My days now hang in a period silent uncertainty. I wake up, overwhelmed by egoic forces. It usually takes a couple of deep breaths and a half-hour of meditation before I am my Self again. From there, it's all good.
But as I try to live in each moment as if it were the only one in eternity, I find myself constantly faced with the question, "What is it that I'm supposed to be doing."
"BE," is the response I hear in my heart.
It sounds deceptively easy, but in a world where sights and sounds and sensations fly every which way around us, and egoic desires tempting me to "do this" and "accomplish that," to simply BE feels like a Herculean task. But I never feel as complete as when I relax into total "I AM-NESS," so there must be truth to it.
Then I start to wonder...is this all just a playground for the Divine? Does God not really know what It is? Is the Universe incomplete without me? Is the whole purpose of my existence to (A). Remember that I am a part of God and (B). Allow God to experience what It is through the lens of my own indiduial consciousness?
It puts a new meaning on the phrase "messenger of God. " It's not about God giving messages to humankind, but humankind sending messages BACK to God, allowing God to learn what IT is, to see other parts of Itself. Perhaps the history of life on our planet is about the Universe itself trying to figure out just what the hell it is, trying to reach conscious awareness...but then again, the Universe would already have to be conscious in order to have that kind of agenda, right? I mean, if the Universe lacked self-awareness to begin with, how could it be aware enough to try to DEVELOP awareness through life?
You know what? I have no idea. I seriously I have no idea. But I guess we'll all find out soon enough.
Wednesday, March 7, 2007
Tuesday, March 6, 2007
"Stranger in a Strangeland" and the nature of God
Just finished reading Robert Heinlein's Stranger in a Strangeland. I read it when I was in high school and thought, "Meh..." This time, I thoroughly enjoyed every page. It spoke so much to where I'm at right now. I've started using "grok" in my sentences (such a great word), and the mantra, "Thou art God" has become a personal favorite.
Here's a great quote from the book, as spoken by one of the characters who is a Muslim:
"...I am still God's slave, submissive to His will...and nevertheless can say: 'Thou art God, I am God, all that groks is God.' The Prophet never asserted that he was the last of all prophets nor did he claim to have said all there was to say. Submission to God's will is not to be a robot, incapable of choice, and thus of sin. Submission can include--does include--utter responsibility for the fashion in which I, and each of us, shape the universe. It is ours to turn into a heavenly garden...or to rend and destroy...'with God all things are possible,' if I may borrow--except the Impossible. God cannot escape Himself, he cannot abdicate His own total responsibility--He forever must remain submissive to His own will. Islam remains--He cannot pass the buck. It is His--mine...yours..."
Perhaps we sometimes DON'T want to be responsible for our own actions. Perhaps it's easier to think that there is someone showing us the way, something external to us that knows more than we do and who'll bail us out when we get into trouble.
But for me, that God is becoming a distant dream. God, to me, is not so much a divine being, but a divine principle. It is the Force by which everything moves. It is the... I AM-NESS. It is the unspeakable, the unknowable, for even the power by which we speak and know comes from It, and in that sense, yes, we ARE the children of God.
We make our own destiny. Nobody is up there, showing us the way. We ARE the Way, the Truth and the Life. We are the goal that St. Paul was running for, the heavenly prize. Praise be to God, means praise be to all of us and everything that ever was, is, and shall be.
The true challenge of living on this planet, I believe, is found in recognizing that our conception of God as a being is a product of our own mind, a projecting of ourselves. Inside that place called the mind is the Source, where all thought springs from. Our identity lies in the Source, the silent watcher. When we are in this place...this is when we have for a moment found enlightenment, been granted gnosis, achieved yoga, become God.
The next challenge is, upon arriving there, not leaving it ever again.
Here's a great quote from the book, as spoken by one of the characters who is a Muslim:
"...I am still God's slave, submissive to His will...and nevertheless can say: 'Thou art God, I am God, all that groks is God.' The Prophet never asserted that he was the last of all prophets nor did he claim to have said all there was to say. Submission to God's will is not to be a robot, incapable of choice, and thus of sin. Submission can include--does include--utter responsibility for the fashion in which I, and each of us, shape the universe. It is ours to turn into a heavenly garden...or to rend and destroy...'with God all things are possible,' if I may borrow--except the Impossible. God cannot escape Himself, he cannot abdicate His own total responsibility--He forever must remain submissive to His own will. Islam remains--He cannot pass the buck. It is His--mine...yours..."
Perhaps we sometimes DON'T want to be responsible for our own actions. Perhaps it's easier to think that there is someone showing us the way, something external to us that knows more than we do and who'll bail us out when we get into trouble.
But for me, that God is becoming a distant dream. God, to me, is not so much a divine being, but a divine principle. It is the Force by which everything moves. It is the... I AM-NESS. It is the unspeakable, the unknowable, for even the power by which we speak and know comes from It, and in that sense, yes, we ARE the children of God.
We make our own destiny. Nobody is up there, showing us the way. We ARE the Way, the Truth and the Life. We are the goal that St. Paul was running for, the heavenly prize. Praise be to God, means praise be to all of us and everything that ever was, is, and shall be.
The true challenge of living on this planet, I believe, is found in recognizing that our conception of God as a being is a product of our own mind, a projecting of ourselves. Inside that place called the mind is the Source, where all thought springs from. Our identity lies in the Source, the silent watcher. When we are in this place...this is when we have for a moment found enlightenment, been granted gnosis, achieved yoga, become God.
The next challenge is, upon arriving there, not leaving it ever again.
China, karma and the future of humanity
For weeks, I've debated the wisdom of putting up this post, but when I saw this article in the New York Times, I felt compelled to write it.
On February 10th of this year, almost a month before this article came out, I had this weirdly vivid dream that I was sitting at my computer, going through my e-mail, and I saw I had a message from MoveOn.org. I opened it and read the following words:
"In the year 2024, China and its allies will invade the United States."
I stared at the screen in horror, feeling the weight of inevitability in those words...somewhere, deep down within, I felt their truth. I called out to my friend, who was in the next room, to come take a look, and as I was about to tell him about it, I woke up.
I was shaken, to say the least. I wrote the dream down and tried to forget about it. Surely it was no different from any other dream I've had, as vivid as it seemed--although I have had my share of visions, but that's another story. 10 days later, I got overwhelmed by curiosity and started to do some, albeit brief, research. Here's what I found...
1. An article about China's rise to "super powerdom."
2. An article about a growing alliance between China, Russia and Iran.
3. An article about the U.S. preparing for airstrikes against Iran, which it can do as early as this spring...
4. A disturbing opinion piece from the Asia Times about what a war-scenario between the U.S. and the "China-Russia-Iran" axis would look like...
There's ton of info on the web about this topic, as well as some mysticism sites that believe that a war with China is actually prophesied in the Bible. I've refrained from listing them, as they tend to be a little on the uncomfortably fanactical side, but a Google search on the key words "China" and "prophecy" will turn them up for anyone inclined to take a look.
It obviously doesn't take a dream or some mystical vision to see that a conflict between our country and the countries of the East feels inevitable. More than anything, it's awakened me to how unstable the world situation really is, and how comfortable we Americans have become within our borders, laboring under the illusion that as long as we keep to ourselves, we should be relatively okay, that we'll be able to live out our lives unmolested, aside from the occasional mishaps that characterize our existence.
History has proven that the state of affairs in ANY country can change over night, especially when it comes to an empire. I honestly don't know what is going to happen in the next 20 years. But I do know that the universal law of cause and effect is a constant, and that individuals, as well as, countries MUST reap what they sow. I won't waste my breath condeming U.S. domestic and foreign policy--I've done enough of that in my earlier posts--but I will say that if the rest of the world suddenly decides that they're tired of us acting like the unilateral god-emperors of the Earth and decide to give us a taste of our own medicine, whether it be economically or militarily, I will certainly not be surprised.
When I told a friend about my dream and my thoughts on it, he asked what was to be done then, if such a thing were true...if our country could indeed be invaded within the next generation. I replied, "Repent." And I don't mean repentance in terms of beating one's breast and begging some personal God for forgiveness, joining a religion and all that. What I mean is the word as found in the Hebrew Bible shuv which means "turn back."
In other words, cease our war-mongering, turn around and head the other way, the way of peacemaking, not with guns in our hands, but olive branches. America has the potential to be a force for supreme good in this world, if it only decided to stop putting its interests above the interests of others. We could easily serve as an inspiration to the world if we, the veritable Roman Empire of the 21st century, finally laid down our arms and recognized our common bond with all humanity.
Imagine if we disarmed all our nuclear weapons, disbanded our military and simply said, "No more. No more will we spill the blood of others. No more will we use fear and aggression to manifest our will. We wish to finally, FINALLY, make peace with all of you, once and for all, and we welcome the help of anyone who feels likewise."
Can you imagine SHOCKED everybody would be? We would totally throw everybody off guard. No doubt, some would, and with good reason, suspect our motives, thinking we were up to something. But if we actually followed up all our rhetoric with deeds to match, the sincerity of our transformation couldn't be denied
In all honesty, I'm very pessimistic about such a thing happening. But I still hope and pray that it does and that my dream, whether it was a vision or the repressed fears of my unconscious, does not come to pass.
On February 10th of this year, almost a month before this article came out, I had this weirdly vivid dream that I was sitting at my computer, going through my e-mail, and I saw I had a message from MoveOn.org. I opened it and read the following words:
"In the year 2024, China and its allies will invade the United States."
I stared at the screen in horror, feeling the weight of inevitability in those words...somewhere, deep down within, I felt their truth. I called out to my friend, who was in the next room, to come take a look, and as I was about to tell him about it, I woke up.
I was shaken, to say the least. I wrote the dream down and tried to forget about it. Surely it was no different from any other dream I've had, as vivid as it seemed--although I have had my share of visions, but that's another story. 10 days later, I got overwhelmed by curiosity and started to do some, albeit brief, research. Here's what I found...
1. An article about China's rise to "super powerdom."
2. An article about a growing alliance between China, Russia and Iran.
3. An article about the U.S. preparing for airstrikes against Iran, which it can do as early as this spring...
4. A disturbing opinion piece from the Asia Times about what a war-scenario between the U.S. and the "China-Russia-Iran" axis would look like...
There's ton of info on the web about this topic, as well as some mysticism sites that believe that a war with China is actually prophesied in the Bible. I've refrained from listing them, as they tend to be a little on the uncomfortably fanactical side, but a Google search on the key words "China" and "prophecy" will turn them up for anyone inclined to take a look.
It obviously doesn't take a dream or some mystical vision to see that a conflict between our country and the countries of the East feels inevitable. More than anything, it's awakened me to how unstable the world situation really is, and how comfortable we Americans have become within our borders, laboring under the illusion that as long as we keep to ourselves, we should be relatively okay, that we'll be able to live out our lives unmolested, aside from the occasional mishaps that characterize our existence.
History has proven that the state of affairs in ANY country can change over night, especially when it comes to an empire. I honestly don't know what is going to happen in the next 20 years. But I do know that the universal law of cause and effect is a constant, and that individuals, as well as, countries MUST reap what they sow. I won't waste my breath condeming U.S. domestic and foreign policy--I've done enough of that in my earlier posts--but I will say that if the rest of the world suddenly decides that they're tired of us acting like the unilateral god-emperors of the Earth and decide to give us a taste of our own medicine, whether it be economically or militarily, I will certainly not be surprised.
When I told a friend about my dream and my thoughts on it, he asked what was to be done then, if such a thing were true...if our country could indeed be invaded within the next generation. I replied, "Repent." And I don't mean repentance in terms of beating one's breast and begging some personal God for forgiveness, joining a religion and all that. What I mean is the word as found in the Hebrew Bible shuv which means "turn back."
In other words, cease our war-mongering, turn around and head the other way, the way of peacemaking, not with guns in our hands, but olive branches. America has the potential to be a force for supreme good in this world, if it only decided to stop putting its interests above the interests of others. We could easily serve as an inspiration to the world if we, the veritable Roman Empire of the 21st century, finally laid down our arms and recognized our common bond with all humanity.
Imagine if we disarmed all our nuclear weapons, disbanded our military and simply said, "No more. No more will we spill the blood of others. No more will we use fear and aggression to manifest our will. We wish to finally, FINALLY, make peace with all of you, once and for all, and we welcome the help of anyone who feels likewise."
Can you imagine SHOCKED everybody would be? We would totally throw everybody off guard. No doubt, some would, and with good reason, suspect our motives, thinking we were up to something. But if we actually followed up all our rhetoric with deeds to match, the sincerity of our transformation couldn't be denied
In all honesty, I'm very pessimistic about such a thing happening. But I still hope and pray that it does and that my dream, whether it was a vision or the repressed fears of my unconscious, does not come to pass.
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
More on Obama
Here's a great article from www.rollingstone.com about Barack Obama.
It articulates a lot of my reservations for joining his campaign, but it illustrates why he is such an interesting figure in American politics.
It articulates a lot of my reservations for joining his campaign, but it illustrates why he is such an interesting figure in American politics.
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
The Audacity of Doubt
I just finished reading Senator Barack Obama's lastest book "The Audactiy of Hope," in which Mr. Obama relates stories from his first term in the U.S. Senate, as well as examines some of the most pressing problems facing America today and how we might go about taking the first steps towards viable solutions. Topics include the Iraq war, unemployment, race, education and the energy crisis, just to name a few...
I felt inclined to read the book for a variety reasons, the foremost being I believe Senator Obama will continue to be an interesting and important figure in American politics (especially now with the recent announcement of his bid for the presidency), and so getting a look into the man's mind seemed prudent. Also, I feel a lot of excitement among my peers in regards to him: I think many liberal Democrats of my generation look at Obama as a possible American messiah, somebody who can finally lead us out of the neo-conservative stranglehold that has gripped our nation since Bush took office and who will restore some semblance of stability within our borders and throughout the world. I would be dishonest if I tried to pretend that I wasn't somewhat hopeful when this guy first appeared on the scene. I'd also had a dream where a friend had approached me, holding the book out to me, asking that I read it so that we could finally engage in a discussion where I wasn't just on the listening end, intermittently saying, "Hmm...well, I honestly don't know that much about him, so I guess I should read his book."
Well...I've read the book.
I came away from it with a renewed respect and admiration for Mr. Obama. I think he's a great writer, and he's got a lot of good ideas: his chapters on "Opportunity", "Faith," "Race" and "Family" stand out in my mind as being particularly impactful. If I was going to vote, I'd vote for him.
But the final reason that I decided to read the book was because I feel myself being drawn to anarchism...if that wasn't already obvious from earlier postings. And before I made the big plunge and submerged myself into anarchist texts, I thought maybe reading the book might change my mind. Perhaps Barack Obama could convince me that government is actually a good thing. Oddly, enough, I was very fearful that my mind in fact would be changed, because after having given myself the permission to consider anarchism as a way of life and doing some preliminary readings, I was finding that I really liked it. A LOT.
The book hasn't changed my mind. It gave me doubts, for sure, but my mind remains the same. What it did, however, was make me less angry and less distrustful of the government...sorta. There are good people in the system, who really do want to make the world a better place, and though I may disagree with the way they're going about it, we all ultimately want the same thing...and they are still my brothers and sisters, loved by our Father as much as I am.
So perhaps reading the book allowed me to make some sort of peace with my siblings working through Caesar in order to effect change. Kinda like the first time you hang out with your ex after you've broken up...things are still going to be a little weird for a while, but you know that deep down, ya still love 'em.
A little more as to why I'm drifing towards anarchism...
Mr. Obama goes to great lengths to extol the virtues of American society and government. To his credit...to his ENORMOUS credit, he doesn't shy away from America's bloody track record of racism, classism, international government toppling, imperialism, etc. He throws it all out there as our "less than prouder moments." But in principle, he believes that the American government can be truly functional, altruistic and beneficial to ALL of its citizens and to people of other nations.
My issue is not so much Mr. Obama's take on what role our government should play in the future; on the contrary, if I still believed in government, I'd probably want him leading us. But it's not that I don't want him leading us. It's that I don't want ANYONE leading us. And it is here that my mystical nature begins to assert itself.
In truth, a law is only as powerful as the punishment that it promises to exact upon anyone who disobeys it as well as the frequency at which those punishments are meted out, whether it's extortion (a.k.a. "fines"), imprisonment or death. In other words, the power and LEGITMACY of a government rests soley on its ability to inflict violence on its citizens. Every law has behind it the power of the gun to back it up. People are reasoned with by use of rifles, and morality rests in the mortar shell.
Some people may have no problem with this. The world is a dangerous place after all, and it the only way to defend ourselves against violence is to use violence in return. But I begin to wonder what kind of existence we've settled for where inflicting harm on others is necessary for our survival. To be sure, Nature is a living testament to the conflict that abides in our world. Things must die so that others may live. The rabbit runs from the hawk to save its life, and the hawk chases down the rabbit for nourishment so that IT may continue to live. Both are clearly in disagreement with one another...but who should die, the rabbit or the hawk?
As I see myself as not just a man, but a son of man, and more than that, a son of God, and more than that, a manifestation of the Father-Mother itself, eternal and complete, I witness before me a world that should not be despised or feared, but should be healed and forgiven, because the outside world is a part of myself. And I see only one Authority in the Universe: Love, the Source that dwells within me, who is my very Self.
So how can I accept a position that allows for rule of law by use of force, even if that force is protecting me from some "enemy"? Perhaps I do not hold my own life in high esteem...my mortal body, perhaps. But my soul is Love, and with each passing day, I am not as afraid of dying as much as I am living a life ruled by fear.
