July, 1961

Constructing a Personal Religion

 

PLEASE READ AT LEAST THIS FEW LINES before throwing this issue into the waste basket. If you do not want the Huna Vistas and do not read them, please be kind enough to drop me a post card to say so. The reason for this request is that my ego has been deflated – to say nothing of Cigbo’s – in the past few weeks by the painful evidence that some HRAs throw the Huna Vistas in the wastebasket without a glance at the contents. One HRA returned the gift copy of the WORLDS GREAT RELIGIONS with a note to say that I must have thought that he had loaned it to me, but that it must have been someone else. Another HRA had the post office return the book as “refused,” apparently deciding that I had sent him something he did not order and for which he had no intention of paying. Two copies were returned without comment. One letter came asking JUST WHY I had sent the book to the writer and to a similarly bewildered fellow HRA. (I replied that my purpose in the sending was not to ask anything of anyone, but for purely selfish purposes because I wanted to refer to passages in the book and dared not copy them at length in the H.V. for fear of being sued for stepping over copyright bounds.) I am sure that there are a number of HRAs on the mailing list who have long since lost all interest in the H.V. or what is being said and done. They do not read the issues and do not write or try to pay a share of the expense of the sendings. If you happen to be one of these, DO have the kindness of writing a line to say “Drop me.” I will not be offended but, on the contrary, will be most grateful. (So much for that.)

FOR THOSE HRAs NOT INTERESTED IN THE NEW PROJECT (the survey of the beliefs of various religions in order that we may decide what we, as individuals, believe), I promised a time back to try to put material of different kinds in each issue so that at least a few items might be of interest. In line with this promise, let me begin this issue with things quite apart from Huna or the project of the moment.

HRA MRS. GERTRUDE SPRINGER has asked that I tell you all of her new $2 postpaid book, A HOBBY A DAY. It is a paperback which tells how to amuse oneself with many hobbies, and in which she tells how to make endless new things such as lamps, shades,dried weed arrangements, lovely gifts from almost nothing, etc. The book is illustrated and gives the proper formulas for no end of things. Good for any person or group needing something interesting to do which will also produce pleasing end products. A fine gift for young or old and will furnish mothers with simple projects to introduce to restless children. I have not seen a copy, but I am sure that from the pen and resources of this writer, the book will be valuable and delightful. Rt. 1, Box 264, Delton, Mich., is the address.

BIO RHYTMUS is the name given by HRA Marion Ver Hoven and husband, Ben, to the “tides” that rise and fall in the human body and mind, much as moon tides affect the waters of earth. As long as thirty years ago German studies were made and three tides or rhythms discovered and the periods between “High” and “Low” determined. At birth the three tides get going, and they continue through life. The tides come to a high for each one in a different length of time, and for a man not the same as for a woman. One trained in the work can take the time of birth of a person and make a chart for a given period which will show when the tides combine at “highs” and make for the best going, physically, emotionally and mentally. There is an excellent article on the subject in the June issue of THE JOURNAL OF BORDERLAND RESEARCH, which may be had for a dollar by writing care P.O. Box 548, Vista, Calif. (Other things in the same issue are very interesting also.) Some details may be had from Ben Mar, P.O. Box 805, Hesperia, Calif. If you wish your chart for a year to tell you when you will be at your best, send in $10 and your birth date. I have had the gift of my chart for the year ahead, and am interestedly watching to see how the high and low combinations affect me. Looks exciting. Might show when the Aunihipili is at its best in the “emotional cycles” and when the Auhane will be most able in terms of its particular “mental” tide. I’ll know more about the system after a month or so of observation.

THE PASSING OF HRA N. MEADE LAYNE

The passing of the founder of THE ROUND ROBIN MAGAZINE and the Borderland Sciences Research Associates, and long our close friend, came  after a year of poor health and a short period of serious illness, ending May 16th.

