Category Archives: Reflections

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The soul

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The soul is the emanation of God within. The soul perfect in design seeks to express it’s qualities perfectly through the material world. The soul does not attach itself to the material world but use it as a means to express love, creative power and eternal wisdom. I connect to the soul by entering a space where time stops to exist and where potential is free to expand. The soul is essence, my deepest motivation and the nurturer of every cell in the body. The soul is a seeking freedom within integration and imparts creative genius in service of mankind. The soul has a perspective that fills every moment with meaning and purpose. It impels me to seek significance in every act, word and thought.

© Jurgens Pieterse

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Journaling

I set for myself the intent to journal, preferably in the morning, just before going to work. My sanctum is the appropriate place for here in this personal holiness I can enter into the deep silence of contemplation.

My journal is my most noble thoughts; concentrated. I focus on a single topic. This is not automatic writing, but rather an exercise to give concentrated attention to a specific subject.

When the mind is fully focused and the right conditions created then all thoughts rise to the front from the seat of the soul. Contemplation creates the space where learning can take place through journaling – learning from the deeper self.

When the higher self is given the space and time to express itself as the teacher, on this very unique level, it teaches me exactly what is needed in that moment of time…. That what I need to learn and integrate into my life to propel me forward towards my destiny.

© Jurgens Pieterse 2022

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Productivity

There is nothing that prevents me from being productive. I have the energy, knowledge and foresight to remain focused on an outcome.

As an illuminatus I know the laws of nature and spirit to harness my energy and project it into positive action. This is the cycle of progressive living and constructive thought which yields constructive action. Productivity starts with a clear intent and resolve to achieve and what to value. I have developed the power of will to achieve and the concentration to make it work.

Productivity requires effort, but also, to endeavor to achieve with the least resistance and effort. Effort must be applied with maximum leverage to optimize impact.

© Jurgens Pieterse 2022

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Factors of initiation

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Starting on a true transformative journey requires three things: imagination driven by passion, excitement with desire,  the inspiration of the moment.  These are also the three components related to developing the will to move into action.  So lets do a bit of analysis and reflection for the purpose of self discovery.

I have always realised the importance of passion and I think my life is defined by spurts of passion. The name Zeal4living has not been chosen in vain. I have often been accused of being too passionate about something I start. I tend to go all the way once I made a decision to invest time in something. The result of such an attitude is the depth I gained in practices like Tai Chi, Yoga etc. In each one of the different spheres of interest I have fully thrown myself into an activity with the aim of mastering as much as I can into it. The victories certainly outweigh the failures in being passionate. But we need passion driven by imagination. Why will we need imagination?

Imagination makes us bigger than reality for it is not constrained by the limitations of reality. Within our mind’s eye everything is possible and a well trained imagination can even begin to use that imagination to even overcome what was perceived as a physical constraint or even an impossibility in reality. Imagination opens for us the door to discover new and interesting paths of discovery. With an imagination driven by a passion even failure is no longer a threat but seen as something that can be overcome through creative action. Imagination restores our confidence in ourselves that we are equipped to innovate our lives to overcome failure with success.

Excitement with desire is maybe the same context using different words. Excitement is the closely associated with passion.  But desire is different from imagination…desire is a deep need or a strong will to achieve something. Passion can still be stopped but desire is that thing that you simply cannot ignore. In our dyadic world desire can be driven either by the physical existence or the spiritual essence. The mystic of course tries to find a balance between these two with the golden mean pointed to the spiritual side of the equation. There is something dynamic when the soul drives desire for the it drives us to see beyond the physical benefits to the attainment of higher more noble goals in our life.  Personally I think my passion is stronger than my excitement. Maybe especially true for being Stoic in philosophy. Equanimity is more my game than excitement. I feel excitement but I would be reluctant or slow to show that excitement.  Desire is also not a strong point. My will can be extremely strong when I put my mind on something. But deciding on that direction often is a pain staking process of hesitation, hopeing for more information or greater quality.

