Bøger af Louis Rogers

The here and now is all we really have to accomplish anything, so why waste precious time avoiding our encounter with fate? If not now then tomorrow; if not tomorrow then the day after that. But it will come. If we want to know our true selves and fulfill our destiny as spiritual beings we should realize that the ship of state can sail at any moment. Better to be safely aboard and ready for the voyage than spend our time as shiftless stragglers wandering the docks and wondering where the passengers are heading. If we want it we can have it, and if we hope for eternal life we should recognize that the name of the game we play, or should be playing, is the transformation of consciousness. What is being transformed is the small ego-self of our earthly persona, and what is being empowered is the Self of the universe as it manifests through us, as us, and as the universe coming into full recognition of its true identity. We can believe in that, and we should.

This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book.

Awakening to our god-nature is the real purpose behind it all. We are asleep to our authentic nature, those many of us who recognize this essential dilemma of existence. This is the to be or not to be attitude that defines our reluctance to shake off the chains that bind us, rub the sand from our inner eye of insight, and awaken. What else is there to do when we come to the ultimate resolution that our physical existence and earthly personae have become too small to define us? Not simply because those aspects of our voyage have become diluted in their ability to fully engage our various attentions, but because they have become untenable definitions of our being in a truly spiritual understanding of the cosmos. We are the creation and the multi-various forms and faces of the creative imagination. We lend voice to the creation, both in it and of it, manifest or unmanifest, and we have a choice in the matter. How we conduct ourselves and for what purpose reflect both where we have come from and where we are heading. Our choices may determine our fate, and when we learn to make better and more informed choices we will come closer and closer to becoming masters of our fate.

Tales of Immortality might be thought of as a body-mind-spirit trilogy, although they are related only in the thematic sense of a seeker, in three different spiritual traditions, stumbling his (or her) way through life until a truly spiritual reality begins to unfold. But in a larger and more inclusive sense, all three traditions represented in these tales are meant to be transparent to a transcendent reality. All three traditions are simply forms, bound and limited by time, through which spirit can be activated via its earthly components. In this sense, spirit is meant to be understood as a reflection of universal consciousness. The word "God" all too often refers only to a tribal diety with a local inflection, in all its varied colors and complexions. Although each tale reflects a particular form and teaching, the rites and rituals, of that single pathway, it is always and only spirit that is revealing itself, never the incarnation of personality or requirements of that specific body of thought.

The more you can open to guidance from above, the more your consciousness will begin to expand its active knowledge of and participation in both the earthly realm and the spiritual domain. In effect, this leads to a conscious participation in the evolutionary process of enlightened self-knowledge. Think of this process as the transformation of consciousness, the evolution of man along spiritual lines. An opening from the egoic level of consciousness to a higher order of being. Purely voluntary and with absolutely no compulsion although does one need to persuade a starving man to partake of a banquet? This operates solely from the desire to expand the periphery of one's knowledge into deeper realms of being, and with no coercion whatsoever.

We are incomplete beings, unfinished works of art, thinking man but not yet spiritual man. Not yet having attained to spiritual life through inner realization and the direct perception of the inner truth of our being. What can be achieved when we put our souls into the extraordinary adventure of expanding and transforming human consciousness. So much has been achieved on the purely human level, but to set our spiritual house in order will require a general opening of the heart to take in all of our human brethren. What we need to accomplish crosses all national boundaries, cultural allegiances, racial barriers, religious prejudices and the inanity of inter-national disputes. This requires that we think and act from a significantly higher perspective than simply our individual needs and the affiliated perspectives of a relatively small community of fellow seekers. Fellowship must undergo a general transformation from that limited perspective to a universal regard for the whole of mankind. We are one in our deepest consciousness, one mind in the universe, and we all have our fundamental existence in one essential field of being. We should act from that knowledge, but first we must have the experience that it is the truth. It is.

We cannot know for certain, but what is certain is that we must endure, adapt, survive and continue with our conscious evolution. Not to remain the same incarnation after incarnation, but to grow and evolve and reach ever higher states of being until not even time itself can hold our attention and keep us addicted and attached to the delights of the material realm. Can any of us possibly imagine a state of self-conscious existence that holds more attractions than this material locale? Is non-being in a non-local dimension bereft of any compelling sources of attention, or the thrill of love in any of its forms? This is an adventure most of us would willingly postpone, but the choice is not ours. This choice in particular is never ours; at best we can only do our best to remain in this locale for as long as possible. But we all know that one day the final call will come, the curtain will descend and we will depart this stage of our existence. Wouldn't it be altogether right and proper to prepare our spirit now for the ultimate leave taking? Will we board the outward bound express with a mind filled with fear and loathing, or a loving heart filled with the enlightened realization that God is returning home to God?

