Posts
Dearest Friends of the Heart,
We are excited and delighted to announce that the Love Ministries Federation has added a new member. This is Love Ministries of Rwanda. For those who are interested, we are still receiving donations for the poorest people in the world. If you are interested, please send donations of as little as three dollars to:
Love Ministries USA
5100 Liberty-Fairfield Rd.
Hamilton, OH 45011.
The little orphans, whose lives have been terrorized by war, commercialism, and greed, thank you with all their hearts for your tender and compassionate hearts.
Love,
the Staff of Love Ministries USA
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Healing, Faith, and ACIM
*******
Even more important than learning on the Way is unlearning, which precedes it and makes the "soil" fertile for the growth of new ideas. So, most must begin by unlearning.
This is because there are a plethora of false and illusory paths in spirituality-- systems of illusion made more complex by intellect.
Usually, upon discovering the Power of Mind, one labors under the misconception that she has made a "brand new" and very exciting discovery! She is often unaware that this path, which teaches that the conscious mind can do anything, has been suggested thousands of times, and deeply and thoroughly explored. It has been embraced and practiced, often to the very end, when people discovered-- always to their amazement and astonishment-- that it did not work; in the end, it is a "fairy-tale" of desperately "wishful thinking." These schools of metaphysics have been around since the time of ancient India.
Many of these systems rely on the claim to literal historicity of the Gospels. If Jesus performed those wonderful "tricks," it must have been because he had found some kind of "secret," as in a special affirmation. But if these are allegorical or symbolic tales, then the actions of Jesus, within them, were also symbolic.
This is the case with several "godmen" stories from ancient times. In fact, Christianity is unique in that, in its fundy forms, at least, it insists that the Gospels are literal histories. This is very popular, and is how the tales are presented, for example, in popular theater and popular literature. But today, many educated scholars agree with the famous Dr. Carl Jung (died 1961), who thought all the Gospel accounts to be allegorical. (This means that they represented events within every spiritual life, including yours.)
Historically, a number of cults have arisen based on the idea that the Gospels were literal history. These include, famously, the Christian Science cult and its "spinoffs," including the modern cult based upon A Course in Miracles. (Btw, this book is dramatically over-named, guilty of false advertising. It is NOT a "course in miracles," as that word is generally understood in popular usage.)
Happily, a "cult" is a fairly clearly defined nomenclature among sociologists. It is a cohesive social group, large or small, in which beliefs and actions of members are controlled strictly by a book, or a leader, or both. The right to independent thinking is taken away, and the dogma of the leader/book replaces it. The book/leader is regarded as infallible, unquestionable, and inerrant. No one who has followed the sociology of recent religion can possibly deny that some ACIM groups do
fall within this definition. People often balk at the word "cult," but it is not necessarily an "attack-word," but rather a convenient sociological term, no more.
Agreed that it is better to avoid cults or cultlike groups, and turn our attention to the "tried and true" megasystems that have proved themselves over millennia! We of the Love-tradition are deeply rooted in such venerable traditions as Taoism, Zen, Buddhism, Christianity, and others. You cannot go far wrong when studying and following the spiritual "giants" of history.
You are not alone in discovering that the cosmos will "force" all of us, however gently, into a position of absolute trust (faith). Faith is not a state that we are capable of generating ourselves. If a mad murderer said that he was going to shoot you in the head if you did not believe that the moon was made of green cheese, no matter how desperately you wanted to believe, you could not force "faith" in the ludicrous statement. Instead, faith must grow, gradually through knowledge, experience, and wisdom. People who "grunt and groan," trying to force faith to grow in themselves, through suggestion or autohypnosis, are destined to disappointment. In the end, faith is not something that we can "get" or "create," but is the gift of Love (grace, God).
There is a dangerous, and antispiritual, tendency for people to stop cold with intellectual development. They are often paralyzed or petrified at the stage of "right belief." They actually think that their conscious belief-pattern makes them "spiritual" or "enlightened."
But enlightenment is a matter of the Way that you behave, how you live, not just how you think or believe.
Love is a matter of "right action," not just "right" beliefs.
Earthlife passes rather quickly; and as we move even closer to our higher Selves, which are by nature timeless, the measurement of time becomes less and less relevant. For the higher Self (Soul) and highest Self (Spirit) operate outside of time altogether.
The only "plan" that can be discerned, in this or any other life, is education in Love. Each and every exam or challenge keeps bringing us back to the question, "Was maximum Love reflected in that interaction?" And when the answer is no, we get to take the exam again.
Please do not misunderstand these words. Your "defense" of ACIM implies that you felt that it was being "attacked." It was not; as noted honestly and clearly, the book contains some good and useful thought, although it likely contains nothing really "new." It is a book that collects some of the best ideas from twelve-step and other, related, programs of recovery. But it is galaxies away from being "a new revelation of God."
It is spiritually perilous to seek "new bibles" on our spiritual journey. For, as independent spiritual beings, we are not to look to books to somehow replace our interior growth into understanding. This invalid "short cut" is enormously popular, and has been for centuries. It is just so much easier: Let others make the interior voyage; I don't have to do it myself; I can just read about them." But it simply doesn't work that way; there can be no "vicarious enlightenment."
I have also carefully read ACIM, every word. But unlike others, I did not have the "golly, gee whiz!" response. I was not dazzled. It was not a breathless experience. It was not even exciting. I found the presentation and style rather ordinary. Fire-works did not explode in the Soul or heart. Of course, this is simply a matter of personal choice and response. The fact that the book is quite ordinary does NOT imply that it is "wrong," or "uninspired." (Your words imply that you might have made this "leap," which, I hasten to assure you, is unjustified!)
You rather seriously misunderstood another statement of my email: When discussing the joining of the sperm to the ovum, the implication was that our present conscious mind did not exercise any control over the process. Of course, we designed the process at the Soul-level of Mind. And of course, we participated in the dna-selection and design of our present physical form. Yes, "separation," as has been stated again and again, is the primal illusion that stands at the root of all others.
*******
Even more important than learning on the Way is unlearning, which precedes it and makes the "soil" fertile for the growth of new ideas. So, most must begin by unlearning.
This is because there are a plethora of false and illusory paths in spirituality-- systems of illusion made more complex by intellect.
Usually, upon discovering the Power of Mind, one labors under the misconception that she has made a "brand new" and very exciting discovery! She is often unaware that this path, which teaches that the conscious mind can do anything, has been suggested thousands of times, and deeply and thoroughly explored. It has been embraced and practiced, often to the very end, when people discovered-- always to their amazement and astonishment-- that it did not work; in the end, it is a "fairy-tale" of desperately "wishful thinking." These schools of metaphysics have been around since the time of ancient India.
Many of these systems rely on the claim to literal historicity of the Gospels. If Jesus performed those wonderful "tricks," it must have been because he had found some kind of "secret," as in a special affirmation. But if these are allegorical or symbolic tales, then the actions of Jesus, within them, were also symbolic.
This is the case with several "godmen" stories from ancient times. In fact, Christianity is unique in that, in its fundy forms, at least, it insists that the Gospels are literal histories. This is very popular, and is how the tales are presented, for example, in popular theater and popular literature. But today, many educated scholars agree with the famous Dr. Carl Jung (died 1961), who thought all the Gospel accounts to be allegorical. (This means that they represented events within every spiritual life, including yours.)
Historically, a number of cults have arisen based on the idea that the Gospels were literal history. These include, famously, the Christian Science cult and its "spinoffs," including the modern cult based upon A Course in Miracles. (Btw, this book is dramatically over-named, guilty of false advertising. It is NOT a "course in miracles," as that word is generally understood in popular usage.)
Happily, a "cult" is a fairly clearly defined nomenclature among sociologists. It is a cohesive social group, large or small, in which beliefs and actions of members are controlled strictly by a book, or a leader, or both. The right to independent thinking is taken away, and the dogma of the leader/book replaces it. The book/leader is regarded as infallible, unquestionable, and inerrant. No one who has followed the sociology of recent religion can possibly deny that some ACIM groups do
fall within this definition. People often balk at the word "cult," but it is not necessarily an "attack-word," but rather a convenient sociological term, no more.
Agreed that it is better to avoid cults or cultlike groups, and turn our attention to the "tried and true" megasystems that have proved themselves over millennia! We of the Love-tradition are deeply rooted in such venerable traditions as Taoism, Zen, Buddhism, Christianity, and others. You cannot go far wrong when studying and following the spiritual "giants" of history.
You are not alone in discovering that the cosmos will "force" all of us, however gently, into a position of absolute trust (faith). Faith is not a state that we are capable of generating ourselves. If a mad murderer said that he was going to shoot you in the head if you did not believe that the moon was made of green cheese, no matter how desperately you wanted to believe, you could not force "faith" in the ludicrous statement. Instead, faith must grow, gradually through knowledge, experience, and wisdom. People who "grunt and groan," trying to force faith to grow in themselves, through suggestion or autohypnosis, are destined to disappointment. In the end, faith is not something that we can "get" or "create," but is the gift of Love (grace, God).
There is a dangerous, and antispiritual, tendency for people to stop cold with intellectual development. They are often paralyzed or petrified at the stage of "right belief." They actually think that their conscious belief-pattern makes them "spiritual" or "enlightened."
But enlightenment is a matter of the Way that you behave, how you live, not just how you think or believe.
Love is a matter of "right action," not just "right" beliefs.
Earthlife passes rather quickly; and as we move even closer to our higher Selves, which are by nature timeless, the measurement of time becomes less and less relevant. For the higher Self (Soul) and highest Self (Spirit) operate outside of time altogether.
The only "plan" that can be discerned, in this or any other life, is education in Love. Each and every exam or challenge keeps bringing us back to the question, "Was maximum Love reflected in that interaction?" And when the answer is no, we get to take the exam again.
