"Does The Heart Have A Mind Of Its Own?"

 Chapter 16

                             LEARNING TO DISCERN FROM HEART

You have probably heard the saying “things of the Heart” well may I suggest that when you are at the computer, Google or search the internet for secular sayings that have the word heart in them.  Then check Bible Gateway.com  for the words “discerning heart.”  I think you will be surprised at how much more the heart is to both the secular world and the spiritual world.  The heart is more than just a pump.  Listen to this quote from writer author and political activist Helen Keller.  Helen was born deaf-blind.    "The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched - they must be felt with the heart."

As I mentioned earlier in the book when the police want to see if you are telling them the truth, they do not monitor your mind when putting you through a lie detector test.  They know as do we that the mind has thought and thought can manipulate the truth and the mind often lies to us.  We also know that our vision can be tricked into believing that an illusion is real as many of us have already found out.  Jesus makes a promise to his followers in the Gospel of John 14: 15-17  “If you love me, keep my commands. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever—  the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you."

The Sprit is truth and therefore the spirit doesn't lie, your spirit which houses itself in the heart is preprogrammed to speak only the truth.  

The Christian bible teaches us that God has given us a discerning heart to govern over us.  Proverbs 15:14 The discerning heart seeks knowledge, but the mouth of a fool feeds on folly.   I believe the Holy Spirit resides in your heart and that the spirit speaks not to the mind but to the heart.  When the spirit speaks through the heart it produces a sense of knowing.   All of a sudden the lights get turned on and you see the truth in your mind’s eye.   Sometimes it comes as an epiphany or a moment of great enlightenment.   It has been know to happen for people when they are baptised, or have a great spiritual experience.  Moses went to the mountain and came back full of the spirit.  This stuttering frail wretched man was transformed by the spirit and would carry the truth to his people until the day of death when he returned to womb of new birth. 

Your mind cannot comprehend this Holy Spirit because it speaks its own language.  The spirit speaks to the heart and the heart translates the truth into wisdom of knowing the Creators will.    Jesus spoke about this in John 16: 12 -15 “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear.  But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.  He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you.  All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will receive from me what he will make known to you.”

Here is where the battle for control over your mind and body become a real battle.    The mind, part of you human nature, doesn't want the heart, part of your spiritual nature to over influence you to the point that you begin to question its thinking.  The mind want to control.  The Apostle Paul writes about this tug of war between the human nature {sinful nature} and the spiritual nature {Godly nature} in his letters to church in the Galatians.  As I mentioned before you can read about this battle in Galatians chapter 5 of the New Testament.   Now I ask you, which of these two natures would you want to have control over your life, your human nature or your spiritual nature?

There is a councillor {spiritual teacher} named Ernie Larson who works with recovering addicts.  He has a phrase he uses quite often when counselling, he says it is our “Stinking Thinking” that keeps us addicted.  The mind produces this thinking to feed and re-enforce our ego. You might say that doesn't make any sense that our ego wants us to remain addicted.  Let us never forget that in order for ego to exist and remain healthy it will do anything to feed. Ego doesn't care about you it 's only purpose is survival.   It’s feeding does not have to make any sense or be positive.  We drink alcohol to make ourselves feel relaxed and good.  Yet drinking has the opposite effect and makes people uptight self concious and eventually sick.  Can’t you just see it, the broken homes, the deaths, and the awful feelings the morning after?  Ego doesn't care about you it just needs to be fed and it will create any kind of an illusion to do so.  Every once in a while Ego does something good because it can also feed on goodness as well.   Let us never forget that your Ego has a central purpose, survival. Why?  Because it knows that it is mortal and will do anything to survive.  

Your Spiritual Nature on the other hand doesn't need to survive, why?  because it is eternal it has no need to vary from the truth.      

                                                                "Spirit Song" 

"Do You Just Follow Along"

Chapter 15 ---------------------------------------

THE WAY OF THE WORLD

I have a story I sometimes tell to illustrate how we can be easily convinced or conned into following the ways of the world and our human nature.  Before I tell it lets remind ourselves that while in the womb you had no concept of material needing, longing, nor did you want for anything everything in your Eden was being provided. You had no concept nor did you have any understand of greed, selfishness, jealousy, hatred, anger, moral or unethical behaviour, and so on.  Imagine these negative attributes are seeds of darkness and when planted, they feed the human nature.  Within conception your Creator takes care of everything you needed for your survival.   Everything was as it was meant to be.    Here is the story. 

There was a time when one woodsman lived the wilderness who loved the life he had been given.  His freedom was outrageous.  There was no need to be concerned for anything for the forest provided everything he needed, food, shelter and beauty.  He was content, comfortable and provided for.  He learned to live with nature and his natural environment.  He had the sun and rain by day and the stars and moon by night.  He was content and his spirit gave him the sense that life was as it was meant to be.  One day the Woodsman found out he was not alone after all.  Another man came into the forest to alert the Woodsman that there were many others and that they were coming.  He explained to the Woodsman that the time had come when he must stake off a plot of land for himself.  If he didn't stake out his claim now, greed would overrun the forest and he would have nothing left.  “You need to register your land, then fence it off so you will be protected”.   Feeling fear for the first time in his life, he accepted the man’s advice and sure enough they came and everything was as he said.  It wasn't long before another man arrived at the Woodsman door to tell him how productive his neighbours had become with cultivation, crops, buildings and livestock.  He convinced the Woodsman that he would be better off to follow suite and become prosperous too, otherwise he would get left behind.  “I am here to help you sir, all you need to do is buy some seed and livestock from me, get some of the equipment I have for you, build a building or two and you to will get rich just like everyone else and everything will be as it was meant to be.”   He did and it seemed so.   One day another man came along and convinced the Woodsman that he was so valuable that he needed protection, “I can offer you insurance”.  He accepted and began to feel protected.   On another find day a man came from the Bank and told the Woodsman that he was spread too thin.  That he needed to consolidate his bills into one payment one mortgage, and it became so.  Then one dark day two men from the bank came to visit the Woodsman after he had a couple of poor years.  They sat at his kitchen table to inform him, “due to your misfortune and your inability to pay your debt, we are here to take possession, what was is no more and we have come to repossess and sell to pay off your debt.  

