Okay, I’ll tell you, but you may not like it…at first.
God’s purpose for your life is wherever you’re at right now. God’s purpose for your life is whatever you’re doing right now. God’s purpose for your life is always NOW.
The next moment….
and the next day…
and the next year…
you’ll have another purpose. But for now, this is God’s purpose for your life.
Today, your words of wisdom will change someone’s life.
Today, your kindness will inspire someone to do the same to the next person.
Today, your love will give someone the courage to fight their demons.
God’s purpose for your life reveals itself in the NOW of your life. One day, you will look back and see the overall purpose of your life. But for now, just live it.
Have you ever noticed that voice in your head? It talks almost constantly. One thought leads to another and another and another…
The voice in your head evaluates everything, judges everything. It never shuts up. When enough isn’t happening right now to keep it occupied—and, let’s be honest, the now isn’t where we are most of the time—we think about the past or worry about the future.
The chattering inside our heads is constant, giving us no piece at all. Why, if most of us were locked inside a room with a person who talked constantly, we’d go mad. Yet, because the voice is our voice inside our head, quietly hidden from the rest of the world, it’s okay. We continue along in the madhouse we call our minds.
But it’s not okay. The constant chatter of your mind hides the real you. Your mind, based on experience and stories that you tell yourself about events, gives you a false sense of self.
You are not your personality.
You are not your faults.
You are not your strengths.
You are not your profession.
You are not your achievements.
You are beyond thought.
You are beyond form.
You are beyond opposites.
You are the great I AM
But you’ll never get to meet I AM until you settle your mind into stillness. However, before you can get to the stillness, you must learn how to handle your thoughts so that they don’t influence or bother you in any way.
Yesterday, I ran across this YouTube video by Matt Kahn. In it, he poses an interesting suggestion on how to deal with your thoughts. Watch it and let me know what you think!
We’ve all heard the news, or rather the panic, from newscasters…Hurricane Irene, a powerful level 3 hurricane, is barreling down on the Northeast United States Seaboard. It’s a “worst case scenario,” a “perfect storm,” (terrifying hyperbole used by many newscasters) that could demolish Washington, D.C. and New York City. There are approximately 50 million people, according to Reuters, that could find themselves in Hurricane Irene’s destructive path. Yes, we’ve all heard the news…
And that’s just the problem. We’ve all heard the news, with certainty, that Hurricane Irene is going to hit land. Right now, all of us are focused on Hurricane Irene hitting the Northeast U.S. Seaboard and destroying historical landmarks, demolishing possibly millions of people’s homes, and (worse) taking the lives of many thousands of men, women, and children.
With our attention, we are adding force and direction to Hurricane Irene. Why don’t we do something different this time? Why don’t we visualize and expect that Hurricane Irene will go back out to the ocean from whence she came? We can make a difference in the destructive force (or lack thereof) of this hurricane if we just change our focus. We are just as powerful as Hurricane Irene, it’s just that most of us don’t know it yet.
Did you know that you can become a spirit right now, without dying? It’s true. All you have to do is slip into the NOW of your existence.
And you can do this any time and any place.
All you have to do is put your total attention on the present moment. Do it NOW.
Listen to every noise that is happening right NOW.
Smell every scent that wafts under your nose right NOW.
See, feel, and sense the activity of your environment as it unfolds right NOW.
Do not let any thoughts of analysis, judgment, commentary, etc. intrude on your NOW. Just slip into the NOW with total, alert presence and, each time a stray thought intrudes, bring your attention back to the NOW.
No matter how long you stay in the NOW—and in the beginning, you’ll be lucky if you can manage just 5 minutes of total present moment awareness—you will feel what it means to live in spirit. And you’ll feel wonderful. Try it and see.
But first, you might want to buy Eckhart Tolle’s awe-inspiring book, The Power of Now. He explains this concept so clearly. Plus he gives you some great exercises that will bring you into the NOW almost effortlessly!
"Prayer is not asking. It is a longing of the soul. It is daily admission of one's weakness. It is better in prayer to have a heart without words than words without a heart." -Mahatma Gandhi
Truer words were never spoken about prayer than those uttered by Mahatma Gandhi. I have found that the most powerful prayers, and the ones answered most quickly, are the ones that I’ve never spoken at all.
Silent prayer, in fact, can be quite accidental. Silent prayer happens when a crisis strikes you or your family. Silent prayer happens when you are drowning in desperation and no one can help you except the all mighty spirit. Silent prayer happens when you have not uttered a spoken prayer for so long that you’re ashamed to do so in your hour of need.