Please do not misunderstand these words. Your "defense" of ACIM implies that you felt that it was being "attacked." It was not; as noted honestly and clearly, the book contains some good and useful thought, although it likely contains nothing really "new." It is a book that collects some of the best ideas from twelve-step and other, related, programs of recovery. But it is galaxies away from being "a new revelation of God."
It is spiritually perilous to seek "new bibles" on our spiritual journey. For, as independent spiritual beings, we are not to look to books to somehow replace our interior growth into understanding. This invalid "short cut" is enormously popular, and has been for centuries. It is just so much easier: Let others make the interior voyage; I don't have to do it myself; I can just read about them." But it simply doesn't work that way; there can be no "vicarious enlightenment."
I have also carefully read ACIM, every word. But unlike others, I did not have the "golly, gee whiz!" response. I was not dazzled. It was not a breathless experience. It was not even exciting. I found the presentation and style rather ordinary. Fire-works did not explode in the Soul or heart. Of course, this is simply a matter of personal choice and response. The fact that the book is quite ordinary does NOT imply that it is "wrong," or "uninspired." (Your words imply that you might have made this "leap," which, I hasten to assure you, is unjustified!)
You rather seriously misunderstood another statement of my email: When discussing the joining of the sperm to the ovum, the implication was that our present conscious mind did not exercise any control over the process. Of course, we designed the process at the Soul-level of Mind. And of course, we participated in the dna-selection and design of our present physical form. Yes, "separation," as has been stated again and again, is the primal illusion that stands at the root of all others.
*******
Healing and the Conscious Mind
*******
We are aware of the regrettable fact that a cult is growing around ACIM (the book A Course in Miracles). That is really too bad, for it does have a number of good teachings. It is largely the common sense (anything but common) of the twelve-step programs. We do not subscribe to the mythical superstition that this book is infallible, incapable of error, or that it was "channeled from God," or "actually" written by Jesus Christ. This is, you might recognize, the same lie that fundies have been telling for years about the Bible; it serves only those who are too lazy, too ignorant, or too weak to think for themselves.
One problem with healing is that people want to assign very simplistic causes to diseases. If disease has a very simple cause, then it also has a very simple solution. Usually, it is something along the lines of "changing your thought-patterns."
This simplism not only "blames" the sick person, instead of extending compassion to her, but it is absurdly simple. It is, in fact, far too simple to account for the facts.
Simplicity, of course, has a very wide place in the philosophy of enlightenment. But intellect also has its proper place. For, historically, many people who never allowed a "negative thought" within a hundred yards of them have suffered from some major illnesses. To claim, or to imply, that all illness is the result of "negative thinking" simply does not tally with the known facts-- of history or of medicine.
The conscious mind is not the "cause" of all illness. It can and does affect the body, but its power is not unlimited. If these "positive thinkers" were right in their simplistic explanations, everyone would have followed them years ago, and there would be no serious health-problems in our world. For mind-based systems of "positive thinking" have been widely available, to everyone, for well over a hundred years, in just recent history.
For an example, the cult called "Christian Science" (founded 1879) ascribes all illness to "wrong" thinking. Yet this is a microcult, with only a few million members worldwide. But if Mary Eddy's theories were correct, if her "practice" actually worked, by now, the cult would have converted the entire world. You could not keep people from converting to the cult! It would be madly, astonishingly popular, and you could not pull people away with bull-dozers. And no Christian Scientist would ever suffer from any major disease; they would all, and always, enjoy perfect health.
But this has not been the real situation "on the ground" (in the real world). These facts show its flaw: There are still practicing Christian Scientists (as members call themselves) who become very sick with major illnesses; indeed, despite continuous practice and programming, some die every year, making the cult lethal for sick people.
The whole idea of "mind-healing," or healing through exclusively positive thinking, underwent a massive revival in the US and the whole world in the 1890's, and millions converted to various related "positive thinking" schools. But many, if not most, remained either sick or poor, or both. Why?
Because they mistook the conscious mind for the Mind of God, the One. The conscious mind is indeed a part of the great Mind that controls the universe-- indeed, creates it. But the conscious mind has never been assigned control of the material cosmos, including the body.
The best that this little mind can do, say the wise Taoist sages, is to learn cooperation with the cosmic Mind of God; and this includes acceptance-- the opposite of trying to change everything, and trying to force the universe to be the way that we personally want it to be. This "grunt and groan" struggle to control the universe produces a person of increased tension, and it amplifies fears.
But the philosophy summed up by Jesus is very different: (He was also a Taoist) in his famous words to God: "Not my will, but thine."
This is also the foundation of the Model Prayer that we should pray always: "Thy will be done."
This "thy will" recognizes a pre-existent will in the great Mind that rules the cosmos. God has plans, and outcomes, that He/She wants, and they are not always what we want. Jesus, unlike "positive thinkers," who want to grab hold of the cosmos and alter it according to their personal wills, saw a distinction between his personal will and the will of God. It is only when we lose this distinction (usually, because we want so powerfully to believe that God's will is always the same as our personal will) that we "fall" for the easy but ineffective "wishful thinking solutions" of "positive thinking."
Yes, positive thinking can change very much in our lives. It is wonderfully superior to negative thinking. But, as human beings, we have limits regarding our control of the cosmos, and this is the one fact that extremists of "positive thinking" do not want to recognize:
In the end, the cosmos, including our births (we had nothing to do with them, as the conscious mind that now exists, except peripherally) and our deaths, are not controlled by us personally. Where was "your" mind when the sperm first entered the egg, and formed your current body? No, this was not controlled by you, but by Nature (symbolized by the ancient Christians as the Goddess Sophia).
Our only task is to use these lives to learn to cooperate with Sophia, our "heavenly Mother," and with Love, our "Father." So, we do not have strictly to regulate each and every thought, always fleeing from the "demons" of negative thinking. For this is how "positive thinking" can increase the "demons" of fear.
Instead, we follow the words of Jesus' most "Taoistic" sermon, the famous Sermon on the Mount, and live like the birds and the flowers, who know, and need/want to know, nothing about "positive thinking."
We can then simply relax and trust, "going with the Flow." When Jesus said his famous words, "Lest ye be as little children, ye shall not enter the kingdom," the Greek word translated "little children" means literally "nursing infants"-- another group of minds that knows nothing about control or "positive thinking."
This Taoist life of full trust (faith) is far better, for it is God-dependent and not egocentric or human-dependent. Human beings have tried, metaphysically, for thousands of years to control the cosmos with their conscious minds; the idea goes way back to ancient Greece; it was not invented by the "modern cult" of Christian Science. (Similar ideas were also found in ancient India.)
The key, for us, is to find the courage to dare to trust. For, deep down, many of us distrust the universe. We might even distrust Love. For we have never found any solid evidence of a "God" "out there," in the universe.
This is simply because there is no God in the universe. That is, there is no "exterior" God. God does not exist in the universe. But, as Mind, the universe exists in Him/Her. This is the beautiful and glorious discovery of the mystic, and it frees us from all desperate illusions and delusions.
Mind alone is Reality, so the mystics called God "Reality." This is one meaning of Jesus' famous words, "You will know the truth [reality], and the truth [reality] will set you free." (Jn. 8:32) Reality, the truth, is God in the world, and in the heartmind. It alone can free us from desperate illusions, bathing us in the Light of sweet, saving Love.
*******
We are aware of the regrettable fact that a cult is growing around ACIM (the book A Course in Miracles). That is really too bad, for it does have a number of good teachings. It is largely the common sense (anything but common) of the twelve-step programs. We do not subscribe to the mythical superstition that this book is infallible, incapable of error, or that it was "channeled from God," or "actually" written by Jesus Christ. This is, you might recognize, the same lie that fundies have been telling for years about the Bible; it serves only those who are too lazy, too ignorant, or too weak to think for themselves.
One problem with healing is that people want to assign very simplistic causes to diseases. If disease has a very simple cause, then it also has a very simple solution. Usually, it is something along the lines of "changing your thought-patterns."
This simplism not only "blames" the sick person, instead of extending compassion to her, but it is absurdly simple. It is, in fact, far too simple to account for the facts.
Simplicity, of course, has a very wide place in the philosophy of enlightenment. But intellect also has its proper place. For, historically, many people who never allowed a "negative thought" within a hundred yards of them have suffered from some major illnesses. To claim, or to imply, that all illness is the result of "negative thinking" simply does not tally with the known facts-- of history or of medicine.
The conscious mind is not the "cause" of all illness. It can and does affect the body, but its power is not unlimited. If these "positive thinkers" were right in their simplistic explanations, everyone would have followed them years ago, and there would be no serious health-problems in our world. For mind-based systems of "positive thinking" have been widely available, to everyone, for well over a hundred years, in just recent history.
For an example, the cult called "Christian Science" (founded 1879) ascribes all illness to "wrong" thinking. Yet this is a microcult, with only a few million members worldwide. But if Mary Eddy's theories were correct, if her "practice" actually worked, by now, the cult would have converted the entire world. You could not keep people from converting to the cult! It would be madly, astonishingly popular, and you could not pull people away with bull-dozers. And no Christian Scientist would ever suffer from any major disease; they would all, and always, enjoy perfect health.
But this has not been the real situation "on the ground" (in the real world). These facts show its flaw: There are still practicing Christian Scientists (as members call themselves) who become very sick with major illnesses; indeed, despite continuous practice and programming, some die every year, making the cult lethal for sick people.
The whole idea of "mind-healing," or healing through exclusively positive thinking, underwent a massive revival in the US and the whole world in the 1890's, and millions converted to various related "positive thinking" schools. But many, if not most, remained either sick or poor, or both. Why?
Because they mistook the conscious mind for the Mind of God, the One. The conscious mind is indeed a part of the great Mind that controls the universe-- indeed, creates it. But the conscious mind has never been assigned control of the material cosmos, including the body.
The best that this little mind can do, say the wise Taoist sages, is to learn cooperation with the cosmic Mind of God; and this includes acceptance-- the opposite of trying to change everything, and trying to force the universe to be the way that we personally want it to be. This "grunt and groan" struggle to control the universe produces a person of increased tension, and it amplifies fears.
