“The Fifteen Major Tests of the Spiritual Path” by Dr. Joshua David Stone
10 pages in all. I’m told one can find this on the net. They looked good to me, but the pendulum told me to rename some of them and rewrite them my own simpler way. I am really struggling writing them. Not being a good writer, I write from my heart and constantly use tinyspell for spelling (free download on my links page, I highly recommend it).
Anger—Appearance—Attachment—Duality—Egotism
Fame—Fear—Fulfillment—Greed—Jealousy
Power—Pride—Selfishness—Sexuality—Wealth
Anger
Have you noticed that some people can’t control their anger, while a few others don’t seem to have any anger at all. These people simply have not completed their
anger lesson. You have probably also noticed that few people have a problem with anger. This is because anger is one of the easiest lessons. Anger is important though,
it is needed to control our reality. You need to have some of it to cause change. If you don’t get mad at someone doing wrong, they will keep doing it, thinking it’s OK. This
is the most true for children, if you don’t get mad at them having fun breaking things, they will go ahead and break everything you have.
So to complete this lesson, one must go for a long time, having enough anger to cause positive change, but not so much as everyone is afraid to do anything around
you. You must not have so much anger that others dislike you for it. Having no anger allows others to stay on the wrong path, you would be looked down upon and everyone will walk all over you.
Appearance
One must present their appearances in a spiritual way. Not only their body, but all of their appearances (home, work, vehicle, things one sells etc.). Do not use
appearance to deceive, if one is selling something and it’s packaged, showing it to be way better than it really is, that is deceiving. If a low price is shown, but when one
tries to buy it, other charges are added (maybe besides the expected sales tax), that is deceiving. The spiritual thing we should do (maybe pass a law), is only post the out
the door price, the amount of money one must take out of one’s purse or pocket to purchase the item. This is of course a problem in our negatively run world. Lets
assume 2 dealers sell an item for the same out the door price, but one of the dealers posted the fake lower price. Most customers will go for the lower price and when the
other charges are included, they will see it’s the same price, and say oh well it’s the same price and since I’m already here, I’ll buy it here. In this case the non-spiritual
dealer gets the sale. In this spot the spiritual dealer must have faith, that in the long run most customers will come to him because he doesn’t try to deceive anyone.
One must also not use an appearance to mislead another. This often comes up when a woman presents herself in a way to attract men, but she doesn’t want one,
she just wants to be able to tell them all to get lost. One can also mislead another to go for or try something, when one knows hardly any of the others will want it. Then
there is bait and switch, one gives an appearance of something good, but when one shows up, they are told it’s different or to try this other deal.
One also needs to present themselves properly, be clean and have their private parts covered etc.. One should kind of conform to what is expected, one shouldn’t go
against what is expected to purposely disgust others. God doesn’t have a rule that one must wear clothes, but if you know that if you show up naked it would cause big
problems, you shouldn’t do it.
So basically one needs to go for a long time, without deceiving, misleading or
disgusting others with their appearances. One should also not support or promote others that do this.
Attachment
One needs to change one’s attachments to preferences. I wanted to call this lesson addiction, but that would have been incomplete, however an addiction is an attachment. Don’t
believe for one second that an addiction is a disease, it never is; the medical industry (controlled by negative forces) calls drug addiction (and other addictions) a disease so
they can make money treating it. Much suffering comes from attachments, if one cannot let go. One can go the other way too, one doesn’t love anyone or anything.
One must go a long time without getting overly attached to anything. One must choose with discernment and prefer what is good for them. If one is separated, it will come back if
is meant to be, or it is God’s will and one should let go. If one is addicted, one should wisely go through the withdrawal, maybe get some help through the tough times, but one needs to get unaddicted by oneself.
Duality
Our lives are a roller coaster of highs and lows emotionally until we complete this lesson. One must learn to keep one’s inner peace, whether it’s good or bad, success
or failure, win or lose, illness or health etc. One must learn to keep one’s mind steady through the highs & lows of life, stay in joy and forgiveness. Don’t let yourself get
sucked into the two sides of the negative ego. One must learn to handle whatever comes up with a sound mind, instead of going off half-cracked with the fluctuations.
Why not just realize that today’s big deal is probably going to be meaningless next month?
Egotism
This one’s hard for me, because the other lessons are bigger problems. The main point is, egotism causes one to separate oneself from others. No one is immune to this
one either, no matter how beautiful and smart one is, or how ugly and dumb you are, you can still separate yourself on some playing field. You’ll always be superior at
something, at least for awhile. Dump the negative ego and go with the Christ-consciousness, whenever you need to. We are never equal, but we all have souls (or
at least consciousnesses) that came from God. One must continuously present themselves in thought and action without the negative ego (lower self). One can go
the other way on this too, separate oneself because one thinks all others are better at everything, this is never the case. Just be you, as you are one of everybody else.