Did you see it coming, deception and darkness I mean.  Darkness creeps in, not because we are not aware but because we have over fed our human nature.  Our human nature is convinced that the ways of the world are the way.  Our human nature is easily lead astray and if not put into check can lead us into darkness.  Its trouble can be very subtle and often comes in many disguises that appear to be to our benefit.  

Trouble starts out much like a mischievous child but the Father of trouble is Chaos, and Chaos is fully aware of itself and its purpose.   

None of us will ever completely escape the ways of our human nature.  Why?  Because it was given to us by God in conception and it contains the gift of free will.  When we exercise free will, it is the very thing that can get us out of alignment with the will of God or, the very thing that can get us aligned with the will of God, making it one of the bibles paradoxes.  

In fact make the right choice and you will feed the light in your life .  Make the wrong choice and you will feed the darkness in life.

Don’t ever let life circumstances or someone you know convince you that you have no choice in life.  No one can take away your freedom to choose accept you. Free will can be your worst enemy or your best friend.  That was the way it was designed.  Make a good choice, reap the benefits and learn.  Make a bad choice, reap the benefits and learn.  How come the same????   It’s not about right or wrong, it about choices.  It is all about choices and what we can learn from them.   One choice is full of light and the other full of darkness.  

Many of us continue to follow traditions, rules and laws made by man because we assume there is a right and a wrong in every situation.  Not so, but there is always a choice and the opportunity to learn from every situation.  No one can judge on the basis of right and wrong.  Choose poorly and evil hands out its punishment, not always immediately.   Choose wisely and goodness hands out its reward not always immediately either. Often you cannot use logic in doing the right thing for you because things of the heart are not always logical to our human nature.  When you make a choice be it good or poor, your thoughts and your actions send out a ripple.   Some ripples are hardly noticeable and others have devastating consequences.   The ripple effect of the choices we make also affects the lives of innocent bystanders, some may benefit from our choices, some may suffer, and some may perish.  This is why young, innocent, and good people often suffer in our world.  We are all affected by the choices others around us make and in some circumstances they can be on the other side of the planet.  Hiroshima comes to mind.  

Next time:  "Learning To Discern From The Heart not The Head" 

" Which Nature Do You Feed The Most"

  

Chapter 14 -------------------------------------------------

WHICH NATURE DO YOU FEED THE MOST

Early on in the series I offered the awareness that we live with two natures.  One is our Spiritual nature which I have referred to as the nature of God, and our human nature which is the nature of our first human ancestor ADAM.   The warfare that the Apostol Paul writes about in Ephesians 6 is not with the world but is between these two natures who want to be the dominant influence in your life.   

You can read about these two natures in the New Testament of the Christian Bible.  They are found in Paul's’ letters to the Galatians starting at chapter 5: verses 16 -26.

At this point in the series I am going to ask you to do a small exercise.  Think of it as a litmus test to see which nature, human or spiritual, is the strongest or dominate one in your life.  I want you to see if you tend to lean towards darkness or light in your daily life.  In order for you to see a true picture, you must be honest with yourself here.  Do not do this with another person it is only for you.  Put a check mark besides the dominate words or feelings that are taking place in your life these days.  

easily angered,------------very accommodative
feel resentment-------------very forgiving
fearful ----------hopeful
obsessive ---------easily let go
jealously ----------satisfied

anxious ---------- content

feel rejected ----------eel acceptable

pessimistic ----------positive

lie often ----------always truthful

cheat ------- honest

addicted -------- addiction free                                             

unworthy ----------worthy

ashamed -------feel good about me    

I am needy------- I am content
feel emptiness ------generally happy                                                         

hatred -------loving

feel lonely -------secure

do things excessively-----do things in moderation

in a hurry --------relaxed

negative -------hopeful

careless ------cautious

do not like change -----open to change  

doubting-------trusting

low self esteem -------healthy self image
like a little chaos -------no need of chaos

                       

The column on the left strengthens darkness.  The column on the right strengthens light. 

Now comes the awareness part, ask yourself this question.  Which words occupy my life more, words of darkness or words of light?

Darkness often begins to invade our lives as we listen to the voice of our human nature that gets its strength through man-made teachings.  For instance let me give you a simple example of how jealously can become like a cancer, meaning something that literally can make you very ill.  A man and his wife are out to a restaurant for dinner.  The waitress is gorgeous and the man just cannot keep himself from glancing at her beauty.  His wife is furious but cannot express herself until she arrives home.  For the rest of the evening and all the way home she is imagining all the other women he has looked at with those lustful eyes.  Now she is imagining that he has cheated on her at some point and begins to recall times when he was late, times he didn't remember her birthday, anniversary etc.  Can you see where this is going, jealously breeds darkness as it consumes your thinking?  The drama just keeps on building.   Anger, resentment, hatred, predigest etc. all begin and build in the same way.   