Human beings are innately good. When left to our own devices, free to walk the earth in whatever direction we choose, I believe that we naturally come together and work toward the benefit of all, not just for purely sentimental reasons or reasons grounded solely in morality, but because we innately realize that EVERYONE benefits when EVERYONE is happy. When people become authoritative, telling us where we can and can't go, what we can and can't do and allows resources to be cut off from the majority and placed in the hands of the few, in other words, when POWER is exercised against free beings such as ourselves in order to keep us in subjection, THAT is when people become nasty and starting fighting back.
Violence begets violence. Those who live by the sword, die by the sword. It is cause and effect, which is why the "war on terror" will never end...and even if we somehow managed to wipe every terrorist off the face of the earth and lethally inject every murderer in our midst, a new "enemy" would spring up, born out of the violence that we sent out into the world, even as our violence was born out of the violence inflicted upon us. As children of God, we are in a unique position to stop the cycle from continuing, to "transcend" karma, to break ourselves free of its bonds and not given into the temptation of vengeance, but rather to meet hate with love. It was these ideas that inspired Martin Luther King, Jr. and Gandhi, and even Jesus as he prayed for the soldiers who nailed him to the cross: "Forgive them, Father. They don't know what they're doing."
We owe it to our brothers and sisters to remember who they are, even if they don't remember it themselves. ESPECIALLY when they don't.
I felt inclined to read the book for a variety reasons, the foremost being I believe Senator Obama will continue to be an interesting and important figure in American politics (especially now with the recent announcement of his bid for the presidency), and so getting a look into the man's mind seemed prudent. Also, I feel a lot of excitement among my peers in regards to him: I think many liberal Democrats of my generation look at Obama as a possible American messiah, somebody who can finally lead us out of the neo-conservative stranglehold that has gripped our nation since Bush took office and who will restore some semblance of stability within our borders and throughout the world. I would be dishonest if I tried to pretend that I wasn't somewhat hopeful when this guy first appeared on the scene. I'd also had a dream where a friend had approached me, holding the book out to me, asking that I read it so that we could finally engage in a discussion where I wasn't just on the listening end, intermittently saying, "Hmm...well, I honestly don't know that much about him, so I guess I should read his book."
Well...I've read the book.
I came away from it with a renewed respect and admiration for Mr. Obama. I think he's a great writer, and he's got a lot of good ideas: his chapters on "Opportunity", "Faith," "Race" and "Family" stand out in my mind as being particularly impactful. If I was going to vote, I'd vote for him.
But the final reason that I decided to read the book was because I feel myself being drawn to anarchism...if that wasn't already obvious from earlier postings. And before I made the big plunge and submerged myself into anarchist texts, I thought maybe reading the book might change my mind. Perhaps Barack Obama could convince me that government is actually a good thing. Oddly, enough, I was very fearful that my mind in fact would be changed, because after having given myself the permission to consider anarchism as a way of life and doing some preliminary readings, I was finding that I really liked it. A LOT.
The book hasn't changed my mind. It gave me doubts, for sure, but my mind remains the same. What it did, however, was make me less angry and less distrustful of the government...sorta. There are good people in the system, who really do want to make the world a better place, and though I may disagree with the way they're going about it, we all ultimately want the same thing...and they are still my brothers and sisters, loved by our Father as much as I am.
So perhaps reading the book allowed me to make some sort of peace with my siblings working through Caesar in order to effect change. Kinda like the first time you hang out with your ex after you've broken up...things are still going to be a little weird for a while, but you know that deep down, ya still love 'em.
A little more as to why I'm drifing towards anarchism...
Mr. Obama goes to great lengths to extol the virtues of American society and government. To his credit...to his ENORMOUS credit, he doesn't shy away from America's bloody track record of racism, classism, international government toppling, imperialism, etc. He throws it all out there as our "less than prouder moments." But in principle, he believes that the American government can be truly functional, altruistic and beneficial to ALL of its citizens and to people of other nations.
My issue is not so much Mr. Obama's take on what role our government should play in the future; on the contrary, if I still believed in government, I'd probably want him leading us. But it's not that I don't want him leading us. It's that I don't want ANYONE leading us. And it is here that my mystical nature begins to assert itself.
In truth, a law is only as powerful as the punishment that it promises to exact upon anyone who disobeys it as well as the frequency at which those punishments are meted out, whether it's extortion (a.k.a. "fines"), imprisonment or death. In other words, the power and LEGITMACY of a government rests soley on its ability to inflict violence on its citizens. Every law has behind it the power of the gun to back it up. People are reasoned with by use of rifles, and morality rests in the mortar shell.
Some people may have no problem with this. The world is a dangerous place after all, and it the only way to defend ourselves against violence is to use violence in return. But I begin to wonder what kind of existence we've settled for where inflicting harm on others is necessary for our survival. To be sure, Nature is a living testament to the conflict that abides in our world. Things must die so that others may live. The rabbit runs from the hawk to save its life, and the hawk chases down the rabbit for nourishment so that IT may continue to live. Both are clearly in disagreement with one another...but who should die, the rabbit or the hawk?
As I see myself as not just a man, but a son of man, and more than that, a son of God, and more than that, a manifestation of the Father-Mother itself, eternal and complete, I witness before me a world that should not be despised or feared, but should be healed and forgiven, because the outside world is a part of myself. And I see only one Authority in the Universe: Love, the Source that dwells within me, who is my very Self.
So how can I accept a position that allows for rule of law by use of force, even if that force is protecting me from some "enemy"? Perhaps I do not hold my own life in high esteem...my mortal body, perhaps. But my soul is Love, and with each passing day, I am not as afraid of dying as much as I am living a life ruled by fear.
Human beings are innately good. When left to our own devices, free to walk the earth in whatever direction we choose, I believe that we naturally come together and work toward the benefit of all, not just for purely sentimental reasons or reasons grounded solely in morality, but because we innately realize that EVERYONE benefits when EVERYONE is happy. When people become authoritative, telling us where we can and can't go, what we can and can't do and allows resources to be cut off from the majority and placed in the hands of the few, in other words, when POWER is exercised against free beings such as ourselves in order to keep us in subjection, THAT is when people become nasty and starting fighting back.
Violence begets violence. Those who live by the sword, die by the sword. It is cause and effect, which is why the "war on terror" will never end...and even if we somehow managed to wipe every terrorist off the face of the earth and lethally inject every murderer in our midst, a new "enemy" would spring up, born out of the violence that we sent out into the world, even as our violence was born out of the violence inflicted upon us. As children of God, we are in a unique position to stop the cycle from continuing, to "transcend" karma, to break ourselves free of its bonds and not given into the temptation of vengeance, but rather to meet hate with love. It was these ideas that inspired Martin Luther King, Jr. and Gandhi, and even Jesus as he prayed for the soldiers who nailed him to the cross: "Forgive them, Father. They don't know what they're doing."
We owe it to our brothers and sisters to remember who they are, even if they don't remember it themselves. ESPECIALLY when they don't.
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
Jesus on politics
"In the world the recognized rulers lord it over their subjects, and their great men make them feel the weight of their authority. That is not the way with you; among you, whoever wants to be great must be your servant...For even the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve, and to surrender his life as a ransom for many."
Mark 10:42-45; Matt. 20:25-28
Mark 10:42-45; Matt. 20:25-28
As I see it...
"We are not hated because we practice democracy, value freedom, or uphold human rights. We are hated because our government denies these things to people in Third World countries whose resources are coveted by our multinational corporations. That hatred we have sown has come back to haunt us in the form of terrorism...Instead of sending our sons and daughters around the world to kill Arabs so we can have the oil under their sand, we should send them to rebuild their infrastructure, supply clean water, and feed starving children....
In short, we should do good instead of evil. Who would try to stop us? Who would hate us? Who would want to bomb us? That is the truth the American people need to hear."
Bishop Robert Bowman, former U.S.A.F. lieutenant colonel
In short, we should do good instead of evil. Who would try to stop us? Who would hate us? Who would want to bomb us? That is the truth the American people need to hear."
Bishop Robert Bowman, former U.S.A.F. lieutenant colonel
Friday, February 9, 2007
Adventures in Dumpster Diving
Last night, I joined a NYC-based freegan organization in dumpster diving--essentially, we went foraging through the trash bags of local grocery stores, trying to find usable goods. Some people from the French media were there and video taped us as we foraged. They filmed me as I pulled out an unopened jar of fruit preserves from the garbage.
I brought home about 40 bananas, a few cups of yogurt, cream cheese, a dozen eggs (unfortunately, I lost half on the way home) a loaf of bread, the aforementioned jar of fruit preserves and a box of Mallomars. I would have brought home more, but my bags weren't big enough. Plus it was freezing--definitely need to invest in a pair of gloves.
It was one of those weird experiences where I was both excited that there were TONS of perfectly good food items on the street, and horrified that such waste is actually taking place in our society. I spoke to many people there who don't really buy groceries anymore, as there are trash bags filled with food that one can collect from just about every night. I was a little concerned about whether or not this was healthy, but I talked to some people who told me that they'd been doing this for over a decade and had yet to become sick. Obviously, there are some things you probably want to stay away from, such as raw meat and sushi. But even if you come across a pre-roasted chicken, it's probably fine...you could have easily bought it in the store two hours ago, before they tossed it.
The best part of it was that nobody was "looking out for themselves," trying to nab the best things. In fact, it was the exact opposite. We all couldn't wait to share our finds with other people...even people just walking past us on the street: "Hey, you want this bag of chips? It's totally fine!"
The lesson here, for me, is that there is truly enough to go around...
I brought home about 40 bananas, a few cups of yogurt, cream cheese, a dozen eggs (unfortunately, I lost half on the way home) a loaf of bread, the aforementioned jar of fruit preserves and a box of Mallomars. I would have brought home more, but my bags weren't big enough. Plus it was freezing--definitely need to invest in a pair of gloves.
It was one of those weird experiences where I was both excited that there were TONS of perfectly good food items on the street, and horrified that such waste is actually taking place in our society. I spoke to many people there who don't really buy groceries anymore, as there are trash bags filled with food that one can collect from just about every night. I was a little concerned about whether or not this was healthy, but I talked to some people who told me that they'd been doing this for over a decade and had yet to become sick. Obviously, there are some things you probably want to stay away from, such as raw meat and sushi. But even if you come across a pre-roasted chicken, it's probably fine...you could have easily bought it in the store two hours ago, before they tossed it.
The best part of it was that nobody was "looking out for themselves," trying to nab the best things. In fact, it was the exact opposite. We all couldn't wait to share our finds with other people...even people just walking past us on the street: "Hey, you want this bag of chips? It's totally fine!"
The lesson here, for me, is that there is truly enough to go around...
Wednesday, February 7, 2007
Source
I am the Source
Shock waves of emotions
sensations rippling up my spinal column
flood my brain with information
I am only encountering my own nervous system.
This reality outside of me
is experienced within me.
Nothing is without
but only perceived to be
So it is the same with meaning
But who am the "I" that gives it meaning
Me is just one more meaning
I take granted
"I" take for granted
There is no "I"
There is no "I"
There is no
There is
There
And the rest is silence.
Shock waves of emotions
sensations rippling up my spinal column
flood my brain with information
I am only encountering my own nervous system.
This reality outside of me
is experienced within me.
Nothing is without
but only perceived to be
So it is the same with meaning
But who am the "I" that gives it meaning
Me is just one more meaning
I take granted
"I" take for granted
There is no "I"
There is no "I"
There is no
There is
There
And the rest is silence.
Monday, February 5, 2007
The Dream World
Over the past couple of weeks, I've been experimenting with lucid dream exercises. I haven't managed to achieve lucidity quite yet (have pulled it off in the past), but my dreams have been remarkably vivid as I've been concentrating more on trying to differentiate between the two "opposing" forms of consciousness.
Yesterday, as I was coming out of a nap, I was halfway between sleep and dreaming, and my mind started to fill up with some pretty nasty images. As I felt myself falling deeper into sleep, I realized that I was calling forth the images, and that if I didn't like them, I could exchange them for something else. So I did, imagining myself sitting in the lotus position, levitating off the ground and then soaring through the sky.
This took a great deal of mental effort, so I started to let the whole go and began to fall asleep. Once again, my mind filled with discomforting images and I started to think that it was really happening, until I realized that I was falling into a dream state and that I was conjuring the images myself. I stopped, dangling near the edge of full sleep, and posed my a question to my unconscious:
"Why do I keep dreaming of these awful things?"
The response that arose out of my mind, "These are the things that you love, that you have hidden in the darkness."
I pondered on that a while, then I said (or rather, thought), "Fair enough, but why do I keep mistaking them as a reality? Why can't I remain lucid?'
The response had a hint of...well, not exactly mockery, but there was definitely teasing in it, "You walk through your waking life, believing that what you see and hear is 'ultimate reality.' Why should your experience in dreams be any different?"
I awoke fully, sitting on in bed, blinking. It was definitely a sobering lesson, but I'm not sure how I feel about the fact that my unconscious might be smarter than I am.
Yesterday, as I was coming out of a nap, I was halfway between sleep and dreaming, and my mind started to fill up with some pretty nasty images. As I felt myself falling deeper into sleep, I realized that I was calling forth the images, and that if I didn't like them, I could exchange them for something else. So I did, imagining myself sitting in the lotus position, levitating off the ground and then soaring through the sky.
This took a great deal of mental effort, so I started to let the whole go and began to fall asleep. Once again, my mind filled with discomforting images and I started to think that it was really happening, until I realized that I was falling into a dream state and that I was conjuring the images myself. I stopped, dangling near the edge of full sleep, and posed my a question to my unconscious:
"Why do I keep dreaming of these awful things?"
The response that arose out of my mind, "These are the things that you love, that you have hidden in the darkness."
I pondered on that a while, then I said (or rather, thought), "Fair enough, but why do I keep mistaking them as a reality? Why can't I remain lucid?'
The response had a hint of...well, not exactly mockery, but there was definitely teasing in it, "You walk through your waking life, believing that what you see and hear is 'ultimate reality.' Why should your experience in dreams be any different?"
I awoke fully, sitting on in bed, blinking. It was definitely a sobering lesson, but I'm not sure how I feel about the fact that my unconscious might be smarter than I am.
Saturday, February 3, 2007
Civil Disobedience and the War Tax
It has recently come to my attention that the U.S. Government spends approximately 49% of our annual budget on military purposes.
Over the holidays, I, for some reason, found myself thinking about Henry David Thoreau's famous essay on civil disobedience. When I arrived at my old home and began to unpack, I started looking through my old books and saw my copy of Thoreau's essay. I hadn't read it in a while, and figured that, since I'd been thinking about it, it would be worth reading again.
As I read, I grew more and more anxious. The parallels between the Iraq War and the Mexican War are unsettling, to say the least, but on top of that, I started to feel that not only was he right to refuse to pay taxes to support our government's unjust activities, but that he had a DUTY, as dictated by a law much higher than any law laid down by a man-made institution: the law of God, which is to say, the law of love. For what is God if not Love?
"He said to him, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbour as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets." Matthew 22:37-40
and
‘You have heard that it was said, “You shall love your neighbour and hate your enemy.” But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax-collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect. Matthew 5:43-48
It saddens me that the Christian Right is in full support of this so-called "War on Terror," that they actually advocate the hunting down and killing of "terrorists" to say nothing of the tens of thousands of innocent Iraqi civilians who have died as a result of the war. They call this collateral damage, the price we pay for war, despite the fact that the founder of Christianity (the religion that the president himself claims to follow) specifically taught taught us to love God, to love our neighbors AND enemies, and to turn the other cheek.
I think it's juvenile to believe that God plays favorites. We are all Her children. And simply because these conflicts are taking place outside of America does not mean that they aren't my concerns. My being an "American" does not absolve me of my kinship with people all around the world, in every state, in every tribe. I am a son of humanity, and I no more wish other human beings to come to harm anymore than I do members of my immediate family.
What's even more saddening is that we are pouring billions upon billions of dollars into the engines of war; meanwhile, universal health care is still a distant dream. People are still starving because of "lack of food", (when really, there is no lack. There is plenty of it--it just isn't being shared), and people still lack adequate shelter and access to decent educational facilities.
The media paints a sad portrait of these facts, but, as stated rather poignantly in the film WAKING LIFE, the function of the media has never been to eradicate the problems of the world, but rather to convince us to ACCEPT these problems, and get used to living with them. Terror, fear, aggression...it all serves the system's dedication to mass control. "There are bad guys out there, people who wish to harm you, who wish to take away your life and your liberty." Luckily, the State is here to provide you with all the protection you need...as long as you submit to everything It decrees.
The truth is, over the course of a day, we could end starvation, homelessness, the problems surrounding education, a wide range of illnesses, ALL of it. The means are here. The resources are here. What the nation-states of the world lack is desire. Nobody WANTS to. We're afraid that it would cost us too much, when in reality, we have everything to gain.
This, in my view, is the true soul of Caesar, and I find it wanting. I find it almost completely devoid of all the values that I hold; first and foremost, that we should love one another as our Heavenly Mother loves us. I no longer wish to be an obedient subject of this Empire, catching whatever crumbs are thrown down to me and trying not to rock the boat, only so that I can hold on to a few paltry titles and possessions that do nothing to satisfy the inner yearnings of my soul. Furthermore, I do not wish to be complicit in the U.S.-sanctioned murder of any of my brothers and sisters anywhere--if I have no desire to pull the triggers, I certainly have no desire to pay a war tax that provides the guns on which those triggers rest.