Ignorance is not bliss. It is the false comfort of unknowing, never knowing that we know not that we know not. True bliss involves the clearing away of the clouds of misperception that obscure the inner landscape, blinding us to the enlightened perception of the authentic source of being. We are ourselves that which we are seeking.

Love denied is love unearned, and when we are denied the companionship of loved ones something within us may die as well. This must be addressed lest we succumb to the existential dread the reality of death attaches to our awareness, and adheres within our consciousness. Love is the spiritual nourishment that sustains our being, and to gain access to the source of love, the infinite consciousness that is within us all, is the true function of our religious and spiritual traditions. The only purpose of all our spiritual practices is to reunite us with the one being, the one and only consciousness, from which we have never truly been apart. What we should really be seeing when we look at the face in the mirror, if we had reached the enlightened state of being, would be nothing other and nothing less than the face of the divine, the face of God.

The way of the heart is to submit our judgments to unmotivated love as best we know it. Not the way of inter-personal love which is changeable and fickle, but to the supremely open and accepting love that radiates from within the spiritual heart to the surrounding environment. This is not a pallid modern-day anti-existential philosophy which finds love buried under every rock and hidden within every tree. It is the recognition of the primal and enduring state of true being, the enlightenment of the heart and the resultant opening of the inner way. Love is the way back to that primal state of original being, the return to truth while still moving forward with the affairs of life. Enlightenment does not encourage us to abandon the things of this world, only to re-frame our vision and see them for what they are.

Enlightenment is the ultimate solution to the question of identity in this world of duality and constant change. The only answer that fully allows our inner being to manifest empowers the internal processes for self-recognition, and clears the way for the continued evolution of our soul. In every sense we are the world, we are the universe, we are the divine consciousness of the universe coming to know itself through the forms that have evolved to allow the divine to fully participate in the bounty of its creation. The divine is always present, and always available through its presence if we will only look where it truly dwells and may be found by concerned seekers. Because of that we are at home and at play in the universe. And whatever comes our way is always and ever simply the play of consciousness.

We have entered the age of spirit, and what is waiting to be realized is a new and deeply personal relationship to the Creator, the infinite spirit that has devised the universe. What we really want to know is our place in the universe, and a secure conscious inner connection to the source of being that is our true nature and to which, though we may only dimly be aware of it, we long to return. We long for the experience of wholeness, which our intuition tells us is there, but which our rational mind rejects for a supposed lack of evidence. But it is there for us if we will work for it. It is who and what we are.

We all have the ability to expand our state of conscious awareness, enter other dimensions of experience and being, and continue the processes of evolution. Humanity has a destiny and a goal. We are meant to reach the state of enlightened knowledge of the universe, and the experience of universal consciousness. When we have achieved that destiny, we will have finally realized the truth of the old idea that mankind is the center of the universe. Not the physical being of mankind, but the source of the consciousness within that is the true center of the universe. And we can live with that with a clear conscience.

Truth is within us through the heritage of our spiritual nature, and the spiritual heart's affirmation of those moral and ethical standards. The heart always knows the truth. But if memory draws attention to feelings of guilt and silent apprehension, it may be because we have neglected to monitor our activities as we advanced through time. Conscience is the scorekeeper of our earthly activities. Conscious of them or not, we cannot ignore, overlook or fool the soul teachings we have inherited that reside within the heart. And neither should we imagine we can deceive the witness-consciousness within us that observes all that we do, all that we are and all that we have become. We can trick our disbelieving minds and play to the needs and demands of ego, but we can never deceive the soul. And never the spirit within us, whose function it is to keep us grounded in truth and aligned with the soul's purpose in visiting the material manifestation that is the earthly realm.

There no point in speculating about spiritual issues with little or no information to guide our decision-making processes. But information is available, and finding it is a necessary part of the spiritual search. It is a test of viveka, discrimination. We must want it so that we are motivated from within, and thence comes the flow of energy that will fuel our search. That is where we can begin, by finding within ourselves the yearning for answers that will not be denied. And that requires nothing for its sustenance but the power of our faith and the force of our beliefs.