But the philosophy summed up by Jesus is very different: (He was also a Taoist) in his famous words to God: "Not my will, but thine."
This is also the foundation of the Model Prayer that we should pray always: "Thy will be done."
This "thy will" recognizes a pre-existent will in the great Mind that rules the cosmos. God has plans, and outcomes, that He/She wants, and they are not always what we want. Jesus, unlike "positive thinkers," who want to grab hold of the cosmos and alter it according to their personal wills, saw a distinction between his personal will and the will of God. It is only when we lose this distinction (usually, because we want so powerfully to believe that God's will is always the same as our personal will) that we "fall" for the easy but ineffective "wishful thinking solutions" of "positive thinking."
Yes, positive thinking can change very much in our lives. It is wonderfully superior to negative thinking. But, as human beings, we have limits regarding our control of the cosmos, and this is the one fact that extremists of "positive thinking" do not want to recognize:
In the end, the cosmos, including our births (we had nothing to do with them, as the conscious mind that now exists, except peripherally) and our deaths, are not controlled by us personally. Where was "your" mind when the sperm first entered the egg, and formed your current body? No, this was not controlled by you, but by Nature (symbolized by the ancient Christians as the Goddess Sophia).
Our only task is to use these lives to learn to cooperate with Sophia, our "heavenly Mother," and with Love, our "Father." So, we do not have strictly to regulate each and every thought, always fleeing from the "demons" of negative thinking. For this is how "positive thinking" can increase the "demons" of fear.
Instead, we follow the words of Jesus' most "Taoistic" sermon, the famous Sermon on the Mount, and live like the birds and the flowers, who know, and need/want to know, nothing about "positive thinking."
We can then simply relax and trust, "going with the Flow." When Jesus said his famous words, "Lest ye be as little children, ye shall not enter the kingdom," the Greek word translated "little children" means literally "nursing infants"-- another group of minds that knows nothing about control or "positive thinking."
This Taoist life of full trust (faith) is far better, for it is God-dependent and not egocentric or human-dependent. Human beings have tried, metaphysically, for thousands of years to control the cosmos with their conscious minds; the idea goes way back to ancient Greece; it was not invented by the "modern cult" of Christian Science. (Similar ideas were also found in ancient India.)
The key, for us, is to find the courage to dare to trust. For, deep down, many of us distrust the universe. We might even distrust Love. For we have never found any solid evidence of a "God" "out there," in the universe.
This is simply because there is no God in the universe. That is, there is no "exterior" God. God does not exist in the universe. But, as Mind, the universe exists in Him/Her. This is the beautiful and glorious discovery of the mystic, and it frees us from all desperate illusions and delusions.
Mind alone is Reality, so the mystics called God "Reality." This is one meaning of Jesus' famous words, "You will know the truth [reality], and the truth [reality] will set you free." (Jn. 8:32) Reality, the truth, is God in the world, and in the heartmind. It alone can free us from desperate illusions, bathing us in the Light of sweet, saving Love.
*******
Grace and Love
*******
The phrase "works of grace" is a confused term invented by someone who had or has very little understanding.
Grace does produce "works" in our lives, but, historically, Christians have taught one of two worldviews:
Either you "get to heaven" by "works," or you get there by grace. It is difficult and confusing to try to embrace both.
The most ancient and venerable of Christian writings, those of the so-called "New
Testament," clearly teach that salvation arises from grace alone. We are "saved" (from ignorance and the lower humanimal nature) by Love alone. This Love comes not from us, but to us; it arises from the cosmic Mind (God) within.
Because of grace, you really do not have to perform any "works" to "get to heaven." If a person did nothing, she could, and would, ultimately still be saved by grace. For God loves equally His/Her active children, and His/Her inactive ones.
But grace is Love. So, when grace is active within our hearts, it does produce Love, including the feelings and the actions of Love. The person in grace is kind, good, gentle, forgiving, tolerant, inclusive, generous, etc. These are the expressions of grace, but the phrase "works of grace" is unclear.
But it is very important to get the order or sequence right: Grace produces the works of Love within us; works can never "produce" or even alter, the grace that ultimately enlightens and saves us.
We believe in the infallible and universal saving Power of grace extended to all sentient beings. We believe in Love, of which grace is an expression.
In fact, knowing that "God is Love," we worship Love. This leaves absolutely no room in our heartminds for fear, which is Love's conceptual (but not real) opposite.
The text says, "Fear and Love cannot coexist. For Love, when it has become complete, casts out fear." (1 Jn. 4:18)
*******
The phrase "works of grace" is a confused term invented by someone who had or has very little understanding.
Grace does produce "works" in our lives, but, historically, Christians have taught one of two worldviews:
Either you "get to heaven" by "works," or you get there by grace. It is difficult and confusing to try to embrace both.
The most ancient and venerable of Christian writings, those of the so-called "New
Testament," clearly teach that salvation arises from grace alone. We are "saved" (from ignorance and the lower humanimal nature) by Love alone. This Love comes not from us, but to us; it arises from the cosmic Mind (God) within.
Because of grace, you really do not have to perform any "works" to "get to heaven." If a person did nothing, she could, and would, ultimately still be saved by grace. For God loves equally His/Her active children, and His/Her inactive ones.
But grace is Love. So, when grace is active within our hearts, it does produce Love, including the feelings and the actions of Love. The person in grace is kind, good, gentle, forgiving, tolerant, inclusive, generous, etc. These are the expressions of grace, but the phrase "works of grace" is unclear.
But it is very important to get the order or sequence right: Grace produces the works of Love within us; works can never "produce" or even alter, the grace that ultimately enlightens and saves us.
We believe in the infallible and universal saving Power of grace extended to all sentient beings. We believe in Love, of which grace is an expression.
In fact, knowing that "God is Love," we worship Love. This leaves absolutely no room in our heartminds for fear, which is Love's conceptual (but not real) opposite.
The text says, "Fear and Love cannot coexist. For Love, when it has become complete, casts out fear." (1 Jn. 4:18)
*******
Saturday, August 23, 2008
Political dynamite
John McCain let big oil companies keep $13.5 billion in tax breaks—money
we could have used for solar and wind. This is political dynamite. Can you help air our new TV ad in the battleground state of North Carolina?
Dear MoveOn member,
What if there was a vote to decide if $13.5 billion in tax breaks for oil companies should go into oil alternatives, like solar and wind? What would you want your Senator to do?
Well, as you probably guessed, there was such a vote. We needed 60 votes to prevail, and 59 of them were in. But John McCain ducked the vote.1 As a result, instead of powering millions of homes with clean energy and building next-generation solar technology, we're giving ExxonMobil and other companies billions in tax breaks at a time when they're already making record profits.
This vote is political dynamite. And if we all pitch in, we can make sure voters know about McCain's give-away to big oil. And it's a twofer—we'll run the ad in the battleground state of North Carolina to help remind voters that Senator Elizabeth Dole, who's up for re-election, voted for big oil tax breaks, too.
Check out the ad here:
https://pol.moveon.org/donate/dolead.html?id=13513-3787120-Ddx3_Vx&t=3
The ad links Republican support for oil tax breaks with the campaign contributions they're taking from the oil companies. Exposing their favors for big oil can puncture Republican promises to help people hurting from high gas prices.
Our ad can help defeat McCain, win a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate, and promote real solutions to the energy crisis. Can you help put this ad on the air?
https://pol.moveon.org/donate/dolead.html?id=13513-3787120-Ddx3_Vx&t=4
Thank you for all you do.
–Noah, Justin, Nita, Anna and the rest of the team
Source:
1. "Renewable Fuels, Consumer Protection, and Energy Efficiency Act of
2007," U.S. Senate Roll Call Vote, December 13, 2007
http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.
cfm?congress=110&session=1&vote=00425&long=1
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Stop Oil Speculation Now
Thanks to Mick Gallagher.
*******
*******
*******
Subject: Rep. Michael Turner left Washington for vacation without
addressing sky high oil prices
From: "Stop Oil Speculation Now" info@stopoilspeculationnow.com
Dear Friends of the Heart,
Because Americans demanded that Congress address the energy crisis, both the House and Senate debated the issue in July. But they didn't get the job done. In the end, Congress has done nothing to bring down the price of oil and gas. They went home for August recess without passing a bill that would end abuses by speculators in oil futures markets and increase production.
But it gets even worse: Rep. Michael Turner actually switched votes at the last minute and killed a bill to limit excessive speculation just days before Congress went home for August. That's right: Thirteen Members of the House of Representatives, including Rep. Michael Turner, switched their votes from yes to no and left Washington without addressing the top challenge facing the nation: sky high oil prices. They changed their vote to play partisan politics and try to make the other party look bad just to gain an advantage in this fall's elections.
The bottom line is that Rep. Michael Turner chose politics over people.
You have already sent e-mails to Congress demanding action on oil prices. Your voice has made a difference in this fight! But we need your help again. Rep. Michael Turner is home right now for the August recess; and it's important that you and your neighbors keep asking tough questions about politics and oil prices. Will you take a moment to call the local district office of Rep. Michael Turner and ask "Why did you switch your vote?" and "Where's the leadership?" and "Where's the bill?"
The local phone number for the district office is (937) 225-2843 and
click here for talking points and to let us know that you called:
http://capwiz.com/sosnow/utr/1/NCITJBZAXR/GQRKJCFTVT/2299042446
Thanks for all of your efforts to keep the pressure on Congress to address the energy crises.
Sincerely,
The Coalition to Stop Oil Speculation Now
P.S. A phone call to the district office is the most effective way to get your official's attention while he's home on recess. If you would prefer to send a note via email to the Washington office, click here:
http://capwiz.com/sosnow/utr/1/NCITJBZAXR/IVCLJCFTVU/2299042446
*******
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
IS EDWARDS RUINED?
By a passionate observer
*******
With the admission of Jonathan Edwards' adultery in 2006, many are speaking as if he is a completely useless man. Edwards did more damage to himself than to anyone else. Certainly he hurt his wife, and he deserves blame for this; he also let down his loyal followers.
