A thought.

Take a little trip with me.

Does the mind feel?

It thinks.  That’s how it experiences itself.

So does it, the mind, interpret the physical reactions of the body and try to describe the experience with no first hand knowledge of what it’s like to feel?  The mind measures and identifies with words it creates from sounds made by those physical reactions,  and gives the words their meanings so they can be utilized at a moment’s notice. The mind even attaches stories to those meanings. Some are stories that make you feel good, and some make you feel bad. Some take you by the hand through a dark forest, and when you finally get to the other side, the sun is shining and all is well. All feels good. If your mind could feel, it would like that result. All systems are a.o.k..

The world of feelings must be so alien to the mind. So difficult to understand, and understanding…knowing is the mind’s compulsion, it’s reason to exist: to do. How can it not know? How can it not measure and control, judge, amass and assert power and ascribe the most elaborate rationalizations to justify its need to do.

Feelings? The mind finds more stories than exist, more permutations in an effort to find a way to control those feelings. If that’s the only way the mind can ‘know’ those feelings, then control it will be. Anything to avoid having to experience something that even approaches that feeling of ‘not knowing.’

Enter ‘belief’s.

Belief is the mind’s answer to controlling what it doesn’t understand. How do you believe? ‘You just do it.’ Like in the Nike ad. Do what? Believe!! How?I dunno, keep saying it over and over and maybe you’ll begin to believe it.

Belief systems are a compilation of our history of story-telling distilled into tenets, or truths that you must either accept at face value, or dedicate your life and will to studying them.  That is the only way to believe and experience faith.

Or is it?

What’s faith?

‘It’s that feeling you get….’

‘Wait a sec…hold on…you’re talking about a ‘feeling?”

‘Okay, I won’t use the word,’feeling,’ okay? See, you get this sensation…’

‘Wait a sec…hold on… Isn’t a ‘sensation’ just a ‘feeling…?”

‘Shut up, or I’ll shut down!’

That’s the mind’s ace in the hole; shutting down, then it’s a hop skip and a jump to hate, greed, sloth…murder…sound familiar?

The mind cannot explain or understand the experience of faith. I mean, it can. It can explain what faith is supposed to act like, what it’s supposed to do, as the mind sees it.  It’s just that merely ‘being’ is an anathema to the mind. If it just ‘is’ then what does it do? It don’t do.

I learned a great meditation: ‘There nothing to do, nothing to change, everything is perfect just as it is.’

So, you guessed it…that takes us around and back again in this spiralling ride of life. Full circle.

How does the mind access faith?

It doesn’t. We do.

We have our consciousness that can watch our minds think, watch our selves feel every sensation  and emotion.

We can take that huge part of our brain that remains unused and use it to focus our minds from its witness, from its consciousness. Observe, not judge…and resist the mind’s need to say everything is so or isn’t so, is right, or is wrong, good or bad…and just watch your feelings as they pass by like leaves on a stream.

At some point, from your conscious place of awareness that is joined with all awareness of which all matter is made, you will experience and know when you experience it. You will ‘become’ the stream with the leaves/feelings floating on and through you. At that point you will know that  you have experienced yourself as the recipient of the entire ancestry of man because at that point, at that moment…you will recognize yourself in everything, and everything in  you. You will experience, as you have already experienced the love and peace and warmth, the connection to all that is. Call it God, Love, Truth, Beauty, it doesn’t matter. Whatever your belief system or religion calls it…isn’t important. Only that you feel it and understand that that is the only way you can ‘know’ it. That’s what we are here to do.

Experience it, ride it like a surfer on the waves, or an Eagle on the wind, fall in love, be one with it. That is our purpose. To sound, vibrate in, be with the harmony of the heavens, to be where thought becomes matter. Yup…at that very place, or ‘space’ as a friend of mine says.

Hope you’re having a good Spring.

pmg

categories On Blogging and Shared Thoughts | | datetime April 12, 2010 11:22 pm

242 Comments

  • By jools, April 13, 2010 @ 12:31 am

    I often feel that my mind is in a state of ‘not knowing’, but I’m not sure it’s quite the same as you’re describing.

    I have to say I’ve had difficulty getting to grips with your meditation ‘There’s nothing to do, nothing to change, everything is perfect just as it is.’ over the years, because the rational or conventional part of my brain / my thoughts / my feelings / my beliefs has me self-consciously telling myself “so much to change, so much to do, everything is not perfect; how can it be?” – - but on a good day, I do get its premise and understand that it’s more than that and, in the great scheme of things, how it’s a way of just ‘being’.
    (Hey, aren’t apostrophes great!!)

    It’s all still a work in progress of course, but I’m glad you keep coming back to us to share your insights.
    Sunny days are daring to break through the gloomier days, and that always brings about a brighter frame of mind. Long may it continue.
    Cheers
    Jools

  • By T, April 13, 2010 @ 4:22 am

    I’m beginning to grasp this concept and I like it. It’s giving me some peace from a long struggle. I was raised a Christian and have dealt all my life with the conundrum: who is to say Christians are right and everyone else is wrong? That’s what Christians think.
    To that end, I am ever torn between practicing my faith in the traditional way which, according to my fellow Christians is the ONLY path to Heaven, or being less religious and more spiritual. When I was very young, I was a member of a church that was all white. A black family wished to join and were turned away. That was a very long time ago, but I’ve never forgotten the blatant hypocrisy of so-called Christians. I was ashamed of them. That was the beginning of my sliding away from “the church”. I don’t attend church, and, as a Christian, I am supposed to feel guilty about it. Yet, if I am completely honest with myself, a structured, ritualistic church service inspires no feeling in me except boredom. I feel closer to God when I’m with the people I love and when I’m outdoors, absorbing nature. The concepts you’re sharing make sense to me. Can I separate myself from the guilt of not practicing my religion “correctly”? Can I still commune with God? I think the answer is yes.

    Regarding Spring…it’s perfect here in Georgia. I hope it’s the same for you.

    T.

  • By Christine, April 13, 2010 @ 7:13 am

    Hi Paul, Nice to see you here again. I don’t know if its me being over tired to think, but hard as I try today I can’t work this one out. Please don’t think that I am criticizing you I really am not, you know I have respect and admiration for you; but is it really possible to observe without forming some sort of an opinion?. You see I find it very hard to step back in a situation and not want to offer help/advice/support, just to try to make that person feel better. So if you observe without forming that opinion can you help? or is it a case of detaching oneself from feeling?. I get accused of ‘feeling’ too much, I really wish I could at times step away and not get involved in things that happen but then again its human nature to want to help.
    People may argue that something is not their business, and yes you do have to respect anothers privacy but where do you draw the line between being distant and caring?.
    You know I often have this conversation with my daughter. She will ask me ‘why care so much about someone (whoever we are discussing at that time) that you hardly/don’t know?. I can see her point of view but I can’t for the life of me switch my feelings off. Please correct me if I have got this wrong, which really would not surprise me lol I do tend to get confused sometimes!. As a said before this is not me being disrespectful towards you Paul, I just don’t understand it fully. With love as always, Christine. xx

  • By T, April 13, 2010 @ 7:31 am

    Well said, Pam. And thank you. I’m beginning to feel a part of something special here. It’s so nice to be around others who think and feel as I do. The guilt is dissipating.

  • By Christine, April 13, 2010 @ 11:33 am

    Hi Paul, Yes, its me again!. Goodness me you really do get the brain working. Cooking dinner, and a thought came to me. I could be a million miles wrong here but is it easier for an actor to ‘switch off’ and not be distracted (for want of a better word) by emotions/feelings. It came to me that as an actor you portray one emotion while feeling another so if you can do that in your working life, is it easier to do it on a daily basis?. We all do it to a certain extent, like when someone asks how you are and you smile no matter what, and say ‘fine, thanks’
    A tear can hold a lot of joy but a smile can hide a lot of pain. Is this making any sense to anyone but me?……. maybe not!! Oh dear I think I will leave it at that for now, and again I really don’t mean to upset you Paul, just trying to figure it out. :)
    With love as always, Christine xx.

  • By Frances, April 13, 2010 @ 1:32 pm

    Hi Paul
    Just wanted to say how much I enjoy your Messages, and as I have recently started to look
    inward and Learn how to Meditate, (not the easiest skill to master!)I just want to say that a lot of what you say hits home with me. While reading through some of the replies to your messages there seem to be some very articulate people who are able to express themselves very well in deed, unlike myself, anyway I look forward to reading future messages so that, although I might not leave a reply very often(if at all!) you can give my old brain a work now and again.
    Take Care,
    Frances.

  • By HILDA LIPRACE, April 13, 2010 @ 3:57 pm

    Hola señor glaser me alegro que este nuevamente aqui .yo como siempre esperando sus reflexiones ,como una carta de un amigo
    LO QUE USTED A ESCRITO tiene mucha razon, estamos todos conectados con el universo el agua la tierra el aire …toda la naturaleza. y somos parte de ella .podemos sentir la brisa el sonido de un relampago nuestra respiracion ,todo .solamente hay que estar dispuestos a escuchar y sentir -¿como? teniendo nuestros oidos y ojos espirituales expectantes siempre dispuestos y atentos .por que uno nunca sabe cuando tendremos ese encuentro con nosotros mismos y con lo que nos rodea , el amor ,los sentimientos ,el calor, la esperanza de lo que no vemos ,pero estar confiados que lo tendremos ,a su tiempo .uno quiere todo para ayer ,hay que ser pacientes .creencias .en Dios, en la naturaleza…cada uno tiene sus creencias ,creer .es un sentimiento? ,si. yo amo a Dios porque el me amo primero -El con su amor me da paz -si uno tiene que decir que es creer dirian que estas loca-y yo diria bendita locura -la mente es traicionera por que de alli salen todas las cosas buenas y malas a la ves ,y el que dicta que hacer es el corazon .los sentimientos -estaba yo pensando el otro dia en nuestro cerebro .el lado izquierdo manda señales al lado derecho de nuestro cuerpo y el lado derecho de nuestro cerebro al izquierdo -en el lado derecho de nuestro cerebro estan nuestros sentimientos .que casualidad el corazon esta a la izquierda de nuestro cuerpo .si tengo una pena donde siento en la cabeza o en el pecho .si. en el corazon .si tengo una alegria ,donde tengo esa sensacion ,en la cabeza .no .en el corazon .somos una maquina ,para decirlo de alguna forma. PERFECTA – SOLAMENTE HAY QUE SABER COMO MANEJARLA -y como seria eso ,muy simple CON AMOR . A UNO MISMO Y HACIA LOS DEMAS -el cuerpo es agua aire y ..para que quede bonito somos polvo de estrellas -guau -que maravilloso es nuestro creador .nos dio todo hasta el libre albedrio -yo voto por el bien ,no soy perfecta ya que la mente lo impide es ahi donde se arma todo lo bueno lo malo solamente es saber elegir -cuantas veces me pasa de estar con mi mente en blanco -nada- .que sensacion hermosa -o estar contemplando la naturaleza en silencio .relativo. por que no hay silencio ,se escucha la naturaleza misma .el viento.los pajaros .los grillos todo .la caida de las gotas de lluvia en la ventana ,en la tierra .todo es maravilloso .muy perfecto .
    GRACIAS Mr GLASER
    DIOS LO BENDIGA
    Hilda Liporace
    de Argentina

  • By Rachelle, April 13, 2010 @ 9:01 pm

    Hi Paul,

    Thanks for sharing your thoughts and teachings! Living one day at a time and doing our best to be less judgemental in this world of ours is something to work at daily. A world where we accept one another for who we are is the true way to have joy, dear friendship, happiness and hope.

    Thanks for being a light!

    Happy Spring to you as well, Rach :)

  • By Christine, April 14, 2010 @ 6:56 am

    Hi Rach, Lovely words. I agree with you, we ought to try to be more understanding in this world of ours. Hope you are having a good week my friend. Love, Christine xx

  • By moncanzuba, April 14, 2010 @ 11:54 am

    Dear Mr. Glaser and bloggers,

    Words are words, thoughts are thoughts and feelings are feelings. Quite different things the 3 are.
    The second may be an idea and the first, the tool to “express it”.

    Now, feelings are a different subject. Most of the time you may “describe” how you feel (sick, stressed, in physical pain, etc) but there are some specific situation in which you find yourself speechless and just have to BE one with the experience.

    This reminds me that final line between Morgan Freeman (God) and Jim Carey (the “pretended” to be God) in the movie “Mighty Lord”:
    MF – “Next time you want a miracle, BE the miracle”.

    This is how I understand your point.
    As always, a pleasure to be here, learning and sharing.

    Monica (from Argentina)

  • By hilly, April 14, 2010 @ 12:44 pm

    Having just come back from a trip into the great unknown (aka Windows7 and a new computer!) my brain needs time out.
    “how does the mind access faith?”
    Faith and trust are synonyms in some contexts.
    Can faith exist without trust?
    Can trust exist without having some kind of faith?
    And are faith and belief the same?

    I think I’ll sit in the spring sunshine tomorrow and think about that new meditation:
    There nothing to do, nothing to change, everything is perfect just as it is

    “and the seasons they go round and round….”
    Happy spring; springing happily into the future

  • By heidi, April 15, 2010 @ 1:49 am

    Sunshine is here after a long winter. Nothing is better than sitting by a lake or water–it has a calming effect. Beauty of nature is reflected in new lambs being born,,,birds singing and cherry trees in lovely blossom.

  • By Christine, April 15, 2010 @ 9:28 am

    Hi Paul, and fellow blogger’s, I always admire those that can remain positive no matter what. I suppose you can get into the habit of positive thinking, almost training the mind to ‘see’ or ‘feel’ or pick up on the positive. But, what happens when you think you are losing that ability?. The mind is a funny thing you know you think you are doing fine then something will come along and you start to question your own views. Is it possible to be positive when you are feeling so negative? will this lift again? I really don’t know anymore, honestly, its like all I have at the moment are why’s? Goodness me I really hope that my mind is not shutting down! or maybe I’m just tired of life. Wish I could be more positive but the positive has gone on a break I think. I will come back on here when I feel I have something positive to offer. With love as always, Christine xx

  • By Rachelle, April 15, 2010 @ 12:55 pm

    Hi Christine,

    I can only speak for myself but positive thinking is not easy all the time that’s forsure! I think there are just some things that come out of left field or some situations that it’s really hard to feel that positive light. I have some great friends who amaze me with their endurance and attuide. My best friend was in the hospital recently (she’s out now – yaay!) and had everyone in stitches because she’s so funny. Another friend went in the hospital for a night for a chronic condition and made the staff laugh while she was being taken care of. She said there was no point to being grumpy. I love that about them and I find it very admirable! I really see how my BFF appreciates her life and everything is a little more special – she appreciates the small things that I think most don’t see. She’s had many health issues and her attuide is her stronghold. Strength in the storms.

    For the daily part of life I try to remember to be respectful and kind, as being grumpy and unkind doesn’t make anyone feel good. Everyday I think is a choice of how we choose to be and everyday we need to renew ourselves. That’s why I like the one day at a time saying! I find going for walks, having a hobby, or just doing something really special for oneself is a way to feel that postiveness again. Treat yourself special because you are!

    Rach – back to work I go from lunch*g*

    Ps Heidi – I really like when you shared about nature.

  • By hilly, April 15, 2010 @ 1:04 pm

    I sat by a fountain – a source that has been in use since the Romans built their city of Nimes. the sun had warmed the stone seat for me; the sound of the water gradually screened out the other sounds around me – kids playing in the park, the steady footfall of joggers, the chatter of tourists enjoying the park and the Roman remains there.
    I sat and allowed my mind to seek its own silence. And yo know what? that meditation made sense. I had nothing to do (I could have read my book; made some ‘phone calls, whatever – but I didn’t need to do anything – so I didn’t); there was nothing to change – a perfect spring day…for an hour or so everything was perfect, just as it was.
    And so I’m going to try to develop those moments so that on the days when things don’t seem so perfect; when I wish I could change everything, my mind will have a shelter where it can renew its faith and trust and believe in a better day ahead

  • By Sarah Levy, April 15, 2010 @ 3:56 pm

    Hi Christine,

    ‘The mind is a funny thing you know you think you are doing fine then something will come along and you start to question your own views.’

    I can relate to what you are saying in the above paragraph. One moment you can be feeling great and then something happens, or a thought/feeling comes along, and your mood changes.

    I hope that you are feeling better about things soon. I’m sure that your mind is not ‘shutting down’. Sometimes, our brains just needs a break and it’s best to go with that. Be kind to yourself.

    Best Wishes,
    Sarah

  • By xtexan86, April 15, 2010 @ 4:58 pm

    Just a few comments and thoughts directed at ‘T’…

    Personally, I consider myself a Christian too, however, many, many faiths (Protestant, Catholic, Lutheran, Mormon, Baptist, Jehovah Witness, etc.,) will also consider ‘Christian’ a definition of their religion too. So, just as you would not lump all Jews, Muslims, Atheists, etc., together, I don’t feel it’s right to collectively lump all Christians together either.

    That was sad that a group of people who attended your church felt it was ‘right’ to forbid a black family from attending. Perhaps, when this happened, you were too young to make an independent decision. But I think if that were to happen tomorrow, at a church that you were attending, I don’t think that you would tolerate that kind of ‘Christian’ behavior. If you did, then you should very well feel ‘ashamed.’ Not because you are a Christian, but because you didn’t stand up for what was right.

    All of us fall short of what we should do at times, all of us make mistakes. The lesson we should learn when this happens, is to realize where and how we went wrong and sincerely try not to do it again.

    You may never find that black family again to express your thoughts to, but there are hundreds of other people that you can do right by and still practice your faith as you are ‘supposed’ to do.

    As far as attending church in a ‘building’, I’m like you, I’d rather be outdoors, in the biggest church God ever created. But I think what really matters is where your heart is. One of the most spirtual times I ever had in church was inside of a 150 yr old limestone church in the middle of a tiny South Pacific island. I couldn’t understand one word of the Maori language, or could sing even one song. But that didn’t matter. My heart was where it needed to be. xt

  • By Sue, April 15, 2010 @ 7:13 pm

    Wow. I’m both more confused and less confused after this post. Which, I think, all in all, is probably a good thing.

    To start off with, to me, mind:brain as light:eye. The mind allows the brain to interpret input it receives, and then to output whatever reaction one has to those interpretations, just as light allows the eye to function, turning whatever it perceives into something that our mind then brain then mind can put into words and/or feelings corresponding to what it is that we see.

    The brain itself cannot feel pain. If someone was to knock you in the uncovered brain, you wouldn’t feel pain, though your mind might tell you it feels it…or the mind might well ramp your body into getting ready to feel it, and then be surprised when nothing comes.

    That’s one of the many neat and confusing things about the mind. If, for example, you are in a situation where you are sure to be hurt, and by some quirk of coincidence, you aren’t, and yet there’s nothing that your mind can detect that you weren’t in fact hurt, the body will often act exactly like it’s hurt. Is that the brain’s doing? Or the mind? Well, it certainly isn’t the brain, IMHO. The brain *knows* you haven’t been hurt. But your mind, which has been busy putting two and two together (the gun aimed at you, the shot fired directly at you) and coming up with agony. And you look down at yourself and see absolutely no injury, even though you are actively *experiencing* the feeling of being badly injured. The mind tricks so many in to believing it so fully that they’ll actually pass out.

    THe brain had nothing to do with that, because the brain exists without input from the senses that we so highly rely on. If we’re hurt, the brain knows it, even if we don’t. But it doesn’t rely on our senses to do it. That’s its job. To know, without benefit of our senses, whether we’ve been hurt or not.

    Conversely, if we’re not hurt, all sensory evidence to the contrary, the brain knows we’re not hurt, but the mind doesn’t, and wham…we feel pain that isn’t there, and react to it. Until, of course, we realize how badly fooled we are by our own minds. And the brain, figuratively, just sits there and goes “HA ha. Knew you weren’t hurt, you stupid mind. Wouldn’t believe ME, would you. Dummy.”

    But there are other things that the brain, as opposed to the mind does that trick us as well, in a manner of speaking. If you’re my age (let’s just say perimenopausal), you’ll be having a great day at work, laughing with your work buddies, no one’s yelling at you or putting pressure on you, everything’s going great, and suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere, BAM! You’re angry enough to spit nickels, or weepy enough to keep Kleenex in business, or whathave you. THOSE hormones (you know the ones, ladies) have flooded your brain, activating certain centers of it that tell the mind what to feel–anger, sadness, blind hatred, lust, jealousy, whatever it is.

    It can make a fine day an absolutely miserable one, especially if you’ve got no earthly idea why it’s happening! Then you go, “oh, of course, hormones. Wa. Hoo.” For me, in a situation like that, all the mantras in the world, as much as they might be perfectly effective in other venues, do me absolutely no good, because I can’t, or don’t have the ability to, think away the very real effect on the brain of certain chemicals, nor the very real reaction I am having from exposure to them. For me, knowing why it’s happening is a comfort of a sort, because I know it has an end point (eventually) and I won’t be feeling this way forever, but that does nothing to stop those “SURPISE, UPLOAD OF HORMONES IN 5-4-3-2….” things from happening, nor can my response to them be stopped. Moderated, yes. Even though I feel like I might want to punch the next smiling face that dares enter my lair–er–office, I can refuse to do what my mind is telling me to. That makes me human, the ability to moderate what commands are coming from my brain. Note I use the word “ability”. Because we are *also* animals, we may ignore our abilities to moderate and simply go through with our impulse to smack someone over the head with our keyboard, or office chair, or monitor, or…well, you get the picture. :D

    My “faith” is carried along a somewhat different, yet at the same time, similar, path as everyone else’s. But my faith is based on things that I know, things that are observable and repeatable. The sun rises to the east on this planet of ours, at this particular point in time, but I can’t, with one hundred percent assurance, KNOW that it will rise in the east tomorrow. I can’t know that the earth will even exist tomorrow. These are the type of things I take on “faith”. I know the sun is going to rise tomorrow because it’s been doing that for the past x billion years. But tomorrow…tomorrow it just might not. So I have to have faith that what I know to be true through observation and repetition will happen tomorrow as it’s happened every time before then. If it *doesn’t*, then, happen, well, I very likely won’t be around to beat myself over the head about it, so it won’t matter much.

    I have no more belief or faith in God than I have in unicorns or little green men from Mars. I need none of those beliefs to make my life more whole or meaningful to me. My life has more than enough wholeness and meaning by what I can observe and sense in the world around me, the good and the bad, and the indifferent. I have no need for the comfort or the guilt of believing in something that I cannot see nor believe has any effect upon my life, or the lives of my fellow beings on our common planet. What is, simply is, and I enjoy it on those terms. I have no need of other terms to be able to enjoy a sunny day, or a baby’s cry, or the sound of a bubbling brook, or the feel of the warm sun on my shoulders after I’ve gotten out of the cold ocean. Those things are simply because they are.

    As a conclusion to this rambling bit of pseudo prose, when I was young and raised in a RC household, my parents used to say that if I lost something to “Pray to St. Anthony” and you’ll always find it. I was taught the poem, and when I lost something and couldn’t find it wherever I looked, I’d pull out that little ditty as a last resort, and wouldn’t you know? BAM. I normally found exactly what I’d lost!