Often we carry around the burdens of guilt and shame laid upon us by our religious teachings.  Do this and you go to heaven, do this and you are going to hell.  Our human nature love to bathe in this kind of logic that can lead us into darkness.   Our Spiritual nature on the other hand is not subject to man-made religious laws and bathes in the light of God’s unconditional love. Here is a story to illustrate my point. 

A religious mystic teacher and a student were walking along the road side in the early afternoon shortly after a heavy rain.  One of the spiritual teachings told to the student was that you should never physically touch or look directly into the eyes of a woman.  The reasoning was that it can bring upon you sexual passions which could lead you into darkness.  A young lady was stuck in the heavy mud of the ditch calling out in desperation for help.  The spiritual master went to her immediately, physically picked her up in his arms and carried her to dry ground on the other side.   She thanked him and master looking into her eyes nodded with humbleness.  The student and the master continued on their way.  About one half hour into the walk the student could no longer hold his tongue.  “Master” he said, “ the teaching, we are taught never to physically touch or look into the eyes of a women, I don’t understand.”  The Master replied, sometimes you need to think with your heart not your mind, besides, I put the women down one half hour ago why are you still carrying her”. 

Next time:  “Do You Just Following Along”

The Light Dispels Darkness

Chapter 13

“LIGHT DISPELS DARKNESS”

If you allow light into your darkness it can change the way you see things forever.

Let me tell you a story of how light dispelled darkness and changed the life of several trapped miners forever.   Coal is mined in many parts of the world and miners will tell you that there is nothing to compare with the darkness in the shaft of a coal mine when light is not available.

A mining disaster took place in a small community in eastern Canada were several men were trapped a couple of thousand feet below the surface.    By the end of the first week, their hope was almost completely gone, they had little or no food and their water had run out.  It was reported that in the desperation for moisture they drank the own urn.  There were no signs of hope for them ever being found after the first 12 days of their nightmare.

Miners took with them extra food in their lunch can when they went to work in the mine to feed the pit rats who roamed on the different levels.  The food keep the rats from bothering the miners as they worked thought-out the day.  After the disaster happened and most of the mine had collapsed they not only found themselves trapped, many of the rats were trapped with them.  The trapped miners could no longer afford to feed the rats but realized they needed to conserve whatever food they had for as long as they could.  The rats, being hungry became restless and the miners now without light of any kind could no longer see them but could feel them as they ran over their legs or as they tried nibbling at their hands in the dark.   Without food, water and light, the mines darkness was darker than anything they had ever experienced, and at times the fear was overwhelming.  One of the miners known as the singing miner began to sing Christian hymns.  The singing gave the men moments of relief.  It was in one of those moments that one miner lifted his head in praise to God and to his astonishment rubbed his eyes.  There in the distance he could see a pin head glimmer of light through the darkness.  Crawling on hands and knees towards it, he ran into a wall of fallen rock.  His eye still fixed on the glimmer.  It was light and it was coming through the wall.  As he scratched and moved rock with his hand the light grew bit by bit and the darkness was dispelled, all the trapped miners were rescued that day.  They were alive again and living with hope.  It was if the Light of the world have come to them dispelling their darkness and fear.

Darkness can no longer completely occupy space in your life if you allow the light of awareness to enter in.  When you experience an epiphany of light, of awareness, even if it is only the size of a pin head, you can never be the same again.   If you can expose the darkness in your life to someone whom you trust the past cannot completely control you any longer and change will come to claim its rightful place in your life.  It may not happen in a moment for you, so, be patient.   As you shed more of your darkness more light will come.

I had and to some extent still have darkness to deal with in my own life.   As I matured into a young adult some of my close friends and family would say to me, “You really look like you are carrying the weight of the world on your shoulders Sim, you should see someone about that before it takes over your life.  Reluctantly but after a near death experience in my early 30’s I went looking for someone to help me out.  It wasn't too long after that my friends and family started telling me that I was looking better, seemed more positive, more cheerful, content and my middle name “TROUBLE” didn't seem fitting any longer.   All of a sudden people began to say things like: "Sim, you’re looking a lot better these days, what’s up, what are you on, who are you hanging out with anyway."   I'd just say that I had meet a man who seemed to able to look straight through me.  He put out his open hands in front of me and said “give me just one small thing that is weighting heavy on your heart Sim.  Place it right here in my open hands and while I am holding it for you, I guarantee that you will begin to feel a bit better.”  At first I was reluctant too, but one day I found the courage to do it and guess what?  He was right and so every time I would go to him, I’d give him a little more of my darkness and every time I would feel a bit lighter.    Little by little I am learning to let this man hold my darkness for me and allow his awareness and light to shine through me.   Oh there are times when I still slip back into old patterns of thinking and doing but even if I do, it only lasts for very short periods of time.   
Let me tell you a biblical story to illustrate.    

