminated and you start to get

frightened. There's a large blast of thunder nearby, and the lights

go out inside the cabin. People scream while the aircraft is bouncing

up and down like a toy, feeling as if it could break apart at any

second. Babies are crying and, as you look around, you can barely

make out some people praying in the dark. Your heart beats faster,

you start to sweat, your breath shortens, and panic becomes a

possibility. You are terrified, and understandably so. No one

is telling you anything, and you wonder if the pilots are in control.

 

Suddenly, the plane calms down and the cabin lights come back on as

you hear an announcement; "Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain

speaking. We are out of the storm now and it should be pretty smooth

for the duration of the flight." Some passengers applaud, and you're

overwhelmed with relief.

 

What if you were watching a movie of yourself in this situation and

knew the ending? Would you have been as scared? What if you knew

during this predicament that everything would be OK? Would you have

had the same emotional experience? Of course not. You needed to live

through it without knowing, so you could gain a very "real"

experience. If you knew what would happen before it happened, it

wouldn't feel real.

 

This is the same with our entire physical existence. Before we are

born, we choose to forget who we are so we can get the most out of

what is available for us to experience. We're in this world to

experience all life's situations as "reality", so we can eventually

know ourselves wholly, body, mind, and spirit, as Love.

 

If you realize you are here as a spiritual being, that suggests

you've had enough physical experiences to begin to awaken. You start

to re-member who you are and why you came here. You lose the feeling

of isolation and "re-member" yourself as part of the One Spirit. When

and if this happens, you are ready to experience a new perspective on

life. You either experience it firsthand or by using your memory,

knowing you are a spiritual being inside a physical body. You then

begin to realize, as psychologist Frances Vaughan says, "I have

thoughts, feelings, and sensations, but I am not my thoughts,

feelings or sensations."

 

Because we must first forget, most of us get caught up in

the "reality" of what we think we see and have a difficult time

remembering who we really are. Until we begin to awaken, we remain

blind to the perfect process. Since you are reading this, odds are

you're awake, or are beginning to awaken, and are becoming aware that

the Higher Intelligence is within and all around you, regardless of

what you think you see.

 

The Universe created this entire process of re-discovery and it is

perfect. As part of this process we, in this physical form, play our

roles perfectly, whether we realize and understand it or not.

 

 

************

The above was excerpted from "Relax, You're Already Perfect: 10

Spiritual Lessons to Remember", © 2000 by Bruce D Schneider, Ph. D.,

reprinted by permission of Ebb/Flow Publishing.

*************

[Guest guest]

Perhaps should have done some snipping. But lifes

lessons beautifully put.

 

--- Mirror <mirror.reflections wrote:

> I Don't Feel Perfect

> by Bruce D. Schneider, Ph.D.

>

> Some of the most difficult questions I've ever been

> asked are: If we

> are one with God, then why wouldn't God have created

> us with that

> thought to begin with? What is the purpose of not

> knowing? Why don't

> we feel perfect?

>

> I meditated upon these questions for two decades

> before I was ready

> to see the answer.

>

> Before we are born, we choose to exist and decide

> how best to help

> ourselves and the One Spirit in the process of

> re-discovery. This is

> because each individual soul develops as it wishes,

> while assisting

> all other souls in their journey. All are

> experiencing and gaining

> more of an understanding of the nature of Love. We

> choose who we will

> be and to whom we will be born, to best serve that

> purpose.

>

> We also choose to experience "transformational

> amnesia", to

> temporarily forget our spiritual consciousness in

> order to adjust to

> the physical world and allow us "real" physical

> experiences. If we

> knew we were invulnerable spiritual beings, the

> effects of these

> physical experiences would have little or no

> significance for us. We

> would know they were not real.

>

> Imagine that you are a passenger on a flight during

> a severe storm.

> The plane is shaking and you see lightning all

> around you.

> The "fasten seat belt" sign is illuminated and you

> start to get

> frightened. There's a large blast of thunder nearby,

> and the lights

> go out inside the cabin. People scream while the

> aircraft is bouncing

> up and down like a toy, feeling as if it could break

> apart at any

> second. Babies are crying and, as you look around,

> you can barely

> make out some people praying in the dark. Your heart

> beats faster,

> you start to sweat, your breath shortens, and panic

> becomes a

> possibility. You are terrified, and understandably

> so. No one

> is telling you anything, and you wonder if the

> pilots are in control.

>

> Suddenly, the plane calms down and the cabin lights

> come back on as

> you hear an announcement; "Ladies and gentlemen,

> this is your captain

> speaking. We are out of the storm now and it should

> be pretty smooth

> for the duration of the flight." Some passengers

> applaud, and you're

> overwhelmed with relief.