For these reasons, I have resolved to withhold my federal taxes from the government. If you are interested in doing the same, please check out the War Resisters League for more information.
Peace and light be upon you all.
Over the holidays, I, for some reason, found myself thinking about Henry David Thoreau's famous essay on civil disobedience. When I arrived at my old home and began to unpack, I started looking through my old books and saw my copy of Thoreau's essay. I hadn't read it in a while, and figured that, since I'd been thinking about it, it would be worth reading again.
As I read, I grew more and more anxious. The parallels between the Iraq War and the Mexican War are unsettling, to say the least, but on top of that, I started to feel that not only was he right to refuse to pay taxes to support our government's unjust activities, but that he had a DUTY, as dictated by a law much higher than any law laid down by a man-made institution: the law of God, which is to say, the law of love. For what is God if not Love?
"He said to him, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbour as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets." Matthew 22:37-40
and
‘You have heard that it was said, “You shall love your neighbour and hate your enemy.” But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax-collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect. Matthew 5:43-48
It saddens me that the Christian Right is in full support of this so-called "War on Terror," that they actually advocate the hunting down and killing of "terrorists" to say nothing of the tens of thousands of innocent Iraqi civilians who have died as a result of the war. They call this collateral damage, the price we pay for war, despite the fact that the founder of Christianity (the religion that the president himself claims to follow) specifically taught taught us to love God, to love our neighbors AND enemies, and to turn the other cheek.
I think it's juvenile to believe that God plays favorites. We are all Her children. And simply because these conflicts are taking place outside of America does not mean that they aren't my concerns. My being an "American" does not absolve me of my kinship with people all around the world, in every state, in every tribe. I am a son of humanity, and I no more wish other human beings to come to harm anymore than I do members of my immediate family.
What's even more saddening is that we are pouring billions upon billions of dollars into the engines of war; meanwhile, universal health care is still a distant dream. People are still starving because of "lack of food", (when really, there is no lack. There is plenty of it--it just isn't being shared), and people still lack adequate shelter and access to decent educational facilities.
The media paints a sad portrait of these facts, but, as stated rather poignantly in the film WAKING LIFE, the function of the media has never been to eradicate the problems of the world, but rather to convince us to ACCEPT these problems, and get used to living with them. Terror, fear, aggression...it all serves the system's dedication to mass control. "There are bad guys out there, people who wish to harm you, who wish to take away your life and your liberty." Luckily, the State is here to provide you with all the protection you need...as long as you submit to everything It decrees.
The truth is, over the course of a day, we could end starvation, homelessness, the problems surrounding education, a wide range of illnesses, ALL of it. The means are here. The resources are here. What the nation-states of the world lack is desire. Nobody WANTS to. We're afraid that it would cost us too much, when in reality, we have everything to gain.
This, in my view, is the true soul of Caesar, and I find it wanting. I find it almost completely devoid of all the values that I hold; first and foremost, that we should love one another as our Heavenly Mother loves us. I no longer wish to be an obedient subject of this Empire, catching whatever crumbs are thrown down to me and trying not to rock the boat, only so that I can hold on to a few paltry titles and possessions that do nothing to satisfy the inner yearnings of my soul. Furthermore, I do not wish to be complicit in the U.S.-sanctioned murder of any of my brothers and sisters anywhere--if I have no desire to pull the triggers, I certainly have no desire to pay a war tax that provides the guns on which those triggers rest.
For these reasons, I have resolved to withhold my federal taxes from the government. If you are interested in doing the same, please check out the War Resisters League for more information.
Peace and light be upon you all.
Wave of the Mind
It is astonishing how easy it is to reconnect with God. I feel Her mind in my own, and each time I touch Her, I forget myself, my worries, my concerns.
Each time I touch God, I realize that I'm not so much touching God, but I'm allowing the Son of God within me to express itself. Less and less I think of God as something coming in, but rather of something being let OUT.
My meditation session today taught me something extremely valuable. I've always put heavy emphasis on clearing the mind, stilling the mind. I see now that this is impossible. The mind cannot be still; NOTHING in the universe is still. Everything is in motion, and the mind is no different. It is more like what the Zen master Shunryu Suzuki said. The mind is like an ocean, its waves rippling every now and then, and that we need simply ride the waves.
I love this thought. The energy within the mind is constantly moving, constantly fluctuating. Giving into this calm movement is bliss. My smile grows wider. Sometimes I even burst out into laughter, for absolutely no reason. Such joy! Such inexpressible joy. Then my ego rises up and says, "Have you gone mad?"
"Perhaps," I think to myself. "But if this is madness, then I want nothing to do with sanity."
Yesterday, I was waiting in line at a food stand, and I saw smoke rising from the grill, swirling into different shapes and dissipating into the air. I became transfixed. "That is karma," I thought. "Action and re-action. All around us is karma at work."
So now, as I watch my mind mind rippling, I think, "My mind is the acting out of karma as well." I wonder if I observe it long enough, I may begin to be able to use my "will" to direct the flow of energy within my mind, finally uniting my soul (yin) and my spirit (yang).
Each time I touch God, I realize that I'm not so much touching God, but I'm allowing the Son of God within me to express itself. Less and less I think of God as something coming in, but rather of something being let OUT.
My meditation session today taught me something extremely valuable. I've always put heavy emphasis on clearing the mind, stilling the mind. I see now that this is impossible. The mind cannot be still; NOTHING in the universe is still. Everything is in motion, and the mind is no different. It is more like what the Zen master Shunryu Suzuki said. The mind is like an ocean, its waves rippling every now and then, and that we need simply ride the waves.
I love this thought. The energy within the mind is constantly moving, constantly fluctuating. Giving into this calm movement is bliss. My smile grows wider. Sometimes I even burst out into laughter, for absolutely no reason. Such joy! Such inexpressible joy. Then my ego rises up and says, "Have you gone mad?"
"Perhaps," I think to myself. "But if this is madness, then I want nothing to do with sanity."
Yesterday, I was waiting in line at a food stand, and I saw smoke rising from the grill, swirling into different shapes and dissipating into the air. I became transfixed. "That is karma," I thought. "Action and re-action. All around us is karma at work."
So now, as I watch my mind mind rippling, I think, "My mind is the acting out of karma as well." I wonder if I observe it long enough, I may begin to be able to use my "will" to direct the flow of energy within my mind, finally uniting my soul (yin) and my spirit (yang).
Friday, February 2, 2007
Rise, Prophets--Aftermath
When I got the Nuyorican to perform "Rise, Prophets" at the open mike, I was really nervous. I wasn't sure how people would take my words, if they would think I was a lunatic or something.
But inwardly, I felt my soul bustling with excitement, as if it had been waiting for this opportunity to speak out. It didn't really care what others said about it. It only wanted to express itself.
So I did the poem, and the overall reaction was good. The host of the open mike came up to me and said, "Yeah, I used to be a religion major. But you're right. There was a time that these guys--who were essentially poets--sat next to kings and gave them spiritual guidance. At the time, they were called "prophets."
That's when it hit me: my name, or the name of my alter-ego as it were: Raja. A few months ago, I was in prayer/meditation and I directed a question towards my Inner Self: "What is my name? My true name?" And immediately, the answer that came from somewhere out of my unconscious self was "Raja." So I adopted it as a second name.
"Raja" is Sanskrit for "king." And when the open mike host talked about that relationship between "king and poet", it dawned on me that "Raja" was the not so much my name, but the name of my soul. And that, in this world, I am an ambassador, a represenative of the royal being which is my divine inner Self. Through me, my soul is able to find expression, to experience the truth about itself.
Since then, my relationship with my soul has changed dramatically. For one thing, I'm trying to listen to it more. And I have a strong sense that it is female, the yin, the passive aspect of my divine Identity. The yang or active aspect, I suppose that would be me...or at least, my ego is one of the many manifestations of the yang.
As I try to describe this, I realize more and more how limited words are. There's no way to really describe this, except to say that I am both yin and yang. I am soul and spirit. I am all of these things, and yet I'm none of them.
And it is good. It is very good.
But inwardly, I felt my soul bustling with excitement, as if it had been waiting for this opportunity to speak out. It didn't really care what others said about it. It only wanted to express itself.
So I did the poem, and the overall reaction was good. The host of the open mike came up to me and said, "Yeah, I used to be a religion major. But you're right. There was a time that these guys--who were essentially poets--sat next to kings and gave them spiritual guidance. At the time, they were called "prophets."
That's when it hit me: my name, or the name of my alter-ego as it were: Raja. A few months ago, I was in prayer/meditation and I directed a question towards my Inner Self: "What is my name? My true name?" And immediately, the answer that came from somewhere out of my unconscious self was "Raja." So I adopted it as a second name.
"Raja" is Sanskrit for "king." And when the open mike host talked about that relationship between "king and poet", it dawned on me that "Raja" was the not so much my name, but the name of my soul. And that, in this world, I am an ambassador, a represenative of the royal being which is my divine inner Self. Through me, my soul is able to find expression, to experience the truth about itself.
Since then, my relationship with my soul has changed dramatically. For one thing, I'm trying to listen to it more. And I have a strong sense that it is female, the yin, the passive aspect of my divine Identity. The yang or active aspect, I suppose that would be me...or at least, my ego is one of the many manifestations of the yang.
As I try to describe this, I realize more and more how limited words are. There's no way to really describe this, except to say that I am both yin and yang. I am soul and spirit. I am all of these things, and yet I'm none of them.
And it is good. It is very good.
Rise Prophets: A Poem
A week ago, last Friday, at the Nuyorican Poets' Cafe, I performed the following spoken word poem entitled "Rise, Prophet!"
*************************
Rise, Prophet!
That is the voice of one crying out in the wilderness
I recognize the sound
I know it because it's coming out of my own mouth
and like that, at last
my eyes snap open, just to half-mast
arms still attached to my sides
I gaze through the grey haze
and see you
your brow rippling
eyelids flickering
fighting 'gainst the clouds of delusion
sent forth by this world's illusions
trying to counter confusion with the truth that's within you
I know what you're going through
I'm trapped in the pod next to you
Trying to wake myself up too
and grab hold of your hand
I see what's inside of you
I remember who we once were
Eons ago.
We were shamans, sorcerers, witches
hunters, gatherers
soothsayers, seers
tarot, bone and palm readers
Christs-in-waiting
Buddhas-to-be
this Bruce Wayne shit is waning on me
I remember my secret identity
For too long I've remained
chained to unchanging obsessions
seduced by my country's inane lessons
of regression through acts of agression
that masquerade as progression
My own mind's been arrested
by domestication dating back to
Sunday School confirmation confession
but as I awaken I see the start
of a NEW apostolic succession
that begins and ends with you and me.
So take my hand, and we'll walk on waves
and make despair make way for hope
Just call me Saint Blasphemy
'Cause I'm declaring ALL of us Popes!
That title
The title "prophet"
is the birthright
of every man and woman under the sun
There are no feats to overcome
no deeds need be done
you only need a voice with which to speak
and a wish to be one
Thomas Paine once explained
that in the Bible
there is no word--in any
of the Scriptures--
for what we would call
a "poet"
But that back then
"prophet" and"poet"
were considered one in the same
and that to "speak in prophecy"
was to speak in poetry
And I almost dismissed this as nonsense
till I considered this first
That the books of Psalms, Proverbs
Song of Solomon and Job
were written in Hebrew verse
Jeremiah, Isaiah, Hosea
It's perfect symmetry
These cats from the B.C.
were all about poetry
building on rhythms and slinging out similes
saying similar things to what poets now are saying
Because back then, they too were the few
speaking out against injustice
and back then, they too were the few
calling people to see that God is in all of us
The names, the faces,
the times, the places
may be different
the message has remained the same
which is what's so insane
that after thousands of years
we are still in desperate need of change
There's still something terribly wrong
with the world we live in
We've all made our list of grievances
but hell, we once had Secretary of State say,
"Let them march all they want, as long as they
keep paying taxes."
No.
No more.
Let it end tonight.
In this moment, we are all free.
These are not words of defiance
but of certainty
Prophets are rising
Not Dow Jones
But Taoism
And as we rise
we shall not look to the skies
for some savior to descend
Redemption begins
when we look first to the earth
and from there look within
Unlike what little orphan Annie said,
the sun will NOT come out tomorrow
The revolution is NOT an event in the future
The kingdom of heaven is NOT at hand
The kingdom of heaven is IN our hands.
It IS our hands and feet and throats and hearts
We ARE the kingdom
The time is now
You sons and daughters of Ogun
You Malcolms and Martins and Rosas Reborn
See, this is my prophecy
You all came to me in my dreams
and told me that your birth
WAS the Second Coming
The light that gives light to the world
The cornerstone that the builders rejected
Lay your stone next to mine
and together we will build
a foundation so strong in love
the gates of fear cannot stand against it
The world cries out for this
Every inch of the earth
demands we answer the call
that our ancestors did.
Without us, it's Mecca
without Muhammad
It's Canaan's Land
without Abraham
Egypt
without Isis
Nazareth
without Jesus
Just a Neo-less Matrix
Or maybe it's madness
to presume to say such things.
Who am I to say such things?
I could be out of my mind
But then I look out there
and think, "I'm no more mad
than the rest."
Either way,
come what may
until they put me away
in the state pen or crazy bin
even then
unto the day I die
Let this forever be the cry
of my soul
Rise, Prophets.
It's time to write Bibles of our own.
*************************
Rise, Prophet!
That is the voice of one crying out in the wilderness
I recognize the sound
I know it because it's coming out of my own mouth
and like that, at last
my eyes snap open, just to half-mast
arms still attached to my sides
I gaze through the grey haze
and see you
your brow rippling
eyelids flickering
fighting 'gainst the clouds of delusion
sent forth by this world's illusions
trying to counter confusion with the truth that's within you
I know what you're going through
I'm trapped in the pod next to you
Trying to wake myself up too
and grab hold of your hand
I see what's inside of you
I remember who we once were
Eons ago.
We were shamans, sorcerers, witches
hunters, gatherers
soothsayers, seers
tarot, bone and palm readers
Christs-in-waiting
Buddhas-to-be
this Bruce Wayne shit is waning on me
I remember my secret identity
For too long I've remained
chained to unchanging obsessions
seduced by my country's inane lessons
of regression through acts of agression
that masquerade as progression
My own mind's been arrested
by domestication dating back to
Sunday School confirmation confession
but as I awaken I see the start
of a NEW apostolic succession
that begins and ends with you and me.
So take my hand, and we'll walk on waves
and make despair make way for hope
Just call me Saint Blasphemy
'Cause I'm declaring ALL of us Popes!
That title
The title "prophet"
is the birthright
of every man and woman under the sun
There are no feats to overcome
no deeds need be done
you only need a voice with which to speak
and a wish to be one
Thomas Paine once explained
that in the Bible
there is no word--in any
of the Scriptures--
for what we would call
a "poet"
But that back then
"prophet" and"poet"
were considered one in the same
and that to "speak in prophecy"
was to speak in poetry
And I almost dismissed this as nonsense
till I considered this first
That the books of Psalms, Proverbs
Song of Solomon and Job
were written in Hebrew verse
Jeremiah, Isaiah, Hosea
It's perfect symmetry
These cats from the B.C.
were all about poetry
building on rhythms and slinging out similes
saying similar things to what poets now are saying
Because back then, they too were the few
speaking out against injustice
and back then, they too were the few
calling people to see that God is in all of us
The names, the faces,
the times, the places
may be different
the message has remained the same
which is what's so insane
that after thousands of years
we are still in desperate need of change
There's still something terribly wrong
with the world we live in
We've all made our list of grievances
but hell, we once had Secretary of State say,
"Let them march all they want, as long as they
keep paying taxes."
No.
No more.
Let it end tonight.
In this moment, we are all free.
These are not words of defiance
but of certainty
Prophets are rising
Not Dow Jones
But Taoism
And as we rise
we shall not look to the skies
for some savior to descend
Redemption begins
when we look first to the earth
and from there look within
Unlike what little orphan Annie said,
the sun will NOT come out tomorrow
The revolution is NOT an event in the future
The kingdom of heaven is NOT at hand
The kingdom of heaven is IN our hands.
It IS our hands and feet and throats and hearts
We ARE the kingdom
The time is now
You sons and daughters of Ogun
You Malcolms and Martins and Rosas Reborn
See, this is my prophecy
You all came to me in my dreams
and told me that your birth
WAS the Second Coming
The light that gives light to the world
The cornerstone that the builders rejected
Lay your stone next to mine
and together we will build
a foundation so strong in love
the gates of fear cannot stand against it
The world cries out for this
Every inch of the earth
demands we answer the call
that our ancestors did.
Without us, it's Mecca
without Muhammad
It's Canaan's Land
without Abraham
Egypt
without Isis
Nazareth
without Jesus
Just a Neo-less Matrix
Or maybe it's madness
to presume to say such things.
Who am I to say such things?
I could be out of my mind
But then I look out there
and think, "I'm no more mad
than the rest."
Either way,
come what may
until they put me away
in the state pen or crazy bin
even then
unto the day I die
Let this forever be the cry
of my soul
Rise, Prophets.
It's time to write Bibles of our own.
Thursday, January 25, 2007
Enlightenment Can Be Yours...for just $19.95!!!
