1. The Philosophy of Exotischism Listening To Your Heart 553 One night in the spring of 2008 a young man named Thomas, who had just returned to his home in Los Angeles from Chicago,

2. The Philosophy of Exotischism Listening To Your Heart 554 was getting ready to meet his friend Jeffrey. Thomas knew that Jeffrey had become depressed recently. Thomas had a couple of hours before he was going to meet Jeffrey so he decided to get on his computer and go online to

3. The Philosophy of Exotischism Listening To Your Heart 555 see if he could find an answer to Jeffrey's problems there. After a few minutes he saw an ad for a psychic in India who was offering a free introductory session. He entered his contact information and he entered

4. The Philosophy of Exotischism Listening To Your Heart 556 some information about what he wanted to talk to the psychic about onto the website page where he saw the ad. Soon there was a beeping sound from a call that was coming into the video chat program on his

5. The Philosophy of Exotischism Listening To Your Heart 557 computer from the psychic in India. When he answered the call he could see a woman with long dark hair on the right side of his screen and he could see himself on the

6. The Philosophy of Exotischism Listening To Your Heart 558 left. A very friendly voice said "Hello, Thomas, I am Kala." (Thomas and Kala are people who are real for the purposes of this story but who are not real in real life).

7. The Philosophy of Exotischism Listening To Your Heart 559 "Thomas", said Kala, "I can see from the information that you entered onto the website that you wanted to talk to me about some problems that your friend Jeffrey has been experiencing. Would you like

8. The Philosophy of Exotischism Listening To Your Heart 560 to start out by giving me some examples of the types of life situations that Jeffrey finds to be difficult?"

9. The Philosophy of Exotischism Listening To Your Heart 561 "For the past three months", said Thomas, "I've been attending a college in Chicago. Last night on the airplane coming home to Los Angeles from Chicago I spent over an hour talking about

10. The Philosophy of Exotischism Listening To Your Heart 562 Jeffrey's problems with the pastor of a church in the Chicago area who happened to be sitting next to me. When he introduced himself to me, he told me

11. The Philosophy of Exotischism Listening To Your Heart 563 that I could call him Pastor Ron. I'd like to tell you what I told Pastor Ron about Jeffrey and then I would like to relate to you Pastor Ron's observations about Jeffrey."

12. The Philosophy of Exotischism Listening To Your Heart 564 "Kala", said Thomas, "Let me start by talking about a summer job that Jeffrey had last year before he started his senior year of high school. The boss at the place where Jeffrey was working did

13. The Philosophy of Exotischism Listening To Your Heart 565 something very unfair to him. He punished Jeffrey for no good logical reason. Jeffrey also said that he could tell from sarcastic comments made to him by his coworkers that his boss had bragged to his coworkers

14. The Philosophy of Exotischism Listening To Your Heart 566 about the unfair thing that he had done to Jeffrey. As the days went by Jeffrey noticed that his boss was becoming a little bit more accepting of him. He also noticed that some of the other employees who had been having trouble

15. The Philosophy of Exotischism Listening To Your Heart 567 with a lack of motivation at their jobs were now doing better than they had done before. Jeffrey realized then that when his boss treated him unfairly, it motivated the other employees. But as soon as Jeffrey started to

16. The Philosophy of Exotischism Listening To Your Heart 568 be comfortable in his new role as the person who was responsible for the improvement in the performance of the group,

17. The Philosophy of Exotischism Listening To Your Heart 569 the other employees started to lose their motivation. At this point his boss once again started treating Jeffrey unfairly."

18. The Philosophy of Exotischism Listening To Your Heart 570 "Then I gave Pastor Ron an example of what usually takes place when Jeffrey meets a girl who he likes. Late last year, Jeffrey was getting to know a girl named Audrey. One night he was talking to Audrey at a school

19. The Philosophy of Exotischism Listening To Your Heart 571 activity and a boy in his class named Brent came over and broke into the conversation. After his conversation with Audrey, where Brent broke into the conversation, Jeffrey noticed that Audrey seemed to be

20. The Philosophy of Exotischism Listening To Your Heart 572 more reluctant to talk to him than she had been before. Jeffrey said this same sort of thing had happened in the past when he tried to get to know other girls."

