Murder at the Cooking School: Book 7 of the Cedar Bay Cozy Mystery Series (16 page)

CHAPTER
6

Sin,
Decoded

“There is no such thing
as ‘sin’," said the chairman. "The whole concept of retribution and
heaven and hell is a figment of your imagination.
Sin gives birth to guilt,
and guilt kills you
. It literally snuffs the life out of your being. You do
something and someone says you have sinned and you will be punished.

“This guilt gets buried
deep within your bosom and never lets you live freely. You expect to be
punished for as long as you live because this guilty memory haunts you forever.

"It's the most
heinous crime you can ever commit because you are imprisoning your spirit.
Never do that and never let anyone else manipulate you with their words.

 Any surprises as to
why most humans are like dodos that became extinct because they couldn’t fly?”
exclaimed the chairman.

He waited for an
answer. The chairman possessed the limitless patience that teachers and bosses
often lack: people need plenty of time to hear a question and answer it.

“Any clue as to why
most humans are like dodos that became extinct because they couldn’t fly?” the
chairman repeated.

“Escuse me, shir,” said
a toothless old man. “What does a dodo and flying have to do with the money you
promised to talk about?”

The chairman’s poise
was momentarily ruffled by the old man’s question.

After a pause, he
reached down and withdrew a large-denomination bill from his pocket, which he
slowly folded into a paper airplane. He tossed it gently into the air, and
after a respectable flight, the green bill landed on the floor near a young
gal’s feet.

“Money can fly,” said
the chairman. “The dodo couldn’t.”

The crowd chuckled. The
toothless man cackled that his money flew, all right, into the hands of the
income tax and bill collectors.

Before all the laughter
had subsided the chairman resumed, “If you don’t start living, then you’re
headed for dododum.
In the Dodo world, one dumb Dodo told the rest that
flying was a sin, and anyone who flew would be cursed to a life of hell once
they died
.

“Well, when the hunters
came the birds were rooted to the ground, not because they couldn’t fly, but
because of the guilt that imprisoned them, because some idiot dodo proclaimed
that flying was sinful,” said the chairman.

“That's a good one,”
said one gal, giggling.

"Human dodos
abound, the world is full of them, and to make things worse - they love to hear
the sound of their own voice. So their mouths are open 24/7," said the
chairman.

Between giggles, the
young girl glanced at the paper airplane on the floor.

“Can you give us an
example of imaginary sin?” a young man asked earnestly, and wondered if someone
was going to pick up the bill.

“If you don’t fast
during certain times of the year you are labelled a sinner," said the
chairman.

"There's nothing
right or wrong about fasting. If it suits your spiritual path then embrace it
by all means. But coercing, castigating or intimidating someone to do something
they cannot 'relate to' nor are 'comfortable with' causes a lot of harm to both
parties," said the chairman.

"Yes, in the heat
of the moment when you lose your sanity because of a lack of awareness and
force yourself upon someone you become a sinner.

"Sinning is the
absence of goodness or in other words you become evil because evil is the
absence of goodness.

"It's so
deceptively simple. When
'goodness' leaves you
, however fleetingly, at
that moment in time you become a sinner," said the chairman.    

“Are non-vegetarians
sinners?” asked an elderly lady, with a worried look on her face.

“That’s a good
question,” said one girl.

“Hmm… ok here goes,”
said the chairman.

“Billions of
vegetarians spew billions of negative thoughts on a daily basis and a few even
harbor thoughts of killing, looting and plundering on a global scale (if their
interests are harmed),” said the chairman.

“In many cases,
vegetarians wholeheartedly endorse murderous decisions. In this way both
vegetarians and non-vegetarians kill hundreds, maybe thousands in conflicts,
skirmishes and wars that take place on a daily basis,” said the chairman.

“So both are on the
same level, slightly above that of animals. Animals walk around naked, you have
clothes on -
internally both are looking to survive not thrive.
You
think that turning into a vegetarian makes you ‘spiritual’ automatically. How
smoothly you delude yourself!”

“Lottsa things are
beginning to take on a whole new meaning,” said one man.

“Can anyone tell me the
biggest sin a human being can commit?” asked the chairman as he scanned the
room.

"Murder?"
said a young man.

"No," said
the chairman.

"Rape?" said
a woman.

"No," said
the chairman.

"What can be
bigger than rape and murder?" an old man whined.

"Hurting the human
spirit with words or the lack of it by being silent," said the chairman.

A hush fell over the
room. Most went into a state of shock. Nobody moved. The chairman didn't utter
a word for several minutes. He wanted these words to sink deep into the soul of
every participant.

"Well… err… we've
all been guilty of it," a woman stammered.

"But we never
thought the consequences would be so harsh," a man said.

"That's why most
people never make money," said the chairman. "Or even if they do,
it's with a lot of blood, sweat and tears. The spiritual load you carry on
account of your previous misdeeds is so heavy that it negates anything you do
to move forward.

"What's the
solution?" asked an elderly lady.

"Something very
simple but very tricky. You can do it but you just won't do it," said the
chairman.

"Forgiveness.
You'll hold on to insults or insinuations for decades. Every time you refuse to
forgive you give birth to a block. Most of these blocks are deep within you,
remnants of a situation or altercation you faced a long time ago.

"I'm saying it
once more. Don't ever imprison your spirit on account of a guilty conscience
and if you do something wrong ask for forgiveness immediately. If the other
person refuses to forgive you, it's their problem. Ask for forgiveness from the
bottom of your heart and promise yourself you'll never do it again, and move on
in life.

“Looks like we have
much bigger issues to deal with,” said an elderly gentleman.

“Your thoughts are
diametrically opposite to ours,” opined one woman.

“Since sin doesn’t
exist, we can party a lot harder from now on,” said a young guy. Everyone
screamed: “Wooohooooooooooooooooo.”

“So what you're saying
is that we can commit a crime and get away with it?” asked an elderly
gentleman.

“Good question. Since
there’s no retribution, it’s a free ride, right?” asked one gal. 

“Well, it’s not that
simple,” said the chairman. “When you commit a crime your conscience gets
jolted. This jolt results in the formation of a negative imprint, which gets
added to your memory bank, which is already overflowing with billions of such
imprints.

"This imprint is
similar to the one made in molten metal. When you get hot under the collar,
these imprints register deep grooves in your psyche. Is it easy to erase them?
No. It takes a long time and until it exists you'll project the same reality
over and over again. You’re helpless.

"So prevention is
better than cure. Don't lose your bearings. Keep cool. You'll end up paying
through your nose if you don't.

“These imprints give
out a certain type of energy just like a magnet. This magnetic force attracts
you to people, places and things vibrating at the same energy level. You can
steal a piece of paper, a pen, a book or money from a bank; it’s all the same.

“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. You're
responsible for every bouquet and every abuse hurled at you,” 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.

"They're right on
one account," said the chairman. "Don't do anything that might hurt
others.

“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 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.