Notes on Life and Learning Lessons Chapter 25

On the Final Quest

Someone whom I was privileged to have helped in an unusual way once asked, “Who are you? What are your religious beliefs? Are you a Buddhist? A Taoist? A Christian? A born-again? Are you also a psychic? A medium of some sort?”

It was the first time, since I began to know who I really am, that someone asked me such a direct question.

“I am concerned with what is right and what is wrong as far as the Truth is concerned. I try to share my knowledge with those who are seriously interested. I try to help people do what is right and fight against what is wrong both in their personal lives as a member of an unjust society where a few control so much wealth and power. Once in a while, I also share the sacred knowledge of the ancient inner wisdom of the Spiritual Masters to those who are inclined. Consider me as someone who has found once more the Spiritual Path, the Way of Holiness, the Road leading back to the Father Above,” I said.

“This Truth, the Spiritual Masters, and the Road you speak of, can you tell me more about it?” she asked.

I replied, “Consider life here as one big school. You are here to learn many important lessons. Some of these important lessons concern the following:

…the meaning of unselfish love for others as in thinking and doing things which help others live decently and grow emotionally, mentally and spiritually. Opposed to this real kind of love is the selfish, destructive kind of love where one uses the other persons as objects to satisfy one’s insatiable lust for pleasures of the body as well as greed for more and more money and power. It destroys the lives of other people and the life of the person doing it.

…the need to have the courage to stand up for what is right and to fight against what is wrong. We also need courage to face our own faults and weaknesses. We need more courage to correct these faults and weaknesses to become better persons.

…the need to develop wisdom. We need to develop the ability to find the roots of a problem and to see the interrelatedness of one part to other parts and all parts to the whole. We need to recognize the trees amidst the forest and to take note of the forest surrounding the trees.

…what it means to be a good father or mother; to be a good son or daughter; to be a good husband or wife; to be a good friend; to be a good responsible member of society; what it means to be a good Son or Daughter of The Father.

…the healing of wounds in your heart and in your mind. How to help others heal their wounds in the heart and in the mind.

…the need to know that life, as a gift of the Father and a means to help us grow, is more precious than anything else in this world. It is more precious than any amount of money or power. We must value our lives. We should not play with our lives nor with other people’s lives. We should neither waste it nor throw it away. We must develop a reverence for life.

…the discovery of general laws governing nature and our inter-relatedness with nature. How to use nature bounty to meet our material needs without destroying its delicate balance, without distorting the perfect circle of life. Indeed, we must learn to use the resources of nature properly since it is one of the precious gifts given to us by the Father Above.

…the proper use of our bodies, our hearts, and our minds. We must have more control over our bodies, especially over our senses. For instance, we should not eat too much. We should eat the right kind of food. We must learn more and more how to take good care of our bodies and how to heal it properly when it gets sick. We must have more and more control over our emotions, our passions and desires. We must learn more and more how to use our emotions to express our unselfish love and compassion for people. We should not let “selfish emotions” like extreme possessiveness, lust and greed control us. We must learn more and more how to focus our minds on one point, on one idea, on one noble goal and to always fill our minds with good, loving and noble thoughts.

These are some of the basic lessons we have to learn here.

There were those who came before us who learned these lessons well. They had gone back to The Father. They had become Spiritual Masters. Later, they formed an organization amongst themselves. They simply called it, the Spiritual Brotherhood/Sisterhood. Others came to know Their Organization as the Great White Brotherhood. This essentially spiritual organization helps The Father in caring, guiding, helping and teaching those who have not yet seen the Spiritual Path, those who are like little children lost in a forest. The Spiritual Masters became Elder Brothers/Sisters within the Spiritual Brotherhood. Some of their disciples had also learned the lessons well and had gone back to The Father.

Some of those Spiritual Masters decided to come back here into this world to personally teach the Spiritual Path, the Way of Holiness, the Road back to the Father. They were known as the Great Teachers of the Art of the Right Way of Living and of the Inner Wisdom. People heard only a few of them. They were Siddhartha – the Buddha, Jesus Christ, Lao Tse, Mohammed and Mary, the Mother of Jesus. Each developed his/her own approach in teaching the lessons of life. There were different presentations of the lessons. But the content, the message, the lesson to be learned were the same…it will always be the same. Some of their disciples, failed to finish learning the lessons before their Spiritual Master died. Thus, they misunderstood and misinterpreted their Master’s teachings. Some disciples even believed that they themselves alone had the correct interpretation. They declared that their Great Spiritual Teacher alone was the source of Truth.

