A John replied, "Your selfless service in helping others during the end times of your sphere has rewarded you with an opportunity to exist without the burden of a body, but still able to enjoy the senses of sight, hearing and thinking. Without deeper understanding however, your return to a physical body will come as quickly as a sudden storm, even though an immaterial being's lifespan, according to human reckoning, is thousands of years. Nevertheless, enjoy your temporary freedom for now, for when the time comes, the fall back into a confined human form will be difficult.
If you relax and merely enjoy your reward without going deeper toward Reality, you will certainly return to an earthly sphere, and then who knows what will happen. It is much safer to go beyond the human body permanently while you can, and never return, for the human form is fraught with not only mental and physical pain, but danger as well. You could easily become entangled in another long cycle of rebirths."
"Yes, I know," she sighed. "That is why I need your help so that I never return. My previous sphere was caught up in constant warfare. Nothing was solved without violence, no country was willing to give in, or share its wealth. Greed, hatred, and fear ruled peoples' hearts, spreading like a disease among all the countries. There was never compromise, just killing. Each country was as aggressive and ambitious as the other was, and as violent as well. There was never any peace.
I was so disappointed. I felt so out of place, and at times, I even thought that perhaps I was wrong and that killing was justified. But by some cosmic accident, there I was! It was beyond my power to influence anything, so I did the best I could."
"It was not by a cosmic accident that you experienced this violence," a John said. "Someday soon, if you progress with the inner work, you will see your past lives and better understand why you were on that sphere. The inner work is the only thing that will insure you of non-returning if you are truly serious about not risking a return. Even practicing only one time will considerably reduce your number of future lifetimes in human form, and if you actually practice the inner work with fervor and dedication, there is a possibility of becoming a Stream Entrant."
"May I ask what a stream entrant is," she inquired.
"Yes," a John replied. "A stream entrant is one who will be reborn in human form only seven times or less -a guarantee of eventual non-returning. You see, Savaka, the immaterial realm you are now enjoying can be achieved in many ways - by being a compassionate person, like you were, or by various practices or religions. There are numerous means to temporarily transcend human existence. To transcend it permanently, however . . . ahh, this is more difficult. Many religious practices and good acts still might not produce the required insight to insure stream entrance."
Stream Entrance! What was this, I thought to myself. Apparently, it was something tangible, something that I could sink my teeth into and accomplish. I must know more about it. And sure enough, a John obliged.
"Attaining Stream Entrance assures one of escaping the human realm in seven or less lifetimes, never to return," he continued. "Then, after Stream Entrance, there are the advanced stages. The second stage after Stream Entrance is the Once-Returner. This is followed by the third stage, the Non-Returner. The fourth and final stage occurs after the key has been found, and this would be the Key Keeper.
These rare key keepers will live out this last lifetime until their physical bodies go the way of nature. At that time they choose to either move on to a place impossible for me to describe Savaka, considering that you are a newcomer to the immaterial realm, and that your level of understanding hasn't deepened sufficiently yet, or the key keeper returns to a sphere, possibly here, to help raise the consciousness of the inhabitants."
He smiled at the little immaterial being, "Once you have had some time to settle into your new realm here, and as you become familiar with the inner work, you will have an opportunity to assist humans by becoming a helper being. This will enable you to increasingly understand these complex matters of the spirit. For now, however, you have a decision to make. You can relax in your delightful realm and do nothing, insuring a fall back into human form, or you can put forth effort, with the help of the inner work, and go on. This is a choice you must make with your freewill. If you choose to begin the inner work, then you must become aware of the roadblocks to Stream Entrance and begin working on these."
Roadblocks! Now were getting somewhere. These roadblocks sounded like a challenge and would be a measure of my progress. I loved challenges. I was hoping that a John would mention what they were - and he obliged again. ( To be continued)
E. Raymond Rock of Fort Myers, Florida is cofounder and principal teacher at the Southwest Florida Insight Center, http://www.SouthwestFloridaInsightCenter.com His twenty-nine years of meditation experience has taken him across four continents, including two stopovers in Thailand where he practiced in the remote northeast forests as an ordained Theravada Buddhist monk. His book, A Year to Enlightenment (Career Press/New Page Books) is now available at major bookstores and online retailers. Visit http://www.AYearToEnlightenment.com
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