[ Setting: A stark white room. ]
ARNOLD: I am here now. The only reality which exits is now, just this point in time.
ALLEGENTIA: Yes, you are and I am here with you. But you are still yourself and you are going to be fine. Your old life is behind you and your new life is ahead.
ARNOLD: My only reality is now. Now is important to focus on.
ALLEGENTIA: Why is that?
ARNOLD: I see you can hear my thoughts. When a person focuses only on the present, they are simply being a Being.
ALLEGENTIA: Yes, we are communicating mind to mind. And what do you think about this current moment?
ARNOLD: I am not thinking anything about it. We are in the now. I look at it without judgment and hold it for what it is. It is just you and me talking. This may be a fantasy, although I must admit, it does seem real enough. But no matter which it is, it is all my doing. That’s the best and only real way to know anything for sure.
ALLEGENTIA: Very good, the fact of life does always come first and its analysis later. But I assure you this is no fantasy. Your mind and soul are designed to discern the difference. But you are also feeling an emotion of fear, or at least uncertainty, in this moment. Your soul is an open book for me to read.
ARNOLD: So I am. Well, you can hardly blame me. I have never been in this situation before.
ALLEGENTIA: No blame or negative judgment intended. I was simply stating the facts of the current moment. But I am curious; when you were alive did you allow for your past personal experiences? Or for that matter, your future possibilities? Were they of any value in the moment?
ARNOLD: I did allow for my own history to be included in my reality. I also took as fact previously proven phenomenon. As to the future, I would plan for the near future but I left the Universe to take care of the big picture.
ALLEGENTIA: That is reasonable. I did meet a fellow who had a brain injury. While he was alive on your planet he lived totally in the moment. When he died, he was so relieved to feel memories and project possible futures. Being stuck in the present against his will was a very tight prison.
You mentioned “you and me” and “simply being a Being,” so you do experience your self-hood and also accept me as someone other?
ARNOLD: It seems we are here together.
ALLEGENTIA: I see you are feeling a certain amount of disconnect; death is a traumatic event. Let’s talk awhile and get to know one another. What did you do during your life on Earth?
ARNOLD: If I am an open book, is my information not available to you?
ALLEGENTIA: I can see your soul yet most of the details of your life are a mystery to me.
ARNOLD: Very well, I was a teacher. I taught the temporary nature of reality. Time is only a construct. The current moment is the only relevant reality.
ALLEGENTIA: Did you use your understanding of your students’ experiences to teach them?
ARNOLD: I used everything I could. If I saw a pattern in a person’s behavior, I would point that out to them to help them move along on their path to enlightenment.
ALLEGENTIA: As you say. I have spent thousands of years of my life traveling through space among the stars. I know time is not a primary reality like space or matter. Physical time is a secondary reality. It is not a thing to hold and manipulate in the physical universe, but it is a convenient name we give to our experience of the passing of moments in a linear progression. We are finite beings. Time is more specifically an aspect of space. As things move through space, we see their motion and measure this motion as bits of time. Time is the relationship in space of matter and motion.
ARNOLD: I knew time was an illusion! The window into the universe is in the now.
ALLEGENTIA: Some things are illusory and others are not. We do exist and experience reality in all of its dimension, the physical, mental, personal, and spiritual. And we can know and experience other dimensions through a combination of the mind, personality, soul, and Spirit. We can touch (or surmise) things existing inside finite reality but we can also know things existing outside finite reality. You are pure soul now and feel a limited sense of self but when we arrive you will again experience yourself as a distinct identity within a new, well-balanced body.
Human experience is both physical and other-than-physical reality. The mind is a great namer of these experiences. It seems you have named your higher experience of reality as “Being.” This is an apt description because our “Beingness” is living both inside and outside of time. That which is outside time impinges on and influences what takes place inside time. You have touched upon one of the more essential and esoteric topics there is. The nature of Being is endlessly fascinating. For instance, there are several facets of time in addition to physical-time. There is also spirit-time, which is experienced as infinite-time. It can be felt, but it is difficult to explain. The Totality of Being is beyond thinking but thought and action are part of Being.
ARNOLD: Then all I lost was my body and not my Being?
ALLEGENTIA: Your body, yes; but also anything exclusively material. You have left behind all things without actual or potential value; anything (including thoughts) without spiritual meaning.
True Being is inherently dynamic. The eagle is present in the physical now when hunting but in the universal now when simply engaged in the joy of flying. Being is a part of the Universe Itself, consequently, it is impossible for one to lose any aspect of oneself which is also part of the fabric of Reality. And one cannot help but manifest the spirit qualities they have embodied.
ARNOLD: I see you do know what I am talking about.
ALLEGENTIA: Yes, the quest to understand always leads the curious person to this paradoxical place. In order to share one’s personal experiences with others one must reduce them into symbols: word, artistic design, musical, or emotional interplay of many aspects. And, of course, your experience may not match the experience of the other person or persons. How did you explain these lessons to your students?
ARNOLD: I used to instruct my students to work at a higher plane of reality than the ego-mind level, even when they were using their mind for practical purposes. I understood the living of everyday life required such practicality, but I spoke of a higher consciousness. I suppose your terms of soul, spirit, and personality could apply. But I was not so trusting of the mind.
