One of the wisest men I ever met once said to me, "The only reality we have here on earth is our feelings." I must admit, it took me a long time to understand his point of view, but after much soul searching I was able to understand and gleam some light from this seemingly enigmatic statement.

Perhaps the hardest hurdle to leap to gain such understanding concerns future preservation. Nothing can really be thought of as real unless it has the ability of being preserved. We may have a vivid dream that leaves us shaken to the core, but we know it is not real because it is gone, vanished into the mists of the night, as soon as we awaken. On the other hand, if we write out this dream and make it available for others to read, the dream becomes real.

There are many examples of this practice in literature and at least one in the field of music. The violinist, Tartini once had a dream that the devil came to him and played a tune. This circumstance was so vivid to him that he arose and jotted down everything he could remember of the music. We now know this fascinating selection as the "Devil's Trill Sonata."

But, you say, we don't usually record our feeling; they just come and go. How can they have any reality, much less be the only reality? Is there a vehicle by which they are recorded?

There is every reason to suspect so. This is called the Soul by some and the Holy Spirit within man by others, but the name matters little. Only the function is important. It is the eternal element of the individual that survives when all else has been ground to dust.

If this is so, and it is, it should be obvious that only those entities that are a part of this structure are permanent - and therefore real. This form of reasoning leaves many holes open for the skeptic, but we shall attempt to fill them in the argument to come.

Can Anything on Earth Be Real?

There is a good reason why this world of ours is call temporal. Nothing on this Earth is permanent. This fact is attested to by laws discovered by our most revered scientists. Under the Second Law of Thermodynamics, complex matter is constantly being broken down and reduced to its most elemental form. This second Law of Thermodynamics is called Entropy; it works to reduce all useful forms into less useful ones. In other words, once we create something in the physical world, it quickly begins the process of becoming less and less good until it is of no value. It returns to basic elements to be used by later earthly inhabitants for their own purposes.

History is replete with men who dreamed of making themselves "gods" in their own time, but almost without exception their image was decimated shortly following their death. Hitler, Stalin, and Mao of china come quickly to mind.

Ancient civilizations also provide excellent examples of the temporality of human accomplishments. These great societies attempted to leave behind concrete evidences of their power and grandeur, but many of these edifices now are used to house goats and sheep. It is not the legacy of brick and mortar that lasts, but the legacy of ideas. An idea can be very lasting, but even them it has life only when it is able to create or stimulate feeling in others so that through these feelings, vibrations are produced which can move the mass of humanity.

Man as a Computer

We can productively compare the man and woman of Earth to a common home computer. Once a computer is turned on, the computer operator has a certain amount of memory available for use. This memory is not permanent, however, and anything put into it is lost the moment the computer is turned off.

So it is with human life. We have the ability to use the many fascinations of Earth while we are here, but once we leave (pass on), our computer is turned off, and all we did, as far as we are concerned, vanishes. An obvious question would be, "Of what value is our effort, if all our work is lost as soon as we turn it off?" This question also was asked by the developers of the first computers. They knew that, before the instruments could be useful, some way to save or to store the information the computer generated would have to be developed.

This preservation problem was solved by the introduction of magnetic storage. The work in the memory of the computer is in the form of electrical charges, and these can be saved as magnetic variations on recording tape or disks. In this way the work done in the memory of the computer is not lost and can theoretically be saved forever - or at least until the magnetic media itself decays.

We have described this process at some length because of the similar needs and implementation for human eternity. If we are to have any form of eternity, it too must be based on some sort of permanently saved impressions like the computer. We have been assured, by Saint Paul, that "whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap," and, by the Nazarene, "with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again."

Without some type of permanent record, these admonitions would be impossible to administer. Our daily thoughts and actions are like work entered into the temporary computer memory. They would soon be gone unless they, too, were recorded on some kind of magnetic media. Actually, there are two recording media, The Soul and the AEtheric Body. (See Chapter Thirteen, "The AEtheric Body Revisited," in this volume and the book, The Circle of Lives, available from Beverly Hall Corporation, P.O. Box 220, Quakertown, PA 18951.)