We are all Sons and Daughters of One Beloved Father. Those who have learned all the lessons, those who have finished the course so to speak, know the Truth.”

“Are there many of you on that Road? How many members are there in that Spiritual Brotherhood/Sisterhood?” she asked.

“At this point in time, I only know personally a few who are also in the Spiritual Path and who have become members of the Spiritual Brotherhood/Sisterhood. There are not too many of us. Most of us are not known. We help people silently. Only a few will be known as part of “the mission” they have chosen. You may say that now it is the Road less traveled by as one poet once said. Many find us a bit strange because some of the things we say and do are not common, ordinary matters.

Today our world experiences so much exploitation, oppression, hypocrisy, and poverty. It is getting worse everyday. Ten to twenty years ago those who beg alms or prostitute themselves were mostly adults. Now, the children themselves are forced to beg. Some even prostitute themselves. There are so many injustices, senseless violence and abuses on women and children. There is rapid wanton destruction of our precious natural resources. The rich and the powerful continue to amass wealth and power. They continue to deceive the people. Thus, only a few can and do walk on the Path, the Way, the Road.

Remember this: There are social forces, led by leaders with pure hearts and pure minds, with great selflessness and dedication to others. These forces are fighting to put an end to all forms of exploitation – to end the exploitation of one nation by another, the exploitation of one class by another, the exploitation of man by man which consequently includes the exploitation of women by men. This great, glorious and noble goal surely finds support from Above.

The final day of social liberation is bound to come. From this day onwards, the formerly poor and powerless will be able to pick up the shattered pieces of their personal lives. They will be able to put them together again. The international brotherhood and sisterhood of all men and women will begin to blossom. As more and more people are able to find balance and harmony in their lives, more and more will walk on the Path I am walking on now. What, at one time seemed quite strange, will then be quite normal.”

She stared at me with eyes that measure the depth of what I know. After some time, she respectfully smiled and said, “I have to go now. I wish to come back one day. I wish to learn the Truth, if you find me worthy.”

I happily smiled and said, “There is now a seep longing in your heart for the Truth. One of the greatest Spiritual Masters, one of the best sons of the Father, once said, ‘Seek and you shall find. Knock and it shall be opened.’ When you have decided to see me again and you have pure intention to learn the Truth, you need not knock on my door. Just open the door. You have earned the right. I will be there waiting for you.”

As she turned away, I said, “My friend, it was you who closed the ‘inner door’ inside your heart in the beginning. This ‘inner door’ is your gateway to your real Self, to the members of the Spiritual Brotherhood/Sisterhood and to the Father. Only you can open it. You must earn that right to open it. You earn that right by ceaselessly striving to learn the lessons to be learned here and by continuously cleansing your heart and mind. There is no other way. There are no short-cuts nor can you pay somebody to get that right. There is no one who will intercede for you. The Spiritual Masters will show you the Path, the Way, the Road, but you will have to walk on your own feet. They cannot and will not carry you. Yes, only you can save yourself.

I will tell you a secret. When you open the ‘inner door’ again you will find the Father waiting in open arms. Indeed, He was, is and will always be there, waiting for each and everyone of us to come back to Him. When you are once more reunited with the Father, you will feel an indescribable joy, an immeasurable sense of fulfillment. Then, my friend, your journey in this world has ended. Your quest in this world has ended. Your quest here is over. You would have graduated from the School of Life.”

A Poem

Let Time Heal the

Deep Wound in

Your Heart

(note: the woman in this poem/prose had a boyfriend for ten years. On the 10thyear of their relationship, she found that her boyfriend had another woman. They eventually parted ways. Her former boyfriend was about to marry the other woman in a few weeks when she met me and asked for my advice. She was understandably very lonely and depressed. She was still hoping that somehow her former boyfriend would come back to her. I wrote this poem for her a few days before the wedding of her former boyfriend and the other woman.)

Let Time Heal the Deep wound

In Your Heart

To have loved someone for ten years,

and then to lose him

in circumstances beyond one’s control,

…like the sand castles

one has beautifully built,

only to be washed away in an instant

by big waves one can only watch

but cannot stop…

…a great loss,

then,…a deep pain…

what I can say

that might help to heal

the wound in your heart?

