Overcoming Fear

Published on by Jim Category: Love and Fear

What motivates us? Is it a negative motivator like fear, pain, discomfort, doubt, or guilt? Or, is it a positive motivator like playfulness, joy, love, pleasure, or fun? If you are negatively motivated then you end up justifying and reinforcing negativity in your life. If you follow the positive motivators then you will manifest more positive things in your life.

Intelligence is the ability to FEEL the origins of our thoughts, desires and motivations. When we are conscious of our motivations we can be free of fear.

 What is Fear

If one watches themselves when they are fearful, particularly under extreme fear, for instance if somebody were to attack you, you would contract down to protect yourself (your limited self the body in this case.) It is the reaction of contraction, the tensing the nerves and the muscles, to the thought or belief of impending injury that is want we call fear. In fear we contracted our consciousness down to identifying with the human instrument, particularly the body.

So fear has two elements, the thought or belief and the reaction of contraction. To overcome fear (and develop love) we must work with both our thoughts and beliefs and our reactions or behaviors.

Let me give you an example of difference of perceptions or beliefs that change the quality of the experience. If you were told that the roller coaster you were about to take a ride on was going to break and that you will probably be hurt or killed, then the ride would be one of anxiety and fear and not something you would enjoy. If you believed the roller coaster to be safe then it may still be exciting but without the experience of anxiety or real fear. The fear would still be there but only at a body level (with what we call excitement) and not at a deeper or heart level. Ninety-nine percent of our fears are only imaginary and a product of our assumptions or beliefs.

Therefore, you can see how truth liberates us from our fears. By freeing ourselves from the ninety-nine percent of our fears we are being loving to ourselves and improving the quality of our lives. The fears just limit the quality of the life experience.

Fear is defined as a painful agitation of the mind caused by a perception of impending danger or evil; a state of alarm. Fear is a perception of danger causing a painful reaction in the mind.

Fear is generally a negative experience. If one where to watch carefully they would observe that there is a thought that enters the mind, an electromagnetic impulse traveling through the brain. Then the mind’s conditioning causes a reaction of tensing the nerves and muscles. There can not be pain (or negativity) with out tension or resistance. The tension or resistance is experienced as negative or painful.

Fear is the reaction of the mind to sensation or the phenomenon known as thoughts. Thoughts are only electromagnetic impulses traveling through the brain that are either internally stimulated or are stimulated by the senses. When we resist an impulse or thought we experience negativity. When we experience negativity associated with a particular thought patter we call that fear. if we do not resist the thought we do not experience negativity and hence no fear.

A habitual fear is a fear that is being experienced although there is no present physical danger. A dynamic fear is when is present with an apparent danger.

Fear and negativity comes from making something important, giving all your attention to it, and narrowing your awareness. Who is it that experiences negativity when there is fear: the one who is afraid or the one who is feared?

Fear is a product of the future; it cannot exist in the mind that is present. You must be thing of the future to experience fear. Fear’s misery comes when you are torn between the experience of the present and the imagination of the future.

Whatever you want the most you fear the most and therefore you say no to it. So whatever you find yourself saying no to is really what you want the most.

Fear of Fear

Fear is something we do not like to look at, particularly our own fears. If there is something we do not like or something that displeases us or we disagree with then we look away from it and avoid it for in our hearts we fear it. If we fear something it is because it causes pain or discomfort. It takes a lot of courage and self love to look at the things we fear, to work at it until we can appreciate, enjoy and love that thing. Loving something releases the fear of that something.

That which you love the most you fear the most.

Fear is our conditioned response of tension to a thought that enters the mind. We can overcome any fear with just practice of relaxing in the presents of the thought that creates the fearful reaction. See Stopping the Spin

Judge Me, Please!

Published on by Jim Category: Communication and Relationships, Health Mental, Jesus

I want to improve myself and my ability to help people be healthier and happier. Your comments and criticism are appreciated, either here or at YouTube.

I want to hear people’s criticism and judgments.I recognize that they cannot hurt me, only MY REACTIONS to words and thoughts can cause me harm.I have overcome my unhealthy habit of reacting to words and thoughts so now I am open to what others have to share with me.AND, I can show others how to get free from their habitual reactions to words and thoughts.

If you like the ideas I have presented here then please share them with others.

Educating the Heart

Published on by Jim Category: Health Mental

The author is Melvin McLeod.

