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.
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