How do I know when I am being stupid ? (edited)

I was talking to a friend over online chat (real life friend tho, not virtual), and we started talking about preventing bad things from happening in life, and taking steps to prevent it. Living by the code of "prevention is better than cure." My reaction to that was, I used to be like that, always wanting to see the future so that I can know all the bad things that is going to happen and move around it. It is also one of the biggest reasons why I was so interested in the occult, tarot cards, and divination. As I understood the law of cause and effect, and about karma, that sort of just went by the way side. I told her that we cannot hope to be able to foresee all consequences and control the outcomes, so that the outcomes is as anticipated, or as desired.

As mere humans, we cannot see past our present lifetime, some of us cannot see past our nose. Our journey (soul journey) into this world has been planned since before the day we were born. We planned it together with our guardian angel/s, so that we will have enough resources to go through what we need to go through to learn what we need to learn. We created our own trials and tribulations in order to gain wisdom, so the next time something bad happens instead of saying "why me?" maybe we should ask "what do I take away from all this?" Always remember we are like Avatars in an MMORPG (basically, a character in a Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game, like World of Warcraft). Dying is like deleting that character online, and being born is like starting a new character. The controller playing the game still lives no matter what happens.

When you understand that completely, you begin to see the wisdom of letting things go and go with the flow of things. Things happen for a reason. Past karmic debts need to be repaid in full. So when someone slights you, or does something that pisses you off, tell yourself that its karmic debt being repaid, and "I should be thankful !"

"Does that mean that I should go ahead and do stupid things and let stupid things happen to me ?" That is a loaded question. If you need to do something, even though its going to be stupid but it "needs" to be done anyways, and you at the same time are fully aware of the stupid consequences that will happen, then do it. BUT if you don't know that, then you would not know that it is stupid anyways, and would not be aware of its consequences either. So the choice is still up to you at that point.

Then the big question, "how would I know that I am being stupid?" To that I say, you are stupid when you don't know what you are doing; you are not when you know that its stupid and aware of the consequences, but still do it anyways. However, this does not mean that you should go ahead and do all the stupid things anyways knowing that it is going to have stupid consequences. It also depends on your intentions. For example, know that banging your head against the wall will give you a bump on your head, and hurt like hell, but still going ahead to do it is still just being plain stupid. A positive example here would be a story heard from Reverend Jing Kung.

Lets call this random monk Reverend Kong (this is a fictitious name, he does not exist. Any similarity will just be a coincidence). He is one of the monks residing in this big ornate temple. A lay follower, call him Lenny (again a fictitious name who does not exist in real life. Any similarity will just be a coincidence) usually visits the monk every once in a while to ask for financial assistance. Now, the monk knew full well that he was being scammed, every time Lenny visits him. But he allowed it to happen anyways. He hopes that in so doing, one day Lenny's conscience would spur him into realizing his follies, and repent on his own accord. Everyone around the monk would definitely say the monk was just too dumb to say "No!" But that is not being stupid, it is called being compassionate and having great patience. If giving some money away will save Lenny's soul, bring Lenny wisdom, lighten Reverend Kong's karmic debt, and enlighten Lenny eventually at the same time; that is a worthy sacrifice.

Soul Journey (edited)

Your soul journey is a plan you have made before the time of your birth that maps out the trials and tribulations that you will have to go through in order to become more enlightened, or ascend to a higher spiritual level. Below are some information that goes into some details about it, I hope that it would help you on your journey/s.

(Note: I got the information below from this website and thought I would share it. The entire information is available there on the page if you would like to read it in its entirety. I clipped the parts which I thought were interesting to me.)

The more contact you make with your soul, the more the soul will infuse your personality. What are the advantages?

• Your soul mission becomes clear.
• You commit to your soul mission and take the first steps toward living it.
• Your soul takes you in hand, guides, and trains you.
• Ideas for action arise from your soul; they prove true and reliable.
• These ideas are conveyed by a quiet inner voice, an intuition, or a strong urge to act.
• As well, there are clues for what to do which you learn to recognize and follow.
• You are guided to situations, information, and people who help you fulfill your mission.
• When you complete one mission, you will be guided to the next.
• You are amazed! Your soul knows things you have no way of knowing.
• Your life becomes an adventure; you are taking steps into the unknown.
• You become humble; you depend on guidance from your soul.
• You become strong; if you are asked to do something that challenges you, help is present.
• Increasingly, your soul directs your life.
• You meet your soul group; you carry a piece of the puzzle for work you will do together.
• You implement a small part of a great plan that lives in the mind of the Spiritual Hierarchy, the Masters of Wisdom who oversee the wellbeing of our planet.
• You are grateful.