Meade Layne, as we all called him, was a man whose natural curiosity was not turned to blunted materialism by a university education and M.A. degree. Not at all satisfied with the evasions of “Science”, he took every opportunity to investigate the strange and fascinating things of the psychic realms as well as those parts of the physical from which flying saucers and Foitean “falls” appear to emerge. In his Round Robin he was first to recognize Flying Saucers as genuine and to propound the theory that they materialize and dematerialize in our atmosphere – a theory which has not been bettered as yet. In the realm of Psychic Science he spent much time making first hand investigations of mediumistic phenomena, holding many sittings with Mark Probert and making him famous in a limited circle by reporting the communications of the several “guides”, often bringing out most intriguing information or speculative material.

In addition to a careful scientific approach, Meade could happily become mystic or poet in turn. Perhaps what delighted his friends most was his writing. With penetrating insight he could explain the difficult or expose frauds and pretensions. He was the born reporter and had a natural “nose for news”. For fear of overlooking something strangely important, he sometimes was too credulous, but always most entertaining even in making retractions. His monument should bear the symbol of the silk smooth pen tipped with light and attuned to melody. He managed to do the things he wished to do, what with the loyal help of Mrs. Layne, and any day now I expect him to be introduced at a Mark Probert seance by no less a personage than the great and learned spirit, Yada, or the amusing Lanford who asks the medium to assist him to the joy of a cigarette while he speaks through the body. Perhaps it is not too much to expect that, given time to examine his surroundings and peer with delighted expectation into dark corners, he will again be reporting. Aloha, Meade.

ARE SPIRIT KAHUNAS TRYING FOR A “CROSS CORRESPONDENCE”?

This question arises because of strangely similar messages in a Polynesian dialect given to two different people and forwarded to me for translation. In the efforts of spirits to prove their reality in the past century, the “cross correspondences” have been messages which could not be explained away by reference to telepathy, mind reading or suggestion. In one famous case a spirit arranged through a medium for such a test and proposed that he give three different mediums parts of a quotation. The mediums were not acquainted with each other, nor were those sitting in the circles in three different cities. The spirit spoke through the three mediums, gave each a third of the quotation, and instructions to mail the parts of the message to a certain person. The orders were obeyed and the message, divided as follows, was put together: “No one … stops … to kick … a dead horse.”

WITHIN A PERIOD OF LESS THAN TWO WEEKS I received two messages, one from a professional medium who was a stranger to me, and one from HRA I. S. who had been using a combination of Huna and Scientology methods to help a young woman who, when the treatment was well along, was impressed to do a sitting Hula dance and recite lines in what sounded like Hawaiian. In both  instances the words were written down as they sounded and sent to me to study.

Both short sets of lines appeared, when studied, to be typical Hula chants of olden days. They were both filled with the double talk of coded and secret meanings. Both, on the surface, sang in praise of sexual union and its delights. Both, in the double meanings of the words indicated contact with the Aumakua and all the joys of interchanging flows of mana. Heavy rain, flowing and deep water, fine rain and aka threads symbolized by the web of the spider, high banks from which one leaped into the deep pool, the clearing of the way to enjoyment of the full contact – all the symbols of the ancient inner lore of Huna.

I reported the general meaning to the professional medium and soon the kahuna spirit guide sent me a very interesting message through her. “Honomoku (maker of ships?) has given me a message for you. First he has shown me your tapestry, as in an Oriental rug with a wide border of finely woven texture giving a strong protective force  denoting a refined person. Bright, exotic colors show a quick mind, eager to learn and a love of life and all it offers. Graceful swirls again show refinement, love of nature and of the arts, also idealism and imagination. The fine black lines show the correct negativity in their swirls – a proper balance, for where there is positive force, there must be a balancing negative force. Then I saw you on a mountain peak, arms raised straight out from the sides, palms downward. You took a deep breath, exhaled, and gloried in your position. Then a larger and higher mountain appeared to the right of your position – another pinnacle to reach. There is never a stopping place for very long – even the gods progress. I don’t know if you know, or have guessed, that at one time in Old Hawaii you were a kahuna of a high order and that your main mission in this life was to bring out the old teachings ……….

COMMENT: It would seem that with my books being read, the psychic preparation is being made that enables kahunas in spirit to speak with the chance that they will be understood. I wait hopefully for one to come along who knows the full lore of Huna and who will instruct us. I’d love being  sure that I was once a kahuna in Hawaii.

