Posts
Dear Friends of the Heart,
After last night's broadcast, we now have a collection of eight episodes of the radioprogram "High Spirits." Since it is a call-in program, most are athematic, having no particular subject or theme-topic. We are offering the entire set, with individual jewel-cases, on a Love-donation basis. (Please pay whatever you can, to cover postage, special packaging, and the cost of cd's and cases.)
The set is uplifting entertainment as well as spiritual education, and would make a wonderful, meaningful, thoughtful, and life-changing gift.
Peace, Love, and Joy,
The Love Education Team at Love Ministries
Sunday, May 14, 2006
Pneumarium Party/Picnic in the Park
We love, at least once a year, to immerse ourselves in nature. We can do this and improve our spiritual awareness at the same time, thus "resurrecting two birds with one crystal.":)
Our special springtime Party/Picnic in the Park will be this Sunday, May 14, from eleven am til two pm. We will meet in the Rentschler Pine Forest, at the "Cummins Shelter," at a little after eleven. We will meet some of you at the Pneumarium, about five minutes away, at eleven am, and go immediately to the Park from there.
This spring picnic promises to be a lot of fun, as have been the previous ones in this lovely tradition. We look forward to "seeing" you at our party. As usual, you can bring something healthy and edible-- but no dead animals, please.
We shall have more fun than is elephantly or dolphinly possible! Hope to "see" you there! If you need more info, please call us at (513-)737-LOVE (5683) any time.
The Love Education Team at Love Ministries
Our special springtime Party/Picnic in the Park will be this Sunday, May 14, from eleven am til two pm. We will meet in the Rentschler Pine Forest, at the "Cummins Shelter," at a little after eleven. We will meet some of you at the Pneumarium, about five minutes away, at eleven am, and go immediately to the Park from there.
This spring picnic promises to be a lot of fun, as have been the previous ones in this lovely tradition. We look forward to "seeing" you at our party. As usual, you can bring something healthy and edible-- but no dead animals, please.
We shall have more fun than is elephantly or dolphinly possible! Hope to "see" you there! If you need more info, please call us at (513-)737-LOVE (5683) any time.
The Love Education Team at Love Ministries
Grand Megasale
We here at the uld, Lovelight magazine, "High Spirits," and Love Ministries, Inc., are delighted and excited to announce that the date has been selected for our next grand megasale at the Turtle Creek Flea Market.
Our supersale is slated for Saturday, May 20, 2006, from 9 am til 5 pm.
So, we encourage you, dear friends, to give. Give to others, who can make practical use of products that, for you, have no use. Support the earth through recycling, instead of throwing out old items; though they are useless to you, they might be of some value or use to others. Also, spring cleaning is an opportunity to simplify your life, ridding yourself of useless excess: Live simply that others may simply live.
The "old and useless junk" that you find in your basements, garages, attics, and storage sheds can be of real value to those who might need these things. We will not be collecting furniture, beds, dressers, or other large items. But we will be selling small tables, bookshelves, and other small furniture. And we are most interested in, and actively collecting: books, cd's, small electronics, collectibles, some toys, nick-nacks, and any other small miscellaneous items that are in fairly good shape. (If something needs complete reconstruction, we will not be selling it.:) Jewelry-- and most women have more than they can ever use-- is also an item that is convenient to handle, and which tends to sell well. Also, we will be accepting women's handbags an women's shoes.
But no other clothing, please; even among the very poor, in our country, it seems as if everyone has a couple of leaf-bags full of clothes.
But if you do have any relatively small items in fairly good shape, simple bric-a-brac that is just getting in your way, or taking up space, please let us know, and we will pick it up and take it off your hands.
Give to the poor, recycle, and simplify!
Just let us know by May 18, at rmfrancis@juno.com :)
Thanks to you all, for improving our planet.:) Any funds collected will be used ONLY for nonreligious spiritual education.
Love, and Blessings pouring down upon You,
The Love Education Team of Love Ministries, Inc.
Our supersale is slated for Saturday, May 20, 2006, from 9 am til 5 pm.
So, we encourage you, dear friends, to give. Give to others, who can make practical use of products that, for you, have no use. Support the earth through recycling, instead of throwing out old items; though they are useless to you, they might be of some value or use to others. Also, spring cleaning is an opportunity to simplify your life, ridding yourself of useless excess: Live simply that others may simply live.
The "old and useless junk" that you find in your basements, garages, attics, and storage sheds can be of real value to those who might need these things. We will not be collecting furniture, beds, dressers, or other large items. But we will be selling small tables, bookshelves, and other small furniture. And we are most interested in, and actively collecting: books, cd's, small electronics, collectibles, some toys, nick-nacks, and any other small miscellaneous items that are in fairly good shape. (If something needs complete reconstruction, we will not be selling it.:) Jewelry-- and most women have more than they can ever use-- is also an item that is convenient to handle, and which tends to sell well. Also, we will be accepting women's handbags an women's shoes.
But no other clothing, please; even among the very poor, in our country, it seems as if everyone has a couple of leaf-bags full of clothes.
But if you do have any relatively small items in fairly good shape, simple bric-a-brac that is just getting in your way, or taking up space, please let us know, and we will pick it up and take it off your hands.
Give to the poor, recycle, and simplify!
Just let us know by May 18, at rmfrancis@juno.com :)
Thanks to you all, for improving our planet.:) Any funds collected will be used ONLY for nonreligious spiritual education.
Love, and Blessings pouring down upon You,
The Love Education Team of Love Ministries, Inc.
Thursday, May 04, 2006
Grace and Universal Salvation
The meaning of "grace" is a very crucial and indispensable teaching to Christians, and especially to mystics. "Grace" is, in essence, the teaching that nothing that we do can result in our "salvation." (For "salvation," some traditions use "enlightenment" or "liberation.")
But if salvation is not due to anything that we do, from where does it arise? Salvation comes from only God's Love, and from no other source. We are not saved because we are more "righteous" than others, because we are better, because we know or understand more than they. Only one factor is relevant to salvation. We are saved only because God wills it, in Love.
The opposite to the teaching of beloved grace is the "doctrine of works." This teaches that we are saved by what we do, often by what we choose to believe. This means that human beings save themselves. They are saved, not because of what God does, but because of what they do. These people are teaching an antibiblical, antimystical view.
If we are saved only because of God's Love-- and we are-- then, what if God's Love is great enough to forgive every sin ever committed? It is. And what if God loves all equally? He does. So, what, exactly, is the logical result of grace? It is this spectacular truth: Grace leads to the final "someday" sallvation of every creature and being who has ever lived!
This is called "universal salvation," and Christians do not like it, for it takes away their sense of specialness or superiority. But grace, combined with the illimitable and infinite Love of God, clearly implies this. Even Christians who believe in grace usually reject universal salvation; but to do so, they have to put limitations upon God. And whenever a person says, "God cannot..." unless she is discussing evil, she is already on the wrong track. For God is omnipotent; and even though Christians do not like the idea of universal salvation, if God has determined that this will be the fair and just outcome of the cosmos, in the end, their ideas seem feeble when compared with immeasurable and endless Love.
But if salvation is not due to anything that we do, from where does it arise? Salvation comes from only God's Love, and from no other source. We are not saved because we are more "righteous" than others, because we are better, because we know or understand more than they. Only one factor is relevant to salvation. We are saved only because God wills it, in Love.
The opposite to the teaching of beloved grace is the "doctrine of works." This teaches that we are saved by what we do, often by what we choose to believe. This means that human beings save themselves. They are saved, not because of what God does, but because of what they do. These people are teaching an antibiblical, antimystical view.