21. The Philosophy of Exotischism Listening To Your Heart 573 "In regards to Jeffrey being bullied by his boss, Pastor Ron felt that the other employees did not want Jeffrey to get any benefit from the bullying that he had experienced. For this reason they did not like it when

22. The Philosophy of Exotischism Listening To Your Heart 574 Jeffrey got credit for the improvement in the performance of the group. Pastor Ron told me that he thought that Jeffrey's experience with Audrey and Brent was similar in some ways to what happened when

23. The Philosophy of Exotischism Listening To Your Heart 575 Jeffrey was bullied by his boss. As soon as Jeffrey got to know Audrey well enough so that other people were able to tell that Jeffrey was starting to exchange some spiritual energy with her,

24. The Philosophy of Exotischism Listening To Your Heart 576 one of those people (in this case Brent) became unhappy and he tried to make sure that the relationship between Jeffrey and Audrey ended before it ever got started. He interfered because he did not

25. The Philosophy of Exotischism Listening To Your Heart 577 want Jeffrey's relationship with Audrey to become strong enough for Jeffrey to get any sort of benefit out of it."

26. The Philosophy of Exotischism Listening To Your Heart 578 "Pastor Ron then told me that he thinks that Jeffrey's problem with his boss at the summer job and his problem with Audrey and Brent were both indirectly based on guilt. Pastor Ron then

27. The Philosophy of Exotischism Listening To Your Heart 579 explained to me how some people who suffer from guilt may have had their guilt imposed upon them by other people. He explained how when a family is going

28. The Philosophy of Exotischism Listening To Your Heart 580 through a hard time (such as a death in the family or a financial set back) and a new family member comes along, there is a danger that some of the more aggressive and unkind members of the community that the family

29. The Philosophy of Exotischism Listening To Your Heart 581 is involved in will start to put increased amounts of pressure on the family in an effort to hurt the family at a time when they are down and vulnerable. When a family is pressured in this sort of a way and a new member is

30. The Philosophy of Exotischism Listening To Your Heart 582 born into the family, there is a danger that the family will transfer the negative spiritual energy that is coming into them from the members of their community that are pressuring the family to the new family member."

31. The Philosophy of Exotischism Listening To Your Heart 583 "When the family eventually realizes that the new family member (such as Jeffrey) is having trouble developing relationships with other people, they might decide to take some action to try to correct the situation.

32. The Philosophy of Exotischism Listening To Your Heart 584 For example, they might talk to the new family member about the pressure that the family was under at the time they were born in an effort to hopefully help them understand what might have

33. The Philosophy of Exotischism Listening To Your Heart 585 led to their spiritual and emotional problems. They might explain to the new family member how those pressures were so hard on the family that the other family members felt like they were about to fall apart

34. The Philosophy of Exotischism Listening To Your Heart 586 emotionally. The new family member might at this point feel bad that they caused these problems for their family. The new family member might express to the other family members some

35. The Philosophy of Exotischism Listening To Your Heart 587 feelings of guilt for the problems that they caused for the family and they might apologize for what happened."

36. The Philosophy of Exotischism Listening To Your Heart 588 "After the new family member accepts part of the responsibility (and some feelings of guilt) for the circumstances that they were born into, there is a good chance that the other family members will start to feel

37. The Philosophy of Exotischism Listening To Your Heart 589 increased negative spiritual energy (or pressure) coming into them at the same time that the new family member is starting to feel increased positive spiritual energy coming into them. Now that the new family member is not

38. The Philosophy of Exotischism Listening To Your Heart 590 being used as the scapegoat for the family's problems (because of the fact that they have accepted guilt for what happened), the other family members will start absorbing the pressure that the new family member had been

39. The Philosophy of Exotischism Listening To Your Heart 591 absorbing for them. The other family members might at this point decide that it would be better for them to not accept the apology of the new family member."