SPEAKING OF THE KAHUNA SPIRIT, who gives his name as “Hono moku”, it is interesting to note a possible play on words here as well as on the Hula aforementioned. The usual name in which moku or “ship” or “canoe” is included, begins with hana, which means “to work at” or “to make”. In this case the word Hano is used, and it has the basic meaning of “to unite”, which points as a symbol of the Huna code to one united or in full contact with his Aumakua. However, the double meaning is seen in the fact that large canoes were often built by sewing together the wooden parts with native rope before tree gums were smeared over the seams to make them water tight. One is allowed by this typical double meaning code use to guess that this spirit kahuna considers his main teaching that of the necessity of “union” of the lower selves with the Aumakua, which is, of course, the thing upon which the whole Huna system turns.

For those of you who may have Hawaiian-English dictionaries or who know the Hawaiian, and who may be curious about the Hulas, let me give them as I have reconstructed them, but without the translation or secret code meaning, our idea of morality in the modern West being unlike that of the Hula dancers, who spoke of the sex matters freely while actually setting forth a deep religious secret in the double meanings of the words they chanted.

Ona Ipo a hena
Wau nui halua a (or kalua a.)
E pono, nui ka loa (From Honomoku.)
San? (Tan?) ah (?) hono (unite, as by sewing)
Pui ni wahini ka
Hila. noni ipo wau aya … aya! (Or Hilah vau noni etc.)
Kane nui oi
Kawa nana kili kawa
Nia luananana (As coming through the girl while doing
Kuami loa loa a sitting Hula dance. Recorded by I.S.)

A SPIRIT PURPORTING TO BE FROM VENUS is reported by by HRA L. H. who says he began noticing this visitor in his odd costume and with large ears some time ago and found him friendly. Becoming acquainted he identified himself as a spirit from Venus, and because she was writing to me, he gave her a message for me through automatic writing, even sketching a picture of himself for my benefit. His message follows.

“Dear Mr. Long: I am so happy to make your acquaintance via this note. The picture doesn’t do me justice. I am Warren Antonne from Venus. Many of us are on your earth planet in spirit to help hold the peace. We could not live here in a body. Neither could you live on Venus in a body. Earth people are wasting time and money trying to reach the moon. The Divine One created the people and planets for each to stay in its own sphere. We are much like you In body, but live much longer. We do not age or lose teeth and hair. We travel in air carts but do not walk on ground. We live by atomic power. We have always had television, as you call it, and can tune in on your programs. My children enjoy the horses. We do not ride them. They are pets for the children. With grace and love from our planet to yours. (Signed) Warren Antonne” (No comment. MFL)

PSYCHOMETRIC ANALYSIS READINGS for you to check to see how your readings and my own match, this month cover Navy Commander Alan B. Shepard and his wife, taken from pictures of them in TIME magazine for May 12th. I read him, 357 degrees. For Mrs. Shepard I get 353 degrees. It will be noted that both have a normal clockwise leaning will pattern, and both normal and well rounded clockwise personality circles. No indications at all of spirit influences or complexes. He was reported as of very high I.Q. rating, and at 357 degrees that should fit. Also, at 357, he should be gadget minded and able to handle machinery extra well. His wife told reporters beforehand that she was completely sure that he would come through his flight with no trouble. She probably has a natural psychic sensitivity of high order which told her that all was well. At some other time, should she sense trouble, he would be wise to be forewarned and stay on the ground. (“Astronaut Allan B. Shepard, Jr.”)