But his error does nothing to neutralize the great vision-- the eradication of poverty-- that he shared with the country. It also does nothing to erase his victories in legal battles against greedy, fat corporations.
His error was immense; but let not this one mistake blind us to the rich and deep good that still remains within the man. Instead, we can work to practice the highest ideal of Christianity and other faiths-- forgiveness. We can forgive the horror of the error and invite this man back into the "fold" of decision-makers. For he reminds us that people, even with all our many weaknesses, can do great good.
*******
*******
With the admission of Jonathan Edwards' adultery in 2006, many are speaking as if he is a completely useless man. Edwards did more damage to himself than to anyone else. Certainly he hurt his wife, and he deserves blame for this; he also let down his loyal followers.
But his error does nothing to neutralize the great vision-- the eradication of poverty-- that he shared with the country. It also does nothing to erase his victories in legal battles against greedy, fat corporations.
His error was immense; but let not this one mistake blind us to the rich and deep good that still remains within the man. Instead, we can work to practice the highest ideal of Christianity and other faiths-- forgiveness. We can forgive the horror of the error and invite this man back into the "fold" of decision-makers. For he reminds us that people, even with all our many weaknesses, can do great good.
*******
RUNNIN' ON EMPTY: THE "POLITRICKS" OF ENERGY
RUNNIN' ON EMPTY: THE "POLITRICKS" OF ENERGY,
By a traveling visitor
***
During John McCain's very long political career, he has stood firmly against off-shore drilling; and now, he stands as strongly for it.
Drilling will not affect gas-prices for at least ten years. And then, it will lower the price two cents!
If it had not been for the dishonest financial manipulations from the corporate oil giants, their buddy Bush in their collective back pocket, we would all be driving clean electric vehicles. So, let's stop filling the planet with poisons, killing our children-- quite painfully and slowly-- for a fistful of dollars; it is time to take survival seriously, when earth is gasping her final pant due to relentless greed.
*******
By a traveling visitor
***
During John McCain's very long political career, he has stood firmly against off-shore drilling; and now, he stands as strongly for it.
Drilling will not affect gas-prices for at least ten years. And then, it will lower the price two cents!
If it had not been for the dishonest financial manipulations from the corporate oil giants, their buddy Bush in their collective back pocket, we would all be driving clean electric vehicles. So, let's stop filling the planet with poisons, killing our children-- quite painfully and slowly-- for a fistful of dollars; it is time to take survival seriously, when earth is gasping her final pant due to relentless greed.
*******
THE INVASION OF GEORGIA: A STUDY IN HYPOCRISY
THE INVASION OF GEORGIA: A STUDY IN HYPOCRISY
By a passionate observer
***
It is transparent hypocrisy for George Bush, in his impotent whining about "Russian bullying," blusteringly and incoherently to condemn the invasion of a sovereign third-world country such as Georgia when he is the author of a precisely similar invasion/occupation of another third-world sovereign nation, Iraq. His pretend shock and horror are vacuous and unconvincing. The Bush demand to "leave immediately" bears no resemblance to his own foreign policy.
So, when he spits and hisses his protests, he is only the object of pretension, satire, and caricature. For he states, in the most disturbing and blustering panic, how this invasion/occupation of Georgia is going permanently to ruin international relations. But even Bush's "selective sight" cannot ignore the parody of his protests, in light of his own rigidity and stubbornness in refusing to budge re the invasion/occupation of Iraq. If Bush is ever to achieve credibility-- and it does not look as if he will, anytime soon-- he must speak from a position in which he is not himself guilty of the charges he hurls against others. On this issue, and many others, he speaks with zero credibility.
*******
By a passionate observer
***
It is transparent hypocrisy for George Bush, in his impotent whining about "Russian bullying," blusteringly and incoherently to condemn the invasion of a sovereign third-world country such as Georgia when he is the author of a precisely similar invasion/occupation of another third-world sovereign nation, Iraq. His pretend shock and horror are vacuous and unconvincing. The Bush demand to "leave immediately" bears no resemblance to his own foreign policy.
So, when he spits and hisses his protests, he is only the object of pretension, satire, and caricature. For he states, in the most disturbing and blustering panic, how this invasion/occupation of Georgia is going permanently to ruin international relations. But even Bush's "selective sight" cannot ignore the parody of his protests, in light of his own rigidity and stubbornness in refusing to budge re the invasion/occupation of Iraq. If Bush is ever to achieve credibility-- and it does not look as if he will, anytime soon-- he must speak from a position in which he is not himself guilty of the charges he hurls against others. On this issue, and many others, he speaks with zero credibility.
*******
Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit
*******
"Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit" is the deliberate, probably repeated, and voluntarily chosen act against Love, or the interests of Love, in our little world. So, true "repentance" must include following Love as closely as possible, through the expression of kindness, goodness, compassion, charity, generosity, patience, tolerance, inclusion, and the many other, and related, factors that constitute the expression of Love.
*******
"Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit" is the deliberate, probably repeated, and voluntarily chosen act against Love, or the interests of Love, in our little world. So, true "repentance" must include following Love as closely as possible, through the expression of kindness, goodness, compassion, charity, generosity, patience, tolerance, inclusion, and the many other, and related, factors that constitute the expression of Love.
*******
McCain's Mansions: The Houses That Greed Built
1. Watch the video at http://therealmccain.com/
2. Send it to everyone you know
*******
2. Send it to everyone you know
"Most working families today do not have homes that have anywhere near ten rooms. John McCain has ten houses. Many working people in America have to work two or three jobs to provide for their families and pay their car loans. John McCain hops on a private jet. Is it any wonder why McCain champions a George Bush agenda of cutting taxes for corporations and the wealthy, helping oil companies turn record profits, and leaving working families to fend for themselves? McCain's velvet world leaves him utterly unprepared to make the tough choices we need to restore the middle class and ensure that everyone in America has quality, affordable health insurance."
- Andy Stern, President, Service Employees International Union (SEIU)
John McCain is soaring to new heights of hypocrisy on his wife's personal jet. He flies around the country bent on duping the public into believing he's "one of them," a regular guy who can empathize with Americans facing an overwhelming economic crush. What's more, he disparages those who oppose his ridiculous policy proposals as "elitist." But who's the real elitist?
The REAL McCain is a multimillionaire who owns ten luxurious homes. The REAL McCain backs President Bush's tax cuts for big corporations. The REAL McCain empathizes only with the interests of our nation's wealthy minority, not its money-strapped majority. But far too many are buying into McCain's deceit because the corporate press won't present the whole picture, so we created this video to educate the public about the REAL McCain.
Watch the video and send it to everyone you know.
http://therealmccain.com/
Together, you have been a force in making sure The REAL McCain videos have been seen by nearly 6.5 million people. But as Frank Rich noted in his NY Times column yesterday, 40% of Americans hear too little about McCain from the mainstream media, meaning "the public doesn't know who on earth John McCain is." That's why it's crucial you ensure this video is seen by as many as possible, and that we use each and every tool at our disposal to get the word out. Please send this on to five friends and family members, and ask them to send it to five people they know. Get it
to your local news outlets and blogs and networking sites like Digg.
Raise hell about McCain's economic duplicity!
AFL-CIO President John Sweeney summed it up best when he said McCain "simply doesn't understand the challenges America's working families are facing because he isn't remotely affected by them." It's up to us to tell people who McCain really is, a jet-setting elitist more concerned with corporate lobbyists than hard-working Americans.
Yours,
Robert Greenwald
and the Brave New team
---
Brave New Films is supported by members like you; please consider making
a donation. We are located at 10510 Culver Blvd., Culver City, CA 90232.
*******
Monday, August 18, 2008
Finding Time for Reading
*******
We truly understand what it feels like not to have had a break since the second grade!:) Btdt-- been there, did that!:) But please never forget that one can just "burn up" or "kill" time, or one can invest it. Reading a good spiritual book (and they are far fewer than most people assume) is this kind of beautiful selfinvestment; so, sometimes, we might have to "make" the time, as it does not simply fall "out of the sky into our laps," although we might often wish that it could, or would!:) If
you can devote only a couple of minutes to reading a paragraph or two a day, this would add up in time.:):)
*******
What is Spirituality?, by a franciscan taoist
Spirituality can assault us with an onslaught that seems like being washed away in Niagara Falls! There is simply so much of it! "Spiritual" writing seems to know no end, and it can be overwhelming! It can swamp and lose the mind.
So, let us try to be as simple as possible, following the "K.I.S.S." principle-- "keep it super-simple." Spirituality is not, in its core-definition, thousands of gurus, ministers, Scriptures, books, ideas, concepts, and explanations contained in thousands of libraries and bookstores. As you might suspect, it is simpler. (Many great mastersages emphasize simplicity.)
Spirituality is Love--the complex choreography of balancing Love for yourself with Love for others. The Christ mentioned this as the principle, "Love your neighbor as yourself." So, if we love our neighbor less than ourselves, we have introduced imbalance into the equation. But if we love our neighbors more than ourselves, we have also made a significant error.
The ancient mystics wrote," God is Love." So, they also solved the great mystery of "God," and made even this most complex universal Mystery simple. For if we exercise compassion, kindness, goodness, and other forms of Love-- if indeed, we worship Love as God-- we will make no significant karmic errors, and will be able to avoid all negative karmic repercussions.
For the Buddha taught that all karma arises from intention. Do we have to be "perfect" in order to create a future life completely free from all negative karma? No, we do not. The good news is that, if we act with good and pure intention, we can be karmafree. For we cannot control what will become of our words once they have gone forth into the world; but we can control our intentions. And, in a just and fair universe, we should be held responsible for only that which we can control.
So, begin right now: Do an act of Love for yourself or for another living creature. Work to make this a life-pattern, a positive habit, and you will never regret your wise decision.