…let time heal your wound…

let time flow as it should…

like the waters of a river flowing downstream…

let time flow as it should

do not try to make it too brief

Nor too long

do not try to stop it…

…life goes on,

and you must move forward…

and time has a way

of making us understand better

certain misunderstood or

half-understood situations

in the past…

indeed

when inside a forest,

one only sees the many different trees,

it is only from a distance,

that one can see the forest as a whole…

…an old Taoist master once said to his disciple:

Look at the mountain covered with snow. It is beautiful, is it not? But soon, summer will come and the snow will melt but underneath, green grass will grow. And so it is with life, in every gain there is a loss, and in every loss there is a gain.

…after some time,

…look back at what happened,

find out why you failed

to see what is hidden,

to hear what was not said,

while it is easy for us to see our strengths,

…we tend to forget our weaknesses

perhaps,

oftentimes tend to see only

the bright side of your loved one,

…you failed to see his weaknesses

…find out the lessons to be learned.

My new friend,

…you are sincere

basically a good and honest person,

…if you learn the lessons well,

I am sure you would eventually find

the right man who will love you

Forever

…thank you for trusting me,

someone you have never met before

…perhaps,

it would be good for us

to continue sharing “notes on life”

once in a while

…an old chapter in your life is about to end

let it end!

let time flow as it should

good luck to the new chapter

in your life that is about to begin!

Pi-wi

7/1/94

(Note: One of the “quite strange things” that happened to me after that “special event” in the middle of 1994 was that I could recall memories of my past lives. One very important lifetime I had was somewhere in Europe at the time of the Bubonic Plague in the mid-1300’s. at that lifetime I became a member of the Spiritual Brotherhood, then a Spiritual Teacher and a Teacher of the Mystical Arts. This explains why I could write what I wrote in this book. The knowledge, the skills and even some mannerisms I acquired in that lifetime came back to me after I earned the right once more to become a member of the Spiritual Brotherhood in this present life. The “former student” in this poem, Raquel, studies in the university where I am teaching. She was introduced to me by her close friend who sought my views on a problem involving her boyfriend. Raquel knows “fortune telling”, using cards to get “the answers”. I told her that she learned that knowledge and skill sometime in the Middle Ages. She then said she felt that we have met before in our past lives. She felt further that it was the time when she studied this special skill of card-reading. I checked it in a few minutes and found out that she was right. Indeed, she was once my student in the study of the Mystical Arts. A week later, I decided to write this some of the important things that happened to us in that lifetime. Here is one of the prose-poems I wrote.)

A Poem I Wrote For “A Former Student”

After around 600 years,

we met again,

“at ikaw pa ang unang nakakilala

Sa akin.” (translation: and you were even the first to recognize me)

Though it was “quite a long time ago,”

I could still recall many important things,

…You first heard of me through a neighbor

whom I was privileged to have helped.

…with a mixture of curiosity

as well as serious interest

and a deep longing for the Truth,

You sought and found me.

…You were a good student,

you attended the lectures and sessions

as often as you could

you listened well,

asked important questions,

and practiced what you have learned

…You were around 16 years old then,

still quite young,

but you showed dedication

and determination.

…One day,

you had to leave as your parents

have decided to move to a far place

where lands were more plentiful

and fertile…and to be further

away from the Plague.

you visited me for the last time,

asked for my blessings

as well as some advices to guide you

as you might not ever see me again.

and I told you then,

“A good student is always a source of joy

for a teacher. Though I have known you

only for a year or so, you have been

a good student. You have made me happy.

I am proud of you.

As you seek my advice, I wish to tell you

the following:

…A teacher of the Art of Good Living and

of the Mystical Arts like me can

only teach you so much beyond which,

you must learn to teach yourself,

you must learn to think by yourself

and you must learn to decide

by yourself.

…Know yourself more,

take note of your strengths and weaknesses

and see what has to change

so you can become a better person.

…Meditate regularly,

so you can reach and be reached

by Higher Spiritual Beings,

by the Spiritual Masters,

and by the Father.

…Humbly learn from those who know

more than you while you selflessly share

what you really know to those who seek

your knowledge and advice.

…In facing and solving problems,

keep in mind two things:

one, correct what is wrong,

do what is right.

second, trace the roots.

You can only truly solve a problem

if you go to its roots.

…Remember, it is a privilege to help people

and never seek anything in return

for you must help simply because,

it is the right thing to do.

…Strive for balance for things

you have to do. Where there is balance,

there will be harmony,

and where there is harmony,

then you can make more progress

on “The Path”.

..Live a good life,

“return kindness with kindness,

helpfulness with helpfulness,

trust with trust,

love with love,

and injustice with justice.