WILHELM REICH, the psychoanalyst who, about 20 years ago, claimed to have discovered a force – Orgone – which could be collected by a simple instrument from the earth and atmosphere, and even stored to use for health benefits, makes an interesting subject for a P.A. reading. His discoveries were put down as frauds by the authorities and the sale of his instruments stopped. He spent some time in prison for refusing to obey desist orders, and finally killed himself. I have always suspected him of drawing a long bow, so my reading might be colored by my ideas concerning his invention and claims. I would be happy to have you run a reading and give me your results so that we could check. I took my reading from a picture of him appearing on page 75 of FATE magazine for June, 1961. I got 331 degrees. The will pattern would show a man of great determination but who could act destructively as well as constructively. His personality pattern is strong and round, but counterclockwise. Together, these two readings would, according to Dr. Brunler’s findings, warn of criminal tendencies. His degree reading at 331 is barely on the edge of the level where abstractions are grasped, and one would expect his inventions to hinge on gadgets. We might say, if my reading is at all correct, “An unfortunate incarnation” for him. Or we might ask, was he one of those who are just “naturally bad”?

THE T.M.H.G. (for Telepathic Mutual Healing Group) keeps to the time of California, and we sit together at 3 and 7 P.M. daily for 15 minutes, with me sitting to act as the center or exchange point, looking at the signatures of those who have need of help, and making the mental picture (thought-form structure) of the desired condition (not of the undesired one). The ritual (if one may call it such) was described in my book, Secret Science At Work, and the history of the plan outlined. California went on daylight savings time in April, so our clocks were set up an hour. In October the clocks will be set back an hour. In USA you can ask your telephone information girl what time it is in Los Angeles, and she can tell you at once. This will enable you to be sure you are keeping the correct times. However, some who cannot work at the regular time sit by themselves and send mana through the “braided cord” which we have constructed by our mental images to reach the Great Company of Aumakuas and strengthen them to create the desired conditions. All are welcome to join in the work, but a report is needed once each 30 days to tell me whether to continue working with or for one. The reports of help received continue to come in regularly, and to be sufficiently gratifying to make us wish to keep the work going steadily. A telepathic image, usually a scene in hills or of the sea and sand and rocks is often sent, sometimes a star or triangle may be used.

BOOK REVIEW

FOR OUR BOOK REVIEW this month, let me speak of a book sent in by HRA S.S.H. who got the author, Martin A. Larson, to autograph my copy, and whose signature was found to give a fine constructive will and personality pattern and 426 degrees (which delighted me no end, as such people are very rare, and as one may expect from such a writer and researcher, the greatest insight.).

The book is, THE RELIGION OF THE OCCIDENT, a 711 page paperback with strong, sewed binding and fine large print. The book was the result of a study lasting four years and during which four million words of notes were taken. Price is $2.95 with postage about 14¢, and publisher is Littlefield, Adams & Co., Paterson, New Jersey. It belongs to the “New Students Outline Series”, and might be found in news stands or at a stationary store. It begins with the earliest religions from Egypt to India and on to China, covering in much detail the development of the old concepts and leading up to the study of Christian beginnings and early progress.

If Cigbo could dig up $1, 500, I would send you all a copy of this book to go with the little paperback already sent out. It is certainly the finest source book I have found for this part of the field, and the writer lays out the picture of what happened in a most delightful and sane manner, playing no favorites and accepting no person or spirit as an authority for anything. I shall often be drawing on Mr. Larson’s information and opinion as we go ahead with our survey of what we may or may not believe. There is only one thing to be desired that cannot be found in the book, and that is Huna and its beginnings and ramifications. But perhaps we can trace those threads as the tale unfolds and point them out for ourselves. A “must” book for all of you who take our study project seriously, and I am sure that many of you do. As a reviewer, let me quote a few passages to give the flavor of the book.

(From page 142) “The golden age of Buddhism, therefore, came in the third century, B. C. But its strength was also its weakness; it won adherents by revolutionary renunciation (of marriage, family life and property, giving rise to an order of begging monks which was a burden on the workers, MFL), but by the same token it cut off the source of wealth (on which the Brahman ruling priestly caste fattened) and, even worse, threatened the continuity of the race. Slowly, gradually, Brahmanism won back India, for even though it was an onerous system, it demanded labor, and encouraged human propagation. It absorbed a good deal of the Buddhist philosophy, including toleration, and became Hinduism. Buddhism itself, however, expelled from India, was constrained to modify its pristine doctrines in order to survive.” (Continuing on pages 144-5) “The only exertion on the part of the monks, we read, consisted in walking – a very healthy, and, we take it, necessary exercise for those quiescent saints. No wonder the poor, the despised, the downtrodden, the disinherited of the earth came flocking to the Buddhist order (the Samgha or Holy Brotherhood) by the thousands, where they could live, not only in comfort, but also in security and idleness.” (As a price for membership and salvation, the nobles and the rich gave their palaces and homes as well as wealth and sources of income to the Samgha, so the monks were well housed. The doctrine was that alms given the begging monks stored up karmic merit for the donor – merit to be enjoyed in the next incarnation. MFL)

