ive been really studying further into reincarnations than i ever have before lately and i find my defintion(stated above) has changed as i persue my studies further. i too believe karma is a living energy passing between all things, because all things are made up of the same energy...the great spirit,have you. because karma is the part of us we bring forward into our new lives it is this energy that comes forth with us. (when we die our energy must go somewhere changing form in all the ways you learn as a little kid in school but further multiplied into spiritual realms)karmic debt is all of the ideas and restrictions and griefs and regrets we keep bringing forth lifetime to lifetime...until we realize that the true karma of all things is that it is really easy for us to heal all those moments and cleanse ourselves of all that debt and to move forward in our paths of ascension. probably to create some new karmic debts along the way but hey thats life = )

yes i know but i rather liked the point after the moose story and its theory relates to my definition of karma. i still havent read all of the above posts yet though i like to take my time and babble a lot

so id like to commemorate today as a new holiday: steak and bj day

that today is the day that marks a year since my bf randomly started talking to me on this site (non romantically)...both of us never thinking wed actually meet...much less be where we are today

as i recall are you how ya been? i didnt recognize you without the old prof pic!

the true holy trinity lol

i think people put too much of a "big brother aspect" into karma. kind of like its going to come back and bite you in the *** or slap a really nice reward in your lap. really you reap what you sow, yes. ( kind of the theory that like attracts like...positive energy produces more positive energy and negative energy attracts the negative. i think this is what most people mean by karma - huge neon lights flashing: beware what you put out into the universe because birds of a feather flock together) but my CURRENT definition of karma is the debts and freedoms we apply to ourselves in past and current lifetimes. its the souls expression of a completely human characteristic trait of applying rules and guidelines to everything. thus one of the many ways we limit ourselves and our potential.


and i rather liked kings knight three forms of discipline.

one of my many philosophy's is this: if we see or witness wrongdoing and do nothing to prevent it or never raise our voice against it than in essence we are just as responsible for the wrongdoing weve witnessed.
but that is my personal belief of morals and one of the things that constantly frustrates me about humanity...i dont currently believe karma is applied aside from within our own minds and the pattern we set for ourselves.

lol the second song on my list was beatles too (((rara)))

HEY JUDE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDdI7GhZSQA

spirit guides most especially

in honor of an awesome memory and since ive been craving one of my all time fave groups

three point one four - the bloodhound gang

forgot how to input links but you can always cut and paste

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TuOLB_fEo2M

enjoyable read

^ very cool.

it sounds like she had great compassion and wonderful humor that in a loving way got a point realistically across. what a wonderful find in a person. my mother/grandmother are/were of the same philosophy in that:
- spirits are attracted to other spirits creating sometimes what can seem like a busy airport terminal
- spirits are also attracted to people they think can sense them percieving a brighter beacon of light and thus liek a moth to the flame etc...

most of the spirits in the latter category tend to be a little lost, maybe in the "for instance" you described above regarding accidents, and most dont realize that
a) you dont know them
b) you may not be able to understand them
c) you cant really do anything other than try to encourage them to go into the light, as you helpfully reminded me, of their own absolute decision so they can find the next steps of their journey and if needed healing.

readers: i am speaking mainly of your "benign" spirits btw.

true enough! however i DO think that as HUMAN BEINGS we place a lot of silly restrictions on ourselves and what we are capable of doing. if these silly restrictions werent in place then maybe we wouldnt carry some absurd notions (such as, imho, people who think they are going to be punished or judged based on their life prior to death)past our life here on earth. i believe a lot of the karmic debt we take upon ourselves in life comes not from just our actions but also from these guidelines we place upon ourselves-which in reality dont really exist except in our own mind and in cases of more popular beliefs within societys mind. think of a suicidal victim (and yes i say victim - though sometimes it is true i view suicide as an active choice of will (envision ppl jumping from the world trade centers windows CHOOSING their own form of death over whats been dealt to them))who was quite possibly within so much emotional pain that well hell now that they are dead why would they want to go be around the same kind of things that made them so miserable in the first place - this is a strict for instance from my ponderings of an "what -if" situation not intended to offend or hurt anyone. another might be the mr dad who is driving and doesnt see the oncoming vehicle instantly and inadvertandtly kills himself and family in the car - maybe he is in such pain or grief or confusion (just as happens when youre still alive) that he finds himself unable to move forward (just as can happen in real life). maybe hes living in a fantasy world. or maybe hes afraid of being judged by his god or others for this tragic error that he hides from moving forward in life. maybe more realistically its a child that doesnt understand whats going on or where they should go. surely there are plenty of lost confused living children today. maybe its a spouse or a mother wanting to wait for their children but afraid of all theyll miss if they were to cross over.maybe spirits think they wont be able to finish their business or get msgs across to dear ones when they cross over...anyway im rambling here...