There is a story in the New Testament, Mark 10:50-52 where Jesus comes to man borne blind.  Being blind from birth,he would not have known the light of day, so he could only imagine how things might look if he could see.  Jesus cures his blindness and all of a sudden he can see.  Remember this man was born blind so he is seeing everything for the first time.  What he now sees may look completely different from what he imagined in his mind’s eye.  What we are not told in the story is this:  that even though his darkness was lifted, being born blind he probably would not be able to recognize or label his surroundings.  Therefore to feel normal, he may have had to cover his eyes producing temporary blindness in order to find his way home.   

This also happens with enlightenment and awareness when it comes to the darkness that plagues our lives.  Even though we may have had an epiphany where light has come into your life, you may, in an effort to feel normal seek reach out to your darkness temporarily but it won't last long.  

I call this my stinky blanket syndrome.   Many children have something they cling to as a baby.  No one knows for sure why, it is just that they picked that certain blanket, plush toy, piece of cloth, whatever and it gives them a sense of security, comfort or familiarity.   I will use a blanket to illustrate this because it can completely cover you.  You can curl up in it and hide away.  Almost like returning to that quite secure place like the womb once held for you.   This blanket gets pretty smelly and dirty at times and the mother wants to wash it.  Some mothers find it difficult to get the blanket from the child.    Once the child gets it back they will go right back to covering themselves wanting the familiar smells to return.    For some strange reason darkness holds a similar syndrome and can play itself out in many adult lives.  Many just cannot let go of those things they find comfort in even if it is smothering or steeling away their lives.  We get a strange comfort from the familiar, even if it is a stinky old miserable life.  Pain and suffering can work the same if it becomes our security blanket.   It’s easier for some to just live in and with it, than to change.  Many will continue to choose darkness over light, even though they are aware.    For many it is much easier to continue in difficult dark circumstances than to make the changes necessary to live a different kind of life.   

Here we must begin to realize that darkness, no matter how dark it is or how it came into in our lives can only be dispelled by letting in some light.    Darkness has no power over light and as light comes upon darkness it actually pushes the darkness out.  We all know that the moment you shine a light into a dark room some of the darkness will be dispelled.  If you shine enough light upon the spirits of darkness, fear, anxiety, loneliness, depression, or anything that breeds darkness, darkness loses it power over you and that spirit will eventually get discouraged and leave you.   

There will still be a great deal of work to do on your part to leave your darkness behind.  There are many things you will have to relearn.

 Next Time:  WHICH NATURE DO YOU FEED THE MOST

"The Subtle Loss Of Your Identity To Things"

Chapter 12 

I call this "The Little Red Truck Syndrome."  Because I am male I use a toy truck and a boy to illustrate the syndrome.  If you are a female, please substitute the boy for a girl, and the truck for a rag doll.   Watch how the syndrome builds.   A little boy goes to play with other children in a sand box.  He approaches and asks, “Can I play with you” NO is the response.  A little discouraged he moves on.  Then he notices there is another sand box with kids playing.  He goes to the next and asks, “Can I play with you”.   NO, is the reply.  The kid now begins to feel the subtle ping of rejection, or begins to think there is something wrong with him, he begins to become a little self-conscious.   He sees one more sand box and goes over.  “Can I play with you”.  NO is the answer, but just as he is walking away one of the children notices a little red truck in the boys hand.  “Hey Kid come back here, I’ll play with you, you can play here”.  Can I play with your truck”? 

Can you see how this narrative can create a distorted sense of acceptance, friendship, love and the illusion that there is great power and security in material things?  

At least they think it does until someone comes along with a bigger red truck or a newer rag doll right.    The problem here is that it is possible for you to take this learning to the extreme, where it is no longer about love or acceptance.   You being to use this strategy to get out of life anything you want.  Unfortunately many innocent bystanders are hurt in the process.   The other problem that can grow from this learning, if practised, can be even more destructive to the person.   What happens if you begins to identify yourself with the object, the truck or the doll?  Can you see where this might leave you?  What happens if you were to lose the object, without it you may no longer feel whole?   Where is your identity to be found now?  Say it not an object but a title such as a doctor, lawyer, or minister, whatever, father or mother what happens then.  I know many people who are afflicted with this syndrome and when they are no long able to practice their craft, their trade or profession they lose sense of who they are.   They begin to feel, lost and useless.  The great danger here is that you never get to realize your full potential in life.      

Things, or your money, are not who you are, you are a unique creation, one of a kind meant for good.  You were not meant to live in the darkness but were meant for the fullness of life in the light.  It is you who are unique, special, precious, the only one of you in the universe.  If you have a problem accepting yourself as loved and precious, you will have a problem accepting others in the same way.   So then what is the key to seeing yourself and others as loved without things or conditions?   There is another kind of love that is needed in order to make you and your relationships stable.   It is an impossible love to achieve completely.  But you spiritual nature thrives at its best when you are reaching out to attain it, when you feed it.   It is a love without rejection or conditions, a love full of acceptance and grace no matter what, there are no strings attached.   In the Old Testament or the Hebrew Scriptures you will find this in the writing of prophet Isaiah chapter 49, NIV in verse 1 “before I was borne the Lord called my name”  and in verse 15 “ can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget I will never forget.  See I have carved you on the palms of my hands.”  Yes even if a mother were to forget the child with her womb as many have done, even then God’s love for them does not change for the Mom or the child.  Nothing on this earth or in the heavens can separate us for this unconditional love of our true Parent, the one who created all of us.  This is an impossible love for our human nature to comprehend but remember your spiritual nature thrives on striving and reaching out towards it.  Why? Because it is the only true love there is.  It is the love we all long for, full and complete acceptance no strings attached.  

