of commercialisation and one foot in the world of beauty.
“Or can you choose beauty in both situations and choose to experience life in both situations. Many people are living a life trapped in a prison of thought and possessed by the mind invaders of environment.”
Ethan thought about how much more aware he was becoming and how he was experiencing different levels of consciousness. Again the voice spoke to him.
“The first level of consciousness is where you are trapped. In this level of existence you are unaware of how your life is going. At this level, let’s say you’re feeling unhappy; but you’re unaware of what is making you unhappy. You could also be happy, but unaware of why you are feeling happy. You are trapped in thought. You live life through all your past experiences, learnings, knowledge, and programmes. All of the learning, which has been programmed into your mind, dictates how you live. Perhaps you see glimpses of reality at different times, but you give your mind the interpretation of what those glimpses are. You just live life trapped in thought, in a prison where the door of the cell is closed.”
The comment reminded Ethan of how he’d felt so lost in Bangkok and realised that, when he reached Hin Hua, he had reached a new level of consciousness.
“At this next level of consciousness you could describe it as being in jail, but the cell door is open. You can decide to step out of the jail and experience reality or you can go back into your cell, which is the cell of thought. The door is not locked. At this level of existence you are comfortable with yourself, so you don’t want to leave that too far behind. You can go out and explore reality but, ultimately, you go back into your jail and live at that level of existence because you don’t know any better. In yoga they call this, ‘the awakened’.
“At the next level of existence you are released from your jail, which is your thought process and you are allowed to go out and begin to explore the different layers of reality. As you go out and explore it, you create different images, experiences and programmes in your mind. But some of the past programmes, which put you in the jail in the first place, surface now and again and take you over and put you back in jail again, albeit for a shorter time. Once again, you get released from jail and go off and do some good things but then the old habits, the old thought patterns, arise and put you back in the jail again. It seems like a never-ending cycle.
“But then you begin to move up a level and you become aware that there is something else controlling your life. You reach a level of spiritual awareness of that inner part of you, that light within you. You begin to become aware that this light creates life and, as you start to recognise this, it feels as though you have one foot in the spiritual world and one foot in the thought world.
“Now, at that level of existence you go in and out of the spiritual world, knowing and understanding. As you enter this level of existence the mind becomes calmer and stills itself. A different part of the mind is now in control and the more the spirit begins to take the more frightened the ego becomes of losing its identification with who it is. A battle can take place; a battle of levels. This is a clash of your inner titans, in which Spirit is attempting to overcome ego and take control of you. Many people fear losing the man-made identification of the ego. Due to fear of losing connection with ego, they give up on the spiritual quest and allow the ego to take control of them.
“If you make it past this battle, the next level of existence is spiritual existence. At the spiritual level, the spirit comes through you and guides you. So, it’s like the Spirit invades your thoughts and your body and mind and takes full control. Then the Spirit declares, ‘I am in control of this ship.’
“Whereas before, the Spirit could have been described as being the captain of your ship which was the subject of a mutiny incited by the ego. The mutiny succeeded in locking up the captain but, over time, he was allowed out of his prison and, slowly, he regained control of the ship. At that point you start to create from that level of spiritual awareness and life becomes more fulfilled and happier as you see life in a different way. At this level, there is trust without effort or fear. The Spirit tells you to do something and you do it. You can trust whatever you’ve been asked to do because, if you’ve been asked to do it, all the resources, material, and everything that you need in order to do it will be provided.
“As you move up to this level of existence, you experience the saying, ‘I come so you can live life in abundance’. Then you experience life in abundance. But not abundance in the mind-made identification of what abundance is lots of money. Rather, it’s abundance of Spirit from the life within you. You experience what could be described as the Kingdom of Heaven. You experience heaven, as a place on earth, as a place within your soul. Heaven is everywhere around you. You experience that life all around you. Your mind experiences heaven, registers thoughts of heaven. Your body vibrates with the energy of heaven and the excitement of heaven. Each and every day you begin to experience life like a heavenly day and a new adventure. You don’t know what is going to happen during the day, you are living a pure adventure in life. You just trust all of the direction you are given in life and you know that you will be guided along the path, which is the easiest and right path for you. You just know that everything will be taken care of. Just as oxygen and sunlight are provided for life, you simply understand that everything is being provided for you. It is here, it is now.”
As he talked with his voice, Ethan became more conscious of being in this life and living in this life.
“You should be aware of living in this life the best you can. Create the best karma and the best energy you can. When you get to the level of experiencing heaven on earth, then you can take on that karma. Whatever happens then happens. The goal is to experience life now, to be in life now, and to experience more of life. If there is anything that you were to set a goal for, it would be to set a goal for the achievement of more life! More life, more energy, to come through you so that you could experience the abundance that is life, or to release more of that love, compassion, honesty, truth, and that integration from within you. As you do that, you experience life in a different way.
“Just like these layers of consciousness, it is useful to be aware of those because then you can be yourself where you are consciously at any given moment. Which level are you on, or are you prepared to go on to the next level, to reach another level of trust in the inspiration within you, and to let it guide you? Then you can relax and know that there may be a battle between the ego and the inspiration. You may have pain because the ego is going to want to keep control of that ship, which you are sailing, which is your life. But the Spirit, who should now be the real captain, is going to want to take over your ship and come through you. You will experience many things. Perhaps, you will experience habits coming into awareness and, at times, it might feel as if your life is completely falling apart at the seams.
“But when you trust that the Spirit is taking you in the right direction then, eventually, you will reach the point where that takes over. Then your ego becomes the ego made of the Spirit. The old ego is broken and is fading away. Or, it’s like a sense that the old ego has now developed a relationship, a friendship with the Spirit and it knows that the Spirit has won out in the struggle. The ego relaxes and accepts that it can trust in the Spirit. The Spirit is not making me be somebody I’m not because I am the Spirit. The Spirit is not completely brain-washing me with all of my past experiences, my family, my friends, and all of that. The ego knows that and simply relaxes and allows the Spirit to take over. Then the Spirit takes over and raises up the levels of awareness more easily.
“So you have to decide at what level of existence you want to live. Where do you want to create your Oscar? Do YOU want to create your Oscar? Or do you want your Oscar to be created by past conditioning? Do you want to create somebody else’s Oscar? Do you want to choose who you want to be in your movie? Or do you want to be inspired from within?
“All of the great songs have been written from inspiration. When you think of the likes of John Lennon and the words to his song, ‘Imagine’, you are reminded of the inspiration within them.