*******
We truly understand what it feels like not to have had a break since the second grade!:) Btdt-- been there, did that!:) But please never forget that one can just "burn up" or "kill" time, or one can invest it. Reading a good spiritual book (and they are far fewer than most people assume) is this kind of beautiful selfinvestment; so, sometimes, we might have to "make" the time, as it does not simply fall "out of the sky into our laps," although we might often wish that it could, or would!:) If
you can devote only a couple of minutes to reading a paragraph or two a day, this would add up in time.:):)
*******
What is Spirituality?, by a franciscan taoist
Spirituality can assault us with an onslaught that seems like being washed away in Niagara Falls! There is simply so much of it! "Spiritual" writing seems to know no end, and it can be overwhelming! It can swamp and lose the mind.
So, let us try to be as simple as possible, following the "K.I.S.S." principle-- "keep it super-simple." Spirituality is not, in its core-definition, thousands of gurus, ministers, Scriptures, books, ideas, concepts, and explanations contained in thousands of libraries and bookstores. As you might suspect, it is simpler. (Many great mastersages emphasize simplicity.)
Spirituality is Love--the complex choreography of balancing Love for yourself with Love for others. The Christ mentioned this as the principle, "Love your neighbor as yourself." So, if we love our neighbor less than ourselves, we have introduced imbalance into the equation. But if we love our neighbors more than ourselves, we have also made a significant error.
The ancient mystics wrote," God is Love." So, they also solved the great mystery of "God," and made even this most complex universal Mystery simple. For if we exercise compassion, kindness, goodness, and other forms of Love-- if indeed, we worship Love as God-- we will make no significant karmic errors, and will be able to avoid all negative karmic repercussions.
For the Buddha taught that all karma arises from intention. Do we have to be "perfect" in order to create a future life completely free from all negative karma? No, we do not. The good news is that, if we act with good and pure intention, we can be karmafree. For we cannot control what will become of our words once they have gone forth into the world; but we can control our intentions. And, in a just and fair universe, we should be held responsible for only that which we can control.
So, begin right now: Do an act of Love for yourself or for another living creature. Work to make this a life-pattern, a positive habit, and you will never regret your wise decision.
*******
Death as Love's Servant; Illness as Death's Servant
*******
This donkey, for years, has accepted on sheer faith, that its suffering from a chronic condition of less-healthy health was somehow "good." But its goodness remained hidden until recently.
For recently, an opportunity to leave this world behind did beckon, at times, rather strongly. Although, of course, there is always much that we seem to "lose" when we leave this world, the overall gain is so much greater to make it obvious that death is the servant of Love, not of the "devil," or fear, Love's conceptual opposite.
But how, exactly, does death serve Love? Squeezed into a tight emotional corner, the donkey was forced to ask this question until his "inner ears" rang, and then, threatened to fall off!:) To answer this question became a passion!
But one evening, the answer finally dawned: Here is how death serves Love: Death is not a "terrible" or even "bad" event. Although we do lose everything of this world, that loss is only temporary. Indeed, when twenty years pass on earth, that is only a few minutes in the afterlife state ("Homeworld").
Death serves Love by totally erasing all mistakes and errors, or by educating us out of them, through karmic consequences. It liberates us all into a brand-new world with the clean slate of a new beginning. Death introduces us to incomprehensible mercy, incredible forgiveness, and the complete awakening of, and to, grace. This is Love in its most "saving" or rescuing form; ultimately, Love liberates us from even this whole world of frustration, disappointment, dream, and nightmare. This makes death the servant of Love. This removes death from the category "bad," and places it in the opposite"-- "Good." In a word, death is a good thing.
But, locked and lost in the world of illusion, it is very, very difficult for us to wrap our minds around this stunning new perspective. What is "stunning" is the idea that death is sunny-- not a curse which throws the mind into a black, bottomless pit. For, instead, it awakens the Mind to a dazzling new identity as an immortal and nonmaterial Soul. We must reverse, within ourselves, the entire idea that death is bad, or that it is "punishment" for sin, created by a vicious and merciless god.
We need to begin to embrace death as a great gift instead. This is how Jesus, the Buddha, and other great mysticsages viewed death. And this is why so many mysticsaints died willingly-- or at a very early age. If the idea of death as "good" sounds a little nutty, it is-- by the standards of society and culture. But this is the very charge made by those ancient champions of logic, the Romans, against the early Christians, who often claimed that they could hardly wait to die!
This is how death serves Love. And disease (genetic or otherwise) serves death. How can this be good?
This is how: Sooner or later, we all need to leave this planet, this tiny life, in order to enter what some mystics call "the real life," the gigantic life as a supernatural and superhuman being, a nonphysical Soul that is already millennia old, and that lives always in perfect tranquility and utter bliss.
If we happen to be "blessed" with a deadly (lethal) condition, then, the problem of our leaving the earth is greatly simplified. For if it is the case that our bodies are trying to signal us that our time on earth is over, all that we have to do is nothing. For if we do nothing, then, nature takes over, and we leave this world.
A comedian once quipped, "I love nature, but I think she is trying to kill me!" Yes, nature is "trying to kill" everyone; and, ultimately, she does indeed bring us to the point of biodeath (which is not "psychodeath" or "pneumodeath.")
If we of Tao, when our time comes, simply relax into our bioprocesses, with fullest trust (faith) in the great and invisible Tao-Mind that controls all things, then, we can leave the planet in peace by simply allowing nature to "take her own course."
The Taoist is no fanatic. She does not drop all health-giving vitamins, minerals, herbs, or drugs, for they can make her life much richer; and if she is not willing to leave the planet-- if, for example, she thinks that her personal Tao is wanting her to stay on earth for a few more years-- then she continues to "resist nature," or act decisively out of selflove: She continues with the vitamins, medicines, etc. For taking her meds is a form of Love (selflove).
But things are very different when she hears the call of the Infinite, deep within the Mind, telling her that it is indeed her time to "go Home." When she hears this, and only when she hears it with crystal-clarity, then, she is free to stop taking the drugs, vitamins, or other supplements that "interfere healthily with nature" to keep her alive through chemical or "artificial" means.
She does not have even to face the terribly complex problems that face arguments for euthanasia, selfsuicide, doctor-assisted suicide, and related areas of enormous complexity. For, when she knows without doubt that she is being called to the Life far beyond this one, all that she has to do is nothing. For doing nothing, if she has a serious illness, is the easiest, the most effortless, solution in the entire cosmos. This is how weakness, or disease, can be the real gift of a loving God. If
she does nothing, in the most perfect Taoist sense, she will leave the earth. This is the great, and usually secret, immense blessing hidden within disease.
Btw, "disease" is so much more than mere "dis-ease." When you are battling disease, it is not reducible to saying, "I am uncomfortable." Much greater, often enormous, pain can result from disease (which is why some metaphysicists are so terrified of it). Some rather foolish people have tried to so reduce it, but it has many and complex roots, in both this life and previous ones.
When our time to leave does come, let us all hope that we are grown-up enough to approach the inevitable free of fear, and even saying "okay" to death itself. Silently praying, a million times, "Thy will be done," we can enter even the deathexperience without terror and horror. If we are very lucky-- or blessed-- God will provide a Way for us to leave by doing nothing!
*******
This donkey, for years, has accepted on sheer faith, that its suffering from a chronic condition of less-healthy health was somehow "good." But its goodness remained hidden until recently.
For recently, an opportunity to leave this world behind did beckon, at times, rather strongly. Although, of course, there is always much that we seem to "lose" when we leave this world, the overall gain is so much greater to make it obvious that death is the servant of Love, not of the "devil," or fear, Love's conceptual opposite.
But how, exactly, does death serve Love? Squeezed into a tight emotional corner, the donkey was forced to ask this question until his "inner ears" rang, and then, threatened to fall off!:) To answer this question became a passion!
But one evening, the answer finally dawned: Here is how death serves Love: Death is not a "terrible" or even "bad" event. Although we do lose everything of this world, that loss is only temporary. Indeed, when twenty years pass on earth, that is only a few minutes in the afterlife state ("Homeworld").
Death serves Love by totally erasing all mistakes and errors, or by educating us out of them, through karmic consequences. It liberates us all into a brand-new world with the clean slate of a new beginning. Death introduces us to incomprehensible mercy, incredible forgiveness, and the complete awakening of, and to, grace. This is Love in its most "saving" or rescuing form; ultimately, Love liberates us from even this whole world of frustration, disappointment, dream, and nightmare. This makes death the servant of Love. This removes death from the category "bad," and places it in the opposite"-- "Good." In a word, death is a good thing.
But, locked and lost in the world of illusion, it is very, very difficult for us to wrap our minds around this stunning new perspective. What is "stunning" is the idea that death is sunny-- not a curse which throws the mind into a black, bottomless pit. For, instead, it awakens the Mind to a dazzling new identity as an immortal and nonmaterial Soul. We must reverse, within ourselves, the entire idea that death is bad, or that it is "punishment" for sin, created by a vicious and merciless god.
We need to begin to embrace death as a great gift instead. This is how Jesus, the Buddha, and other great mysticsages viewed death. And this is why so many mysticsaints died willingly-- or at a very early age. If the idea of death as "good" sounds a little nutty, it is-- by the standards of society and culture. But this is the very charge made by those ancient champions of logic, the Romans, against the early Christians, who often claimed that they could hardly wait to die!
This is how death serves Love. And disease (genetic or otherwise) serves death. How can this be good?
This is how: Sooner or later, we all need to leave this planet, this tiny life, in order to enter what some mystics call "the real life," the gigantic life as a supernatural and superhuman being, a nonphysical Soul that is already millennia old, and that lives always in perfect tranquility and utter bliss.
If we happen to be "blessed" with a deadly (lethal) condition, then, the problem of our leaving the earth is greatly simplified. For if it is the case that our bodies are trying to signal us that our time on earth is over, all that we have to do is nothing. For if we do nothing, then, nature takes over, and we leave this world.
