What Do You Hope To Get From Your Beliefs?

It would be one thing if humanity’s biggest problem was assumptions unfounded in experience.  I might learn something when my assumptions were contradicted by experience.  But humanity has a much worse problem than that, in my opinion.  We don’t believe things because they are actually happening or because we are actually experiencing them.  We believe things to be true because they feed the appetites of the animal soul.

“Beliefs are primarily founded upon what is wished for, not on what is actually happening and not on what is genuine.They may in fact represent the greater ideals of humanity and in this they bear a true reflection, but on a day-to-day basis, and in most practical questions, people base their beliefs on things they hope for, not on things that actually exist.” (Steps to Knowledge, Step 5, “I believe what I want to believe.“)

And what are these appetites?  Survival, sex (species survival), pleasure (as observed by Sigmund Freud), power (as observed by psychologist Alfred Adler), and avoidance of responsibility (as observed by psychologist B. F. Skinner) As I pondered this step, I thought to myself, “I say, the human condition is insanity, isn’t it? Any connection between what is actually so, and what people believe is so, is purely coincidental, isn’t it?  And we’re in big trouble, up a stump, up a creek without a paddle, aren’t we?”

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Welcome to Mystery of Ascension! We are students and advocates of the the New Message from God. We are members of a worldwide community. We seek to assist the world in successfully navigating difficult times ahead. We seek to assist the world in successfully emerging into a greater community of intelligent life. You will also find some poetry. Find out more about us here. Contact us here.

The Animal Soul by Rumi, Translated by Coleman Barks

This is a bit of an experiment.  Poetry seems to be helpful to me in sharing how I think and feel about things, especially things regarding the New Message.  I’m sharing this particular poem because I’ve used the word itches in two previous posts, and this poem paints multiple vivid word pictures of what I mean when I write that.

The Animal Soul

There’s part of us that’s like an itch
Call it the animal soul, a foolishness
That when we’re in it, we make
Hundreds of others around us itchy

And there is an intelligent soul
With another desire, more like sweet basil
Or the feel of a breeze

Listen and be thankful even for scolding
That comes from the intelligent soul
It flows out close to where you flowed out

But that itchiness wants to put food
In our mouths that will make us sick

Feverish with the aftertaste of kissing
A donkey’s rump. It’s like blackening your robe
Against a kettle without being anywhere
Near a table of companionship

The truth of a being human is an empty table
Made of soul-intelligence

Gradually reduce what you give your animal soul
The bread that after all overflows from sunlight

The animal soul itself spilled out
And sprouted from the other

Taste more often what nourishes your clear light
And you’ll have less use for the smoky oven

You’ll bury that baking equipment in the ground!

I’m pleased to announce that I can embed the player from soundcloud.com into journal posts, so that you can hear me recite this poem if you wish.

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Welcome to Mystery of Ascension! We are students and advocates of the the New Message from God. We are members of a worldwide community. We seek to assist the world in successfully navigating difficult times ahead. We seek to assist the world in successfully emerging into a greater community of intelligent life. You will also find some poetry. Find out more about us here. Contact us here.