If we are saved only because of God's Love-- and we are-- then, what if God's Love is great enough to forgive every sin ever committed? It is. And what if God loves all equally? He does. So, what, exactly, is the logical result of grace? It is this spectacular truth: Grace leads to the final "someday" sallvation of every creature and being who has ever lived!
This is called "universal salvation," and Christians do not like it, for it takes away their sense of specialness or superiority. But grace, combined with the illimitable and infinite Love of God, clearly implies this. Even Christians who believe in grace usually reject universal salvation; but to do so, they have to put limitations upon God. And whenever a person says, "God cannot..." unless she is discussing evil, she is already on the wrong track. For God is omnipotent; and even though Christians do not like the idea of universal salvation, if God has determined that this will be the fair and just outcome of the cosmos, in the end, their ideas seem feeble when compared with immeasurable and endless Love.
Tuesday, May 02, 2006
Loving the One by Loving Others
To allow concepts to "incubate" in the Unconscious rather than responding impulsively or impetuously to them is a good and workable idea.
The "world of illusion" is also "real," but it is real in only a secondary or relative way. A mystic who is hit by a bus will likely die; that bus was real even though it was not absolutely real. This is no cop-out or evasion, but a real distinction necessary to understand the ideas behind mysticism.
It is not the state of the dream that affects your emotion if you dream that a beloved friend slits your throat, or a Love-partner betrays you. We can indeed be emotionally affected by the characters in a dream. These apparent dream-characters do indeed affect the emotional states of the dreamer. In fact, often nothing in the dream but the characters affect your emotions. Whether your dream is about Santa Claus, your Aunt Clara, or your next-door neighbor, you are affected by their responses
and behaviors.
The dreamlike nature of the world is one foundation for the mystic's practice of "forgiveness." It is much easier to forgive an injury or insult that has no reality, but is recognized as a kind of dream. In time, the mystic holds nothing against anyone; she is free.
Because we do wake up, we can find total detachment from everything within the dream. That is why enlightenment has also been called "awakening." Nothing in a dream can control our behaviors or reactions. The mystic cultivates an altered state called "detachment," which, blended with Love, creates a positive psychological balance.
To be "detached" from all situations, events, and objects is to know a breath-taking freedom from being enslaved or controlled. So, we work voluntarily to combine this detachment with Love.
Detachment alone, without love, might create nothing but cold, dead cyberzombies.
Nevertheless, dreams do illustrate the point that "unreal" people and situations have the power to affect your emotions and feelings. If, for example, you dream that you are being tormented, pursued, ignored, betrayed,involved in scandal or sex, it can, and almost inevitably will, have an emotional impact. Unreal dreams can have real, even measurable, effects, and denial does not make this fact untrue.
Our ordinary, everyday, practical world is very different, in some rather important ways, from the Mindworld of the mystic. Balance is the challenge of living in both, and not blurring the lines that divide them.
Re the "reality" of ordinary objects such as rocks and trees: Yes, the mystic recognizes them as real, but not as absolutely real. If a huge boulder falls on her, she will recognize that it is certainly real. But, and this is only in the highly abstract Mindworld of the mystic, that boulder has no absolute reality. She (the mystic) is comparable to the physicist, who knows that boulders are made of energic microparticles that contain nothing solid; but the physicist, too, will still be crushed. Material things, as parts of Mind, have a certain reality. The argument of the mystic that they are "illusion" is only that they have no absolute reality in Mind-- they are passing, ephemeral phenomena. To be plain: The world is real, but it is only relatively real; for to be a world, there must be a Mind. (Physicists are starting to define this reality in terms of physics.)
Only Mind is primary or "absolute." One of its most popular assignations among mystics is "the Absolute."
Still, even realizing this, the mystic must also live in the ordinary, everyday, consensual reality. They (we) do not deny the material world, or its reality. We simply interpret it differently, and have different ideas ("revelations," at times) about the pneumopsychological nature of this world.
Deep down, the mystic says, in the profoundest level of the Unconscious, we are already "perfect." In Eastern traditions, this very deep Mind is the "Buddhamind," and, "You are already the Buddha." This deep, unconscious part of your mind is already fully enlightened. Only the conscious mind, manifesting as the ego, is deluded; and it is so, not due to ignorance alone, but also due to the fact that it is the will of the Creator/Dreamer.
The world is a construct of Mind that is designed to lead us to this depth, in which we are already "perfect." But before we can get there, we must turn our attention away from the world. By being so ugly and repulsive, sometimes the world can drive us into introspection and deeper Mind. This is one use that the mystic makes of this world. After going inside many times, she has gnosis or personal, immediate, experiential knowledge of the Lovemind deep within her mind. This Lovemind is the Creator/Dreamer.
But God/Goddess is so very deeply hidden in the profound ocean of the Unconscious that we don't even know that this part of the Mind exists, under normal circumstances. It is only by embracing the Way of discipline, interiority, and Love that the mystic has this gnosis revealed to her. First, most do not know that this Mind exists, and, second, it is challenging to touch it even after you know. But it has an amazing effect on selfimage. It makes you long to become its incarnation, an incarnation of Love Itself. Masters have said that we are the "sons and daughters of God." To expand this analogy, we bear the "genetic" imprint of God (Love). But, of course, this is psychological, not physical.
As mystics, we are called to the long and winding road that will, in time, result in the manifestation of this interior Lovemind. This can occur through teaching, healing, sharing, and many other forms of positive interaction with others. And, in this practical world, the "others" need nothing more than they need abundant compassion or Love.
True, from the abstract, ethereal heights of abstraction, the Mind can "Love only Itself." But, as human beings, we simply do not live in that refined and rarefied atmosphere. Instead, we usually live in droll, unimaginative, ordinary, everyday reality. This is where we must, are forced to, do our living. It is the only "place" or "world" were we can act. So, again, this is a very different world from that very elevated Mindworld of mystical musings. Although mysticism is the truth, it cannot be fully applied in every detail to our normal lives. A physicist might know that everything is made of atoms, and that atoms are made of microparticles such as leptons, hadrons, gluons, quarks, etc. She knows that the "solid" world contains nothing solid; it is all merely energy plus nothing. She knows, and has proved, that this is so. But in the "real," everyday world, this has virtually no practical implication or application.
The one Mind is a similar perspective, except that it does have a few practical advantages. Even though we know that it is true that the whole world is transformed and modified Mind, we live in the "ordinary" world of matter. We live in a realistic world populated by six thousand million human beings, and countless other creatures. This is why the only Way possible for the One fully to love Herself is through us, and we can love Her only by loving "other" creatures. This is Rule Number One, and Rule Number Two is that you cannot break Rule Number One.
Loving "others," say mystics, is the thrill, bliss, joy, and wonder of all existence-- within our present world. "Love,"by definition, often or usually implies love of "another."
This Mind is never "alone," for It is always with Itself, and, in our world, always manifesting as innumerable creatures, all of whom are thirsty and eager for Love. Loneliness might even be a specifically earthly pathology, and the solitude of the Mind is not a negative state, but one of great intrinsic ecstasy. For It is so selfsufficient, so selfcomplete, that Its solitude is a healing and rapturous condition of utter peace. In this state, It knows total contentment, fulfillment, and immeasurable satisfaction. It reaches into us through Love, and it is by Love that we can meld or merge with It-- "bringing down"its bliss into the human mind.
Also, the dream/game of the world is not imposed upon Mind. Mind deliberately, voluntarily "buys into" the dream. For It is completed by cycles of contraction and expansion, like a heartbeat. It "contracts" in the dream, as smaller minds, and expands into its true Self upon awakening.
It loves Its solitude, but It dreamed the great dream in the first place because it was also fun and exciting to be with "others." These others are secondarily "real," just as the boulder is real. Also, isolation, for Mind, is far from an existential tragedy. A Mind "alone" forever, but filled with perfect Love, would be an endless state of ecstasy. It is only because of our nano-experience of human loneliness that we might tend to see this solitude as a "bad" state.
