Showing posts with label Nirvana. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Nirvana. Show all posts

Sunday, May 16, 2021

The 6th Excerpt from the Novel Redemption. Part 2 from 2

 

Ann and Rob


This is the second part of the sixth excerpt from my novel Redemption

In this conversation, Ann continues to ask Rob about Fate and Free Will.

*****


Ann thought about this as she disconnected from the tunnel’s SmartDrive and headed towards the exit. Could this really be true? Had her life in twenty-first-century America really been shaped by the lives of Mi, Ra, and Isabelle? Had there been other lives in more recent history that had also affected her life now? 


“So let me just get this straight,” she said, merging with Chicago’s traffic. “My fate is already set, but it has been shaped by my choices I’ve made in past lives. Is that it?”


“Exactly,” said Rob. “The reason your Creator gave you Free Will in the first place was to make you each different, unique individual instead of uniform robots produced in some divine mold.” He put on a sad face. “Unfortunately, I have run out of gold stars.”


“Pity,” said Ann with a smile. “I was doing rather well! Explain more about the correlation between fate and Free Will. Can they really work together?”


Rob seemed to ponder this for a moment, though Ann knew this was just part of his programming; he could analyze many terabytes of data in a fraction of a second. 


“Fate and free will work together well. You’ve been given free will so you can choose your personal direction, but your choice does not remove the next milestone of your fate. In another word, you still have to come to that next programmed point.” Rob eyed her from the screen, noting the thoughtful look on her face. 


“Consider this,” he continued. “We are on our way to the supermarket, which, if you turn right at the next set of lights, we will approach from the South entrance. However, if you choose to turn left instead, you will approach the same shop from the North. However, your purchases will not be affected by this, and you will still end up going to the shop. This is similar to fate and Free Will. You cannot escape your fate, but you can choose how you face it.”


As he finished, Ann found herself at the traffic lights in question and looked in each direction. “So, what difference does it make to me in the course of my life if I choose now to go right or left?”


“Well, as far as your soul is concerned—that being the part of you that goes from life to life throughout your spiritual existence—it’s not so much about right or left as it is about good or evil,” said Rob. “However,” he added, with a wink, “turning right would bring us to the supermarket almost 5 minutes quicker than turning left.” 


“Thanks,” said Ann, pulling away to the right. “Carry on. What difference do good and evil make to my soul, then?”


“This is where Nirvana comes in. By choosing what is good, your soul is enlarged, progressing towards enlightenment and ultimate redemption. But when you choose evil instead, your soul becomes darker, heavier, heading deeper into the gloom of brutality.”


Ann turned the car into the parking lot and eased it into space. Switching off the engine, she picked up the E-A device to give Rob her full attention. “It sounds like we’re talking more about spiritual choices, rather than deciding which way to head to the shops?”


“Quite,” said Rob, his screen rippling as he took on his usual form.


“So, what effect do these spiritual choices have on a person in a material sense?”


“My sources tell me that as you progress towards enlightenment, by making choices for good, your eyes are more open, able to see things which you would never have noticed before. You gain a greater understanding, broader insight, a heightened ability to see what is good and evil, and making the right choices easier. On the other hand, choosing darkness affects every area of a person’s life for the worse. Their insight is narrowed, and their capacity for vision and creativity are diminished.”


“So making the right choices is pretty important!” said Ann. “How can I ensure I don’t end up making the wrong decision?”



This Extract is taken from the Redemption novel,  the 4th Part: PEACE. 



Find a 50% discount on the Redemption e-book via Smashwords!



Saturday, May 8, 2021

The 6th Extract from the Novel Redemption, Jacklyn A. Lo

 

Ann & Rob
Ann & Rob


I'd like to present the 6th extract from my novel Redemption.  In this conversation, Ann asks Rob about Fate and Free Will.

*****

What’s going on with me? She wondered. I feel like a ship in a storm being tossed about by the waves of fate.

“What do you know about fate, Rob?” she asked, as much to distract herself as to get information from him. “The psychic said it’s a sort of pre-written script for a personal development, something that can’t be changed.”