 Nothing can top it.     

God’s love for His children is not based on how good or how behaved we are.  God loves us because we are His and all we have to do is to take this love into our lives and accept the gift.  You cannot earn it, no good deed secures it, it doesn't come in degrees and is offer to all through GRACE.  You can accept it or you can reject it. God has placed this truth in your heart on the day of your conception.   There is and always will be a trace memory of this love within and it is rooted in your divine spiritual nature.  Everyone has it, but many have not accepted it, nor are they doing the things that strengthen and cultivate it.   It has no strings attached, visible or hidden.  In fact it is full of the qualities of divine love and grace as found written in 1 Corinthians 13 of the Christian New Testament.  It is probably the most famous of all verses used by many during wedding ceremonies within the church today but it is the least understood.  Here how it works.  I LOVE YOU NO MATTER WHAT!  For good or bad, for better or for worst, in sickness or in health, until death do us part.  This love has no strings attached it is God’s unconditional love and it attributes can be heard as you read, beginning at verse 4:  “Love is patient, and kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.  It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.  Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.  It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres and never fails.”  Sound familiar?

Next time:     “Improper Touching And It's Effects” 

" Got Your Attention, Ready To Go A Little Deeper"

Got Your Attention”   “Ready To Go A Little Deeper”

" Our Devilish EGO"

  Chapter 8                                             

OUR DEVILISH EGO

Most of the major bad decisions that we have made in the past or are being made today involve EGO.  Here I need you to use your imagination again.  Try and see EGO as the snake, the serpent, in the bible story found in Genesis.  Ego only cares about itself and self- preservation.  In order to survive it needs to feed on something, therefore it doesn't care about the circumstances it creates during its feeding or how it will affect the host person nor is it concerned about any innocent bystanders {neighbour} nor the future.  Feed it must and here is the ironic part, it will feed on good deeds as well as bad, it also feeds on the truth as well on lies.  It doesn't care it is only programmed to survive no matter what.      

Let me try and explain the force of Ego this way. 

One of the great mysteries of Creation is the mystery of God's judgement.  How is it that the wicked prosper while the righteous suffer?  Why do bad things happen to good people or an innocent bystander dies?  How does God balance judgement with grace?  And how can God use violence to bring to an end to the ways of violence, when we know full well that violence only begets more violence?  I find it had to believe in a God of punishment and judgment.  A God who will’s suffering or death on the innocent unborn, innocent children or innocent bystanders.  What would you say if I suggested this to you?  Suffering, judgement and punishment come as a result of bad human choices, they don’t come from a God whose nature is unconditional love and forgiveness.   I believe the bad choices I and my wife made before our children were born, have had an effect on the innocent unborn, my own children, as well as an innocent bystander now and again.   You have probably noticed some of the fallout from your own situation.  Choose poorly my friend and evil calls down judgment upon itself.  Our bad choices can and often do take innocent lives in the process.  Read the news, recall the wars, past and present.  I believe they have a new name for the innocent, they call it called collateral damage.  Whatever we invent, be it guns, gas, cars, drink, toys there is always collateral damage.   I do not want to convict anyone here, we all participate by inventing or using inventions, money and power for our own convenience now and again.  The driving force here is EGO.  I do not want you to think that some good doesn’t come from bad choices either.  Some of God’s greatest allies and workers {the tyrant Paul comes to mind} have and continue to come from damaged lives.  God and the created order have a way of bring new life out of ashes but, there are always casualties and many are innocent bystanders and Ego is always at play here.  Choose poorly and the fruit of your choice will show up somewhere now or in coming generations.   Darkness comes in many forms.  Think about it for a moment reader, those who hate, end up swallowing themselves in hatred?  Let us never forget that hatred can be contagious.  Go to any gathering where this contagious disease of hate or anger is being displayed by someone, and watch it jump from one to another until chaos has its way.  You have probably experienced this manifestation in your own family, in a neighbour, or maybe at a public function just before violence erupts.   Those who are greedy – end up being consumed themselves in the end, as they seek more than their fair share leaving the innocent impoverished.  Those who are violent - perish by the very violence they unleash, and there will always be some innocent casualties.  How then can we blame God when God commands us to be responsible and to care for our neighbour as we would care for ourselves?  How can we blame God when we are responsible for the condition of our planet?  Our world ecology and environment are presently suffering because of some very poor choices made in the past and are continuing to be made today.  I believe we are blinded by our insane search for elusive economic stability which greed will never allow. 

The Creator, God if you will, used infinite wisdom in finding a way for us to punish and judge ourselves.  ADAM and EVE opened the door to our curious and sometimes evil human nature.   Choose a path not of God, and you become your own judge and jury.   Choose poorly and you can bring havoc, not only upon yourself, but also the innocent.   Sorry for the rant but I just have to get it out at times.