…Do not seek to develop “magical powers”

prematurely. Such powers will come to you

when you are ready,

when the Spiritual Masters see that

you can use such powers properly

to help others and to develop

yourself further.

…Continue to walk further on “The Path”

Move on and on,

Strive to be the best you can.

Then,

I silently prayed for you as I gave you

my blessings.

And,

my parting words were:

“In the Study of the Mystical Arts,

the relationship between the teacher

and the student is sacred for it is

not only two hearts and minds that

communicate but two souls exchanging

“notes on life” and problems encountered

along “The Path”. When you have a problem

that is too heavy to bear, remember that

my hand is always there for you to reach,

if and when you need it. Just let me know.”

You thanked me and as you were about to leave,

you unexpectedly asked me this question,

“How should I choose my husband?”

I smiled,

took note of the fact that in a few more years,

you will be like a beautiful, bright-colored

flower in bloom and then many men would

seek to win your love. Then I said,

“What is more important is what a man has inside,

the character of the man and not how much lands

he has. For a rich man withouta good character

can only give what your body needs but he can not

give warmth and joy to your heart, he can not

give peace to your mind, he can not enrich your

Soul. Do not allow your parents to choose for

you as it is still the custom in many places.

Fight for your right to choose the man you will

love and marry. So much happiness or so much

pain depends on that decision.”

Then you left and I watched you walk away…and,

from a distance, you looked back and saw me looking

You waved goodbye for the last time and I, too,

waved goodbye.

And I never saw you again for many,

many years.

…After around twenty years,

as you were going to a place near my town,

you decided to drop by and greet me,

to share your experiences and pay your respects.

I was happy to see you again and I said,

“You have continued walking on “The Path”.

I am happy and I am proud of you. Oh,

it seems you have aged only a little

since the last time I saw you.”

You returned the compliment and said that I too,

grew old only a little and then we both laughed.

After some more exchanges of “notes on life”,

you asked for my blessings again as you were

about to leave. After I gave you my blessings,

you told me,

“My husband is a good man. He treats me and our

children well. However, he gets angry whenever he

sees me “read cards” to help people. Could you

please give me some advice on this problem?”

I paused for a while, thinking…

then I replied,

“In our time, only a few people understand the true

nature and purpose of the Mystical Arts. the Church

teaches so many superstitions and persecutes those

who believe otherwise. Like many other people, your

husband has his mind closed on this matter and he is

afraid of the Church.

Continue to practice what you have known, continue

to walk on “The Path”. Continue to “read cards” to

help people but keep it a secret. Continue to love

him as he is a good man. Someday, he will tell you

how he appreciates your being a good wife and being a good

mother. Then, that is the time to tell him that your

practice of the Mystical Arts helped you a lot to be

a good woman. Then there is a good chance that he

will be interested in knowing the truth about the

Mystical Arts.”

You thanked me and as you were about to leave,

I told you again that my hand will always be there

for you to reach whenever you need it.

And,

I never saw you again then,

you never reached for my hand.

Now,

after around 600 years,

...you reached for my hand.

you had a problem you found

for a time, too heavy to bear.

…though we met under different circumstances,

the sacred bond between a teacher

and a student of the Mystical Arts

is still there…it will always be there.

…you still have that basic goodness and honesty

as well as that inner strength.

…comparing then and now,

these are more difficult times,

…there is now much more sufferings, lies,

deceptions, greed, temptations, poverty,

predatory unjust wars, exploitation and

oppression.

…there is then,

more that we have to do now:

we must help more people,

we must strive more in ending

the exploitation of man by man,

we must contribute more in the building

of a world that is truly just and

prosperous for all.

People make their own lives,

they make their own decisions

Your parents decided to separate,

and you as their child,

can not change their decision.

Study what went wrong

with your parents’ relationship.

Find out the lessons to be learned.

Such lessons will be valuable to you

when it is your time to get married.

After learning the lessons,

then let go of this sad experience,

let go of situations you have no control of,

let the past belong to the past.

Focus now on matters you can control

Hold your life in your hand

and use it properly.

Take hold of your life,

…Make good in your studies. Later,

build a career. Consider your career

as one important way of developing

yourself and a way of serving people.

…Choose well the man you will love and marry.

Remember, the true value of a man is not

in the amount of money he has in his pocket

but what really has inside of him. What really

matters is his character, his values, his ideas on life.

As I had told you “then”,

my hand will always be there for you

to reach if and when you need it.

Take good care of yourself…

Pi-wi

12/30/94