This article was NOT WRITTEN by the Dali Lama, but ABOUT him and his talks. I find that in this type of situation the writer sometimes does not convey the true mean or intent of the speaker.  Nor do many writers understand the words used and their INTENT, which is important.)

Here are some quotes from the article that I like and then my comments:

He doesn’t deny the reality of our differences or the inevitability of conflict. What’s important is how we choose to react. (referring to the Dali Lama)

A lot of the Dali Lama article seems to be focused on how people relate to others.  There is little to no discussion on how we relate to OURSELVES.Are we being compassionate with OURSELVES? Or are we beating ourselves us with our emotional reactions to what life is offering us?If we do not FIRST have compassion for ourselves then we will not be in any shape to care about and have compassion for others.

“And your empathy can be extended further, eventually towards your enemy. Your enemies may disagree with you, may be harming you, but in another aspect, they are still another human being like you. They also have the right not to suffer and to find happiness. If your empathy can extend out like that, it is unbiased, genuine compassion.”

THIS I fully agree with.

Interestingly, the next paragraph the writer (not the Dali Lama) talks about “the three poisons of passion, aggression, and ignorance.”This shows the ignorance of the writer in that he included passion as a poison.Without passion there can be no com-passion.

“This touches on the very definition of what we mean by compassion,” the Dalai Lama replied. “At the heart of compassion is our response to someone else’s suffering. The first point is their immediate suffering, and at another level is the causes or conditions of the suffering. Maybe it is wiser to develop compassion toward people who are creating the causes of their future suffering. That’s wiser, because compassion can bring preventive measures. Immediate suffering has already happened—we feel a sense of concern, but sometimes nothing can be done. Maybe our efforts should be to prevent these kinds of things in the future.”

This is what I talk about the most, Preventative Compassion, a compassion that confronts the CAUSES of injury BEFORE they happen.Sometimes bringing about crisis is the most compassionate way to wake people up to their habits that are causing the suffering.Confrontation is just bring forth the truth of what is happening so confrontation is a healthy way to wake people up to their unhealthy habits.

“The basis of compassion for others is compassion for oneself,” he said. “If you don’t have the natural wish to be freed from your own suffering, you won’t be able to empathize with others’ experience of suffering. Therefore, the basis is compassion for oneself.”

YES, absolutely.My point exactly.

I wrote about Dynamic Compassion yesterday in my blog.You can read it below and may see some differences between my perspective, which I would call a more holistic perspective, and the Buddhist’s perspective.

Dynamic Compassion

Published on by Jim Category: Health Emotional

Dynamic Compassion is a compassion that goes beyond just respect, service and care. Compassion is the willingness to suffer with others. Dynamic compassion is the underlying cause of change or growth that comes from that willingness to suffer with others.

Dynamic compassion is a willingness to engage the world or a situation that is unhealthy, possibly making that situation temporarily more dynamic (dis-eased) so as to bring about a change towards a healthier situation.

I remember a situation from my childhood where my mother demonstrated Dynamic Compassion with my older sister that probably saved her life and gave me a great example of love, which was a deep and profound experience in my life. I was about five or six at the time and all three of us, my older sister, myself and my younger sister, had the measles. My younger sister and I got over the measles in the normal amount of time but my older sister did not. My mother was worried about this because she had heard that measles, if they last too long, can do permanent damage or even kill. So my mother called the doctor who told her to induce the spots on the skin to eruption. To do this he said she should draw a hot bath that was just less than scalding and put my sister in it. He said this would be very uncomfortable for my sister but that my mother would have to hold her in the water until the spots erupted. can still remember how my sister screamed and cursed my mother for doing this. My mother had tears in her eyes but also knew that if she did not do this then my sister could die. My sister, still a child, could not understand this.

The spots erupted and my sister got better. But I can see that my sister always seem to hold that experience against my mother and still does not have much of a relationship with her.

But, I can see that this act was an example of Dynamic Compassion, loving when those you are serving cannot understand how you are loving them. This is unconditional love for it was not conditional upon a return of appreciation or love.

Dynamic Compassion is much more than Ahimsa, the Buddhist and Hindu doctrine expressing belief in the sacredness of all living creatures and urging the avoidance of harm and violence. Dynamic Compassion goes beyond the equanimity of non-aggression and injury of others to the active involvement in the lives of others. Ahimsa implies an avoidance of involvement in another’s life while Dynamic Compassion implies confronting and embracing involvement in another’s life. Ahimsa is a good start but it does not go far enough. In the spectrum of consciousness Ahimsa only goes half way to equanimity while Dynamic Compassion pushes us toward the extreme positive of love.

