Murder in the Pearl District (Cedar Bay Cozy Mystery Series Book 5)

by Dianne Harman

  “So if you lie or steal, no matter how small or how big, it gets registered, and this attracts you to liars and thieves. They might be from the ghetto or they might be wearing skirts and suits, but the undeniable fact is - ‘like attracts like’.

  "Another way of looking at it is - your conscience is the software and your memory is the database. When "an act" involves an emotion then the result of that act gets added to the database. The bigger the database the harder life gets. In other words, keep your emotions in check and travel light. You'll go fast and you'll go far and you'll be happy.

  “So it's back again to the memory and its back again to the most important saying of all time – empty yourself of your memories, for the reason your life is the same as your parents or differs very marginally is because the same memory patterns bring forth the same experiences.”

  “So what you're telling us is that there’s no entity sittin' in heaven doling out bouquets and brickbats?” clarified an old man.

  “That’s right,” said the chairman.

  “I’ve been terrorized into submission by my folks who keep telling me that I’ll end up in hell if I sin,” said a young gal, her cheeks pink with guilt.

  “I’ve had a hard time with this worship stuff,” said one guy. “Every time I’d ask a question they’d frighten me by telling me that bad things happen to those who ask too many questions.”

  “So to recap, you are bleeding precious energy because you daydream, blame, complain and criticize, because of infatuation, because you are weighed down by useless memories, because of sin and guilt (if not a lot then a little). Sin is a figment of your imagination that never had anything to stand on but survived for so long because you energized it with fear that sprouted from your inner being,” said the chairman.

  "Women are good when it comes to all of this. Their bullshit detector is far better than a man's. They've always been the protector whereas man has always been the provider. You put bullshit on a man's plate, he'll eat it and then say - Well, that tasted kinda funny.

  Everyone burst out laughing.

  "Learn from women, you'll prosper tremendously," said the chairman

  *****

  Once, three beautiful birds landed on the front lawn of a house. The lady of the house was busy with her daily chores when she nonchalantly looked up and saw these heavenly creatures. She went up to them and almost let out a shriek when the first bird said: “My name is Love.”

  The second bird said: “My name is Success,” and the third bird said: “My name is Wealth.”

  The lady could scarcely believe her good fortune. She invited all of them in, but Love told her, that she could only choose one of them.

  She went running in and called her husband. Soon, there was an animated discussion, about which bird was to be let in. The fight was for Success and Wealth, neither wanted Love.

  A little while later, their eight year old daughter came out and saw the birds. Since her parents were unable to come to a decision, they asked her to choose. The little girl didn’t know what Success or Wealth meant, so she chose Love.

  As soon as Love flew into the house, Success and Wealth too flew into the house. This left the parents perplexed. Love had conveniently forgotten to mention, that if it was chosen, then Success and Wealth had no option but to follow it, wherever it went.

  *****

  CHAPTER 7

  Nothing can Kill You!

  The chairman looked over at the paper plane made of money that still lay unclaimed on the floor. No one had dared pick it up. Maybe they were afraid of being labelled as greedy. Just when the chairman was going to reach down for it, the young gal retrieved it for him. He thanked her as he pocketed the money.

  “So, how many of you are afraid of death?” asked the chairman.

  All of them raised their hands.

  “Why?” asked the chairman.

  “It's game over once we’re dead, ain’t no fun in that,” said one man.

  “Here’s a scientific fact that science does not know yet: you are immortal, you will never die or in other words - nothing can kill you, because you are the essence,” said the chairman.

  “Howz that possible?” asked an elderly gentleman, who flashed a toothless grin.

  *****

  A day is equivalent to a lifetime enveloped in 24 hours. A day and a lifetime are like two gears, made of the same material, have teeth, and rotate in a circular fashion. They differ in size - not in function. Hence, you are born every day.

  When you sleep, you don't sleep, your body sleeps. When you die, you don't die, your body dies. The sun doesn't rise in the east and set in the west. The sun always is just as pure awareness always is. Don't let the rising and setting blindside you. Just like the sun - You are Pure Awareness and Awareness always Is. Don't let small things like birth and death fool you!

  *****

  "Once you were a baby, is that baby still around?" asked the chairman.

  "No," said the elderly gentleman.

  "Are you still here?" asked the chairman.

  "Damn right I am," he replied, as everyone burst out laughing.

  "Once you were a teenager, is that teenager still around? Once you were a young man, is that young man still around? Once you were a middle aged man, is that middle aged man still around?" asked the chairman. "None of them are around, but you're still here, aren't you?"

  "Yeah," said the elderly gentleman.

  "So you take up all these forms that are eventually discarded, but the "you" still remains, this ever-present awareness that is witness to everything that is happening," said the chairman. "The witness always was, is and always will be."