The Soul records the accomplishments, ideas, and feeling that will affect the future of the spiritual part of man and the AEtheric Body records those that will affect later physical and Soul World bodies.

When we put data into a computer, they are not saved the moment they are first typed. We always have an opportunity to edit them until we are satisfied with them. To some degree, this is true with our human computer. Although many thoughts and desires enter our mind, they do not become permanently inscribed on our soul immediately. We have an opportunity to edit these thoughts by the process known as transmutation. (See chapter Nineteen, "the Law of Transmutation," in this volume for a discussion of this fascinating subject.)

By the process of transmutation we are able to intercept adverse thoughts and by the power of a conscious will and rational mind reform them into a more useful, desirable quality.

The Reason for the Toys of Earth

As we investigate this concept, we find that the physical object of Earth, which during life can seem so important, are but the playthings we use to develop and temper our feelings and attitudes. All these toys will shortly be gone. Only the feelings (thoughts and emotions) generated by their use, such as love and graciousness, or, on the dark side, hate, fear, resentment, and jealousy, live on, because they - and they alone - have become permanently imprinted on the Soul and the AEtheric Body by this process. Because it is these feelings alone that survive, it is they alone that are real, all else fading after the impressions are made and this life left behind.

Obviously, no earthly treasure is worth the accumulation of one adverse thought of feeling, no degree of wealth or position that should be exchanged for a feeling not to our ultimate good. "What is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?" From this biblical phase we can see that this concept is not new.

The things of Earth are but the articles used to play the game we all play many times. We are not judged by who wins or loses, but by how we played the game. The ultimate winners are those persons who are best able to create and manifest feeling inside themselves that would please an angel.

We live in our feelings. There are no such things as joys brought by possessions or power. These are only substitutes for the joys of a clear conscience and love in the heart. Unless we have peace within, we have no peace. Unless we have joy within, we have no joy. Unless we have love within, we have no love. Unless we have created a HEAVEN within, we will never have a HEAVEN.

There never can be a physical HEAVEN because no two people could ever agree on what it should be like His Heaven most assuredly would not be like HER Heaven. Only in our individual feelings is Heaven to be found. Only in our individual feelings is hell to be found. Only in our individual feeling is REALITY to be found.

Sufferings and Sorrows

Interestingly, in developing desirable feelings, the sufferings and sorrows of life are frequently far more important motivators than are pleasures or joys. Suffering and sorrow, it would seem, have a power to make us stop and think that life's more enjoyable events do not have. As Benjamin Franklin said, "That which hurts, instructs."

Actually the feelings of joy themselves are possible only if a counterpart exists with which to compare them. We are able to evaluate a good feeling only in juxtaposition with a bad one. Without sorrow, there can be no real joy; without pain, no possibility of the sense of relief, one of the greatest human emotions. Of all human experiences, one of the most appreciated is the wonderful relief felt when an aggravating pain of serious illness is overcome. However, without the original distress, the great feeling of alleviation would not be possible.

One of the world's most moving pieces of music was created in this very atmosphere. The third movement of Ludwig van Beethoven's Fifteenth String Quartet was, according to the master himself, a "Sacred song of thanks, offered by a convalescent to the Godhead," Many authorities consider this movement to be the very pinnacle of this master's string writing. Be this as it may, one thing is certain: The sickness that motivated its creation is long forgotten, even Beethoven himself, but the feelings of the renewal of life that he experienced during his recovery were saved to his Soul and, through his talent, to us all in this immortal music.

As we go about our daily affairs, each of us should realize that every thought we think and every act we commit is, in the last analysis, only the vehicle that will give us an opportunity to create feelings of good or ill, which will be permanently engraved on our Soul.

If we were the richest person in the world, but filled with anger, suspicion, or revenge, we would lose the game of life, our reality would not be good, and it would have been better if we had not been born to the present life. If, on the other hand, we are poor in worldly goods, but have a heart filled with love for all, and condemnation or judgment for none, we have won the earthly battle and can look forward to a joyful future in our own REALITY.
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