But, back to the heare and now: The Mind experiences explosions of others, by the billions. After these hyperactive cycles, it needs time to rest, and a gentle tranquility, bottomless, settles in, taking eons, and lasting for eons. This is likely followed by yet another creative explosion.
Here is the key to the paradox: To say that the Mind loves only Itself does not imply that It cannot love "others." Indeed, the way that the world is structured, the only Way that It can love Itself is to love others. It loves in and by and through us, and we are the billions. The Way is a fulfilling Way of service; that is why it is not a path of solitudinous hermitism. Some rare examples do withdraw to caves; but the great masterteachers have all been highly involved with teaching and reaching other human beings. They never sought to seal themselves off in a negative solipsism. The mystical path is hypersocial, and friendship is one of the recognized expressions of Love.
So here is an ancillary paradox: The Mind both loses and finds Itself in loving others. It is the essence of the pleasure of the dream that the Mind can do this. The Mind loves loving, and It supremely loves loving others.
This is a core-purpose for the entire dream of the world. The Mind cannot free Itself into full liberation without learning to love others -- and, in time, all others. Yes, the Mind can love Itself without the presence of others, but It prefers to love Itself by loving others. This is Its most joyful, and preferred, way to love. It was for perfecting this art of loving that the game of the world existed in the first place. The dream of the world is dreamed so that Mind can enjoy this delightful experience of loving others.
The "delusion" of "illusion" is deliberate and voluntary. Even the selfcreated amnesia is willed upon Mind, byMind, as part of the wonderful experience. Mind, being indestructible, impervious, and invincible, leaps eagerly into the virtual adventure of the dreamworld.
If you can imagine a Mind suspended forever in void, you will realize that the Mind has to do something. And what minds do very well is dream. We can enjoy dreams with even our nanobrains, but when it comes to a Supermind, "dreaming" takes on entirely new dimensions, literally inconceivable to our three pounds of gray matter. If we find it tough to encompass or imagine ecstatic and utterly satisfying solitude, we find the psychomechanisms of the great dream even more incomprehensible.
Mystics discuss it; but we never claim to know everything about it. Its very colossal hugeness far surpasses the human mind, as Mind fills more worlds than we can contemplate. It is safe to go so far as to say, in fact, that this Megadream is nothing like the dreams that we have at night-- only a nanoscopic and shabby indication. So, any comparison at all between the Megadream and nightdreams is tenuous at best. At worst, they might be irrelevant. But they do at least hint at a tiny concept to aid our understanding.
We might be in a position analogous to amebas trying to understand the mysteries of subatomic physics.
The dream could be more fulfilling if everyone knew and loved everyone else, but that is not essential to this Megadream. In fact, learning to know each other, and then, learning to love each other, is a core-aspect of the dream-- a reason that the dream exists. We are fond of focusing on endings and goals;but the Dreamer is as fond of the processes that lead to, grow into, final results. The only factor necessary to the successful playing of the game, a successful megadream-- is that the individual-- you, or I -- improve in the art of loving. And this is one colossal challenge!
The cultivation of genuine compassion, for a creature as self-centered as human beings can be, is a whale of a task. Here's the uncomfortable catch: If you do not learn to love everyone in the dream, you cannot fully love the Dreamer. If, to use a crude illustration, you love eight out of ten people, you love the Creator only 80%. (Not technically accurate,for there are also other creatures involved). For, of course, everyone in the dream is a part of the Dreamer. Our superchallenge, as mystics, is to love even the stupid and the cruel. My greatest challenge is to love the incompetent and disastrous george bush. But, we must keep in mind that the minimal Love given even to all strangers is to wish for them a good, happy, successful life that contains Love, friendship, and inevitable enlightenment. With a little work and awareness, we can cultivate this minimal Love for everyone. This sincere wish for a good life is the very least that we can do during our earthlives.
The Mind has never, at least in the local Megadream, dreamed into being a world in which everyone loved everyone. This would be like a school that taught only people who had already graduated. Those who do not love need the education, just as the sick need the doctor. The unloving are also
the teachers of the loving "wannabes." They teach us how nonlove states are hells, and how antiagapic behaviors are dysphoric.
In a nightdream, for example, you might have two ladies; let us call them Ishtar and Aphrodite. They do not love each other. But this is just fine. It is the dream's purpose to correct this. But, yes, it is also true that they do not fully love the dreamer until they learn to love each other-- again, with at least the minimal Love. That is what the Megadream is all about-- not being "finished products," but works of art in progress. Earth is not designed for only the loving, as a school is not designed for only the educated.
To "love" an idealized, abstract image of "God" is next to worthless; for if you are not loving yourself and others, your "Love" is nothing but an operation of intellect; it is emotionally dead.
Love, of course, comes in many varieties and types; it also comes in a wide variety of powerlevels. You cannot "love" a dog the way that you "love" your mother; nor can you "love" a Love-prartner the way that you "love" your brother. So, to "love everyone" implies a galaxy-wide spectrum of loves, including the minimal Love described. It would be insanity to expect anyone to "love" everyone with the powerlevel and intensity with wich she loves her special chosen Love-partner. Strangers require a different kind, and powerlevel, of Love.
It is also possible to have a Love for God without loving everyone -- and it might be quite genuine. For karmic, genetic, or other reasons, Love might be limited. The goal is not perfection -- an unreasonable demand. The goal is for each person to find, and to express, her maximum Love -- even the maximum of the "minimal" Love described earlier. But to reach for our best implies Love for even enemies.
When your wife dreams of Santa Claus, if you were to Love her with ideal and complete Love, you would indeed love the Santa of her dreams. But we are not here talking about human dreams. The situation with the Megadream is not always completely comparable in every detail with human dreams. The "rules" might differ a little.
We do not love fear, delusion, or hatred. But nondiscrimination ["loving" evil or destructive acts] is not a valid spiritual goal. The valid goal is to love the being that expresses these negativities. So, the mystic is not called upon to "love" war, greed, child-abuse, etc., but must "love" the perpetrators.
If your wife is a painter, you do not have to love all her paintings. But, if you do truly, fully, completely love her, and everything about her, everything within her-- in the idealized "perfect" Love-- you would indeed love everything that emanated from her. You would love all her paintings. But the weakness of this analogy is that it uses the imperfect Love of human beings as a standard, and so is itself an imperfect illustration of perfect Love. For there is a huge difference between loving something on canvas and loving a human being. Besides, human beings are so imperfect that your task or assignment from the cosmos is never to love everything about anyone. Our goal is to love the Core that dwells within all.
God is always dreaming up interesting and challenging scenarios to challenge and to test our Love. Everyone loves butterflies and rainbows, but almost no one loves spiders and snakes. When we see them objectively, as biological wonders, it is easier to love them. But that does not imply that, every time I see a snake, I must go kiss it on the mouth! Again, levels and kinds of Love!:) But I can wish it no harm, cause it no harm, and wish it a happy life.
If your wife becomes ill, there is no logical implication at all that you must love the illness. You simply love your wife within the illness. With illness, you do not stop loving your beloved. In fact, illness is one of those challenges that test Love and faith. Can real Love really permit the nightmarish tragedies of our world? In most cases, karma is the explanation, and it serves Love.
Loving a woman, or agod, in a healthy way does not imply that you "collect their used kleenexes." (I sense that this was a deliberate absurdity on your part to show how foolish that you thought the whole concept to be.) Universal Love has been embraced by some of the most luminous and beautiful minds in history. Of course, we are all free to second-guess even life's greatest discoveries. But if we become too skeptical or cynical about Love, we must pay a terrible price.
