Question
What advice would you give anyone who is trying to improve the current state of his or her life?
Paul Samuel Dolman
First I would like to say thank you for taking the time to come here and set up this process. In terms of your initial question I don’t like to use the word advice, since it implies I know something that you do not. I could probably offer some guidance based on what has worked personally for me. So how can you bring a greater degree of resonance to your own life? The first step is to find out who you really are. This can be done by connecting with your true self. By accessing the higher part of your being you put your self in touch with an unlimited amount of timeless wisdom capable of changing your life. Every Answer to every question and every solution to every challenge lies right there within each and every one of us. It is a beautiful thing.
Question
So how does one get in touch with one’s higher self?
Paul Samuel Dolman
The paths are as varied and infinite as there are people yet they all seem to point towards some form of getting a little quieter and tuning into one’s self. For some this may be a walk in the woods or a stroll along the beach while watching a magnificent sunset. You can do it with the warm water running over your hands while washing the dishes. I happen to meditate on a daily basis which allows me the chance, if only for a moment, to quiet the workings and wanderings of my chattering mind.
Question
Is there a difference between praying and meditating?
Paul Samuel Dolman
For me there is a subtle one. When I am praying I feel like I am ‘speaking’ to God and when I am in meditation I feel like I am ‘listening’ to God. As in my life I tend to get a lot more out of listening then talking! (Laughs)
Question
If can we get in touch with the deeper or higher part of ourselves we will find more PEACE?
Paul Samuel Dolman
I would think so though the benefits may not be as immediate as taking an aspirin for a headache. The rewards of the spirit may take some time and have a more cumulative affect. Be patient and try not to judge yourself or the process. When we go deep within ourselves we see that we are a lot more than a carbon based life form simply trying to get its basic needs met. This primitive survival mode is the terrain of the ego or mind and while all of this is well and good the ego’s agenda tends to be different from that of the soul.
The polarity between the soul and ego like that in an atom creates the energy from which our life force comes. So once again we see that it is all just the most beautiful process. Yet this polarity, this conflict also creates most of the inner noise and outer strife not only within us but also within the world at large.
By getting in touch with who we really are, which I believe to ultimately be an eternal and mysterious force, we can transcend the petty desires of the mind while putting the ego into alignment with the larger aspects of our Being.
We thus become more holistic and thus more resonate in the world. We become more peaceful. We have all experienced this to varying degrees at one time or another when things just seemed to flow our way.
Question
With all the noise and distraction in the world how do we get quiet enough to hear that still small voice within us?
Paul Samuel Dolman
We have to create the time and then have the discipline to follow through with it all the while being patient with ourselves in the process. Always remember that all of life is simply the most beautiful and miraculous ongoing process. There is no getting there. Life is just constantly and eternally unfolding. There is no goal of peaceful or happy it is much more about being than doing. That is why we are called ‘human beings’ as opposed to ‘human doings. I would say try to enjoy the process with as much joy, love, and compassion as possible.
But it is up to us create a space where for just a few minutes each day we can disconnect from the temporal world and its endless and casual concerns and get in touch with the deeper aspects of our being.
Question
How did you come to these understandings?
Paul Samuel Dolman
I have no idea (laughs).
Even though that was an obvious one liner there is a lot more truth in it than I probably care to admit. First I’ve been extremely fortunate in that my life has been set up in a way
that I could explore this path and I have had many excellent teachers many of whom probably had no conscious idea they were showing me a multitude of truths. If you can reach a certain level of awareness you will soon see that everyone and everything has a magnificent lesson or gift to share with us.
In the movies because of time constraints and short audience attention spans when it comes to enlightenment there is always a super moment when lightning strikes the hero or heroine knocking the seeker off of a horse and on their ass but most of the time in real life it is an endless series of moments rather than one magical instant. Yet all moments are magical instants if you wake up to that truth.
I like to say that I was and am the rough and jagged stone and God or life was the river gently over eternity smoothing out the edges and refining me into what hopefully will become a work of art from Creation itself.
The sculptor is still at work.
Question
Do you see the Creator or God as somewhat separate from you and the world?
Paul Samuel Dolman
No not at all though when we talk about this it is challenging because the mind can only process through the filter of either/or and this question like all of the mystery dwells in what is called ‘paradox’.
Paradox is a nice word we all made up that sort of says the mind has no idea how that works and God happens to be the all time greatest paradox. In fact I think ‘The Great Paradox’ would have been a much better word to embody this transcendent force that cannot not be embodied.