“Interesting,” said Rob, nodding on the screen of the E-A device. “My sources would agree, though it’s less like a written script than a program.”


“Like a television program?”


“Like a computer program, similar to the one that runs me. I cannot change my code, and in that sense, I am restricted; I can only do what I have been programmed to do. Yet, at the same time, I am constantly growing in knowledge, both through my research and interaction with you. You, humans, are far more complex, but your individual fate works in the same way.”


Ann considered this for a moment. “So, are you saying that the script or program for my life is set? That I cannot change it?”


“Not exactly.” Rob’s image flickered as he took on the appearance of a professor, complete with mortarboard, gown, and glasses. “Let me explain. At present, you are Ann, living in twenty-first-century America. However, as you have seen, you were not always this person. In former lives, you have been Mi, a woman from the Stone Age, and Ra, a priest of Isis in the Roman Empire. And during the reign of Louis XIV, you were Isabelle, a girl from Paris. Correct?”


“Er, yeah,” said Ann, impressed. “Nice summary. But what has this to do with fate?”


“You will recall our conversation about Karma?”


“Of course. It’s the effect that one life has on the next, yes?”


“Correct!” Rob’s hand appeared on the screen and stuck a gold star in the corner. “Now imagine I have a bug in my programming.”


Ann broadly smiled. “That’s not hard. Especially when you look like that!”


“If I had a bug,” he continued, ignoring her joke, “which I don’t, of course, you would get your guys to go into the program and fix the code, yes?”


“I guess so.”


“And then you would upgrade me, so I had a new bug-free program; a new life, if you like.”


“Are you saying that’s what I’ve done as I’ve gone from one life to another?” said Ann. “I’ve been upgraded?”


“Exactly,” said Rob, beaming at her and sticking another gold star in the corner of the screen.


But Ann was unconvinced. “So who upgrades me?” she asked. “Who fixes the bugs in my program?”


“Well, you do, of course! When you use your free will to make correct choices, you are working on upgrading or developing yourself, shaping your own program, your own fate.” 


                                                                          *****



To be continued...


This Extract is taken from the Redemption novel,  the 4th Part: PEACE. 


Get a 50% discount on e-book via Smashwords!