Can you love and be critical? Certainly; constructive criticism can be a real expression of Love. You can with confidence criticize other people, and dogs or cats. But this is not precisely analogous to criticizing the Mind Itself. A human criticism of the Mind of Love is more akin to an ant criticizing a professor of philosophy. Criticism of Love tends to put a wall between you and Love, and so, is hadeogenic. So, your Love-relationship with Love is not accurately comparable, in every detail, with your Love-relationships with others.
To sum up, to be perfectly clear: The mystic lives in two overlapping but separate worlds simultaneously: Much of her timenergy is spent in the ordinary, everyday world of multiplicity. Here, she loves others. This is largely the world of action. Her other world is the Mindworld of meditation and ideas. In this world, there is only the One, without a second. The latter is the only reality, but her life in the ordinary world is not pretense; she is, after all, part human. Neither is her life in the Mindworld a lie; she is, after all, mind -- all mind. The challenge of practical spirituality is the balancing of the two; meanwhile, her assignment is to bring as much Love into the everyday world as possible, by loving "others."
The "world of illusion" is also "real," but it is real in only a secondary or relative way. A mystic who is hit by a bus will likely die; that bus was real even though it was not absolutely real. This is no cop-out or evasion, but a real distinction necessary to understand the ideas behind mysticism.
It is not the state of the dream that affects your emotion if you dream that a beloved friend slits your throat, or a Love-partner betrays you. We can indeed be emotionally affected by the characters in a dream. These apparent dream-characters do indeed affect the emotional states of the dreamer. In fact, often nothing in the dream but the characters affect your emotions. Whether your dream is about Santa Claus, your Aunt Clara, or your next-door neighbor, you are affected by their responses
and behaviors.
The dreamlike nature of the world is one foundation for the mystic's practice of "forgiveness." It is much easier to forgive an injury or insult that has no reality, but is recognized as a kind of dream. In time, the mystic holds nothing against anyone; she is free.
Because we do wake up, we can find total detachment from everything within the dream. That is why enlightenment has also been called "awakening." Nothing in a dream can control our behaviors or reactions. The mystic cultivates an altered state called "detachment," which, blended with Love, creates a positive psychological balance.
To be "detached" from all situations, events, and objects is to know a breath-taking freedom from being enslaved or controlled. So, we work voluntarily to combine this detachment with Love.
Detachment alone, without love, might create nothing but cold, dead cyberzombies.
Nevertheless, dreams do illustrate the point that "unreal" people and situations have the power to affect your emotions and feelings. If, for example, you dream that you are being tormented, pursued, ignored, betrayed,involved in scandal or sex, it can, and almost inevitably will, have an emotional impact. Unreal dreams can have real, even measurable, effects, and denial does not make this fact untrue.
Our ordinary, everyday, practical world is very different, in some rather important ways, from the Mindworld of the mystic. Balance is the challenge of living in both, and not blurring the lines that divide them.
Re the "reality" of ordinary objects such as rocks and trees: Yes, the mystic recognizes them as real, but not as absolutely real. If a huge boulder falls on her, she will recognize that it is certainly real. But, and this is only in the highly abstract Mindworld of the mystic, that boulder has no absolute reality. She (the mystic) is comparable to the physicist, who knows that boulders are made of energic microparticles that contain nothing solid; but the physicist, too, will still be crushed. Material things, as parts of Mind, have a certain reality. The argument of the mystic that they are "illusion" is only that they have no absolute reality in Mind-- they are passing, ephemeral phenomena. To be plain: The world is real, but it is only relatively real; for to be a world, there must be a Mind. (Physicists are starting to define this reality in terms of physics.)
Only Mind is primary or "absolute." One of its most popular assignations among mystics is "the Absolute."
Still, even realizing this, the mystic must also live in the ordinary, everyday, consensual reality. They (we) do not deny the material world, or its reality. We simply interpret it differently, and have different ideas ("revelations," at times) about the pneumopsychological nature of this world.
Deep down, the mystic says, in the profoundest level of the Unconscious, we are already "perfect." In Eastern traditions, this very deep Mind is the "Buddhamind," and, "You are already the Buddha." This deep, unconscious part of your mind is already fully enlightened. Only the conscious mind, manifesting as the ego, is deluded; and it is so, not due to ignorance alone, but also due to the fact that it is the will of the Creator/Dreamer.
The world is a construct of Mind that is designed to lead us to this depth, in which we are already "perfect." But before we can get there, we must turn our attention away from the world. By being so ugly and repulsive, sometimes the world can drive us into introspection and deeper Mind. This is one use that the mystic makes of this world. After going inside many times, she has gnosis or personal, immediate, experiential knowledge of the Lovemind deep within her mind. This Lovemind is the Creator/Dreamer.
But God/Goddess is so very deeply hidden in the profound ocean of the Unconscious that we don't even know that this part of the Mind exists, under normal circumstances. It is only by embracing the Way of discipline, interiority, and Love that the mystic has this gnosis revealed to her. First, most do not know that this Mind exists, and, second, it is challenging to touch it even after you know. But it has an amazing effect on selfimage. It makes you long to become its incarnation, an incarnation of Love Itself. Masters have said that we are the "sons and daughters of God." To expand this analogy, we bear the "genetic" imprint of God (Love). But, of course, this is psychological, not physical.
As mystics, we are called to the long and winding road that will, in time, result in the manifestation of this interior Lovemind. This can occur through teaching, healing, sharing, and many other forms of positive interaction with others. And, in this practical world, the "others" need nothing more than they need abundant compassion or Love.
True, from the abstract, ethereal heights of abstraction, the Mind can "Love only Itself." But, as human beings, we simply do not live in that refined and rarefied atmosphere. Instead, we usually live in droll, unimaginative, ordinary, everyday reality. This is where we must, are forced to, do our living. It is the only "place" or "world" were we can act. So, again, this is a very different world from that very elevated Mindworld of mystical musings. Although mysticism is the truth, it cannot be fully applied in every detail to our normal lives. A physicist might know that everything is made of atoms, and that atoms are made of microparticles such as leptons, hadrons, gluons, quarks, etc. She knows that the "solid" world contains nothing solid; it is all merely energy plus nothing. She knows, and has proved, that this is so. But in the "real," everyday world, this has virtually no practical implication or application.
The one Mind is a similar perspective, except that it does have a few practical advantages. Even though we know that it is true that the whole world is transformed and modified Mind, we live in the "ordinary" world of matter. We live in a realistic world populated by six thousand million human beings, and countless other creatures. This is why the only Way possible for the One fully to love Herself is through us, and we can love Her only by loving "other" creatures. This is Rule Number One, and Rule Number Two is that you cannot break Rule Number One.
Loving "others," say mystics, is the thrill, bliss, joy, and wonder of all existence-- within our present world. "Love,"by definition, often or usually implies love of "another."
This Mind is never "alone," for It is always with Itself, and, in our world, always manifesting as innumerable creatures, all of whom are thirsty and eager for Love. Loneliness might even be a specifically earthly pathology, and the solitude of the Mind is not a negative state, but one of great intrinsic ecstasy. For It is so selfsufficient, so selfcomplete, that Its solitude is a healing and rapturous condition of utter peace. In this state, It knows total contentment, fulfillment, and immeasurable satisfaction. It reaches into us through Love, and it is by Love that we can meld or merge with It-- "bringing down"its bliss into the human mind.
Also, the dream/game of the world is not imposed upon Mind. Mind deliberately, voluntarily "buys into" the dream. For It is completed by cycles of contraction and expansion, like a heartbeat. It "contracts" in the dream, as smaller minds, and expands into its true Self upon awakening.
