My Philosophy of Life

What the BLOG do I know?

By Kathy Fisher

The hardest part of any journey is the first step. Human life would be so much easier if we were born into it with a roadmap and a flashlight (some say we actually were, but we forgot where we put them). Nonetheless, part of life is clearing your own path, making your own map, finding life's meanings, and defining your philosophy or world-view. Then, the next hardest part of the journey, once you've found your truth, is living it every day... walking your talk. (Photos are some of the many trails on the 6 acres of forest that I call home)

NOTE: October 18, 2004 ... A wise and patient teacher told me, after reading this web page, that I dilute my message by using the term "I believe ..." which by its very nature contains doubt, uncertainty (like a scientific hypothesis). Buddha, Christ and Einstein did not offer beliefs, he said, they presented knowing, pure awareness, and my vision as presented here is no less powerful than theirs. Although I was profoundly touched by his words, I have decided to leave "I believe" in my message although these statements are my truth, my deepest knowing, beyond a shadow of a doubt, and could easily be replaced by the words "I know."

I believe we are each here for a purpose and everything happens for a reason. We chose who we are physically, when and where we were born, and the life circumstances presented to us. Why? Nobody really knows. There are many possibilities: To learn lessons, like a school ... to be part of the overall evolution of human consciousness ... to atone for karma, make up for errors and omissions in past lives ... to play a role in a universal game or dramatic production... to satisfy spiritual cravings for the sensual, tactile pleasures of human life. I even read/heard someplace that Earth is the penal colony of the Universe ... "Hell on Earth," the place where sinners/do-badders have to work out their sentences for their evil deeds. I also heard recently that human life on earth is like a vacation: leave home, travel to wonderful new places, experience the joy and awe, then return home (I must admit that at times it feels like the vacation from hell: car gets a flat tire ... or two: it pours rain every day at the beach ... or worse, while camping; intestinal illness on a cruise ship; etc., etc.) Could be any of these things... could be all. I tend to lean toward the evolving karmic classroom approach. But the ultimate truth is that we are born to die. Our physical human lives are temporary, blips on the screen, a dash between the date of birth and the date of death on your tombstone. But while we are here, anything can occur ... there are no accidents ... nothing is impossible... miracles happen.

I believe that what we see around us and define as "the material reality" isn't real at all. It's the background, the stage effects of our own making. I believe it's all a hologram created of energy vibrating at different frequencies and we live in the midst of it much like the Holodeck on the Starship Enterprise in Star Trek. We think it's real, solid reality because we are part of the hologram ourselves. Our senses analyze the external wave frequencies; the brain makes "sense" of what the senses report. Without this, reality is merely a quantum soup, a vast resonating ocean of wave forms (like the squiggles and circles on a holographic film ... or like a MagicEye picture before you see the 3-D image in it). I also believe there is a realm or dimension of non-material spirits here with us, vibrating at much higher energy frequencies, that normally we can't sense. However, some can pierce the veil between material and spiritual reality with meditation, prayer, and during sleep.

I believe that everything around us is a mirror of ourselves. Our mind is a mirror of the universe which mirrors our mind. We are actually creating the Holodeck (see above) as we go along. What we hate in others, what makes us the most frustrated and angry, is really our hidden, hated, denied, repressed dark side. The qualities we love in others are the same traits we are proud of in ourselves. I believe that "falling in love" is so exquisitely delicious because all you see are the positive (loved) traits in another, an ideal mirror of yourself as you consciously want to be. When the "new wears off," suddenly you are confronted with the unloved traits in another person which mirror (and bring out) the unloved/denied parts of yourself, inner demons that you can't even admit to having. The original goal of psychotherapy (before the treat-the-brain-with-drugs age) was to bring the unloved parts of self to light and understand, forgive, and heal them.

I believe we get what we expect to get, what we focus on, in this life. We create our own realities (Holodeck) from an infinite number of possibilities with our intentions. You attract what you feel, reap what you sow (the true meaning of free will, I believe). The external world mirrors the internal world.