ALLEGENTIA: There are several levels of consciousness. The term ego has been given to the subjective part of the mind. This subjective, ego-self, can be selfish or selfless but it is nothing more than a phase of mind. It is incomplete. The higher cosmic mind was called on your planet the super-consciousness, the realm of spiritual content and contact, the place where we are consciously aware of being conscious.
The mind is a very elastic reality covering a lot of ground. Some have said it is “only a tool.” But if this analogy is to be used it must be expanded to include all of the tools in the shop, as well as a computer, and an earth-mover. The mind is the most versatile instrument you have control over. True enough, an immature soul lets the mind languish in the lower depths when it could be lifted up with high moral thought and transcendent, valuable ideals.
Within this flexibility is mind-time. It can be limited exclusively to physical-time, but it can also be added to spirit-time. Time consciousness can range from the mundane to the sublime.
ARNOLD: As you define it, it must have been the super-conscious mind I was attempting to allow dominance. Your terminology is a bit different, and I feel you may be contradicting what I would have normally taught, but I also feel we could be kindred spirits.
ALLEGENTIA: We are both seekers of the truth. On Earth a person working mainly from their lower ego would often experience a visceral, negative reaction if they felt their belief system being opposed. But most standard emotional reactions have been left behind. Your soul-mind will listen to the truth.
ARNOLD: I was correct, then, that the ego should be shed as soon as possible?
ALLEGENTIA: The eventual demise of the ego was recognized by many of your great teachers. This was the genesis of the idea that the ego should be rejected. However, the ego plays a critical role in the early development of self-importance and self-awareness. It is a necessary feature of the human consciousness and should not be despised. Eventually your personality and your Spirit will fuse and your need for an ego-self will no longer be required. Then your matured personality will supervise the mind.
ARNOLD: How can I understand the mind in a way it will be useful?
ALLEGENTIA: Let’s go back to the “practical purposes” function you mentioned. If it is okay to use the mind for the essentials of moving through a complicated life, then this points to a spectrum of uses for the mind. As noted, the mind ranges from super-consciousness on down through ego-consciousness to the subconscious arena. Your recognition of practicality as a worthy quality is significant. It says your consciousness has the power to recognize relative value. As long as you use your mind for any positive purpose, or for the pursuit of any positive quality, you are moving yourself inward and upward. This is the key to soul growth.
ARNOLD: A sort of sliding scale of value recognition and utilization?
ALLEGENTIA: Yes, there are degrees. A person may have too little practicality or may have too much. Practicality needs to be combined with qualities like tact, adventure, and curiosity. It can also be combined with a long list of other qualities as the need arises; almost all qualities are very reactive. In this way the practical becomes the catalyst for a whole set of useful experiences.
I can see you have developed a great deal of directed focus. You can use this to your advantage in homing in on the valuable qualities you will need in the future.
ARNOLD: So values are the primary focus?
ALLEGENTIA: Value is the universal substance. There is no better way to attain Beingness than to make value acquisition your purpose. Matter is real to the physical senses and the idea of it remains in the mind after you lose physical contact. Likewise intellectual ideas and meanings contain a higher essence in an idealized spirit form. These spiritual facts can then be returned to conceptual levels in the mind as well as to the solid level of matter.
Just as practicality needs to be enhanced with the addition of kindred qualities to give it a more spiritual flavor, all qualities benefit as they are melded harmoniously. Value acquisition may begin as an intellectual exercise, yet as they are lived, they are infused into the soul. When all of the values are combined in their proper proportions, they culminate in the four primal Being Values of love, truth, beauty, and goodness. Done right, the mind, the soul, and even your body, can perceive the real value substance of the universe.
Over all, the personality is the unifier of these systems. And this “personality-time” is unique since it can be both inside and outside of normal time. This is necessary since the relationship of the individual to God is person to Person, changing and co-creative inside of time and yet stable in eternity.
ARNOLD: Are you saying God is the ultimate Now?
ALLEGENTIA: Absolutely! Even though you can know God within time you will find him beyond it. He is an everlasting now, a cosmic now, incorporating the past, present, and the future as well as all soul-time and personality-time. And you will eventually be able to transcend time.
ARNOLD: How does one foster a relationship with an Infinite Being?
ALLEGENTIA: Recognizing there is One I AM is a good start. But then one must define who and what the I AM is. Your God-concept is not formed in your subjective image-making system. This unique idea of him begins your relationship with him. Your attitude is an important factor in any relationship, and the one with God is no exception. I can tell you he is doing everything to nurture what may seem from a finite point of view like an impossibility. But he did not leave it up to chance. As you open your mind and heart your sense of God will improve, and you will begin to get a better idea of his nature. As you embody the divine values, in your human way, your relationship will develop apace.
ARNOLD: That feels about right. I am willing to incorporate new ideas with what I know.
ALLEGENTIA: You were a sincere teacher. You were very close to some much more fundamental truths. These will be explained in detail by your angelic teachers. I can also tell you some of the thinkers you admired will be there to help in your transition to a purer understanding. It should be easier for you than many on the other side to grasp these concepts. You will be able to help these heavenly teachers and your fellow students once you manage these ideals.
ARNOLD: I would like that. Thank you. It is good to talk with someone who can appreciate the true nature of reality. I am looking forward to the future now.