It loves Its solitude, but It dreamed the great dream in the first place because it was also fun and exciting to be with "others." These others are secondarily "real," just as the boulder is real. Also, isolation, for Mind, is far from an existential tragedy. A Mind "alone" forever, but filled with perfect Love, would be an endless state of ecstasy. It is only because of our nano-experience of human loneliness that we might tend to see this solitude as a "bad" state.
But, back to the heare and now: The Mind experiences explosions of others, by the billions. After these hyperactive cycles, it needs time to rest, and a gentle tranquility, bottomless, settles in, taking eons, and lasting for eons. This is likely followed by yet another creative explosion.
Here is the key to the paradox: To say that the Mind loves only Itself does not imply that It cannot love "others." Indeed, the way that the world is structured, the only Way that It can love Itself is to love others. It loves in and by and through us, and we are the billions. The Way is a fulfilling Way of service; that is why it is not a path of solitudinous hermitism. Some rare examples do withdraw to caves; but the great masterteachers have all been highly involved with teaching and reaching other human beings. They never sought to seal themselves off in a negative solipsism. The mystical path is hypersocial, and friendship is one of the recognized expressions of Love.
So here is an ancillary paradox: The Mind both loses and finds Itself in loving others. It is the essence of the pleasure of the dream that the Mind can do this. The Mind loves loving, and It supremely loves loving others.
This is a core-purpose for the entire dream of the world. The Mind cannot free Itself into full liberation without learning to love others -- and, in time, all others. Yes, the Mind can love Itself without the presence of others, but It prefers to love Itself by loving others. This is Its most joyful, and preferred, way to love. It was for perfecting this art of loving that the game of the world existed in the first place. The dream of the world is dreamed so that Mind can enjoy this delightful experience of loving others.
The "delusion" of "illusion" is deliberate and voluntary. Even the selfcreated amnesia is willed upon Mind, byMind, as part of the wonderful experience. Mind, being indestructible, impervious, and invincible, leaps eagerly into the virtual adventure of the dreamworld.
If you can imagine a Mind suspended forever in void, you will realize that the Mind has to do something. And what minds do very well is dream. We can enjoy dreams with even our nanobrains, but when it comes to a Supermind, "dreaming" takes on entirely new dimensions, literally inconceivable to our three pounds of gray matter. If we find it tough to encompass or imagine ecstatic and utterly satisfying solitude, we find the psychomechanisms of the great dream even more incomprehensible.
Mystics discuss it; but we never claim to know everything about it. Its very colossal hugeness far surpasses the human mind, as Mind fills more worlds than we can contemplate. It is safe to go so far as to say, in fact, that this Megadream is nothing like the dreams that we have at night-- only a nanoscopic and shabby indication. So, any comparison at all between the Megadream and nightdreams is tenuous at best. At worst, they might be irrelevant. But they do at least hint at a tiny concept to aid our understanding.
We might be in a position analogous to amebas trying to understand the mysteries of subatomic physics.
The dream could be more fulfilling if everyone knew and loved everyone else, but that is not essential to this Megadream. In fact, learning to know each other, and then, learning to love each other, is a core-aspect of the dream-- a reason that the dream exists. We are fond of focusing on endings and goals;but the Dreamer is as fond of the processes that lead to, grow into, final results. The only factor necessary to the successful playing of the game, a successful megadream-- is that the individual-- you, or I -- improve in the art of loving. And this is one colossal challenge!
The cultivation of genuine compassion, for a creature as self-centered as human beings can be, is a whale of a task. Here's the uncomfortable catch: If you do not learn to love everyone in the dream, you cannot fully love the Dreamer. If, to use a crude illustration, you love eight out of ten people, you love the Creator only 80%. (Not technically accurate,for there are also other creatures involved). For, of course, everyone in the dream is a part of the Dreamer. Our superchallenge, as mystics, is to love even the stupid and the cruel. My greatest challenge is to love the incompetent and disastrous george bush. But, we must keep in mind that the minimal Love given even to all strangers is to wish for them a good, happy, successful life that contains Love, friendship, and inevitable enlightenment. With a little work and awareness, we can cultivate this minimal Love for everyone. This sincere wish for a good life is the very least that we can do during our earthlives.
The Mind has never, at least in the local Megadream, dreamed into being a world in which everyone loved everyone. This would be like a school that taught only people who had already graduated. Those who do not love need the education, just as the sick need the doctor. The unloving are also
the teachers of the loving "wannabes." They teach us how nonlove states are hells, and how antiagapic behaviors are dysphoric.
In a nightdream, for example, you might have two ladies; let us call them Ishtar and Aphrodite. They do not love each other. But this is just fine. It is the dream's purpose to correct this. But, yes, it is also true that they do not fully love the dreamer until they learn to love each other-- again, with at least the minimal Love. That is what the Megadream is all about-- not being "finished products," but works of art in progress. Earth is not designed for only the loving, as a school is not designed for only the educated.
To "love" an idealized, abstract image of "God" is next to worthless; for if you are not loving yourself and others, your "Love" is nothing but an operation of intellect; it is emotionally dead.
Love, of course, comes in many varieties and types; it also comes in a wide variety of powerlevels. You cannot "love" a dog the way that you "love" your mother; nor can you "love" a Love-prartner the way that you "love" your brother. So, to "love everyone" implies a galaxy-wide spectrum of loves, including the minimal Love described. It would be insanity to expect anyone to "love" everyone with the powerlevel and intensity with wich she loves her special chosen Love-partner. Strangers require a different kind, and powerlevel, of Love.
It is also possible to have a Love for God without loving everyone -- and it might be quite genuine. For karmic, genetic, or other reasons, Love might be limited. The goal is not perfection -- an unreasonable demand. The goal is for each person to find, and to express, her maximum Love -- even the maximum of the "minimal" Love described earlier. But to reach for our best implies Love for even enemies.
When your wife dreams of Santa Claus, if you were to Love her with ideal and complete Love, you would indeed love the Santa of her dreams. But we are not here talking about human dreams. The situation with the Megadream is not always completely comparable in every detail with human dreams. The "rules" might differ a little.
We do not love fear, delusion, or hatred. But nondiscrimination ["loving" evil or destructive acts] is not a valid spiritual goal. The valid goal is to love the being that expresses these negativities. So, the mystic is not called upon to "love" war, greed, child-abuse, etc., but must "love" the perpetrators.
If your wife is a painter, you do not have to love all her paintings. But, if you do truly, fully, completely love her, and everything about her, everything within her-- in the idealized "perfect" Love-- you would indeed love everything that emanated from her. You would love all her paintings. But the weakness of this analogy is that it uses the imperfect Love of human beings as a standard, and so is itself an imperfect illustration of perfect Love. For there is a huge difference between loving something on canvas and loving a human being. Besides, human beings are so imperfect that your task or assignment from the cosmos is never to love everything about anyone. Our goal is to love the Core that dwells within all.
God is always dreaming up interesting and challenging scenarios to challenge and to test our Love. Everyone loves butterflies and rainbows, but almost no one loves spiders and snakes. When we see them objectively, as biological wonders, it is easier to love them. But that does not imply that, every time I see a snake, I must go kiss it on the mouth! Again, levels and kinds of Love!:) But I can wish it no harm, cause it no harm, and wish it a happy life.
If your wife becomes ill, there is no logical implication at all that you must love the illness. You simply love your wife within the illness. With illness, you do not stop loving your beloved. In fact, illness is one of those challenges that test Love and faith. Can real Love really permit the nightmarish tragedies of our world? In most cases, karma is the explanation, and it serves Love.
Loving a woman, or agod, in a healthy way does not imply that you "collect their used kleenexes." (I sense that this was a deliberate absurdity on your part to show how foolish that you thought the whole concept to be.) Universal Love has been embraced by some of the most luminous and beautiful minds in history. Of course, we are all free to second-guess even life's greatest discoveries. But if we become too skeptical or cynical about Love, we must pay a terrible price.