>

> What if you were watching a movie of yourself in

> this situation and

> knew the ending? Would you have been as scared? What

> if you knew

> during this predicament that everything would be OK?

> Would you have

> had the same emotional experience? Of course not.

> You needed to live

> through it without knowing, so you could gain a very

> "real"

> experience. If you knew what would happen before it

> happened, it

> wouldn't feel real.

>

> This is the same with our entire physical existence.

> Before we are

> born, we choose to forget who we are so we can get

> the most out of

> what is available for us to experience. We're in

> this world to

> experience all life's situations as "reality", so we

> can eventually

> know ourselves wholly, body, mind, and spirit, as

> Love.

>

> If you realize you are here as a spiritual being,

> that suggests

> you've had enough physical experiences to begin to

> awaken. You start

> to re-member who you are and why you came here. You

> lose the feeling

> of isolation and "re-member" yourself as part of the

> One Spirit. When

> and if this happens, you are ready to experience a

> new perspective on

> life. You either experience it firsthand or by using

> your memory,

> knowing you are a spiritual being inside a physical

> body. You then

> begin to realize, as psychologist Frances Vaughan

> says, "I have

> thoughts, feelings, and sensations, but I am not my

> thoughts,

> feelings or sensations."

>

> Because we must first forget, most of us get caught

> up in

> the "reality" of what we think we see and have a

> difficult time

> remembering who we really are. Until we begin to

> awaken, we remain

> blind to the perfect process. Since you are reading

> this, odds are

> you're awake, or are beginning to awaken, and are

> becoming aware that

> the Higher Intelligence is within and all around

> you, regardless of

> what you think you see.

>

> The Universe created this entire process of

> re-discovery and it is

> perfect. As part of this process we, in this

> physical form, play our

> roles perfectly, whether we realize and understand

> it or not.

>

>

> ************

> The above was excerpted from "Relax, You're Already

> Perfect: 10

> Spiritual Lessons to Remember", © 2000 by Bruce D

> Schneider, Ph. D.,

> reprinted by permission of Ebb/Flow Publishing.

> *************

>

>

>

>

>

 

 

=====

Cognosce Te Ipsum

 

 

 

Get personalized email addresses from Mail

http://personal.mail./

[Guest guest]

At 01:10 PM 7/20/01 +0200, you wrote:

I Don't Feel Perfect

by Bruce D. Schneider, Ph.D.

Perfect isn't a feeling.

Some of the most difficult

questions I've ever been asked are: If we

are one with God, then why wouldn't God have created us with that

thought to begin with? What is the purpose of not knowing? Why don't

we feel perfect?

Not-knowing is its own reward.

Perfect isn't a feeling.

I meditated upon these

questions for two decades before I was ready

to see the answer.

And got the answer that fit with the

kind of question being asked.

Before we are born, we choose

to exist and decide how best to help

ourselves and the One Spirit in the process of re-discovery.

We never came into an existence.

Without any rediscovering,

*This* as is, is it ...

Yes, "nothing is out of place" ... I say "amen"

....

However, crack-addicted babies born to

mothers who stuff them into dumpsters

to die with cries unheard, are not serving

a higher purpose, nor did they choose

that experience to further the growth

of an individual soul.

A million other examples are available.

If you're open to who you are, you're open to

all that you are -- without avoidance or

rose-colored glasses.

Love,

Dan

This is

because each individual soul develops as it wishes, while assisting

all other souls in their journey. All are experiencing and gaining

more of an understanding of the nature of Love. We choose who we

will

be and to whom we will be born, to best serve that purpose.

We also choose to experience "transformational amnesia",

to

temporarily forget our spiritual consciousness in order to adjust to

the physical world and allow us "real" physical experiences. If

we

knew we were invulnerable spiritual beings, the effects of these

physical experiences would have little or no significance for us. We

would know they were not real.

Imagine that you are a passenger on a flight during a severe storm.

The plane is shaking and you see lightning all around you.

The "fasten seat belt" sign is illuminated and you start to

get

frightened. There's a large blast of thunder nearby, and the lights

go out inside the cabin. People scream while the aircraft is

bouncing

up and down like a toy, feeling as if it could break apart at any

second. Babies are crying and, as you look around, you can barely

make out some people praying in the dark. Your heart beats faster,

you start to sweat, your breath shortens, and panic becomes a

possibility. You are terrified, and understandably so. No one

is telling you anything, and you wonder if the pilots are in

control.

Suddenly, the plane calms down and the cabin lights come back on as

you hear an announcement; "Ladies and gentlemen, this is your

captain

speaking. We are out of the storm now and it should be pretty smooth

for the duration of the flight." Some passengers applaud, and

you're

overwhelmed with relief.

