rebel against ritual

[Mountain Crown]

The other thought going on in my head that troubles me is that perhaps I am so completely asleep that I might not even need the rituals, TV or other show-business deception to keep me asleep. I can see that might be the case because I have often found myself to be my greatest deceiver.

A very important insight.

 

[PepperFritz]

I am just curious as to why someone would have certain inclinations towards certain things....

Well, that could be due to any number of factors that would not have to involve "programming" -- childhood experiences, the quality of one's parenting and education, past life experiences, the lessons you decided to pursue in this life before incarnating..... You may have already learned the "ritual lesson" in a previous life, and therefore it does not play a significant part in your curriculum.... Or it hasn't up to now, but may at some point in the future.... The possibilities are endless, really.

But is there not something inside that drives a person to either STO or STS?

No. It's not a "drive" (which, again, implies lack of volition). It's a "choice". And which choice you make is part of the lesson.

...so what is the other that seeks to wake up? Some enjoy searching for knowledge but why? ...what pushes one to knowledge to overcome that and another to sleep or giving up?

I'd say it's probably the degree to which one has progressed in one's lessons, not just in this lifetime, but through all of the lifetimes that led to this one. One person may have come into this life "further ahead" in those lessons than others, or further ahead in a particular area. Another may have embarked on a very "intensive course" on coming into this life, having set themselves the goal of learning certain lessons very quickly, via certain intensive life experiences. It's like asking why does one kid graduate third-grade and go on to fourth, while another is "stuck" in third-grade for another year. Answer: Because he applied himself to his lessons, and learned what he needed to learn in order to advance.

I asked about this in relation to ritual because, as far as I'm aware, I don't seem to have had much interest in it.... And I asked in this case because it wasn't a very conscious lack of interest or dislike (as in I didn't give it much thought) and the silliness that emerged when in ceremonies seemed quite automatic to me....

As the C's and the Ra material tell us, when we enter our current incarnation there is a "veil" that falls over our awareness about our past lives, and the curriculum that we have set for ourselves, so that we can more effectively LEARN. Knowing what went before would be like having the answers before taking a test. I've noticed that a lot of people who get into "New Age" type stuff, can get quite distracted with wanting and "needing" to know the details of their past lives, etc., as though such knowledge were necessary to their current growth. But it isn't. All we need to do in order to learn what we're here to learn, is deal with what is immediately before us in our lives, to deal with the conditions that we find outselves in -- because that is where our lessons lie.

I've also observed that with those who get side-tracked with such issues, there is often a psychological need to feel "special", to want someone to tell them that there is something "different" about them that sets them apart from the rest of humanity (e.g., they used to be a great teacher, they're an "Indigo Child", they're a "Wanderer" with a "mission, they've been "pre-programmed" to do certain things, etc). That's a Self-Importance distraction, as I see it. Bottom line: Our lessons are in the here and now, and the sooner we apply ourselves to them, the sooner we will progress. And the goal is for our behaviour and choices to be more and more CONSCIOUS and DELIBERATE, and less and less AUTOMATIC and MECHANICAL.

That's how I understand it, for what it is worth.

Also, I'm not particularly clear as to why questioning if STO programming could be chosen at another level to offer protection is wishful thinking any more than asking whether STS programs are running or not to also explain behaviour...

Because the former question indicates that you have not grasped the following: That one of the lessons we are here to learn is HOW TO ACQUIRE CONSCIOUS KNOWLEDGE and HOW TO CONSCIOUSLY APPLY THAT KNOWLEDGE TO PROTECT OURSELVES. The idea of being "pre-programmed" to UNCONSCIOUSLY protect ourselves would negate the need to learn that key lesson, wouldn't it?

Also, the idea of "STS programs" does not "explain behaviour", it merely identifies one of the realities of third-density existence that may unconsciously influence our behaviour. Again, the goal is to gain conscious knowledge of such influences, and then apply that conscious knowledge in ways that can protect us and allow us to progress.