Expect/fear poverty, get scarcity and need
Feel hatred and bigotry, get enemies
Fear the future, get stress and anxiety and trauma
Be afraid of pain and illness, get hurt and diseased
Feel non-judgement, get acceptance
Expect abundance, get plenty
Think/feel compassion, get empathy
Love and you will be loved; judge and you will be judged.

Every time you change your outlook, your thoughts, your intentions/attentions, your expectations, your feelings about your life and the other beings in it, you change the hologram you are living in. Worry/stress is the fear of/resistance to what is or what could be in the future. Attachment to the outcome of events (living with rigid expectations about how life SHOULD turn out) is a root cause of human suffering. Expect only the unexpected. Detach from the past and the future and be totally present in the now; surrender ... it is what it is.

I read a neat thing in one of Neale Donald Walsch's "Conversations with God" books: God/the Source/the Universe is like a game CD-ROM. All possible "moves" (futures) are already programmed in and it is only your choices/intentions/beliefs (movements of the joystick) that determine the outcomes.

I believe everything exists in cycles/circles.

birth - life - death - rebirth
seed - plant - flower - fruit - seed
spring - summer - autumn - winter - spring
dawn - day - dusk - night - dawn
complete union with the divine (dawn, Golden Age) - increasing materialism and spiritual degradation (day through dusk, Silver & Bronze Ages)- total delusion/decadence (night, Iron Age)- complete union with the divine (dawn, Golden Age)

I also believe that there is a balance of good and evil, positive and negative, light and dark. The brighter the light, the darker the dark ... the more some people wake up and see the truth (peace, joy, love), the more other people will become wrapped up in the apparent reality of the Holodeck (materialism, greed, fear).

Humanity, I believe, is hitting the bottom, nearing the end of this cycle ... the dark night of the spiritual awareness cycle (Hindus call it Kali Yuga or Iron Age ... ancient tribes said the year 2012 would be the turning point). Our society, particularly Western culture, has seemingly degraded almost totally into materialism/worldly values (including the explosion of information and technology) and spiritual ignorance/apathy (while, to balance this, increasing numbers are ascending to spiritual enlightment, as taught for thousands of years ... see "My Teachers" below).

The Zodiac is entering (or has entered by some) the Age of Aquarius (the first sign in the great circle called precession which measures the earth's wobble) and the ascension phase begins. It signals an awakening or transformation (on individual, societal, and planetary levels) leading back to the dawn of total spiritual awareness/union with the divine. The apocalypse (small "a") is a revelation or disclosure. Armageddon is the great and decisive conflict between good (spiritual awareness, the divine) and evil (degradation into materialism). Like the concept of death, how you see this transformation determines how you experience it.

Although I see life/time as cyclical, coming back to where it was over and over again, I also believe it is linear like an arrow, moving forward. Hence, I believe everything in the material universe (and maybe in the immaterial one, too) is like a huge vortex, circling around and around while evolving forward to some unknown, unknowable mystical destination.

I believe body, mind and spirit are intimately connected; what happens to one affects the others. Your perception of your self determines who you are and the life you live (part of the Holodeck). A sick soul (inner conflict) is manifested as bodily symptoms (disease, illness, pain) and mind symptoms (mental illness such as depression, addictions, paranoia). A sick soul doesn't see the truth of who this human being really is, a spirit having a physical experience.

I believe that God/the Source/the Field is everywhere at all times, within every creature and every atom, part of every galaxy and every universe. The ultimate energy that creates the Holodeck and keeps everything animated is Love and the Source of Love is God. I believe everything everywhere is connected by that energy in a web/matrix of loving, joyful consciousness and information.

I believe that time, space, religion, science, politics, society, technology, money, laws, rules, and other human inventions/conventions are meaningless outside the Holodeck. Yet, to live in this world (but not totally of it) you have to take the middle road ... respect the needs of the body and give to Caesar what is Caesar's. Avoid the extremes of worldly excesses and world-renouncing piety. Everything in moderation. Stay in the present moment, the now.