    WOW! A miracle!

    Until one day I decided to substitute “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Tell Me Where My Carkeys Are” and wouldn’t you know it? PRESTO! Carkeys! Right were I’d left them. It also worked with “Roses are red, violets are not, if I don’t find my wallet, I’m gonna be shot.” BAM. One wallet!

    And that’s how young Susie learned that it wasn’t a Saint looking down from some invisible place in the sky to help find my lost thing for me. It was me, clearing my mind by using a childish mantra of sorts which allowed me to step back, take a breath, and use my memories to lead me to exactly where I’d put whatever it was that I’d “lost”.

    I think that’s why prayer…to whatever or whomever…works sometimes. Because it takes your brain out of panic mode into a clear space where you can actually tap into your brain’s circuitry for remembering things and use logic, rather than panic, to help you in whatever it is that you need.

    Which is why I say on so many occasions, God doesn’t answer your prayers. YOU do.

    Sue

  • By Christine, April 16, 2010 @ 5:09 am

    Hi Rach, Thanks my friend I understand your point of view. Being positive isn’t always easy I agree but on the whole if you can be it is better! :)

    Hi Sarah,
    Thank you for your kind words. They are most appreciated! Doesn’t it help when someone else understands!
    Best Wishes, Christine xx

  • By Sammy, April 16, 2010 @ 5:13 am

    Thank you for breaking the silence!

    Where does the mind exist? When I talk about feelings, and try to ‘feel’ my feelings, to understand where I ‘feel’ physically in my body, my hand will be on my chest – where the heart physically is. OK… so that is where I feel – so is that where my mind is? My mind is where my heart is?

    Mind thinks.. Where are my thoughts generated? In the brain? My hand goes onto my head- So OK. That is where my thoughts are.. Does that mean mind lies within my head/brain?

    So what exactly is this thing what we refer to as ‘mind’? Is mind a physical entity? Or is it also another ‘word’ we use to describe something we still haven’t even started to understand of?

    Belief? Yes you just do it.. you believe in something, trying to make your ‘mind’ understand that that there is a purpose for this living…. that there is a purpose for your existence in this world.

    Faith.. You have faith on something or someone because you believe in it or him/her. Believe because you trust?

    Aren’t these all just words? Words trying to explain something you feel somewhere in the vicinity of your heart and think somewhere in the vicinity of your brain?

    Happy weekend everybody! And Rach… I know you are as glad as I am for it is Friday! :-)

  • By Christine, April 16, 2010 @ 5:25 am

    No matter what try to smile,
    it may just lift you too,
    if only for a little while,
    you run away from you!

    Thought’s and feelings come and go,
    they sometimes drag you down,
    but try to just remember though,
    to smile and not to frown.

    There’s always someone out there
    that really cares for you,
    your hurt and sorrow, they will share,
    for that’s what true friends do.

    So if you ever need me,
    please just give me a call,
    I’ll be there just wait and see
    I’ll never let you fall.

    I wrote this early this morning just thought I would share!
    Love as always, Christine xx

  • By Sarah Levy, April 16, 2010 @ 6:04 am

    Hi Christine,
    Yes! You’re right. Knowing that you are not suffering alone can be a huge help.I’m pleased to see you are posting on here. It can be so tempting to shut oneself away when feeling down or sad but having contact with others during those low times can be really helpful.
    Best Wishes,
    Sarah

  • By eggnoggon, April 16, 2010 @ 6:43 am

    From here….There is nothing to do, nothing to change, everything is ….. JUST as it is. And march, april, may your spring be perfect.

  • By Christine, April 16, 2010 @ 6:47 am

    Hi Sarah, Thank you so much for your thoughtfulness. There is a tendency to want to cut yourself off from other’s when you are having trouble making sense of yourself lol. I know I personally go through phases of not wanting to see other’s not because I don’t care about them but I always think if I can’t be positive is it worth depressing my friends too with my mood.
    We are really good at pretending things are fine, our minds or our pride whichever tries not to show other’s how we are really feeling, happiness is acceptable, joy, love, etc are all acceptable forms of emotion that we are taught are ok to show. Then you get the sorrow, grief, and oh yes that awful depression and its like an invisible hand comes up and says ‘No no, you can’t discuss this subject, you are afraid? well then hide it! you feel sadness then cheer yourself up!’ society in general will not or can not tolerate negative emotions. I’m all in favour of at least ‘trying’ to be positive, but not everyone can be at all times. No one knows what is going on in someone else’s life. This is where the no judging ought to come into play. Try to understand your friends, your neighbours, the man/woman down the street we are all human and to a greater or lesser degree need/want a little understanding. Does the mind feel? No, but it creates the emotion the feelings the sensations, and not all of them will be positive. No one intentionally plans or wants to be feeling low/depressed. Its not a choice, yes it is a choice to a certain degree how you cope/react to it but unless you have been there; you can’t in my opinion know the ‘feeling’ and we are back to having to experience something to ‘feel’ it. On a lighter note I may never know the ‘feeling’ of walking on Venice beach in CA but I can imagine that feeling! What lovely thoughts just went through my head. Best Wishes, Christine. :)

  • By Sammy, April 16, 2010 @ 9:37 am

    Pam… I sent you an e-mail through the e-mail address on Fan Forum- Could you please check it out…

  • By Raffy, April 16, 2010 @ 10:55 am

    I think it is all perfect, and we are unable to “see” this perfection. When we live in the present moment though we don’t “wander”…each moment is perfect, it is there for us…whether we could like it or not, when then we judge it. Even the acceptance of what is happening is not a mere resignation I think, but much more, it is letting the Higher Self experience itself through us, and in that moment we become one with the unknown, the invisible.
    Paul said once that the Universe doesn’t give us what we want but what we need.
    I truly agree, even if it is so hard to expand ourselves in order to really “catch” it when things are just happening in our life. Sometimes I wonder what is the difference between our capacity to be in the present moment, to “be” the present moment, and the capacity to watch ourselves, our feelings, from a place of awareness. Are they different, maybe opposite, moments? It seems so apparently, but at a deeper glance it seems to me that they both are expressions of the present. And without one of them the other can’t really exist either. They make us know our full humanity and oneness with the everything. If we only “watch” what we feel it can happen that we don’t feel fully “human” to ourselves, especially when we start meditation, but at the same time if we don’t discover that we are not only what we feel (through that part able to observe our feelings), then we get lost and never in touch with that spiritual body of which we are a part. I think it is not enough to share our human feelings in order to feel one, even if it is a great step and helps us feel our deep similarity against the need of our ego to make us separate entities, but we also need to meet each other beyond our feelings, in that clear and infinite space of consciousness, where every impermanence of our human dimension disappears. Janise said on another blog that “there is no fear when one understands who they really are”. Maybe it is possible, even if very hard to get to this point along our human journey, but the more fear pushes us to find our love, the more we can find our true peace. Love is the door, I think. We are here “to die”, to die to all is useless, our body as well, to die especially to the “desire”, always there, when we don’t even notice it and we call it differently. The way we live and what the world expects from us is so often a list of our desires. Not always it means to open our heart, unfold our soul, and feel truly alive…forever. We continuously want something, and the way we desire is often really destroying, in our effort to forget our helplessness. In my opinion even the modern “inputs” we are given to follow certain kinds of meditation (which aren’t new at all) lead us to think that all of us can easily get all that we desire, the secret lies only in a proper meditation, or better “concentration”. I guess that a positive thinking means very much but I just wonder whether we should desire or better how we should do it. Isn’t desire one of the many things empowering our ego?
    Maybe then the main thing is the approach to the desire, meaning that we could desire something without any “attachment” to it. But are we able to make efforts without attachment? That’s a challenge, an interesting challenge. Maybe, as Janise said, we could come to realize our power to turn our thoughts into matter and form. I agree that we need to be very careful, also about the fact of not letting ourselves be trapped into the desire. It is not sure that what we want is exactly what we need for our spiritual growth. But in “that very place” where “thought becomes matter” consciousness talks to us and we can hear its voice reverberating in the silence, a silence full of absence of attachment, because “you will recognize yourself in everything, and everything in you”…

    Raffy

  • By Nadine, April 16, 2010 @ 4:28 pm

    J’ai la ” FOI ” je vous avoue que parfois j’ai des doutes ! Je viens de passer la soiree a l’hopital encore une fois ! papa vient de faire un ” accident vasculaire cerebral ” son cerveau ne fonctionnait plus , son ESPRIT est confus il ne peux plus reflechir il ne peut plus penser , il ne me reconnaissait pas ! je suis aneantie , que fait Dieu ! veille t-il sur papa je ne veux pas qu’il me le prenne j’ai encore besoin de lui , je veux le garder pour lui dire a quel point je l’aime mon petit papa ! je n’accepte pas la realite de la vie mes PENSEES sont plutot NEGATIVES la vie serait tellement plus facile si tout etait POSITIF !
    Mes freres qui ne me parlent plus etaient presents ce soir pas une parole de reconfort de leur part ! je me sentais seule , perdue , que fait Dieu devant tant de mechancete , tant d’
    l’hypocrisie que se passe t-il dans l’esprit de ces hommes dont j’etais la ” petite soeur ” ne croyez vous pas que dans ces moments la , la HAINE ne doit pas s’incruster la FOI et l’AMOUR devraient s’imposer rien de tel ne s’est produit pendant l’attente du diagnostic du medecin !
    Ta pensee est magnifique Christine ! je sais que je ne peux que compter sur vous tous mes amis , je ne vous demanderai qu’une chose ” UNE PRIERE POUR MON PAPA ” vos prieres seront POSITIVES pour lui!!!!
    Merci!!

  • By heidi, April 17, 2010 @ 12:51 am

    Well, Mr. Glaser you have a gift when you can make people think!
    Yes, Rachelle, country living is far different from city life. It is more peaceful and relaxing— no stress. Sometimes, I think that the world would be better with no computers or cell phones. People would be able to have more personal contact and not lose the art of speaking or telling stories.
    Have any fellow bloggers tried calligraphy?
    It is a creative art form and gives self discipline of the body—very relaxing too. Myself I think human beings are better than machines but as you can see I am on the Internet too!!!! What does that say about our society?

  • By hilly, April 17, 2010 @ 3:11 am

    just a quick observation:
    ‘christian’ is a word with many meanings in our modern world. It is the label that many assume for their religious beliefs (whatever the variation on the theme they follow)
    It is also an adjective with two uses…1) to describe the communities, beliefs ideas etc of the aforementioned group(s) an 2) to refer to a global idea of qualities (mostly based on the popular conception of Rabbi Yehu) encompassing kindness, compassion, tolerance etc.
    Unfortunately (and to me this is where T is absolutely right) too many of those who define themselves as christians are way out of kilter with that adjective…they are mean-minded,vengeful intolerant grasping (send me your dollars and you’ll get to heaven) and capable of putting their idea of the image of their sect (yes all christian groups are off-shoot sects from the original Judaism of the Rabbi Yehu) before teh well-being of others…I’m thinking of Mr Ratzinger* and his acolytes who are lying through their teeth rather than accept the dirty truth of pedophilia.
    *aka The pope; I refuse to play the silly pseudonym game. I have a tendency to call him Ratfinger! so I typed really carefully there?

  • By hilly, April 17, 2010 @ 3:23 am

    And another one.
    Heidi you have got to be kidding! I have the misfortune to be obliged to live in a village. I am a natural city dweller. I hate living in this place, it is like being buried alive. In order to do the normal things (grocery shopping, entertainment, work) I have to use the car (no public transport of any use here).
    It isn’t relaxing; its boring and extremely expensive when filling the tank costs over 45 euros – that is about 8% of my monthly income.!

    I long for the day when I can move back into the city – where people are honest about who they know (instead of the myth that ‘everyone knows you’ in a village).

    I remember life without a cell phone – and I sometimes don’t switch mine on! But that has nothing to do with where you live (and in some remote places there’s no point in having one anyway because there is no coverage!) Same goes for internet – we have broadband in our village only because we managed to get 100 people to sign up for it – otherwise France Telecom would not have connected us. In my book that is a case of being regarded as a second class citizen; and they wouldn’t do that to a part of a city!

    Don’t get me wrong – I like the countryside – for a day out, for a week maybe even 2 for a vacation but not 24/24 7/7 365/365!

    I can take comfort from the fact that one day I can move back into civilisation; I’ll have sold this house to someone like you who dreams of living in a village!
    Fair exchange is no robbery LOL

  • By hilly, April 17, 2010 @ 3:40 am

    Nadine’s last message was such a ‘cri de coeur’ (a cry from the heart) that I’m passing it on to you instead of just summing it up for her:

    “I have Faith; although I can tell you that there are times when I doubt it. I’ve just spent another evening at the hospital; my father has had a stroke; his brain isn’t working and his mind was confused, he can’t think any more? He doesn’t recognize me and I feel totally lost. What is God doing?
    Will he look over my father , I don’t want Him to take dad away from me because I still need him. I want to tell God how much I love my father. I can’t accept the reality of my life; my thoughts are getting more and more negative; life would be so much easier if everything were positive.
    I’m no longer on speaking terms with my brothers; they were there when it happened but I get no support from them. I feel alone, most, what is God doing in the face of such nastiness and hypocrisy? What is going on in these men’s minds; I’m their “little sister”? Wouldn’t you think that at a time like this hatred should not get mixed up with Faith and that Love should take over of only while we were waiting for the doctor to give us his diagnosis?
    Your thoughts are wonderful, Christine! I know I can count on my friends and I only ask one thing from you – a prayer for my father. Your prayers can be something positive for him.
    Thank you”

    Nadine, ma chère amie si douce est si désésperée. Je ne prie pas; mais mes sentiments est mes pensées les plus forts vont vers toi et ton père. J’y étais; mon beau-père a eu 4 attaques avant celui qui l’a emporté. bientôt les beaux jours et je serais plus dispo – on se verra beintôt

    Nadine, my dear friend; I don’t pray but all my positive thoughts are with you and your father. I’ve been there, my Step-father had 4 strokes before the one that killed him. the good weather is coming and I’ll have more time so we’ll met up again soon.

  • By fee, April 17, 2010 @ 4:41 am

    Hilly, can you please pass on to Nadine that my thoughts are also with her and her father at this time. I don’t trust my poor French.
    Christine, you have the right outlook on life gal even when you are feeling low you think of others.
    Heidi, I tend to agree with you but remember Hilly that not all village life is like what happens in your village. Heheh, dear friend I know you are a city girl through and through. I love living in my little village but we do have better public transport and we are not that far from the city. The hustle and bustle of the city leaves me cold these days and I don’t have time to be bored.
    Organised religion leaves me cold these days though I was raised in the Presbyterian faith. Too much power and corruption in the Church hierarchy and not enough caring about the people.
    Paul, you are certainly making folk think and that is great. My mind is in a state of flux at the moment trying to explore some of the ideas that you have put forward.
    Peace, Fee

  • By Rachelle, April 17, 2010 @ 6:44 am

    Hi Heidi – I’m sure you enjoy country living! My Aunt lives on a farm raising miniature horses, and when we go to visit her it’s lovely. She lives near the city, but she’s still considered living in the country. Her farm is very quiet from the noise of the city.
    Hilly – Please let Nadine know I’ll pray for her and her family. My thoughts are with her forsure!
    Christine – I agree with Fee you have a lovely outlook on life. :)
    Happy Saturday everyone! My one a month to work, so I’ll say TGIS!! Yes Sammy Fridays are awesome.*g*
    Rach
    Ps Pam – I enjoyed your quotes. Thank you!

  • By hilly, April 17, 2010 @ 6:51 am

    this village any village = hell as far as I’m concerned Fee. When I was 16 we moved from the North London area I had grown up in to the North Norfolk coast (I’m talking 1972 here folks) it was akin to moving to the dark side of the moon (without the Pink Floyd concert!). We we first moved I still had a Laura Ashley view of country living and I soon found out that the reality was a million miles from that image. It was even worse there BTW. At least I’m 10 minutes from town here – then we were 40 minutes drive (unless you took the 3 times a day single track railway!) from the nearest civilisation. …I choose the word carefully. I remember not long after we moved there we decided to make a moussaka…essential ingredient = aubergine/eggplant. No problem buying them in our local grocer before we moved…no-one had even heard of them where we were (not even in Norwich!)….if it wasn’t a potato a carrot a leek or a cabbage (or the standard salad ingredients) the only way to get any decent veg was to grow it yourself!
    I remain an unconditional city girl!

    Fee, Rach,
    I am going to e-mail Nadine later – I’ll pass on your best wishes

  • By Christine, April 17, 2010 @ 8:18 am

    Hi Nadine, I am sorry to hear about your dad. I hope everything works out well for you. In an ideal world other’s would be there for us; sadly it is often those people we think we can rely on that let us down. Its sad because it doesn’t take a lot to make or at least try to make someone feel even slighly better. Take care, and thank you for your kind words. Best wishes, Christine.

  • By Christine, April 17, 2010 @ 8:29 am

    Hi Fee, and Rach, Thank you ladies! Hope you are having a good weekend!.

    Hi Hilly, Can I just say a thank you from us for translating Nadine’s comments. My French is about as good as a chocolate ashtray! I knew I should have paid attention in class all those years ago!. Please pass on my best wishes to Nadine, just realised she may not read English.
    Best wishes, Christine xx

  • By hilly, April 17, 2010 @ 8:40 am

    LOL Christine a chocolate ashtray is fine for those candy cigarettes we had as kids!

    Nadine doesn’t read English and relies n one of those useless ‘translators’ that browsers provide. That’s why she asked me a while back to translate her posts.

  • By Sue, April 17, 2010 @ 9:28 am

    As one just suddenly and with no warning laid off, I’d think I’d be one of the first to just up and discard my atheism and ask god to help me find a job. How wonderful a thing is faith that one could believe that a being in concerned enough with me to intercede on my behalf before I wind up sleeping in my car with my dogs.

    Instead, I rely on the strength of my resume and my knowledge and abilities and spend the time others might use praying for a miracle in actually sending out said resume to likely positions and speaking with those who are interested in what I have to offer.

    At this point in my life, faith in a being is time I can’t afford to spend wasting. It’s what I consider a luxury. A luxury I sometimes wouldn’t mind having, mind you, but a luxury nonetheless.

    Hard work, not prayer, will get me where I need to be, and if it doesn’t, well, I’ve got no one to blame but myself. Which, it seems to me, is so much more logical than blaming something I cannot see and do not believe in. That’s just crazy-making, to my POV.

    I do admit to meditation. It clears my mind and allows it to listen to the little whispers of ideas that can’t otherwise often be heard over the cacophony of my stress-filled thoughts. Oft-times, those little whispers stake me off in a direction I’d never before considered, and sometimes, just sometimes, they turn out to be the most right things of all. But I still commit those to my doing and my doing alone. God isn’t whispering into my ear during meditation. I am. So if there is a god, it is me, and I am it. It is that little whisper from deep inside me, from a quiet corner of my untapped mind, spoken in my own voice, known by me as me.

    And that makes me quite content indeed.

    Sue

  • By PamT, April 17, 2010 @ 10:23 am

    Many thanks for the little trip and my compliments to the guide – although my mind is protesting a tad sulkily that it thinks it is being depicted as the big, bad wolf. Naturally, it’s the aforementioned who is now in charge of the keyboard … but I’m trying to keep a watchful, observing eye.

    Fascinating words on feelings. I like the picture you paint of emotions floating past, like a leaf in a stream. For me, your imagery encapsulates their transitory nature and the concept that by observing them, we are not denying them or disconnecting ourselves – but neither allowing them to engulf, define and become ‘the whole’ of us. I don’t think there is, ever has been, or ever will be a human being who has experienced nothing but happiness. Sadness, unhappiness and a whole raft of other emotions are all part and parcel of the human condition; part of all our lives. Trying to block emotions out, push them away, pretend they’re not there or cover them up is completely understandable but not, I think, ultimately beneficial – and neither is becoming fixated or completely caught up in them. Although we all have genetically- and environmentally-driven predispositions to the way our minds prompt us to react, because our emotions pass, they are not the essence of us. I’m reminded of some of your words on fear – I think to the effect that by observing where in the body we feel it but also where we do not, we have the ability to move on despite the fear (I tried it a few weeks ago when I had the opportunity of an experience I really didn’t want to miss out on but felt very afraid and anxious – it worked). I think this approach applies to other emotions too. However, in instances of clinical depression, I have no doubt that outside help then needs to be sought to correct the chemical imbalances within the brain.

    As for ‘becoming the stream’, does experiencing the connection with ‘the everything’ through meditation entail the divesting of the many ways in which the mind has become accustomed over the years to defining the ‘self’? If so, that makes sense to me. I think I may have experienced the merest, briefest, split-second of glimpses of some kind of connection on a couple of occasions – not through meditation (to which I have only recently returned) but when gazing up at a dark, star-filled sky or when in the midst of nature – and never when in company. However, I don’t have that overwhelming certainty which you describe and as the experiences didn’t occur as a result of any conscious contemplation of where ‘thought becomes matter’, perhaps not. What I do recognise in retrospect, is that while drawn into a heightened sense of consciousness to some degree (even if it didn’t constitute the whole shooting match), I wasn’t aware of any sense of ‘self’ or equally any ‘loss of self’. Difficult to articulate, but I didn’t think ‘Here am I, looking up at part of the universe’. Because I (or my mind/ego) generally feel great attachment to my own sense of identity, I find this revelation comforting. In a culture that nurtures expectations of instant gratification, it’s so easy to want everything now and to have eyes and ears for nothing but the ‘desired’ end result. My intuition is that the best I can do remain open-minded, cultivate conducive conditions, have focus, have patience and simply experience whatever the trip brings – bumps and twists in the road included.

    When it comes to the affirmation that finding that place is our purpose, I have to admit that I’m really not so sure. Because that for me implies a prevailing ‘plan’ and a controlling ‘power’, to which I find it difficult to reconcile myself, coming from an atheistic perspective. Whilst we can find purpose and meaning to our lives, I have always wondered whether needing a reason for being here is, and I don’t mean this in a personal sense, an articulation of humankind’s intrinsic ego (no offence intended to anyone). Does there have to be a reason for our presence? Could it be that we just simply are?

    ‘There nothing to do, nothing to change, everything is perfect just as it is.’
    Many thanks also for passing on this meditation. As Jools wrote earlier, a way of just ‘being’ – being in acceptance and at peace with events and emotions in the present moment, be they pleasant or unpleasant, and perhaps a balm for an over-active, whirling mind. I shall try it.

    With regard to springtime (my favourite season), I met an elderly gentleman out walking this morning who related the adage passed down to him by his mother (and doubtless from generations before) that just two more weeks of chilly weather are to come now that the Black Hawthorn has begun flowering. I always feel privileged whenever I hear such snippets that speak of a close connection to nature and the world that surrounds us …… something that so many of us seem to have lost. Incidentally, another feature of the morning’s walk was the vast expanse of clear blue sky uninterrupted by the usual criss-cross patterns of aircraft vapour trails. There have been no flights over UK airspace for a couple of days now, courtesy of ash clouds from the Icelandic volcano eruption. If we really think that we’re in control, how’s that for a small wake-up call?