What if you were watching a movie of yourself in this situation and

knew the ending? Would you have been as scared? What if you knew

during this predicament that everything would be OK? Would you have

had the same emotional experience? Of course not. You needed to live

through it without knowing, so you could gain a very

"real"

experience. If you knew what would happen before it happened, it

wouldn't feel real.

This is the same with our entire physical existence. Before we are

born, we choose to forget who we are so we can get the most out of

what is available for us to experience. We're in this world to

experience all life's situations as "reality", so we can

eventually

know ourselves wholly, body, mind, and spirit, as Love.

If you realize you are here as a spiritual being, that suggests

you've had enough physical experiences to begin to awaken. You start

to re-member who you are and why you came here. You lose the feeling

of isolation and "re-member" yourself as part of the One

Spirit. When

and if this happens, you are ready to experience a new perspective

on

life. You either experience it firsthand or by using your memory,

knowing you are a spiritual being inside a physical body. You then

begin to realize, as psychologist Frances Vaughan says, "I have

thoughts, feelings, and sensations, but I am not my thoughts,

feelings or sensations."

Because we must first forget, most of us get caught up in

the "reality" of what we think we see and have a difficult

time

remembering who we really are. Until we begin to awaken, we remain

blind to the perfect process. Since you are reading this, odds are

you're awake, or are beginning to awaken, and are becoming aware

that

the Higher Intelligence is within and all around you, regardless of

what you think you see.

The Universe created this entire process of re-discovery and it is

perfect. As part of this process we, in this physical form, play our

roles perfectly, whether we realize and understand it or not.

************

The above was excerpted from "Relax, You're Already Perfect: 10

Spiritual Lessons to Remember", © 2000 by Bruce D Schneider, Ph.

D.,

reprinted by permission of Ebb/Flow Publishing.

*************

/join

 

All paths go somewhere. No path goes nowhere. Paths, places, sights,

perceptions, and indeed all experiences arise from and exist in and

subside back into the Space of Awareness. Like waves rising are not

different than the ocean, all things arising from Awareness are of the

nature of Awareness. Awareness does not come and go but is always

Present. It is Home. Home is where the Heart Is. Jnanis know the Heart to

be the Finality of Eternal Being. A true devotee relishes in the Truth of

Self-Knowledge, spontaneously arising from within into It Self. Welcome

all to a.

Your use of is subject to the

Terms of

Service.

[Guest guest]

>Perhaps should have done some snipping. But lifes

>lessons beautifully put.

 

Snip! ;-)

 

Not-knowing ...

[Guest guest]

Dan:

> Perfect isn't a feeling.

neither is the statement that 'perfect isn't a feeling' perfect :-)>

Not-knowing is its own reward.knows who?

> We never came into an existence.thus this sentence doesn't even come

intoexistence as I type it? of course, the usualnever coming into

existence nor lacking existenceonly applies to presupposed existence,

is never realnor unreal nor lacks reality nor lacks unreality.We, as

such, never came anywhere.>Without any rediscovering,*This* as is, is

it ...

Yep. Just rediscovered that ;-)

>Yes, "nothing is out of place" ... I say "amen" ...However,

crack-addicted babies born to mothers who stuff them into dumpsters

to die with cries unheard, are not serving a higher purpose, nor

did they choose that experience to further the growth of an

individual soul.A million other examples are available.If you're open

to who you are, you're open to all that you are -- without avoidance

or rose-colored glasses.

Yes beloved Dan. Your new email settings give

plenty of color for now :-) serving no higher

purpose other than making life visible amidst

the colorless transparency of itself.

About choosing and free choice and

presupposed individual souls the last may

not yet have been said. ;-)

Wearing blue glasses today, while being

all that I am, with love,

Mira

[Guest guest]

, Daniel Berkow <berkowd@u...> wrote:

> At 01:10 PM 7/20/01 +0200, you wrote:

> >I Don't Feel Perfect

> >by Bruce D. Schneider, Ph.D.

>

> Perfect isn't a feeling.

 

Nor is Perfect a "state of being." Rather, perfect is "what is, as

it is." There is never a movement toward or away from Perfection, as

such a movement implies that perfection is "elsewhere."

> Not-knowing is its own reward.

 

Knowing doesn't interfere with "what is," neither does "not-knowing."

> >I meditated upon these questions for two decades before I was ready

> >to see the answer.

>

> And got the answer that fit with the

> kind of question being asked.

 

Yes, it appears he did :-). "Two decades" implies "conditioning

myself to believe what I wanted to believe."

> >Before we are born, we choose to exist and decide how best to help

> >ourselves and the One Spirit in the process of re-discovery.