I believe that you make your own reality; bring positive energy into your life by treating everything and everyone (including yourself) with love and acceptance. Create peace, abundance, health, and happiness by living as if it is already there (because it is). Open your eyes, go with the flow, stay in the present moment, sit back, and watch the Holodeck pass by. Find your answers within, liberate yourself from the prison of the hologram-dependent ego, be of service to all around you, and find heaven on earth.

My personal path:

I wish I could say that I've found all the answers, followed all the clues/roadsigns, and now I have a perfectly joyful, peaceful, enlightened life of pure love and compassion. Such is not the case. Unfortunately, walking the talk isn't easy (nobody said it would be). I still fall, an unconscious victim, to the emotions of the past (regret, shame, guilt, blame, resentment, etc.) and I still frequently lose my Self in the emotions of the future (fear, dread, judgement, expectations, criticism, worry, anxiety, etc.). However, I'm getting better and growing spiritually every moment. I can stay in the Now, without mental chatter or internal emotional outbursts, more often each day. Also, I can often detach from, watch and learn from negative emotions instead of automatically reacting. But it's difficult. Most of us don't wake up in a whole lifetime (or more). For me, the journey to enlightenment is most important now, not the destination. One step at a time.

NOTE - April 2008: Something happened, something clicked, something awakened. It needs to be written down ... it needs to be affirmed. So, in that effort, here is my story (click here to open this page in a new window).

I've created another page (Click here to open it in a new window) with some concerns, frustrations and questions that still bother me about life in this hologram addressed to the Source that put it all together and keeps it in motion (called God for lack of a better word).

My teachers:

The Buddha

Four noble truths and 8 simple rules to reach Nirvana (enlightenment):

Suffering (pain, woe, worry, stress, fear, delusion, etc.) is part of all human lives, from birth to death and everything in between
The cause of suffering is, ultimately, birth and stems from desires (lust, attachments, cravings of the ego for pleasure, etc.)
There is a way out of the suffering (heaven, paradise ... Nirvana through enlightenment)
The path to enlightenment has 8 basic rules in 3 groups:
- Right speech, right action, right livelihood (all constituting Morality or ethical self-discipline)
- Right mindfulness, right concentration (constituting Meditation or meditative awareness)
- Right understanding, right resolve (constituting Wisdom)

Jesus of Nazareth

From the Sermon on the Mount, Beatitudes ("Be Happy Attitudes") and the new commandments for living in the kingdom of heaven on earth:

Blessed are the poor in spirit, those who mourn, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness/God's will, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers, those persecuted for righteousness, and those out of harmony with the ways of the world.
Thou shalt not be angry, lustful, or deceptive. Love both your neighbor and your enemy as Jesus loves you.

The kingdom of heaven is here, now, all around you and within you if you just have the eyes to see and the ears to hear. In it all is provided (lilies of the field), prayers are answered (knock and it shall be opened), and the faith of a mustard seed can move a mountain. To attain the kingdom on earth, become as little children.

Gnosticism

Ancient world view that believes life/human being/identity is composed of three parts in a circle: the center point (Pneuma/Nous, Spirit) or knowing principal, the subject of every experience, the "I" or spark of God or Consciousness; the radius (Psyche, Soul) or inner self that is the flow of experiences which includes the physical sensations of the body; and the circumference (Physis, Body) or outer material self, that which the world sees. The eidolon (ego) is like a reflection in a mirror: it appears to be who we are, but it is a counterfeit consciousness. Psyche/Physis/eidolon is who we appear to be; Penuma/Nous is who we are.

We think we are alive, but really we are dead (not aware of Pneuma/Nous, the God within). We think we are awake, but really we are asleep and dreaming (state of being identified with the physical body). We think we know who we are and what life is, but really we are lost in an illusion. We need to resurrect (awaken = gnosis)!

Albert Einstein

Energy and matter are the same thing (Energy = Matter times the speed of light squared) and it's all relative.

