Confusing New Age Concepts

[kentauros]

After reading some reviews of the Anita Moorjani book, I get the feeling that not everyone understands the concept of “unconditional love”. Too many seem to confuse the idea of no judgment in the next life with no judgment in this life. That if a person doesn’t have anything to “fear” in the next life, then they might as well do as they please in this life, no matter how it harms another human.

It’s a rather simplistic conclusion, and one that gets bandied about by both the Bible thumpers and septics alike. In the case of the septics, the “conclusion” is used primarily to mock and dismiss, while the fundamentalists can’t seem to imagine that God could be non-judgmental.

What is missed in all of this is that unconditional love means we cannot superimpose our ideas of what Love is supposed to be or supposed to do on top of this concept. It also means that it’s a kind of Love beyond anything we (or most humans residing on the Earth now) can possibly recreate. That’s why NDEs make such a huge impression on those that end up in such places of Love. There are only glimpses of such Love in our lives as it’s really not possible to keep that Love going 24/7/365 in our minds, hearts, and bodies. It would burn us out, and then our life would be no more. We can still do what we can to bring it here, to share and implore others to create as best they can.

It doesn’t mean that people can chuck their responsibilities to themselves, to each other, or to society. To do that which harms others means you will be judged by your fellow people and punished according to established laws and rules. Earth-life is not the next life. If it was, then there’d be no reason for Earth-life. We probably wouldn’t even know what that was if the Earth and physical life didn’t exist.

So, there’s also no reason to think that one could possibly be equal to the other. Jumping to absurd conclusions will always be absurd.

I hope I’ve made some semblance of sense. If y’all have anything to add, or to clarify, please do so

[BlueIris]

1. You're making lots of sense. I just have one question:

Was the misspelling of skeptics as 'septics' intentional?

[kentauros]

4. I have to admit that the use of the word "septic"

was indeed intentional. It's a 'dig' at the certain crowd that always defaults to using "woo" in reference to us. I came up with it sometime last year as our countering label. Plus, it has an appropriate meaning for those particular users of the word "woo", whereas that word doesn't have a dictionary definition in the way they use it

I know, it's not very spiritual of me, but sometimes we are angered by the antagonism and need a good comeback

[GliderGuider]

2. That "glimpse" of Love is crucial.

It's an Awakening couched in the language of Love rather than Awareness. Once we have had that glimpse, once we've recognized it for what it is, it's impossible to un-ring the bell. We may spend the rest of our lives searching for that door that opened so briefly, or we may spend it being simply human, but our lives are never the same again. Knowing that Love is not just possible but ever-present, even if it's usually out of sight, changes everything.

Far from relieving us of responsibility for our behaviour, this knowledge makes it utterly clear that we have sole and complete responsibility for our every action, every thought. This is where karma, in all its many interpretations, lives - in the awareness of our intimate interconnection that the glimpse of Love offers as its Gift.

[kentauros]

5. I--can't really add anything to that.

Thanks!

[magical thyme]

3. I think it is similar to the idealized version of parental love for a small child

That does not mean that their child can do no wrong, and it does not mean that the child will not feel sorrow and shame when they realize the parent has witnessed some very wrong behavior. It means that we (should) want to behave the best we can so as to live up to our parent's ideals.

So in the "life review" that accompanies some people's NDEs, they feel shame over their bad behavior memories even as they are aware of the unconditional love that surrounds them. The wounds that drove them to the bad behavior can then be healed.

But yes, many religious people twist unconditional love into "I can do anything." In the way the the mafia can commit murder and mayhem 6 days/week, go to confession on Sunday and feel like it's all ok.

[kentauros]

6. I had considered saying something about the "Life Review"

but left it out as I'm not sure if many people have heard of it, or would understand it. Having read about it for years, I still only know of it and what's supposed to happen. But I don't think any of us can predict much about it, even after experiencing it in an NDE. I would think how it works would be tailored to our minds and beliefs. We get what we expect

While I think many religious people go through life thinking "I can do anything because I'll be forgiven", I was really getting at those that misinterpret unconditional love to mean something bad. That (other) people would think it means they can get away with murder and not be punished in this life. When I see this interpretation, I tend to imagine that they also cannot imagine that their idea of God doesn't judge. They simply cannot fathom what unconditional love truly means and how it's applied

[felix_numinous]

7. So true

that the idea of unconditional love is limited by people's experience of it. From the time I was very young, I noticed many people who thought they had it 'in' with god, had also permission to be as mean as they wanted--and this seems to be the way of the world. Yet this is a very immature idea of love, as some kind of club you sign up for, say some magic words and you are preemptively forgiven for everything. Blind to their own behavior and hyper critical of non members, this form of love comes across as extremely childish.

At the other end of the spectrum are people who deny there is any life beyond the physical, which is in itself understandable. But to lump everyone together who are on spiritual paths instead of discerning what interpretations and what behaviors are harmful to society and what beliefs and behaviors actually harm no one, they end up sounding terribly prejudice, narrow minded and too impatient for a rational discussion. They too seem to have fallen into some immature trap that resists the concept of unconditional love.

Luckily in between are plenty of religious, spiritual, agnostic, skeptical and atheists who are very loving, very tolerant and respectful of diversity and they are the hope of this world. People who are able to put their egos aside and be humble to the universe together. These people absolutely understand and manifest unconditional love--which is more universal, inclusive and self actualizing.

I think this is what resonates the most with me, that the type of love-healing-transformation that people go through (with NDEs) is a form of enhanced awareness--and sense of responsibility--especially the part where people recount their lives and are shown what they looked like through the other people's eyes. Imaging someone going through that who was violent--wow.

It makes complete sense that our lives obey laws of cause and effect-- since that is the way everything else works--in physical form and beyond. I see this as a process of evolution