Turning to the last summing up of his study of Christian doctrinal origins, the author writes on page 662: “It is true that the Eucharistic mystery was an integral portion of the Gospel Jesus, and not something engrafted upon it by the pagans, as were the Virgin Birth, the Logos Doctrine, Mariolatry, purgatory, etc. Yet both baptism and the Eucharist, like the ethics of the New Testament, were all of pagan origin. And so after six hundred years, the Catholic Church reduced its worship to a ritual very similar to one which had been practiced in Egypt for more than 3,000 years before the advent of Christianity; in Thrace for 2, 000; at Eleusis for 1, 500; by the Orphic  Pythagorean societies for 600; by the devotees of Mithra for 200; and by the Essenes for 150. And so the religion of Jesus Christ became an almost exact replica of the universal mystery by which the communicant became divine and immortal by essential union with his savior god.” (Changing bread and wine to the god and eating it as his flesh and blood. MFL.)

“So we note again that as it was in the beginning, so it is now: the consolation craved by the poor and the ignorant of ancient Egypt (keep in mind the average P.A. degree level of 250 of the masses) is still desired by their counterparts today in the United States and in Europe. The freedom and enlightenment offered by Ikhnaton, Epicurus, and Marcus Aurelius is not yet for the masses. (For those of the P.A. levels above 330 degrees?) Nevertheless, the struggle is not hopeless; the human race is still in its infancy. Less than twenty thousand years ago, a great icecap covered the northern hemisphere and destroyed all animal life. Six or eight thousand years ago, all Europeans were still savages and cannibals. Civilization was created by Iranian  Sumerians, who carried it to Egypt, which gave us Osiris, and the first savior god, whose mystery still reigns in the Christian Churches. It is fitting that this study should end with him, even as it began, our cycle comes to a full turn. And when the human race outgrows its need for Osiris by finding resources within itself, it will achieve its first plateau of maturity.”

In the back of the book, pages 663 to 711 are taken up by an excellent glossary, listing of sources of information chapter by chapter, and an extensive index.

YOUR MANY LETTERS TO ME have accumulated with passages and pages marked with red pencil as good to use in the HV, but space is so limited that it would take at least three whole issues to reproduce the interesting comments on our study project, to say nothing of letters dealing with healing and personal experiences centering on Huna information and practices.

I have read all letters and comments with care and have tried to weigh opinions, watch for proofs and try to be guided by the most thoughtful amongst you of the HRA. Of necessity I have to make the presentation of units in the study after trying to decide what comes first. In many letters the statement of a belief in the doctrines of one religion or another have offered proof from the teachings of the founders of those religions. Such proofs belong to a later stage of our study in which we will compare the accepted teachings from several sources. Just now we need to lay a very wide and very strong foundation on which to build. Our idea concerning the nature of A Creative Source must be examined and an agreement reached, if at all possible, on several dogmas and points of approach to fit the needs of the several different levels of intelligence as measured by Psychometric Analysis standards. It is obvious that we cannot force the ideas of God as a Being similar to man, only larger and stronger, on those who are thinking in terms of the Universe and of a Something which may be beyond the limitations of time and space. It is also very obvious that at the higher P.A. degree levels the individual will usually refuse to accept the teachings of the founders of religions, if they were men, or even if they were spirits offering supposed “revelations.” Beliefs at this level must be based on reason or personal  intuitional experience after the strange power of the mule-like stubbornly held beliefs in some one set of dogmas has been broken (if it has) by the individual. Religions describe The Ultimate, after which they offer a way by which the Source can be worshiped with magical potency to gain help here or hereafter.