    Wishing all well.

    PamT

  • By Janise Anthony, April 17, 2010 @ 8:46 pm

    So much to say in response to this current brilliant blog as it resonates with me. The progression of it flows…would make for a stimulating discussion at an outdoor café on a lazy sunny day…

    Will make a few separate entries in no organized order….

    To me…Faith is an unwavering belief in anything which is invisible, unsupported by facts or physical manifestation. It is unseen with eyesight but known with insight. Faith is a knowingness that just is and without having something to authenticate it.

    Often people confuse Faith and Hope. Having hope demonstrates there is still doubt about whatever one has hope about. Faith is a complete trust that something is or will be. Faith is used in the space or ‘place’ as a friend of mine calls it ;) before creative thought manifests itself into matter. Faith is also required before and in between The Prayer and The Answer of it. Faith inspires the prayer itself otherwise the prayer would not be spoken in the first place because of the belief… ‘ prayers cannot be answered.’

    Faith > Prayer > Faith > Answer to Prayer

    Just a side note…. I do not believe a prayer is asking, begging or bartering for a particular demonstration or manifestation but prayers are a calling forth or commanding into our experience that which we desire. If we are one with God and God is the source of all creation then were are one with everything/source, meaning we have it all already. And when we have it all, there is no wanting. If we are one with it, it is already ours. Its not about Getting It. It is about Letting It. Letting it in. Alignment of thought creates the channel for its expression into our experience.

    And we must also remember if we pray for someone else, it is still the free will of that person to accept the answer to the prayer or not. If we call forth for God to heal someone we love, it is still up to that person to chose their healing. And at times the healing itself is the leaving of their body. Sometimes their lack of healing is a healing for us.

    For now,
    Peace,
    Janise

  • By Janise Anthony, April 17, 2010 @ 9:10 pm

    Seems like some fellow bloggers here are experiencing struggle with negativity when life’s challenges hit.
    Yes we all can be positive in our lives yet those things may pop up and take us by surprise. When that happens we need to have a pre-set plan to fall back on immediately before we fall in too deep. Just as we have fire drills to know what to do in the event of a fire, so must we have a plan to put out our emotional fires. We must observe our thinking as to shift its focus. I have a set of questions I ask myself when something not so positive comes up. #1 Is there something I can do to change this now? if not… #2 What is good/positive about this? ( there is always something good in the worst situations) #3 What can I learn from this? #4 Will this really matter to me next week or next year or 5 years from now? if not then #5 What strengths do I need to overcome this and get myself to where I want to be emotionally. #6 Is there another way of looking at this or change the meaning of it? Lastly #7 What are 10 things in my life right now that are positive? What am I grateful for? These questions shift mental focus off the negative and back to the positive. Overtime we can condition our minds to shift focus to process life’s slings and arrows. There are always two sides of a coin. You need to chose which side you want to flip to.
    Remember we are living in the Human Condition which is imperfect. Stuff happens! But its all how you handle your stuff! I like to name it All Good!

    Peace,
    Janise

    Peace,
    Janise

  • By Janise Anthony, April 17, 2010 @ 9:24 pm

    Salut’… A response Nadines translation…
    Much of our suffering is from not looking beyond conditions and appearances of life’s events. There is more going on than what we immediately see. We must remember we are not our bodies so when illness sets it, it just the body vehicle breaking down but the driver is still perfect. God is no respector of persons, meaning God does not play favorites nor does God pick on anyone to give them troubles. We have free will and we choose all we experience. We must trust the divine order of things no matter how sad the story may appear and find the good in it. I speak from experience after having lost 35 people… family,friends,clients and fiance in my 46 years. People have died in my arms and it has been the most beautiful moments of my life. To witness the crossing of the veil from the visible back into the invisible is glorious! But I have come to learn death does not exist, neither does birth. If we are one with Source/God then we cannot be lost and that which is not lost cannot have tears shed for. Not all of us are here to live into our 90′s. For some it is a short life, others long but each life has fulfilled its grand purpose before it leaves us on this plain. Some of our loved ones leave us early so we can grow from it. Others come into this world with physical challenges and handicaps to get their own lessons as well as inspire others. We must trust the Divine order of life and remember to look beyond the illusions. Your father is right where he is suppose to be, even if you can’t understand it now or expect a different outcome. Trust God has a plan for the greater good for all concerned and there is a perfection to it.

    If we can all Accept ‘what is’ we will have peace. It is better to Accept rather than Expect and you will have fewer dissappointments and sorrows in life. And as Paul wrote, ‘Theres nothing to do, nothing to change, everything is perfect just as it is.’

    More peace,
    Janise

  • By hilly, April 18, 2010 @ 2:35 am

    If I took a negative attitude every time life hit me in the eye I would never have thought positive in my life! I do my best to turn any negative feelings I have into positive ones – sometimes that means a certain aggression – a rebellion against the situation I find myself in.
    I have little time for the apathetic the dishonest and the intolerant..irony?am I intolerant of those who are apathetic, dishonest? Probably.

    I remember one of the nuns at the school I went to (it was a good school – had nothing to do with religion – and they knew they were outnumbered anyway)?; when challenged by a class of savvy worldly 14 year olds ‘how can you as a woman believe that?’ she said ‘I learnt a long time ago when to suspend my intelligence to accommodate my faith.’
    Good for her – but I could never compromise my mind in that way

    Hope you find a new job soon Sue – you have my sympathy, I’m on the job-trail too and fighting the idea that over 50 means ‘should be thinking of retiring’…hahaha I need to work til I’m 75 to get a full state pension!

  • By Sue, April 18, 2010 @ 5:36 am

    Thanks, Hilly. Luckily (she says at this point in time) I have several job offers and it’s just coming down to the end where one has to do the reference check/”health screening” stuff before the formal offers are made–or not. The whole healthcare screwup in the US has actually been good for me because of the background in nursing that I have. I’ve been unknowingly positioning myself for this type of collapse all along in my career goals (sounds weird, doesn’t it), and it’s working out well because I have the experience very few people have and hospitals/managed care organizations are just beginning to realize they need as they try to navigate these new uncharted waters of “reform”. TMI, I know, but there you have it.

    I must admit to being somewhat…taken aback (not exactly the right phraseology, but it’ll have to do this fine Sunday morn) by some of what read to me to be absolutes of a sort written here and there in these comments. Absolutes like (apologies in advance to the writer) “We must trust in the Divine order of things [...]”

    No, “we” mustn’t. Anyone “can” if they so wish, but to me at least, there isn’t any “must” about it, and there certainly is no “we” about it either, unless the “we” in question is the Royal We. For me, things happen. Or they don’t. For me, there is no divine master plan working somewhere offstage. No god has some plan for me that I’m too stupid to understand and therefore simply must have faith that it’s there.

    When bad stuff happens, I throw my trust behind the world keeping on spinning until I can figure out, either on my own, or with the assistance of real, live people with greater experience than I, how to get back on my feet and once again point my personal compass in the direction that is right for me.

    Once again, if anyone believes in a god or gods, and believe said god or gods has a plan for them, and trusts in that plan and has faith in that god or gods, that’s great! For them.

    To extrapolate from that personal, singular experience and state that because person A believes and trusts in such, that person B *must* then accept that as the script for their own life as well is, if not insulting, at least insisting that I live my life by a set of rules that I have no interest in learning.

    My life is my life and I will trust in what I want to trust in. I won’t tell anyone what they must trust, and I ask the same from them for me.

    It was like when I was much younger and the god subject would come up and I would state my non belief and someone would say, invariably smiling and patting my hands “That’s ok, dear, because HE believes in YOU.” Ugh. That was, and continues to be, so condescending.

    I think that belief systems, whatever they may be, are intensely personal things that exist between you and whomever/whatever you believe in. Talking about them and debating them can be fun, I don’t disagree. But what is good for you is good for you. And what’s good for me is good for me. And that’s what I consider all good! :D

  • By Raffy, April 18, 2010 @ 9:02 am

    Hope and faith. In my opinion it is not only a question of being doubtful or on the contrary fully trusting that something is or will be. I guess that in any case our “thinking”, as we usually do it, most times could become an obstacle along our journey to just “being”, which is an everlasting “work in progress”. Each of us has faith or hope in something, including the faith or hope that there is no God. It is a hope or faith too. Our mind itself has the power to drive us to feel doubtful about something as well as to apparently feel free from any doubts, so not always we can be sure if faith or hope is what we are really experiencing or just a mere attempt of our mind in order to find and define a way to overcome our sense of helplessness. In a sense we could get doubtful about our faith, however we feel it so strong in our daily life, or trustful in our hope. As for me, I think the more we get in touch and find out the “now” through meditation, the more we can experience our real dimension. While living in that time without time, we detach from any regrets and any desires, and not being stuck anymore on the sources of our suffering, we can cultivate the fullness of our heart, our oneness, and the simple joy of being in the process rather than the anxiety about the results of our aspirations and dreams. It can lead to experience that connection to all through love… to be everything. I think hope becomes faith in the present moment.

    Love, Raffy

  • By Sue, April 18, 2010 @ 10:20 am

    Raffy:

    For myself, I’ve got to disagree that non belief in god is a faith in and of itself. That’s a popular argument used by theists the world over, and I know very few atheists who agree with it.

    I’ll bet, let’s say an American dime, that you don’t believe in one-eyed, one-horned, giant purple people eaters wearing green plaid bikinis. Is that a faith that you don’t believe in them? Is it a faith that you don’t believe in unicorns, or faeries, or leprechauns, or talking space aliens from the planet ZZZZRRth? No.

    There is not faith in atheism. It’s not a church, and it’s certainly not a belief system. I simply don’t believe in God the exact same way as I don’t believe in any of the examples I wrote out above. And, in fact, the only time I *think* about not believing in god is when I’m told that I *must* believe in him because he has a plan for my life, or that “HE believes in YOU, dear”.

    So I gotta disagree with ya there.

    Course, that’s just one person’s personal POV and all that good stuff. :D

  • By Sue, April 18, 2010 @ 10:31 am

    Pam:

    THanks for the good wishes.

    As for your belief system with regards to your light is my light and the like is that that can start up difficulties in its own way, too, if taken to an extreme.

    Meaning simply this: If we share a light, and I am doing something that you believe works against our conjoined light, dimming it or threatening in some way to snuff it out, it becomes incumbent upon you to speak out against whatever it is that you believe I am doing that may, even if it isn’t harming ME at all, harm you because of that shared light.

    As an example, who you love and who you marry has absolutely no impact whatsoever upon my life. It has no business in my thoughts or in my actions and has nothing to do with me at all. But, if I love someone who you believe will cause “the creator” to dim our joined light, it is then incumbent upon you to put your nose in my bedroom and tell me that what I”m doing is wrong because it impacts you directly, us being joined and all.

    Now, please believe that I’m NOT saying you’re doing that or would even THINK about doing that. But sometimes, I’ll even say oft-times in organized religion and in any other societal archetype which says that we are all joined together and that we stand and fall together, what I do in the privacy of my own home then becomes, by necessity, your business because you’re afraid it’s going to impact you in some harmful way.

    I, rather, like to believe that while we all share this planet and are all responsible for making sure it’s the best place for everyone to live on, we also have the right to follow our own paths when it comes to our own private lives, as long as those paths to not negatively intersect with another’s in a tangibly harmful manner.

  • By Janise Anthony, April 18, 2010 @ 11:20 am

    Sitting now at the airport waiting for my flight to Montreal games…a nice way to fill the time.

    It is implied that all entries of any blog are our own opinions and beliefs as it is also implied you do what works for you. No one here is stuffing their beliefs or ideas down anyone’s throats but only sharing as to stimulate a deeper contemplation of ideas here as a path to discovery . Also our responses here are just blogs which do not cross an editor’s desk. What is written is not always what is completely on the writers mind. Maybe if we took a week to compose our essay we would come off as completely understood. For me I don’t have that kind of time. I write my thoughts once do a quick spell check then post.

    Sue wrote…’For me, there is no divine master plan working somewhere offstage. No god has some plan for me that I’m too stupid to understand and therefore simply must have faith that it’s there.” First in my response to Nadine I used her terminology as God being a him but I refer to God as an It…. What is meant by God having a plan is that we are all One with God, connected… there is no separation between us only the illusion of it when we look at it from the principles of Quantum Logic/ Physics etc. And as we are all connected on an energetic level then what happens to any one of us happens to all of us. Whether you believe in God or not, this connection with each other is a fact of physics. Every time we shift the world shifts in reaction to it. A flutter of a butterflies wings can cause tornados. Einstein was a huge believer in God as he felt physics proved Its existence. Ultimately as we evolve as selfless ( less of the self and more of The One) individuals we begin to have an awareness not to just fulfill our own needs but the needs of the One. We will begin to move in the direction and take actions which are for our greater good and for the good of all. The Master Plan as you call it, is what I call Divine Order, which is also referred to as The Order in Chaos. That Divine Order or God’s Plan is again as Paul stated.. ‘There’s nothing to do, nothing to change, everything is perfect just as it is.’

  • By Janise Anthony, April 18, 2010 @ 11:32 am

    I deliberately wrote earlier having faith in something, not someone and I will explain my reasoning. Things do not have free will to change but people do. Even animal are more predictable than people as they operate off of instinct which can be pretty predictable.
    If we have faith in something changeable then its not a true faith as that faith can be broken. Faith is unchanging while beliefs can be changeable.

    Can we really have the same faith in people as we do with God? God and what I mean by God is the Infinite to which we are all connected to in accordance to the laws of physics and metaphysics and consciousness etc… no need for a dancing wu li master lesson… I personally do not see God as a man or woman up in the sky with any form such as a human like body. If God is Omnipresent then how is that form possible? Made in the image an likeness does not necessarily mean in human form but in consciousness. I understand God as a Presence that unites and binds all in the universe. The word God has gotten a bad wrap by religion & dogma of which none do I prescribe. Yes we are one with GOD but that does not make any of us the fullness of God. We are a unique emanation or extension of God, a Co-creator in the universe but not the creator Itself. Since we are not the fullness of God then what we have faith in is different with God than with People. God is unchanging so we can have complete trust and faith in It and by It I mean a gender free God. People are changing all the time. One can be completely trustworthy for years giving us an illusion of faith in them but in one moment they can break that trust or could have been deceptive to us all those years we thought were pure. So faith cannot apply to something or someone which is changing. With that idea, I don’t trust people or have faith in them… I take a risk on people instead and I have trust and faith in Source/God/ Presence/Infinite Mind…whatever you call It.

  • By Raffy, April 18, 2010 @ 11:48 am

    Sue, you always put so much energy in your posts about God-not God…it makes me think about it as a “faith”…something you feel “without having something to authenticate it”. I said “faith”, not “belief system”, and for me there is a difference. Never thought that atheism is a “religion”, but I think it is very difficult to us all to consider ourselves without any sort of faith, whatever it is, even the faith in ourselves, and the fact that one doesn’t believe in unicorns, or faeries, or leprechauns, or aliens…yes, for me it can be considered a faith, as the contrary is too.
    It is not only the fact of clearly having “something” to believe in that creates “faith”, but also the fact of feeling that you don’t believe in it. People who believe and people who don’t believe in the same thing generally can’t prove anything. What’s the problem after all?
    Maybe the need to feel “free”, not “involved”… not associated with anything. And it would be useful in a sense…a good point where to start our journey.
    But the fact that you need to say that you don’t “believe” means that you are and want to be a part of the everything. Would you be ready for losing your faith? It is a risk! ;-)
    I know in my experience that I have changed very much in these last years, and in a way that years ago I wouldn’t even thought possible. I lost so much if I see things from a certain point of view.I’m not yet completely in peace with my change, but I am positive with my “evolution”. I think that all things are linked, there are only different expressions of the one. That’s why “faith” or “not faith” in something are only apparent opposites…but they aren’t in depths.

    Raffy

  • By Janise Anthony, April 18, 2010 @ 12:26 pm

    Well said Raffy,

    I agree Sue…

    “I, rather, like to believe that while we all share this planet and are all responsible for making sure it’s the best place for everyone to live on, we also have the right to follow our own paths when it comes to our own private lives, as long as those paths to not negatively intersect with another’s in a tangibly harmful manner.”

    As I like to say…”Don’t leave any bodies in your wake!”

    In response to thougts shared on “… your light is my light…’

    I do believe we all share God’s or Source’s light through our connection with It. But my light is my light and your light is your light according to what vibration we are operating on and with what you are able to handle. One can share its light with another but it is not the same as possessing the same exact light yet it is from the same Source or call it God. The more enlightened we become the quicker our vibration gets and the more light we emanate or if operating on survival mode both vibe and light are lower. An animal operates on a very slow frequency which is why most people on the path to enlightenment are vegetarians in Hindu cultures as meat, especially beef and pork, are the lowest frequency foods. Many Hindus on the path, do not allow animals in the bedroom at night as the animals low frequency can lower theirs through a merging of energies. It is said once enlightenment is attained then it does not matter what you eat or what or who you are exposed to, you will transcend it. Until we reach that place, we can disconnect from those lower vibrations by removing ourselves from its presence or by protecting the body from its absorption with shielding techniques and such. Indian culture uses sage to cleanse itself of outside negative influences and energies & sounding techniques are used to cleanse vibrations around them. ( try sage in your home and around your body and you will feel this shift of energy. Its so purifying.) This differentiation of light and frequency or vibrations explains why like attracts like, and opposites repel. Often lower energies are attracted to like but also attracted to higher energies to feed off of it (we all know that energy vampire who just drains us by being around them no matter how nice of a person they are) Yet higher energies or vibrations are repelled by lower energies because those energies drain it. We can see this when one person has a mad crush on someone and that someone does not feel a mutual attraction. Their energies are not compatible. Most intimate couples connect as they are on the same frequency & light of operation. As they grow and evolve their connection with one another may grow even deeper or may fade as one might outgrow the other and they no longer resonate together. And there is nothing more expansive like having great sex with someone you love who is of a high compatibility of frequency and light where a merging takes place like no other. It is Epic! Well, its always good to leave on a high so I will end here with that thought and board my plane.

    Happy blogging this week!

    Salut’ mon amis .
    A plus tarde,
    Janise

  • By Sue, April 18, 2010 @ 12:58 pm

    Hey, Raffy! Thanks for your reply. You’re right in that I do put energy into it because, well, simply put, I love to debate. Give me anything that spurs my interest, and I’ll have a word or million to say on it, you betcha by golly wow. :D

    I think that I may be seeing “faith” and “belief systems” as defined a bit differently, for the purposes of this discussion, than you do. Meaning for me, let’s say that person A knows, without one doubt in her mind, that God exists. Therefore, and this is my particular definition, she doesn’t need faith, because she knows. So for me, “I believe God exists” and “I have faith that God exists” are the same thing. And both are different than “I know God exists”. So for purposes of my own definition in this discussion, “faith” and “belief system” are equal.

    But in my day to day life, the thought of God/god/divine force or being crosses my mind no more than unicorns or faeries do. It is something that simply doesn’t enter into my thought processes, unless I read someone speaking about it, or to be more specific, speaking FOR ME (or presuming to) about it.

    But, you see, I take this as an intellectual exercise. It’s not something that I do to be a “rebel” or something along those lines. And since I have no faith to lose, I take no risks in losing it. :D And if, tomorrow, God came down to earth, sat on my lap, put his arm around my shoulder, and said “Well, chickie, I’m real and you’re wrong.”, I’d go “Guess I am. Howdy, God. How’s it hangin?” Or, you know, words to that effect. ;)

    I think probably that I also talk about atheism for the same reason I talk about homosexuality. People (not speaking of anyone specifically) tend to have preconceived notions of both based on things that they’ve heard and not experienced, so I’ve always believed in being “out” just so that I can help dispel some of those notions, or not, as the case may be.

    But it’s all good as far as I’m concerned.

  • By Sue, April 18, 2010 @ 1:08 pm

    Janise:

    I understand some of what you’re saying. Not all of it, but some of it. I’d certainly have to study up a good deal more on Quantum physics and the like before I could determine for myself how much of what you write here is truth–and that is not an accusation. Please don’t think that it is. I’m not into that.

    It’s more a thing that I’ve chided others on, for example, knowledge of evolution being bought part and parcel from a pastor’s words rather than Darwin’s, and I wouldn’t negate my own chiding by simply accepting someone else’s word unless I myself studied it so that I could feel confident in a ‘yay’ or a ‘nay’ on the topic.

    But I do thank you for clarifying some of the things that you said that I did originally misread. Mea culpa.

    Peace out.

    SUe

  • By Christine, April 18, 2010 @ 2:00 pm

    Hi everyone, With respect to other’s opinions, I really don’t see how you can find the ‘good’ in loss. The only thing that loss does to you in my opinion is to eventually give us strength to continue. Having said that, it depends on the person and how that loss came about.
    For some it can be life changing in the sense where they try their best to help other’s in the same situation. But, for other’s that same loss can cause so much devastation that life is changed forever. I guess it does depend on your ‘Faith’ or belief and everyone has their own views on it. Problem is from a personal point of view I don’t really know what I believe anymore. There are just too many questions and not enough answers!. Whatever gets you through the day, we all have our own ways and just as long as we can take a day at a time there is hope I think. I suppose if we all thought the same, reacted the same etc this world would be a very boring place!. Its only because we are individuals that things get interesting.
    I still really have problems ‘getting’ this ability that Paul and other’s have to ‘detach’? for want of a better word or is it ‘step back’ from and not get so weighed down with everything. I truly wish I understood it fully, and also how to do it? Maybe its a fault on my part that I always get so emotionally involved. The emotional side always seems to take over from the logical side, I have often been told that men are much more rational and logical than women (sorry to all other ladies out there, but according to friends its been scientifically proven) so maybe there is some truth in it. Women are far more likely to be emotional creatures! Oh well I’ve probably just offended half the women on here! sorry lol. No offence intended. This blog really has got my struggling brain working so hard.
    Best Wishes, Christine.xx

  • By Raffy, April 18, 2010 @ 2:31 pm

    Sue… despite you say that you don’t think at all of “God” if not when you are trained someway to do it, you are able to imagine so much about a possible “meeting”! ;-)
    Do you think that whatever telling you it’s God could ever convince you of its existence?
    No “proofs” of that kind could be good enough in my opinion. I think, or better I feel, that we are here to surrender and become one spiritual body with everything, day by day. If we for a moment gave a pill of Valium to our ego and then see how easier it is to feel “the same” with all around us, this would give us a perception of peace and immortality. Maybe because in that moment we experience that we are not alone and nothing really dies.
    Is this “God”? It is something we all are longing for?
    I think we all are searching for our heart, walking along a more or less tortuous and rough way. Only love we can find there, in that pure space, can tell us what “God” is and why we exist…

    Peace, Raffy

  • By Sue, April 18, 2010 @ 2:52 pm

    Raffy…LOL! Well, ya know. :D I just think that thoughts of that nature spring up in the human mind, and that’s all they are and ever will be. From us and of us, without any outside influence, per se.

    I remember hearing on NPR, then reading up on it, that experiment on moral judgments where it was very easy to change a person’s moral judgment on a certain situation by simply delivering a magnetic pulse to a certain area of the brain.