When enlightened self-awareness illumines individual consciousness, the light at the end of a long, dark inner tunnel finally manifests. The dawn of a new day appears over the inner horizon of awareness and begins to shed light over the dark night of the soul. All things have a beginning and an end, and what might once have seemed to us so deeply enmeshed in confusion and chaos that no clarity could ever be possible can turn on a whispered rumor or the fall of a sparrow. This too shall pass, and this, and this too as well. Life goes on, and if we are wise and fortunate we will have time to adjust our bearings and reach a more confirming and enlightening understanding of ourselves and the spiritual nature of what lies within, dormant and ready to be awakened. Why not now, why not us and why not begin while we can? Why wait for just another run-of-the-mill game of chance to end and another one to begin with the same or similar lessons to be learnt? We are ourselves an integral part of the glory of the cosmos. We are that, we are that, dear ones we are that.

We must shape our own future, and we can do that by understanding our past and living fully in the present. The now moment, the only time and place we can take a hand in time towards fulfilling our destiny. Understanding ourselves is more than simply a matter of unearthing past achievements of archeological significance, or achieving significant gains in our economic, religious, social, psychological or political status. All these are important indexes of our civilized achievements and cultural attainments, but they are all simply on the human level, and the discourse is limited. The human stage is only one level of our eternal existence. Most of us focus our attention almost completely on the physical, the human stage of our development. But we are far more than that, and we should make the effort to find that out for ourselves. This is what spiritual traditions prepare us to achieve. And if we have not thought about it before, time now to change our thinking. If we need a hand in time, as some of us do, we can take the friendly hand that a spiritual tradition holds out and learn the truth of our existence.

The only way to know infinite spirit, the source of being, since that is what we are looking for, is to become infinite spirit. And the only way that can happen is through the transformation of consciousness. It is we who become transformed. We open our ego system to the spiritual.

Andrea Drake, a psychologist, and her mentor, a Taoist master and Chinese healer commonly-called Uncle Chi write a book teaching people how to access the universal energy called Chi. Richard Harrington, an American publisher wants to publish it and a love story develops between Andrea and Rick. Complications arise when a Tong master in Chinatown (the Chinese Mafia), ancient adversary of the Taoist master, misunderstands the nature of the book and thinks it contains hidden secrets of immortality. His efforts to steal the manuscript fill the story with a full gamut of exciting encounters, pitting the ruthless tactics and manpower of the Tong against the ingenuity and luck of Rick and Andrea, and the skill of Uncle Chi. But a greater danger than the Tong lurks in the wings. Uncle Chi is actually a member of the High Council of the Immortals of Peng-Lai. In Chinese history and largely unknown in the West, the Taoist immortals live in the Islands of the Blessed, three islands hidden in the Eastern China Sea which have preserved the high secrets of Taoist practices for thousands of years. The Islands are the Chinese equivalent of Shangri-La, and are an authentic Taoist legend. Uncle Chi has been sent to the West to introduce Taoist healing practices, and more importantly, to develop the link between the High Council and the Hsien Brotherhood, a world-wide humanistic but secret organization of men and women devoted to the practices and ideals of Taoist philosophy. Because of the threat from the Tong master in New York, Uncle Chi is forced to tell Rick and Andrea about the Hsien Brotherhood and the imminent threat to the Islands of the Blessed from a proposed nuclear blast by the Chinese government. As the story becomes more complicated, the momentum alternates between the plot line and the gradual explication of Taoist philosophy and energy practices. The story shifts between the contemporary world of New York City and the legends and lore of Chinese history and the Hsien Brotherhood. Ladder To The Sky concentrates on outwitting the threat from the Tong master, and prepares the reader for the sequel, Islands Of The Blessed, which continues the action in the Eastern China Sea with a new set of adversaries, and a new level of teaching, introducing the reader to energy practices involving human energy fields. Both novels link the contemporary world of New Age thought and healing with the ancient world of Taoist energy teachings, pointing towards the potential for physical, mental and spiritual growth. Each book offers a specific rational for understanding and practicing various methods for accelerating that growth through accessing the universal energy.