Deepak Chopra

Once we understand our true nature and learn to live in harmony with natural law, a sense of well-being, good health, fulfilling relationships, energy and enthusiasm for life, and material abundance will spring forth easily and effortlessly.

Dr. Wayne Dyer

Change your thinking, change your life. If you always think about what is wrong, what you fear or hate, that is where the energy goes and you get more of what is wrong, what you fear, what you hate. Shift your thoughts to the higher frequencies of love, what you want, and joyous appreciation for what you have. If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.,

Eckhart Tolle

The evolution of consciousness: instinct (unconscious perfection) to predominance of mind/thought/intellect (imperfection/evil) to enlightenment (conscious perfection). The biggest obstacle to enlightenment is incessant mental noise, compulsive thoughts which create a false man-made self (ego) which results in fear and suffering and creates the negative-energy-feeding pain body. (Thank you Oprah, for chosing Eckhart's book, a New Earth, for your book club ... and for the online study sessions. This indeed may help create the New Earth that Eckhart writes about.)

Abraham (taught through Esther & Jerry Hicks)

Manifest your desires, creating your reality, the law of attraction, the real meaning of emotions, the real purpose of life. I love these teachings!

Neale Donald Walsch

Every-day people, in the every day living of their lives, are what create the collective reality on this planet in which we all live and move and have our being. The way in which you walk through our world affects our world, perhaps more profoundly than you might ever have guessed. A pebble dropped into the water creates ripples that extend beyond your imagining. Pay attenttion to the internal and external messages: we all have "conversations with God" every day of our lives.

Quantum Physics

When you dig far enough into an atom, the building block of all matter, of everything in the material world/universe, you find only empty space (void, which isn't empty at all but is a field of light and motion) and concentrated energy. There is no matter in matter at the subatomic level. Also, at the quantum level, everything is connected (non-locality), no matter how far apart, and results always depend on the observer's expectations (you get what you are looking for).

American Indians (and other native tribes)

Everything is sacred ... the earth, the plants, the animals, and every other human. Everything contains the soul/spirit of God/the Creator/the Source. Be thankful for the gifts you are given, respectful of the world around you, and treat every living thing in the world with kindness, humility and gratitude.

Shamanism

This is related to the native people above. Shamanism is an ancient spiritual practice for personal and community enlightenment and healing, perhaps the oldest form. Through trance state not unlike deep meditation, the Shaman travels to other dimension to meet and confer with guides, guardians, and nature spirits in the quest for understanding, knowledge, truth and inner power. Shamanism lifts the veil to expose hidden truths behind the mysteries.

New Age

It's not really so new but is rooted in ancient traditions and beliefs. Holistic health = mind/body/spirit healing techniques. The body, which runs itself without attention to details like heartbeats, digestion, or other functions, can heal itself, too. Other New Age practices and beliefs include astrology, channeling, divination, meditation, reincarnation, karma, crystals (vibrational healing), auras (energy fields around living things), chakras (energy vortices in the human body), and therapeutic methods for spiritual advancement.

Suggested Viewing:

Anything by or about the above list of "my teachers"
You Can Heal Your Life, the movie (2007) ... presented by Louise Hay & "Friends" (including Wayne Dyer, Gregg Braden, Abraham-Hicks, Cheryl Richardson, and others). What a wonderful uplifting film!! The title says it all.
The Matrix (series) ... one viewpoint about why we live in a holographic reality (I like the first film best).
What the #$*! (BLEEP) Do We Know?: A quantum fable (2004) ... superb docudrama that explains the workings of the Holodeck

Defending Your Life (1991) ... a fun and funny Albert Brooks story about what happens after you die that rings very true

Oh, God! (1977 ) ... I was asked what my God looked and sounded like ... this is it ... just like a wise-cracking, cigar-smoking George Burns

What Dreams May Come (1998 ) ... an amazing Robin Williams film that depicts how our beliefs/choices determine our reality in the afterlife as well as on earth

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