I was in the bookstore the other day, trying to find some writings by William Godwin--I've taken an interest an anarchist writings, and thought that might be a good place to start. Anyways, they had nothing, but I did take a look over at the "Religion" and "New Age" section of the book store. I started browsing through the titles--each author had their own take on "enlightenment" and how to get there, espousing various doctrines and I swear to you, I SWEAR I saw a title that said "Enlightenment in 30 Days!"
I wanted to grab the bookshelf and topple the whole thing. I wanted to grab each and every book and toss it out of the room. I wanted to scream, "Divinity is our birthright! It's not a commodity!"
Perhaps I'm being unfair. But when I see these authors who have written book after book of spiritual material--a lot of which repeats the same concepts over and over--just in different ways--and who go on and on about transcending the ego and not being concerned about personal gain, yet their names and faces and resumes and accomplishments are plastered all over each book, I feel like something is getting lost.
I wanted to grab the bookshelf and topple the whole thing. I wanted to grab each and every book and toss it out of the room. I wanted to scream, "Divinity is our birthright! It's not a commodity!"
Perhaps I'm being unfair. But when I see these authors who have written book after book of spiritual material--a lot of which repeats the same concepts over and over--just in different ways--and who go on and on about transcending the ego and not being concerned about personal gain, yet their names and faces and resumes and accomplishments are plastered all over each book, I feel like something is getting lost.
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
Che and the Kingdom
Haven't gotten to post too much recently. My computer was out of commission for a good while, but now it's up and working in proper condition. Have a lot on my plate and on my mind right now. I just finished reading Jon Anderson's wonderful biography on Che Guevara. If you're at all interested in this man's life, pick the book up as soon as you can.
What I admire most about Che was his immeasurable passion, his willingness to meet fear head on and not shrink back...that he believed in his cause so strongly that he was willing to give his life for it. Ultimately, I disagree with his conviction that true revolution requires violence. I turn to the teachings of Jesus (as well as the headlines of our newspaper) and remember that those who live by the sword do indeed die by the sword.
If it is a world of peace that we want, there is an fundamental problem with using violence; we inevitably teach the lesson to ourselves and others that violence is what makes the world go round. When a government is overthrown through violence, violence must then be used by the revolutionaries to remain in power (crushing loyalists from the past government, suppressing future rebellions, etc.). History has consistently shown that what you eventually end up with is a system that's just as bad, if not worse, than the one that preceded it.
Lately, I'm taking my inspiration from Leo Tolstoy's "The Kingdom of God" is within you. Here's a section of it that I found to be very powerful and compelling. It was written by William Lloyd Garrison; although it's very heavy in Christian tone, I think it's message is equally applicable to believers of ALL faiths, or even those who believe in nothing at all:
http://www.kingdomnow.org/w-inyou01.html
"DECLARATION OF SENTIMENTS ADOPTED BY PEACE CONVENTION. "Boston, 1838.
"We the undersigned, regard it as due to ourselves, to the cause which we love, to the country in which we live, to publish a declaration expressive of the purposes we aim to accomplish and the measures we shall adopt to carry forward the work of peaceful universal reformation.
"We do not acknowledge allegiance to any human government. We recognize but one King and Lawgiver, one Judge and Ruler of mankind. Our country is the world, our countrymen are all mankind. We love the land of our nativity only as we love all other lands. The interests and rights of American citizens are not dearer to us than those of the whole human race. Hence we can allow no appeal to patriotism to revenge any national insult or injury...
"We conceive that a nation has no right to defend itself against foreign enemies or to punish its invaders, and no individual possesses that right in his own case, and the unit cannot be of greater importance than the aggregate. If soldiers thronging from abroad with intent to commit rapine and destroy life may not be resisted by the people or the magistracy, then ought no resistance to be offered to domestic troublers of the public peace or of private security.
"The dogma that all the governments of the world are approvingly ordained of God, and that the powers that be in the United States, in Russia, in Turkey, are in accordance with his will, is no less absurd than impious. It makes the impartial Author of our existence unequal and tyrannical. It cannot be affirmed that the powers that be in any nation are actuated by the spirit or guided by the example of Christ in the treatment of enemies; therefore they cannot be agreeable to the will of God, and therefore their overthrow by a spiritual regeneration of their subjects is inevitable.
"We regard as unchristian and unlawful not only all wars, whether offensive or defensive, but all preparations for war; every naval ship, every arsenal, every fortification, we regard as unchristian and unlawful; the existence of any kind of standing army, all military chieftains, all monuments commemorative of victory over a fallen foe, all trophies won in battle, all celebrations in honor of military exploits, all appropriations for defense by arms; we regard as unchristian and unlawful every edict of government requiring of its subjects military service.
"Hence we deem it unlawful to bear arms, and we cannot hold any office which imposes on its incumbent the obligation to compel men to do right on pain of imprisonment or death. We therefore voluntarily exclude ourselves from every legislative and judicial body, and repudiate all human politics, worldly honors, and stations of authority. If we cannot occupy a seat in the legislature or on the bench, neither can we elect others to act as our substitutes in any such capacity. It follows that we cannot sue any man at law to force him to return anything he may have wrongly taken from us; if he has seized our coat, we shall surrender him our cloak also rather than subject him to punishment.
"We believe that the penal code of the old covenant--an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth--has been abrogated by Jesus Christ, and that under the new covenant the forgiveness instead of the punishment of enemies has been enjoined on all his disciples in all cases whatsoever. To extort money from enemies, cast them into prison, exile or execute them, is obviously not to forgive but to take retribution.
"The history of mankind is crowded with evidences proving that physical coercion is not adapted to moral regeneration, and that the sinful dispositions of men can be subdued only by love; that evil can be exterminated only by good; that it is not safe to rely upon the strength of an arm to preserve us from harm; that there is great security in being gentle, long- suffering, and abundant in mercy; that it is only the meek who shall inherit the earth; for those who take up the sword shall perish by the sword.
"Hence as a measure of sound policy--of safety to property, life, and liberty--of public quietude and private enjoyment--as well as on the ground of allegiance to Him who is King of kings and Lord of lords, we cordially adopt the non-resistance principle, being confident that it provides for all possible consequences, is armed with omnipotent power, and must ultimately triumph over every assailing force.
"We advocate no Jacobinical doctrines. The spirit of Jacobinism is the spirit of retaliation, violence, and murder. It neither fears God nor regards man. We would be filled with the spirit of Christ. If we abide evil by our fundamental principle of not opposing evil by evil we cannot participate in sedition, treason, or violence. We shall submit to every ordinance and every requirement of government, except such as are contrary to the commands of the Gospel, and in no case resist the operation of law, except by meekly submitting to the penalty of disobedience.
"But while we shall adhere to the doctrine of non-resistance and passive submission to enemies, we purpose, in a moral and spiritual sense, to assail iniquity in high places and in low places, to apply our principles to all existing evil, political, legal, and ecclesiastical institutions, and to hasten the time when the kingdoms of this world will have become the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ. It appears to us a self-evident truth that whatever the Gospel is designed to destroy at any period of the world, being contrary to it, ought now to be abandoned. If, then, the time is predicted when swords shall be beaten into plowshares and spears into pruning hooks, and men shall not learn the art of war any more, it follows that all who manufacture, sell, or wield these deadly weapons do thus array themselves against the peaceful dominion of the Son of God on earth.
"Having thus stated our principles, we proceed to specify the measures we propose to adopt in carrying our object into effect.
"We expect to prevail through the Foolishness of Preaching. We shall endeavor to promulgate our views among all persons, to whatever nation, sect, or grade of society they may belong. Hence we shall organize public lectures, circulate tracts and publications, form societies, and petition every governing body. It will be our leading object to devise ways and means for effecting a radical change in the views, feelings, and practices of society respecting the sinfulness of war and the treatment of enemies.
"In entering upon the great work before us, we are not unmindful that in its prosecution we may be called to test our sincerity even as in a fiery ordeal. It may subject us to insult, outrage, suffering, yea, even death itself. We anticipate no small amount of misconception, misrepresentation, and calumny. Tumults may arise against us. The proud and pharisaical, the ambitious and tyrannical, principalities and powers, may combine to crush us. So they treated the Messiah whose example we are humbly striving to imitate. We shall not be afraid of their terror. Our confidence is in the Lord Almighty and not in man. Having withdrawn from human protection, what can sustain us but that faith which overcomes the world? We shall not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try us, but rejoice inasmuch as we are partakers of Christ's sufferings.
"Wherefore we commit the keeping of our souls to God. For every one that forsakes houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands for Christ's sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life.
"Firmly relying upon the certain and universal triumph of the sentiments contained in this declaration, however formidable may be the opposition arrayed against them, we hereby affix our signatures to it; commending it to the reason and conscience of mankind, and resolving, in the strength of the Lord God, to calmly and meekly abide the issue."
What I admire most about Che was his immeasurable passion, his willingness to meet fear head on and not shrink back...that he believed in his cause so strongly that he was willing to give his life for it. Ultimately, I disagree with his conviction that true revolution requires violence. I turn to the teachings of Jesus (as well as the headlines of our newspaper) and remember that those who live by the sword do indeed die by the sword.
If it is a world of peace that we want, there is an fundamental problem with using violence; we inevitably teach the lesson to ourselves and others that violence is what makes the world go round. When a government is overthrown through violence, violence must then be used by the revolutionaries to remain in power (crushing loyalists from the past government, suppressing future rebellions, etc.). History has consistently shown that what you eventually end up with is a system that's just as bad, if not worse, than the one that preceded it.
Lately, I'm taking my inspiration from Leo Tolstoy's "The Kingdom of God" is within you. Here's a section of it that I found to be very powerful and compelling. It was written by William Lloyd Garrison; although it's very heavy in Christian tone, I think it's message is equally applicable to believers of ALL faiths, or even those who believe in nothing at all:
http://www.kingdomnow.org/w-inyou01.html
"DECLARATION OF SENTIMENTS ADOPTED BY PEACE CONVENTION. "Boston, 1838.
"We the undersigned, regard it as due to ourselves, to the cause which we love, to the country in which we live, to publish a declaration expressive of the purposes we aim to accomplish and the measures we shall adopt to carry forward the work of peaceful universal reformation.
"We do not acknowledge allegiance to any human government. We recognize but one King and Lawgiver, one Judge and Ruler of mankind. Our country is the world, our countrymen are all mankind. We love the land of our nativity only as we love all other lands. The interests and rights of American citizens are not dearer to us than those of the whole human race. Hence we can allow no appeal to patriotism to revenge any national insult or injury...
"We conceive that a nation has no right to defend itself against foreign enemies or to punish its invaders, and no individual possesses that right in his own case, and the unit cannot be of greater importance than the aggregate. If soldiers thronging from abroad with intent to commit rapine and destroy life may not be resisted by the people or the magistracy, then ought no resistance to be offered to domestic troublers of the public peace or of private security.
"The dogma that all the governments of the world are approvingly ordained of God, and that the powers that be in the United States, in Russia, in Turkey, are in accordance with his will, is no less absurd than impious. It makes the impartial Author of our existence unequal and tyrannical. It cannot be affirmed that the powers that be in any nation are actuated by the spirit or guided by the example of Christ in the treatment of enemies; therefore they cannot be agreeable to the will of God, and therefore their overthrow by a spiritual regeneration of their subjects is inevitable.
"We regard as unchristian and unlawful not only all wars, whether offensive or defensive, but all preparations for war; every naval ship, every arsenal, every fortification, we regard as unchristian and unlawful; the existence of any kind of standing army, all military chieftains, all monuments commemorative of victory over a fallen foe, all trophies won in battle, all celebrations in honor of military exploits, all appropriations for defense by arms; we regard as unchristian and unlawful every edict of government requiring of its subjects military service.
"Hence we deem it unlawful to bear arms, and we cannot hold any office which imposes on its incumbent the obligation to compel men to do right on pain of imprisonment or death. We therefore voluntarily exclude ourselves from every legislative and judicial body, and repudiate all human politics, worldly honors, and stations of authority. If we cannot occupy a seat in the legislature or on the bench, neither can we elect others to act as our substitutes in any such capacity. It follows that we cannot sue any man at law to force him to return anything he may have wrongly taken from us; if he has seized our coat, we shall surrender him our cloak also rather than subject him to punishment.
"We believe that the penal code of the old covenant--an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth--has been abrogated by Jesus Christ, and that under the new covenant the forgiveness instead of the punishment of enemies has been enjoined on all his disciples in all cases whatsoever. To extort money from enemies, cast them into prison, exile or execute them, is obviously not to forgive but to take retribution.
"The history of mankind is crowded with evidences proving that physical coercion is not adapted to moral regeneration, and that the sinful dispositions of men can be subdued only by love; that evil can be exterminated only by good; that it is not safe to rely upon the strength of an arm to preserve us from harm; that there is great security in being gentle, long- suffering, and abundant in mercy; that it is only the meek who shall inherit the earth; for those who take up the sword shall perish by the sword.
"Hence as a measure of sound policy--of safety to property, life, and liberty--of public quietude and private enjoyment--as well as on the ground of allegiance to Him who is King of kings and Lord of lords, we cordially adopt the non-resistance principle, being confident that it provides for all possible consequences, is armed with omnipotent power, and must ultimately triumph over every assailing force.
"We advocate no Jacobinical doctrines. The spirit of Jacobinism is the spirit of retaliation, violence, and murder. It neither fears God nor regards man. We would be filled with the spirit of Christ. If we abide evil by our fundamental principle of not opposing evil by evil we cannot participate in sedition, treason, or violence. We shall submit to every ordinance and every requirement of government, except such as are contrary to the commands of the Gospel, and in no case resist the operation of law, except by meekly submitting to the penalty of disobedience.
"But while we shall adhere to the doctrine of non-resistance and passive submission to enemies, we purpose, in a moral and spiritual sense, to assail iniquity in high places and in low places, to apply our principles to all existing evil, political, legal, and ecclesiastical institutions, and to hasten the time when the kingdoms of this world will have become the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ. It appears to us a self-evident truth that whatever the Gospel is designed to destroy at any period of the world, being contrary to it, ought now to be abandoned. If, then, the time is predicted when swords shall be beaten into plowshares and spears into pruning hooks, and men shall not learn the art of war any more, it follows that all who manufacture, sell, or wield these deadly weapons do thus array themselves against the peaceful dominion of the Son of God on earth.
"Having thus stated our principles, we proceed to specify the measures we propose to adopt in carrying our object into effect.
"We expect to prevail through the Foolishness of Preaching. We shall endeavor to promulgate our views among all persons, to whatever nation, sect, or grade of society they may belong. Hence we shall organize public lectures, circulate tracts and publications, form societies, and petition every governing body. It will be our leading object to devise ways and means for effecting a radical change in the views, feelings, and practices of society respecting the sinfulness of war and the treatment of enemies.
"In entering upon the great work before us, we are not unmindful that in its prosecution we may be called to test our sincerity even as in a fiery ordeal. It may subject us to insult, outrage, suffering, yea, even death itself. We anticipate no small amount of misconception, misrepresentation, and calumny. Tumults may arise against us. The proud and pharisaical, the ambitious and tyrannical, principalities and powers, may combine to crush us. So they treated the Messiah whose example we are humbly striving to imitate. We shall not be afraid of their terror. Our confidence is in the Lord Almighty and not in man. Having withdrawn from human protection, what can sustain us but that faith which overcomes the world? We shall not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try us, but rejoice inasmuch as we are partakers of Christ's sufferings.
"Wherefore we commit the keeping of our souls to God. For every one that forsakes houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands for Christ's sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life.
"Firmly relying upon the certain and universal triumph of the sentiments contained in this declaration, however formidable may be the opposition arrayed against them, we hereby affix our signatures to it; commending it to the reason and conscience of mankind, and resolving, in the strength of the Lord God, to calmly and meekly abide the issue."
Monday, January 15, 2007
"They Are Still Our Slaves": A Rebuttal
A friend of mine sent me the following article:
*************************************************************************************
For those of you who heard it, this is the article Dee Lee was reading
this morning on a New York radio station. For those of you who didn't
hear it, this is very deep. This is a heavy piece and a Caucasian wrote
it.
Dee Lee, CFP
Harvard Financial Educators
Dee Lee
THEY ARE STILL OUR SLAVES We can continue to reap profits from the
Blacks without the effort of physical slavery Look at the current
methods of containment that they use on themselves: IGNORANCE, GREED,
and SELFISHNESS.
Their IGNORANCE is the primary weapon of containment. A great man once
said, "The best way to hide something from Black people is to put it in a book." We now live in the Information Age. They have gained the opportunity to read any book on any subject through the efforts of their fight for freedom, yet they refuse to read. There are numerous books readily available at Borders, Barnes & Noble, and Amazon.com, not to mention their own Black Bookstores that provide solid blueprints to reach economic equality (which should have been their fight all along),
but few read consistently, if at all.
GREED is another powerful weapon of containment. Blacks, since the abolition of slavery, have had large amounts of money at their disposal. Last year they spent 10 billion dollars during Christmas, out of their 450 billion dollars in total yearly income (2.22%).
Any of us can use them as our target market, for any business venture we care to dream up, no matter how outlandish, they will buy into it. Being ! primari ly a consumer people, they function totally by greed. They continually want more, with little thought for saving or investing.
They would rather buy some new sneaker than invest in starting a business. Some even neglect their children to have the latest Tommy or FUBU, And they still think that having a Mercedes, and a big house gives them
"Status" or that they have achieved their Dream.
They are fools! The vast majority of their people are still in poverty
because their greed holds them back from collectively making better
communities.