    For any who haven’t heard of it, it was an experiment where the subjects were given two stories. One where a person accidentally poisons a co-worker (ala 9-5) by putting a noxious substance in the coffee instead of the sugar or creamer or whatever that she meant to put in. And the subjects hearing that story were asked to pass moral judgment on it. And they all agreed that while it was “wrong”, it was also an accident and that the person shouldn’t be punished for it.

    The second story is the opposite, where the person knowingly puts the poison in the coffee, but it turns out to be sugar and the person is fine.

    The subjects all agree that even though nothing became of the incident, the intent is what counts, and the person committed a moral wrong by intending to kill her co-worker.

    However, when the second story is told to the subject and a simple magnetic pulse is delivered right behind the right ear, all of the subjects then said that there was nothing morally wrong with intending to kill the boss BECAUSE nothing bad came of it.

    To me, if something as simple as a magnetic pulse can change a person’s entire view of the morality of an intended action, I can’t help but continue to believe it’s all in our brains and nowhere else.

    Sue

  • By Janise Anthony, April 18, 2010 @ 6:06 pm

    One more post before my lay over is over… ( this has really helped my travel day go by easily…)

    ” I don’t trust people or have faith in them… I take a risk on people instead”

    To explain further & maybe eliminate some confusion to my previous post… When we drive down the road with cars driving in the opposite direction of us with just a yellow line to separate our paths, we take the risk to drive on that road and hope they don’t crash into us.
    Can we have faith in these other drivers who may be moving toward mental senility, emotional distress,drunkenness, physical impairment( we all know of that driver who caused Santa Monica’s farmers market deaths)? No. We have to take a risk on the people we share the road with or even the loved ones we allow to drive us around.

    No one can say, I will never get hurt or let down by someone else. Although in reality we chose to feel hurt no one makes us feel anything. But back to the point… It is unwise to have faith in a complete stranger. We take a risk on them. As time goes by they begin to build a record with us to give us a feeling of we can trust this person but that trust can be broken the day after we confirm it. Again take a risk on them. Marriages are one thing people say they have the most faith in but they break up all the time. Co-workers and friends let us down at times and mostly not intentionally. There is no consistency with people’s actions so trust and faith can be tricky which is why I say take a risk, a chance, on them. We can assess a persons past demonstrations and decide if we want to take a risk on them and then we have a sense of loyalty for them by committing to the relationship(friend, family, lover etc.) not the person. All persons are flawed in the human condition.

    Which now takes me to relating to the Spirit self and this is where ” “As Paul states: “you will recognize yourself in everything, and everything in you.’ “”
    This recognizing is a universal (meaning One Song) connection to Source/God and our commonality with each other. When you look in the mirror and strip away all which is impermanant about yourself and look beyond all illusions, what is left is the invisible self, the spirit self, perfect and one with God as a unique emanation of It. So when we really look at each other, really see each other for what we truly are, it is as if we are looking in a mirror. What we are at our core is the same in everyone. One with Source… Love, Light etc. This is where we say Namaste’

    If you accept you are one with God, then you are not in the body the body is in you. You are not in the world, the world is in you. If you sit with your eyes closed as if to meditate, notice you do not feel fully contained within the physical body. You feel as is you are around the body and maybe also expanding to the all sides of the room or beyond that. The closer to enlightenment we get the more expanded our awareness is as we consciously feel connection to all things. When this happens life always seem to flow with ease. As we are connected to everything it knows when we are in need of its resources and all we want shows up. If we are one with everything then everything is for us and nothing can be against us.

    My friend Deepak, tells a wonderful story to explain the levels of consciousness evolution and how each level brings us closer to fully experiencing our connection and Oneness:

    The First Level is you would like to eat some strawberry ice cream so you go out and buy some.

    Second level is you would like some strawberry ice cream and you send your kids out to get it for you… ( just kidding on this one)

    OK. The Second Level is you think you want some strawberry ice cream and then someone walks by carrying a cup of strawberry ice cream and says is this yours?… You call your friends and tell them… Oh My God…you won’t believe what happened!

    The Third Level is to think I would like some strawberry ice cream and Ah Ha! There it is!!!

    Personally I experience Level two often. Meditation and yoga (to yoke with Spirit)will do that for you. But Level three would be a real trip!

    Speaking of trip, I am Off again. Be back in a week.
    Peace,
    Janise

  • By Janise Anthony, April 18, 2010 @ 6:40 pm

    One last delay so one more thought…

    A response to Christine’s comments: “It came to me that as an actor you portray one emotion while feeling another…”

    A good actor does not portray one feeling while feeling another unless the character himself is trying to hide something. Yet it is the character’s desire to cover up emotions and hide them which is being acted by the character not the actor himself. I am sure Paul will tell you this. An actor must rid himself of his own emotions using his craft, empty himself, then fill himself up with what his character is feeling or experiencing. If an actor brought his own emotional junk into the scene, we the audience would not feel convinced of this character. A good actor does not act, he lives the life of his character. What I think is easy for actors to do because of their craft training, is to ‘switch off’ & detach while not being distracted as you say. This can be learned. Switching off is just focusing on one thing, as most meditations techniques do. A mantra,( man = mind, tra = to train) is just a sound with no meaning to focus on and train you to get attention of the thoughts and imagery of your mind. Once all the attention is dropped off of your random thoughts then all your attention is on the mantra. Then the mantra will fade to silence and meditation is experienced. If the thoughts come back, bring the mantra back and so on. As you get consistent with focus in your meditation it begins to overflow into your life and you can put your focus anywhere you want. You control your thoughts not your thoughts controling you.

  • By Raffy, April 18, 2010 @ 10:44 pm

    “By Janise”: “An actor must rid himself of his own emotions using his craft, empty himself, then fill himself up with what his character is feeling or experiencing. If an actor brought his own emotional junk into the scene, we the audience would not feel convinced of this character”.

    Actually I had a different or better a more complex understanding of how an actor feels in front of the camera or on stage, just absorbing what Paul said in some occasions.
    For example here, from a 2005 interview at La Sierra, he was talking above all about his experience as a director… it adds something very interesting to what we usually think:

    “…you move through that experience paying attention to how you feel at… any… given…moment. “I don’t feel like coming to work today”, “Oh my hair feels awful”, “Oh I have my period”, I have this, I have that. I mean whatever is going on and a lot of times I’ll say to an actor while the camera’s rolling “Keep the camera rolling. How do you feel right now?” “Well, I don’t know, I feel fine!” Well OK, you feel fine. Or if, you
    know, they’re really onto it, they’ll go “I can’t do this.” OK great, just stay with that feeling. I don’t care about anything just stay with that feeling like you can do it. Ok, play the scene. Because the reality of what is present, this goes way back to what I was saying before, when you’re present, when you can own what is, what is in front of the camera, that’s when the camera loves you. That’s when you’re telling the truth. You may not feel good. If I had a nickel for every performance I did at the theater where afterwards people come back stage to me and I go “Oh, I was awful! That was the worst performance in the world. God I suck! I can’t do this! Why did I make me think I could do this?” And people would say “God that was great! That was the best thing I’ve ever seen you do!” Because all I was doing through the whole show was struggling to get through it. And that, the audience didn’t know that, all they watched was this guy in pain and go “WOW!” It’s an important lesson there.”

  • By Christine, April 19, 2010 @ 4:52 am

    Hi Janise Anthony, To be honest I have never acted, not even in school plays etc because I was way too shy for that. But I have a fascination with it. I guess what I was trying to say was and sorry everyone I know this is way off topic! You get an actor/actress they could be having the worst time in their lives, yet at 7pm that evening they have to be on stage ‘acting’ like they don’t have a care in the world. Yes they are acting, and it must be great to have that kind of skill but the actor is still human. Like for instance, a comedian can spend all night laughing/joking on stage then the same person off stage seems so troubled. Anyway I’d better stick to the topic lol.

    Hi Raffy,
    Thank you for posting the speech Paul gave. Its interesting to try to get to grips with something I know very little about.
    Best Wishes,
    Christine.

  • By Christine, April 19, 2010 @ 4:59 am

    Hi Pam, I so understand where you are coming from. I’m sorry you are having troubles, I guess all we can ever do is take a day, sometimes even an hour by hour outlook on life. There is aways that hope that around the corner will be different. Wouldn’t it be nice if we had a crystal ball and we could see what lay ahead! then again would that work on the bad things too? If we knew what this life had planned for us would we ever get out of bed!. I hope things pick up for you soon. Yes, we all have our own troubles but that doesn’t change the fact that we feel so awful sometimes. Take care Pam, Love Christine xx

  • By Rachelle, April 19, 2010 @ 5:59 am

    Hi Pam,
    I’m sorry right now has not been the easiest. You are appreciated my friend!

    Raffy – I agree with Christine thanks for sharing the speech from Paul.

    Happy Monday all, Rach

  • By hilly, April 19, 2010 @ 11:44 am

    I’m with you Sue.(about 20 posts later LOL) The truth is that whatever method you use to concentrate your mind it is likely to help you remember (even subconsciously) where you put whatever you lost. An extension of the Twinkle twinkle method…when I was in college and having to learn all the boring bits of human anatomy we had mnemonics to help us – 30+ years on I can remember the mnemonic but not what it stood for – Sailors Often Have Curly Auburn Hair Til Old Age – has nothing to do with Sitmoia (see forum) and something to do with the cranial nerves….don’t ask!
    what did help me from high school through all my studies was having music playing while I studied. Come exams the first thing that went through my head when I looked at the questions would be a piece of music (had to stop humming out loud of course) and then by some strange working of my (very strange) mind the answer (or the info needed) came tripping along and lay down on the page with a big grin.
    Genesis “Wind and Wuthering” still brings the basics of developmental linguistics into my head.
    Go figure!

    Best of luck with the next step in the recruitment process…I sent an application in today – they didn’t want a CV but a letter to ‘motivate them’ to interview me. Real Estate job – I wrote an ad for me as a house! Period piece in need of some renovation….

  • By Sue, April 20, 2010 @ 4:54 am

    Hilly:

    Cranial nerves for me — On Old Olympus’ Towering Tops A Finn And German Viewed Some Hops. :D

    And the periodic table was sounded out as “H! Heli Beb Cnof Nena MgAl Sips Clarkca’

    The things you remember when you’re a kid, huh? I learned to count backwards from 10 listening to the rockets take off for the moon! Man, I’m old. :D

    Sue

  • By chavie, April 20, 2010 @ 6:13 am

    I was a lurker here.. until now. Paul Michael Glaser’s writing is fascinating because in my “erroneous” mind (there it goes), I have this picture of Starsky writing all these exceeding wisdom. I was 10 year old then and even my NOW mind is just starting to “observe” how someone can mellow to the point of sounding so calm, sensible, relaxed and seems to “have it all together”. I get the difference between the “judging” and the “observing” part, but like most who have come from rather “religious” backgrounds, I have lost all faith (have I?) in religion.. yet, I “know” that I have except that I can probably say that maybe it isn’t “faith” but optimism or the basic belief that there is still some goodness in this world. But then again, I get what he means.. I tend NOT to observe and react (judge?) rather than to simply feel and “observe”. This is a great blog because it makes one think and not think at thesame time.. and I have no idea if anyone gets what I mean…. I love his writing style though because it’s something “I think” I get.. or at least it’s calming.

  • By hilly, April 20, 2010 @ 11:55 am

    Take heart Sue – I’m even older – I learnt to count long before the first rocket countdown (rumour has it I was born reading the instructions for how to get out of the womb!)

    Pam – I agree with you. I don’t choose to be hurt either. We can choose to refuse certain reactions “I am not

    Hurt finds its way through our defences; and when we are vulnerable it hurts even more!

    (and when the spell-checker insists that I should be spelling in US English I choose to say 'nuts'!)

    Janise I hope you finally got to wherever you were heading – or has the unpronounceable volcano hit your schedule.

    So Ok…here's the obvious question. this volcanic explosion is causing havoc all over the northern hemisphere.

    Nature? God?
    And if it is "god" – why? why would an apparently benign god (that's the picture the christian mythology gives him/her) cause such chaos?
    Seems to me that "intelligent design" gets hit out of court when you take into account the huge faults in construction that these phenomena are witness to.

    Intrigued…..

  • By Christine, April 21, 2010 @ 4:58 am

    Hi Hilly,I have to agree, what is it with this world right now? There seem to be more earthquakes, and what they call ‘natural disasters’ now than I can ever remember as a child. Surely this can’t be all down to global warming?. I was watching a documentary recently on this very subject and so many people asked where was God?. Why does he let things like this happen? Which I must say I have asked myself so many times and the answer came back that he has no control over it! The thing is if he can’t who can? Then they talked with a man who had lost members of his family in a tsunami, this was really hard to watch I ended up crying through this programme, yet this man still had his ‘Faith’ there was no bitterness, heartbreaking sadness yes, but his belief was as strong as it had ever been.
    I felt so much admiration for this man. My personal ‘Faith’ started to go almost four years ago, things happen in your life that seriously makes you question everything. I can almost hear my late Catholic mam asking me how I could go against all she taught me !!.
    So, I sit here with my little ornaments of Buddha, and try to learn to meditate…. a way forward? I really hope so.
    With love as always,
    Christine. xx

  • By Sammy, April 21, 2010 @ 5:29 am

    Hurt happens everywhere everyday to everyone. I have had my share of it. It was bad enough to make me to stay away from my home country for good. We get hurt mainly because we tend to think everyone out there is just like us. We forget for a moment that cruelty exists. We open up. We share and then suffer the consequences (not all the time but most of the time).

    The best solution I have found to stop the hurting is to stay away from such people. Just leave if you can. When I had decided to leave the job I had in my country (a job that I loved), because of just one person that made my life a living hell, and my friends said that I should not leave but stay and fight back. I asked myself why I should keep on fighting when fighting is not my nature. That will make me more and more unhappy. I was running away from one person- Just one person, whom I had helped and trusted and thought of as friend. “A Friend”! Looking back I see how foolish I were to not to identify him for what he really was.

    The point is, one can deal with the hurting in many ways. You could leave, you can stay and fight back, you can stay and don’t fight but ignore what is happening. You can make yourself impervious to external forces.

    What I have come to realize is that people who hurt others do so because they believe they have nothing else to do in their lives. Their lives are just empty and they are unhappy. They turn to sick ways of comfort.

    Pam, if someone hurt you, those are sick people. Surround yourself with good friends and turn a blind eye (or a ‘deaf ear’ or ‘non-sensing touch’) to the hurting.

    Why would God create two human beings and make one go against the other? Why would he make one hurt the other? Doesn’t make sense. Like Christine said, God (if there is one) has no control over what humans do. God could not have created such human beings.

  • By PamT, April 21, 2010 @ 6:27 am

    Some very stimulating discussions and sharing of thoughts going on here regarding belief, faith and god. I’ve really enjoyed the challenge of trying to wrap my brain around some of the concepts presented, so many thanks to all.

    In practice, I think ‘belief’ and ‘faith’ are commonly used in a broadly interchangeable manner, although faith has much stronger and deeper connotations. To me, beliefs are ideas held with conviction, but faith constitutes somebody’s ‘truth’. The absence of ‘evidence’, and the therefore necessary ingredient of trust, seems to me to be a pre-requisite for both – although to a greater degree in the instance of faith. If you have ‘evidence’ in the way of direct experience, then I’d tentatively question whether the element of faith is really still relevant. And if faith does equate to truly ‘knowing’, I wonder how is it possible for people to lose their faith and effectively ‘un-know’? The relationship between faith and hope has come up previously on this blog and I don’t disagree with anything that has been said, but I would suggest that in the absence of complete faith, a hopeful (along with optimistic and receptive) frame of mind has a valid role to play.

    It appears to me that at a time when there are decreasing numbers ‘keeping the faith’ with the established, formalised religions in our Western culture (certainly in Europe), we are presented with all manner of other options to believe and have faith in – from Eastern & Asian-based faiths/philosophies and New Age religions at one end of the scale ….. to having a lighted candle stuck in your ear in order to cure something or other (apologies if there are any Hopi practitioners here). I find it interesting that this would seem to indicate that having SOMETHING to believe in is somehow an instinctive need within the human make-up for many, but not necessarily all, of us. Anyway, with all these ‘choices’, whilst it’s good to have an open mind, if we are ourselves seeking or encounter something which strikes a chord with us in some way, I think we then need to apply some kind of initial discriminatory ‘thinking’ process (“Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense” – the teacher born as Siddhartha Gautama). I think this can grow into belief, but I’ll have to get back to you on how that then translates into faith. A sudden revelation? A gradual dawning realisation? A conscious decision? Is it coincidence that we use the phrase ‘leap of faith’? I don’t know. However, I do agree with Janise that faith in this context relates to ‘something’, rather than ‘someone’. I think having faith in an individual is a whole different ball game.

    OK, I have to pick up on something else that Janise wrote (sorry, Janise – I’ve found myself in agreement with some other of your other points, so no disrespect intended). Namely the concept that people who suffer from physical challenges or handicaps do so in order to learn lessons; presumably for the way they have conducted their lives in previous incarnations. I’ve come across this before and I can’t say that I’m altogether comfortable with it. First off, it sounds a little too close to punishment being meted out by some higher power sitting in judgment. I fully accept that in this life our negative and harmful thoughts/actions will have adverse consequences for us, as well as affecting others. Not in the way of any kind of natural justice or ‘what goes around comes around’, but more from the perspective that I believe such actions/thoughts determine the type of person we evolve into and is in keeping with every action resulting in a reaction. I don’t think there can be many, if any, individuals who consistently engage in angry, bitter, mean-spirited or otherwise negative thoughts/behaviour and still actually experience much in the way of contentment.

    But to bring the repercussions to a next life? Does that mean that if we have led exceptionally ‘good’ previous lives, we return as ‘perfect’ physical specimens because we have far fewer lessons to learn? Does it also by extension mean that any adversity we encounter in this life is somehow a consequence from our misdoings (or lessons we have got ‘wrong’) in previous incarnations? I remember a reference that PMG made, in an interview I think, to the effect that when misfortune has struck instead of asking ‘Why me?’, ‘Why not me?’ is perhaps more helpful. That made a lot of sense to me when I initially read it and still does. I know many people believe in reincarnation but I also have issues with the concept itself. I can accept that when our bodies die, the remaining energy residing in the brain cannot be destroyed and must go somewhere, but I’m curious as to how it can effectively be ring-fenced (as a Higher Self, say) to end up being ‘born’ intact into another body vessel. Well, perhaps that’s simply down to my ignorance (spiritual or otherwise) and also an indication that it’s high time I bought the physics and metaphysics companions to that volume of ‘Quantum Mechanics for Dummies’!

    “You will experience, as you have already experienced the love and peace and warmth, the connection to all that is. Call it God, Love, Truth, Beauty, it doesn’t matter. Whatever your belief system or religion calls it…isn’t important.”

    I’m very much struck by how concepts such as god and love convey a variety of meanings (and carry diverse connotations) to different people. When I read the above statement from PMG, I find myself immediately gravitating toward the word ‘Truth’ and I suspect that some others are drawn to different, or perhaps even all, elements. Maybe, putting all diversions to one side, a variety of individual roads can indeed lead to Rome, even if they take apparently very different routes.

    Anyway, I’ve wittered on more than enough already. Thanks again.

    Wishing all well.

    PamT

  • By valerie, April 21, 2010 @ 9:51 am

    Coucou Nadine,
    ton message m’a beaucoup touchée…..je partage tes inquiétudes et suis de tout coeur avec toi dans ces moments difficiles. Il n’est pas simple d’accepter de laisser partir ceux que l’on aime……
    j’espère de tout coeur que ton papa ira mieux. Mes pensées t’accompagnent…
    à bientôt
    Biz, valerie

    je reviendrai mettre un petit mot quant à la pensée de paul (je médite …)
    à très bientôt
    valerie

  • By hilly, April 21, 2010 @ 12:24 pm

    I’m still catching up here. I find myself reading Sue’s remarks and nodding so much the other people in the office are wondering what the heck I’m doing.

    why do we have to have a definition of our beleifs? why should Sue’s perfectly reasonable defence of not believing in ‘god’ or whatever be a kind of faith in itself? why can’t those of you who choose to believe accept that there are others who don’t need it?
    I have my own system of theories about where we are inthe word – call it my spirituality – I can have that without having a religion. In fact it seems to me easier and more logical to blend a personal interpretation of our place in the world.
    Call it spirituality à la carte and not the set menu!

    Pam, yes, forgiveness is an important thing. I am always ready to forgive and forget when the other person is also willing to bury the hatchet (as long as it isn’t in my skull LOL) I even make the first move sometimes. BUT I have an innate inability to suffer fools gladly!

  • By hilly, April 21, 2010 @ 12:28 pm

    PS…Sue, my redheaded sailors can’t have been the cranial nerves…now I wonder what on earth they were? I was convinced that the ‘T’ was the Trigeminal – which is giving me a bad time with a hay-fever/sinus related neuralgic migraine so maybe I should just give up!

  • By Christine, April 21, 2010 @ 2:21 pm

    Hi Sammy, Your comments really hit the nail on the head there!.
    We all talk about ‘belief’ in our lives or the lack of it, but what about our belief in one another?. I guess the more trusting you are in this life the more chance you take of being hurt. Trust is a funny thing it takes time to trust someone yet that same trust can be so quickly broken. I try to forgive because none of us are perfect having said that there are things that just can’t be forgiven. In my opinion every relationship is based on trust from friendship through to marriage. Once that all important trust has gone it is hard if not impossible to rebuild; sometimes the pain just runs too deep and you beat yourself up for not ‘seeing’ it sooner. Then we start to build our invisible walls to keep other’s at bay. It is safer to not get too close to anyone, yet it can be a lonely place to be. Not allowing yourself to love, to connect, and share is one way of living, a sure way of not getting hurt, but we all need someone even if sometimes we pretend that we are so independent that we don’t. How many times do we ask if so and so seems to be genuine? The more hurt we get the more often we find ourselves asking it, and if we are not careful everyone will gradually become more cynical towards each other. I’ll climb down off my soap box now!!
    Best wishes,
    Christine xx

  • By Sue, April 21, 2010 @ 8:43 pm

    For myself, just as I don’t accept a heaven or hell, I can’t wrap my mind around or buy into something like reincarnation. To me and FOR me, it’s just another symptom of the “curse” of self actualization, that we can’t accept that death is the final answer and we must therefore come up with a myriad of ways of explaining why it isn’t so, so that we don’t have to accept our own finite and insignificant place in the universe. We live, we die, life goes on without us.

    All other species seem to get along just fine with that. I guess because (and I’m no animal expert) they’ve got no concept of their own mortality. Because we do, we fear it, and so we have to dig around for various loopholes or “get out of death free” cards that give us some sort of hope that the end isn’t really the end. That there’s something more after the closing credits have rolled out and the screen goes to black.

    Am I so very strange in that my belief that death is just that, a cessation of everything? Do I have something missing inside of me as a human being that I don’t fear death?

    Because I don’t.

    Oh, I fear DYING. I fear that A LOT. But death? That I don’t fear.