Dynamic Compassion means confronting the ills of our society. Non injury is non involvement while confronting is engaging the causes of injury BEFORE they happen or at the root of their source. Compassion by itself may mean being a “Mother Theresa” type person who comforts the wounds of those who have been injured. Dynamic Compassion means confronting the cause of injury so as to protect against future injuries.

Often those who are being harmed are also the ones doing the harm. Many injuries people experience are self-inflicted yet they blame others for their own behavior. For instance, “verbal or emotional abuse” is harm that we have learned to cause ourselves. Dynamic Compassion confronts the source of the injury by confronting the person who is abusing themselves emotionally.

Dynamic Compassion would also motivate one to confront the BELIEF that words are the source of our suffering. For it is this belief that keeps people trapped in the cycle of abuse and violence. Confronting deeply held beliefs in society is not popular but it is loving and deeply compassionate.

Fear of Self

Published on by Jim Category: Health Mental, Religion

Today I am struck by how people are so afraid of themselves. Everywhere I go I see people afraid. At first they seem afraid of me if they know anything about me, and sometimes even if they do not know anything about me.

I see this as a “problem” within society but here in lies the rub; maybe this ‘problem’ is only in MY mind. When I speak about this ‘problem’ with other people they only run from the discussion, so I speak about it more saying that people’s running from discussions is a symptom of the ‘problem’. The more I speak about it the more people seem to be afraid of me.

On the other hand, I recognize that I have had this same ‘problem’ myself and I found a solution to that problem: meditation or practicing relaxing around words, thoughts and ideas. I have found that what I make important I create tension around, so to relax I let go of making anything important. In order to share my insights with people I have to make them important, which creates tension or fear.

This is all a vicious cycle or a Catch-22 type situation.

I suppose that I just have to play with the dilemma; talk about it and then let it go.

Stopping the Spin

Published on by Jim Category: Health Emotional, Health Mental

When emotional drama becomes too much and you feel you are traumatizing yourself (injuring yourself), stop the spin of the drama by getting back to a place of stillness and the clarity that it brings. When you are uptight or tense it is difficult to find clarity and peace of mind. The following steps or perspectives will enable you to relax and regain the clarity, peace and wholeness you are seeking:

SIMPLIFY

  • Get back into the PRESENT MOMENT. Get back into the Here and Now. Recognize that you are experiencing life in the present; the past is but memory and cannot hurt you, the future is just imagination and is not real. “What is the situation right now and here?”
  • Recognize that when you are upset or experiencing an emotional drama you cannot possibly help or benefit another. FIRST CONCERN YOURSELF WITH YOURSELF. “What am I doing that is upsetting myself?” You cannot love another until you can love yourself.

SOFTEN Yourself:

  • Become aware of your body and be aware of your BREATH. Feel where the tension is located in your body and breathe into it to relax and let go of the tension.
  • Recognize that outside of this moment and this place you really DON’T KNOW anything. “Only don’t know.” “Dwell in a cloud of unknowing.” Be innocent like a child.
  • Get a bigger perspective. Expand your consciousness and recognize that whatever your problems are, they are NOT REALLY THAT IMPORTANT in the big picture of life. “Nothing that ever has happened or could happen on this puny speck of dust in the universe, that we call Earth, could ever really be important.”

Remember to SMILE:

  • Look at whatever your situation is and feel an acceptance or YESness toward it. It is the attitude of No-ness (disagree, dislike, etc.) that is our resistance or fear of the Perfect Reality that we have manifested.
  • Practice APPRECIATION of what you are experiencing. The attitude of appreciation leads to Joy and Love. What all people want is the lightness of enjoying and loving life.

Allow for STILLNESS:

  • It is in the Stillness, Rest and Peace that we gain the clarity that enables us to perceive the truth that will set us free to fully enjoy and love what life is offering.
  • With CLARITY we are better able to perceive and assess what is really happening, enabling us to choose the path of least resistance to a more full or WHOLE LIFE EXPERIENCE.

Your quality of life is up to you.
The choice is yours, the power to choose comes with practice.

Jesus vs. the Christians

Published on by Jim Category: Christian, Jesus

Mahatma Gandhi once said, “I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.”Christians not only are not like Jesus they seem to oppose Jesus’ way and truth.