                                             Greed, EGO And The Innocent 
                                                 Click and take a listen: 

Chapter 9: 

Next Time:       “Thinking A Double Edge Sword” 

"A Perspective On Sin"

Chapter 7  
                                            "A Perspective On Sin"

The Bible uses only one specific word to describe living with darkness, the Biblical word is Sin.  According to the Hebrew Scriptures, the Quran, and Kitab-i-Iqan, which form the Abrahamic religions, ADAM the first human had a disagreement with God.  The result of that disagreement is described in the Genesis 2 of the Old Testament.  This disagreement was the result of ADAM and his mate Eve wanting to exercise their free will.  God allows them the freedom to choose and they chose to do what pleased themselves.   Some modern biblical scholar coined this disagreement with God, as the original sin.  Let us take note here that there is no reference to the words “original sin” in any of the early translations.  The Hebrew meaning for sin is to miss the mark.  Another way of looking at it is this.  Living in darkness can be seen as living contrary to the natural laws of creation, and this darkness traps us from seeing the truth about ourselves.  If you need a good example of this today, think about the blindness to global warming or any of our environmental issues. 

ADAM, at least according to these religious teaching, becomes the carrier of darkness into the world.  Because we are all descendants of ADAM we carry his human darkness and it can make us blinded to the sinful human nature that exists in all of us.    Some have described our sin in later writings as our curious or selfish human nature running wild.  You know the old saying “the devil made me do it.”  The paradox here would be to suggest that God made me do it.  Others see the fall from Eden as the result of God offering us our own will to choose.  From this perspective by ADAM choosing to exercise his free will, there was a price to pay and the consequences were devastating to say the least, especially for the coming generations.  In this view bad circumstances take place because our choice is out of alignment with God’s will or the creative order.  The logical thought that comes to my mind is that good circumstances take place because the choice is in alignment with God or the created order.   Either way you can see that it is our choice that brings either good or bad consequences.  I must make note here that good choices do not always give us protection from being an innocent bystanders who just happens to be in the wrong place at the time when collateral damage occurs.  We will talk about this later on. 

In this view God doesn’t judge, punish or reward.  He leaves that up to us.  A bad choice calls down its own judgment and punishment, and sometimes takes an innocent bystanders down with it.    A good choice brings with it mercy, grace and forgiveness, regardless of the circumstances.    In this view God never forsakes or leaves us and is ready to offer us unconditional love and forgiveness, even if we choose poorly.   The choice becomes ours.  It matters not what view you take as long as you can make the connection.  Check your choices out with your heart before making them, even though they may run into conflict with worldly ways of thinking, your heart will always revile to you the truth.

                     OUR HUMAN NATURES VERSES OUR SPIRITUAL

On the day of your conception you were given two natures.  One is aggressive, wanting and can be mischievous, we call this our human nature.   You might think of this nature as meaning we all have a bit of the devil in us.  The other is compassionate, humble and full of grace, we call this our spiritual nature.  You might think of this nature as the Holy in all of us.   These two natures will continue to live side by side within us until death.   You can read about their existence and their differences in the Apostle Paul’s writings to the Ephesians, found in chapter 6 of the New Testament {NIV}  One is our spiritual nature, the nature of God and the other is our human nature, the nature of man or using the Hebrew word for man, ADAM.  Here is one view on how this came about.  ADAM the first human according to the Hebrew Bible story didn’t just materialize out of thin air, nor was he just an accident.  MAN [Adam} was part of the created order brought about by God, formed from the earth and given the breath of life.  God named his creation ADAM {man}.   ADAM a Hebrew word which means when translated, man of the red earth.  The soil in Eden, according to the Hebrew story, was reddish in color.  God breathed his spirit into ADAM, giving him life and a spiritual spirit, the nature of God.   At this point ADAM only has a spiritual nature, the nature of God.  Then God creates a partner for ADAM, WOMAN and names her EVE.   God then allows ADAM and EVE the freedom to choose for themselves.  This gift of free will would give birth to our second nature, our human nature.  With the gift of free will and this selfish nature, they choose the way of the serpent {representing the way of humankind} rather than being obedient to God’s way and so they begin to feed this new nature within.  This would become our human nature.   The story tells us that their curious human nature became sinful {meaning to fully miss the mark} when ADAM and EVE choose to disobey God and did eat the forbidden fruit of the tree of knowledge in the center of the garden.  These two natures will now be from this day forth engaged in what Apostil Paul calls our spiritual warfare within and will be apart of MAN and WOMAN until death.   If you look real close at man and his accomplishments you can see that many folk of all races have perished because of the exercising of our human nature.  It is our longing to be co-creators with God or to control nature itself that feeds kayos and keeps it alive in our world.  Even when we seemingly do good things with our free will and creativeness many have suffered or died.  It seems that our human nature can justify just about anything these days regardless of the outcome.   Hence EGO, the devilish part of our human nature is given its rightful place.  

Many of the diseases, addictions, dysfunctions  environmental problem and human accidents that plague individuals, families, the innocent bystander even whole countries today, have come from our curious egotistic human nature.  We still believe we can top God’s creative genius and can rule over our world.  That we can in fact become just like God, create human life and know all things.   Dr. David Browning a visiting  Psychiatrist at a local mental institution,  passes a patient who is standing in the doorway of his room, he asks” Hello sir and what is your name”  the patient salutes the Dr. and replies”  “Napoleon, SIR! ”  The doctor then asks “who told you that” he answers “God did SIR”, and then a voice came from the next room “Oh no I didn't ”.  Illusions click and check it out!