Can you love and be critical? Certainly; constructive criticism can be a real expression of Love. You can with confidence criticize other people, and dogs or cats. But this is not precisely analogous to criticizing the Mind Itself. A human criticism of the Mind of Love is more akin to an ant criticizing a professor of philosophy. Criticism of Love tends to put a wall between you and Love, and so, is hadeogenic. So, your Love-relationship with Love is not accurately comparable, in every detail, with your Love-relationships with others.
To sum up, to be perfectly clear: The mystic lives in two overlapping but separate worlds simultaneously: Much of her timenergy is spent in the ordinary, everyday world of multiplicity. Here, she loves others. This is largely the world of action. Her other world is the Mindworld of meditation and ideas. In this world, there is only the One, without a second. The latter is the only reality, but her life in the ordinary world is not pretense; she is, after all, part human. Neither is her life in the Mindworld a lie; she is, after all, mind -- all mind. The challenge of practical spirituality is the balancing of the two; meanwhile, her assignment is to bring as much Love into the everyday world as possible, by loving "others."
God and "Hellfire"
The idea of an everlasting hell is so completely contrary to Love that it is actually a form of madness. It was created by psychotic Church-fathers to scare the people into Church-attendance. By the year 200, the early Church had already begun to evolve towards a giant economic and political institution. Because it needed the money of all the people all the time, the leaders, who were quite often insane, had to figure out a way to force people to attend Church regularly. They could well see that Love was not serving the interests of the religious empire, and so, they tried its opposite, fear.
The ancient mystic John, in his first Epistle, wrote, "Love, when it has become complete, casts out fear." (4:18) So, anyone who is filled with fear of this psychotic superstition, and the crazy god behind it, needs to fill herself, day and night, with positive spiritual material in an intense program or agenda of spiritual education. She should fill the mind at all times with the attempted realization that God is Love, and Love never does any harm to any living creature.
What human parent, even with our plethora of imperfections and violence, would hold her cute young daughter's hand over a candle-flame and ignore her screams? We would justifiably and correctly lock up a person who behaved like this. This parent would deserve it, for she would have proved herself, with no doubt at all, to be quite insane.
To erase and resist this god-image created by psychotic and disturbed Church-leaders, we must also spend very much time in meditation or prayer. We could select as a mantra, for example, "God's perfect Love," "God's stainless Love," "God is Love and..." or a similar phrase. Also, we need to turn within with joy and anticipation that God is greater than any of our "sins," and know with all our being that it is His/Her great pleasure to forgive us.
Jesus, perfectly representing the "Father," practiced perfect forgiveness. He was striking in how he exercised compassion rather than harsh judgment towards even serious sinners, such as people caught in adultery. He stunned the respectable religious leaders of his day by daring to forgive sins. And he made a factual statement that we still need to remember: "All your sins are forgiven."
The question of everlasting hell is a part of two larger questions: The nature of God and the forgiveness of our sins. Jesus', and God's, Love is infinite. There can never be a sin greater than this galactic Love's ability to forgive. God CAN forgive any sin; the only remaining question is, "Does She/He want to forgive us?"
The answer is a resounding YES! As Love Itself, God does not simply have Love, but is Love. As most tranquil and peaceful Love, God suffers from none of the mental illnesses that infect and warp human beings. When people cannot, or choose not to, forgive, we correctly say that they are spiritually sick. This is a mark of spiritual pathology, sometimes even of mental weakness, or even illness.
To understand the true God, we must often work very hard to strip the heartmind of all the ancient images of god, such as those found in the Hebrew Scriptures ("Old Testament"). We must awaken fully to the amazing realization that the God of Jesus was not the god of the ancient Hebrews. Those ancient people, the respectable worshippers of "Jehovah-Yahweh," supported the murder of Jesus. This strongly proves that their faith was not sufficient in Love. So, Jesus created an alternative to Judaism, called "Christianity." Had the ancient faith been accurate in its portrayal of God, Jesus would not have replaced it.
So, to refashion her God-image, a person will have carefully, conscientiously to avoid reading the Hebrew Scriptures and all "Christian" literature that confuses Jehovah-Yahweh with God. This means that she will have to avoid many ideas, and many people, who make this error. And, among Christians (especially but not only fundies) this horrid nightmare of a mistake is all but ubiquitous. So, in full revision of the God-image, one must rather carefully avoid reading almost all "Christian" literature, for almost everyone makes this extremely serious distortion.
You can strengthen your positive and healing faith by avoiding this kind of person, lost in ignorance, and gently, lovingly replacing "friends" from the past who are consumed with a god of hatred. Try to associate with only friends who are open to a God of Love, to talk and discuss with them. Often, a nonreligious type can be more supportive, more spiritual, than a religious person.
Think about the God of unconditional Love and forgiveness, pray to Him/Her, day and night, without ceasing. If you do this, with a sincere heart, She/He will help you to eradicate the ghastly and wrong image of God. Trust fully in God to be able to do what you cannot do alone: He/She can help you to erase these old and destructive "tapes" in the mind. Never give up.
If there is any way that I can be of any assistance, please do not hesitate to call (513-) 737-LOVE (5683). I am not sure where you live, but we also have spiritual gatherings every other Sundayy. The next one, on May 14 (Sunday), we are going to have in a local park. These gatherings are very positive and deeply spiritual, and you are welcome to attend. Also, you can find much encouragement and education on our regular radioprogram, "High Spirits," on Saturday at 8 pm, on 1530 wcky. No matter where you live, and even if you cannot get the radiostation on your radio, please feel free to call during the show, from 8 to 9 pm, on Saturday, at 877-345-3779.
The ancient mystic John, in his first Epistle, wrote, "Love, when it has become complete, casts out fear." (4:18) So, anyone who is filled with fear of this psychotic superstition, and the crazy god behind it, needs to fill herself, day and night, with positive spiritual material in an intense program or agenda of spiritual education. She should fill the mind at all times with the attempted realization that God is Love, and Love never does any harm to any living creature.
What human parent, even with our plethora of imperfections and violence, would hold her cute young daughter's hand over a candle-flame and ignore her screams? We would justifiably and correctly lock up a person who behaved like this. This parent would deserve it, for she would have proved herself, with no doubt at all, to be quite insane.
To erase and resist this god-image created by psychotic and disturbed Church-leaders, we must also spend very much time in meditation or prayer. We could select as a mantra, for example, "God's perfect Love," "God's stainless Love," "God is Love and..." or a similar phrase. Also, we need to turn within with joy and anticipation that God is greater than any of our "sins," and know with all our being that it is His/Her great pleasure to forgive us.
Jesus, perfectly representing the "Father," practiced perfect forgiveness. He was striking in how he exercised compassion rather than harsh judgment towards even serious sinners, such as people caught in adultery. He stunned the respectable religious leaders of his day by daring to forgive sins. And he made a factual statement that we still need to remember: "All your sins are forgiven."
The question of everlasting hell is a part of two larger questions: The nature of God and the forgiveness of our sins. Jesus', and God's, Love is infinite. There can never be a sin greater than this galactic Love's ability to forgive. God CAN forgive any sin; the only remaining question is, "Does She/He want to forgive us?"
The answer is a resounding YES! As Love Itself, God does not simply have Love, but is Love. As most tranquil and peaceful Love, God suffers from none of the mental illnesses that infect and warp human beings. When people cannot, or choose not to, forgive, we correctly say that they are spiritually sick. This is a mark of spiritual pathology, sometimes even of mental weakness, or even illness.