Every time I talk to a Christian I come away amazed just how much they seem to fear Jesus’ way and truth.I do not think they see themselves as apposed to Jesus’ way and truth, but in practice they sure seem to be.The opposition to Jesus’ way and truth seems to come from the writers of the New Testament.Their faithlessness is reflected in the Christian doctrine and theology.

When Jesus started his ministry the first thing he said was, “Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”Of course, Jesus did not say this, for he did not speak English.The oldest version of what he DID say is in Greek and the Greek word that is translated into ‘repent’ is metanoia.Metanoia means a radical change of mind or a complete reversal of our ways of thinking.

Jesus wanted people to change their ways of thinking.Christians seem to have rejected Jesus’ more profound or fundamental changes in thinking.The radical changes in their ways of thinking would enable them to find theKingdomofHeaventhat is AT HAND and let go of their unhealthy and contradictory beliefs.Following Jesus’ example means thinking like he thought and doing what he did. The false and faithless Christian doctrine discourages people from following Jesus’ example.Christianity teaches that we cannot be perfect or godly like Jesus was.I call this the teachings of the antichrist, or what we call today Christ-anti, Christianity.Jesus, who Christians call Christ, said that if you have faith…nothing will be impossible to you.

What are the fundamental differences between Jesus’ and the Christian ways of thinking?Here are just a few of them:

Jesus’ Heaven is Now

When Jesus first started teaching he said that theKingdomofHeavenis AT HAND and all you had to do to experience it was to change your ways of thinking.For Jesus the power to find heaven was in each person’s hands, NOT HIS.Jesus’ job was only to wake people up to this or to inspire them to seek a heavenly existence. In Jesus’ world you are the one with all the power to create a heavenly experience for yourself.

Some would say that Jesus was teaching that we should focus on our behaviors (works) and DO good for one another. This is not what Jesus taught.

“How terrible it will be for you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but on the inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup, so that its outside may also be clean.” (Matthew 23:25)
Of course, Jesus was talking about first changing our attitude and ways of thinking first, then our behaviors will change naturally.

Christians talk about heaven as if it was some place you go when you die.Heaven is a reward for being a good slave here on earth.In the Christian’s world heavenly power is outside of you.

Jesus had Dual Identities

Jesus suggested that we be ‘born again’ (John 3:3) or have dual identities as he did.One identity is that of the person, the ‘flesh’, who is ‘born of water’, who lives and dies, and who suffers, fears, loves and experiences the drama of life.The other identity is of one who is ‘born of spirit’, a god, part of the infinite and eternal being we call God, not separate from this being.This being ‘born again’ as Spirit is adding a new identity, a way of thinking like Jesus, being a god (John 10:34), part of God (John 14:28), and one with God (John 10:30).

Yet, sometimes Jesus identified not with God but as a separate being, one that had the privilege of suffering all the drama and richness that life can offer.Jesus got into this drama when he imagined himself from God in order to become a martyr.When he said, “Father, if you are willing, take this cup away from me. Yet not my will but yours be done.” (Luke 22:42)He then went even further into the illusion of separation when he said, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46)This illusion of being separate from God allowed Jesus to create the great drama that he is most remembered for today.

These are just two ways of thinking, one that allows us the richness and drama that life can offer and the other allows us to rest from the rollercoaster of the drama.

Yet when it is time to rest we can identify as Spirit or one with God, infinite and eternal.“Come to me, all of you who are weary and loaded down with burdens, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28).As Spirit we find peace and rest. Using Jesus’ ways of thinking allows one to think of him or her self as an infinite and eternal being, allowing them to relax and rest without worry of the temporal events of life.

To follow Jesus’ example would be sometimes to think of ourselves as separate beings and other times to see ourselves as Spirit and one with all beings including God.This gives us the freedom to enjoy the drama and richness of life and the peace that comes from not identifying with the changing world.

Christian doctrine rejects this dual identity way of thinking. Christians are diabolically apposed to anyone thinking of themselves as a god, one with God and one with all people.It is their doctrine that Jesus is the only one who can be one with God, that he is special and that his way was good for him ONLY but not for us.

“The truth will set you free” so lies will limit, enslave or trap you.Christians reject the liberating power of truth and embrace the limiting power of lies.Whenever I hear the Christians say that no one can be like Jesus I cringe at the dishonesty they are trapped living with.