i think as human beings we are put on this earthly realm to develop our sense of compassion and love to a higher degree...for all things...just not those we deem fitting....because i, personally, in my rarely humble opinions, believe it is the way of the universe and as nature/the great spirit/ and our higher selfs intended it.

so my personal creed is that love is the spirit of my life and light is a gift and my personal great covenant is to dwell with others in peace to seek the truth in love and to remember always to help one another. its pretty simple and it may be a head in the clouds philosophy but it works for me and im totally down with that lol.

anyway i find myself way off track.

whatever is ones reality might not be anothers - does this carry on for us past death? theres really no answer because even if when we die and find out for ourselves its still our peronal journey with nuances and vast differences both from any other person. all we have to go off is our own personal reality. in mine, and really most ppl who came live with me for awhile lol, spirits of many kinds and different levels exist and i enjoy living with them peacefully as i view our "residents" as family too. its always easier to prove something does exist than to prove nonexistence. in any field. but no one ever said proving it would be easy. and this thread is not intended to prove either.
either way, as everyone else i have my own personal beliefs...and am lucky enough to have peace of mind over them

what part of the country did your grandparents move to? my family also came over slightly before yours (though more came later- around the same time as yours) and established themselves in the Texas hill country. i too ran across interesting material when researching my family histories.

@unloved:
as far as my understanding of masons secrets go...its not really smoke and mirror secrets, but as stated above , a charitable fraternity whose rites have heavy symbolism and are very private. as far as i know the only true secrets are their handshakes and passwords so that a legitimate mason can always identify another legitimate mason and what masonic path hes travelling on for instance if he belongs to the york rite or scottish rite and what degree of mason he is.. im sure there are a few more than that but really thats the crux of it secretwise. however, members are discouraged from sharing masonic secrets with anyone outside of the lodge. masonic symbols are everywhere in our everyday life so really if you do the research yourself(which i find fairly overwhelming sometimes), or become a knowledge scavenger like myself (lol), you can find many of your answers there. of course, too, you can always apply to join a lodge and find out first hand.
of course since i myself am not a mason i may be wrong.

here are some orders i have researched that i have found to have masonic ties or are masons themselves:
the stone masons of above. in fact many places of worship and courthosues worldwide have these same masonic symbols on them as many of the guild of stone masons were hired to build them. these same symbols occur frequently in freemasonry as well.

the golden order of the dawn (or the golden dawn - same people who have a great interest in the tarot)

knights templar (who also have a tarot set that is both rare and very expensive but with some powerful symbolism within it)

the rosicrucians (i tend to misspell that a lot - this is a separate branch and not a branch of the free masons but rather a group who supposedly believes in a form of mystical christianity and though this is highly arguable i tend see a lot of catholicism background in them - i think they do insist on a belief in god by their definition of god)

then theres:
scottish rite
york rite
shriners
(which are all part of the mason family)
eastern stars are the womens fraternity so to speak
daughters of job/jobs daughters and rainbow girls is the branch for young girls and ladies
the order of the arrow in boyscouts is masonic
DeMolay are young boys (up to 18 i think) - which is masonic and also does a lot of support work with the boy scouts.


i think the free masons have some roots that date back to the essenes and know a few masons who support that theory.

in a select few lodges in europe women may be elected into the lodges (though it is not very common) however stateside the lodges are solely male, separating the females into the above organizations.

i probably repeated a lot fo stuff here but what can you do

i think the egyptian background of masonry (and also the egyptian background of alchemy) is really cool and i love to dally around with that kind of information if you ever want to chat

are you asking someone specifically or in general?

im actually taking a class with a psychic who works for the police up here to help me awaken my abilities more and taking a workshop on ghosts and entities as well. the atmosphere in my house has calmed down a lot.

this worked really well. i took it a step further and ended up singing them into the light. we could all feel it working.