How do you know you are in contact with your soul, and not with an astral entity posing as your soul?

• Ideas from your soul arise quietly and work when you act upon them.
• If there is fanfare or strong emotion, it is not your soul.
• Your soul leads you one step at a time, so you learn and your commitment is tested.
• If you are given the big, overall picture it is not your soul.
• If your free will is compromised; if something wants to impose on you actions that don't seem right, it is not your soul.
• If you are urged to hurry, to act immediately it is not your soul.
• If you do not have the financial resources to enact the plan, it is not from your soul.
• If your personality is inflated or is enticed with money, power, or sex it is not your soul.
• If your mission makes you humble, loving, pure, harmonious it is from your soul.
• If it relieves the pain and distress of your fellow man it is from your soul.
• If it teaches and brings understanding to your fellow man it is from your soul.

What keeps you committed to your soul mission?

• You strengthen your will and intention to live your soul mission.
• You gain the freedom to persist and complete your mission.
• You commit to a daily meditation practice and a life that includes silence and solitude.
• You realize a much sought after peaceful emotional and mental life.
• Your health improves because you get regular exercise, eat a proper diet, and sleep soundly.
• You can distinguish between the demands of your soul and of your personality.
• More and more, your soul guides your life.
• You develop an inquiring mind.
• You keep yourself well-informed about world events.
• You learn to stay emotionally detached as world events unfold.
• You are able to concentrate and easily ward off distractions.
• You achieve the ability to march to the beat of your own drum.
• You are willing to be of service.
• Your life fills with Love.

What holds you back or leads you off track?

• A stress filled, frenzied life
• Lack of solitude and quiet time
• Addiction to drugs, alcohol, food, sex, power
• Family members, especially a spouse or partner, who do not support your soul mission
• Friends who think you are crazy
• Laziness, unwillingness to make the life changes your mission requires
• Fear of the unknown
• Being easily distracted
• Inability to concentrate
• Unhealthy body/ emotions/ mind
• Noise (emotional and mental junk food):
  • Turn off your TV and radio, except for programs that inform and nurture you.
  • Turn off angry, discordant music.
  • Turn off music with inane lyrics that manipulate your mind
  • Turn off computer and video games.
  • Turn off background noise when possible.
• Mass gatherings where emotions are ramped up, like sports events or rock concerts; these are feeding grounds for astral entities; they can attack you.
• Astral entities posing as your soul or as a Master
• Doubting that your soul mission is real and that the Masters exist
• Mood swings
• Discouragement/giving up easily
• The need to conform
• Money problems
• Failure to meditate

Manage your wastages

I believe that everyone of us is put on this earth with a little bag of "prosperity". This little bag of resources is what we will be using on our soul journey this time round. You can neither have more, nor less, it is all a carefully calculated amount for your use on this trip, to some extent.

Buddhist teachings have a similar philosophy. They believe that everyone is born with a little bag of resources called "fu(2) bao(4)" in Mandarin. The amount of this little bag of resources is predestined by what you have accumulated, and your Karma from your past life/s.

In layman's terms, we can look at it as a storage bank of resources of sorts. The amount of money we have now, or will have in the future, and all our material wealth comes from this storage vault. Because this resource is very limited, hence it is very precious to all of us. When we are frugal with it, we are only taking out what we need to use. When we are generous, we give some of what we have to others, as a result we gain more (as a result of good merits accrued), and are also saving what we gave away for our own future to use at a later date. When we squander it, we are taking more out of it than we need; not only does this mean we are shrinking our own pool or resources, but we also pay out more from the bag in the end.

For example, when we order food to eat at any eating establishments, at a buffet, or even at home; we should always finish all on our plates. If we left over any food, all the effort that goes into making what was left over, including those who made it, or grew it, will be paid for from our little bank vault. That makes our little bag of resources shrink even faster.

In light of the above information, lets not waste any more resources, and leave no more morsel of food on our plates.