Jesus was Optimistic/Faithful

I can hear the Christians now as they read the above topic; they would say that we can not be one with God the way that Jesus was one with God.

That does not reflect Jesus’ way of thinking.Jesus said, “If you have faith … nothing will be impossible for YOU,” (Matthew 17:20) and, “Seek and you will find.”(Matthew 7:7)Does that sound like a powerless being or an all powerful god to you?

Jesus pointed out several times the faithlessness of his followers (Matthew 6:30, 8:26, 14:31, 16:8, 17:20).Because of their faithlessness they did not seek so they did not find. These followers created Christianity.They became the blind leading the blind and all have falling into the pit of faithlessness. Their theologies, philosophies and dogmas justify their faithlessness.Because of this faithless dogma they think that what Jesus taught was ok for him, he was God, but we are not, so we can ignore his way and his truth.

This does not mean that Christianity did not serve some need.The NEED that I see that it served was to get people at least to pay lip service to Jesus’ higher moral standards. That makes my job a lot easier. I come to continue on where Jesus left off and go beyond him. My ‘audience’ is the Christian world. Jews, Muslims and the Leftist do not have Jesus’ higher moral standards to live up to.

Jesus was Not a Sinner

Jesus did not think of himself as a sinner, unworthy of grace or God’s love.This is quite the opposite of the Christian way of thinking.

The Christians doctrine teaches that all humanity is inherently flawed, sinful or evil.But, Jesus encouraged us to think of ourselves as perfect, without flaw (“So be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”Matthew 5:48) Perfect means finish, whole, complete, without flaw. The Apostle Paul admitted that he did not get this when he wrote, “It’s not that I have already reached this goal or have already become perfect. But I keep pursuing it.” (Philippians 3:12)Jesus did not say to BECOME perfect, as Paul writes.Jesus said to BE perfect; which means to accept that you already are perfect, that you have always been perfect and that you will always be perfect.BUT, and this is a BIG but, you can still THINK of yourself as not perfect.The Apostle Paul should have listened to Jesus when he said, “First remove the log from your own eye then you can see clearly enough to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.” (Matthew 7:5)

Sin is a relative term and constantly changing.We are the ones who choose to see something as sinful or as perfect.To motivate one’s “person” we can see ourselves as lacking or not good, just as Jesus did.Or, other times we can see ourselves as perfect and without flaw.BOTH, ways of thinking have the values.Being free allows us to use whichever way of thinking that works for us at this moment.

Jesus Questioned Authority

How can we progress if we do not question the status quo?How can we improve ourselves and the world is we do not examine what is and how it got here?Questioning authority is the way to bring about our New Testament of change and a new reality.

Jesus questioned the beliefs of his time and even the authority of the scriptures.If he had not questioned them then there would have been no need for a ‘new’ testament.Jesus saw that they needed improving, that they were not complete.Jesus questioned the religious teachings of his time ‘love your neighbor but hate your enemy’ and saw that loving your enemy was a healthier way and greater truth.Jesus “improved” Moses’ teaching that a person who works on the Sabbath should be killed.Jesus taught that the Sabbath was made for people, not people for the Sabbath.Thus, in essence, he was saying that the scriptures are made for people, not people for the scriptures.We all can choose to interpret the scriptures to liberal us or enslave us.If we are to ‘continue in his way’ then we would continue to question the authority of the religious teachers and the scriptures they way that Jesus did.

This is not the doctrine or desire of the Christianity.The faithless followers taught a doctrine of non-dissension to protect their faithlessness from being exposed.

Jesus was the Prince of Peace?

Christians often call Jesus the “Prince of Peace” ignoring what Jesus said, “Do you think that I came to bring peace on earth? Not at all, I tell you, but rather division.” (Luke 12:51)Division is vital and alive. Jesus said he came to set people at odds with one another.When Jesus questioned authorities and doctrine he created controversy and discussion.This controversy was divisive and the ‘fire on earth’ that would light the way for people.

Jesus’ only ‘crime’ was that he upset people with his words, because these people make words so important.Today, those who ‘talk’ and question the words of the religious are viewed as heretics, evil or divisive, at least in the minds of the religious.Christians follow after the faithless followers like Paul’s who wrote, “Now I urge you, brothers, to watch out for those who create divisions and sinful enticements in opposition to the teaching you have learned. Stay away from them!” (Romans 16:17)

Jesus was not a Follower of Anybody

Jesus had at least one teacher in John the Baptist, but then he graduated from that teacher and went beyond him; way beyond him.