With the help of BET, and the rest of their black media that often
broadcasts destructive images into their own homes, we will continue to
see huge profits like those of Tommy and Nike. (Tommy Hilfiger has even
jeered them, saying he doesn't want their money, and look at how the
fools spend more with him than ever before!). They'll continue to show
off to each other while we build solid communities with the profits
from our businesses that we market to them.
SELFISHNESS, ingrained in their minds through slavery, is one of the
major ways we can continue to contain them. One of their own, Dubois
said that there was an innate division in their culture. A "Talented
Tenth" he called it. He was correct in his deduction that there are
segments of their culture that has achieved some "form" of success.
However, that segment missed the fullness of his work. They didn't read
that the "Talented Tenth" was then responsible to aid The Non-Talented
Ninety Percent in achieving a better life. Instead, that segment has
created another class, a Buppie class that looks down on their people
or aids them in a condescending manner. They will never achieve what we
have. Their selfishness does not allow them to be able to work together
on any project or endeavor of substance. When they do get together,
their selfishness lets their egos get in the way of their goal. Their so-called help organizations seem to only want to promote their name without making any real change in their community.
They are content to sit in conferences and conventions in our hotels,
and talk about what they will do, while they award plaques to the best
speakers, not to the best doers. Is there no end to their selfishness?
They steadfastly refuse to see that TOGETHER EACH ACHIEVES MORE (TEAM)
They do not understand that they are no better than each other because
of what they own, as a matter of fact, most of those Buppies are but
one or two pay checks away from poverty. All of which is under the
control of our pens in our offices and our rooms.
Yes, we will continue to contain them as long as they refuse to re ad,
continue to buy anything they want, and keep thinking they are "helping"
their communities by paying dues to organizations which do little other
than hold lavish conventions in our! hotels . By the way, don't worry
about any of them reading this letter, remember, 'THEY DON'T READ!!!!
(Prove them wrong. Please pass this on! After Reading it.
*************************************************************************************
When I first read this, I was deeply insulted by the letter's condescending, self-righteous tone, but, as that simply may have been a device to enrage "black folk" into action, I'll set that aside. I'd rather focus on the main assumptions of this article--assumptions that, though were meant well, only perpetuate the very problems the author is railing against.
According to the author, the reason black people are "still slaves" is largely their own fault. We get three reasons for this: ignorance, greed and selfishness. And we could easily solve all these problems if we (A) read books on how to create successful businesses, (B) saved and invested money in black businesses and (C)helped "less fortunate black folk" reach "economic prosperity" as well.
I understand and appreciate the author's intentions, but this article is racist, not because it begins by saying, "THEY are still our slaves," not because it points out faults within the black community, but because it identifies ignorance, greed and selfishness as specifically BLACK problems.
These are not just "black problems." They're not even American problems. They are HUMAN problems. People of all races are systematically oppressed and economically exploited in ALL parts of the world.
My question to the author is this: "What of the poverty-stricken 'white people' who are just barely scraping by? What of the 'white people' whose own ignorance, greed and selfishness keeps them stuck in a never-ending cycle of self-destruction? Are they your slaves as well? Are you sending out chastising letters to them? There's this assumption that all "white people" are living in the lap of luxury, which is absurd. This whole "race struggle" in America has never really been about race; it's about CLASS. Obviously, a large percentage of black people in America are on the short end of the economic stick, but to call it a "black problem" is a red herring, distracting us from the truth.
During the 1700s, the upper-class was terrified that black slaves and white indentured servants (who were essentially slaves) would join forces and stage a rebellion (it had already happened during Bacon's Rebellion)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bacon%27s_rebellion
The solution? More rights and privilleges and land were granted by the states to these indentured servants, and they made the point that the reason these servants were getting these privilleges was because they were superior to their African-descended counterparts. This marked the beginning of what we now know as "middle class America."(For more info, check out "A People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn). The middle class then began to serve as an efficient buffer between the have-nots and the have-a-whole-LOTS.
In other words, we are all in this TOGETHER. We got a lot of "history"--some good, some bad...actually A LOT bad. But as long as we allow ourselves to be distracted into thinking this is a "black thing" or a "white thing" or an "us versus them" thing instead of realizing that we ALL are sharing the same living space, this is never going to end. This is not to say that our cultural heritage is not important, but to the extent that our heritage obscures the fact that the most fundamental truth about all of us is that we are HUMAN, it's an impediment.
It's for this reason that I don't believe that creating and investing solely in "black businesses" is any kind of real solution. What the author is suggesting is that our loftiest goal is economic empowerment. Now, at first glance, this makes sense. After all, if you want to get things done in this world, you need money, right? In fact, the U.S.A. provides a pretty good example of how you can pretty much do whatever you want as long as you have the dollars and resources to back it up. That's why it invades other countries, overthrows governments (either in secret or out in the open) and sets up U.S. friendly dictators in their stead. For the resources and dollars that those countries provide. It subjugates as many people as it can through economics, even--an especially--its own citizens. Playing into the "American Dream" of being an entrepreneur in order "to get ahead" feeds into that very system. Sure, we may get a few scraps from the table...just enough to keep us pacified so that we don't get outraged by the fact that we and millions of other people are getting royally screwed.
I don't see economically powerful black people as being any more advantageous than economically powerful white people. It's the system of economics itself--the absurd belief that value can be put on a piece of green paper and that someone must lose in order for someone else to gain--that I find to be the problem. And this is not to suggest that people shouldn't start businesses or make a livelihood for themselves. Far from it. But whatever you do in this world, it should be an expression of what you truly desire, of what you truly wish to be, with no thought to the "power" it will bring you.
If we really want to change this world, it's not going to be through businesses, and it's not going to be through legislation, unfortunately. People must change from within. I think it's important that we understand who we are and what we're doing here. We walk around constantly in a daze, in a dream world, accepting what's put in front of us, not questioning anything, living mostly by reflex. We've carved up the earth into these nation-states, giving each other labels, raising borders, trying to do everything we can to keep ourselves separate from each other.
These are artificial constructs. They mean nothing. We come from the same Source. This is not mere mysticism, but fact. We are made of the building blocks of the Universe itself--stuff that has been in existence since before the beginning of time. This is what it means to be a "child of God." And as my siblings, I believe that everyone on this planet has as much right to freedom, health and happiness as I do. So I'm not content with one race within the human family being free and happy. I am content with nothing less than the human race ITSELF lifting itself out of ignorance and oppression, and into the full realization of its glorious Self. This is our true destiny, and we deserve nothing less than that.
Any thoughts? Obviously, I don't have all the answers. I'm still searching too. But this article struck me, and I needed to respond. Let me know what you think.
*************************************************************************************
For those of you who heard it, this is the article Dee Lee was reading
this morning on a New York radio station. For those of you who didn't
hear it, this is very deep. This is a heavy piece and a Caucasian wrote
it.
Dee Lee, CFP
Harvard Financial Educators
Dee Lee
THEY ARE STILL OUR SLAVES We can continue to reap profits from the
Blacks without the effort of physical slavery Look at the current
methods of containment that they use on themselves: IGNORANCE, GREED,
and SELFISHNESS.
Their IGNORANCE is the primary weapon of containment. A great man once
said, "The best way to hide something from Black people is to put it in a book." We now live in the Information Age. They have gained the opportunity to read any book on any subject through the efforts of their fight for freedom, yet they refuse to read. There are numerous books readily available at Borders, Barnes & Noble, and Amazon.com, not to mention their own Black Bookstores that provide solid blueprints to reach economic equality (which should have been their fight all along),
but few read consistently, if at all.
GREED is another powerful weapon of containment. Blacks, since the abolition of slavery, have had large amounts of money at their disposal. Last year they spent 10 billion dollars during Christmas, out of their 450 billion dollars in total yearly income (2.22%).
Any of us can use them as our target market, for any business venture we care to dream up, no matter how outlandish, they will buy into it. Being ! primari ly a consumer people, they function totally by greed. They continually want more, with little thought for saving or investing.
They would rather buy some new sneaker than invest in starting a business. Some even neglect their children to have the latest Tommy or FUBU, And they still think that having a Mercedes, and a big house gives them
"Status" or that they have achieved their Dream.
They are fools! The vast majority of their people are still in poverty
because their greed holds them back from collectively making better
communities.
With the help of BET, and the rest of their black media that often
broadcasts destructive images into their own homes, we will continue to
see huge profits like those of Tommy and Nike. (Tommy Hilfiger has even
jeered them, saying he doesn't want their money, and look at how the
fools spend more with him than ever before!). They'll continue to show
off to each other while we build solid communities with the profits
from our businesses that we market to them.
SELFISHNESS, ingrained in their minds through slavery, is one of the
major ways we can continue to contain them. One of their own, Dubois
said that there was an innate division in their culture. A "Talented
Tenth" he called it. He was correct in his deduction that there are
segments of their culture that has achieved some "form" of success.
However, that segment missed the fullness of his work. They didn't read
that the "Talented Tenth" was then responsible to aid The Non-Talented
Ninety Percent in achieving a better life. Instead, that segment has
created another class, a Buppie class that looks down on their people
or aids them in a condescending manner. They will never achieve what we
have. Their selfishness does not allow them to be able to work together
on any project or endeavor of substance. When they do get together,
their selfishness lets their egos get in the way of their goal. Their so-called help organizations seem to only want to promote their name without making any real change in their community.
They are content to sit in conferences and conventions in our hotels,
and talk about what they will do, while they award plaques to the best
speakers, not to the best doers. Is there no end to their selfishness?
They steadfastly refuse to see that TOGETHER EACH ACHIEVES MORE (TEAM)
They do not understand that they are no better than each other because
of what they own, as a matter of fact, most of those Buppies are but
one or two pay checks away from poverty. All of which is under the
control of our pens in our offices and our rooms.
Yes, we will continue to contain them as long as they refuse to re ad,
continue to buy anything they want, and keep thinking they are "helping"
their communities by paying dues to organizations which do little other
than hold lavish conventions in our! hotels . By the way, don't worry
about any of them reading this letter, remember, 'THEY DON'T READ!!!!
(Prove them wrong. Please pass this on! After Reading it.
*************************************************************************************
When I first read this, I was deeply insulted by the letter's condescending, self-righteous tone, but, as that simply may have been a device to enrage "black folk" into action, I'll set that aside. I'd rather focus on the main assumptions of this article--assumptions that, though were meant well, only perpetuate the very problems the author is railing against.
According to the author, the reason black people are "still slaves" is largely their own fault. We get three reasons for this: ignorance, greed and selfishness. And we could easily solve all these problems if we (A) read books on how to create successful businesses, (B) saved and invested money in black businesses and (C)helped "less fortunate black folk" reach "economic prosperity" as well.
I understand and appreciate the author's intentions, but this article is racist, not because it begins by saying, "THEY are still our slaves," not because it points out faults within the black community, but because it identifies ignorance, greed and selfishness as specifically BLACK problems.
These are not just "black problems." They're not even American problems. They are HUMAN problems. People of all races are systematically oppressed and economically exploited in ALL parts of the world.
My question to the author is this: "What of the poverty-stricken 'white people' who are just barely scraping by? What of the 'white people' whose own ignorance, greed and selfishness keeps them stuck in a never-ending cycle of self-destruction? Are they your slaves as well? Are you sending out chastising letters to them? There's this assumption that all "white people" are living in the lap of luxury, which is absurd. This whole "race struggle" in America has never really been about race; it's about CLASS. Obviously, a large percentage of black people in America are on the short end of the economic stick, but to call it a "black problem" is a red herring, distracting us from the truth.
During the 1700s, the upper-class was terrified that black slaves and white indentured servants (who were essentially slaves) would join forces and stage a rebellion (it had already happened during Bacon's Rebellion)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bacon%27s_rebellion
The solution? More rights and privilleges and land were granted by the states to these indentured servants, and they made the point that the reason these servants were getting these privilleges was because they were superior to their African-descended counterparts. This marked the beginning of what we now know as "middle class America."(For more info, check out "A People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn). The middle class then began to serve as an efficient buffer between the have-nots and the have-a-whole-LOTS.
In other words, we are all in this TOGETHER. We got a lot of "history"--some good, some bad...actually A LOT bad. But as long as we allow ourselves to be distracted into thinking this is a "black thing" or a "white thing" or an "us versus them" thing instead of realizing that we ALL are sharing the same living space, this is never going to end. This is not to say that our cultural heritage is not important, but to the extent that our heritage obscures the fact that the most fundamental truth about all of us is that we are HUMAN, it's an impediment.
It's for this reason that I don't believe that creating and investing solely in "black businesses" is any kind of real solution. What the author is suggesting is that our loftiest goal is economic empowerment. Now, at first glance, this makes sense. After all, if you want to get things done in this world, you need money, right? In fact, the U.S.A. provides a pretty good example of how you can pretty much do whatever you want as long as you have the dollars and resources to back it up. That's why it invades other countries, overthrows governments (either in secret or out in the open) and sets up U.S. friendly dictators in their stead. For the resources and dollars that those countries provide. It subjugates as many people as it can through economics, even--an especially--its own citizens. Playing into the "American Dream" of being an entrepreneur in order "to get ahead" feeds into that very system. Sure, we may get a few scraps from the table...just enough to keep us pacified so that we don't get outraged by the fact that we and millions of other people are getting royally screwed.
I don't see economically powerful black people as being any more advantageous than economically powerful white people. It's the system of economics itself--the absurd belief that value can be put on a piece of green paper and that someone must lose in order for someone else to gain--that I find to be the problem. And this is not to suggest that people shouldn't start businesses or make a livelihood for themselves. Far from it. But whatever you do in this world, it should be an expression of what you truly desire, of what you truly wish to be, with no thought to the "power" it will bring you.
If we really want to change this world, it's not going to be through businesses, and it's not going to be through legislation, unfortunately. People must change from within. I think it's important that we understand who we are and what we're doing here. We walk around constantly in a daze, in a dream world, accepting what's put in front of us, not questioning anything, living mostly by reflex. We've carved up the earth into these nation-states, giving each other labels, raising borders, trying to do everything we can to keep ourselves separate from each other.
These are artificial constructs. They mean nothing. We come from the same Source. This is not mere mysticism, but fact. We are made of the building blocks of the Universe itself--stuff that has been in existence since before the beginning of time. This is what it means to be a "child of God." And as my siblings, I believe that everyone on this planet has as much right to freedom, health and happiness as I do. So I'm not content with one race within the human family being free and happy. I am content with nothing less than the human race ITSELF lifting itself out of ignorance and oppression, and into the full realization of its glorious Self. This is our true destiny, and we deserve nothing less than that.
Any thoughts? Obviously, I don't have all the answers. I'm still searching too. But this article struck me, and I needed to respond. Let me know what you think.
Sunday, January 7, 2007
Unfortunately, I'm never completely certain...
"One of the most important signs of the existence of a democracy is that when there is a knock at the door at 5 in the morning, one is completely certain that it is the milkman." -- Winston Churchill
Rise, Prophet...
The Gospel of Thomas has Jesus saying that that which lies within us has the power to save us or destroy us. I am also reminded of a Hindi quote to the affect of, "It is impossible to break God's law, but it is possible to break one's self against it."
I feel something swelling up within me, a rising tide of sorts. No longer content to hold back the calling of my Self, I have opened the door, and now I feel myself growing into something else...may be even someone else. I'm like a child in a river being swept along rapidly by the current, and whenever I brace myself against the rocks to stop my passage, the river slams into me, trying to force me forward again.
My bones crack and muscles ache, and finally I can't take it anymore and I let go once again. And as I am swept along, I see God in everything and I am, for one moment, not afraid. I am afraid of my destiny, but my curiousity is much too overwhelming. I must see this through to the end, come what may. And as I move forward and backwards in time, I shall remember the following:
Live your life that the fear of death can never enter your heart.
Trouble no one about his religion. Respect others in their views and demand that they respect yours.
"Love your life, perfect your life, beautify all things in your life.
Seek to make your life long and of service to your people.
Prepare a noble death song for the day when you go over the great divide.
Always give a word or sign of salute when meeting or passing a friend, or even a stranger, if in a lonely place.
Show respect to all people, but grovel to none.
When you rise in the morning, give thanks for the light, for your life, for your strength. Give thanks for your food and for the joy of living. If you see no reason to give thanks, the fault lies in yourself.
Abuse no one and no thing, for abuse turns the wise ones to fools and robs the spirit of its vision.
When your time comes to die, be not like those whose hearts are filled with fear of death, so that when their time comes they weep and pray for a little more time to live their lives over again in a different way. Sing your death song, and die like a hero going home."
-- Tecumseh
(1768-1813) Shawnee Chief
I feel something swelling up within me, a rising tide of sorts. No longer content to hold back the calling of my Self, I have opened the door, and now I feel myself growing into something else...may be even someone else. I'm like a child in a river being swept along rapidly by the current, and whenever I brace myself against the rocks to stop my passage, the river slams into me, trying to force me forward again.
My bones crack and muscles ache, and finally I can't take it anymore and I let go once again. And as I am swept along, I see God in everything and I am, for one moment, not afraid. I am afraid of my destiny, but my curiousity is much too overwhelming. I must see this through to the end, come what may. And as I move forward and backwards in time, I shall remember the following:
Live your life that the fear of death can never enter your heart.
Trouble no one about his religion. Respect others in their views and demand that they respect yours.
"Love your life, perfect your life, beautify all things in your life.
Seek to make your life long and of service to your people.
Prepare a noble death song for the day when you go over the great divide.