40. The Philosophy of Exotischism Listening To Your Heart 592 Below is an example of a spiritually and psychologically vulnerable new family member (Person B) being forced to absorb negative spiritual energy (or pressure) that is being sent from a member of the family’s community on the left (Person A) to the other members of his (or her) family on the right (Persons C, D, E). In the graphic that follows this one you will see what happens if Person B manages to get out of the line of fire between Person A and Persons C,D,E by apologizing to his (or her) family for the problems that their birth caused for the family. Person A (a person in the community who is pressuring Persons C,D,E) Person B (the spiritually and psychologically vulnerable new family member) Persons C,D,E (the vulnerable person’s other family members)

41. The Philosophy of Exotischism Listening To Your Heart 593 Person A (a person in the community who is pressuring Persons C,D,E) Person B (the spiritually and psychologically vulnerable new family member) Persons C,D,E (the vulnerable person’s other family members) Below is an example of a spiritually and psychologically vulnerable new family member (Person B) managing to get out of the line of fire between a member of the family’s community on the left (Person A) and the other members of the vulnerable person’s own family (Persons C,D,E) on the right. As can be expected, Persons C,D,E will probably not be very happy about having to absorb the pressure that is now coming into them from Person A (pressure that was once being absorbed for them by the spiritually and psychologically vulnerable new family member [Person B]).

42. The Philosophy of Exotischism Listening To Your Heart 594 Below is an example of a spiritually and psychologically vulnerable new family member (Person B) being forced to absorb pressure that is being sent by a member of the family’s community (Person A) on the left to the other members of his (or her) own family (Persons C,D,E) on the right. For a short time Person B had managed to get out of the line of fire between Person A and Persons C,D,E by apologizing for pressures that their birth caused for their family. But then each of the other family members noticed that they were now experiencing increased negative spiritual energy (pressure) coming into them from members of their community. For this reason, they decided that they would not be able to accept the apology of the new family member. Person A (a person in the community who is pressuring Persons C,D,E) Person B (the spiritually and psychologically vulnerable new family member) Persons C,D,E (the vulnerable person’s other family members)

43. The Philosophy of Exotischism Listening To Your Heart 595 At this point Kala offered her interpretation of what might be happening to Jeffrey. "Thomas, I agree for the most part with Pastor Ron's analysis of how Jeffrey may have had guilt imposed on him early in life. When this

44. The Philosophy of Exotischism Listening To Your Heart 596 sort of thing happens to a person they will get caught in an endless cycle where they go back and forth between feeling that they should feel guilty and feeling that they should not feel guilty. If Jeffrey tried to apologize

45. The Philosophy of Exotischism Listening To Your Heart 597 and to acknowledge some guilt for the extra pressure that his birth had put on his family and if his apology was rejected, it would be hard for him to accept the idea that he was a cold and heartless person who did not take

46. The Philosophy of Exotischism Listening To Your Heart 598 responsibility for the problems that he had caused. But Jeffrey needs to realize that he should be careful not to laugh at other people who feel guilt in their lives. Jeffrey might not understand people who feel

47. The Philosophy of Exotischism Listening To Your Heart 599 a lot of guilt, and he might think that they are too emotional. But if Pastor Ron's analysis is correct, Jeffrey did try to go down the normal path where a person develops an emotional structure where feelings

48. The Philosophy of Exotischism Listening To Your Heart 600 of guilt are normal. If Jeffrey's apology would have been accepted by his family early in life, then he might have become just like those people who he might sometimes laugh at for having too much guilt."

