One of our physical realities is that we live in a diverse world. Books on metaphysics, religion, philosophy, spirituality and psychology are plentiful.  Many of them have a similar theme or thread, but their differences far outweigh what they have in common.  Likewise, there are a number of neurological explanations for near death and other mystical experiences.  Always there are authorities who share on behalf of their respective disciplines the anecdotal evidence that justifies and supports their perspective.

     At best these games of who has the truth are being played by a group of visionaries past and present or the followers/disciples of such individuals.  The vast majority of people in the world, however, have far more in common with the audiences Jesus addressed.  Those he taught remained ensconced in the complexities of the material world.  The source of their beliefs and religious training had come from their teachers who learned from their teachers.

     Very few people engage in original thinking regarding the realm of spirit.  There are a number of brilliant people who have concluded that any information regarding the spiritual world is speculative at best.  Why would they add to the confusion of humanity by offering a new paradigm or mythology that provides a new compelling reason for accepting definitions of a reality that lie beyond the boundaries of the physical world?

     There is the added dimension among uninformed people that communicates, “Who cares?”  They reason, “Why develop thoughts about a world that is unknowable when the one we live in has enough challenges of its own?”  What such people find difficult to understand is that their thinking and emotions are governed by this unseen world.   When people have little or no exposure to the subject of spirituality, all its symbols, metaphors and religious thought appear foreign to them.

     For example, a highly intoxicated man was walking through a wooded area when he came upon a large lake.  He staggered toward a small clearing and noticed that a man wearing an odd costume was dunking people in the lake.  He could not accurately interpret what he was seeing.  It occurred to the man that the cold water might help him sober up, so he approached the man doing the dunking.

     The preacher dunked the man and when he brought him up, he asked, “Have you found Jesus?”  The man said, “No.”  Down into the water he went a second time.  Again, the preacher asked, “Have you found Jesus?”  Again, he answered with a resounding, “No.”  The preacher once again pushed his head under water.  The confused man, now sputtering for air, was asked the same question for the third time, “Have you found Jesus?”  The chill of the water helped the man’s mind to focus more clearly on the question and this time he said, “No!  Are you sure this is where he fell in?”

     What ultimately happens to people when they die who remained a product of either ignorance or of cookie cutter religions, i.e., people who had been pressed into molds so that they conformed to specific beliefs, doctrines and dogmas?  The answer is two fold.

     The second is that there are consequences to living in our solid forms that result from our judgments, moods, attitudes, thoughts and feelings that are communicated through our daily experiences.  For example, people who are optimistic and who make few judgments are obeying the spiritual principle that Jesus taught, “Do not judge others.”   Any judgments made reflect only the spirit of the one judging.

     Some people, for instance, enjoy being challenged to develop skills of spirit, i.e., patience, compassion and peace, when they come into contact with toxic and abrasive people.  Other individuals feel victimized by such people and often recoil in defensive attitudes filled with resentment, bitterness and rage.  People become a product of the thoughts, feelings, perceptions and responses that they create.

     Kahlil Gibran wrote in his book, The Prophet, “You have been told that, even like a chain, you are as weak as your weakest link.  This is but half the truth.  You are also as strong as your strongest link.  To measure you by your smallest deed is to reckon the power of the ocean by examining the frailty of its foam.”  We should not judge ourselves or others.

     When we realize that we have come here to refine our skills of spirit, we learn that we create most effectively when our energy flows away from us while engaging others.  We have free will, but we cannot create the curriculum.  People either evolve or engage in delay.  The adventure is a lengthy journey by human standards of measurement.  The final judgment from God at the end of countless life times is one of mercy that communicates, “Welcome home."