But silent prayer also happen when you are happy. (You call them wishes or hopes or daydreams). Nevertheless, they are silent prayers from your soul to your Maker. And they are answered.
Always remember that you are never alone. Whether you pray aloud or silently, your prayer will always be answered. ALWAYS.
Again I say unto you, that if two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them. – Matthew 18:19-20 (KJV)
If there’s one subject most of us agree on it would be world peace. We are tired of wars and armed conflicts around the globe that continually threaten our survival as a species. We dream of a planet where love and respect among nations and compassion for their people is the rule rather than the exception.
We want world peace dammit!
But most of us doubt world peace will ever become a reality. Moreover, we don’t think that we can effect such a change. After all, you’re just one person. How can you (and others like you) get the nations to stop fighting among themselves and killing our young men and women?
Well, you have a lot more power to create world peace than you think you do.
Meditating on Peace Brings Peace, Studies Show
A number of studies have been done testing the power of meditation to effect peaceful behavior on society. The results of these studies were published in the Journal for Conflict Resolution.
This is how the studies were conducted along with the fascinating results:
“During a given week, only 100 people in towns of 10,000 focused and meditated on peace and well-being for all the inhabitants of those towns. Crime rates dropped, business rose, and hospital emergency rooms had far less action. As soon as the group stopped after the week was over, all the crime rates and emergency room statistics returned to normal. This was done in the middle East in Lebanon as well, and all war actions stopped during the time that this group was focusing on that situation.” (Source: University of Metaphysical Sciences)
Through these experiments, the researchers were even able to estimate the minimum number of meditators (those meditating on and radiating peace) were needed to begin a peaceful society, or even world peace—this number is the square root of 1%. As our world has approximately 6 billion people, this means that just 8,000 people can begin the process of world peace. But 8,000 people are just the beginning. The more people who meditate on and radiate peace, the faster world peace will become a reality. This is not just conjecture. This is now scientific fact.
Yes, little old YOU are important. You can help to create world peace. There is, indeed, strength in numbers. But these numbers can be located all over the world. Join with us. Help us to create world peace.
I’d like you to watch these two videos. The first one is an explanation of the experiments that have proven that meditating on peace can affect peace. The second one is an excellent guided meditation for world peace. Let me know what you think!
A New Earth. Eckhart Tolle. New York: Plume Books, 2005. 309 pp
In A New Earth, Eckhart Tolle states that the purpose of this book “is not to add new information or beliefs to your mind or to try to convince you of anything, but to bring about a shift in consciousness, that is to say, to awaken.” (page 6-7). After reading A New Earth, I believe that he succeeded beautifully in this purpose.
A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose is not a book that you can just idly read as an interested bystander. Rather, it pulls your into its core concept: that we human beings primarily operate from our egoic states which cause great suffering. Moreover, our egoic states, derived from our experiences and from the stories that we tell ourselves about those experiences, are not who we really are. What we are, says Eckhart Tolle in A New Earth, is beyond form. It is beyond the roles we play in life. It is beyond our occupations. It is beyond any labels we give ourselves.
What we are is pure consciousness that needs nothing added to it to be happy. Yes, this concept is a shock to our consumerist egoic minds, but it is our ego that thinks that we need that new car or more money to be happy. In a state of pure consciousness, however, we are happy just as we are and, because we do not need anything else to be happy, prosperity literally rains down upon us.
But this consciousness is obscured by the constant chatter of our thoughts. Our thoughts tell us how we should be and how we should feel and how much status and prestige we should have and…well…they limit us.
In A New Earth, Eckhart Tolle shows you how to silence those thoughts and directly access the state of pure consciousness where true happiness lies. But it won’t be easy. First you have to deal with what Eckhart Tolle calls the “Pain Body.”
In Chapter Five, he discusses this “pain body” in depth, and I was fascinated. It sounds almost as if the “pain body” possesses our mind, behaviors, and emotions until we learn how to exorcise it (so to speak). Step by step, Tolle shows you exactly how to rid yourself of your pain body and return to a state of pure consciousness.
For anyone who wants to become spiritually awakened, I highly recommend this book. Buy a copy, read it, then let me know what you think!
-His ill health has made him miss a lot of work recently, which has not only shortened his paycheck but may have also brought him close to losing his job.
-We are in deep financial trouble which is bringing us dangerously close to losing the necessities of our lives (such as our vehicles.)