    Sometimes I think that there really MUST be something wrong with me to feel that way, but hell, if it’s one less fear to have, I suppose it’s a good thing. I think my extreme arachnophobia is probably happy to take up the space left over by my non fear of death itself. *shudder*

    Sue

  • By Sammy, April 22, 2010 @ 5:56 am

    Christine:

    Thank you for your kind words. I agree that we cannot give up love and friendship and not open up to people who love us. I think ‘closing up’ is just another way of the mind to cope with the hurt and protect you until you are ready to take the next step. In the back of my mind I always knew that I will be able to go back to my old self … one day .. no matter how long it takes.

    But one will never be the exact same ‘old self’. You lose some of yourself and change to someone else in little ways. Experiences tend to do that.

    Sue:

    I don’t think there is anything wrong with not believing in something you really do not know that exists. Call it heaven, hell, reincarnation, life after death etc etc… .. isn’t THAT your belief exactly!- Not believing of the unknown but believing in what you see for the moment. That makes more sense to me than anything else.

    Having said that I have to confess that I am a firm believer in reincarnation.. :-) … Don’t ask me why- it s just what I believe… Maybe because that is what I have always heard. Maybe because I can explain to myself why some things happen in ‘unexplainable’ ways.

    Does it matter what one believes as long as that person does not harm anyone else or as long as that person lives a ‘good’ life? I don’t go looking for people who believe in reincarnation.. I don’t even know what my friends believe in… Does it bother me? Hell no!

    What matters is the actions that arise from those beliefs.

  • By kroselynn, April 22, 2010 @ 9:46 am

    First I’d like to say that this is the first comment I’ve made on your blog since starting to read it.

    And I’d also like to say that I am in awe of you. I don’t know if that will mean anything to you or not, but I am unable to express it any better than that. I’ve had to read and re-read and read again. Hopefully though my writing about what I think I understand you to be saying, or teaching, I can somehow gain a deeper understanding on the level you want me to understand it at. There are things I just don’t understand yet, and I will tell you that. If I disagree with you, I’ll tell you that as well, but I will always give a reason, and I’ve been known to change my mind when given more information. But always know, whatever questions I may ask is because I truly want to know your answer and am in no way trying to be argumentative.

    My Mom, and a lot of people who are close to me, family and friends have told me how much they love being around me because they don’t have to worry about ‘what I think’ if they reveal a like or dislike or or a favorite this or that, or even a concern or a fear. They tell me I am the most un-judgmental person they know. Sometimes they just don’t need to hear “Don’t feel that way.” Or “There’s a silver lining.” Or whatever else someone says to another when they don’t know what else to say. They know I won’t say those cliché things to them, and I’ll honestly try and guide them to understanding what they need to do according to what’s best for them, not what would be best for me to do if I were in that same situation. And they are comfortable being with me because they can be themselves, be who they truly are without having to ‘be the person they are when other people are around.’

    I hope that gives you a little background to who I am and what I’m like to keep in mind while reading my comments.

    So, on to my thoughts, my understandings and my misunderstandings of your most current blog.

    “Feelings? The mind finds more stories than exist, more permutations in an effort to find a way to control those feelings. If that’s the only way the mind can ‘know’ those feelings, then control it will be. Anything to avoid having to experience something that even approaches that feeling of ‘not knowing.’ “ –pmg

    If I understand correctly by your use of the word “permutations” this paragraph essentially means that the mind (not the brain itself, but the result of synapses firing within the brain that create thought) will do anything it can to change around the elements of a situation to make sense of it so that it can have control of that situation.
    If I’m right about that, may I ask you a question?
    This question was immediate: What is the purpose for the ‘mind’ wanting control over any given situation?
    My thoughts out loud, if you will indulge me:
    What is its goal? Is it to have control over something it cannot change?
    But what good does having control over something do if that something cannot be changed?
    Why is it important for the mind to have control?
    When it can’t make sense of a situation, it explains it away as faith, or a belief in something that can’t be understood by our very limited minds and needs to just be accepted.
    Does the mind create God?
    That would explain why there are so many different gods, wouldn’t it?
    Theory: So many years ago, the great thinkers couldn’t grasp how the Earth and Heavens were made; they just didn’t have a concept of it, so in order to control that fact (the fact that the Earth exists) their minds needed to create an answer, so the concept of a Creator of the Heavens and the Earth became the answer that fit the fact, and called it faith. Do our minds still do that very same thing today?

    Our minds need to understand a thing is insatiable; much like your eye is always drawn to the missing piece of a puzzle sitting on the table. In order to have an answer, or the last piece of the puzzle, it creates an answer, fills in the blank, with what is the most logical to make the picture ‘complete’ and if that answer can’t be rationalized, it wants us to just take it’s word for it and understand it as faith in something that is true even if we have no proof that it actually exists.

    Did you know that your eyes have a blind spot? Right in the center. Your brain fills in the blanks from information surrounding the blind spot to make the picture complete. Every second of every minute we have our eyes open, our mind is filling in the blanks of what we see.

    Maybe that’s your point. Even though our minds want control, we don’t actually need it. The mind seeks control even to the point of changing around the elements of the situation, even though we comprehend that we don’t actually need it (‘it’ being control.)
    Hence “…everything is as it should be. Everything is already perfect.” In other words, our minds striving for that control, that need to fill in the blanks to make a thing ‘understood,’ serves absolutely no purpose because we can’t change what is already perfect.

    Getting our mind to accept that is the challenge, right?

    “The consciousness is our minds witness.” –pmg
    That’s a very interesting and very true statement, in my opinion.

    “At that point you will know that you have experienced yourself as the recipient of the entire ancestry of man because at that point, at that moment…you will recognize yourself in everything and everything in you…that you feel it and understand that that is the only way you can ‘know’ it. That’s what we are here to do.” –pmg (bold words mine to draw attention to help reader with the next few comments)

    This took me a while to understand. I had to read and re-read several times before I was able to grasp this. I’m still not entirely sure on the concept of ‘Everything is in you and you are in everything’ but I’m sure that will come at some point. (Is that what you are hoping for your readers, is to understand that one concept?)
    I want to talk about the second half of that quote because I think it defines the first half;
    What is ‘it’ that I’m supposed to feel?
    “That. Ok. Because that is the only way you can know it.”
    What is ‘That?’ ‘That’ is the feeling that you know it.
    Ok. So what’s ‘it’?
    The first ‘it’ is ‘feeling that everything is in you, and you feel yourself in everything.’ (as yet not understood by me.) “That” being the very experience, or feeling, of knowing that you are a part of everything that is (past, present and future.) The second ‘it’ being the connection you feel to everything that is.

    I feel like I’m paraphrasing you, and I don’t think that’s my intention. It’s my mind trying to rearrange the elements of your blog to make sense of it, I guess. 

    But, did I get it? Am I right? And if I’m right, how can I be right and still not understand it?

    You mentioned being a leaf on a stream, a surfer on the wave, and eagle on the wind, as examples of what it’s like to be aware of ‘everything is you, and you are everything.’ And that is our purpose, to be aware of that.

    I thought about that for days…

    You said that our purpose is to be one with everything.

    The leaf has a purpose, all its life it has a purpose. That purpose is always the same, even though the delivery is different depending on what time of year it is.

    What is a leaf’s purpose? What is it in existence to do? Its purpose is food. In the Summer, it creates food for the tree it’s on though photosynthesis, and the tree gains nourishment through its branches. In the Fall, the leaf falls to the ground to become food so the tree then gains nourishment through it’s roots. That leaf’s purpose is to provide that tree with nutrients so it can live. If that leaf, falls into a stream, it’s at the will of the stream until it’s no longer in the steam or until it decays and it’s elements are dispersed in other parts of the land where that steam is flowing, to nourish other plants or trees. Right?

    If an Eagle spreads its wings and glides on the wind, doesn’t it end up where the wind takes him?

    But, an eagle can at least steer in the direction he wants to go and use the wind (or the motion of the water for the surfer) to end up in a desired location, or pretty damn close to it anyway. The surfer to the shore, or the eagle to a particularly plump and tasty fish.

    Are you asking us to use the elements of the Earth to steer ourselves in the direction we want to go? But what about the leaf, it can’t steer itself when it’s floating on the stream? Are we at the mercy of the stream in some ways?

    If we use the elements of the Earth to steer ourselves in a certain direction, are we changing our purpose? If our purpose is to be one with nature, then what benefit is that us?

    That’s not being argumentative, not at all; I really would like an answer to the questions because I really want to know.

    It is now several hours later (I like to type in MS Word, to catch mistakes), and I’ve re-read what I just wrote, and one thing that is blatantly obvious to me now is that in all those examples, I separated the two elements of each example.

    I separated the leaf from the stream, the eagle from the wind, and surfer from the wave. I gave each element its own identity.

    That is exactly it, isn’t it? That’s exactly what you are trying to say. My mind is trying to make sense of your words so I can understand it. Am I right? My mind wants to control your words. Is that what you’re getting at? That’s an example of exactly what you’re trying to say is the very nature of our minds.

    Oh, this is just awesome, this…..what do I call it….I don’t even know….this ‘beginning’ to understanding what you’re saying.

    All I have to do is just let everything, including me, be ‘one thing.’ All of it.

    The leaf, the tree, the stream, the surfer, the wave, the wind, the eagle, and me (and everything/one else) is all ‘one.’ Is that right? Do I understand? My mind doesn’t HAVE to make sense of it, doesn’t HAVE to control it. Because it just is. And there is nothing my mind can do about something that just is, and is perfect the exact way it is. Am I right?

    I hope so, because I’m really liking this!

    Where do I go from here? I want to move forward, but I don’t know where to go. I feel like I could outshine the sun if someone were able to set me on a cloud.
    Krystal

  • By hilly, April 22, 2010 @ 11:27 am

    Sue would you agree that ‘heaven’ and ‘hell’ are more a state of mind than anything else?
    but then how did we get to use the adjectival ‘hell of/helluva’ to be a synonym of ‘heavenly’…for those who do believe in that stuff Satan is the fallen archangel who was ‘guilty’ of challenging ‘God’s’

    Pam T commented on the theory that “the concept that people who suffer from physical challenges or handicaps do so in order to learn lessons;”

    I am uncomfortable with that too; my jury is still out about reincarnation but I can not accept the underlying idea in that concept – one of a possibly vindictive ‘fate’ chooses to burden others with problems to overcome. It comes back to that mean-minded old so-and-so sitting on a cloud pulling the strings.
    I’m like Pinocchio – got no strings!

    Janise I have a question for you – semantics maybe but….why do you see to always put a capital ‘G’ before the ‘od’ even when you are using the word and not the name?

  • By Sue, April 22, 2010 @ 3:42 pm

    Hilly:

    Yes. I think we make our own “heaven” and our own “hell” and they only exist as long as we exist.

    Sue

  • By lady800cc, April 22, 2010 @ 6:53 pm

    PMG, Pam, Blog Fam.. ;-)

    It’s been a minute… the demands of work, family and training have kept me away… a little; but I think having to wait for lay-off announcements left me feeling somewhat “HELPLESS” lol!! I say lol because it wasn’t until I typed this that I realized what my problem has been for the last couple of months. It wasn’t the impending lay-off announcement; it was that I felt helpless in the face of the lay-off, and allowed my creative self to take a vacation to worry and depression. While I’m still employed, I realized now how far I pushed myself into myself. Wow… can’t stop smiling right now ;-) Enlightenment does that.

    To this post, PMG, I’m lovin it. Faith, to me, is letting go of the mind’s quest for logic, and that is not an easy task. I find at this point and time in my life, stringent beliefs based on religious rules, cultural practices or “that’s the way it’s always been”isms, are neural paths that are finding alternate direction.

    Glad to be back!

    Lady800cc
    *YEAH I RIDE!!!*

  • By Janise Anthony, April 22, 2010 @ 7:29 pm

    To answer hilly’s question…

    I am always referring to the name. The lower case “g” is used in god when referring to a male deity such as one from the Greek or Hindu cultures or if I am to refer to “a god” I would use lower case but all if my postings since I joined 2 weeks ago have not touched those topics.

    There are many names for God. Infinite Spirit, Spirit, Supreme Spirit, Infinite Mind, Mind, It, The Infinite, Presence, Father which means First Cause, Intelligence, Power, Essence, etc… and of course I AM.

    In my writings here I am always referring to one of these which is why I always capitalize and the choice to do so is very deliberate.

    Peace,
    Janise

  • By Janise Anthony, April 22, 2010 @ 7:39 pm

    Pam T. let me clarify my comments for you as your presumption of them is not in alignment with my point….

    Your response was… “OK, I have to pick up on something else that Janise wrote … Namely the concept that people who suffer from physical challenges or handicaps do so in order to learn lessons; presumably for the way they have conducted their lives in previous incarnations. I’ve come across this before and I can’t say that I’m altogether comfortable with it. First off, it sounds a little too close to punishment being meted out by some higher power sitting in judgment. I fully accept that in this life our negative and harmful thoughts/actions will have adverse consequences for us, as well as affecting others. Not in the way of any kind of natural justice or ‘what goes around comes around’…”

    I never said or implied coming into this world in a body with physical challenges or handicaps was punishment from previous incarnations. It may be one’s own conscious choice before incarnation as to give oneself a challenge to learn on a deeper level on this plain and in the current life and body with those handicaps either physical, mental or geographical, environmental etc… It does not mean God placed judgement on someone if they enter this realm with physical or mental challenges. If we are consciousness with or without the body then we do not lose our free will on either plain of existence. We have every choice to incarnate in whatever circumstances we desire to further our spiritual growth. It is no accident who we choose as our parents, what gender we are or with any physical handicaps or strengths. What we chose to experience upon our incarnation is, again, all to server the bigger picture of things and fulfill the Divine Order and Unfolding of life as One.

    And who is to say we do not pre-choose before incarnation that in our 50th chronoligical year of life we will fall off a horse and break our neck so that we can further our own growth as well as the cause for spinal injury research. Christopher Reeves was such an example. He lived a life as a good guy, great actor… The guy was Superman for Pete’s sake!… Then his bad accident or was it an accident at all? Predestined by choice? … But what better person to be a spokesman and advocate for spinal cord injury research. I mean I can’t think of anyone who doesn’t like Christopher Reeves?!!! Because of who he was and how he was so loved, enabled him to bring so much more attention and awareness to research than ever before. He had the world captivated and cheering him on to find a way to overcome his challenge. His life had a grand purpose more than just entertaining us. I see what unfolded with Christopher Reeves as a part of the Divine Plan. Another… Michael J. Fox I think is another gift from God to a cause.

    These men and many others of like situations did not only further awareness for their causes but were incredible inspiring examples to teach the masses of how to have faith, hope, strength and empowerment through life’s slings and arrows… adversity. They teach us to be a Victor not a victom.

    It was 20 years ago of which I met one of my dearest friends sister Zahava at her son’s bris. I had spent time chatting with Zahava about how we both loved to play tennis, golf and ski and how she was also big into scuba diving.. Later that evening, I came back to the house to help Zahava with some back pain she was having from standing all day. She approached me at the treatment table and she matter of factly said, ” Should I take off my legs to do this?” I was quite puzzled and didn’t understand the question. She opened her robe and showed me both of her prosthetic legs going all the way up to her hips. She popped them off as one would a pair of flip flops and we began treatment.

    At no time during the bris did I notice any handicap on her part or saw any sort of victim consciousness . She was more alive than many people I know. Full of life and participating in life despite being born with no legs. Amazing women. For me it slapped me in the face as the previous day I was at the gym putting down my own thighs for being an inch bigger than I would like them to be. Not once since have I put down my body and have complete gratitude for it and all I can do with it. I am sure Zahava has had impact on many people who cross her path. What a gift she is able to give people! How much she has changed the world just by being herself!

    Be well fellow bloggers,
    Peace out for now,
    Janise :)

  • By Janise Anthony, April 22, 2010 @ 8:01 pm

    P.S. excuse my spelling errors as I have just noted some in a re-read, but you know what I am intending. Workload & time change where I am now has got my brain in a tad of a twist but having a blast!

    Thanks to hilly for your concern of my travel day. Got here fine with no volcanic ash in my hair.

    One last thought… “Every grain of sand has its place on the beach!”

    Peace
    Janise

  • By Raffy, April 23, 2010 @ 5:10 am

    I have always felt very close to that “faith” that we could reincarnate and choose
    many “details” about it…hopefully that we find the exact “match” we need in an acceptable time! :-) … but also I think there are many more plains of Life and not necessarily we need to “take a form” on this same plain…on this earth…
    I guess we do so only if it can be useful because of the kinds of experiences it provides. Otherwise we could have the choice to experience other spiritual plains according to the things we need for our personal “evolution”. I too think there is no “punishment” referring to some kinds of situations which sound unacceptable to us, and what appears so bad in our human eyes could be good in order to have the chance to move forward along our personal growth…or maybe in order to take by hand other people along their own journey…or both things.
    Did you ever experience that mysterious wrapping light coming from deeply within people who are so incredibly hit in their “human integrity” as it appears to us looking at their body or mental handicaps?…I don’t think it is only a reflection of the human feelings they arise in our hearts but much more…
    Also, for example, if we look better at Jesus’ experience on this earth he could likely not have had any need of this experience here but he could have chosen it or accepted it in benefit of others… as many could have done over the time…because of compassion, of Love …of oneness, which keep all plains of Life profoundly interconnected…

    Namaste, Raffy

  • By Rachelle, April 23, 2010 @ 6:18 am

    Sammy – Nicely said and I agree we must always try to be there for our family and closest of friends. It takes work at times, but so worth it!… Since we share Friday cheer I’ll say “T.G.I.F” for both of us.*g*
    Hilly – I understand what you’re saying. As someone who does believe in God, I accept that others have different beliefs or may not believe at all. Enjoy your day! :)

    Happy Friday everyone, Rach

  • By chavie, April 23, 2010 @ 11:10 am

    It’s 3 am where I am where it’s humid and extreme heat even at this time of the day. Can someone suggest how to feel better? What should I THINK of, or should I accept and feel this?
    Hilly is cool. We do make our own heaven and hell — well, in a sense, unless it’s this HOT! LOve all of your ideas even those I do not entirely comprehend.
    I also wonder what lessons are learnt by something like the Holocaust or the Inquisition or “disabilities”…. or this heat?

  • By hilly, April 23, 2010 @ 10:39 pm

    During a few days of mind-numbing boredom being stuck at the front desk while the secretary was away (and the guy I was working with during my internship was on vacation too!) I had a chance to re-read Paul’s words…here we go (cut and paste is wonderful!)

    Reflections on the mind and feelings

    Does the mind feel? It thinks. That’s how it experiences itself.

    You go on to say that the mind “interprets the physical feelings of the body,” that it uses words to identify the physical ‘sounds’ of the body.

    So true – the mind is the interpreter of what happens in our bodies…it is there to be a witness to the cerebral activity. And we know now that this activity does in some way generate identifiable signals – from ECGs to MRIs an CTs the brains activity has been ‘seen’. Matthieu Ricard is a French Buddhist monk – the spokesman for the Dalai Lama in France. He recently took part in a study – connecting him to an MRI while he meditated. The results were fascinating. And even more interesting is the evidence from that study and others that by meditating we can increase our brain’s capacities by preserving the ‘plasticity’ of the brain. It has always been accepted that from the age of around 30 the brain starts to lose some of its ‘plasticity’ – it begins the slow process of atrophy that come with ageing. For some it goes quickly – hello Dr Alzheimer, who am I today? – sometimes if comes at a ‘natural’ rate and the very old arrive at a state of ‘normal’ senility. In our world that has become so paranoid about aging; where the natural result of our daily existence must be hidden at all costs the thought that it is normal for the very old to lose their memory has become anathema. When Altzheimer identified the disease he called it ‘pre-senile dementia’ in other words arriving too soon at a possibly normal state and defined it as being in conjunction with other physical symptoms that are not so ‘normal’…but how often do we see the ‘diagnosis’ applied by a journalist/Joe (or Jane) Average to any ‘older person’ who shows signs of forgetfulness?
    The travel agent run by Drs Nip and Tuck sell round trip tickets to Shangrila!
    So now – caloo calay – we may be able to forestall that diminution of brain capacity by meditating. It could be a growth industry if you’ll excuse the pun!

    So there it is – the ‘mind’ sitting there in the lotus position somewhere in our brain interpreting those signals. Ah but wait a minute…interpreting. That’s a word to conjure with. In interpreting something we need to have a reference point. And isn’t the capacity to interpret linked to our capacity to imagine?

    Imagination. The mind’s capacity to find and to create the stories it needs to rationalize what it experiences…what we experience. Matter abhors a vacuum (or something like that) and there is no greater or more abhorrent concept for the mind to deal with than a vacuum – an empty mind.
    “My mind’s gone blank” – said with a slight panic or an air of regret/apology. My mind has copped out – gone out to lunch/taken a rain check…Or has it tried to avoid the issue. Sorry, can’t find the right story here – file missing (see the little hour glass spinning on the internal screen behind the mind’s eye?

    The what? Yea, the mind’s eye – that which ‘sees’ how I ‘feel’ .

    The mind prefers the excuse of a momentary lapse of reason to saying – ‘nothing there; I don’t have an explanation/reason/story for this one…please try later.’ And when it doubt our minds pull the ultimate trick – “hey come on, believe me, I know.”
    Seeing is believing…but because I can’t see something doesn’t mean I don’t believe (or know) that it exists. I accept the existence of something on the basis of the evidence that my mind – my story-teller – my imagination – my control panel – gives me. And aha! I make up my mind! And I guess I choose what I ant to or do not want to believe. What I can or can’t bring myself to believe.

    “Belief systems are a compilation of our history of story-telling…..”
    ( had to re-check that – my first reading ‘saw’ “complication”…interesting move by my mind there.)

    Remember a few posts back I mentioned the nun at my school when I was about 14? She said that she knew when to ‘suspend my intelligence’…she knew when it suited her needs – her mind’s need – to believe in something that others can not accept.
    The standard reply from a wily Jesuit is usually ‘believe’….don’t question…put your mind on hold and accept. Sure I could take that path – but it is too easy – too much of a cop-out to my mind – or should I say in my opinion? See how we use the mind as an alibi? Mindful of this I continue (mindlessly? No!).

    “Believe! How? I dunno, keep saying it over and over and maybe you’ll begin to believe.”….dull your mind with repetition and accept?
    Cop out – accept it at face value. Have faith!

    So
    “How does the mind access faith?”
    It doesn’t. We do.
    We have our consciousness that can watch our minds think, watch ourselves feel every sensation, every emotion.”

    Hey that’s quite a feat…and not everyone even realises they can do it. We have a capacity that is a part of and apart from our mind; I’m not sure it remains unused – but I’m pretty sure a high percentage of people aren’t even aware that they are using it. It is a capacity to step up our intellectual ability to analyse. And step to one side.

