2005-8-31 04:54:00
2004 Gathering Sunday Morning Part 2JJ: Let's refresh a little. Basically what we talked about today is that Jesus taught that if a man hear His words he shall never die. The words that he has to hear are the words of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit speaks through the language of principles. We've been discussing what a principle is verses a fact. The Master talked about those who have ears but did not hear. This means they only heard the data. They didn't hear the principle behind the data. We must hear the principle behind the data if we are to have eternal life. That's the only way to have it implanted within us. You can't really have a piece of data planted within you. You can have it implanted in your memory bank but it doesn't really do much for you.
One principle we related as taught by Joseph Smith was that if there is a beginning to something there will be an end. If there is no end there is no beginning. If there is a beginning to something there will be an end. That's an enunciation of a principle. The Law of Economy is another principle. A mathematical equation is a principle. The data is a piece of data. So, Jesus gave spiritual equations. "You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free." He gave these spiritual equations and all that people need is principles.
It says, "Believe on the Son of God and you shall have eternal life." People hear the data in that but they do not see the principle. The principle behind the Son of God is the soul. The soul is the mediator between spirit and matter. Matter interplays with spirit and in between that interplay is soul energy. Soul energy is a mediating principle between God and man. When a person touches the soul, he begins to hear the words of eternal life. They begin to be planted in him until they grow up into mastery and eternal life.
The question to examine now is; what are the steps to take once we understand that we have to accept principles within us to have eternal life? What are the steps we have to take in order to overcome death as Jesus did?
Audience: A question before that is why would we want eternal life? Why would we want to overcome death? Why would we need that?
JJ: First off, let's talk about what eternal life is. The Mormons have an interesting definition. They believe that everyone is deathless and no one will be extinguished but eternal life is life as God lives life. That's a pretty good way to put it but is there a deeper way than that? What is life as God lives life?
Audience: To eternally embrace something includes forward as well as backward so if there is eternal life it would have to be both forward and backward.
JJ: What is life?
Audience: Consciousness?
JJ: When you're sleeping and unconscious are you still alive?
Audience: I would think life is the organization of the body, for physical life anyway.
JJ: Has anyone here read the Molecular Relationship? In the beginning there was one thing. What was that one thing? Purpose. Life is the movement of purpose. The movement of purpose produces light and love. To have life, you need ability to move. So, eternal life means you have eternal freedom to move and do what you want to do. That is the core principle behind it.
Let's suppose Assaf reaches the age of 96 and thinks, "Man, I have a bunch more stuff to do. It's going to take me 20 more years to get everything done that I want to do." If he has eternal life then he has the ability to move in the directions he wants to move and the direction he wants to move is to stay here another 20 years and live to be 116 years old. If he has that ability, he has eternal life because he has power to move in the direction he wants whenever he wants to do it. Even if he chooses to die at the age of 116, that's part of eternal life. That's movement if he moves from the physical body into another sphere. But because he's doing it by choice it's eternal life because eternal life is being able to always have the power to move in the direction you want to move.
God, we're told, is all-powerful. So this is the key to His eternal life. For all-powerful beings the key to life is being able to do what they want to do when they want to do it. We all have limitations on the path to having all power given to us. We must, first of all, find what those limitations are.
There are three spheres of limitations we must overcome in obtaining eternal life. The first sphere is called in the east by the name of maya. Does anyone know what that is?
Audience: energy?
JJ: It's energy connected with a physical matter in that fact that maya is called illusion but it's illusion because the pull of physical matter pulls on us so strongly that it takes our attention away from the real. And because the pull of the physical matter takes our attention away from the real it causes us to be deceived. So, we have to overcome this pull of maya in order to overcome the first hurdle to eternal life. Now, what are some of the pulls of physical matter that direct our attention away from the spiritual? What about food and drink? We can't put all of our attention on enjoying food and drink and eat, drink and be merry, or any addiction that pulls us away or if we drink too much alcohol like we did last night. I drank just the right amount. How about you guys? (laughter)
Audience: Part of appreciating and being thankful is enjoying things like food.
JJ: Right but there is a difference between enjoying it or living to eat or eating to live. Those who live to eat are caught in maya, the pull of the food. What other things produce maya?
Audience: It sounds weird but too much of an attachment to our loved ones.
JJ: This is more in the area of glamours which is the next thing we're going to talk about. A very powerful one is sex. When you're very sexually attracted to somebody it's very difficult to transmute that into the correct spiritual perceptions. It can pull us away from our spiritual connection. If it's used properly, it can enhance spirituality, just like food gives us sustenance so we can be spiritual servants. Sex can be fulfilling if it's put in its right place. If you're happily married but go have an affair, that's a pull. You're attracted by the pull of matter itself away from the direction of spirit. The Seven Deadly Sins are rather exemplified of the pull of maya.
So, we have matter and the energy of matter. We're attracted to matter. We're attracted to nice cars and clothes and things like this. Where we put our attention in the attraction to matter, whether it be sex or food or nice things whatever they are. These are pulls that always tug on us. No matter who you are, if you see someone drive by in a nice Porsche or Mercedes you might think how nice it would be to have one of those. We have that pull toward the physical. This pull toward the physical must be put under your control. We don't do away with the pull but we put it under our power. By putting it under our power, it removes one of our limitations.
If the facts don't fit the theory, change the facts. Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955), (attributed)
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