  “So why are we not aware of this fact?” asked the senior gentleman.

  “You hit the nail on the head," said the chairman. "It’s all ‘bout awareness. All of you sleep with your eyes wide open during the day so there’s ‘very little to no awareness’ even when you are awake. With such low levels of awareness there is very little difference between you and an animal.

  “This imaginary fear of death keeps you rooted to the same spot, every decision you take is centered around your safety, your security. You might not be aware of it, but deep down its playing on your ignorance (that you are unaware of your immortality) all the time.

  “When you die you don’t die, it's not game over, it's just break-time. Tired of this existence, tired of playing the game of life, you take a breather and then get back on court with renewed energy,” said the chairman.

  “Death is a figment of your imagination. The fear of death sucks out enormous amounts of energy from you on a daily basis. This stunts your growth and you live life half-dead. Many diseases and bodily pain in life are on account of this fear manifesting itself in myriad forms.

  “You walk around thinking that someone or something will harm you or your family; the funny thing is – those who surround you also walk around thinking that you’ll stick it into them at any moment.

  “If you want to tattoo one thing then let it be this – Death is the ultimate illusion,” said the chairman. “It’s back to the concepts of ‘Empty yourself of your memories, your past conditionings and bring down this wall of resistance that has come up on account of your memories.

  “When you try to reason, you are standing on the foundation of your memories, for without the support of your memories you cannot reason, so such a method of learning is faulty. In Latin - to educate means to draw from within, not to shove from outside. Eternal truths bubble up from deep within and point you in the right direction,” said the chairman.

  “These eternal truths are diametrically opposite to the memories you carry with you, for the simple reason that your memories are formed with the help of the five senses. Your senses can decode a very limited portion of the frequency/energy spectrum and are inadequate to say the least.

  “If you blow a dog whistle, the dog can hear it, but you can’t,” said the chairman. “That’s how unreliable your ears are. An x-ray machine can se
e through objects, but your eyes can’t, that’s how unreliable your eyes are.

  “So educate yourself from the 'inside out' not from the 'outside in',” said the chairman.

  “This is deep shit if you ask me,” said one man, convinced but still a little tentative.

  “Yeah, we take ourselves way too seriously,” said another, grinning mischievously.

  “We’re beginning to understand how much time, energy and resources we waste fearing death, when we could instead enjoy life and live life in the here and now,” said an elderly lady.

  "When a person is about to be hanged to death, when a soldier begins running towards death in the battlefield, when someone with unrequited love and crushed heart finally takes that first step (after all those years of self-imposed incarceration), instead of fear, there is a smile on the face," said the chairman.

  "Not a smile that represents madness but a smile brought about by a realization that everything that can be taken has been taken, and in spite of everything being taken - nothing has been or can be taken, that the word "to take" itself is a fallacy, born out of the limitation of language - a bastard offering of intelligence (not intellect) that will never be able to put even the faintest brilliance of 'the essence/ the source' into word, that only sound, guttural sound, from the very depths of the human soul, even with all its infiniteness, can do, only limited justice, to the infinite energy that lies dormant within the very depths of your Self, that realization takes birth.

  "That to finally overcome the illusion of illusions, the biggest illusion that exists - Death, either physical, emotional or mental - that death does not exist, and is a figment of your imagination - unlocks a million nuclear reactions, bursting and overflowing with energy, like a mischievous child who is unable to fathom weariness, stress or fatigue, and smiles at them, because the child knows, because the child has not yet lost its awareness."

  This was followed by a round of silence, a silence that was deep, peaceful and oddly nourishing. It was customary for people to start hyperventilating when the topic of death raised its ugly head - the one thing that everyone hated, vehemently and passionately. Death needed to be killed by all means, and if they could they would. All of sudden they realized that death was but an illusion, that reality was different, that their sense organs were playing this elaborate game of hide and seek that kept them imprisoned in fear of death all through life - when the simple truth is - death does not exist!

  "Before I move on, I'd like to quickly talk about your financial blueprint that controls your ability to earn. It can be changed but many people find it impossible to do so," said the chairman.

  "Why is that?" asked an impatient young man before the chairman could finish.

  "Beneath that blueprint is another blueprint and beneath that another one, until you reach the 'blueprint of all blueprints'," said the chairman.

  Everyone waited with baited breath for the chairman to blurt out this big secret; most looked like dogs with their tongues hanging out, waiting for the ball to be thrown, so that they could pounce on it before anyone else could get to it.

  "Just like computers have only two states - 0 and 1, human beings too have only two states - will this hurt me (will I die) or will this help me (will I survive)?" said the chairman.