    Ever had an ‘out of mind experience’? It’s not the same as being ‘out of my ‘mind’.
    An out of mind experience is when we reach that amazing level of being able to observe our mind at work. It doesn’t necessarily need a silent period of meditation. It is a moment when you are aware that you are thinking; not feeling or ‘emoting’ just experiencing – a kind of ‘white thought’ like ‘white sound’. It is the moment before we focus on the concept the image the sound the scent the feeling and think…whatever conclusion we draw from it. It is a moment when the mind steps aside form the ‘brain’. It is a wonderful moment. ‘Light dawns’.
    That is the moment to hold on to, whatever the context. It is the moment when we see that the reason for ‘x’ is ‘y’ (either globally or in our own personal and/or spiritual context) It is a moment of understanding…and when we understand something we know that our mind has done the job.

    “Call it God, Love, Truth, Beauty, it doesn’t matter. Whatever you belief system or religion calls it..it isn’t important. Only that you can feel it and understand that that is the only way you can ‘know’ it.” Then you understand where you want to be. Then you have achieved some kind of (albeit temporary) mental nirvana.

    It is a great place to be.

  • By hilly, April 23, 2010 @ 10:42 pm

    hahaha Chavie – my idea if Hell is a very cold>/i> place – so if the god-squad turns out to be right I’d be happy to go join the opposition where it’s warm than spend eternity with some of them (present company not necessarily included)

  • By chavie, April 24, 2010 @ 8:49 am

    @Hilly,if it’s a hell with the literal cold right now(we’re in a drought),that’s not a bad place. I like your term “god-squad”, I was threatened by nuns (took grade and high school in a Catholic school) and I am not heavy into religion… I am trying to be a good person (whatever that means)and I have “faith” that good will always win over bad.
    How do you meditate? Last I felt some “mental nirvana” was when I got “high” over swimming all day and nigh long in a beach. I also felt in touch with nature when I watched a volcanic eruption from a rooftop and loved the natural fireworks.
    This is true : Call it God, Love, Truth, Beauty, it doesn’t matter. Whatever you belief system or religion calls it..it isn’t important. Only that you can feel it and understand that that is the only way you can ‘know’ it.” — its beautiful.

    I watched my grandmother die slowly of lung Cancer for six months every day. To learn to deal with it, I ran (physically), climbed mountains and ate a lot and went to the farthest villages HERE to talk with strangers. If I was reincarnated, i was probably a caveman.

    Tried meditation and I could only think of “doing something physical” instead (usually, running, hiking or watching nature). I am not young, I’m in the early 40′s — maybe my soul is weird — I even run during the hot days (like this) and compared to all your perceptions and those of some of my friends too, I don’t seem to have the same spiritual depth or whatever that means.

    You’re cool Hilly. You sound easier to understand:)

  • By hilly, April 24, 2010 @ 9:49 am

    I think we all have our own way of Chavie. I listen to my breathing…either sitting quietly somewhere or when I’m taking my 4-mile (fast)walk by the river. I listen to my breathing and slowly let in the other sounds around me; birds singing; ducks quacking; runners’ footsteps and in a week or two it will be the singing of the frogs and then the cicadas will start up. I walk and listen and let my mind go off on whatever tangent it wants to from what I hear around me.

    I don’t think your soul is weird. I wish I could run but I’m in my mid 50s and one of my knees seems to think I’m 100!
    My mind….

  • By hilly, April 24, 2010 @ 1:01 pm

    I’m not a poet – I write prose. but I wrote this last year after one of those walks:

    In the deafening cicada sunlight
    A dragonfly hovers and shimmers in my path
    Feels the vibrations of my shadow
    And flies on

  • By marly, April 25, 2010 @ 12:24 pm

    The other day I was talking about religion with a Muslim colleague of mine.
    I was surprised to find that “our “ Christian biblical characters like Peter, Paul and Moses, to name but a few, are also part of the Islamic religion.
    Whilst talking about the differences and similarities between Christian and Islamic religion my colleague, who happens to be a very religious woman, smiled when I, far from being a faithful Christian at all, concluded that there’s actually very little difference between two seemingly very different religions. She looked at me and said:”You know, Marly, faith is like water…..pour it into a glass and it takes the shape of the glass. Pour it into a bottle and it takes the shape of the bottle……
    Using water as a metaphor to explain that it really doesn’t matter whether you put your faith in God or Allah or any other God(s) because in “truth” they are one and the same may seem to simplify matters too much but personally I find it a very refreshing view on something that courses ongoing friction and human suffering on this earth.
    Whoever you call “God”, as long as he/she/it gives you what you need to make some sense of life (and death), it’s all right, I guess.

    Yesterday I spend some time in the woods.
    While I was standing there in the warmth of the spring sun I heard tiny sounds.
    It was like electricity, a crackling sort of sound almost coming from the depths of the earth or at least so it seemed during those short few minutes. As if plants and insects were preparing for their journey into spring…..
    Being there, listening, feeling, and smelling I all of a sudden felt at peace for the first time since months…..
    When I looked around me I spotted a roe deer in the distance standing stock still staring at me. I stared back and we remained there frozen in time for seconds, two creatures, entirely different from each other and yet so connected because we’re both part of life, of nature.
    It somehow felt like an unexpected but beautiful gift.

    Moments like these just happen…. if you let them.
    They are not to be captured by photograph or film, not even by words (even though I’m trying very hard to do this right now!)
    My mind is simply not able to describe such an experience.
    I guess it would rather make sense of it by calling this a “Godlike” experience…
    I like to believe it’s all about being in the moment and let it happen.

    Take care,
    Marly

  • By chavie, April 25, 2010 @ 1:28 pm

    @Pam – I liked it when you said that meditation should be simple. I agree, let things just happen because like.. I don’t even “think” about it when I go on hikes but there’s a certain “high” I can’t explain. I may be wrong, but simplicity may yet be the most “intelligent” way to live. There are things for instance I don’t understand, all I know is that people should be good because maybe that’s why we’re here — no matter where we are in this planet. We only have one planet anyways…

    @Hilly – cool poem. The last Haiku I wrote was about my coffee cup on the table. Nahhhh…. don’t tell me your knees hurt at 55 years old.My dad is 70 and he goes biking in the highway and thinks I am a wimp for not being able to do the same. You sound great Hilly! I read you always even when I do not reply.. you seem so cool and transparent. I like yah!

  • By chavie, April 25, 2010 @ 1:55 pm

    @Hilly (again) — I was re-reading your poem :
    In the deafening cicada sunlight
    A dragonfly hovers and shimmers in my path
    Feels the vibrations of my shadow
    And flies on

    Question is why do these lovely gentle moments of natural “high” seem to just quickly fade? Isn’t it sad sometimes? I “look” for it (and I may be wrong). I’ve tried climbing all the mountains I can find where I am.. I even tried diving from a mountain to a waterfall to “keep” that high. I could never “keep” THAT feeling. Some say it’s because I am driven to do rather physical things to really feel alive while my dad says it’s the only way to REALLY live. I don’t “feel” driven however (as some of my friends who do Yoga say).Is my soul too tied up with the physical? Just wondering aloud after reading your poem…

  • By Saskia, April 26, 2010 @ 6:21 am

    It may be one’s own conscious choice before incarnation as to give oneself a challenge to learn on a deeper level on this plain and in the current life and body with those handicaps either physical, mental or geographical, environmental etc… It does not mean God placed judgement on someone if they enter this realm with physical or mental challenges. If we are consciousness with or without the body then we do not lose our free will on either plain of existence. We have every choice to incarnate in whatever circumstances we desire to further our spiritual growth. It is no accident who we choose as our parents, what gender we are or with any physical handicaps or strengths. What we chose to experience upon our incarnation is, again, all to server the bigger picture of things and fulfill the Divine Order and Unfolding of life as One.

    And who is to say we do not pre-choose before incarnation that in our 50th chronoligical year of life we will fall off a horse and break our neck so that we can further our own growth as well as the cause for spinal injury research. Christopher Reeves was such an example. He lived a life as a good guy, great actor… The guy was Superman for Pete’s sake!… Then his bad accident or was it an accident at all? Predestined by choice? … But what better person to be a spokesman and advocate for spinal cord injury research. I mean I can’t think of anyone who doesn’t like Christopher Reeves?!!! Because of who he was and how he was so loved, enabled him to bring so much more attention and awareness to research than ever before. He had the world captivated and cheering him on to find a way to overcome his challenge. His life had a grand purpose more than just entertaining us. I see what unfolded with Christopher Reeves as a part of the Divine Plan. Another… Michael J. Fox I think is another gift from God to a cause.

    Janice – I do not understand your belief here, as if it is so, that you are responsible for what happens in your life, then why would a one day old baby die? What have they gained through their short life? What about a baby who dies in the womb, what have they gained?

    Why would someone choose to have awful parents, that treat them terrible and ruin their lives? If you choose your parents, don’t they choose from the very beginning to have you as a child, so how can you then choose them? It just doesn’t make sense. Why would you choose to murder someone, or abuse your own child? What would YOU gain from that?

    I think there are too many questions and no answers at all. There seems to be no logic in this hypothesis.

    Saskia.

  • By Softly, April 26, 2010 @ 6:49 am

    Dear mr. Glaser,

    Picking apart the one-ness.
    Dissecting the Whole.
    Vivisect Feeling.
    Break down Authenticity.
    Anatomize Awe.
    Dismembering Faith.
    Googling God.
    Measuring Mind.

    Divide and conquer?
    This trip will take us nowhere fast.

    Softly

  • By Janise Anthony, April 26, 2010 @ 10:25 am

    Saskia I will explain further… and break down your response to mine.

    Saskia you wrote:”I do not understand your belief here, as if it is so, that you are responsible for what happens in your life, then why would a one day old baby die? What have they gained through their short life?” … Our coming into this world and knowing our Oneness with it does not mean we are selfish. A one day lifespan is not the lesson for the baby but the parents! When we choose to incarnate we also collaborate with others a master lesson plan with each other to experience together. Call it a soul group who gets together and creates all the circumstances for learning on this plain… If we are one then we choose as one.

    Saskia:”What about a baby who dies in the womb, what have they gained? “…. Again the parents have gained lessons of loss and more from the sacrifice of the soul which was to incarnate in the new body. The soul chooses to incarnate into the body at different times. It may choose to enter the body upon conception or it may choose to incarnate at the moment of birth. The body is just a body. We are not the body as it is only our vehicle of expression on this plain. If a baby dies in the womb or at birth it will choose another body to return in when the time is right. When a woman has an abortion or such she is not killing the soul of the baby just terminating the vehicle. That soul will move on to another house. No one is truly harmed.

    Saskia:”Why would someone choose to have awful parents, that treat them terrible and ruin their lives?” …. I had such parents. Stories you wouldn’t believe but I will spare here as I do not live by that sad story anymore … But I overcame all that stuff at a very young age too by doing the work. Now I have a skill of coping which I teach people for their problems and overcoming their dark places. One cannot lead another through a dark path having not traveled there themselves first. I would choose my parents all over again. Its not what happens to you but what you do with what happens. I chose the high road in response to my parents, my sisters chose the low road and still live in anger and pain of things that happened years ago while they are missing the present by living in the past. Now, I have a beautiful full life with beautiful loving friends, working with film stars, pro-athletes and politicians from all over the world and many of them have become my family. I wouldn’t change a thing and I see how my parents gave me the biggest gift. It was work but my rewards have been great! I am happy and joyful and laugh all the time at life as I know life is all just illusion for our learning. The world is a funny place when you see beneath appearances and conditions to know that everything is just as it should be. Perfect!

    Saskia:”If you choose your parents, don’t they choose from the very beginning to have you as a child, so how can you then choose them? It just doesn’t make sense.”…. Again we come back to the soul group collaborating conditions on this plain to further our growth as one. If we are One then why would we make choices out of selfishness upon incarnating? We don’t. When we see and live in our Oneness then we make choices less for the self and more for the One. My parents caused me to grow through their abuse both physical and mental/emotional but I sure as hell taught them some stuff as I was born a warrior and I have always known who I am!!! We taught each other.

    Saskia:”Why would you choose to murder someone, or abuse your own child? What would YOU gain from that? “…. Again all is chosen. People learn the most, the deepest lessons and evolve mostly from experiencing adversity. We can chose to learn on our own going from glory to greater glory or from success to greater success but most people are lazy and the universe has to nudge us, push us, or beat us until we wake up and grow. A friend of mine says, “if you are not consciously growing then the universe will send you some growth. If a tidal wave has not hit you yet then one is on its way, so move your butt before that happens.”

    Those who murder have lost their conscious connection to God and love. They operate on a very low frequency and live in fear and fight or flight mode in reaction to life. Of course we have also free will so a murder, or a 911 event are not always choice but a choice only by the executer of the bad deed. But again it is not what happens to us. It is what we do with what happens and growth can come from everything we experience. Most people who don’t get the lesson will continue to attract events until the lesson is learned. We choose to come into this world and incarnate with the knowing that this world/plain is not perfect. People kill, and do bad things to each other, and our loved ones may die prematurely but we choose to come anyway. This is our act of free will and is our choice. So no matter what so called bad or good things happen to us we choose it before the beginning.

    Saskia:”I think there are too many questions and no answers at all. There seems to be no logic in this hypothesis.” If God is all there is then all answers exist in the mind of God. But instead of asking “Why?” ask “What? What am I going to do with it or about it to make the best of it?”…..Love and logic cannot exist within each other. All we are here to do are three things. Our experiences are to help us learn the answers.

    We are here to answer these three questions:

    #1 Who am I ?
    #2 What do I want?
    #3 What is my purpose?

    The answer to all three questions is the same….
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
    -
    ——- > LOVE!

    LOVE Is always the Answer!
    I am LOVE.
    I want LOVE.
    I am here to, my purpose is to LOVE.

    Peace out for now!
    Janise

  • By hilly, April 26, 2010 @ 11:32 am

    Marly: Islam refers to ‘the people of the book’ by which it means Islam, Judaism and Christianity.
    In strictly chronological order the religions are Judaism; Christianity, Islam (5000+ years; 2000+ years 1600+ years).

    Saskia: I’m still reeling at the insensitivity of seeing the misfortunes of people like Christopher Reeve and Michael Fox as some kind of gift from God to a cause. Do you include Elizabeth and Ariel Glaser in this predestined sacrificial lamb syndrome? I hope for the sake of their families that I misunderstood what you said!

    Personally I can not regard our existence as some kind of puppet in a bigger cosmic game plan. I would say that Janise is right – we are here to ask who am I and what do I want…and what is my purpose? But I define ‘purpose’ and intention not as ‘use’.

  • By chavie, April 26, 2010 @ 12:03 pm

    If someone tells me that some god/godess/ or the Flying Spaghetti Monster wanted to teach 6 million Jews a “lesson” or that there is “some higher reason” for the Holocaust for instance, or for the fact that my mother died at only 54 years old, I’d say that “god” was a psycho.

  • By hilly, April 26, 2010 @ 12:12 pm

    As one who has a tree planted in her name somewhere and plenty of relations I never knew on the walls of Yad Vashem I go with that sentiment.

    Strange isn’t it that the theory only claims the ‘good guys’ and never tries to explain what Hitler’s ‘purpose’ was, or how Ghengis Khan was a ‘gift’ to the world.

  • By Christine, April 26, 2010 @ 1:23 pm

    Hi Hilly, I must agree with you on this one!!. The Christopher Reeve, and Michael J fox comment?. Sorry, but I disagree. We all have our own opinions on this life, and as individuals choose what we believe in but it seems just plain wrong for some people to suffer for a cause? Would a loving God cause some to suffer? and also the comment made about if we don’t learn from one situation we keep attracting the same situation to learn by it? So we are then being punished for our suffering to only suffer once again? I think I’ll have to skip trying to understand this one, it all seems very unfair to me, but that’s me!. We will all have our own opinion’s on it.
    Best wishes, Christine.

  • By Christine, April 26, 2010 @ 1:39 pm

    Hi Everyone, Yes, its still me. No matter what you believe in or not things in life happen. There are as Paul has said not always answer’s. You know I have looked for answer’s all my life. The need to work out, to fathom to understand, is sometimes so intense. There will unfortunately always be things happen to us that no amount of sleepless nights and stressful days will ever provide answers to. I’m slowly beginning to realise this(slow on the uptake? who me? lol) If there was a person who had all the answers would we listen to that person? After all we would want the ‘proof’ that it was right/wrong still we would continue with our need to know, which is what Paul keeps on reminding us; the brain/minds need to do. And another piece of the jigsaw just slotted into place!!. You are an inspiration Paul, oh how I love this blog!
    With love as always,
    Christine xx

  • By chavie, April 26, 2010 @ 1:56 pm

    @hilly –Hitler was a BAD fruitcake who made it clear that he wanted to exterminate a whole race and almost did it and no one seemed to care then anyway (even the religious blokes) He was one destructive individual who conned his own people. No idea what sort of sense of purpose he thought he had, but it was certainly warped. The case of Christopher Reeves and Michael J Fox is a bit “different” from wholesale slaughter — yet I don’t think that a loving God/G-d would want to “teach” us that way while demand that we love one another.

    My thinking is simple, it is against basic justice for someone (or the world) to be taught a “lesson” at the expense of the suffering of others. I have great respect for “martyrs” and “heroes” but I wish they weren’t dead.

  • By Sue, April 26, 2010 @ 2:05 pm

    Wow. This is going way past my ability to comprehend or even want to comprehend. As a nurse who has rocked so damn many babies to death, it appalls me to think that their parents had to be taught some kind of lesson.

    My answers to the three questions are simple.

    Who am I? I’m me. I’m not here to teach lessons or to learn something so that I can go on to the next karmic point in my life. I’m me.

    Why am I here? An orgasm at the right time. That’s it, and that’s all.

    What is my purpose? To live. To experience life. To die. The end.

    Sue

  • By chavie, April 26, 2010 @ 2:24 pm

    lol@Sue.. me too.. at least you’re thinking about your next karmatic point — I don’t. I am not yet into the steepest depths of analyzing my soul but I know that because I am here I should be good as I can to others. Yet, I can’t promise everybody, because if that were possible no one would be special. To be kind as I can perhaps is okay enough… It is 6:23 here and I am going jogging on a hot and humid day.

  • By PamT, April 26, 2010 @ 3:46 pm

    I can’t help thinking that if we were all in the continual process of learning lessons through pre-birth choice of incarnation/life events and growing spiritually as a result, then mankind should be gaining in collective wisdom over time – but it doesn’t feel that way to me.

    I’d suggest that those who murder (whether in a single, mass-slaughter or genocidal act) have, for whatever reason, completely lost their connection to, and their empathy with, their fellow human beings. I know I’ll certainly never forget my visit to Yad Vashem – a graphic, terrifying and poignant testament to what happens when people are effectively stripped of their human status. Although of mind-numbing proportions, the Shoah was of course far from being the first incidence of genocide, more have followed since and who knows what lies ahead?

    Where I am in total agreement is the pure inspiration that can brought by those who, in the course of waging their own personal battles, demonstrate courage and refuse to allow themselves to adopt the mantles of victim. The examples of such individuals can be beacons of light.

    PamT

  • By chavie, April 26, 2010 @ 4:27 pm

    Had to rush back from the jug to TELL you guys something weird that may probably interest some (most?). Was out, feeling the sun.. lovely… and heard a song in my language. There was something so familiar with THAT voice so I asked my jogging buddies “who is that, again???”. It was David Soul singing a new song (sure, it’s new, I should know, it was in my language) and they say it’s getting to be a hit!
    The song roughly translated means — “Why Did I Find You Only Now” (Bakit Ngayon Ka Lang?) From Paul Michael Glaser’s blog I run just to hear David Soul singing?? What is THAT… some cosmic connection ( yeah, made me laugh.. and think too).

    @Pam — I love people usually. I believe in love with all my heart. But the feeling is from one heart to another. I am a very simple person, and I cannot YET comprehend “collective” love. I try and be good, polite and civilized to all.

    @PamT – Shalom…. Kol Tuv!TO LIFE ALWAYS! L’hitraot.. just came back to type this.

  • By Christine, April 26, 2010 @ 4:34 pm

    Hi Everyone, Peace of mind?. Isn’t that just the hardest thing to achieve?. We all work at it, try our very best to get there but it must be wonderful to finally get to that point. If we do we may then find love, true peace from within and true happiness. You know when I was young my mother always used to say money can’t buy you happiness, well I’ve never reached that point to truly find out but, it doesn’t take a genius to work out that the truly precious things in life can’t be bought. (Although when your book (s) do come out Paul they will be precious). Love is the thing that keeps us going whether we are trying to find it, work at it, save it or are recovering from the loss of it, that elusive love goes around and around. Will I ever find it? goodness knows but they reckon the time you decide to give up looking for it, it comes along! So with that I say ‘goodnight’ to everyone!! sweet dreams.
    With love as always,
    Christine xx.

  • By xtexan86, April 26, 2010 @ 8:22 pm

    Just a few thoughts…and these are mine so I take full responsibility for them.

    Adam and Eve were the first and only humans who lived in a perfect world. No hate, lust, murder, mayhem, holocaust, zip, nadda, nilch. They were given free will and free choice, with only one rule, don’t eat from the tree of life.

    Fast forward several hundred thousand generations. We still have free will and free choice but we’re not in Eden anymore. Evil and hate prosper here. Why? Free will and free choice. God didn’t want closed-thinking robots to worship him, he wanted people to do so willingly.

    Why do bad things happen? Because, we’re not in Eden anymore. Those who are (in my opinion) resistant to organized religion because a mean-minded all-knowing entity just wants to play with our minds, Please, tell me…who told you that this life was supposed to be perfect and God is responsible for all the wrongs? That young, innocent babies die, that 6 million Jews and at least FIVE times that number of civilians (my aunt being one of those) died because of the hate of one man who wasn’t stopped before it was too late. My mother suffered in Dachau and Buchenwald and she wasn’t even a Jew. History has known countless pogroms, massacres and annihilations. Hundreds of millions have been victims, but mankind still doesn’t learn. Why? Free will and free choice.

    We could have a perfect society. A group could elect themselves all-knowing and all-powerful and wipe out every one they thought wasn’t perfect. Oh wait, that’s been tried before.

    Earthquakes, hurricanes, floods, fires. Obviously, it doesn’t appear as if the Earth is perfect either. Go figure. When a tree puts out its leaves in the spring, does every one of them form perfectly? A calf is born with two heads, a baby is born with a horrific birth defect. Hmmm, must be that mean-minded God again. Damn him. I guess one-ness doesn’t apply to humans AND the natural world.

    I see a Down’s Syndrome child, and my heart soars. They don’t see themselves as disabled, they’re here for the ride and they’re loving every minute of it. It’s mean-minded people who make them feel otherwise.

    Chris Reeves and Mike Fox. Two ordinary people with extraordinary lives. They could’ve crawled under a rock and disappeared, but they didn’t. They chose to fight for a cause. Seems to me another person chose to do that too…with the initials PMG. Are we not BETTER humans beings because of it? Their sacrifices didn’t teach me a LESSON, it taught me to be GRATEFUL for even the smallest thing that goes right in my life or the smallest headache that I don’t have to suffer with each day.