To continue in Jesus’ way would be to recognize that we all have many teachers but that our job is to become his or her equal and then go beyond them; to improve upon their way and truth and to become a greater incarnation of God/Love then they were.

Jesus said, “Not everyone who keeps saying to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will get into the kingdom of heaven, but only the person who keeps doing the will of my Father in heaven.” (Matthew 7:21)Calling Jesus your Lord is not what he wanted.It is doing the will of the Father in Heaven, God being within you (Luke 17:21:“the kingdom of God within you.”), and not following those or that which is outside of you.

Jesus Meditated

Faithlessness is a product of fear of change or the lack of blessedness to be at peace with change.

Jesus seemed so different from others because he had developed the skills of blessedness.He developed these skills via the practice that he called ‘watching’ but today is called meditation.Jesus’ last three parables were about ‘watching’.He even tried to teach some of his disciples (Peter, John and James) to meditate when he took them up on the mountain and asked them to ‘watch’ with him.He said to ‘watch’ that they not fall into temptation; the temptation to fear, reject and hate.But all the followers could do was fall asleep so they never learned the value of or developed the same skills that Jesus had.Without these skills they could not see that they, too, could be as blessed and liberal with love as Jesus was.Today, Christians do not have faith that they can live up to Jesus’ standard, because they do not have the same skills that Jesus had developed.

These are just some of the ways that Christians distance themselves from Jesus, his way and his truth.

These are just some of the ways that Christians distance themselves from Jesus, his way and his truth.For these reasons I see why they would call their religion Christianity.They call Jesus the Christ and their religion Christ-anti, Christianity the way of the Anti-Christ.They appose the manifestation of the spirit of Christ in this world.As Jesus said, nothing is hidden that will not later be revealed.It is time to call Christianity what it is, anti Jesus’ way and truth.

Jesus had so much to offer humanity.The Christians seem to have grasped most of Jesus’ unhealthy attitudes and behaviors and rejected his healthier one.It is one thing to not have the faith that you can be as holy as Jesus but it is another to oppose those who do strive for that goal.

Some have actually done what Jesus did and said to do.Some have sought to find the perfect truth that would set them perfectly free to enjoy and love all that life offered and they have found that kingdom of heaven that is now, here today.They have changed their ways of thinking.

Season of the White Crow

Published on by Jim Category: Uncategorized

Rob Brezney writes in his astrology column (www.freewillastrology.com) for Sagittarius last week:

“If you want to upset the law that all crows are black,” wrote William James, “you mustn’t show that no crows are, it is enough if you prove one single crow to be white.”  Philosopher Jonathan Zap applies this idea to his ruminations about telepathy.  He says that if there is even one irrefutable case in which two minds have communicated with each other at a distance and without the aid of technology, then telepathy must be a fundamental human capacity.  I believe this is an important line of thought for you to consider, Sagittarius.  Why? Because you’ve entered the Season of the White Crow.

The Season of the White Crow means to me that it is time to question some fundamental laws or beliefs of humanity.  For me, that means it is time for me to question the fundamental belief that words hurt people, that words are powerful. 

            I do not need to prove that all people are not hurt by words; I only need to prove that I can not be hurt by words.  Better yet, if I show that there are many people who have overcome the power of words to hurt them then I have made my case better.

            I have found that words can not hurt me, only my reactions to words can cause me injury.  If I take responsibility for my reactions and my behaviors and work to develop the blessedness to not take offense at works, then I can be free from the fear of words.

            Blessedness is a result of letting go, of relaxing and not reacting to the stimuli that is constantly coming at us.  Blessedness is the practice of just watching what happens and not reacting.  Blessedness comes with the practice of meditation.  Meditation is the practice of blessedness.

            People are constantly telling me that what is said has power and that we can hurt people with our words.  I notice that these people are afraid of other people, they are afraid of talking to people, or should I say, they are afraid of their reactions to what people say.  In essence, they are afraid of themselves.  If we fear ourselves we can not love ourselves.  If we can not love ourselves then we will not be able to love others.

 

Spiritual Issues in the Immigration Debate

Published on by Jim Category: Government & Politics

What are our moral obligations to illegal immigrants_and to the laws of the U.S.?  