To understand the true God, we must often work very hard to strip the heartmind of all the ancient images of god, such as those found in the Hebrew Scriptures ("Old Testament"). We must awaken fully to the amazing realization that the God of Jesus was not the god of the ancient Hebrews. Those ancient people, the respectable worshippers of "Jehovah-Yahweh," supported the murder of Jesus. This strongly proves that their faith was not sufficient in Love. So, Jesus created an alternative to Judaism, called "Christianity." Had the ancient faith been accurate in its portrayal of God, Jesus would not have replaced it.
So, to refashion her God-image, a person will have carefully, conscientiously to avoid reading the Hebrew Scriptures and all "Christian" literature that confuses Jehovah-Yahweh with God. This means that she will have to avoid many ideas, and many people, who make this error. And, among Christians (especially but not only fundies) this horrid nightmare of a mistake is all but ubiquitous. So, in full revision of the God-image, one must rather carefully avoid reading almost all "Christian" literature, for almost everyone makes this extremely serious distortion.
You can strengthen your positive and healing faith by avoiding this kind of person, lost in ignorance, and gently, lovingly replacing "friends" from the past who are consumed with a god of hatred. Try to associate with only friends who are open to a God of Love, to talk and discuss with them. Often, a nonreligious type can be more supportive, more spiritual, than a religious person.
Think about the God of unconditional Love and forgiveness, pray to Him/Her, day and night, without ceasing. If you do this, with a sincere heart, She/He will help you to eradicate the ghastly and wrong image of God. Trust fully in God to be able to do what you cannot do alone: He/She can help you to erase these old and destructive "tapes" in the mind. Never give up.
If there is any way that I can be of any assistance, please do not hesitate to call (513-) 737-LOVE (5683). I am not sure where you live, but we also have spiritual gatherings every other Sundayy. The next one, on May 14 (Sunday), we are going to have in a local park. These gatherings are very positive and deeply spiritual, and you are welcome to attend. Also, you can find much encouragement and education on our regular radioprogram, "High Spirits," on Saturday at 8 pm, on 1530 wcky. No matter where you live, and even if you cannot get the radiostation on your radio, please feel free to call during the show, from 8 to 9 pm, on Saturday, at 877-345-3779.
Monday, May 01, 2006
Wicca and Historical "Witches"
There has probably existed, for thousands of years, people who followed the ancient Way of the Goddess, Wicca, which worships God as Goddess, and often, through nature. These worship-ceremonies emphasize flowers, moonlight, nature, etc.
But the "witches" whom the Church burned at the stake are fictional. The true Wiccans never worshipped the devil; indeed, they do not even believe in a devil. This was a Christian invention and fiction. The real reason that the Church-leaders wanted to murder these innocent women had nothing to do with religion. They wanted to get their land and other possessions. One way to do this was by the public accusation of "witchcraft." This would almost guarantee that even an innocent woman would be locked up and tortured, losing all her property.
The tortures of the witch-trials were ghastly. In fact, they are so horrible that I will spare you their description. For, like me, if you heard what the "Christians" actually did to these women, you might not be able to shake the nightmare from your mind. That is how horrible these tortures were.
Greed, as always, is the seed of much hideous and monstrous behavior. So some of the "Christians" were also severely perverted, and turned on by torture of young, often beautiful, women. This was just plain sick,and it added to the sickness of greed.
The "trials" were absurd and ridiculous. They were not anything like those of a true legal system. During the trials, women were stuck with pins, and if they responded, were called "witches," for, if they had not been demonic, God would have protected them. They were also dunked in water and held under; if they drowned, it was "confirmation" that they were "witches"; if not, God would have saved them.
This criminal perversion was very widespread. Christians were victims of heinous superstitions. And the worship of the god Yahweh-Jehovah permitted such barbaric cruelty that the mind boggles at the tortures devised.
Wiccans today are making a come-back, from the ancient forms, as a form of nature-worship. Early Christians taught that God manifested as "Goddess," in nature. they called their Goddess "Sophia" (Greek for "wisdom"). Wicca is a very rare form of religion, as it elevates women above men. The Wiccans meet in groups of thirteen, each called a "coven." Each is led by a priestess. They try to gather and send psychic energy, for healing of a friend, or for success in an enterprise, etc. But they have nothing to do with satanism, the worship of the ultimate illusion, fear or the "devil."
Most of what these Christians said, from about 1450-1650, can be dismissed as overactive imagination. Some might have been even victims of a naturally occurring form of lsd, which grew in a fungus in their bread. (This is known as "ergot poisoning.") At any rate, nothing that they said can be taken seriously, and none of their charges against "witches" had anything to do with reality.
But the "witches" whom the Church burned at the stake are fictional. The true Wiccans never worshipped the devil; indeed, they do not even believe in a devil. This was a Christian invention and fiction. The real reason that the Church-leaders wanted to murder these innocent women had nothing to do with religion. They wanted to get their land and other possessions. One way to do this was by the public accusation of "witchcraft." This would almost guarantee that even an innocent woman would be locked up and tortured, losing all her property.
The tortures of the witch-trials were ghastly. In fact, they are so horrible that I will spare you their description. For, like me, if you heard what the "Christians" actually did to these women, you might not be able to shake the nightmare from your mind. That is how horrible these tortures were.
Greed, as always, is the seed of much hideous and monstrous behavior. So some of the "Christians" were also severely perverted, and turned on by torture of young, often beautiful, women. This was just plain sick,and it added to the sickness of greed.
The "trials" were absurd and ridiculous. They were not anything like those of a true legal system. During the trials, women were stuck with pins, and if they responded, were called "witches," for, if they had not been demonic, God would have protected them. They were also dunked in water and held under; if they drowned, it was "confirmation" that they were "witches"; if not, God would have saved them.
This criminal perversion was very widespread. Christians were victims of heinous superstitions. And the worship of the god Yahweh-Jehovah permitted such barbaric cruelty that the mind boggles at the tortures devised.
Wiccans today are making a come-back, from the ancient forms, as a form of nature-worship. Early Christians taught that God manifested as "Goddess," in nature. they called their Goddess "Sophia" (Greek for "wisdom"). Wicca is a very rare form of religion, as it elevates women above men. The Wiccans meet in groups of thirteen, each called a "coven." Each is led by a priestess. They try to gather and send psychic energy, for healing of a friend, or for success in an enterprise, etc. But they have nothing to do with satanism, the worship of the ultimate illusion, fear or the "devil."
Most of what these Christians said, from about 1450-1650, can be dismissed as overactive imagination. Some might have been even victims of a naturally occurring form of lsd, which grew in a fungus in their bread. (This is known as "ergot poisoning.") At any rate, nothing that they said can be taken seriously, and none of their charges against "witches" had anything to do with reality.
Sunday, April 30, 2006
Do Not Be Fooled at the Polls
Dear Friends of Mother Earth,
I've just received an alarming email. This Tuesday, when Ohio voters head to the polls to vote in the primary election, Big Tobacco plans to collect signatures to help put their Pro-Smoking Amendment on the ballot!
We must get the word out to Ohio voters - your friends, coworkers, and family - that they might be tricked into signing Big Tobacco's petition at the polls.
Will you help?
Tell 10 of your friends not to fall for Big Tobacco's tricks. Tell them, DON'T SIGN THE SO-CALLED "SMOKERS' RIGHTS" PETITION! Clearing the air is the only way to protect you, your family, and workers from more than 4,000 dangerous chemicals found in secondhand smoke. Not surprisingly, Big Tobacco is working hard to stop SmokeFreeOhio. We want to protect the health of Ohioans, Big Tobacco only wants to protect their bottom line.
You can help!
Tell 10 of your friends NOT TO SIGN THE SO-CALLED "SMOKERS' RIGHTS" PETITION!
Tell Your Friends Now!
