Self-reflection of La Mu

If you think thoughts like “This isn’t fair”, it is like dark threads attach themselves to your soul. Thoughts are the threads that bind us to actions; actions are the ropes that bind us to habits; habits are the chains that bind us to destiny. If you want to avoid an evil destiny, remove the evil thoughts.

Around the holiday season, I continued nibbling on the book The Science of Happiness by Ryuho Okawa, founder of the religious movement Kofuku-no-Kagaku, which also means “Science of Happiness”. And I finally came to a lucid explanation of self-reflection. I already understood from other books of his that self-reflection is essential in Buddhism, and I was pretty sure I had done some of it already or I would be less happy than I am.

I attribute my happiness to the thorough education I received in the Christian Church popularly known as “Smith’s Friends”, back when they were less organized, fewer and more mystically oriented than today. (They’re still pretty good, by the way, if you can live with less mysticism and more focus on accumulating money for the Church. Which is hard to avoid, no matter where you go today. If you know of any exceptions, write me.)

Self-reflection in the Christian Church was referred to by the Biblical phrases “afterthought” and “judging ourselves”, the latter being somewhat more positive than it sounds. In context, the Bible says “If we judged ourselves, we would not be judged”, and this is certainly a very positive thing. And even if we are judged by God, the purpose even of this is that we not be condemned. So it is not as depressing as it sounds. But I can see how it would not have broad public appeal.

In contrast, the self-reflection of La Mu should have very near universal appeal, except to those who honestly believe that they are just clumps of protoplasm programmed to replicate and die. In which case they are probably not reading this, but out raping Catholic school girls before committing suicide. To the rest of us it should be pretty obvious that much like the amphibians came up from the water and gradually colonized the dry land, so have we humans come up from the material reality and colonized mindspace. While we still need water (matter) we are living most of our lives in this slightly higher world, and there are many even higher places ahead for us to go. Let us enter the gently sloping beach out of the swamp and toward our destiny!

The self-reflection of La Mu can be summed up as simple and universally as this:

-Have I given love to anyone today?
-Has my mind been unwavering today and in tune with my highest aspiration?
-Have I learned anything new today?

You can find a more detailed explanation in the book, available from Amazon.com (and presumably from your nearest Happy Science temple or office, but there are none anywhere near me.) But I think these three questions should be enough to get any well-meaning human out of the swamps, if practiced regularly, simply and honestly.

If I find that my life was not in accordance with these 3 questions, then I need to acknowledge this, and honestly wish that it was different, and resolve to not miss these opportunities in the future. When I do this, according to Okawa, my past is actually rewritten in the Akashic records (the books in Heaven, to use western words for it). The layers of grime that cover the diamond of the soul are removed, but by bit, so we can begin to emit a bright light from within. This is because the diamond of the soul (our spirit, in western thought) is connected to God and has the ability to receive and amplify the divine Light.

Regardless of the theology, there is the psychology of it. Doing these things causes happiness. Not doing them causes lack of happiness. This can be verified by experiment. Secular psychologists, such as Martin Seligman, have confirmed for decades now that at least adults achieve lasting happiness by practicing classical virtues. Not by receiving money or attention from others. This has of course been known for thousands of years, but modern advertising has enormous wealth staked on encouraging infantile behavior long into adult life. And ironically, this cruel form of capitalism is aided and abetted by institutional socialism, which gains strength from our learned helplessness. If people were healthy, happy and prosperous, the role of the state in their lives would necessarily be less.

Unlike many conservatives, I don’t want to confront the modern overgrown state head on and try to trim it down. This would just cause suffering among those who have learned to rely on the state. Rather, if people become strong by practicing self-reflection, there will be less need for society to intervene in a bureaucratic way, as people will take better care of themselves and each other. I think it is good that we have hospitals that work as well for the poor as for the rich, but I think it is bad that the poor stuff themselves with junk food, smoke, drink and stare at the TV for hours each day. By improving your character, whether you are rich or poor, you will achieve greater happiness and consequently better health and a more productive life. And it has never been easier.

Of course, no matter how happy or healthy you are, you will eventually die in the end. But I think we can agree that this is not when you will regret having spent time on self-reflection…

So, this is my way of giving you love today! It may be a harsh love, but it is certainly well intentioned and will be of great help if for some reason you don’t already practice self-reflection already but start now.

Also, by reading this you will be able to say to yourself tonight: I learned something new today! Yay! And feel a warm glow of happiness inside. ^_^