A comedian once quipped, "I love nature, but I think she is trying to kill me!" Yes, nature is "trying to kill" everyone; and, ultimately, she does indeed bring us to the point of biodeath (which is not "psychodeath" or "pneumodeath.")
If we of Tao, when our time comes, simply relax into our bioprocesses, with fullest trust (faith) in the great and invisible Tao-Mind that controls all things, then, we can leave the planet in peace by simply allowing nature to "take her own course."
The Taoist is no fanatic. She does not drop all health-giving vitamins, minerals, herbs, or drugs, for they can make her life much richer; and if she is not willing to leave the planet-- if, for example, she thinks that her personal Tao is wanting her to stay on earth for a few more years-- then she continues to "resist nature," or act decisively out of selflove: She continues with the vitamins, medicines, etc. For taking her meds is a form of Love (selflove).
But things are very different when she hears the call of the Infinite, deep within the Mind, telling her that it is indeed her time to "go Home." When she hears this, and only when she hears it with crystal-clarity, then, she is free to stop taking the drugs, vitamins, or other supplements that "interfere healthily with nature" to keep her alive through chemical or "artificial" means.
She does not have even to face the terribly complex problems that face arguments for euthanasia, selfsuicide, doctor-assisted suicide, and related areas of enormous complexity. For, when she knows without doubt that she is being called to the Life far beyond this one, all that she has to do is nothing. For doing nothing, if she has a serious illness, is the easiest, the most effortless, solution in the entire cosmos. This is how weakness, or disease, can be the real gift of a loving God. If
she does nothing, in the most perfect Taoist sense, she will leave the earth. This is the great, and usually secret, immense blessing hidden within disease.
Btw, "disease" is so much more than mere "dis-ease." When you are battling disease, it is not reducible to saying, "I am uncomfortable." Much greater, often enormous, pain can result from disease (which is why some metaphysicists are so terrified of it). Some rather foolish people have tried to so reduce it, but it has many and complex roots, in both this life and previous ones.
When our time to leave does come, let us all hope that we are grown-up enough to approach the inevitable free of fear, and even saying "okay" to death itself. Silently praying, a million times, "Thy will be done," we can enter even the deathexperience without terror and horror. If we are very lucky-- or blessed-- God will provide a Way for us to leave by doing nothing!
*******
Independent Spirituality
*******
We can no longer force ourselves to "join" any organized faith. We have God (Love) in our hearts, and that is all that we will ever need.
Hey, if George [pseudonym] is interested in the independent spiritual path, we have a couple of books that might help him along the Way.
Yes, we did know about Janet [pseudonym]; we feel that her recent decision was and is supported by the Holy Spirit of Love. She and I have visited a few times, and exchange semiregular emails. She is a beautiful lady, inside and out, and richly deserves the freedom offered by Love alone.
Regular prayer/meditation is the best "tonic" for life on earth-- never easy, but filled with joy, when we add the "ingredient" of Love! For Love always supports us, and is completely independent of anything that we can say or do. It is so much easier to follow the great mystical path of Tao than it is continuously to try to "influence" or "change" the Eternal and Infinite. The Way is as easy as floating, and many masters have said that the full life of cooperation is "effortless.":)
*******
____________
We can no longer force ourselves to "join" any organized faith. We have God (Love) in our hearts, and that is all that we will ever need.
Hey, if George [pseudonym] is interested in the independent spiritual path, we have a couple of books that might help him along the Way.
Yes, we did know about Janet [pseudonym]; we feel that her recent decision was and is supported by the Holy Spirit of Love. She and I have visited a few times, and exchange semiregular emails. She is a beautiful lady, inside and out, and richly deserves the freedom offered by Love alone.
Regular prayer/meditation is the best "tonic" for life on earth-- never easy, but filled with joy, when we add the "ingredient" of Love! For Love always supports us, and is completely independent of anything that we can say or do. It is so much easier to follow the great mystical path of Tao than it is continuously to try to "influence" or "change" the Eternal and Infinite. The Way is as easy as floating, and many masters have said that the full life of cooperation is "effortless.":)
*******
____________
Shin Buddhism
*******
God can be "odd," from our perspective, but Love always knows what She is doing, and She always gets her way!:)
We have been reading about a mystical form of Japanese Buddhism, called "Shin." Its basic teaching is called jinen honi, and this is living out the will of the One, into which personal will disappears. This is called the "will of Amida," one of their names for the Buddha, and their mantra for vanishing into Lovemind is namu Amida butsu. This is a fine and very profound application of the principle of mysticism in Buddhism; so, we heartily can recommend it.:)
*******
God can be "odd," from our perspective, but Love always knows what She is doing, and She always gets her way!:)
We have been reading about a mystical form of Japanese Buddhism, called "Shin." Its basic teaching is called jinen honi, and this is living out the will of the One, into which personal will disappears. This is called the "will of Amida," one of their names for the Buddha, and their mantra for vanishing into Lovemind is namu Amida butsu. This is a fine and very profound application of the principle of mysticism in Buddhism; so, we heartily can recommend it.:)
*******
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Quiet Stillness
*******
You sound, as usual, quite busy; please be sure to get a moderate amount of rest to compensate for your nonstop busy-ness; remember that God is in the silence, and this world will do everything possible to rob us of that silence, and moments of quiet stillness.
*******
You sound, as usual, quite busy; please be sure to get a moderate amount of rest to compensate for your nonstop busy-ness; remember that God is in the silence, and this world will do everything possible to rob us of that silence, and moments of quiet stillness.
*******
US/NATO Hands Off Georgia and Russia - Sign Petition
*******
Please send this message to bush, Cheney, Congressional Leaders, the United Nations, NATO Sign the petition: http://www.iacenter.org/anti-war/handsoffcaucasus
Donate:
http://iacenter.org/donate
Sign up for updates:
http://iacenter.org/action_list
TELL BUSH, CHENEY, RICE AND CONGRESS: U.S. HANDS OFF GEORGIA AND RUSSIA - NO NEW WAR - END NATO NOW!
Please send this message to bush, Cheney, Congressional Leaders, the United Nations, NATO Sign the petition: http://www.iacenter.org/anti-war/handsoffcaucasus
Donate:
http://iacenter.org/donate
Sign up for updates:
http://iacenter.org/action_list
TELL BUSH, CHENEY, RICE AND CONGRESS: U.S. HANDS OFF GEORGIA AND RUSSIA - NO NEW WAR - END NATO NOW!
It is with growing concern that we observe that the U.S. government is threatening new military moves that carry the danger of another war-- this time against Russia.
The Bush regime and the corporate U.S. news media have launched an anti-Russia hate campaign. Yet, just as with the occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan, and the threats on Iran, the threatened military confrontation with Russia is also based on a lie.
The truth, hidden by most of the corporate news media, is that Georgia's President Mikheil Saakashvili, unleashed his U.S.- and Israeli-armed and-trained forces on the tiny autonomous region of South Ossetia, murdering civilians and attacking Russian peacekeeping troops stationed there. Only then did Russian troops respond.
Saakashvili is the president who sent 2,000 Georgian youth to join the U.S.-led occupation of Iraq. The U.S. supplies the weapons to his army. U.S. Special Forces and Israeli advisers and mercenary contractors direct the Georgian military, which just held three weeks of joint exercises with the U.S. Army and Marine Corps in July. We must take note that like Iraq and Iran, Georgia itself is a prize for U.S. oil companies, as it is a major transit point for Central Asian oil.
There is little doubt that U.S. arming of Georgia and its push to get Georgia into NATO set the scene for the Georgian invasion of South Ossetia and created the threat of a new major war. Now Washington also threatens Russia by placing missile bases in Poland and the Czech Republic against the wishes of the overwhelming majority of the people there. Surrounding Russia with this military alliance of new NATO members is the greatest danger to peace and stability on a global scale.
It is time to remember that NATO was established as an anti-USSR military alliance aimed at reinforcing capitalist control and preventing socialist revolutions in the colonialist powers of Europe weakened by World War II. Since the end of the Soviet Union and the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact, the U.S. has attempted to vastly expand NATO and turn it into a military instrument to consolidate U.S. corporate power, surround Russia and China and re-conquer the former colonial world.
Consider these examples:
Yugoslavia. Based on the lie that NATO was defending small nations, U.S.-NATO intervention and bombing destroyed multinational Yugoslavia and turned the Balkans into a collection of dependent ministates ruled by the U.S. and Western Europe powers.
Afghanistan. Based on the lie that this was a police action against terrorists, U.S.-NATO have carried out a seven-year occupation leaving the country in ruins and enslaved.
Iraq. Here the lie about weapons of mass destruction was so blatant, and the U.S. position so weak, that most NATO countries refused to join the occupation and utter destruction of Iraq.
No one can believe Bush is promoting peace in Georgia. It is time not only to stop this expansion but to end the NATO war machine completely by dissolving NATO.
It is encouraging to anti-war people worldwide that Georgians themselves have issued a statement condemning the Saakashvili machine. "The entire responsibility for this fratricidal war," the Georgian Peace Committee says, "for thousands of children, women and elderly dead people, for the inhabitants of South Ossetia and of Georgia falls exclusively on the current president, on the Parliament and on the government of Georgia." (Aug. 11)
We cannot do less than the people of Georgia who oppose the current president and want no part of NATO. We demand from Washington:
(1) Stop interfering in Georgia and the Caucasus
(2) Stop attempting to expand the NATO military organization into the
countries of Eastern Europe and those that border on Russia.
(3) End the aggressive NATO military alliance
(4) No new wars!
Sign the Petition at http://www.iacenter.org/anti-war/handsoffcaucasus
*******
International Action Center
Solidarity Center
55 W. 17 St., Suite 5C
New York, NY 10011
Saturday, August 16, 2008
McCain Meets Obama
*******
On Saturday, 081608, Senators John McCain and Barack Obama-- the two nominees for the office of president of the U.S.-- shared the stage of a large church in California. The event was presented as an "interview," but was actually more like a forum. The two men never met face-to-face; there was no real debate. The moderator asked the two the same questions; this tended to highlight the convergences between their conjectures re the future. This, deliberately or otherwise, down-played some of the most important distinctions that separate the platforms of the Republican (McCain) and Democratic (Obama) parties.