-My husband’s truck broke down and is in the shop and, unless I can find a ride to work on Monday, I will have to call off work. This will not only shorten my paycheck, but will also bring me close to being reprimanded for my attendance.
What do I intend to do about these problems? I intend to totally accept every one of these problems as part of God’s perfect plan. I have finally learned that acceptance of what is is the only way to bring peace into my life and to neutralize any negativity. Acceptance of what is means not struggling against events. Acceptance of what is means making friends with life.
I know not how each of these events will play out. I know not how each of these events that I call problems will work out for the greater good. I know not whether each of these events will reach a point of no return. But I do know that I am never alone and that God and my angels are ever responsive to my cries for help. So I surrender to whatever will be.
This does not, however, mean that I shall remain passive and do nothing. Rather, as Eckhart Tolle says, you first accept, and then it changes. Yes, you can work to change it, but first you must accept your present circumstances. Acceptance is the key.
The Serenity Prayer
I felt it appropriate to quote the famous Serenity Prayer here, so I Googled it. (Yes, I know the Serenity Prayer, but I wanted to make sure that I did not misquote it). Well, I got chills because, for the first time, I read the full prayer and was stunned at how much this prayer really applies to my problems today. In fact, the virtually unknown part of the prayer is even more powerful than the popular first few lines. Here, in its entirety, is Reinhold Neibuhr’s beautiful prayer:
I was surfing YouTube one day, when I came across many unexpected (and even scary) videos…
Oprah Winfrey, many Christian ministers claim, is the Antichrist…or Satan’s pawn…or demon possessed.
Why?
Because Oprah has openly denied Christ as the one and only way to obtain salvation.
I watched a few of these videos like the one above, and I must say that I was scared of Oprah and her New Age teachings. How dare this prominent and very influential woman lead people to hell?
But then I remembered something…I believe the same way! Was I going to hell? I began to doubt myself, began to feel ashamed of my belief system. Dammit, I shook myself, why can’t we all just get along? Why can’t we just accept each others’ religious or spiritual belief systems? Why do we Christians have to believe that Jesus is the only way to God?
Because the New Testament of the Bible tells us so, that’s why.
A Christian New Ager
My initial response to Oprah Winfrey being the Antichrist because of her New Age beliefs had been but a reflex action that had come from my Baptist Christian roots.
As a child, I went to church regularly. I can still recite from memory many Bible passages. But I soon realized that there was something missing. The Bible wasn’t telling us everything about Jesus and his teachings.
Through much study and contemplation, I finally realized that the Bible that we read today was skillfully compiled by men with a political and religious agenda. Important and enlightening books were left out of the Bible, some of these books were part of the Dead Sea Scrolls. The books that were left (to be included in the Bible) were subject to massive revision of verses in order to get them to follow a prescribed belief system. Then, the New Testament was written in Hebrew or Aramaic, so mistranslations of these ancient books abound in the Bibles that we read today.
And if that weren’t enough to shake one’s faith in the veracity of the Bible, consider this:
The four books of the Bible that talks about Jesus’ life and his teachings—the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John—debate whether or not any of these authors ever knew Jesus or knew anyone who actually knew Jesus.
My Belief in Jesus
I consider myself a Christian with a love of, and a belief, in Jesus. But from there, my beliefs diverge quite a bit from those of traditional Christians.
Here’s what I believe about Jesus:
·I believe that Jesus was a highly evolved, enlightened being who came to earth to teach enlightenment to humans.
·I believe that Jesus came to teach us how much power we have, that we are co-creators with God:
oThe Kingdom of God is within you – Luke 17:21
oIf ye have faith as a grain of mustardseed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you. – Matthew 17:19-21
oThen Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour. – Matthew 15:28
·I believe that when Jesus spoke of himself as the Son of God, he was not speaking of himself as the unique son of God. Rather, he was speaking of himself as the son of God just as all of us are children of God.
·I believe that Jesus did not intend to start a religion. But the people who heard Jesus’ teachings and witnessed his miracles were understandably awed enough to construct a religion around him.
Yes, I am well aware of the Bible’s warning about false prophets who will turn us from Jesus whereby we will be cast into the Lake of Fire. Is Oprah Winfrey one of these false prophets, the Antichrist? I don’t believe so. I believe that she has woken up from the same religious dogma that has caused so much negative judgments of others’ lifestyles and beliefs, the same religious dogma that has caused so much hatred, which has started so many wars and caused so many deaths.
As for myself, I cannot believe in a vengeful God who also loves us, nor can I believe in an egotistic Jesus who demands that we can only be saved through him.