CONSTRUCTING A PERSONAL RELIGION – Part Three

STARTING WITH THE ADMISSION that the human mind cannot grasp the idea of an Ultimate Creator or God, we can borrow from the early sages of India the belief that it is well just to call it THAT, with no effort to describe characteristics, motives or essence of being. (See page 27 of The Great Religions, paragraphs 1 and 2.)

THE TAO CONCEPT of the Chinese (page 77-all) was less abstract and was seen as a Something standing in and behind all of Nature, also man. It is the “reality,” in contrast with the things that come and go.

In SHINTO (page 98-4 and 99-2), we find the belief that The Ultimate is to be seen in Nature, and in man because he is a part of Nature.

In JUDAISM (page 109-all) the idea of God being beyond our understanding was poorly outlined, if at all. He was given human characteristics and was subject to human type loves and hates. While the many gods of earlier systems were combined to make ONE GOD, the concept remained childish and fitted for the 250 degree man.

In CHRISTIANITY (page 130-4) Jesus, being of the Jews and possibly of Essene background, added nothing to the God concept of Judaism. (He was interested in God as something close and personal, the “Father” which matches the Huna idea of the Aumakua.)

In ISLAM (page 160 and 161-2) the ONE God concept of Judaism prevailed.

In BUDDHISM (page 64-4) the Brahman concept of the First Cause was little changed and speculation as to the “THAT” was forbidden.

In HUNA, which we are using for a basis of comparison, very little has been found in the words used by kahunas to tell us their concept of First Cause. They probably had a word with which to name an indescribable abstraction, but all we now have to guide us is a name word with a double or Huna coded meaning which really belongs to the next step of our study in which we examine the ideas of the Abstract God as it begins to manifest or create. This word is Hawaiki and is the name of the place from which the Polynesians came. It is Hawaii, the ‘k’ dropped in the tongue of Hawaii. Ha as a root word is the symbol of accumulating or CREATING mana. The root wa is “water,” the standard Huna symbol of life force or mana. The root ki has several meanings, but in the code it is “because of this or that”, in other words, the inner meaning of the word is First Cause composed of a consciousness which is able to create mana or living force. The CONSCIOUSNESS is not described in any way, but is identified as the Something which caused life force and, it follows rationally that the mana was made and that it was the material out of which was created all substance and form. This is startlingly like the modern scientific idea that all matter is made of units of energy, polarized and in motion. If the motion stops, the energy vanishes and matter goes back to nothingness. The root ki also has the meaning of “to speak, or utter a word” such as a single word of command spoken by a chief to start a battle or start the building of a temple. It may be the concept from which that of the “Logos” or creative “Word” was derived.

OTHER ANCIENT RELIGIONS usually began their theology with the manifestation of the First Cause, not pausing to ask the condition before creation was started.

MODERN INVENTED AND REVEALED RELIGIONS usually begin their descriptions of First Cause with its manifestation as something already at work.

CHRISTIAN SCIENCE seems to consider God as already at work when first contemplated. As God can be the only reality, all material things are unreal and do not actually exist in terms of the greater Reality. (Dualism creeps in, however, to explain “malicious animal magnetism” after an odd fashion.)

In OAHSPE, a modern revealed religion, there seems to be little stress placed on the condition of the ALL ONE before manifestation begins in creation.

In THINKING AND DESTINY, statements of supposed facts concerning life and religion, obtained by Percival by asking directly of “Consciousness”, gives us the concept of REALITY as CONSCIOUSNESS, taking into account the play of force and the creating of form and material only as creativity manifests. Consciousness is said to be beyond the limitations of time and space.

In THE URANTIA BOOK which is composed of 2,097 pages of spirit dictated statements covering religion and life, there seems to be a concept of a First Cause which is everlasting and beyond time and space, but which is only described when the manifestations of creative action are discussed.

OTHER MODERN RELIGIONS such as Bahai and offshoot cults of the older religions, offer little concerning the unmanifesting ULTIMATE, each beginning serious consideration by setting forth dogmas concerning God as creation starts and progresses – or, in some cases, as it may be when all ends with some form of “Last Judgment”.