Always give a word or sign of salute when meeting or passing a friend, or even a stranger, if in a lonely place.
Show respect to all people, but grovel to none.
When you rise in the morning, give thanks for the light, for your life, for your strength. Give thanks for your food and for the joy of living. If you see no reason to give thanks, the fault lies in yourself.
Abuse no one and no thing, for abuse turns the wise ones to fools and robs the spirit of its vision.
When your time comes to die, be not like those whose hearts are filled with fear of death, so that when their time comes they weep and pray for a little more time to live their lives over again in a different way. Sing your death song, and die like a hero going home."
-- Tecumseh
(1768-1813) Shawnee Chief
Words From the Self: The Mind
You are the Will of the Father. The mind is the Sword of the Will, the Sword of Life that brings all things good and beautiful into being. But you have allowed your sword to grow dull and flat, heavy and uncontrollable, so that it is a danger to the wielder. Indeed, the Wielder--being the Will of God--has forgotten that it is he who wields the Sword, for he thinks it is the Sword who wields him.
Would you give a sword to an untrained boy, trusting him to use it for a righteous purpose? No you would not, for fear that the boy would harm both himself and those around him. But your Father has given you a Sword, because He trusts you, and knows you cannot be harmed, neither can you truly harm your brothers, for they are as eternal as he is.
But you have tried to use your Sword while forgetting who you are, forgetting that you are the Will of the Father. And the world you see testifies to your power, for it is a world of suffering, of anguish, of separation and of loss. Could this really be the creation of the Father? Is it not rather an illusion of your making, having forgotten that you are from the Father?
Let not your Sword grow dull, but remember your identity as the Will of the Divine Mother, and let the Sword of Mind be sharpened in meditation. For it is in meditation that you will learn peace, and when the part of your mind that remembers peace springs forth, the ego will follow quickly behind and assail you with thoughts and distractions. Fear not the attacks of the ego, for they are nothing. You are called merely to stand by as a holy witness and observe its meaningless screeches. And as you, the holy observer, witness the so-called machinations of the ego without judgement and without fear, you will see that the ego's source is none other than your own mind. It is you who calls it forth and gives it power.
You are not at the whim of your thoughts, but you have believed this in error, and used your own Sword to wreak havoc on yourself. Cease this insanity and use your mind for good, for that is why it was created. With your mind, you have the power to call down the power of the Father, for you are his Power and His Will. In this knowledge, find peace everlasting, for you are His peace and His joy.
Would you give a sword to an untrained boy, trusting him to use it for a righteous purpose? No you would not, for fear that the boy would harm both himself and those around him. But your Father has given you a Sword, because He trusts you, and knows you cannot be harmed, neither can you truly harm your brothers, for they are as eternal as he is.
But you have tried to use your Sword while forgetting who you are, forgetting that you are the Will of the Father. And the world you see testifies to your power, for it is a world of suffering, of anguish, of separation and of loss. Could this really be the creation of the Father? Is it not rather an illusion of your making, having forgotten that you are from the Father?
Let not your Sword grow dull, but remember your identity as the Will of the Divine Mother, and let the Sword of Mind be sharpened in meditation. For it is in meditation that you will learn peace, and when the part of your mind that remembers peace springs forth, the ego will follow quickly behind and assail you with thoughts and distractions. Fear not the attacks of the ego, for they are nothing. You are called merely to stand by as a holy witness and observe its meaningless screeches. And as you, the holy observer, witness the so-called machinations of the ego without judgement and without fear, you will see that the ego's source is none other than your own mind. It is you who calls it forth and gives it power.
You are not at the whim of your thoughts, but you have believed this in error, and used your own Sword to wreak havoc on yourself. Cease this insanity and use your mind for good, for that is why it was created. With your mind, you have the power to call down the power of the Father, for you are his Power and His Will. In this knowledge, find peace everlasting, for you are His peace and His joy.
The Story So Far...
So over the last few months, I've been downloading as much metaphyiscal/religious/spiritual texts as I can. The following is what I've read since this past Decemeber that got me down this path:
The Artist's Way
The War of Art
The "Conversations With God" series
The Bhagavad Gita (sp?)
The Dhammapada
The Upanishads
The Last Temptation of Christ
The Holy Bible
Living Buddha, Living Christ
Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind
The Hero of a Thousand Faces
The Way of the Peaceful Warrior
That's all that's coming to mind so far. These are all good books. Right now, I'm going through a huge shift and finding myself increasingly interested in gnosticism ("gnosis" comes from the Greek, which means "knowledge"). The principle is, in my understanding, synonymous with enlightenment.
I've realized that I'm very much attached to symbols, and though, hopefully, one day I will see the need to know longer use them, they serve a useful purpose presently. So I've decided to return to Christian symbols, but not to orthodox Christianity. I'm very much interested in the Elaine Pagel's writings, the Gnostic scriptures and mysticism. Part of me is terrified of exploring this stuff, because my past learning focus heavily on the Christian path being the only path and anything else being of the devil, which is utter hogwash, but fear has a funny way of sticking with you. Either way, I'm pressing forward, with my heart open before the Self, asking for guidance as I go along, while reciting Psalm 23:
The "I AM" is my sheperd
I shall not want
He makes me lie down in green pastures
He leads me to still waters
He restores my soul
He leads me to the path of righteous for his name's sake
Yea, though I may walk through the valley of the shadow of death
You are with me
Your rod and your staff
They comfort
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies
My cup runs over
Sure goodness and mercy
Shall follow me all the days of my life
And I shall dwell in the house of the "I AM"
forever.
Amen.
Ever notice how "amen" is so simiar to "aum," the most holy of utterances in Hinduism?
The Artist's Way
The War of Art
The "Conversations With God" series
The Bhagavad Gita (sp?)
The Dhammapada
The Upanishads
The Last Temptation of Christ
The Holy Bible
Living Buddha, Living Christ
Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind
The Hero of a Thousand Faces
The Way of the Peaceful Warrior
That's all that's coming to mind so far. These are all good books. Right now, I'm going through a huge shift and finding myself increasingly interested in gnosticism ("gnosis" comes from the Greek, which means "knowledge"). The principle is, in my understanding, synonymous with enlightenment.
I've realized that I'm very much attached to symbols, and though, hopefully, one day I will see the need to know longer use them, they serve a useful purpose presently. So I've decided to return to Christian symbols, but not to orthodox Christianity. I'm very much interested in the Elaine Pagel's writings, the Gnostic scriptures and mysticism. Part of me is terrified of exploring this stuff, because my past learning focus heavily on the Christian path being the only path and anything else being of the devil, which is utter hogwash, but fear has a funny way of sticking with you. Either way, I'm pressing forward, with my heart open before the Self, asking for guidance as I go along, while reciting Psalm 23:
The "I AM" is my sheperd
I shall not want
He makes me lie down in green pastures
He leads me to still waters
He restores my soul
He leads me to the path of righteous for his name's sake
Yea, though I may walk through the valley of the shadow of death
You are with me
Your rod and your staff
They comfort
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies
My cup runs over
Sure goodness and mercy
Shall follow me all the days of my life
And I shall dwell in the house of the "I AM"
forever.
Amen.
Ever notice how "amen" is so simiar to "aum," the most holy of utterances in Hinduism?
A gnostic quote
"Speak concerning the truth to those who seek it and of knowledge to those who, in their error, have committed sin. Make sure-footed those who stumble and stretch forth your hands to the sick. Nourish the hungry and set at ease those who are troubled. Foster men who love. Raise up and awaken those who sleep. For you are this understanding which encourages. If the strong follow this course, they are even stronger. Turn your attention to yourselves. Do not be concerned with other things, namely, that which you have cast forth from yourselves, that which you have dismissed. Do not return to them to eat them. Do not be moth-eaten. Do not be worm-eaten, for you have already shaken it off. Do not be a place of the devil, for you have already destroyed him. Do not strengthen your last obstacles, because that is reprehensible. For the lawless one is nothing. He harms himself more than the law. For that one does his works because he is a lawless person. But this one, because he is a righteous person, does his works among others. Do the will of the Father, then, for you are from him."
from "The Gospel of Truth"
from "The Gospel of Truth"
Over the Threshold
Is this the dark night of the soul?
The world is now inverted
I stumble about on feet that are not my own.
There are demons that lurk within
haunting my waking life
and terrorizing me in dreams
But when I stop running and stand before them,
they kneel before me and call me, "Lord!"
"Have pity on us, for we but do your bidding."
And so I lay my hands on them, these snarling fallen angels
"I love you," I tell them softly. "You are forgiven. Come and enter the joy of your Lord."
And where there were once monsters
there are now angels that lift me up in times of trial.
Now my role becomes clear.
I am the Light
that must descend into the darkness of the shadow mind
I am the Redeemer
that must offer salvation to my lost self
I am the Way, the Truth and the Life
My path is set before me.
The call to adventure has begun.
The Christ
The Anointed One
The Buddha
The Awakened One
The Lord Krishna
The Enlightened
This seed burns within my consciousness
It is consciousness itself
longing to be manifested
longing to know itself
as it was in the beginning
From God all things spring forth
and back to God to all things return.
There is no emotion; there is only peace.
There is no ignorance; there is only knowledge.
There is no passion; there is only serenity.
There is no chaos: there is only harmony.
There is no death; there is only the Force.
Praise be to the Mother, the Comforter and Provider
Praise be to the Father, the Unshakeable and the Immanent
Praise be to the Son, my holy Self
Praise be to Sophia, my true Bride.
Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
And all shall be well.
And all shall be well.
And all manner of things shall be well.
The world is now inverted
I stumble about on feet that are not my own.
There are demons that lurk within
haunting my waking life
and terrorizing me in dreams
But when I stop running and stand before them,
they kneel before me and call me, "Lord!"
"Have pity on us, for we but do your bidding."
And so I lay my hands on them, these snarling fallen angels
"I love you," I tell them softly. "You are forgiven. Come and enter the joy of your Lord."
And where there were once monsters
there are now angels that lift me up in times of trial.
Now my role becomes clear.
I am the Light
that must descend into the darkness of the shadow mind
I am the Redeemer
that must offer salvation to my lost self
I am the Way, the Truth and the Life
My path is set before me.
The call to adventure has begun.
The Christ
The Anointed One
The Buddha
The Awakened One
The Lord Krishna
The Enlightened
This seed burns within my consciousness
It is consciousness itself
longing to be manifested
longing to know itself
as it was in the beginning
From God all things spring forth
and back to God to all things return.
There is no emotion; there is only peace.
There is no ignorance; there is only knowledge.
There is no passion; there is only serenity.
There is no chaos: there is only harmony.
There is no death; there is only the Force.
Praise be to the Mother, the Comforter and Provider
Praise be to the Father, the Unshakeable and the Immanent
Praise be to the Son, my holy Self
Praise be to Sophia, my true Bride.
Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
And all shall be well.
And all shall be well.
And all manner of things shall be well.
Temptation in the Wilderness: Part 2
Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit unto the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. He fasted forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was famished. The tempter came and said to him, If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.
Matthew 4:1-3
There are three primary forms of attack that the ego uses to draw us out of the belief that we are perfect, sinless, spiritual beings. We should not be deceived by the manner of illusion that the ego throws at us; they all are rooted in fear. And that is really all temptation is: the ego trying to convince us that we are something that we are not. Many religions, much to their own detriment, have labeled certain acts as the source of "temptations"; they're preoccupation seems to be not with cause, but with effect. The sin (or mistake) is never in the action; the mistake is in the cause, which is the belief that you are CAPABLE of sin, that you can somehow escape being the perfect Child of Light that you are.
******
The man from Nazareth suddenly regained consciousness. He was not sure how long he had been unconscious; it could have been minutes. It could have been hours. Time had lost all meaning for him out in the desert. He had come there because the Call had been pounding in the back of his head for far too long, and he was determined to have it out. No longer could he stay at home, busying himself with unbuilt tables, and shelves, support beams and crosses (yes, he made crosses too, if you can believe it). Despite his resistance, the Spirit stayed with him, pulling at him, tugging at him, pushing him out into the open. Finally, he'd had enough. He would make war with this Spirit, whatever it was, and the desert would be his battleground.
The first week was the most difficult. The hunger gnawed at his stomach like a rabid dog, eating its way through his whole body. He wept for many nights, screaming at the heavens for an answer. But none would come, except the one Answer.
"You and I are One."
That was his mantra for the second week. You and I are One. He used it as a weapon against the hunger, to steel himself against it, but finally, one day, as he said, You and I are One, he heard another voice.
"Are you?'
He blinked. It was the voice within his own mind. The challenger, he called it. It challenged everything everyone said to him, yea, it challenged everything he said to himself. He'd grown use to its mutterings and scorn over time, and more often than not, he obeyed its commands without question.
"Yes," he said.
"Are we REALLY one?"
"Yes," said the man of Nazareth, more confidently. "We are."
If this is true, why are you so hungry?
The man blinked; he could think of no other response aside from the obvious: Because I have not eaten.
And you think God wills that you go hungry?
The man closed his eyes, squeezing them hard. Why was he questioning himself? His stomach, glad to finally have an ally, snarled viciously. The man began to feel weak and dizzy. The voice continued.
"And if you are to do the work of the Father and the Mother, do you honestly think they would have you do it on an empty stomach?" There was silence. Then the voice said, "You have not eaten for weeks. Aren't you in pain? Dont you think it was a little crazy of you to come all the way out here and not bring anything to eat? Wasnt that a bit foolish?"
Yes, the man whispered.
"The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak," said the voice. "You are nothing without your flesh; any wise man will tell you that. If you do not eat, you will die.
But I have nothing to eat! cried the man from Nazareth.
The stones, said the voice, mockingly. The stones about you. Ask God to turn them into bread for you, as he did for the children of Israel when they wandered in the wildness.
The man from Nazareth reached his hand out towards a stone and picked it up, holding it in his hand. God will turn this stone into bread for me. Surely he would not let me starve.
Gripping the stone firmly in his hand, he asked the Spirit for guidance. Heavenly Mother, he said, If you will it, turn this stone into bread, so that your servant might be filled. My hunger is more than I can bear.
He waited. Nothing happened. Once more, he prayed, Heavenly Mother, I beseech you, have pity on your servant. Turn these stones into bread.
Again nothing.
Mother . . . Father . . . Creator . . . Spirit . . . I came out here to find you, so that might you tell me what your will is. I cannot do your will without strength. Please, help me.
Again nothing.
The man stared silently at the stone, then flung it away from him in fury. He collapsed to the ground, while the challenging voice in his mind whispered, You see? Is this the God that you would serve? One that cannot grant the simple request for food? I suggest you give up this mad quest and go back home. Perhaps your mother will take you back in.
No, said the man to himself. I cannot go back. Not after all Ive said and done, and what Ive taught. I would like a fool.
Yes, the voice agreed. Better to lay here and die.
The man nodded and closed his eyes. Yes. Death was much more preferable to the shame he would feel upon returning back home with nothing to show for his efforts. He was tired of struggling. He wanted peace. Mother, he prayed, if you are out there, I commend my spirit into your hands. I have failed you in some way. Was it that I lacked faith, or did you wish not to give me what I asked for? Either way, I am yours . . .
I am yours.
I am yours.
The words repeated themselves over and over in his mind.
I am yours.
I am yours.
Then . . .
I belong to the Mother and the Father.
Then . . .
I have always belonged to Them, because are were IN me
Then . . .
My very existence is sustained by Them.
Then . . .
Theirs is the power that holds the very Universe together.
They are in EVERYTHING.
Then . . .
They are in Me. They and I were One.
I am the Father and the Mother.
I am the Alpha and the Omega. The Beginning and the End.
I am Eternal Life.
Then . . .
So why would I think for a second that I could ever truly die?
He looked about himself in a daze, his eyes resting on the stone he had cast from himself not minutes ago. With deliberate calmness, he said to himself, Man is not sustained by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.
And it came to pass that he stayed in the wilderness.
Matthew 4:1-3
There are three primary forms of attack that the ego uses to draw us out of the belief that we are perfect, sinless, spiritual beings. We should not be deceived by the manner of illusion that the ego throws at us; they all are rooted in fear. And that is really all temptation is: the ego trying to convince us that we are something that we are not. Many religions, much to their own detriment, have labeled certain acts as the source of "temptations"; they're preoccupation seems to be not with cause, but with effect. The sin (or mistake) is never in the action; the mistake is in the cause, which is the belief that you are CAPABLE of sin, that you can somehow escape being the perfect Child of Light that you are.
******
The man from Nazareth suddenly regained consciousness. He was not sure how long he had been unconscious; it could have been minutes. It could have been hours. Time had lost all meaning for him out in the desert. He had come there because the Call had been pounding in the back of his head for far too long, and he was determined to have it out. No longer could he stay at home, busying himself with unbuilt tables, and shelves, support beams and crosses (yes, he made crosses too, if you can believe it). Despite his resistance, the Spirit stayed with him, pulling at him, tugging at him, pushing him out into the open. Finally, he'd had enough. He would make war with this Spirit, whatever it was, and the desert would be his battleground.
The first week was the most difficult. The hunger gnawed at his stomach like a rabid dog, eating its way through his whole body. He wept for many nights, screaming at the heavens for an answer. But none would come, except the one Answer.
"You and I are One."
That was his mantra for the second week. You and I are One. He used it as a weapon against the hunger, to steel himself against it, but finally, one day, as he said, You and I are One, he heard another voice.
"Are you?'