Fame
One must learn to be about the same after worldly recognition. One should not feel and act superior after becoming famous. Fame is a gift from God that everyone
gets somewhere along the way in some or probably all of one’s lives. When this gift comes your way, even if you feel you truly earned it (you likely did), one must
consider using it for God’s purposes. One must not treat others like lower class citizens, one must not act like a child to get one’s way. One must use fame as a great opportunity for love and service to others.
Fear
Love and fear are opposites, all emotions are related to these two. It is good to live in love and bad to live in fear. Living in fear is actually attacking those around
you, as you will be miserable to those around you. Instead of living in fear, one must learn to act and change things to live in love. One must learn to stand up to fear and face it with love or other positive emotions.
Fulfillment
If one is given what one desires, one is fulfilled. One must learn to desire what one needs and one stays in fulfillment. Then God will give one more than one needs, soone stays in fulfillment and always strives to be better. One must not desire what is bad or wrong, one must learn to desire the God-like qualities. One can be fulfilled by
giving Love and Service to Others. One should be content with the life God gives them as God gives them the freewill to change it.
Greed
Are you greedy, or is there a balance between what you want and what you give? One needs to be satisfied with what God decides one should have. It goes past
money, it can be fame, appearance, power, spiritual things or even spiritual growth. One must get over what the inner child wants. One can even be greedy about what
one knows and not share it! One needs to focus more on what one can give away. It is said what one holds on to, one ultimately loses and one only gets to keep what one gives away.
Jealousy
Jealousy in a way is to compete with others instead of cooperating. Be happy for others who have more and unhappy for others who have less. God gives you your
place in things. Accept it, but work to improve it. If one is jealous, one is insecure. One must improve oneself through Love and service and God will provide you with your
just rewards later, but maybe in another life or even a previous one. Sometimes life is hard and seems unfair when one only looks at a small portion of it.
Power
One must use power to service others and give love, rather than oppress and control unfairly. Did you like it when your parents said because I said so, then don’t use it on others when you have that choice. Try to come close to treating others the
same as you did before you had the power you now have. One gets power from others, don’t unwisely give yours away. Use power in a deserving way and one shall rightfully keep it. If one lets power go to ones head, one is out of synch with God.
Pride
Pride is important, one needs to have the right amount of it and not look down on others. One can have false pride and claim to be better than others and act this way
too, but God made every soul the same way and I think they’ll be equal at the end of our journey. One soul may be doing better now, but be behind in the next life or next
density and often sooner.
One can have lack of pride and not reach proper self worth by listening to
negative people or negative spirits. Have pride that God made you and have pride you are using correctly what he provides you. Always help others with pride when you can especially children.
Selfishness
Do you share, do you wish others to have enough? Do you only share with those that share with you? Do you only share with those of your skin color or your circle of
friends? One does need to develop boundaries and share a reasonable amount. The hard part is to occasionally share with those that won’t share with you, but do it when
they’re down and out and really need it. It goes much further than sharing things, one must also share their love and time. It’s your inner child that doesn’t want to share,
one must keep that under control. This lesson also includes self-centeredness, one must go out of one’s way to share the spotlight so to speak, go ahead and make
others important too. To be more spiritual, plan ahead, bring extra, when you know sharing will likely come up, cut down your schedule slightly to be prepared to share your time and love, rather than always trying to maxout.
Sexuality
The pleasure of sex is a great gift God has given to 3rd density, but it is so often misused. It is only for intimate pleasure, expressing love and to procreate. One
should not lie to get it or use it to get what you want. One should not cheat on one’s mate for the sake of obtaining carnal pleasure. One should not give it for future
promises. If one forces it on another, especially in a way not designed or with children, one acquires a huge amount of bad karma. One should use it in moderation
for intimate love, with one’s chosen mate, accepting full responsibility for any children produced.
Wealth
Is money your God, is it the most important thing in your daily activities? It really shouldn’t be. This is a tough test God puts everyone through in at least one of your
lifetimes. If you can never get enough and you’re never satisfied, you’re not passing the test. One should never go against God’s righteous ways to acquire more wealth,
but most people will. If they didn’t, we wouldn’t need all these law courts. God may have you get wiped out to see if you stay on a spiritual path, this is usually part of the test.
One needs to avoid going ballistic when one is crossed over money, two weeks later it will seldom have any meaning. Wealth is important, use it responsibly, don’t try too
hard to get stuff you don’t need, don’t look at others as being your ATM, and when you get more try to keep the same friends only treat them better.