Next time:          “Our Devilish Ego”

"Vision and Storage"

Chapter: 6                                 VISION AND STORAGE

Up to this point, being in the dark for 10 months or so,{in the womb}  our vision is not clear, we don’t know what it means to be in the light and it probably was startling and painful to let literally the light in at first.   At this early stage we really cannot comprehend what the eye sees either, yet we do begin to store pictures and images in our brain.  Here I would like you to begin to think of your eyes as a camcorder and your brain as its storage compartment.  Much like a computer with a built in cam and a hard drive to store what it is permitted to view, we were given this enormous computer chip the brain.  One of its unique properties is its ability to recall events and images from the past to the present.   Everything we have ever seen or hear is recorded and stored, and under the right or wrong circumstances can be recalled.  Think the computer is amazing, can’t hold a candle to our brains and its true capacity.  

Just think of the implications.  In the early stages of your development while outside the womb hearing and vision are the major influences.  Everything you have ever heard your parents say and everything you have seen your parents do is stored within you brain.  From very early on we begin to develop both healthy and unhealthy situations, feelings and emotions.  Here is an important revelation to living in the light.  We must keep in mind here that our parents, relatives, friends and ancestors could only teach what was taught to them through vision and actions, therefore, they cannot be blamed.    Forgive them Heavenly Parent for they know not what they have done.

Some therapists call this storage our parent tapes, and if they are right, every time you respond to a situation, task, or try and sort things out in your mind for yourself you recall images and information from your world vision and your parent tapes to guide you.   Yes even if what they taught you was wrong, unhealthy or destructive.  For some, what parents, other adults or their religion has taught them might not be right or the truth.  Child physiologists and therapists deal with this problem on a regular basis.  It has been proven that if you can teach children in a class the right way to deal with things or that certain actions or langue may not be appropriate but the home environment is where they have to return and under pressure, they will revert to their original teachings out of habit and conditioning.  This same analogy goes for some religious teachings to.  Many adults today who were taught as children that their Creator is a God of judgment, war and punishment is not easily converted to a God of unconditional love and forgiveness.  

At first glance of course we may not make much sense of it but believe me, watch any infant and it isn’t long before they begin to respond to touch and sound, and begin repeating what they have seen and heard.   Often parents can recall some embarrass moments when their child has displayed a habit, used the occasional bad word or an action in public, something the child had observed or heard at home, by a relative, their peers, TV or found on the internet.  

In the womb as well as outside some sounds are soothing and some sounds are startling.  If there was physical violence and shouting that involved your mother, do not be naïve enough to think that did not affect you personally, especially when there is evidence that playing soft music or reading stories can actually soothe the unborn.    

It isn’t until we become aware later in life that some of our afflictions and disease have come from our parents or our ancestral genetic family tree.  With that awareness in mind, we can begin to move towards enlightenment.  Enlightenment will then lead us from living in darkness into a new understanding, living in the light.  

Chapter 7: ------------------------------------------

Next Time:    “A Perspective on Sin”

"Welcome To Planet Earth"

Chapter 5:                              WELCOME TO PLANET EARTH

Up to this point, you are the innocent unborn, with no conception of good or bad, love or hate, gratitude or selfishness, generosity or greed, compassion or callousness, friend or pho, you are truly innocent.  

But here is the GOOD NEWS reader.   It doesn't have to be downhill from here.  In fact there is light at the end of the tunnel and you have been given the means to find hope, when things appear hopeless, true love, a love full of forgiveness with no conditions or strings attached, when our human conditional love fails us, but you must be a willing seeker. 

Always remember that you were also given things of the heart by your heavenly parent to help you survive in a world outside the womb.  Things such as trace memories of where you came from and to whom you really belong.  There are also trace memories of contentment and unconditional love that was breathed into you on the day of your conception.  These are not logical things, meaning matter of the mind but are inherit truths placed in your heart, a sense of knowing that will be reviled to you as you grow and learn to live in the light as was intended.   

If you can learn to accept the circumstances that surround your life and work with them rather than letting them consume you, you will learn not only how to cope with life, but you will begin to see blessings in all things.  Not just the fortunate circumstances surrounding your life but also the difficult and misguided twists and turns that we or others around us create.  This insight will cause you to trade your negative thoughts in for alms of gratitude.   There is where you will find true love, peace, contentment, hope, joy and righteous anger when it becomes necessary.       

There is not one human being on this planet that does not have to work with some sort of challenge, or affliction. Some afflictions have come from the genetic gene pool of your ancestral family.  Yes, it could even go back as far as the original seed from where all human life came, the ancestral seed of ADAM.   Other afflictions began to manifest themselves during your conception and begin their growth in the womb.  But once out of the protective shell of the womb these challenges and or affliction will have a chance to mature.  Many, will naturally overcome most or learn to live with these challenges so they do not control their lives but in some traumatic or drastic cases without proper medical attention, medication or counselling, they have been known to bankrupt you spiritually and take over one’s mind, life and future.    

I feel the need at this point to take a moment here and help you stop the blame game before it gets started, like blaming someone or something for your present condition or circumstances.   To lay blame on your parents or your ancestors will only hold you in the bondage and keep you from moving on and this book might not help you in your search from darkness to light.