From an article by Rabbi Marc Gellman,

For me, the ‘obligations’ to obey the government is not as strong as the obligation to obey the God that lives within my heart. I see the “problem’ of immigration not as a problem of immigration but as a problem of fear and greed. WE, Americans, are afraid to share out WISDOM and knowledge with people of other countries. We are afraid to reach out to them and show them how to be free and as wealthy as we are. And, we are afraid to see that we have gone beyond wealthy here, we are outright decadent and gluttonous, we are obsessed with materiality.

If we were open to the Spirit we would not be building walls (or fences) but would be breaking them down. Truth liberates, it does not builds walls. Do we really want our own version of the Berlin Wall?

It is time to attack the problem, not hide behind walls. The problem is people feel more opportunity here than in their own countries. It is time for us to confront those countries and their beliefs that keep them financially and spiritually handicapped. AND, it is time to confront our decadent and gluttonous ways.


Beyond the Democrat Party of the Bible Belt

Published on by Jim Category: Uncategorized

“No great improvements in the lot of mankind are possible until a great change takes place in the fundamental constitution of their modes of thought.”
JOHN STUART MILL (English philosopher), Autobiography, 1873

No great change is going to happen in our political reality until people start to think beyond their current fundamental constitutions or modes of thought. It is time to think beyond the thoughts of “us against them”. It is time for the Democrats to start looking at how they can SERVE the Republicans and conservatives of America and the world, not be opposed to them.

The Democrat’s have historically been a party that serves the labor and working classes of America. How about that we (Democrats) being here to serve PEOPLE as opposed to serving institutions like unions, corporations, churches and governments. We have thought that we created these institutions to help us serve people but they always end up becoming the master over people. As long as an organization has hierarchical decision making power they will always revert to corruption. As long as we keep thinking that centralized decision making is going to solve our problems we are only CREATING more problems. The Democrat’s can change this primitive way of thinking and look to decentralizing the power and authority of the federal government so that the power is taken BACK toward the people in our local governments. A grass roots effort is the only real government that we need. That is a government of people, not institutions.

Is this not totally opposite the Theology of the Bible-Belt? The belief of the bible-belt is that humans are inherently flawed, sinful or evil so they need to be controlled and dominated. This attitude basically comes from the demented (unloving and faithless) teachings of the apostle Paul. The assumptions is that because we need to be controlled humanity needs a hierarchical structure and those who raise to the top are there because God has chosen them to be there.

The Democrats have believed that the best way to create this hierarchical structure is through unions and government where the Republicans have believed that the best way to create this structure is through church and corporations. BOTH are founded on faithless and unloving belief in the flawed nature of humanity.

This new way of thinking is very much consistent with the perspective of we are all gods, part of God. Why should any one person have authority over any other person if we are all equally part of God? Jesus taught these ideas two thousand years ago and they are still good ideas, even if it is a primitive way of expressing it. Yes, there are people who do not realize they are part of God, but that is THEIR manifestation of God at this moment, so why not let them be who they are at this moment. We can still make every effort to wake them up to who they really are.

We are Gods, perfect beings JUST AS WE ARE. When we wake up we can see that we are perfect, have always been and will always be. Waking up is such a rich experience that we cherish the unconsciousness for the OPPORTUNITY that it created for us to wake up.

The Democrats can be the ‘party’ of people waking each other up to our divinity and we can use the government we have to that purpose, until we no longer need a government.

PRACTICAL

In a practical sense Democrats can be a party that supports health education, not health insurance that only gives money to the corporate interests of the doctors, pharmacy companies and hospitals. The health insurance industry is about creating dependency on doctors, pharmacies and hospitals, not about creating healthy people who have NO NEED for doctors, pharmacies and hospitals.

In defense Democrats can be a party that supports people learning how to defend themselves instead of be dependent on militaries and police to do it. Do you think we would be at war in Iraq today if we only had militia of citizens to defend the country? A militia can not be an aggressive force; it can only be a defensive force. We could turn the Defense Department into a training institution that teaches people how to defend themselves. We could replace the Defense Department (War Department) with the Peace Corps and ‘invest’ in other countries by sending teachers there to teach people how to take care of themselves and live free.

How about creating tax credits for people who teach others how to be financially independent? We could create all types of tax credits for people who teach others to be healthy, independent and free.

These are just a few of the ideas that WE all can come up with IF we have the faith in ourselves.

It is time for a radical change in our ways of thinking.