ST = substitute teacher  C = The Committee and Erik

ST:       The picture is not a juice bar, Erik…

Erik:     But it’s a Kosher cigar.

ST:       There’s no such thing.

Erik:     I invented it.

ST:       I assumed you like Star Trek, so I put you in a photo.

Erik:     Spock likes it.

ST:       You mean Leonard Nimoy?

Erik:     No, he’s Spock’s character on Earth.

ST:       You mean Spock is Nimoy’s character on the show.

Erik:     No, all humans are characters.

ST:       Acting in a big production?

Erik:     (blowing out a long stream of Starship Federation approved smoke) Yup.

C:         We like this comparison and it describes the appeal of movies, plays and all character acting.

ST:       Have humans always been doing this?

C:         Yes; it is a great feature of your Earth life just as it is everywhere in the universe. Your acting is popular because a metaphor for your existence it is; the appeal and popularity of a movie or a story reflects what you plan, review and experience on Earth.

ST:       Yes, but I can remember and I would guess almost everybody else, how we’ve heard or been told or read that “it’s just fantasy”.  Not reality.

C:         Define reality.

ST:       OK, you got me there.

C:        Reality is the limit of your perception; your science has regularly defined, encountered and then expanded the limits of reality. The expanding borders of what becomes accepted as real or remains a theory are increases in ability to measure and apply. The many discoveries and inventions within Earth existence reality have expanded always and will continue. Many things considered impossible will come under the ever larger grouping of reality as accepted.

ST:       So, Erik, what’s the Spock and Nimoy thing all about?

Erik:     Movies and shit give everybody the opportunity to preview what they already did; live out a character.

ST:       We’re all characters in a show?

Erik:     Yeah, pretty much.

ST:       So what about Heaven, we’re characters there, too?

Erik:     Yeah, with a different stage. A lot of different stages.

ST:     So what about personalities? Aren’t they supposed to carry through and remain constant?

C:         Define “constant.”

ST:       I don’t understand.

C:        Constant implies a series of things that might not change much; little if any variation as could be said in a mechanical, engineering way. This implies time and sequentiality of existence. There is constancy in the higher planes of existence, certainly, however these are the result of circumstances and relativity. As circumstances are modified, so there appears a change by perception.

Erik:     Yeah, so like when I’m here I’m different but seem the same ‘cause I’m using, or really, making you use words, from the way I used ‘em walking around on Earth, “before I got here” but in “reality” I was always here, just like y’all are.

ST:       Do you have Guardian Angels there?

Erik:     Watching over us here? Not the same but yeah, we do. We call ‘em friends.

ST:       Our Guardian Angels are our friends?

Erik:     And a lot more, and sometimes there are others that come in to help out we didn’t have a chance to know, but the Angels bring ‘em up from the reserves, from the minor leagues.

ST:       So do we look different to our Guardian Angels after we come here and then once again after we leave Earth?

Erik:     Outside, yeah but that doesn’t mean anything, ‘cause they know you’re on stage. The difference there, which is here right in front of us, you make up the play as you go.

ST:       Are the scenes are planned, the actors cast and the plot suggested for us to do what we decide?

Erik:     Yeah, pretty much – you channeled that good – but there’s big shit planned that you already choose and that goes down. Then everybody can choose how to react.

ST:       This sound like free will is compromised.

Erik:     All the big shit you do, you plan for it. Nobody’s ever forced to do anything. It has to seem like you’re being pushed into shit for the shit to smell right.

ST:       What an aromatic description. (Erik takes a bow and passes gas with a grin) I knew this was going too well to be true.

Erik:     Two turds walk into a bar; one of ‘em says “Look at the crap in here….” and the other one says “Nice mirror, huh?”

ST:       Here’s some, uh, toilet tissue…?

Erik:     [Elvis Presley voice] Thank you, thank you very much.

ST:       OK, Scat O’Logical, explain a bit more about the character stuff.

Erik:     Lots of people have things about their personality that surprises everybody from time to time; ya like how I worked that time concept in there? (blows on and then polishes his fingernails on his shirt) but this isn’t a surprise, it’s the complete personality poking though, the parts not emphasized with the character.

ST:       Character meaning, what?

Erik:     Family and stuff, obviously but that’s not the character so much, that’s the role. Those are picked in bunches like fruit, and then each one acted out. So when y’all say “acting like a fruitcake” that just means more complicated roles and stuff. Like you’re the Mom, then you’re the girlfriend, then the son and on and on. The character is what you’re like in the role; quiet, loud, rich and arrogant, rich and generous, poor and smart and all that stuff.

ST:       So what happens when you don’t like it?

Erik:     You live life.

ST:       Well, everybody doesn’t like something about life, that’s for sure.

Erik:     The details you can pick as you go along; hair style, clothes and stuff, but the important stuff you follow that, ’cause you want to follow all that stuff and have those experiences.

ST:       The idea of the bad stuff is so hard to swallow; that we plan for unpleasant and even horrible things. That’s so tough to get our heads around.

Erik:     Everybody run out and do something really bad right now; EVERYBODY and git goin’!! What’s gonna happen? Same shit if we all run after the fastest pleasure we can find…..what happens?         

ST:       But the bad stuff….the tough things that happen to people…it’s so bad and hard to understand how it happens.

C:         Difficulty is a perception of your existence you chose to encounter, to reach a result. You must feel what you call pain, for this prompts a choice. Shall you accept the pain, ignore it or see it as having resulted from something outside of you? Then you choose….what you choose is what gives you growth.

ST:       How do we know what to do when so often, it seems so tough?

C:         Your choice is not your action only; it is your choice of belief. Your action is only a follow-through of your thoughts from which your belief expands and then only do your actions occur.

ST:       Please can you give us a guideline?

C:         Meditate in place….

Erik:     (Erik butts in) ….and you don’t need to sit legs crossed, eyes closed, arms folded, peaceful look on the face and tweety bird in the background to do this, man…..

C:         …..and consider what you might say or do that helps you and all around you. What circle or group of people and things could be affected? What does each want? What can you control in each of them, if anything? Likely no control have you over reactions and responses of others, so place these far down your list of considerations and think deeply of what you can control and who will be influenced positively by your thoughts, then words, then acts. Put their shoes upon your feet and look at yourself through their eyes as you believe they might understand….spend no more time than you have to read these words and then you shall have your answer, that which you might do.

Erik:     And you should probably put down your cigar.

ST:       A parting joke, Erik?

Erik:     Two stogie ashes go into a bar and one says to the other “I feel burned out, do I look kinda gray?”