Their latest ploy tells me one thing – they are extremely nervous. As poll after poll has indicated, Ohio voters overwhelmingly support clean indoor air. Like you and me, Ohio voters know that secondhand smoke is a serious threat to their health. Make sure this summer you and your friends only sign SmokeFreeOhio's petition--the smoke-free workplace act.
Thanks for helping us stop Big Tobacco!
Sincerely,
Tracy Sabetta
SmokeFreeOhio
*******
I've just received an alarming email. This Tuesday, when Ohio voters head to the polls to vote in the primary election, Big Tobacco plans to collect signatures to help put their Pro-Smoking Amendment on the ballot!
We must get the word out to Ohio voters - your friends, coworkers, and family - that they might be tricked into signing Big Tobacco's petition at the polls.
Will you help?
Tell 10 of your friends not to fall for Big Tobacco's tricks. Tell them, DON'T SIGN THE SO-CALLED "SMOKERS' RIGHTS" PETITION! Clearing the air is the only way to protect you, your family, and workers from more than 4,000 dangerous chemicals found in secondhand smoke. Not surprisingly, Big Tobacco is working hard to stop SmokeFreeOhio. We want to protect the health of Ohioans, Big Tobacco only wants to protect their bottom line.
You can help!
Tell 10 of your friends NOT TO SIGN THE SO-CALLED "SMOKERS' RIGHTS" PETITION!
Tell Your Friends Now!
Their latest ploy tells me one thing – they are extremely nervous. As poll after poll has indicated, Ohio voters overwhelmingly support clean indoor air. Like you and me, Ohio voters know that secondhand smoke is a serious threat to their health. Make sure this summer you and your friends only sign SmokeFreeOhio's petition--the smoke-free workplace act.
Thanks for helping us stop Big Tobacco!
Sincerely,
Tracy Sabetta
SmokeFreeOhio
*******
Help Save Our Little Brothers and Sisters
Urgent: Over 230,000 More Seals Will Die
The senseless slaughter of 230,000 seal pups began this week off the coast of Newfoundland.
This second phase of Canada’s annual commercial seal hunt takes place off the remote Front of Newfoundland and Labrador, its cruelty usually safely out of sight from the rest of the world. A competitive, reckless environment known to be extremely difficult to regulate and monitor by government authorities, IFAW is at the Front to show the world the truth about the seal hunt. But I need your help to continue documenting the cruelty we have already witnessed in our first days of helicopter observation.
Where have all the seals gone?
The location of the sealing has moved much further north due to the drifting ice. On our first day of observation we saw 10-12 sealing ships attempting to navigate through the broken chunks of floating ice, trying to find seals to hunt.
Climate change is affecting the ice that harp seals depend on for breeding, nursing and resting. It is unclear if the terrible ice conditions have already taken most of the young seals, or whether the seals are simply too spread out for sealers to find.
Either way, it’s not possible under these conditions for the government to accurately assess the current seal population or the true impact of the hunt. To slaughter over 300,000 seals in the face of uncertain ice conditions that may continue for the foreseeable future is beyond irresponsible.
Already, the first phase of the seal hunt in the Gulf of St. Lawrence took more than 16,000 seals over their quota for this year.
Guns or clubs: the suffering remains the same
Rifles are used to kill 90% of the seals on the Front, yet the cruelty continues. Seals are shot, taken onto the boats, skinned, and then tossed back into the ocean.
We have already documented several cases of seals being shot, wounded, and then lost under the ice. We caught one poor seal on film that slipped into the water after it was shot, struggled to stay afloat, and then finally disappeared under the ocean.
You can see the latest hunt video diaries and audio podcasts here.
Five ways you can help stop the seal hunt
It’s not too late to speak out now and add your voice to the growing international pressure against the seal hunt. We’ve made it easier than ever before for you to make a real difference: simply visit our Seal Action Center for five different ways to help.
And if you haven’t done so already, please consider making a contribution to IFAW to help support our efforts on the ice. The costs of documenting the hunt from the remote and dangerous Front are extremely expensive: from helicopter travel to remote video equipment and connectivity, I need
your help to expose the cruelty being inflicted on baby seals to the rest of the world.
Thanks again for your ongoing support,
Fred O’Regan
President and CEO
P.S. You can listen right now to an audio podcast of IFAW Seal Campaigner Regina Flores as she talks about the opening of the Newfoundland phase of the commercial seal hunt, in which over 230,000 seals will be killed over the next few days.
International Fund for Animal Welfare April 14, 2006
PO Box 193 • 411 Main Street Yarmouth Port, MA 02675
www.ifaw.org
The senseless slaughter of 230,000 seal pups began this week off the coast of Newfoundland.
This second phase of Canada’s annual commercial seal hunt takes place off the remote Front of Newfoundland and Labrador, its cruelty usually safely out of sight from the rest of the world. A competitive, reckless environment known to be extremely difficult to regulate and monitor by government authorities, IFAW is at the Front to show the world the truth about the seal hunt. But I need your help to continue documenting the cruelty we have already witnessed in our first days of helicopter observation.
Where have all the seals gone?
The location of the sealing has moved much further north due to the drifting ice. On our first day of observation we saw 10-12 sealing ships attempting to navigate through the broken chunks of floating ice, trying to find seals to hunt.
Climate change is affecting the ice that harp seals depend on for breeding, nursing and resting. It is unclear if the terrible ice conditions have already taken most of the young seals, or whether the seals are simply too spread out for sealers to find.
Either way, it’s not possible under these conditions for the government to accurately assess the current seal population or the true impact of the hunt. To slaughter over 300,000 seals in the face of uncertain ice conditions that may continue for the foreseeable future is beyond irresponsible.
Already, the first phase of the seal hunt in the Gulf of St. Lawrence took more than 16,000 seals over their quota for this year.
Guns or clubs: the suffering remains the same
Rifles are used to kill 90% of the seals on the Front, yet the cruelty continues. Seals are shot, taken onto the boats, skinned, and then tossed back into the ocean.
We have already documented several cases of seals being shot, wounded, and then lost under the ice. We caught one poor seal on film that slipped into the water after it was shot, struggled to stay afloat, and then finally disappeared under the ocean.
You can see the latest hunt video diaries and audio podcasts here.
Five ways you can help stop the seal hunt
It’s not too late to speak out now and add your voice to the growing international pressure against the seal hunt. We’ve made it easier than ever before for you to make a real difference: simply visit our Seal Action Center for five different ways to help.
And if you haven’t done so already, please consider making a contribution to IFAW to help support our efforts on the ice. The costs of documenting the hunt from the remote and dangerous Front are extremely expensive: from helicopter travel to remote video equipment and connectivity, I need
your help to expose the cruelty being inflicted on baby seals to the rest of the world.
Thanks again for your ongoing support,
Fred O’Regan
President and CEO
P.S. You can listen right now to an audio podcast of IFAW Seal Campaigner Regina Flores as she talks about the opening of the Newfoundland phase of the commercial seal hunt, in which over 230,000 seals will be killed over the next few days.
International Fund for Animal Welfare April 14, 2006
PO Box 193 • 411 Main Street Yarmouth Port, MA 02675
www.ifaw.org
Failure?
Good for those of us in need of a laugh!
1- Go to Google
2- Type in the word "Failure"
3- Instead of clicking "Google Search," click "I'm Feeling Lucky."
4- Look at the first item on the list. Defines "Failure."
5- Spread the word before the people at Google "fix" it.
Well what can i say? It speaks for itself. This is just too funny not to
pass on.
(Thanks to Sandra Grubb)
1- Go to Google
2- Type in the word "Failure"
3- Instead of clicking "Google Search," click "I'm Feeling Lucky."
4- Look at the first item on the list. Defines "Failure."
5- Spread the word before the people at Google "fix" it.
Well what can i say? It speaks for itself. This is just too funny not to
pass on.
(Thanks to Sandra Grubb)
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