I can relate to “Inspiration of the moment” and have for a long time claimed that I am an opportunist. I resist closing my mind to only a single path or direction but have always maintained that one must be open to that moment when a new opportunity arises and opens up the door to a new path.  Again there must be a balance…if you jump from one thing to another then you will get nowhere, similarly if you stay on a path rigidly you might miss an opportunity that presents itself openly as a better path or option. The secret is to always be in the moment, see the opportunity and have a means to judge whther that opportunity should be taken or not. We must ever have an open mind and a willingness to go with the flow and change direction.  I am fairly good at seeing opportunity and even have the grasp to change course but I might not be as strong in doing it in the moment. I am far to eager to weigh up as much as possible evidence before making a decision. Since most opportunities can have a limited window for action it might mean loosing that opportunity.

So if I have to score myself in a point out of 10 for these six elements what will it be:

  • Imagination (7/10)
  • Passion (8/10)
  • Excitement (5/10)
  • Desire (6/10)
  • Inspiration (7/10)
  • In the moment (5/10)

In term of these it seems my ability to be excitement and express the virtue of enthusiasm is an area for improvement for me. I can also gain a different life experience by at times give preference to act in the moment and do something different rather than act from clarity.  These are areas of learning and experimenting for me. Things I can actually on a practical level play with to enrich the textures I experience in my life.

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Science vs Experience

 Atheists in the name of science often claim that the only facts we can rely on are those proven by science as hard core fact. Indeed science does have some bold claims to made where observation is consistently the same given the same circumstances. This repetitiveness allows science to deduct some reliable laws that is predictable and testable. When the predicted behaviour does not take place the scientist will look at depth into the anomaly to try and understand what violated the laws that was suppose to take place. Anything that does not submit to this scrutiny is categorised as pseudoscience and discarded at best with suspicion.

 By all means the rigidity and constancy of true science must be regarded with great respect because science has lead human beings out of the dark ages to real insight in the universe and its natural laws. However, it will be a grave mistake to put science on a pedestal where it is untouchable and above reproach by other sciences. Science is not above other sciences to the degree that its reasoning is faultless. Science can describe a result and even predict an outcome but science always make a deduction as to the reason why a certain outcome is obtained. That deduction is a thought process and can be wrong. The reliability and predictability of an outcome under given circumstances does not imply the reasons for the outcome is correct. The reasoning might be sound but cannot claim to be irrefutable. If anybody showed this to be incorrect then it is science itself that has time and time again refuted an explanation by its own scientific processes. The end result is an ever increased refinement of the conclusions drawn and better hypothesis of explanation put forward for consideration.

 The mistake so often made, by those who looked dogmatically at science, is to shun anything that is not the product of scientific certainty. Other sciences relies on trends and statistics to make broad statements of truth that can be tested within a margin of error. A comment that 90% people in South Africa love to eat pork can be tested through surveys and it can be confirmed if similar results of the same order is found. Science has taken a step to accept and even use such methods in other areas like social sciences to make deductions.

 However there is a category that science is correctly sceptical over. This is the space of personal experience where data is not easily repeatable.  When we have to rely on anecdotal evidence then we are in a grey field where it is difficult to interpret results. Anecdotal evidence are subjective filters that are inherent to the thought processes of humans. One person will perceive God as an intelligent human like entity with whom he has an intimate and personal relationship while another will perceive God as pervasive throughout the universe as an intelligent and abstract first cause.  Both can claim their right to accuracy with full confidence of relying on their own experience. Science looks at this unpredictability and the often conflicting outcomes and rejects personal experience in totality as a basis for any conclusion.

 Yet, it will be a grave misjudgement to simply ignore all experiences that are of a personal nature because a large part of our human perception of existence is embedded in this experience of subjective filtering. Given the shared experience people witness of, it seems that the filters are not by default wrong but simply that they give different interpretation to the similar experiences. If anything it is important that humanity explore with deep concentration these experiences and the filters we use to interpret those experiences because they are as valid input as the observation of a natural law playing itself in nature.

 I claim therefore that science has a serious blind spot if science ignores anecdotal evidence completely.  Yes, it must be looked at with intense questioning mind but also with an acute curiosity. Our experiences of a world not connected to a material world and its laws, which we call the spiritual world, deserve to be acknowledged even if it is with caution.  A pure scientific focus on the material world denies life, love and values for none is purely material. Each individual must be encourage to employ tools and techniques to explore their inner world and to test conclusions, rather than be dogmatically told to take certain interpretation by blind faith. Each individual can by right claim a view on the truth and develop an inner process of refining that personal truth without making it a ideology that all must abide with.