He blinked. It was the voice within his own mind. The challenger, he called it. It challenged everything everyone said to him, yea, it challenged everything he said to himself. He'd grown use to its mutterings and scorn over time, and more often than not, he obeyed its commands without question.
"Yes," he said.
"Are we REALLY one?"
"Yes," said the man of Nazareth, more confidently. "We are."
If this is true, why are you so hungry?
The man blinked; he could think of no other response aside from the obvious: Because I have not eaten.
And you think God wills that you go hungry?
The man closed his eyes, squeezing them hard. Why was he questioning himself? His stomach, glad to finally have an ally, snarled viciously. The man began to feel weak and dizzy. The voice continued.
"And if you are to do the work of the Father and the Mother, do you honestly think they would have you do it on an empty stomach?" There was silence. Then the voice said, "You have not eaten for weeks. Aren't you in pain? Dont you think it was a little crazy of you to come all the way out here and not bring anything to eat? Wasnt that a bit foolish?"
Yes, the man whispered.
"The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak," said the voice. "You are nothing without your flesh; any wise man will tell you that. If you do not eat, you will die.
But I have nothing to eat! cried the man from Nazareth.
The stones, said the voice, mockingly. The stones about you. Ask God to turn them into bread for you, as he did for the children of Israel when they wandered in the wildness.
The man from Nazareth reached his hand out towards a stone and picked it up, holding it in his hand. God will turn this stone into bread for me. Surely he would not let me starve.
Gripping the stone firmly in his hand, he asked the Spirit for guidance. Heavenly Mother, he said, If you will it, turn this stone into bread, so that your servant might be filled. My hunger is more than I can bear.
He waited. Nothing happened. Once more, he prayed, Heavenly Mother, I beseech you, have pity on your servant. Turn these stones into bread.
Again nothing.
Mother . . . Father . . . Creator . . . Spirit . . . I came out here to find you, so that might you tell me what your will is. I cannot do your will without strength. Please, help me.
Again nothing.
The man stared silently at the stone, then flung it away from him in fury. He collapsed to the ground, while the challenging voice in his mind whispered, You see? Is this the God that you would serve? One that cannot grant the simple request for food? I suggest you give up this mad quest and go back home. Perhaps your mother will take you back in.
No, said the man to himself. I cannot go back. Not after all Ive said and done, and what Ive taught. I would like a fool.
Yes, the voice agreed. Better to lay here and die.
The man nodded and closed his eyes. Yes. Death was much more preferable to the shame he would feel upon returning back home with nothing to show for his efforts. He was tired of struggling. He wanted peace. Mother, he prayed, if you are out there, I commend my spirit into your hands. I have failed you in some way. Was it that I lacked faith, or did you wish not to give me what I asked for? Either way, I am yours . . .
I am yours.
I am yours.
The words repeated themselves over and over in his mind.
I am yours.
I am yours.
Then . . .
I belong to the Mother and the Father.
Then . . .
I have always belonged to Them, because are were IN me
Then . . .
My very existence is sustained by Them.
Then . . .
Theirs is the power that holds the very Universe together.
They are in EVERYTHING.
Then . . .
They are in Me. They and I were One.
I am the Father and the Mother.
I am the Alpha and the Omega. The Beginning and the End.
I am Eternal Life.
Then . . .
So why would I think for a second that I could ever truly die?
He looked about himself in a daze, his eyes resting on the stone he had cast from himself not minutes ago. With deliberate calmness, he said to himself, Man is not sustained by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.
And it came to pass that he stayed in the wilderness.
Temptation in the Wilderness: Part 1
According to the New Testament, before Jesus started his ministry, he fasted in the wilderness for forty days and forty nights; it was then that the devil came and tempted him.
I am beginning to see with what regularity the ego tempts us; it often seems non-stop. The paradox is that the source of the ego's power is the mind itself. As I said in an earlier post, if I but saw that the ego's efforts are designed to reinforce my feeling of separation from the Great All, I would give it up immediately. The trouble is that I too often identify with the ego.
When I say "ego", however, I'm not referring to the "ego" of traditional Freudian psychology. I perceive the ego as the part of the mind that believes that it is separated from everything else. It identifies itself as a being which did not exist before the date of its birth (or conception), and will cease to be at the moment of its death. It often mitigates its fear of death through the belief in a soul, viewing death as an escape from the troubles of the world. This is as equally illusive because the troubles of the world are really the troubles of the mind. Death will not end our suffering because that which is eternal (i.e. a Child of the Light:) cannot die. It merely changes form. The content however, remains.
The ego is literally a fearful thought. Every time I have a fearful thought, I am identifying with it. Now because God is Love, and love and fear cannot co-exist, whenever I identify with the ego, I always feel a lack, a sense of something missing. I can no longer feel the peace and joy and love that is the inheritance of a Child of God, not because I am being punished, because I've chosen AGAINST it. But I can just as easily choose against the ego. This is what the Mother would have us learn; in truth, that there is no ego. There was only one choice that was made, that CAN be made in eternity, and that we have already made it. We have chosen the Light, and now, slowly but surely, with the Spirit of God and time as our ally, we are making our way back.
Theology is not important, nor is philosophy, nor is a perfect understanding of the universe and all it contains. Nothing in the world of form means anything aside from the purpose that we put to it. An atheist can (and will) attain enlightenment as easily as a yogi. There are many forms of the Universal Path that we all take; who can say or judge why one chooses one as opposed to another? Such differences are not our concern; our only concern is the path that we are on.
The ego sees nothing but difference. It must see difference, as a prerequisite to administering judgment. It says, "This good," and "This is bad," completely unaware that it has made both.
The mind of God sees that all things stand in the Light. It judges not, knowing that nothing CAN be judged.
I am beginning to see with what regularity the ego tempts us; it often seems non-stop. The paradox is that the source of the ego's power is the mind itself. As I said in an earlier post, if I but saw that the ego's efforts are designed to reinforce my feeling of separation from the Great All, I would give it up immediately. The trouble is that I too often identify with the ego.
When I say "ego", however, I'm not referring to the "ego" of traditional Freudian psychology. I perceive the ego as the part of the mind that believes that it is separated from everything else. It identifies itself as a being which did not exist before the date of its birth (or conception), and will cease to be at the moment of its death. It often mitigates its fear of death through the belief in a soul, viewing death as an escape from the troubles of the world. This is as equally illusive because the troubles of the world are really the troubles of the mind. Death will not end our suffering because that which is eternal (i.e. a Child of the Light:) cannot die. It merely changes form. The content however, remains.
The ego is literally a fearful thought. Every time I have a fearful thought, I am identifying with it. Now because God is Love, and love and fear cannot co-exist, whenever I identify with the ego, I always feel a lack, a sense of something missing. I can no longer feel the peace and joy and love that is the inheritance of a Child of God, not because I am being punished, because I've chosen AGAINST it. But I can just as easily choose against the ego. This is what the Mother would have us learn; in truth, that there is no ego. There was only one choice that was made, that CAN be made in eternity, and that we have already made it. We have chosen the Light, and now, slowly but surely, with the Spirit of God and time as our ally, we are making our way back.
Theology is not important, nor is philosophy, nor is a perfect understanding of the universe and all it contains. Nothing in the world of form means anything aside from the purpose that we put to it. An atheist can (and will) attain enlightenment as easily as a yogi. There are many forms of the Universal Path that we all take; who can say or judge why one chooses one as opposed to another? Such differences are not our concern; our only concern is the path that we are on.
The ego sees nothing but difference. It must see difference, as a prerequisite to administering judgment. It says, "This good," and "This is bad," completely unaware that it has made both.
The mind of God sees that all things stand in the Light. It judges not, knowing that nothing CAN be judged.
Poem by a yogi
Vanished the veils of light and shade,
Lifted every vapor of sorrow,
Sailed away all dawns of fleeting joy,
Gone the dim sensory mirage,
Love, hate, health, disease, life, death:
Perished these false shadows on the screen of duality.
The storm of MAYA stilled
By magic wand of intuition deep.
Present, past, future, no more for me,
But ever-present, all-flowing I, I, everywhere.
Planets, stars, stardust, earth,
Volcanic bursts of doomsday cataclysms,
Creation's molding furnace,
Glaciers of silent X-rays, burning electron floods,
Thoughts of all men, past, present, to come
Every blade of grass, myself, mankind,
Each particle of universal dust,
Anger, greed, good, bad, salvation, lust,
I swallowed, transmuted all
Into a vast ocean of blood of my own one Being
Smoldering joy, oft-puffed by meditation
Blinding my tearful eyes,
Burst into immortal flames of bliss,
Consumed my tears, my frame, my all,
Thou art I, I am Thou
Knowing, Knower, Known, as One!
Tranquilled, unbroken thrill, eternally living, ever-new
peace.
Enjoyable beyond imagination of expectancy, samadhi
bliss!
Not an unconscious state
Or mental chloroform without willful return,
SAMADHI but extends my conscious realm
Beyond limits of the mortal frame
To farthest boundary of eternity
Where I, the Cosmic Sea,
Watch the little ego floating in Me.
Mobile murmurs of atoms are heard,
The dark earth, mountains, vales, lo! molten liquid!
Flowing seas change into vapors of nebulae!
AUM blows upon vapors, opening wondrously their veils,
Oceans stand revealed, shining electrons,
Till, at the last sound of the cosmic drum,
Vanish the grosser lights into eternal rays
Of all-pervading bliss,
From joy I came, for joy I I live, in sacred joy I melt.
Ocean of mind, I drink all creation's waves.
Four veils of solid, liquid, vapor, light,
Lift aright.
I, in everything, enter the Great Myself.
Gone forever: fitful, flickering shadows of mortal
memory;
Spotless is my mental sky--below, ahead, and high above;
Eternity and I, one united ray,
A tiny bubble of laughter, I
Am become the Sea of Mirth Itself.
by Paramahansa Yogananda
Lifted every vapor of sorrow,
Sailed away all dawns of fleeting joy,
Gone the dim sensory mirage,
Love, hate, health, disease, life, death:
Perished these false shadows on the screen of duality.
The storm of MAYA stilled
By magic wand of intuition deep.
Present, past, future, no more for me,
But ever-present, all-flowing I, I, everywhere.
Planets, stars, stardust, earth,
Volcanic bursts of doomsday cataclysms,
Creation's molding furnace,
Glaciers of silent X-rays, burning electron floods,
Thoughts of all men, past, present, to come
Every blade of grass, myself, mankind,
Each particle of universal dust,
Anger, greed, good, bad, salvation, lust,
I swallowed, transmuted all
Into a vast ocean of blood of my own one Being
Smoldering joy, oft-puffed by meditation
Blinding my tearful eyes,
Burst into immortal flames of bliss,
Consumed my tears, my frame, my all,
Thou art I, I am Thou
Knowing, Knower, Known, as One!
Tranquilled, unbroken thrill, eternally living, ever-new
peace.
Enjoyable beyond imagination of expectancy, samadhi
bliss!
Not an unconscious state
Or mental chloroform without willful return,
SAMADHI but extends my conscious realm
Beyond limits of the mortal frame
To farthest boundary of eternity
Where I, the Cosmic Sea,
Watch the little ego floating in Me.
Mobile murmurs of atoms are heard,
The dark earth, mountains, vales, lo! molten liquid!
Flowing seas change into vapors of nebulae!
AUM blows upon vapors, opening wondrously their veils,
Oceans stand revealed, shining electrons,
Till, at the last sound of the cosmic drum,
Vanish the grosser lights into eternal rays
Of all-pervading bliss,
From joy I came, for joy I I live, in sacred joy I melt.
Ocean of mind, I drink all creation's waves.
Four veils of solid, liquid, vapor, light,
Lift aright.
I, in everything, enter the Great Myself.
Gone forever: fitful, flickering shadows of mortal
memory;
Spotless is my mental sky--below, ahead, and high above;
Eternity and I, one united ray,
A tiny bubble of laughter, I
Am become the Sea of Mirth Itself.
by Paramahansa Yogananda
Words From the Self: Relationships
The purpose of all your relationships is to learn and practice forgiveness. A point of clarification is in order. In this context, forgiveness does not mean looking at the sin of another, and making the decision to then ignore the sin, often under the condition that the offender display guilt and repentance. This is denial in the worst form, because the sin you hold against your brother becomes the sin you hold against yourself. And so you and your brother pretend to forget about this sin without ever really letting it go. If you but search your heart, and remember all the times you offered conditional forgiveness to your brothers and sisters, you will see that this is so. If there is even a slight hint of annoyance or irritation or anger felt upon remembering an injustice being done to you, it is because the sin was never forgiven. This, however, should not be a source of guilt, for, as always, guilt works against our purposes. The more honest thing to do is to acknowledge the truth of what you are experiencing and ask for guidance in release. Remember: all condemnation (whether it is upon another or upon the self) ALWAYS comes from the ego, never from God, who's love is unconditional.
All this being said, true forgiveness is choosing to see nothing but the Light in your brother. Indeed, there is no greater gift you can offer another than to say to him, "Brother, I see the Christ in you. Your Light is not hidden from me. I see it shine within you, and it is the Light by which I see my own." If your relationships are founded on forgiveness, they are blessed indeed.
Does this sound impossible? It is not impossible to you, but it is impossible to the ego, because the ego sees only error and separation. The ego relishes attacking the sins in others, because that it is the method by which it distracts you from the fact that it is also attacking YOU. If you were conscious of its attacks on you, there is little doubt that you would cease to tolerate it and withdraw your belief in it. But the ego would have you believe that to attack another is to save yourself. Furthermore, it believes that offering forgiveness to your brother would leave you open to attacks from all side.
The problem here is the ego's insane assumption that you can be attacked in the first place. To believe in attack is to believe that the separation is real. There is no compromise on this point. Either the separation is real, or it isn't. Either all is One or it isn't. If the separation is real then attack is possible, and you would have great reason to fear it, as well as to defend yoursel against it. But if all is One, and Love is all there is, then when you attack, you attack your Self, and when you defend, you again attack your Self by believing that the Self is vulnerable and capable of being attacked.
Ask yourself this: Has attack ever brought you peace? And even in its "noblest" form (such as in defense), is not the peace it brings but temporary, and soon replaced by fear of further attack? Perhaps a better question is this: has attack ever released you from fear? To this, one may respond, "Fear is the way of the world." Indeed, it is, and so the last question then becomes, "Do I wish to walk the way of the world?"
This, does not mean, that you should allow yourself to become a doormat for abuse. If you are being attacked, the most loving thing you can do for youself and your attacker is to remove your Self from the situation in whatever way seems fit. It is not helpful to either of you to reinforce attack by allowing it to continue. What is helpful is to remember that even when he attacks you, your brother is seeing what is not there and is calling out for your love. Answer him, so that you might both be saved.
Your task is to remain awake, take your sibling's hand and see the savior in her. For verily, verily I say unto you, you do not enter Heaven without your brother and sister, for the Kingdom of Heaven is within all of you. Can a kingdom divided stand? Or is it not doomed to fall? But there is but one Mind, and for each one that attains the salvation of enlightenment, they become the Light in the world that serves as beacons for other Lights. It is in this manner that the salvation of enlightenment has already been accomplished, and you, the children of humanity, are now but witnessing the effects of the First Cause.
Rejoice, for Gods will is done on earth as it is in Heaven. Heaven and earth have been made one, and the Last Miracle has closed the book of death and opened the Book of Life. All names have been written in, and none will be lost. None CAN be lost, because God is in all of you.
All this being said, true forgiveness is choosing to see nothing but the Light in your brother. Indeed, there is no greater gift you can offer another than to say to him, "Brother, I see the Christ in you. Your Light is not hidden from me. I see it shine within you, and it is the Light by which I see my own." If your relationships are founded on forgiveness, they are blessed indeed.
Does this sound impossible? It is not impossible to you, but it is impossible to the ego, because the ego sees only error and separation. The ego relishes attacking the sins in others, because that it is the method by which it distracts you from the fact that it is also attacking YOU. If you were conscious of its attacks on you, there is little doubt that you would cease to tolerate it and withdraw your belief in it. But the ego would have you believe that to attack another is to save yourself. Furthermore, it believes that offering forgiveness to your brother would leave you open to attacks from all side.
The problem here is the ego's insane assumption that you can be attacked in the first place. To believe in attack is to believe that the separation is real. There is no compromise on this point. Either the separation is real, or it isn't. Either all is One or it isn't. If the separation is real then attack is possible, and you would have great reason to fear it, as well as to defend yoursel against it. But if all is One, and Love is all there is, then when you attack, you attack your Self, and when you defend, you again attack your Self by believing that the Self is vulnerable and capable of being attacked.
Ask yourself this: Has attack ever brought you peace? And even in its "noblest" form (such as in defense), is not the peace it brings but temporary, and soon replaced by fear of further attack? Perhaps a better question is this: has attack ever released you from fear? To this, one may respond, "Fear is the way of the world." Indeed, it is, and so the last question then becomes, "Do I wish to walk the way of the world?"
This, does not mean, that you should allow yourself to become a doormat for abuse. If you are being attacked, the most loving thing you can do for youself and your attacker is to remove your Self from the situation in whatever way seems fit. It is not helpful to either of you to reinforce attack by allowing it to continue. What is helpful is to remember that even when he attacks you, your brother is seeing what is not there and is calling out for your love. Answer him, so that you might both be saved.