  "Everything is a reflection of everything. It's not surprising that computers have only two states because those (we humans) who gave birth to computers too have only two states.

  "Your external reality is a projection of your internal energy.

  "The supreme priority of the organism (you) is survival, and the organism will do anything and everything in its power to ensure its safety.

  "If the opportunity to make money arises then the organism will do everything in its power to prevent that from happening because making money "involves risks," and why put your sweet ass on the line when everything seems fine right now?

  "If you start putting your rump on the line then the organism activates your memory banks, puts it into overdrive, and in no time your mind is overflowing with horrific scenarios (all of them imaginary) of what would happen if you attempted to do something out of the ordinary. This is the organism's way of telling you that if you do something different then life might tear you another asshole, which is rather unnecessary, because the one you have right now seems to be functioning quite normally.

  "Your stress levels, cholesterol levels and blood pressure shoot straight through the roof. All of sudden something as simple as breathing becomes difficult; some gasp, some hyperventilate and some start sweating like little piglets. You run to the fridge, grab a can of soda, a big piece of cake, plonk on the sofa, turn on the TV and everything is back to where it always was - being a couch potato.

  “How do we overcome this fear?” asked a young woman.

  “It's a good question. I'm glad you asked," said the chairman.

  “This fear of 'will I die' arises from a fear of the unknown - because of a lack of knowledge, not worldly knowledge but spiritual knowledge. This is the root cause of any and every fear, this state of not knowing is what keeps you imprisoned. The moment you know the answer i.e. when you grow bigger than your problems, this fear disappears."

  "How do we find out the answer(s)?" asked an old man.

  "Another good question," said the chairman. "By listening, not to the outer world but to your inner voice that has all the answers (if you ask questions), which is why the Latin word 'educate' means to draw from within - not to shove from outside."

  "This brings us to another interesting topic - negativity," said the chairman.

  "People are not negative as the case is made out to be; your 'being' tricks you into believing there is danger (when in many cases there is no danger) and paints a situation negative. It is constantly evaluating in 1s (It's safe) and 0's (It's not safe), and the result of this evaluation is what makes people negative. Ironically, negativity prolongs your longevity. You live long - but have you truly lived is the big question."

  "Is there a way out?" asked a worried young woman.

  "Of course," boomed the chairman, which sent strong ripples of positive energy out into the room. This lifted everyone's spirit once more. "We'll discuss it shortly."

  "For now, remember that this "blueprint of blueprints - this 0 and 1" controls everything - from your financial destiny to your social life to your culinary choices to the type of games you play."

  “So to recap - you are bleeding precious energy because you daydream, blame, complain and criticize, because you are infatuated, because you are weighed down by useless memories, because of sin and guilt, and the fear of death, since you are unaware of a higher and supreme truth that you are immortal, that you can never die, that nothing can kill you.”

  CHAPTER 8

  The Turnaround

  “Are you now able to understand why the vast majority will never be rich?” asked the chairman, as he studied their faces intently.

  “Also, you now begin to realize why most are popping along in life, one pill after the other,” said the chairman, wistfully.

  "Yeah, we always thought that money was about business, socializing and marrying into rich families," said one man. "Looks like we’re gonna have to reassess our plans.”

  “Now I know why higher education is meaningless, they never mention any of this,” said one gal in frustration.

  “Why talk about higher education? Schools fill children with so much crap nowadays,” added a young man.

  “Makes sense to me, I got hammered in school and look what happened to me,” another guy chimed in.

  “Looks like we’re all sailing in the same boat,” said an older gentleman.

  The chairman listened intently to the spirited dialogue he had triggered.

  “Consciously or not, our school system’s purpose is to train students to do a job they dislike, and ironically expect them to give it their all,” said a young guy. “You know, so much schooling is completing tasks that one has no aptitude or heart for, o
r tasks that are simply academic. And after 12 years of this bullshit, students refuse to embrace a challenge unless there's drudgery, senseless repetition and insanity involved.”

  “Which is why more and more people are home schooling children nowadays,” said one gal.

  “I guess that’s why those who drop out of school end up smarter; lesser conditioning leads to lesser memories which gives you the freedom to come up with original thoughts,” said a woman with a wry smile.

  “The little ones are precious. If the early years are filled with fear, doubt, criticism and anger, then all efforts to turn a new leaf are met with stiff resistance,” said the chairman.

  “This leads to a hunger, a hunger to be validated, to be appreciated, to be loved, the bigger the hunger the bigger the malediction for megalomania.”

  “This hunger drives you wayward as you push for name, fame and recognition; you are searching for the “affection and appreciation” you never got when you were little.”

  “You run roughshod over all the blessings and miracles waiting for you, if only you had slowed down and embraced them, what a beautiful life this would have been!”