An analogy that I like to use is that of the ocean and its waves. God is the ocean and we are the waves so at one point where does a wave stop and the ocean start? This also helps to explain how God can be ever changing but always the same because while ocean is never the same in any moment it is still always the sea.
God is everything that Is and everything that Is not and in terms of things like this interview that is a tough concept because the linear mind is at a loss to get its conceptual arms around all of this.
Ultimately we have to leave it where we found it on the doorsteps of the Great Temple of Mystery and gently surrender to our not knowing.
Question
What about when things like the Tsunami occur and people wonder what God’s role is in all of the death and destruction?
Paul Samuel Dolman
You mean “How a loving God could let it happen or let so many people die and suffer?
Question
Yes why would God let things like this happen to people?
Paul Samuel Dolman
That is a great question you brought up because I bet a lot of people have this thought when it comes to all kinds of things. I know that I certainly have these questions in terms of all kinds of suffering.
Let me first say that I don’t want my little trivial answer in any way to reflect a lack of compassion and empathy for the enormous amount of loss so many people have suffered because of this single event. In human terms it is truly a tragedy plain and simple.
In terms of this Tsunami there is no way with my limited little mind to know ‘why’ it happened but it does cause me to reflect on my own set of questions like; is the earth trying to tell us something in terms of the way we are living within the framework of the miraculous ecosystem?
Are we being good stewards of this sacred planet? The obvious answer to that question is absolutely not.
Another thing that really struck me was that all of the animals that lived along the devastated area somehow moved away before the waves hit so I think that the vast majority of them if not all them were spared.
What are they tapping into that we have somehow lost a connection with? If we didn’t spend billions on weapons of mass destruction would we have had the resources to develop and implement an early warning system that would have dramatically reduced the amount of death and suffering?
My guess is we would have been able to do more than there is currently in place. While the death of a couple of hundred thousand people is no small event it pales in comparison to amount of people who die every week from starvation and preventable illness. What are we going to do about that?
Like a child that does not want to grow up and take responsibility for its own life we would much rather lay it off on God but I believe it ultimately falls back to us every time. Which is fantastic because that means we are actually free to do something about it and to change it.
That is the beauty of God’s greatest gift.
Question
Which is?
Paul Samuel Dolman
The gift of free choice and thank God for it because this means we can create whatever we want in any moment and the world you see now with all of its violence and suffering is that of our own creation. Until we consciously own this and then choose to do things differently they will continue to be the same.
Someone once said “The definition of insanity is doing the same things over and over yet expecting different results.” That truth sounds like something you would tell a pre-school or kindergarten class and yet here we collectively sit with it.
Lastly on a topic we could talk for years on; for some reason death is considered this horrible ending when it truly is life’s most glorious beginning.
Question
Why are we so afraid of dying?
Paul Samuel Dolman
Perhaps because we are not living in truth. The truth of whom we really are; an eternal and mysterious and miraculous energy phenomenon and even that little pathetic sentence does nothing to touch our glory and magnificence.
When we experience physical death all the illusions we have meticulously surrounded ourselves with throughout our life fall away and the truth of who we really are is revealed to us in all its inherent glory. If death is such a bad thing and we all are going to die this whole thing is an odd little set up but we are so far beyond all of that yet we simply do not know it. We think we are this puny carbon based space suit instead of the infinite force that embodies the vehicle. We are identifying ourselves as the light bulb instead of the light and the mysterious electricity that infinitely flows through it.
Oh if we only new.
But yet we can know and that completes the circle of what we started talking about. We can know if we go within us and find this truth and we can find it if we only seek it for Truth has no choice but to reveal itself. This is really why I came all the way down here; to simply remind you of everything you already know, I’m here to say while you have been looking for your car keys they have been in your pocket the whole time.
Question:
So you really believe that?
Paul Samuel Dolman
Absolutely! So I say to you and anyone who may happen to read this, ‘Go forth and seek your truth, go forth and find your true self. Not my truth or any particular church’s truth but your own personal truth.
Like the great Jesus himself said, “You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free.” Truer words were never spoken. Give yourself a few minutes a day and God will give you the Universe in return. This is my promise to you and this is God’s promise to all of us.
Someday I look forward to seeing all of us together in that place where we all collectively choose to end the suffering as we know it and join together in a Magnificent brotherhood of man.
I say let’s start today?
Author: Bliss
Dedicated to making a positive difference for people, animals, and this beautiful planet!