49. The Philosophy of Exotischism Listening To Your Heart 601 Running From Side To Side (A lot of people in the world today go back and forth between believing that they should be feeling very guilty and believing that they should not feel guilty at all) I Am Very Guilty I Am Not Guilty At All

50. The Philosophy of Exotischism Listening To Your Heart 602 "Kala", said Thomas, "last night after talking to Pastor Ron about Jeffrey's situation, I asked him about something that has always confused me. I asked him how it could be possible for a person in a

51. The Philosophy of Exotischism Listening To Your Heart 603 church meeting to speak in tongues (to speak in a language that they have never learned). Pastor Ron told me that he thinks that we ourselves might be the mechanism for apparently supernatural phenomenon

52. The Philosophy of Exotischism Listening To Your Heart 604 such as when people speak in tongues or when a sick person is delirious and they seem to be speaking to someone who is not in the room. He believes that every person on earth

53. The Philosophy of Exotischism Listening To Your Heart 605 communicates subconsciously with each other by exchanging spiritual energy through the Collective Subconscious."

54. The Philosophy of Exotischism Listening To Your Heart 606 Group Member #3 Collective Subconscious of the Group Group Member #2Group Member #1

55. The Philosophy of Exotischism Listening To Your Heart 607 "In regards to speaking in tongues", Thomas continued, "Pastor Ron thinks it is possible that when this type of spiritual event occurs someone at a meeting in their office in Chicago might

56. The Philosophy of Exotischism Listening To Your Heart 608 be communicating subconsciously (through the Collective Subconscious) with a person who is speaking in tongues in a church meeting in another city. The person in Chicago might be providing feelings

57. The Philosophy of Exotischism Listening To Your Heart 609 of comfort to that person who is speaking in tongues. Another person who is in Eastern Europe might also be communicating subconsciously with the same person in the church

58. The Philosophy of Exotischism Listening To Your Heart 610 meeting who is speaking in tongues. This other person might be providing the foreign language component that is being used in this spiritual event. Pastor Ron feels that there might be several people from different parts of the

59. The Philosophy of Exotischism Listening To Your Heart 611 world participating in the spiritual event with none of them being consciously aware of their involvement in what is taking place. And he also thinks that something similar might be happening in the

60. The Philosophy of Exotischism Listening To Your Heart 612 Collective Subconscious when a person is sick or delirious and where they appear to be speaking to someone who is not in the room. They may actually be

61. The Philosophy of Exotischism Listening To Your Heart 613 talking to someone who is trying to comfort them through the Collective Subconscious."

62. The Philosophy of Exotischism Listening To Your Heart 614 The illustration below shows how an individual in need of spiritual assistance (in this case speaking in tongues) might be able to receive spiritual comfort from several different people who each contribute a part of the spiritual comfort being provided but where none of the people is conscious of the spiritual assistance that they are providing. Individual In Need of Spiritual Assistance Group Member #4 (Provides the Foreign Language) Group Member #1 (Provides Knowledge) Group Member #2 (Provides Comfort) Group Member #3 (Provides the Interpretation)

63. The Philosophy of Exotischism Listening To Your Heart 615 "Then I told Pastor Ron that I knew that some people believe that when we die our souls remain in the Collective Subconscious and perform tasks such as helping people who are still living when they take part in spiritual events

64. The Philosophy of Exotischism Listening To Your Heart 616 such as the ones that we had been discussing. I told Pastor Ron that I thought that this would be a very cold and a very limited sort of an afterlife. In answer to my comment, Pastor Ron explained to me that spiritual

65. The Philosophy of Exotischism Listening To Your Heart 617 energy travels between us and other people so quickly that we are not consciously aware of it. For this reason, it seems to us that the spiritual world is limited and non-fulfilling because we can only sense, or can only see,

66. The Philosophy of Exotischism Listening To Your Heart 618 the spiritual world in a very limited sort of a way. Pastor Ron believes that the spiritual things below the surface that we cannot see are probably very rich and very fulfilling."