    I’ve given up on trying to find answers to questions my mind can’t comprehend much less understand. Why did my father have a stroke that should have killed him, only to be left without the ability to speak? I sure as hell don’t know, but I choose not to shake my fist at God and blame him. Instead, I’m forced to look at my father in a different light, and I’m proud to carry his genes. I’m only human…I’d become really spoiled really fast if everything went the way I wanted it to. Not that I’d want to willingly volunteer to come down with an incurable and fatal disease so that I could make someone else feel better, I’d probably screw that up royally. But God bless those who can and do persevere under those circumstances.

    Reincarnation. Undecided on this one. I tend to go along with psychic Sylvia Browne’s thoughts on this. If you’re not familiar with her philosophy skim through one of her books next time you’re at Barnes and Noble. I’d love to sit down with a real psychic one day, maybe even undergo hypnosis. But I think I’d only discover what I’ve known all along…that I’ve been here before.

    That’s all. I apologize in advance of anyone who I may have offended. But as I’ve tried to respect differing beliefs here, I hope you’ll respect mine as well. xt

  • By Janise Anthony, April 26, 2010 @ 9:17 pm

    To clarify some points on my part in response to others comments…

    “”Strange isn’t it that the theory only claims the ‘good guys’ and never tries to explain what Hitler’s ‘purpose’ was, or how Ghengis Khan was a ‘gift’ to the world.”"….

    As we are all one with God, Michael J. Fox and Christopher Reeves were a gift from God as a gift to the world. There is no difference between our choices and God’s if we are one. They are the same. Elizabeth and Ariel Glaser were also gifts not victims. Elizabeth was a victor and despite her life circumstances started a movement which has helped so many, many people. The world is better off than before from all of her contributions. Elizabeth and Ariel were a precious gift to the world and their lives are still giving to this day! People can have a pity party or they can pick themselves up and make the circumstances of their life mean something for the greater good for themselves and the world. No deed too small ever goes unnoticed by the world.

    We can have a purpose or we can find purpose in things. We can chose a purpose to help others heal and then open ourselves up to an infinite possibility of ways to do that. One might be to become a quadraplegic from an accident or another might be to become a doctor etc… Some are conscious choices others are unconscious choices. God has given us free will to choose. We choose to ride a horse with the possibility it may throw us and fall on us and break our neck/back. That is our choice to get on the horse. The rest unfolds. What we do with the outcome of that event is up to us. Be a victim of it or find a victory in it somehow by maybe being and advocate for a cause and inspiring people with a never give up attitude! I never said God chose this for us. We have free will… and God does not protect us unless we ask for protection. Read Psalms 91.1 (911 – I think it interesting the chosing of 911 to call for help is the protection prayer and call for God’s help in the bible. hmmmm….) As we have free will God will not intervein unless we invite God to do so and we must be receptive to the help or guidance we are calling forth.

    When we think of the holocost it was the choice of Hitler not God to take the actions he did. At some point Hitler had lost his connection to God and love. He was obviously an ill man and an egomaniac and when one is in ego he separates himself from the One as the ego likes to be better than, control, and impress… Many Jews were victims of their physical imprisonment, but some made choices within that circumstance to stay mentally strong and fight until their horrible demise and others just gave up all hope in their minds. They did not consciously choose such an event but they did choose to incarnate into a sometimes violent world with misguided beings. I am not saying anyone deserves such a thing but in the event, those affected still had an opportunity to grow within it if they chose. If we don’t try to find a purpose within things ( I did not say purpose of things in this circumstance) then we are just victims and so why try at all at things?

    Some may say but what about the holocaust, those people didn’t chose to be in that situation, yet many did escaped either before imprisonment or after through choice. My own client, Joseph was such a man, documented by Stephen Spielberg. He was already in a concentration camp when he befriended a guard and was snuck out with his wife and sister while others of his family in other camps perished. Joseph then lived in the woods in an underground burrow for almost 3 years helping other Jews who had escaped to survive often eating crumbs for dinner. He chose to remove himself from his situation and then found a way. A remarkable man who never harbored any resentment to the people who did this to him and his family. He was one of the sweetest men I have met in my days. Eyes like Santa Claus twinkling with light and full of life and love. At 96 he passed a happy man with no resentments or regrets. He chose his path and lived it taking full responsibility of it.

    Its late here in D.C. after an intense game night and flight and hope I was as clear on paper about this as I am in my understanding.

    Peace,
    Janise

  • By Janise Anthony, April 26, 2010 @ 9:25 pm

    hey XT nicely put!

    Sylvia Brown is great. I have had readings with James van Praagh too! Amazing stuff! Also Brian Weiss who does past life regression. It seems I was Prince Albert in my last incarnation from my regression with Brian. Brian’s book” Many Lives Many Masters” is incredible discovery to past lives of which Brian never believed until two patients who did not know each other when under hipnosis both were together in a past life. Great book!

    JA

  • By Janise Anthony, April 26, 2010 @ 9:34 pm

    There is no difference between our choices and God’s if we are One”

    Let me clarify… There are choices of the ego and choices of the soul. Ego choices are self centered, Soul choices are One centered. Ego choices are false , Soul choices are authentic. Ego choices are to Impress and Soul choices are to Express. It is the Soul choices which are the same as God’s. The word desire means “of the Father or First Cause meaning God” When a desire is that of the Soul, it is alway met because it is Source calling for you to express it. We can have anything we desire when it is of the Soul.

    JA

  • By Christine, April 26, 2010 @ 11:06 pm

    Good morning Paul,
    Hope you are well. Sending you all the best from
    over here in England. xx
    With love as always,
    Christine xx :)

  • By Raffy, April 27, 2010 @ 2:40 am

    If we see things from the point of view that we all choose our next lives in order to learn some lessons from other experiences on this plain of life (as I said in another post I think there are many more plains of Life according to our spiritual growth)…then why it seems that Hitler could not be included in this plan and only seen as a man who (by Janise) “had lost his connection to God and love. He was obviously an ill man and an egomaniac”? Of course it is what we see and what we feel thinking of the Holocaust (I visited many years ago the Dachau concentration camp and of course I’ll never forget what I felt).
    Maybe then he chose before his birth to experience at such an incredible level what is like to lose love, to be ill and egomaniac? Or it all happened after his birth? And maybe his victims could not have been victims in the simple meaning we give to this word… maybe they were loving souls who chose to incarnate and live this experience in benefit of this man and many more like him, for them and all to understand that nothing can destroy our oneness with all spiritual beings, even our worst will? Maybe Hitler was coming from another lower plain of life and wanted to experience this one and was allowed to do it? And why?
    If we look better he showed in such a visible way what a human being can come to think and do, but how many like him walk the streets of our world and every day their thoughts, however most times unexpressed, arm themselves and others? Maybe “Hitler” was just a “result” of thoughts of separateness not only his own, but for sure he was unable to learn before turning his thoughts into actions, and we can’t know if he was able afterwards.
    If things are chosen in the light of love maybe then the human beings involved can’t be considered “used”, but only giving beings maybe coming from higher plains of life.
    In the circle of life and love many incredible things could happen, even going through incomprehensibility and unacceptable pain…

    Peace, Raffy

  • By Rachelle, April 27, 2010 @ 6:53 am

    What a busy blog! My thoughts are simple I’ll just try my best to live one day at a time and do my best each day in spite of circumstance. Not everyday is going to be great and not every day is going to be bad. I think just doing our best is all we can ask of ourselves. Also, to be helpful and a comfort to someone else also helps us. When the sadness or difficulties comes to us then we can only hope that someone will help us too by just being there. My thoughts.*g*

    Have a great day Paul and everyone!!

    Rach

    Ps Chavie – I enjoy David Soul music as well.

  • By chavie, April 27, 2010 @ 10:19 am

    It’s 1:56 am where I am and I was thinking about this — @Pam – yes, we probably have to consider ourselves as love so that we are enable to love. Maybe what’s “wrong” is that I never thought of myself as love because I was taught that only G0d/G-d/god/saints are capable of love. That was insightful.. yeah, you don’t have to be some Mother Teresa to try and love.I guess when you love the next person, you love just the same.

    @Rachelle – I pressed your name and it took me to You Tube. I sent you a link about David Soul’s latest interview .I’m buying the new cd tomorrow (did lotsa outsourced work tonight) and “somehow” get it to you.I love music too in a BIG way. If you got the link I sent you at your You Tube site, I find it funny that he finds “Why Only Now?” .. again quote : “the story of his life.” That, frankly, made me sad maybe because he was always a bigger hit here.(read interview perceptively and yah get what I mean?)

    About Hitler.Not “nice” tonight to figure him out. May lose my appetite and I am having a very late dinner.

    @Nadine – my heart breaks along with yours. You know ,my dad is my best friend and I cannot imagine the pain of what you must be going through. I wish our fathers all never get sick though that’s a silly wish. Love to you all…Mr.Glaser’s other entries are super when one keeps re-reading them at this time of the night(morning) … sorry for the misspelled words.

    He seems to have a beautiful soul.

  • By chavie, April 27, 2010 @ 10:45 am

    @Rachelle – tried. You have to add my you tube account for me to send you the link BUT I sent it through your comments – sent you two links, last one was the actual interview.

  • By hilly, April 27, 2010 @ 12:08 pm

    I’ve had to think carefully about how I phrase this; so I hope I have managed to find a ‘formula’ that won’t offend.

    A friend of mine watches these discussions but doesn’t comment. She pointed something out (something I have noticed in other places on the web). Whatever the original point of Paul’s blogs someone drags the discussion round to her (mostly “her” here I think) “Christianity”. (inverted commas because you all have you variations on the basic theme)
    I find this interesting and in a strange way sad. Why sad? Because it seems to me that these people – many of whom have put forward excellent moral and philosophical arguments that can be used without any religious ‘badge’ – seem incapable of justifying their thoughts and ideas without that reference to their religion. Throwing in a biblical verse reference is an old trick….it doesn’t actually prove a knowledge of the Bible (anymore than remembering “To be or not to be, that is the question…” means you have a real knowledge of Hamlet ot the world that Shakespeare lived in). For info I have read the ‘old’ and the ‘new’ parts of the Bible; and the Quoran and the Bhagavad Ghita and the Book of Mormon and a good many of the Greek, Roman and Scandinavian ‘Myths” (Christian code for any belief that isn’t theirs). I read them to understand the world we live in. I read them to try to understand why people believe what they do I concluded that I believe in no “god” (I’m not a Theist). I believe that each and every human being has a capacity to do good or not (or even evil) because of the way we have evolved from whatever it was we evolved from (they’ve just found a new set of skeletons that fill in another gap on the ladder).
    My concepts, thoughts and actions are a result of that lifetime’s experience and that of the world before me – it’s called ‘history’ – and based on that ‘baggage’ I make up my own mind…somehow I get the feeling that if you have to hook to a religion then you aren’t thinking for yourself.

    It would be interesting to see if we could discuss the next shared blog without dragging a specific idea of religion into the threads.

  • By marly, April 27, 2010 @ 2:25 pm

    I must admit I’m always amazed (and maybe, at times, also a bit envious ) when other people seem to understand all there is to understand about life and its meaning/purpose while I’m still looking for clues, so to speak.
    Convictions, whether religious or otherwise, may serve to give me a grip on my live but personally I prefer to keep an open mind (as much as possible under the circumstances).

    Life and certainly death is an enormous mystery for all of us.
    In spite of our ever expanding scientific knowledge we know as much about the meaning of life and death as our very first ancestors on this planet knew.
    Being human we need theories, explanations, believes, convictions, etc. in order to feel in control.
    Being human we often happen to choose different roads while heading for the same direction/ destination.
    That’s fine by me, a personal religion or conviction doesn’t automatically turns someone in either a “good” or a “bad” human being (just my humble opinion),after all, we’re all one in our need for reassurance .
    Personally I try to treat people the way I like to be treated myself: with respect, tolerance, humor, patience, love and kindness. Sometimes I fail terribly but hey….I am only human, give me a break!
    I don’t believe in a heaven or hell, To me it’s far more important to live in the “here and now” and let life take you by the hand instead of trying to control it……(Yep, Marly knows the theory but still needs to practice a bit on the control part!).To some this may be a careless and sinful thought ,others may say that one needs to be in control in order to get a successful life……Every single one of us has got the right to his/her very own beliefs and opinions.
    Live and let live.

    Experience ,good or bad, gives us the opportunity to gain new insights about ourselves, about life.
    But to believe that bad things happen for a reason doesn’t sound plausible to me.
    Did my best friend had to suffer and die from cancer in order to teach her loved ones a lesson????
    Nope, to me that sounds very unlikely but no offense, that’s just my personal opinion.
    Humans die, whether it’s from a cruel disease or an accident or from plain old age. It’s up to the ones left behind to learn from their loss or not.
    Again, I don’t know a lot but experience has finally taught me that it’s completely useless(for me) to think in terms like “fair” and “unfair” or “justice” and “injustice” (for example) while trying to make sense of what happens to us. Like it or not, stuff happens and the decisicion to either become a victim or a survivor makes all the difference…..I’ve been there and I am still standing!

    I learn the most when I allow myself to be open minded and nonjudgmental.

    Not knowing very much at all but very willing to keep on learning,

    Marly

  • By Sue, April 27, 2010 @ 2:47 pm

    @Hilly:

    I’m wondering if maybe this is just another case of how all humans learn more by what using what they know and comparing it to what they are trying to learn, maybe?

    Like when I was taught to count, I knew what blocks were, so I learned three by being shown three blocks.

    While the author of this blog is explaining what is, at its face, probably the simplest concept in the world, I know my own brain pretzels trying to get it, because I have very little frame of reference with which to try and compare it to.

    So perhaps mentions of religion (of whatever sort) or non religion (of whatever sort) is just our way of trying to link what we do know with what we’re trying to learn here, and learn by commonalities as well as the differences?

    Course, I could be all washed up, too. :D

    Sue

  • By xtexan86, April 27, 2010 @ 5:19 pm

    I think Sue brings up a good point. We all have our references, what we use as a basis for what we believe in. For some of us, that means a religious, belief in God or a higher entity. For others, it’s more of a personal, I am One and I choose my own destiny, type of philosophy. Both are valid and personal life choices and should be respected.

    So, while it may be a good idea to keep discussions free of religion and politics, I don’t believe anyone should be pressured or influenced into limiting what they can bring to the ‘table.’

    One of the things I see on this blog that raises my blood pressure a bit, is the twisting of words or meanings from other people’s posts. For instance, a poster used the words ‘gained lessons.’ Somehow that got turned into ‘taught a lesson.’ IMHO, these are two separate things. ‘Gained a lesson’ implies that knowledge was learned (gained). ‘Taught a lesson’ implies someone was punished while having to learn.

    And, I think I’ve seen this mentioned previously, but I feel it’s important to recognize that one can’t clump together all people who claim they are Christians, Jews, Muslims, etc., and expect that we have a standard view on all things religious. Neither can religious people try to lump together those who aren’t into one type of personality or mindset. (Keeping in mind that ‘religion’ signifies a belief system of any kind.)

    Whether or not I agree with your beliefs shouldn’t be the most important goal. Sometimes we might just have to agree to disagree, which can certainly lead to stimulating discussion. I mean, how boring would this be if we all agreed on everything? Just keep it respectful. xt

  • By Nee, April 27, 2010 @ 6:35 pm

    Hilly, no offence taken and no offence meant, I agree with Sue and xt. Everyone should be able to respectfully express themselves.

    Pam M, it’s been 9 years since I went to the USHMM and I remember it vividly. I remember standing in the middle of the rails looking at the tower of faces most of all. But being around the bunks, the railcar and the video of the experiments brought it home more than any movie or picture books ever did.

  • By Janise Anthony, April 27, 2010 @ 6:57 pm

    Yes Pam, been to the museum and at age 15 went to a holocaust exhibit in Boston.
    My ancestors were murdered in the Greek Genocide where 1.5 million people were lost
    which is why my famliy snuck out of Greece to live in this country.

  • By Janise Anthony, April 27, 2010 @ 7:20 pm

    But back to Pauls bloggings on mind. It really boils down to directing our thoughts and living in awareness then we will experience what Paul so poeticlly wrote…”Experience it, ride it like a surfer on the waves, or an Eagle on the wind, fall in love, be one with it. That is our purpose. To sound, vibrate in, be with the harmony of the heavens, to be where thought becomes matter. Yup…at that very place, or ’space’ as a friend of mine says.”

    I have found my practices of Buddhism have taught me the way to peace…here they are if you are curious…(and know Buddhism is not a religion but only a way of Living in Awareness as the Buddha himself intented.)

    The Four Noble Truths
    1.Know The Existence of Suffering -
    Physical: Birth, old age, sickness and death are suffering – unchangeable
    Emotional: Sadness, anger, resentment, envy, jealousy, worry, anxiety, fear and despair.
    Separation from loved ones, association with those you hate.
    Desire, attachment and clinging to the Five Aggregates are suffering. -changeable

    2. The Cause of Suffering – is Ignorance
    Ignorance causes people to not see the truth about life and they become caught in the
    flames of desire, anger, jealously, greif, worry, fear and despair.

    3. The Cessation of Suffering -is Understanding
    Understanding the truth of life brings about the cessation of every greif and sorrow
    and gives rise to peace and joy… The Truth shall set you free.

    4. The Path to Cessation of Suffering – is to Live in Awareness!
    To practice The Noble Eightfold Path
    1.Right Understanding
    2. Right Thought – which precedes all speech & action
    3. Right Speech
    4. Right Action
    5. Right Livelihood – for those who work in the world
    6. Right Effort
    7. Right Mindfulness
    8. Right Concentration – active or selective

    For now I am going to practice right concentration on my pillow. Yawwwnnnnn!!!

    Night everyone.
    Night Paul, sweet dreams… ;)
    Janise

  • By hilly, April 28, 2010 @ 4:44 am

    I should have known….

    To try my best to clarify (but as my friends know I take no responsibility for you interpretation of what I say)

    the difference is between religion with a small ‘r’ and with a big ‘r’. Between an understanding of the way different philosophies interact – and from which some of us arrive at our spiritual frameworks and reference points. Between understanding that ‘the truth’ is not found in one particular ext..and here, yes I point a finger at a certain kind of christian who is unable to distinguish between ‘the truth’ and the ‘new testament’ (“the gospel truth” is an oxymoron – it is only true to those who believe what is written there) – an inability to accept that just becaue they think some thing it ‘is’ (oops back to the isness question?)..; saying that x million believe it still doesn’t make it ‘right ‘or ‘the truth’ (there are still people out there who think gay people are remedially ‘ill’/black people are mentally inferior to white/all jews are misers…whatever the prejudice there are always plenty of people to support it – but it doesn’t make it ‘the truth’.
    In pointing to christianity I had a reason…few other world religions make such a ‘militant’ effort to convert others to their beliefs (Islam is at roughly the same historic age as Christianity was when Europe war wracked by wars between protestant and catholic – the “I’m right and I’ll kill you if you disagree” approach. On the whole Christianity has grown out of that one – let’s hope Islam does before it’s too late and that it doesn’t take the 200 odd years that it’s older sibling needed to come to terms with its place in the philosophical soup. the four noble truths don’t need a god to hook them to
    …does that clear things up? I hoe so because TBH after the experiences I’ve had of hitting my head against a large wooden cross rather than a stone wall I don’t have the energy to spell it out any simpler.

    Buddhism is accessible whether you ‘believe ‘or not – it is a philosophy and a guideline to thinking.

  • By hilly, April 28, 2010 @ 4:45 am

    Sue…peace? ;) ?

  • By hilly, April 28, 2010 @ 4:46 am

    rats I knew I should have typed that on Word first! I hope the typos don’t inhibit the understanding

  • By Terri, April 28, 2010 @ 6:10 am

    Hello Paul, I really enjoy your writings and this blog. I agree you realy are able to get us thinking. This time there is sooo much to read, think about, apply or dismiss. I was very interested when the discussion went to reincarnation. That’s always been of interest to me. Always felt very strongly of two other lives. Anyway, I don’t post very often because I’m not good at expressing my thoughts but I thank you for taking the time to share yours. Love and Happiness, Terri

  • By Christine, April 28, 2010 @ 6:15 am

    Hi everyone,
    By Marly; Again, I don’t know a lot but experience has finally taught me that it’s completely useless(for me) to think in terms like “fair” and “unfair” or “justice” and “injustice” (for example) while trying to make sense of what happens to us. Like it or not, stuff happens and the decisicion to either become a victim or a survivor makes all the difference…..I’ve been there and I am still standing!

    I learn the most when I allow myself to be open minded and nonjudgmental.
    I have to agree with you on this Marly, you have a great way of looking at life!.
    I only hope this works as half the tome when I copy and paste I lose half of it lol.
    Best Wishes, Christine.

  • By Christine, April 28, 2010 @ 6:17 am

    Oops tome? should have been ‘time’ see I always get something wrong lol!! sorry folks!

  • By Rachelle, April 28, 2010 @ 6:48 am

    Thanks Chavie – Sorry I didn’t recieve the information, but thanks for trying!

    I agree Marly and Christine when I’m open minded and non judgemental is when I learn the most too.

    Have a great day, Rach – almost Friday*g*

  • By hilly, April 28, 2010 @ 7:57 am

    Justice is an interesting concept. It actually has little to do with the law (if it did there would never be an ‘unfair’ court decision!)

    After the horrors of the Shoah the Israeli government created the idea of awarding the ‘Just’ those who had done something positive to save Jews from the camps. Many took great personal risks…many hid children under the Nazi’s noses. An interesting thing I learnt the other day as France marked the day to commemorate the deportations that were organised by the Nazi occupiers and their willing collaborators)…the present Chief Rabbi of France was hidden as a child in the town of Vichy. For those who don’t know the history of the period, the collaborationist government was based in…Vichy!

  • By hilly, April 28, 2010 @ 8:04 am

    Can we learn without judging? I don’t think so. We ‘weigh up’ the pros and the cons of the information; we consider and assay…we make a judgement and decide.

    Can we observe without making a judgement? Perhaps; but only when we feel we have balanced and equal information to base our opinion on…ah but if we come to an ‘opinion’ haven’t we ‘judged’. Judgement is usually portrayed by the Scales of Justice….can anyone really say that s/he has come to a decision/conclusion/opinion without making some kind of judgement.
    Judgement happens at so many levels…as our rain computes the distance to jump from one rock to another across a stream so our mind needs to assess where it is going too

    Just being as abstract as I can…

    but take ‘judgment’ in a more definitive role. When we use our values system to assess people – ah then we judge. Can we avoid it? I don’t think so – because we are applying the implicit and intrinsic yardsticks of our community. And if we are going to live in harmony in a community we have to have some agreed yardsticks…and there are some who need to hook those to a creed or mythology or doctrine or dogma…and others who hook it to basic human instinct.

  • By Sue, April 28, 2010 @ 10:32 am

    @Hilly–of course peace. :) I wasn’t starting anything. Just wondering if maybe why that was why folks were bringing religion up, as something to compare it to. I’m guessing just as much as anyone. :D YOu know I can’t keep my mouth shut. :D

  • By chavie, April 28, 2010 @ 10:54 am

    @Rachelle – see your comments in your your you tube channel… I have the video but for some personal reason I can’t put it in my channel so I will also send that later via you tube or maybe at the site there I put.