Both men performed splendidly. Their answers were to the point, clear, and they both spoke from lucid minds. Their presentations were very similar. But the substances of their replies separated them: John McCain still supports an endless war, which he once said could last "another hundred years." He thinks that the war in Iraq, shamefully initiated by the U.S. against a small third-world country, can be "won with honor." (Shades of Viet Nam!) He was terribly challenged to define the "rich," while Obama rather quickly and neatly defined the group as a family earning over $250,000-- a cool quarter of a million per year.
McCain obviously wants to continue the tax-breaks given to the rich, and, reversing years of his own record, spoke in strong support of commercial drilling for oil in off-shore areas of America. McCain seemed smooth and relaxed, but you could easily tell that his message was designed for the large audience; it lacked the very personal marks of a more personal conversation used between Obama and the narrator. To "warm" up his rather cool way of speaking, sometimes, almost aloof, McCain used the affectation "My friends" several times during his one-hour address.
As usual, McCain tried to distance himself from the ingloriously unpopular George Bush, but, as usual, again, he managed to come across, in several policy-areas, as the same ol' "McSame."
If the United States is at all serious about getting rid of the terrible, hideous, nightmarishly incompetent government of the past seven years, we cannot afford a "bush-clone," or even a "bush look-alike." Obama is right when he identifies change-- and major change-- as the greatest need of our country, and our planet.
*******
On Saturday, 081608, Senators John McCain and Barack Obama-- the two nominees for the office of president of the U.S.-- shared the stage of a large church in California. The event was presented as an "interview," but was actually more like a forum. The two men never met face-to-face; there was no real debate. The moderator asked the two the same questions; this tended to highlight the convergences between their conjectures re the future. This, deliberately or otherwise, down-played some of the most important distinctions that separate the platforms of the Republican (McCain) and Democratic (Obama) parties.
Both men performed splendidly. Their answers were to the point, clear, and they both spoke from lucid minds. Their presentations were very similar. But the substances of their replies separated them: John McCain still supports an endless war, which he once said could last "another hundred years." He thinks that the war in Iraq, shamefully initiated by the U.S. against a small third-world country, can be "won with honor." (Shades of Viet Nam!) He was terribly challenged to define the "rich," while Obama rather quickly and neatly defined the group as a family earning over $250,000-- a cool quarter of a million per year.
McCain obviously wants to continue the tax-breaks given to the rich, and, reversing years of his own record, spoke in strong support of commercial drilling for oil in off-shore areas of America. McCain seemed smooth and relaxed, but you could easily tell that his message was designed for the large audience; it lacked the very personal marks of a more personal conversation used between Obama and the narrator. To "warm" up his rather cool way of speaking, sometimes, almost aloof, McCain used the affectation "My friends" several times during his one-hour address.
As usual, McCain tried to distance himself from the ingloriously unpopular George Bush, but, as usual, again, he managed to come across, in several policy-areas, as the same ol' "McSame."
If the United States is at all serious about getting rid of the terrible, hideous, nightmarishly incompetent government of the past seven years, we cannot afford a "bush-clone," or even a "bush look-alike." Obama is right when he identifies change-- and major change-- as the greatest need of our country, and our planet.
*******
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Healing Love
*******
The best way to help a paranoid schizophrenic is by supplying her with plenty of unconditional Love. Like all other persons, the person troubled with this serious psychological disorder responds to agapology-- expressions of unconditional Love.
Paranoid schizophrenia is a very serious mental disorder. It cannot always be healed completely, even by Love, but Love does improve those who suffer from this terrible disorder.
Love is always the right response, the right thing to do, in any situation and every situation. It always helps to improve the individual who gives and the one who receives. In time, it has the effect of healing the entire planet, and the entire galaxy.
So, let us continue, in Love, to pray for all who are ill. Let us pray, specifically, that healing Love fill every heart with the healing Light of Love. And let us pray relentlessly and incessantly, never giving up; for this is the only Way that Love will ever overcome fear. For all the cosmos is involved in the conflict, opposition, or disparity between Love and fear; it involves each and every heart. So, let us declare our solidarity with Love, and against fear. Then, let us follow up our declaration with actual activities of compassion, charity, generosity,
and kindness. For every act of Love is an act of healing.
*******
The best way to help a paranoid schizophrenic is by supplying her with plenty of unconditional Love. Like all other persons, the person troubled with this serious psychological disorder responds to agapology-- expressions of unconditional Love.
Paranoid schizophrenia is a very serious mental disorder. It cannot always be healed completely, even by Love, but Love does improve those who suffer from this terrible disorder.
Love is always the right response, the right thing to do, in any situation and every situation. It always helps to improve the individual who gives and the one who receives. In time, it has the effect of healing the entire planet, and the entire galaxy.
So, let us continue, in Love, to pray for all who are ill. Let us pray, specifically, that healing Love fill every heart with the healing Light of Love. And let us pray relentlessly and incessantly, never giving up; for this is the only Way that Love will ever overcome fear. For all the cosmos is involved in the conflict, opposition, or disparity between Love and fear; it involves each and every heart. So, let us declare our solidarity with Love, and against fear. Then, let us follow up our declaration with actual activities of compassion, charity, generosity,
and kindness. For every act of Love is an act of healing.
*******
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Spiritual Independence
*******
Let freedom ring! And let freedom rock!:) We who were once servants of a human cult are now the free servants of freedom! We are servants of God (Love) alone, and we are determined never again to lose this special and beautiful gift of freedom. Yes, we share your smiles re those who have asserted their freedom to run their own lives as free human beings, having escaped the dull programming-efforts of the cult. We are now free to explore the entire wide and varied "smorgasbord" of spirituality, and there is a wide spectrum indeed of spiritual (Lovebased) paths before us, in both religion and psychology. Some of us continue to declare and to support our spiritual freedom by refusing to "join" any "organization," or any form of organized religion! We are, instead, happy spiritual free-lancers. We belong to God (Love) alone, and not to any organized religion! And we find continuous bliss in our spiritual independence.
We can work with any and all religions, or none at all; this is the very meaning of spiritual independence. It feels intuitively good and right for all of us, and so, we continue on the "pathless path.":) Together, all over the world, each and every day, we celebrate our spiritual freedom and independence. We are determined never again to give up our spiritual independence, to any religion or religious organization. For we greatly treasure and value our freedom in Christ (Love). It is an inexpressible delight to share the Way, and message, of radical spiritual
independence with other free and freed Souls!:)
*******
Let freedom ring! And let freedom rock!:) We who were once servants of a human cult are now the free servants of freedom! We are servants of God (Love) alone, and we are determined never again to lose this special and beautiful gift of freedom. Yes, we share your smiles re those who have asserted their freedom to run their own lives as free human beings, having escaped the dull programming-efforts of the cult. We are now free to explore the entire wide and varied "smorgasbord" of spirituality, and there is a wide spectrum indeed of spiritual (Lovebased) paths before us, in both religion and psychology. Some of us continue to declare and to support our spiritual freedom by refusing to "join" any "organization," or any form of organized religion! We are, instead, happy spiritual free-lancers. We belong to God (Love) alone, and not to any organized religion! And we find continuous bliss in our spiritual independence.
We can work with any and all religions, or none at all; this is the very meaning of spiritual independence. It feels intuitively good and right for all of us, and so, we continue on the "pathless path.":) Together, all over the world, each and every day, we celebrate our spiritual freedom and independence. We are determined never again to give up our spiritual independence, to any religion or religious organization. For we greatly treasure and value our freedom in Christ (Love). It is an inexpressible delight to share the Way, and message, of radical spiritual
independence with other free and freed Souls!:)
*******
Beauty
*******
The sense of beauty is the very beginning of solid spirituality, and no one can make progress until she has cultivated a sense of beauty and harmony.:)
*******
The sense of beauty is the very beginning of solid spirituality, and no one can make progress until she has cultivated a sense of beauty and harmony.:)
*******
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Green Gifts for Autumn
Dear Friends of the Heart,
This autumn we're making green gift giving easier—and helping you save money too. Our Green Gift Guide features special offers from businesses listed in the National Green Pages™. So this year, show you care with gifts from businesses that support people and the planet. And spread the love by forwarding this email to a friend.
This autumn we're making green gift giving easier—and helping you save money too. Our Green Gift Guide features special offers from businesses listed in the National Green Pages™. So this year, show you care with gifts from businesses that support people and the planet. And spread the love by forwarding this email to a friend.
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Thursday, August 07, 2008
The Buddha
*******
"The Buddha" is not a name; it is, like "Christ," a title. It refers historically to a man named Siddhartha Gautama, who found enlightenment by sitting still and going inward, into his own mind. God always works through the mind and heart, and this is the Buddha's great discovery. He also founded a system of spiritual psychology; since his time, it has been called "Buddhism." Many say that Buddhism is a philosophy of life; it is not a "religion." For it has little to say about God, angels, other spiritual beings, or any other "religious" issues. So, it does not meet the criteria of a religion; instead, it is a Way of life. It does include Love (in Sanskrit, it is maitri) and compassion (Sanskrit, karuna). So, it is a reliable pattern of living that can be used by any good Christian. In fact, it is probable that Jesus studied Buddhism. (It was four hundred years old when Jesus was born.)
*******
"The Buddha" is not a name; it is, like "Christ," a title. It refers historically to a man named Siddhartha Gautama, who found enlightenment by sitting still and going inward, into his own mind. God always works through the mind and heart, and this is the Buddha's great discovery. He also founded a system of spiritual psychology; since his time, it has been called "Buddhism." Many say that Buddhism is a philosophy of life; it is not a "religion." For it has little to say about God, angels, other spiritual beings, or any other "religious" issues. So, it does not meet the criteria of a religion; instead, it is a Way of life. It does include Love (in Sanskrit, it is maitri) and compassion (Sanskrit, karuna). So, it is a reliable pattern of living that can be used by any good Christian. In fact, it is probable that Jesus studied Buddhism. (It was four hundred years old when Jesus was born.)