67. The Philosophy of Exotischism Listening To Your Heart 619 Kala thought for a moment and then said "Thomas, I like very much Pastor Ron's ideas about the afterlife. But I think that there are a lot of pastors and other church people in your country who would challenge the idea that there

68. The Philosophy of Exotischism Listening To Your Heart 620 might be an afterlife where there is no Hell. I personally do not believe that there is a Hell where people such as Jeffrey will burn for eternity, but I do think that in some ways the lives of people such as Jeffrey are similar to what

69. The Philosophy of Exotischism Listening To Your Heart 621 Hell was pictured to be like in the Bible. Hell was a place where people were tortured and where they had very little contact with other people. It seems from what you have told me that Jeffrey is somewhat isolated from other

70. The Philosophy of Exotischism Listening To Your Heart 622 people at the present time and I think it is likely that he will become even more isolated from other people as time goes on. When people such as Jeffrey make a comment to a church person saying they don't think that Hell exists,

71. The Philosophy of Exotischism Listening To Your Heart 623 the church person probably walks away laughing because it appears to them that the person who just told them that Hell does not exist is actually living in Hell and they don't even know it."

72. The Philosophy of Exotischism Listening To Your Heart 624 "Thomas", said Kala, "I know that some people in your country might say that their Jesus would never send anyone to Hell. Other people in your country might say that their Jesus would not hesitate for a moment to send people

73. The Philosophy of Exotischism Listening To Your Heart 625 to Hell and that their Jesus will someday come back to the earth to lead an army in an attempt to destroy the enemies of the church. In recent years it seems that a new Jesus has been created. The spiritual entity

74. The Philosophy of Exotischism Listening To Your Heart 626 of the original Jesus (which is the combined spiritual energy of all the people who believe in the original Jesus) is still alive. The spiritual entity of the original Jesus (Jesus Number One) is loving, compassionate,

75. The Philosophy of Exotischism Listening To Your Heart 627 and forgiving. The spiritual entity of the new Jesus that has been created (Jesus Number Two) is the combined spiritual energy of all of the people who seem to

76. The Philosophy of Exotischism Listening To Your Heart 628 take pleasure in being cruel to people who are weak and who are eager to send other people to Hell."

77. The Philosophy of Exotischism Listening To Your Heart 629 Which Jesus Is Your Jesus? (There are a lot of people in the world today who say that their Jesus is loving, compassionate, and forgiving and that he would never send anyone to Hell. Other people criticize those people who claim that there is no Hell. These people argue that their Jesus does in fact send people to Hell. They like to describe their Jesus as a warrior who will someday come back to the earth and lead an army that will destroy the enemies of the church) Jesus Number One This Jesus is loving, compassionate, and forgiving Jesus Number Two This Jesus specializes in sending the enemies of the church to Hell

78. The Philosophy of Exotischism Listening To Your Heart 630 "Thomas", continued Kala, "people such as Jeffrey sometimes forget that getting rid of the myth of God does not get rid of the spiritual power that is harnessed by the people who profess to believe in God. The spiritual

79. The Philosophy of Exotischism Listening To Your Heart 631 power that is exercised by the people who believe in Jesus Number Two (and who picture their Jesus as being a warrior) is not something to laugh at. If a large number of people unite into a powerful spiritual entity and if they try

80. The Philosophy of Exotischism Listening To Your Heart 632 to hurt you spiritually, and if you do not have the spiritual resources to fight off and resist them, they could do a lot of spiritual and emotional damage to you by sending large amounts of negative spiritual energy into you.

81. The Philosophy of Exotischism Listening To Your Heart 633 Jeffrey needs to have a healthy fear of the people who believe in Jesus Number Two. He also needs to remember that a lot of the people who profess to believe in Jesus Number Two are the same types of people

82. The Philosophy of Exotischism Listening To Your Heart 634 who will often act like they care about vulnerable people such as Jeffrey just enough so that the vulnerable person will mistakenly trust them and give them information that

83. The Philosophy of Exotischism Listening To Your Heart 635 will allow them to work against the vulnerable person rather than trying to make him become stronger."