Spiritual teachings affirm the expansion into the universe of our loving nature in contrast with the contraction that results when fear assumes control and dominates our activities. Which would we choose if we had a choice? We should choose love.The past no longer exists, and we might remember that when we resist the present and beat a hasty retreat into the false safety of previous thoughts and the insecurity of purposeless actions. Spontaneity requires that we be willing to live in the here and now of the present moment, resist the influence of the past and trust in the future. How else can we enjoy an effective and life-affirming response to whatever the challenge and whatever adventures lie in wait? How else can we appreciate and fully-live the grand experience of being alive, sentient, self-aware and self-determining in a universe of such enormous creative potential?If what we bring forth from within us will save us, surely it is more than just the creative faculties of the human imagination. Creativity is not a substitute for salvation. Salvation must involve full knowledge of what it means to be a complete, self-realized human being, and our spiritual origins. We cannot rely on someone else to do this for us, nor the rote memorization of a call and response liturgy or something, or anything along those lines. We are the ones we have been waiting for.

We are neither the body nor the mind spiritual teachings maintain, but the consciousness that resides within. The awareness for which the body, brain and attendant faculties serve as the vehicle of transmission and which we think we know as the egoic center of our awareness. But in truth, that familiar territory is simply the outer shell of our being that responds to the surrounding environment.The deeper consciousness, our inner spiritual awareness is the eternal within us, the immortal aspect of our being which we must consciously and continually learn to cultivate, activate and expand. We must bring forth that which is already within us and for which we so desperately long. The salvation from our earthly affairs, from the cares, duties and responsibilities that drag us away from self-realization and hide the light of self-recognition.

Our expectations shape our destiny, and if we suffer from fear, we will never live our true potential. We will never be free to follow our destiny unless we rid ourselves of anachronistic dogmas and the social, economic and religious pressures imposed on us. This has nothing to do with the creative force within the universe. Conformity undermines our resolve to live fully without fear of the consequences conformity brings to the self-responsible individual. An evolutionary impulse urges us beyond those limitations, to rethink our assumptions, looking ever deeper whenever we stagnate contentedly in our own stratified level of ignorance.

Metaphysical challenges are clear and present reminders that most of us have no clue who we are, from where we have come, where we are going and what lies behind the face in the mirror. These questions are intrusions from the spirit realm in our everyday awareness, reminders that more awaits us on the other side of the inner frontier we have yet to explore.They are inherent ways that spirit encourages us to look beyond the physical and see through the veil that separates our phenomenal being from any initial advance into the awareness of a higher realm. They arise from within, often unanticipated, often like a stray summer breeze that awakens us to life. Our soul, our higher being, looks down on us from the sinecure of eternal existence and sends reminders encouraging us to consciously return to its embrace. We are all on a voyage of return, our journey through the space/time continuum reflective of a voyage of self-discovery. The spirit realm is our destination, and the surprise that awaits is that it is and always has been our eternal home and true center of our being. We are the mirrors of our soul, but that earthly mirror is cracked, distorted and in immediate need of serious repairs.

Who has ever achieved anything of any significance without determination, seriousness of purpose and disciplined practice. What authority do we need but clarity of vision and the fullness of our spiritual heart and soul yearning. This is the journey we embark on to embrace spirit in every area of our life. And relocate the environment of our conscious awareness and soul being. What we seek is a fullness of being we generally have not ever achieved. This is the supreme deed of which we are capable. Enlightenment is the bouquet of life. The ascent to higher states of being and conscious awareness. The end result and jumping off place of the human experience into other, more advanced dimensions of being.

The Workbook includes: Practice of all grammar, vocabulary and phrases for speaking and writing Extra listening practice Reviews after every two units to check your progress Answer key at the back of the book

Klarer Aufbau jeder Unit mit den Rubriken Grammar, Vocabulary, Listening, Speaking und Writing auf 4 Doppelseiten Vier Doppelseiten mit Texten und vielfältigen, kleinschrittigen Aufgaben Konsequente Wortschatzarbeit für nachhaltiges Behalten Authentische Videos zu motivierenden Themen nach jeweils 2 Units und dazu sorgfältig auf das Lernniveau abgestimmte ÜbungenOn Point ist das neue Lehrwerk von Delta Publishing. Die einsprachige Ausgabe wurde von Englischspezialisten in Großbritannien entwickelt.