*******
Pain of Negative Karma
*******
In one of his parables, Jesus did use the words "shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth." (Mt. 13:41, 42) Jesus was using dramatic symbolism here. A "furnace" here represents not only pain, but purification. In a furnace, matter is turned directly into energy. And the same happens when a human being dies; she, as a Soul, has no longer any need for a "physical" body, but, as pure Soulmind, uses her lightbody or energybody.
A parable is by definition not a literal statement. So, he was not talking literally, but in symbol. These dramatic words were designed to indicate the painfear state that grips a person caught in negative karma. The pain can be as severe as that of being literally burned with a match, candle, or other fire. And negative karma does indeed create much "wailing and gnashing of teeth," representing deep regret for harmful behavior. For any hurtful action, if indulged voluntarily, will and must create karma. And the karma, also by definition, must be as painful as the agony caused to others by one's deliberate activity.
*******
In one of his parables, Jesus did use the words "shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth." (Mt. 13:41, 42) Jesus was using dramatic symbolism here. A "furnace" here represents not only pain, but purification. In a furnace, matter is turned directly into energy. And the same happens when a human being dies; she, as a Soul, has no longer any need for a "physical" body, but, as pure Soulmind, uses her lightbody or energybody.
A parable is by definition not a literal statement. So, he was not talking literally, but in symbol. These dramatic words were designed to indicate the painfear state that grips a person caught in negative karma. The pain can be as severe as that of being literally burned with a match, candle, or other fire. And negative karma does indeed create much "wailing and gnashing of teeth," representing deep regret for harmful behavior. For any hurtful action, if indulged voluntarily, will and must create karma. And the karma, also by definition, must be as painful as the agony caused to others by one's deliberate activity.
*******
Sunday, August 03, 2008
Elementals
Elementals
*******
We have studied the European system of Hermetics for addressing the elements of the four varieties-- earth, air, fire, and water. In magical conjuration, they are to be visualized as perfectly spherical quanta of energy called forth from the collective Unconscious-- and each element has its own color-- yellow for earth, blue, air; red, fire; and silver, water. There is, of course, more to the ceremony of calling forth elementals, but this is how it is done.:) Of course, we do not practice magic, but the thematically related theurgy.
*******
*******
We have studied the European system of Hermetics for addressing the elements of the four varieties-- earth, air, fire, and water. In magical conjuration, they are to be visualized as perfectly spherical quanta of energy called forth from the collective Unconscious-- and each element has its own color-- yellow for earth, blue, air; red, fire; and silver, water. There is, of course, more to the ceremony of calling forth elementals, but this is how it is done.:) Of course, we do not practice magic, but the thematically related theurgy.
*******
Positive, Consistent Spiritual Reading
*******
Many of your inquiries overlap in their subject-matter. We have already addressed, several times, how to avoid the support of interior fear, and the discovery of courage, but this teaching will be repeated here:
Try to avoid all sources of negative religion. This includes all reading that supports fear, as well as regular association with all people of fear. A spiritual classic says, "It is better to be alone than to associate with fools."
Any religion that is founded upon a god of fury, rage, emotional insecurity or instability, will tend to fill your mind and heart with damaging and hurtful "religious garbage." This is psychotoxic, and even "pneumotoxic." In other words, what you read repeatedly can affect your very deep Soulmind, and can even affect your ability to integrate your life with the even deeper Spiritmind of pure Love.
So, try assiduously and carefully to avoid reading any material that can be spiritually toxic. This includes all material (and it is common everywhere) that mistakes Jehovah/Yahweh, the god of the Hebrew Scriptures ("Old Testament") for the Lord of Love taught by Jesus and the other great masters.
All religion that is exclusive, judgmental, and condemnatory is also toxic. All religion that adores the ancient wargod or that predicts the "end of the world" is also psychotoxic.
You can usually identify a potentially toxic form of religion due to its high content of quotations from, or references to, the Hebrew Scriptures. Let it be repeated here, for any record, that this is not a "condemnation" of the Jewish faith; most Jews have completely outgrown the ancient god of their earliest traditions. They do not even embrace or teach about this god. Instead, you find it in fundamentalist "Christianity." This fundamentalism is not "Christian" at all, and
almost every form of it is also toxic.
Avoiding negativity is only "half the battle." While it is healthy and healing, your education is not complete simply because you avoid the negative. It is not complete until you take the necessary second step in education: Replace negative material with positive. Read only positive, uplifting, inspiring spiritual literature that emphasizes the Way of Love. This includes dozens of sources; we, at Love Ministries, publish and distribute over twenty books, for example, and we highly recommend all of them. Then, there are the great classics of spirituality,
including the Gospels of John and Thomas, selections from the ancient Nag Hammadi Christian Library, the famous Chinese classic The Book of the Great Mind and Its Expression, also published by Love Ministries; we also recommend the Indian classic, The Celestial Song of God, and various readings in history, especially the history of mysticism, or the Way of Oneness, including but not limited to various Sutras of Hinduism and Buddhism.
There is an entire, and very large, library of positive spiritual sources. Each time that we read these materials, we are educated, uplifted, and made stronger. The writings of St. John of the Cross and his student, St. Theresa of Avila are among these Western works of Christian mysticism. And there are plenty more where these come from, including the writings of Catheryn of Genoa, Catheryn of Siena, Meister Eckhardt, Julian of Norwich, Jan Van Ruycebroeck, and several other fairly wellknown mystical writers from the Christian or Jewish tradition. You can also read the works of Kabbalah and the poetry of Sufism for spiritual renewal.
There is so much, much more that can be said. This letter could be expanded into a book. So, we recommend a book called Journey to the Center of the Soul: Mysticism Made Simple, and its companion-text Falling in Love with Yourself: Love and the Inner Beloved, along with a great library of other mystical literature.
NOTE: People always misunderstand the words "mystical" and "mysticism." Fundamentalists, in their ignorance, are terrified of the very words, and often misdefine them as having something to do with the "occult," magic, or even demonology. This is purest ignorance; mysticism has nothing to do with the occult or with magic in any form; it also has nothing to do with any form of occultism. And it is the very polar opposite of demonology, since its task is to educate us in the Way of Love, and to encourage our hearts to grow closer to the interior "heart of God."
*******
Many of your inquiries overlap in their subject-matter. We have already addressed, several times, how to avoid the support of interior fear, and the discovery of courage, but this teaching will be repeated here:
Try to avoid all sources of negative religion. This includes all reading that supports fear, as well as regular association with all people of fear. A spiritual classic says, "It is better to be alone than to associate with fools."
Any religion that is founded upon a god of fury, rage, emotional insecurity or instability, will tend to fill your mind and heart with damaging and hurtful "religious garbage." This is psychotoxic, and even "pneumotoxic." In other words, what you read repeatedly can affect your very deep Soulmind, and can even affect your ability to integrate your life with the even deeper Spiritmind of pure Love.
So, try assiduously and carefully to avoid reading any material that can be spiritually toxic. This includes all material (and it is common everywhere) that mistakes Jehovah/Yahweh, the god of the Hebrew Scriptures ("Old Testament") for the Lord of Love taught by Jesus and the other great masters.
All religion that is exclusive, judgmental, and condemnatory is also toxic. All religion that adores the ancient wargod or that predicts the "end of the world" is also psychotoxic.
You can usually identify a potentially toxic form of religion due to its high content of quotations from, or references to, the Hebrew Scriptures. Let it be repeated here, for any record, that this is not a "condemnation" of the Jewish faith; most Jews have completely outgrown the ancient god of their earliest traditions. They do not even embrace or teach about this god. Instead, you find it in fundamentalist "Christianity." This fundamentalism is not "Christian" at all, and
almost every form of it is also toxic.
Avoiding negativity is only "half the battle." While it is healthy and healing, your education is not complete simply because you avoid the negative. It is not complete until you take the necessary second step in education: Replace negative material with positive. Read only positive, uplifting, inspiring spiritual literature that emphasizes the Way of Love. This includes dozens of sources; we, at Love Ministries, publish and distribute over twenty books, for example, and we highly recommend all of them. Then, there are the great classics of spirituality,
including the Gospels of John and Thomas, selections from the ancient Nag Hammadi Christian Library, the famous Chinese classic The Book of the Great Mind and Its Expression, also published by Love Ministries; we also recommend the Indian classic, The Celestial Song of God, and various readings in history, especially the history of mysticism, or the Way of Oneness, including but not limited to various Sutras of Hinduism and Buddhism.
There is an entire, and very large, library of positive spiritual sources. Each time that we read these materials, we are educated, uplifted, and made stronger. The writings of St. John of the Cross and his student, St. Theresa of Avila are among these Western works of Christian mysticism. And there are plenty more where these come from, including the writings of Catheryn of Genoa, Catheryn of Siena, Meister Eckhardt, Julian of Norwich, Jan Van Ruycebroeck, and several other fairly wellknown mystical writers from the Christian or Jewish tradition. You can also read the works of Kabbalah and the poetry of Sufism for spiritual renewal.
There is so much, much more that can be said. This letter could be expanded into a book. So, we recommend a book called Journey to the Center of the Soul: Mysticism Made Simple, and its companion-text Falling in Love with Yourself: Love and the Inner Beloved, along with a great library of other mystical literature.
NOTE: People always misunderstand the words "mystical" and "mysticism." Fundamentalists, in their ignorance, are terrified of the very words, and often misdefine them as having something to do with the "occult," magic, or even demonology. This is purest ignorance; mysticism has nothing to do with the occult or with magic in any form; it also has nothing to do with any form of occultism. And it is the very polar opposite of demonology, since its task is to educate us in the Way of Love, and to encourage our hearts to grow closer to the interior "heart of God."
*******
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