84. The Philosophy of Exotischism Listening To Your Heart 636 "Whenever a group places a person in the position of the scapegoat (such as in Jeffrey's case), the one who is the scapegoat starts contributing spiritual energy to the other members of the group. The ones who

85. The Philosophy of Exotischism Listening To Your Heart 637 dominate the scapegoat through the years care about them deeply because of what the scapegoat does to help strengthen the group, not because they want the scapegoat to become stronger. They might at

86. The Philosophy of Exotischism Listening To Your Heart 638 times ask the scapegoat what he needs in order to become stronger. But when the scapegoat tells them what he needs to become stronger, they will make absolutely certain that he never receives whatever it is that will make

87. The Philosophy of Exotischism Listening To Your Heart 639 him stronger. They may sometimes feel bad when they watch the scapegoat struggle in life, but they like the end result. When the boss at the summer job in your example felt that he had to pressure Jeffrey

88. The Philosophy of Exotischism Listening To Your Heart 640 to motivate the other employees, he might have actually felt bad about what he did (and Jeffrey might have sensed that his boss felt bad when he mistreated Jeffrey). But the boss was happy about the end result

89. The Philosophy of Exotischism Listening To Your Heart 641 because mistreating Jeffrey motivated the other employees. And when Audrey in your example realized that Brent would be happier if she stopped spending time with Jeffrey, she might have felt bad when

90. The Philosophy of Exotischism Listening To Your Heart 642 she saw how disappointed and confused Jeffrey was about what had happened. But she was happy about the end result because by preventing Jeffrey from becoming stronger, Brent and the other

91. The Philosophy of Exotischism Listening To Your Heart 643 group members were allowed to continue holding on to spiritual energy that they would have lost if Audrey would have allowed Jeffrey to become stronger."

92. The Philosophy of Exotischism Listening To Your Heart 644 "Thomas", continued Kala, "in previous centuries when science was much less developed than it is today, people had faith that spiritual energy was being exchanged between themselves and other people according to the

93. The Philosophy of Exotischism Listening To Your Heart 645 spiritual models provided by the Bible and by other religious writings. That faith made people feel their spirituality more strongly in previous centuries than they do today Because of the fact

94. The Philosophy of Exotischism Listening To Your Heart 646 that people today do not really believe in their spiritual models (the religious myths), they are only able to feel their spirituality in a strong way when they steal spiritual energy from other people."

95. The Philosophy of Exotischism Listening To Your Heart 647 "You may have heard that there are countries in the world today where spiritually and psychologically vulnerable people are treated worse than people such as Jeffrey are treated in your country. In some countries

96. The Philosophy of Exotischism Listening To Your Heart 648 the spiritually and psychologically vulnerable people are pretty much just ignored and isolated. I believe that there is a similarity between the situations of spiritually and psychologically vulnerable

97. The Philosophy of Exotischism Listening To Your Heart 649 people in your country such as Jeffrey and the situations of the spiritually and psychologically vulnerable people who live in countries where they are pretty much ignored. There are very few people in any of the countries

98. The Philosophy of Exotischism Listening To Your Heart 650 of the world today who still believe (way down deep in their hearts) in the myths that the various religions in the world are based upon. And because of this lack of faith caused by people not really believing that they exchange

99. The Philosophy of Exotischism Listening To Your Heart 651 spiritual energy with each other, people throughout the world today have less spiritual energy than they had in the past. For this reason, things have become worse in recent years for the individuals throughout the

100. The Philosophy of Exotischism Listening To Your Heart 652 world who are spiritually and psychologically vulnerable. Those people have had increasing amounts of their spiritual energy taken from them and that spiritual energy has been given to the people who have lost their

101. The Philosophy of Exotischism Listening To Your Heart 653 spiritual energy as a result of losing their faith. Thomas, until the world can come up with a better spiritual model for understanding spiritual forces than the spiritual models (the religious myths) that we have today, things are

102. The Philosophy of Exotischism Listening To Your Heart 654 going to become increasingly difficult for people such as Jeffrey who are spiritually and psychologically vulnerable." Copyright 2010 Don Bergquist