In EXISTENTIALISM a First Cause is ruled out by simply accepting the whole of the Universe as something which has always existed in some form and which will always continue to exist. In this way the inability of the mind to grasp a thing which has no beginning or end is no longer a difficulty. In Brahmanism there was offered the idea of a God which was a great NOTHINGNESS, so to speak, but which roused itself to create the Universe and run it through a life cycle extending for many long years, and eventually ending while God again assumed the unmanifest state. This fitted nicely with the idea of eternal existence and of periodicity to match night and day, the in and out of breathing, the alternation of the seasons etc. However, even this expedient only puts off the questioner for a time. As long as time is considered something enduring and real, there must come a time when even the cycles of Brahma stop. If they stop, then they must have started at some time. And, to complicate the thinking, even after ALL ceased to BE, time would still be marching on, a strange and eternal thing in itself. Space could be thought of as vanishing with the coming of a “Night of Brahma” when all ceased to manifest, but even at that it is hard to think of space as ceasing to exist just because there is nothing to fill it.

So, by accepting things just as we find them and by using either one of two escape hatches, we can proceed. We can say that our idea of time and space is wrong. Or, we can say that the Universe and whatever God there may be inside or outside of it, has always existed and always will, constantly changing, but never vanishing.

Then how shall we look upon what we call “GOD”? THIS IS A QUESTION to be answered by each of us according to his preference for rational thinking or for some accepted dogma. In terms of the P.A. levels of intelligence, we would expect those of the average of the HRAs to use their reason in solving the problem of Creation and its purpose. On the other hand, the chains of fixed or complexed beliefs prevent even the most intelligent from considering the facts before us. And the lower the P.A. level, the stronger the fixed beliefs hold one. It is painfully probable that several HRAs of high level readings will read this H.V. and sit down to write to me to say that they know God created everything as described in Genesis and that they know because the Bible says so, and because they know the Bible to be THE WORD OF GOD.

Most of us have been eager to make up our own minds. We were willing to reject the inventions and revelations of men and spirits, but we have had such a hard time to get books which would give us the plain facts needed to allow us to think out the answers for ourselves. Organized religions and cults, including Philosophy and Science, have prevented us from seeing the facts as they are. But perhaps we can now assemble enough information to allow us to come to reasonable conclusions instead of having only the dogmas of others to consider, sort and wonder about. This includes the HUNA of the pre-Polynesians as well as all other systems of thought and belief. We are “on our own” now, if we can get past the childhood training in religion and the materialism of Science.

I do not know what you may decide to believe about the Something responsible for what we know as the Universe, but for me, at least until I find more light on the subject, I prefer to admit that the human mind cannot grasp the far reaches of intelligence and power which must be the ingredients of whatever it is that turns the wheels of the Universe and of my small self as a part of it.

For me the simple approach seems best. I need not worry about how the old trees in my grove were engineered and caused to be what they are. I can stand down in the grove with a hand on a cool gray limb and find peace and contentment in the feeling that the great and wonderful Something is all around me and that life and order moves under sure laws or direction. I recall that someone said, “Be still and know that I am God”, and I find this a most satisfactory thing to do.

I cannot sense the Something or the Totality of Nature with any one of my five limited senses, but I can drink in the beauty and wonder of a blooming flower or of the distant hills. I cannot join the mystics at will and cause myself to produce a “realization” of the final and basic Reality, nor do I particularly wish to do so. I have sensed the strange white light and its other  worldliness. I have gone far enough in Zen to experience the ability to feel my individual beingness without even the memory of my body and the things connected with it. Yes, it was all very real and very wonderful to recall later, but there is more wonder and beauty to be seen for the asking at any time in a flower, a perfect snail, or a wisp of cloud. I have arrived at the point at which I feel the urge to hurry is easing up. More and more I am convinced that we are given all the time needed to pause to enjoy the good in living and to claim beauty as a reward – a reward perhaps unearned but given in a way that suggests endless love and care and watchfulness. That is how I feel about the problem of how we got here and why. You will make your own approach, but we shall not be too far apart. How wonderful to be free of dogmas! MFL