Hope that helps....

 

[Inti]

Thankyou Mountain Crown and thankyou PepperFritz for your patience and effort in replying to me in a way that I can understand. I really appreciate it.

Well, that could be due to any number of factors that would not have to involve "programming" -- childhood experiences, the quality of one's parenting and education, past life experiences, the lessons you decided to pursue in this life before incarnating..... You may have already learned the "ritual lesson" in a previous life, and therefore it does not play a significant part in your curriculum.... Or it hasn't up to now, but may at some point in the future.... The possibilities are endless, really.

Thanks, I agree.

No. It's not a "drive" (which, again, implies lack of volition). It's a "choice". And which choice you make is part of the lesson.

Thanks PepperFritz, I had just wondered whether there was such a thing as drive due to a choice made at another stage.

I've also observed that with those who get side-tracked with such issues, there is often a psychological need to feel "special", to want someone to tell them that there is something "different" about them that sets them apart from the rest of humanity (e.g., they used to be a great teacher, they're an "Indigo Child", they're a "Wanderer" with a "mission, they've been "pre-programmed" to do certain things, etc). That's a Self-Importance distraction, as I see it.

I could be wrong and I certainly do have issues of self-importance but I cannot see them here. I did not and do not think I'm special in any way. If anything, whilst reading book 2, and seeing all the attacks that Laura and Lilly had endured, I thought that I cannot be a wanderer or anything like that because I cannot see that I've been subjected to many attacks.
Therefore, I come to asking why. Maybe there are serious attacks on me and I cannot see them, or maybe I don't need them because I'm so asleep anyway.

Knowing what went before would be like having the answers before taking a test. I've noticed that a lot of people who get into "New Age" type stuff, can get quite distracted with wanting and "needing" to know the details of their past lives, etc., as though such knowledge were necessary to their current growth. But it isn't. All we need to do in order to learn what we're here to learn, is deal with what is immediately before us in our lives, to deal with the conditions that we find outselves in -- because that is where our lessons lie.

I'm a bit confused here because I'm not sure why I am going astray by wondering why I'm not drawn in by ritual, TV or other political show-business. As you point out, we're here to learn lessons and I think I'm just trying to find out what mine are. But perhaps you have a point, that it's not going to teach me anything to focus on why my lessons do not appear to be in ritual, for example.

Because the former question indicates that you have not grasped the following: That one of the lessons we are here to learn is HOW TO ACQUIRE CONSCIOUS KNOWLEDGE and HOW TO CONSCIOUSLY APPLY THAT KNOWLEDGE TO PROTECT OURSELVES. The idea of being "pre-programmed" to UNCONSCIOUSLY protect ourselves would negate the need to learn that key lesson, wouldn't it?

I'm sorry if I'm being really stupid, PF, but that is a question I have...that I chose to not have that lesson at this stage...maybe because I'd already learnt it or maybe because I could see I was too weak to be able to handle it at the stage I'm currently in.

Also, the idea of "STS programs" does not "explain behaviour", it merely identifies one of the realities of third-density existence that may unconsciously influence our behaviour. Again, the goal is to gain conscious knowledge of such influences, and then apply that conscious knowledge in ways that can protect us and allow us to progress.

Thanks for clarifying that.

Hope that helps....

I think it has been a great help to me to think some of this through and read all of your comments.

 

[Hildegarda]

"The idea of ritual vests the ritual act with some power that the person performing the ritual wishes to appropriate. The power is seen as external to the self, a sort of mechanical resource that can mysteriously be commanded by will and form."

If the action performed is understood by the performer to be purely "symbolic" in nature, and not one that involves any real transfer of "power" or "change" to the performer from a source outside of himself, then it is simply not a "ritual" in the sense meant by the Cassiopaeans. It is, rather, a "ceremony" or "symbolic gesture".

this is a GREAT explanation, and the example from the Catholic service is fitting, hank you PepperFritz!