>

> We never came into an existence.

 

No, but we never moved out of one, either ;-).

> However, crack-addicted babies born to

> mothers who stuff them into dumpsters

> to die with cries unheard, are not serving

> a higher purpose, nor did they choose

> that experience to further the growth

> of an individual soul.

 

No they aren't, but can you point to anything/'anyone' serving

a 'higher purpose'? Higher than *what*? Who chooses or fails to

choose?

> If you're open to who you are, you're open to

> all that you are -- without avoidance or

> rose-colored glasses.

 

Yes... whoever may be reading this (you know who you are),

contemplate this: "Awareness says 'yes' to everything."

 

Love,

 

Tim

[Guest guest]

At 08:47 PM 7/20/01 +0200, you wrote:

Dan:

> Perfect isn't a feeling.

Mira: neither is the statement that 'perfect isn't

a feeling' perfect :-)

Placing the statement back in its context,

(which is necessary for communication)

it's a statement of the futility

of looking for a feeling

of being perfect ...

Clearly, no one will gain from looking for perfection

as a particular statement either.

> Not-knowing is its own

reward.

knows who?

The one who is not-knowing ...

> We never came into an

existence.

thus this sentence doesn't even come into

existence as I type it?

That's true too.

There's no existence for it to come into.

of course,

the usual

never coming into existence nor lacking existence

only applies to presupposed existence, is never real

nor unreal nor lacks reality nor lacks unreality.

We, as such, never came anywhere.

Okay.

>Without any rediscovering,

*This* as is, is it ...

Yep. Just rediscovered that

;-)

It has never been lost ...

>Yes, "nothing is out of

place" ... I say "amen" ...

However, crack-addicted babies born to

mothers who stuff them into dumpsters

to die with cries unheard, are not serving

a higher purpose, nor did they choose

that experience to further the growth

of an individual soul.

A million other examples are available.

If you're open to who you are, you're open to

all that you are -- without avoidance or

rose-colored glasses.

Yes beloved Dan. Your new email settings

give

plenty of color for now :-) serving no

higher

purpose other than making life visible amidst

the colorless transparency of itself.

The life that is transparent, and

the colorlessness that is transparent,

are the same color.

About

choosing and free choice and

presupposed individual souls the last

may

not yet have been said.

;-)

There's no first thing to say about it.

Wearing blue

glasses today, while being

all that I am, with love,

Love to you --

Dan

[Guest guest]

Hi Tim!

> >I Don't Feel Perfect

> >by Bruce D. Schneider, Ph.D.

>

> Perfect isn't a feeling.

Nor is Perfect a "state of being." Rather, perfect is

"what is, as

it is." There is never a movement toward or away from

Perfection, as

such a movement implies that perfection is

"elsewhere."

Bingo! Give the man a cigar!

;-)

> Not-knowing is its own

reward.

Knowing doesn't interfere with "what is," neither does

"not-knowing."

Yes -- and to elaborate, just for the fun of it:

"Perfection" isn't an object being known.

Nor is it a subject knowing perfection in some way.

Knowing contrasted with not-knowing involves

supposing some kind of change or alteration

in perfection, as if it could

be something different in one state and another

(e.g., know itself more in one state, not know

in another state) ...

Thus, the "not-knowing" that is "its own

reward",

isn't the not-knowing that is something

other than knowing.

"Not-knowing" as perfection requires nothing to be known,

and thus as is, is perfect -- and is transcendent

knowing, in which "this very knowing as is"

is perfection.

> >I meditated upon these

questions for two decades before I was ready

> >to see the answer.

>

> And got the answer that fit with the

> kind of question being asked.

Yes, it appears he did :-). "Two decades" implies

"conditioning

myself to believe what I wanted to believe."

Well, he already has a cigar.

Give him a stuffed bear this time! ;-)

> >Before we are

born, we choose to exist and decide how best to help

> >ourselves and the One Spirit in the process of

re-discovery.

>

> We never came into an existence.

No, but we never moved out of one, either ;-).

Indeed, indeed!

> However,

crack-addicted babies born to

> mothers who stuff them into dumpsters

> to die with cries unheard, are not

serving

> a higher purpose, nor did they choose

> that experience to further the growth

> of an individual soul.

No they aren't, but can you point to anything/'anyone' serving

a 'higher purpose'? Higher than *what*? Who chooses or fails

to

choose?

Exactamundo!

> If you're open to

who you are, you're open to

> all that you are -- without avoidance

or

> rose-colored glasses.

Yes... whoever may be reading this (you know who you are),

contemplate this: "Awareness says 'yes' to

everything.

It do and am.

As is -- which is its

very own am!

Love,

Dan

Love,

Tim