Tuesday, September 10, 2019

Redemption. Excerpt Three





EXCERPT THREE




“Well, that was a most enjoyable vacation,” Ann said as she steered her car away from her apartment building. “Though I’m not entirely certain I could call it restful!”
Rob’s face appeared on the screen, smiling broadly. “Quite,” he said. “You sure managed to pack plenty into a couple of days!”
“To be honest, I’m relieved to be returning to work. It’s as though the craziness of the last two days is finally being replaced with some kind of normality.”
That being said, Ann’s sleep had been disturbed once again by one of her usual haunting dreams.
She had hoped her visit to the psychic would have dealt with all that, but she’d had that same vision; the infinite spiral holding her in its grasp as it stretched away through time and space.
The only difference was that, far in the distance, she felt that it connected her with Mi.
“Rob?” she said, as she pulled onto the express tube and switched the car’s systems over to the tube’s SmartDrive server.
“Yes, my lady.”
“Did you find out a lot of information on the… spiritual stuff we were talking about the other day?”
“Of course.”
Ann paused, not sure what she wanted to ask, or at least what she wanted to ask first. “Do you believe in Evolution? Or in the whole Adam and Eve, God made everything in seven days… stuff?”
“I think you’ll find it was six days. And the answer is yes. I believe in them both.”
Ann frowned and, with the car now safely in the control of the SmartDrive, reclined her seat and turned to face Rob’s screen. “Come on! How can you believe both?”
“Because they appear to contradict each other?  It’s quite simple. In fact, many humans do it without thinking.”
“Really?”
“Sure. Take, for example, the fact that most people believe in Free Will, yet at the same time consider themselves to be in some way under the influence of a higher power such as fate or God. You make your own choices, but live out a specific purpose.”
“I guess.” Ann turned her gaze back to the windshield, which was now displaying one of the many “environments” provided by the SmartDrive system. At present, it was set to Ann’s favourite, sunlit waterfalls, which helped her to relax and concentrate. “So,” she continued, “what has your research turned up? What is God’s purpose for us humans?”
“It’s hidden for the blind, my lady. And yet open for those who can see.”
Ann rolled her eyes. “What is that supposed to mean? You sound like a fortune cookie!”
“Firstly,” said Rob, with a slightly mischievous smile, “We’re dealing with secret knowledge here, knowledge which is different for each person and the only way to attain it is to earn it.”
“And secondly?”
“Secondly, a person must at least be interested in such knowledge.”
Ann frowned somewhat defensively. “I am interested!”
“You are now. But this wasn’t always the case, my lady, and this is sadly true for many people. They are too busy to think about the purpose of their existence because they spend all their time focused on earning money, sorting out family problems, fighting with neighbours or any of a thousand other things. Across the city people are sitting in traffic jams; the same is true of their lives. They are too caught up in the worries of their existence to really live!” Rob smiled suddenly. “We, however, seem to be moving quite freely.”
Ann glanced out of the window.  He had a point. Sure the tunnel was pricey, but it was better than being snarled up on the streets with everyone else. Why did freedom always seem to come at a cost? 
“This is fascinating, Rob. I’ve never heard anything like this, not in school or college… not anywhere.”
“That’s because you’ve been too busy, just like everyone else. But now you are on the way not only to discovering your purpose but fulfilling it!”
“But I’m also still pretty busy. So how do I go about all this? Should I go to a church or something?”
Rob raised his eyebrows at the question. “Go to church? My research suggests that such organizations have mostly become infected by the same evil; they’re busy. They focus on quantity rather than quality. They tend not to serve individuals so much as expecting it to work the other way round. But…” He paused.
“But what?”
“But you have already made some progress. You are exploring your truth by yourself.”
“I guess.”
Ann took hold of the wheel again as the waterfalls on the windshield were replaced by the sleek interior of the tunnel. She was approaching her exit.
“But these religious organizations must have something to say about the general purpose of our existence, no?”
“Certainly. And as you’d expect, there are many conflicting points of view, from those who believe humans exist to bring glory to God to those who believe people are nothing more than some cosmic accident, without purpose or meaning.”
Ann thought for a moment as she disconnected from the SmartDrive server and steered the car up the exit ramp towards the street.
“I guess, in a way, that’s what I’ve always assumed. Though when you put it in those terms, it sounds pretty bleak.”
As she emerged from the tunnel and merged with the Chicago traffic, another car nearly drove into the side of her and she beeped the horn crossly.
“Idiot!” she shouted.
“Almost another cosmic accident!” said Rob.
“Quite.” Ann tried to concentrate on what they had been discussing, wishing she still had the calming waterfalls to help. “So what about those who believe in God? What do they say about, what was it? Living for His glory?”
“That depends. Christianity teaches that such a life is based on a relationship with the Creator acknowledging His greatness, giving Him honour by praising and worshipping Him.
Their aim, most of them anyway, is to love God more and so live in a way that makes him look great. That is what they mean by ‘living for his glory’.”
“So, how is that supposed to work?” asked Ann, frowning with a mixture of confusion and frustration.
“And how long does it take to be changed in such a way?”
“It is supposed to work the same as any other relationship; though most do not involve people trying to love someone they can neither see nor touch. The process is said to take the whole of a person’s life.”
“One life?”
“One life,” said Rob with a nod. “Their Holy Bible says, ‘it is appointed unto men once to die, and after this cometh judgment’”.
“Cometh?” Ann laughed. “Why can’t they speak English, like everyone else? So what about people who believe you live more than once?”
“Reincarnation? That is more of an Eastern concept, taught by the Hindus, Buddhists and suchlike.”
“Fine. So what do they teach about the meaning of life? Or rather the meaning of lives?”
“You’ve heard of Nirvana?”
Ann turned the car around the last corner towards the A.I.I. building. “The rock band?”
“Hardly. Those religions that believe a person has many lives teach that the goal of those lives is to achieve Nirvana, ultimate freedom from all that is evil. Becoming one, as it were, with everything, even with God himself.”
“And how does one achieve this Nirvana?”
“By living increasingly pure and disciplined lives dedicated to spiritual pursuits. Each life, you see, is affected by the former lives. They call it karma.”
“I’ve heard of karma,” said Ann, pulling up in her usual space and cutting the engine. “So how many lives does it take? Would two be enough?”
“No one knows,” said Rob as Ann picked up her E-A device from the dash. “The cycle of birth and death has been continuous throughout time, but I suspect Nirvana cannot be achieved with only a couple of lives.”
“Interesting!”
Ann switched off the device and slipped it into her bag as she headed towards the elevator. And while she travelled up to the Sales and Marketing floor, she wondered to herself just how many other lives she had had.
Were there other past existences she knew nothing about affecting her life here today?