May I suggest a Theological perspective here to help us understand how not to become consumed by blame.  If you follow the Christian religion as I do, try and think of it in this way.  Jesus surrendered himself to the circumstances that were facing him.  He didn't blame his captures, a religion or its authorities, or his friends whom would all abandoned Him in His hour of need.  Nor did He blame his earthly or heavenly parent.   In fact he did the exact opposite from the cross after beatings, torture, and abandonment he asks His heavenly parent to forgive them all because they truly do not understand what they were doing.  According the Christian scriptures, it was in the garden of Gethsemane, the night before he was to die that his faith was challenged.   Listen to it from the Gospel of Mark 14: 32 -36 {NIV} and I quote: 32: They went to a place called Gethsemane, and Jesus said to his disciples, “Sit here while I pray.”  33: He took Peter, James and John along with him, and he began to be deeply distressed and troubled.  34: “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death,” he said to them. “Stay here and keep watch.”   35: Going a little farther, he fell to the ground and prayed that if possible the hour might pass from him.  36: “Abba, Father,” he said, “everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.”

If Jesus could ask God to forgive all those who trespassed against him by uttering these words from the cross “father forgive them for they know not what they do”.   I believe you need to extend forgiveness to yourself, your parents, your enemies and your ancestors as well before you can be set free from the bondage of blame and unforgiveness.   For I believe that none of us are completely aware of the wrongs we have committed or the harm we have caused to fall upon the innocent or a bystander because of our actions.  Every action good or bad produces a reaction and the ripple that spreads out to others.   We do not know where it goes or who it affects but we know in our heart of hearts that this is the truth.      

If I haven’t lost you at this point, I hope you will have the courage to look inward at yourself and see that it’s time to grow, it’s time to begin again and to leaving this darkness behind.   Accept who you are, being truthful with yourself seeing all your uniqueness both good and bad.  There is good psychology in this saying and I personally hold on to it:  You cannot really change anyone except yourself, but it is contagious.  You change and everything around you cannot remain as it was.  The past is gone and you cannot change things there, but you can learn from your past and change things now in the present.  Changing things now, will improve your future.  To relive the past over and over again traps your ability to see the light that can move you forward.   Tired of your trappings, hope abounds for all who seek, this is another truth of the heart. 

Next Time:   "Vision and Storage"  

"Eden Comes To Its End"

 Chapter 4                                     "EDEN COMES TO ITS END"

Now think of the implications as all this can happen to us before we even leave our Eden.  Surely things are going to get better for here on in.   Not quite yet, because after 10 or so months in our Eden, we begin to get the feeling that something or someone wants to push us out.   We are not sure why, and we probably do not want to go because this is our Eden.  It is a place of comfort and warmth for us and we are not really aware yet of any of our afflictions or the world outside.  

A man is being help at gun point “your money or your life” says the robber “Take my life Sir I need my money” says the man.

I believe that most of us accept the life we are living and the way we think as normal, regardless of what others think.   Its familiar and many will not give it over regardless of their circumstances.  But, here again in the womb, we have no choice in that matter as we are at the mercy of human nature itself.   For some, complications make it impossible to leave the womb and the circumstances are unimaginable for the mother.  Others may find themselves in difficult circumstances during the birth and almost don’t make it and come into our world already bruised, battered and in pain.   In my early years as an adult, I can remember jokingly telling my friends I often felt like I was born with a cigarette in the corner of my mouth, a beer bottle in one hand a guitar in the other and a reoccurring headache I just couldn't seem to get rid of.    Little did I now then, my Mother liked to drink, smoked like a steam engine, loved music, and suffered with migraines.  Now how’s that for passed on family traits. I got it all, but there is more, because I also came from the seed of ADAM just like everyone else.  I sometimes think of my ancestor as A – DAM affliction.  Then, there are those who just seem to sail out into the world like it was their destiny.   You know the type, don’t they make you sick!  They never seem to have hills or valleys to climb, just wide open road.  But you and I both know that’s impossible, some just hide it better than we do.

I know what your thinking, hopefully everything must be going up from hear right?  Not so fast kiddo, there’s one more thing that needs to be said to bring us into the reality of life on planet earth, outside of our Eden.  There is light at the end of the tunnel but first you need your first encounter with human hands.  You are forced down a tunnel towards the light of day, still surrounded in the warm of the amniotic fluid.   In the flash of a moment you feel a pair of hands or metal tongs in some cases, grab your head and proceed to literally pull you from the Womb.  All of a sudden the temperature drops from 98.6 degrees F to about 65 degrees F, as you are exposed to the open air.   It’s cold and you feel the chill.  Then shortly thereafter your source of supply, the umbilical cord is snipped with a pair of scissors, you feel the pain and you are literally now cut off from your supply.  Now think about this for a moment reader, especially if you have been receiving trace amounts of drugs, alcohol, tobacco, sugar or other chemicals of an addictive nature.  You will now begin to experience something the experts call the DDT’S or withdrawal symptoms.  Then to top it all off, you experience your first human love touch, not a cuddle with warm loving arms, you get a slap on the bottom, OUCH!!  You learn fast, human love hurts like the dickens.  Here is where things become a little confusing for some of us, especially those who accept that human love and pain go hand in hand.  We may accept that as fact but somehow deep within our soul it just doesn't seems right for them to be partners.   Some children and adults take it to the extreme not knowing which action should come first, love or hurt, or hurt then love but they believe both are required when building relationships.  So then, do I hurt and love or do I love and hurt?  Now you know why those country love and hurting songs are so popular with the masses.  This is generally the way many of us were introduced to the outside world.    

Next time:   “Welcome To Planet Earth”