Your task is to remain awake, take your sibling's hand and see the savior in her. For verily, verily I say unto you, you do not enter Heaven without your brother and sister, for the Kingdom of Heaven is within all of you. Can a kingdom divided stand? Or is it not doomed to fall? But there is but one Mind, and for each one that attains the salvation of enlightenment, they become the Light in the world that serves as beacons for other Lights. It is in this manner that the salvation of enlightenment has already been accomplished, and you, the children of humanity, are now but witnessing the effects of the First Cause.
Rejoice, for Gods will is done on earth as it is in Heaven. Heaven and earth have been made one, and the Last Miracle has closed the book of death and opened the Book of Life. All names have been written in, and none will be lost. None CAN be lost, because God is in all of you.
Words From the Self: Relationships
The purpose of all your relationships is to learn and practice forgiveness. A point of clarification is in order. In this context, forgiveness does not mean looking at the sin of another, and making the decision to then ignore the sin, often under the condition that the offender display guilt and repentance. This is denial in the worst form, because the sin you hold against your brother becomes the sin you hold against yourself. And so you and your brother pretend to forget about this sin without ever really letting it go. If you but search your heart, and remember all the times you offered conditional forgiveness to your brothers and sisters, you will see that this is so. If there is even a slight hint of annoyance or irritation or anger felt upon remembering an injustice being done to you, it is because the sin was never forgiven. This, however, should not be a source of guilt, for, as always, guilt works against our purposes. The more honest thing to do is to acknowledge the truth of what you are experiencing and ask for guidance in release. Remember: all condemnation (whether it is upon another or upon the self) ALWAYS comes from the ego, never from God, who's love is unconditional.
All this being said, true forgiveness is choosing to see nothing but the Light in your brother. Indeed, there is no greater gift you can offer another than to say to him, "Brother, I see the Christ in you. Your Light is not hidden from me. I see it shine within you, and it is the Light by which I see my own." If your relationships are founded on forgiveness, they are blessed indeed.
Does this sound impossible? It is not impossible to you, but it is impossible to the ego, because the ego sees only error and separation. The ego relishes attacking the sins in others, because that it is the method by which it distracts you from the fact that it is also attacking YOU. If you were conscious of its attacks on you, there is little doubt that you would cease to tolerate it and withdraw your belief in it. But the ego would have you believe that to attack another is to save yourself. Furthermore, it believes that offering forgiveness to your brother would leave you open to attacks from all side.
The problem here is the ego's insane assumption that you can be attacked in the first place. To believe in attack is to believe that the separation is real. There is no compromise on this point. Either the separation is real, or it isn't. Either all is One or it isn't. If the separation is real then attack is possible, and you would have great reason to fear it, as well as to defend yoursel against it. But if all is One, and Love is all there is, then when you attack, you attack your Self, and when you defend, you again attack your Self by believing that the Self is vulnerable and capable of being attacked.
Ask yourself this: Has attack ever brought you peace? And even in its "noblest" form (such as in defense), is not the peace it brings but temporary, and soon replaced by fear of further attack? Perhaps a better question is this: has attack ever released you from fear? To this, one may respond, "Fear is the way of the world." Indeed, it is, and so the last question then becomes, "Do I wish to walk the way of the world?"
This, does not mean, that you should allow yourself to become a doormat for abuse. If you are being attacked, the most loving thing you can do for youself and your attacker is to remove your Self from the situation in whatever way seems fit. It is not helpful to either of you to reinforce attack by allowing it to continue. What is helpful is to remember that even when he attacks you, your brother is seeing what is not there and is calling out for your love. Answer him, so that you might both be saved.
Your task is to remain awake, take your sibling's hand and see the savior in her. For verily, verily I say unto you, you do not enter Heaven without your brother and sister, for the Kingdom of Heaven is within all of you. Can a kingdom divided stand? Or is it not doomed to fall? But there is but one Mind, and for each one that attains the salvation of enlightenment, they become the Light in the world that serves as beacons for other Lights. It is in this manner that the salvation of enlightenment has already been accomplished, and you, the children of humanity, are now but witnessing the effects of the First Cause.
Rejoice, for Gods will is done on earth as it is in Heaven. Heaven and earth have been made one, and the Last Miracle has closed the book of death and opened the Book of Life. All names have been written in, and none will be lost. None CAN be lost, because God is in all of you.
All this being said, true forgiveness is choosing to see nothing but the Light in your brother. Indeed, there is no greater gift you can offer another than to say to him, "Brother, I see the Christ in you. Your Light is not hidden from me. I see it shine within you, and it is the Light by which I see my own." If your relationships are founded on forgiveness, they are blessed indeed.
Does this sound impossible? It is not impossible to you, but it is impossible to the ego, because the ego sees only error and separation. The ego relishes attacking the sins in others, because that it is the method by which it distracts you from the fact that it is also attacking YOU. If you were conscious of its attacks on you, there is little doubt that you would cease to tolerate it and withdraw your belief in it. But the ego would have you believe that to attack another is to save yourself. Furthermore, it believes that offering forgiveness to your brother would leave you open to attacks from all side.
The problem here is the ego's insane assumption that you can be attacked in the first place. To believe in attack is to believe that the separation is real. There is no compromise on this point. Either the separation is real, or it isn't. Either all is One or it isn't. If the separation is real then attack is possible, and you would have great reason to fear it, as well as to defend yoursel against it. But if all is One, and Love is all there is, then when you attack, you attack your Self, and when you defend, you again attack your Self by believing that the Self is vulnerable and capable of being attacked.
Ask yourself this: Has attack ever brought you peace? And even in its "noblest" form (such as in defense), is not the peace it brings but temporary, and soon replaced by fear of further attack? Perhaps a better question is this: has attack ever released you from fear? To this, one may respond, "Fear is the way of the world." Indeed, it is, and so the last question then becomes, "Do I wish to walk the way of the world?"
This, does not mean, that you should allow yourself to become a doormat for abuse. If you are being attacked, the most loving thing you can do for youself and your attacker is to remove your Self from the situation in whatever way seems fit. It is not helpful to either of you to reinforce attack by allowing it to continue. What is helpful is to remember that even when he attacks you, your brother is seeing what is not there and is calling out for your love. Answer him, so that you might both be saved.
Your task is to remain awake, take your sibling's hand and see the savior in her. For verily, verily I say unto you, you do not enter Heaven without your brother and sister, for the Kingdom of Heaven is within all of you. Can a kingdom divided stand? Or is it not doomed to fall? But there is but one Mind, and for each one that attains the salvation of enlightenment, they become the Light in the world that serves as beacons for other Lights. It is in this manner that the salvation of enlightenment has already been accomplished, and you, the children of humanity, are now but witnessing the effects of the First Cause.
Rejoice, for Gods will is done on earth as it is in Heaven. Heaven and earth have been made one, and the Last Miracle has closed the book of death and opened the Book of Life. All names have been written in, and none will be lost. None CAN be lost, because God is in all of you.
Words from the Self: The Only Requirement
"Now you are learning the ways of the ego, and the function you are to fulfill. You are to find the barriers between yourself and love and pull them down, one by one. That is all. I will help you in locating them, so do not think you undertake this effort on your own.
It seems impossible to you that this is really all that is required of you: "There is nothing I must do but remove the false? Surely I must do something."
No, you must not, because, remember you did not create your Self. You were created by Love, and Love creates only that which functions like Itself. When the last block has been removed, Love will shine forth from you so briliantly, you will be amazed at how long you chose to stand in darkness.
Only the ego places the condition of salvation in deeds, for that is how it maintains guilt over you. All that is really required of you is willingness. Once you have felt the peace of the Holy Spirit enter you, the work is accomplished. Accept Her accomplishment as yours and rest in peace."
It seems impossible to you that this is really all that is required of you: "There is nothing I must do but remove the false? Surely I must do something."
No, you must not, because, remember you did not create your Self. You were created by Love, and Love creates only that which functions like Itself. When the last block has been removed, Love will shine forth from you so briliantly, you will be amazed at how long you chose to stand in darkness.
Only the ego places the condition of salvation in deeds, for that is how it maintains guilt over you. All that is really required of you is willingness. Once you have felt the peace of the Holy Spirit enter you, the work is accomplished. Accept Her accomplishment as yours and rest in peace."
Meditation
"And it has always come to pass that what you have wished upon your brother and sister, you have wished on yourself."
The Light within me feels but a flicker of its true nature. And so I have committed my Self to seeing the Light in my siblings, hoping that seeing their Light will bring about recognition of my own.
The fear comes in waves now, but my mind has grown accustomed to its presence, and I hear the gentle Voice of Truth showing me which thoughts are loving and which are fearful. There have been breakthroughs the last couple of days, when I, in one holy instant, believed that where was nothing to fear, and, against all reason, reached for the horizon of the mind and hit a breakthrough and suddenly felt myself overwhelmed with a feeling that is indescribable: all I can say is that there was so much peace and so much love that immediately my heart grew fearful and I retreated back into the darkness. There, the guilt set in, as I felt both hatred towards myself for withdrawing, thereby making myself an enemy of peace, as well as deep longing to experiecing it again, the moment when my mind was one with that which was an even greater, GREATER mind. The Great Mind.
And still, I hear the Voice say, "You are not asked to seek for love, but to seek all the barriers within yourself that would keep love out. For Love is Truth, and how can the Truth be sought, when Truth is all there is? Truth stands alone and needs no witness because it is its own witness. You must identify the areas of your learning that you are trying to control and LET THEM GO. Do you not understand that the very "you" that you think is in control is the grandest illusion of all? Illusions cannot control illusions, but Truth can reveal an illusion for what it is."
The Light within me feels but a flicker of its true nature. And so I have committed my Self to seeing the Light in my siblings, hoping that seeing their Light will bring about recognition of my own.
The fear comes in waves now, but my mind has grown accustomed to its presence, and I hear the gentle Voice of Truth showing me which thoughts are loving and which are fearful. There have been breakthroughs the last couple of days, when I, in one holy instant, believed that where was nothing to fear, and, against all reason, reached for the horizon of the mind and hit a breakthrough and suddenly felt myself overwhelmed with a feeling that is indescribable: all I can say is that there was so much peace and so much love that immediately my heart grew fearful and I retreated back into the darkness. There, the guilt set in, as I felt both hatred towards myself for withdrawing, thereby making myself an enemy of peace, as well as deep longing to experiecing it again, the moment when my mind was one with that which was an even greater, GREATER mind. The Great Mind.
And still, I hear the Voice say, "You are not asked to seek for love, but to seek all the barriers within yourself that would keep love out. For Love is Truth, and how can the Truth be sought, when Truth is all there is? Truth stands alone and needs no witness because it is its own witness. You must identify the areas of your learning that you are trying to control and LET THEM GO. Do you not understand that the very "you" that you think is in control is the grandest illusion of all? Illusions cannot control illusions, but Truth can reveal an illusion for what it is."
The Parable of the Way
The Anointed One had four disciples, and the day came when she had revealed to them the last of her teachings. So she took the first disciple aside and said to him, "Beloved, the time has come for you to continue your journey on your own. Rejoice, for God has chosen you as His Son. Heaven and all it contains is yours. The only thing you must decide now is the path you will choose in the world of form. Your choices are three. You may live as an ascetic, forever in solitude, resting blissfully in Nirvana. Or you may become a savior of the world, giving up all your possessions and preaching the good news to the oppressed, though at the end of your life, you will be crucified by your enemies. Or you may become a leader of the world and fame, peace, prosperity and good fortune will follow you wherever you go. Choose."
"All roads lead to God?" said the disciple
"Yes."
"This is no trick."
"No trick."
"Then I choose to be a leader of the world, Master. With such power as my tool, I can bring the gospel of peace and enlightenment to everyone without needless suffering. I choose that road."
The Master took him by the head and kissed his forehead. "Go in peace, disciple of the Light, and beware the ego. You have just given way to temptation; but fear not! Within you is the power to transcend it." And the first disciple left in anger.
Then the Master took aside the second disciple and told him the very same thing, presenting him with the same choice: to be an ascetic, to be a savior of the world, or to be a leader of the world.
"All roads lead to God?" said the disciple
"Yes," said the Master.
"This is no trick."
"No trick."
"Then I choose to be an ascetic," said the disciple. "The world is an illusion, so what need I anything to do with it? God is my one thought and one desire."
The Master took him by the head and kissed his forehead. "Go in peace, disciple of the Light, and beware the ego. You have just given way to temptation; but fear not! Within you is the power to transcend it." And the second disciple left in confusion.
Then the Master took aside the third disciple and told him the very same thing, presenting him with the same choice: to be an ascetic, to be a savior of the world, or to be a leader of the world.
"All roads lead to God?" said the disciple
"Yes," said the Master.
"This is no trick."
"No trick."
"Then I choose to be a savior of the world," said the disciple. The world is an illusion, but I cannot leave my brothers and sisters in darkness. They must be saved, no matter what the cost, even if it means my life is forfeit."
The Master took him by the head and kissed his forehead. "Go in peace, disciple of the Light, and beware the ego. You have just given way to temptation; but fear not! Within you is the power to transcend it." And the third disciple left in sorrow.
Then the Master took aside the fourth disciple and told him the very same thing, presenting him with the same choice: to be an ascetic, to be a savior of the world, or to be a leader of the world.
"All roads lead to God?" said the disciple
"Yes," said the Master.
"This is no trick."
"No trick."
The disciple was quiet for a very long time, and the Master waited patiently. He sat down, and she sat down beside him. Many hours passed, the sun set, night fell and still the disciple said nothing, and the Master waited. Early the next morning, as the sun began to rise, the Master finally said with a laugh, "Disciple, as much as I have enjoyed your company over these many years, you have taken quite enough time. The choices are simple. Choose now."
"Choose what, Master?" said the disciple sadly. "You have just told Me that God has chosen Me to be His Son, and that the Kingdom of Heaven and all it contains is Mine. When I think of this, My heart is exceedingly glad! But when I think about the choices you have laid before Me, the awareness of this truth is suddenly lost to Me, and uncertaintly fills My heart again. In truth, master, who is now My sister, there is no rhyme or reason to Your choices. They all concern My future in the world of form, which is an illusion. How can one be better than the other, when all of them are untrue? No, sister, I cannot choose. It matters not to Me. Our Mother guides Me along My path in the One Eternal Moment, and She does so according to what seems fit to Her and Me."
The Master took her brother's face in her hands, kissed him on the forehead and said to him, "Blessed are You, Son of God, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to You, but our Mother and Father, who is in heaven. Now rise, My Beloved brother, and step into the glory of our inheritance."
"All roads lead to God?" said the disciple
"Yes."
"This is no trick."
"No trick."
"Then I choose to be a leader of the world, Master. With such power as my tool, I can bring the gospel of peace and enlightenment to everyone without needless suffering. I choose that road."
The Master took him by the head and kissed his forehead. "Go in peace, disciple of the Light, and beware the ego. You have just given way to temptation; but fear not! Within you is the power to transcend it." And the first disciple left in anger.
Then the Master took aside the second disciple and told him the very same thing, presenting him with the same choice: to be an ascetic, to be a savior of the world, or to be a leader of the world.
"All roads lead to God?" said the disciple
"Yes," said the Master.
"This is no trick."
"No trick."
"Then I choose to be an ascetic," said the disciple. "The world is an illusion, so what need I anything to do with it? God is my one thought and one desire."
The Master took him by the head and kissed his forehead. "Go in peace, disciple of the Light, and beware the ego. You have just given way to temptation; but fear not! Within you is the power to transcend it." And the second disciple left in confusion.
Then the Master took aside the third disciple and told him the very same thing, presenting him with the same choice: to be an ascetic, to be a savior of the world, or to be a leader of the world.
"All roads lead to God?" said the disciple
"Yes," said the Master.
"This is no trick."
"No trick."
"Then I choose to be a savior of the world," said the disciple. The world is an illusion, but I cannot leave my brothers and sisters in darkness. They must be saved, no matter what the cost, even if it means my life is forfeit."
The Master took him by the head and kissed his forehead. "Go in peace, disciple of the Light, and beware the ego. You have just given way to temptation; but fear not! Within you is the power to transcend it." And the third disciple left in sorrow.
Then the Master took aside the fourth disciple and told him the very same thing, presenting him with the same choice: to be an ascetic, to be a savior of the world, or to be a leader of the world.
"All roads lead to God?" said the disciple
"Yes," said the Master.
"This is no trick."
"No trick."
The disciple was quiet for a very long time, and the Master waited patiently. He sat down, and she sat down beside him. Many hours passed, the sun set, night fell and still the disciple said nothing, and the Master waited. Early the next morning, as the sun began to rise, the Master finally said with a laugh, "Disciple, as much as I have enjoyed your company over these many years, you have taken quite enough time. The choices are simple. Choose now."
"Choose what, Master?" said the disciple sadly. "You have just told Me that God has chosen Me to be His Son, and that the Kingdom of Heaven and all it contains is Mine. When I think of this, My heart is exceedingly glad! But when I think about the choices you have laid before Me, the awareness of this truth is suddenly lost to Me, and uncertaintly fills My heart again. In truth, master, who is now My sister, there is no rhyme or reason to Your choices. They all concern My future in the world of form, which is an illusion. How can one be better than the other, when all of them are untrue? No, sister, I cannot choose. It matters not to Me. Our Mother guides Me along My path in the One Eternal Moment, and She does so according to what seems fit to Her and Me."
The Master took her brother's face in her hands, kissed him on the forehead and said to him, "Blessed are You, Son of God, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to You, but our Mother and Father, who is in heaven. Now rise, My Beloved brother, and step into the glory of our inheritance."
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