Did you enjoy the excerpt?


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Tags: spiral, Adam and Eve, God, believe, Free Will, spiritual, choices, God’s purpose, freedom, church, evil, religion, Christianity, Creator, Bible, Nirvana, karma, a cycle of birth and death, Redemption, novel, Jacklyn A. Lo



Saturday, January 21, 2017

Is Vipassana a fast track to liberation?


Twenty-six centuries ago Gautama Buddha designed a meditation technique that has been helping people not only train their minds to stay in balance, but also to liberate them from Samsara (reincarnation chain).

Gautama used to say that there were Buddhas (enlightened people), there are Buddhas, and there will be Buddhas after him, but his role is to provide an efficient meditation technique that could help people reach liberation (moksha or nirvana) in the present life that will allow one never to come back to the materialistic reality and to experience suffering again.

Before the invention of his own meditation technique, Gautama had tried different meditation methods designed by others, but he never was satisfied by the quality and deepness of them, so he invented his own, which is known as the Vipassana meditation technique.




What the Vipassana technique is about
In short, the Vipassana meditation technique is about getting rid of addictions that we have accumulated during innumerable materialistic existences. These addictions (filth and/or imperfections) are hidden in the deeper mind — our subconscious.
In the beginning of the Vipassana meditation course, a student’s goal is calming down his or her mind by focusing on breathing and clearing the mind from thoughts.
Then, the students do meditation exercises for activating the subconscious. The access to the subconscious is going to provide an option for self-healing, first of all a physical body, and later on a soul.
The subconscious is like a dark room, and concentrating on breathing shall light it, making the previously hidden sins (addictions) visible.
We experience those addictions through the sensations of our bodies.
The goal of these exercises is to keep us indifferent to those sensations.

Why Vipassana
Imagine yourself as a traveler who came to this world with a heavy luggage of karma and a desire to make it lighter.
The project named Your Life is already designed for you, and everything that you need can be found by following the Your Destiny script. Your Life project is interactive, and your task is to correct your sins (imperfections) that you have done during your previous existences and to make your luggage lighter.
You could succeed with this job and return back to Your Home with a smaller bag, or you could fail, generating extra negative karma and return home with a larger bag than before. The smallest group of travelers will come home with no luggage at all. This group of people are the luckiest ones burning away all sins (negative karma), they generate no reason to return back to Samsara.
One of the techniques that help people grab this good fortune is Vipassana

Benefits of Vipassana
The students who are following the Code of Discipline and precisely heeding the teacher’s instructions are getting a chance to get great benefits from the Vipassana meditation.

These benefits are:
·      To train a mind to stay balance in everyday life.
·      To increase the energy level of the physical body.
·      To study the philosophy of Gautama Buddha in the interpretation of his loyal follower, S.N. Goenka, the influential Vipassana meditation teacher.
·      To get in touch with your own subconscious.
·      To get healed.
·      To obtain a release of the old hurt.
·      To get the ability to transform negativity into positivity.
·      To receive a supernatural experience.
·      To network with like people.
·      To reach the ultimate goal of a human being - get redemption from Samsara - an endless cycle of births and deaths.



*Note:  This article is based on my personal experience and thoughts after my first 10-day meditation course of Vipassana, and is not presented to be an absolute truth. – Jacklyn A. Lo.

The next article will tell about possible side effects of the Vipassana, the organization of the training, and accommodations in the retreat territory.