    @Hilly – it’s 2:47 am here.I get what you mean. That happens to me sometimes and there are times when the moon, weather, and something in our environment somehow makes us either happy or sad or passionate about anything. I understand being passionate. I think people should actually be passionate about something good.. but Pam was also right when she said maybe we can love each other and yet, disagree.

  • By hilly, April 28, 2010 @ 11:22 am

    Sue I think you know how to contact me – am I right?

    Chavie…as far as I’m concerned the world is always a better place when people understand that real friends often disagree….only sycophants don’t.

  • By Raffy, April 28, 2010 @ 11:24 am

    by Janise: “ The Cause of Suffering – is Ignorance
    Ignorance causes people to not see the truth about life and they become caught in the
    flames of desire, anger, jealously, greif, worry, fear and despair.”

    “ the truth about life”…maybe this is used here to say that all is impermanent in this earthly life… Ignorance is that lack in understanding our mind’s process of attachment to impermanent things. We suffer when we experience our attachment to transient things, both good and bad things, including our imagined “self”, so I would say that the cause of suffering lies in the attachment to desire and that ignorance just makes our suffering grow and deepen. Maybe it can be considered the ultimate origin of suffering more than just the cause. Our paradoxical attachment to what is constantly changing can’t be explained only by our ignorance about the nature of things. I think our need of control is feeding our desire, and I agree more and more with Paul’s thinking on our reactions to the most unacceptable impermanence, our mortality.
    Of course to “see” how our mind works and how attachment is constantly present in our inner experience is such a great step! ;-)

    Namaste, Raffy

  • By chavie, April 28, 2010 @ 12:06 pm

    @hilly – Chavie…as far as I’m concerned the world is always a better place when people understand that real friends often disagree….only sycophants don’t.

    You really are RIGHT there and I have to commend you for being passionate.If we only really knew each other, I think we would click.I have my passionate moods too and IF you knew me, you’d also know that I hardly choose my words too.. lol! However, I am trying to be careful. I don’t like offending people at 3:55 am (lol!) and there are individuals whom we probably should accept as they are.
    Yah know, when it comes to the point when you get to know people — you realize that they’re all different — and thus, you kinda “accommodate” ( not tolerate) the difference. I think that accommodating (or whatever the proper word is) is “being good”.. letting an issue “go”… it’s not worth the aggravation.
    If I had a choice and knew how to contact you, I’d probably do so because very frankly… I agree with you, your passion and your perspectives. Yet, I’d rather have fun, enjoy my noodles while reading stuff here and getting to know you instead of trying to figure out the POV of others. You know, I have this weird theory that it is more of our “differences” that can connect us.

  • By chavie, April 28, 2010 @ 12:54 pm

    @Jimbo -I am glad that Sharon is your friend. I can assure you that Filipinos MAY have bad taste sometimes.. but not every time! MAYBE (because Sharon is your friend right?), she had her reasons.I am glad that you are passionate anyway about Sharon and Mart much as I am glad that there are people who still love David Soul.

    David Soul is NOT Paul Michael Glaser, I’m sure you should know that because you’re American.This is the site of Paul Michael Glaser (repeat 3x)

    Actually, after reading Mr. Glaser’s blog and thoughts, I realized that you may be right about Filipinos having “bad taste”. Nope.. I am not gonna get mad… oh yeah, I am also sure that your FRIEND will like Mr. Glaser’s thoughts.

    STOP.

  • By Nadine, April 28, 2010 @ 1:05 pm

    Je n’ai qu’une seule amie , ma meilleure amie , depuis plus de trente ans , je sais que je peux compter sur elle , elle sait q’elle peut compter sur moi ! Pour rien au monde je ne la changerai !
    Je vous souhaite une amie comme la mienne !
    Quand à vous tous vous êtes mes amis virtuels et pour rien au monde je ne vous changerai !
    MERCI A VOUS TOUS !

    > Un ami, rien qu’un ami, c’est aussi précieux qu’une vie.
    [Georges Bernanos]

    > Le silence est un ami qui ne trahit jamais.
    [Confucius]

    > Un ami, c’est un autre moi.
    [Pythagore]

  • By Sue, April 28, 2010 @ 1:10 pm

    @hilly not anymore, unfortunately. However, are we having some differences here? Because as far as I can see, I’m definitely agreeing with what you’re saying. Just giving my two cents on why people use things like religion or non religion, or anything really, to use as ways of understanding what the author is saying and applying it to their own belief systems.

  • By PamT, April 28, 2010 @ 2:08 pm

    Thanks to PamM for that reminder of PMG’s words on witnessing without judgment. I feel I now have an appreciation that judging, which is drawn from our subjective conditioning, is a barrier to the clarity of mindfulness. We can also mistakenly use this conditioning as a superficial definition of our ‘self’ (or as Raffy writes ‘our imagined self’) and so clinging on to it is incompatible with finding our way to the ultimate place of connectivity – in my opinion.

    Our conditioning varies enormously according to our culture, our environment, our influences, our experiences and more (all of which we can’t help but absorb like sponges). It can skew our outlook (as Janise has written before, acting like a filter) and is so deeply ingrained within us that it can be difficult to recognise it for what it is. But observing without judging is one hell of a tough act to pull off isn’t it? We drop our guard and …. whoosh! …. in it rushes, perhaps a little like ‘muscle memory’. It can be a knee-jerk reaction. And it’s made all the more difficult because, of course, we need to exert some degree of judgment or evaluation in our daily lives – to keep ourselves safe, to function professionally, to engage in relationships, to form opinions etc, etc. I’m still trying to figure out where the balance lies.

    I have to admit that, like xtexan86, my buttons have been pushed a few times when reading some of the posts on this blog (although very possibly for different reasons). As I work through my thoughts during the course of writing a response, I sometimes find that the very process reveals to me something of why I’m reacting in the way I am. I then find a different awareness and my response remains un-posted – probably to the huge relief of many ;-) . And sometimes I don’t find that awareness. As many people have said before, we are all human …. and so we are all fallible. In any event, I’m extremely grateful for this prompt to embark on a voyage of discovery. On balance, it’s all good.

    Reincarnation …. I understand and respect that the concept resonates with many others and is also a core belief for many Buddhists. My teacher’s view was that the Wheel of Life could also be interpreted as different frames of mind or psychological states. I suppose much of my doubt stems from my lack of comprehension as to how reincarnation is possible, my uncertainty as to whether humankind has become collectively any the wiser over its evolution, together with my impression that a disproportionate number of past regressions appear to relate to famous historical figures. Well …. that’s my scepticism arising from my own conditioning. So, I’ve ordered Brian Weiss’ book and will try to read it with an open mind.

    Wishing all well.

    PamT

    PS. @ Chavie. Boker tov. Mah korah?

  • By chavie, April 28, 2010 @ 2:23 pm

    @PamT – ok, going jogging. Mamash tov despite anyway… lol!

  • By Rachelle, April 28, 2010 @ 4:47 pm

    Pam – thank you for sharing Paul’s words – Very lovely and inspiring! Thank you for sharing the friendship quotes as well. Very nice! True friendship is a rare treasure!

    Chavie – Thanks for the information and for letting me know that David Soul has a new single. I look forward to hearing it.

    Enjoy the evening, Rach :)

  • By Janise Anthony, April 28, 2010 @ 9:30 pm

    Pam T. wrote:” together with my impression that a disproportionate number of past regressions appear to relate to famous historical figures”

    As I heard Dr. Chopra explain, on reincarnation, is that many people can experience a past life of the same person or famous person as you refer. Why? When the physical body dies we fully merge back to our Oneness with Source, the One Mind. To have a past life regression in consideration of our Oneness then, as One, we all experience on a deep level the experiences of each other. My memories are your memories, and yours are mine in our collective consciousness and Oneness. In a regression since there is only One Life we can tap into the past life of anyone. I think famous people have a larger memory in the collective consciousness more than Joe Schmoe because not only does the personal memory exist but many have observed that famous or historical figure’s life thus a more concentrated focus on the individualized expression (famous person) of the One on this plain.

    Peace,
    Janise

  • By Janise Anthony, April 28, 2010 @ 9:40 pm

    Well said Raffy. I didn’t have time to write it but yes, attachment to the impermanent causes suffering.
    Like the Kansas band song goes,” Nothing lasts forever but the earth and sky… All we are is dust in the wind…” When we understand the truth we are free!

    Namaste Raffy,
    Janise :)

  • By Janise Anthony, April 28, 2010 @ 10:06 pm

    Hilly wrote: “It would be interesting to see if we could discuss the next shared blog without dragging a specific idea of religion into the threads.”

    First I need to say I feel all bloggers should be free to express any way they want. If one’s religion helps them to share their way of thinking and how they filter and perceive then I want to hear it. We have free expression here. This blog is about metaphysics and spiritual ideas so how can religion for some and God the source be kept out of it? I like learning about others idea and differences and maybe I may be introduced to something which can impact my life.

    The mention of God does not equate or imply religion either. I have not read much about religious views here and just because someone quotes the bible,it does not imply a religious tone. Much of the bible has wisdom and can be quoted without prescribing to any sort of religious attachment to it. All religious writings have many universal truths in them and does not mean one has to adopt that denomination to believe in some of its teachings or ideas. Whether one believes Jesus the Christ was God in the flesh or not, Jesus was a pretty cool dude with some very valuable ideas and wisdom, so did The Buddha, and other great religious leaders. One can quote them without being devoted to their religion.

    God as I intend in my writings, is the Causation of all of life. How can we talk about evolving without involving Source. God is just a word for me to describe Source or Origin of life and energy which has been proven in physics.

    As physics had concluded… Its most direct evidence comes from measurements of the distances and motions of galaxies and of the temperature and characteristics of the initial explosion’s (Big Bang) radiation residue at varying distances from us. This bursting forth of the cosmos from and infinitely small volume of a maximum of 10-100 or 0.0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000001 which implies that the universe has a beginning, a starting point in the finite past. Einstein recognized this implication and dared to say that it affirms a necessity of a “Superior reasoning Power”. He went against the grain of astronomers and physicists of his time trained to presume an infinite universe and an irrelevant Initiator. But no matter how they tried to manipulate Einstein’s theory this singularity( the infinitesimally small volume of threshold at which matter and energy began) would not go away. In later years physicists such as Ellis, Hawking, and Penrose did affirm that any expanding universe governed by general relativity and which contains at least some matter and energy must posses a singular origin in the finite past. It wasn’t until the 1990′s that Hulse and Taylor’s study of the binary pulsar PSR1913+16 which proved Einstein’s theory of general relativity to better than a trillionth percent precision! They won a Nobel Prize for this. So a Causer was found. I call that Causer here on these blogs God. The source, conscious initiator of life in our dimension. To go further is the Space Time Theorem which concludes the Creator is not confined to just our time dimension but at least two or more time dimensions. Then we can get into the Gallery of String theory where Initiator is capable of ten dimensions… proving an Omnipresent Source/God/Mind!

    Its 2am where I am so hope this posting is clear.

    Salut’
    Janise

  • By PamT, April 28, 2010 @ 11:13 pm

    Thanks for that, Janise. Fascinating. More questions leap to ‘mind’, but I’ll hold off until I’ve acquainted myself with Mr Weiss.

    Wishing you well.

    PamT

  • By Sammy, April 29, 2010 @ 9:29 am

    Hi Paul and Blog friends…

    I took a trip but… way different from what Paul was talking about. After travelling for 5 days I was so looking forward to get back home! I just felt like kneeling down and kissing the earth of home sweet home.

    During my trip, I was finding myself questioning whether I am really doing what I want to do in my life. I realize that I miss teaching. I miss seeing that ‘light’ in someone’s eyes when they understand the concepts. I still teach and mentor students in research but I feel as if I am missing something in my life and I cannot fully understand what it is… And then when I came to work today there is a note from a student whom I supervised on ‘research work’. It was a lengthy note and the last line summarized it all for me: She had written “I couldn’t have asked anyone better to work with”. It brought tears into my eyes and I just sat in my office wondering whether this was just a coincidence or what… when I was just questioning the purpose in my life, someone comes along and tells me that I have made a difference in hers. I just remembered all the little thank you notes and e-mails and cards I had received throughout my life… and I am thinking now how did I forget all that?

    But… I still feel I am missing something and that there is something else that I should do in this life. I don’t know how to find it. How could one be sure of what he/she is doing is what exactly he/she should be doing? I am not trying to think of all the decisions I made in my life and what brought me here. That wouldn’t help me. What I need to know is what this thing that I am missing is and what should I do NOW in this very moment with my life.

    But how can I know… Will I ever know… How can I find out? Is there any way I can find out… I wish it was simple as following a protocol and getting the result… (sigh!)

  • By Sarah Levy, April 29, 2010 @ 9:42 am

    The subject of ‘past lives’ is one that I do find fascinating but I am not sure if I can believe in it or not. I would say that I am very open minded on the matter and have considered having past life regression but so far, haven’t gone for it. I do believe there is an after life, but for now, that is as far as my beliefs go.

    Janise, your earlier post on the subject did also appear to me, to imply that you believed you had been a famous person in a previous life.
    ‘It seems I was Prince Albert in my last incarnation from my regression with Brian’
    (BTW, I promise…no ‘Prince Albert’ jokes. Ouch!)
    So when I read Pam T’s comment, ‘ disproportionate number of past regressions appear to relate to famous historical figures’, I found myself agreeing with her.’
    However, your more recent post on the subject puts a different perspective on why so many people do believe they have been famous people in a past life, although I would argue that for some people, the idea of being able to feel they were once famous, makes them feel that they are a more interesting person than if they say they were once an inn keeper or a scullery maid. Maybe that is the reason why such a large amount of people ‘tap in’ to a historical figure when they go through a past life regression?

    You’ve certainly given me food for thought though. Thank you.

    Best Wishes,
    Sarah.

  • By Christine, April 29, 2010 @ 11:12 am

    Hi Sammy, It would appear that you have made a difference to a student’s life already. Sometimes in this life we don’t see ourselves as other’s do. Sometimes its the simple things in life that make all the difference from a ‘hello’ through to the student you helped, there are so many different ways a person can make your life better. Even though at times that same person may not be even aware that they have made a difference. As for feeling like you are ‘missing something’ I understand that, I think we all go through that point; only this week I was asking my friends if they thought I was going through a mid-life crisis(my words here I’m not trying to imply that’s how you are feeling lol!) I often wonder if I’m where I should be and what is it that is missing! Quite confusing this life sometimes huh?
    Best wishes,
    Christine.

  • By Christine, April 29, 2010 @ 11:34 am

    Just a thought went through this tired brain on past lives. I can’t remember if I read this or saw a documentary on this but either way it was said that sometimes when a person feels an intense overwhelming attraction to another person, almost like a bolt from the blue kind of thing that they were in some way connected in past lives. This has happened to me once in my life I can’t explain it, or define it but I know I felt it, the question is did he feel that same thing? I don’t know I never had either the chance or the nerve to ask. Some could think you were nuts! lol. But I know how I felt and have never been able to fully explain it. Goosebump time!!!. Just thought I would mention it!.
    Best wishes,
    Christine.xx

  • By hilly, April 29, 2010 @ 11:39 am

    Janise: “I call that Causer here on these blogs God…nice one!
    the biggest chicken omelet of all time = ‘if the big bang was caused by gases where did the gases come from?

  • By hilly, April 29, 2010 @ 11:41 am

    Interesting comment about ‘famous’ other lives….I believe in reincarnation. At least I think I do…because I am not sure that we would always have any awareness f having existed before.
    On the other hand the phenomenon on ‘déjà vu’ may be based on something that happened to us a lot longer ago than we might think.

    And would we know if we had come around for the last time?

  • By hilly, April 29, 2010 @ 11:45 am

    I remember an interview back in the ‘70s where Paul referred to his interest in yoga and meditating s ‘dovetailing’ with his Judaism. (I’m pretty sire of this but….)
    The remark struck me as so very apposite to my own attitude to religion and philosophy. Back then I had decided what I didn’t believe – I went to a convent school because it was a good school – not for any religious reasons (I think I’ve explained that somewhere here.) I knew what I couldn’t accept and I knew what seemed reasonable to me. I grew up in the ‘60s & ‘70s when the ‘eastern religions’ were gaining popularity….Cat Stevens became a Moslem and changed his name (and lost my respect with his outbursts a few years later); the Beatles had introduced us to the Maharishi and TM; reading the ‘Beats’ brought me to my first encounters with Buddhism. My half (wrong half) Jewishness was there too. Y love of history had already taken me to look at Wicca and ‘the old ways’ and I was growing herbs for medicinal uses.
    In short – it was like the candy counter in Woolworths (in England anyway) ‘pick and mix’.

    I came to understand that the best way to learn about the paths and journeys that we face is to try…try, that’s the key word…to approach these debates in as abstract a way as possible. I believe that the only way to understand the complex interactions of the world’s philosophical, and religious (and sometimes both at the same time), threads, is try (and I do mean try to consider them in as abstract a way as possible.
    It isn’t easy and what Chavie takes to be a ‘passionate’ approach is really an intense wish to understand and to analyse. So maybe I get like a cat that won’t give up on the spot where it saw a lizard on the wall half an hour ago; I won’t let go until I understand.

    That is why I find it hard to understand those who cling to one interpretation of the threads of ‘fate/god/mind/faith/belief’ and take it to be the only way…as I said before and with no wish to insult anyone, the phrase ‘gospel truth’ is an oxymoron….the gospels are not eyewitness accounts so they cannot be ‘the truth’ (and even eye-witness accounts are unreliable as any good lawyer will prove in court).

    On the other hand there are others who argue a point drawing on more than one thread (or religion if you like)….they are using a more abstract approach; thinking round and through the original ideas put before us. Janise does it very well…so do a few others.

    Why have I told you about this? Because back in the late ‘70s and early 80s when I was working as a Speech Therapist in the UK Health Service I was involved in a project to help stutterers overcome their problems. We used meditation and relaxation techniques based on yoga. A colleague (a woman who later went to work as nurse in Africa in order ‘to bring the little black babies to god’…I can still hear her saying it and the shocked silence in the room!) lodged an official complaint that the project was ‘dangerous because it undermined the church’.

    That’s what I mean about being able to see things in the abstract – in the big picture; rather than through the narrow viewfinder of dogmatic faith.

    ‘frail grasp on the big picture…’ to quote The Eagles

  • By chavie, April 29, 2010 @ 12:48 pm

    @Hilly … read “Jew in the Lotus” by Roger Kamanetz – it’s cool. Or try google it.

  • By Terri, April 29, 2010 @ 5:55 pm

    Hi Christine, Your last post made me smile. I had the same experience years ago and reacted the same way. Wasn’t confident enough to speak to him but never forgot the feeling. This person seemed so familiar. It was almost shocking like when you see an old friend again after many years and you hadn’t expected to. I’ve been smiling at some of the comments of past lives and ‘deja vu’ too. I’ve had a few strong feelings of living before and been told by people who believe that I’ve been here often but Never have I been more than a common, regular person. No fame or wealth for me. (yet). Terri

  • By marly, April 30, 2010 @ 1:06 am

    I try to be open minded and nonjudgmental but again and again I find that the more personal and close to home things get, the more difficult it becomes(for me) to practice those good intentions.
    For example last night, after a stressful day at work, I did my usual bit of self reflection and came to the rather shameful (and disappointing) conclusion that during that day I drove right into my very own potholes once more……WHY?
    Well folks, turns out that in spite of all my theoretic “wisdom”, surprise, surprise, I’m still human after all!

    As I stated before, I envy the people on this blog(including pmg) who seem to understand so much about life and its meaning/purpose while I often feel like I haven’t got a clue…..
    I get the impression that life is far less a day to day struggle with your inner demons when one has that kind of (self )confidence to face life and take things as they come (and go…) without that annoying need for control.
    Whether one reaches this state of mind by religion or non religious believes/convictions doesn’t really matter to me.

    Sitting comfty behind my computer happily typing away I often feel “enlightened”.
    Writing clears my mind and helps me to see things more clearly, more in perspective.
    To put that enlightenment from theory into practice often turn out to be an entirely different matter.
    I do try….believe me, I do but at times I tend to get very impatient with myself.
    As I said before in one of my earlier comments, self reflection is an indispensable asset but sometimes I wish I could stop myself from practicing it so tirelessly.
    In doing so I torture myself relentlessly and whatever I do to try to make things better somehow it’s never good enough…

    I found a variation on pmg’s meditation : ‘There nothing to do, nothing to change, everything is perfect just as it is”.
    It goes like this:
    “Nothing to do, nothing to force, nothing to want, and everything happens by itself” by Lama Gendon Rimpoche
    I am trying to keep all these wise words in mind while trying to remain patient with myself.
    I might have not yet reached the insights and wisdom some of you seem to have gathered (and maybe I never will),but I’m going to stick the above mentioned meditations on my wall to remind myself again and again that being “here” is what really matters.
    I don’t actually need to try so hard and I don’t actually need to torture myself with my “failures” and “faults.”
    I am “here”,…….“Nothing to force……”

    On religion:
    When I stated that faith is like water(“no matter what form it takes it’s still the same water…”) I wasn’t trying to generalize or deny the origins of and differences between existing religions or believe systems.
    There are indeed differences but that’s not my point.
    Faith originates from what?
    Why do we all seem to need some sort of faith, believe?
    Why is it often such a delicate topic to discuss?
    Isn’t it funny that the discussion over here jumps from Christianity to Buddhism to reincarnation, etc.?
    Some of us believe in a god, others believe in reincarnation, some believe/have faith in the teachings of the buddha, etc.
    Believe in gods and goddesses, a new life in the hereafter or a new life over here.
    How many times did, do we use the word “believe” in our comments?
    To “believe”,” to have faith” seems to be very, very important to us, human beings.
    Right from the origin of mankind there it must have been…..faith in “something more.”
    A downright need for “something more.”
    Can it be that we’re simply all in need for water?
    The outward appearance of the water I like may be differ from or what you prefer, the taste of the water I prefer may differ from what you like but our mutual and essential need for that water remains the same.
    Any thoughts on why we are in such a need of religion, faith, believe or whatever you like to call it?
    I’m still working on that one!

    Hopefully I didn’t offend any of you with these humble thoughts/ramblings of mine.
    Please remind yourself, these are just personal thoughts and not meant to hurt anyone of you.

    Wishing all of you a nice weekend,

    Marly

  • By Sammy, April 30, 2010 @ 6:00 am

    To Christine:
    Thank you for your words of encouragement. I soooo hope this is not a mid-life crisis.. :-) I had a very big 2-year long crisis 10 years ago when my father passed away. Don’t want to go back to something like that again! Life sure is VERY confusing!

    To Rachelle:
    You know what I am about to say….. YES!!! Happy Friday!

  • By Sammy, April 30, 2010 @ 6:01 am

    About reincarnation and life…

    If a burning candle is a life, the stick represents the physical part and the flame itself is life. The stick is nothing unless the flame is lit. Until the ‘spirit’ or the ‘mental’ energy is connected to the physical body there is no human being. If we let the candle stick burn to its end and watch the flame go off, isn’t that similar to what happens with our lives. When the flame dies off there is nothing there anymore. No life. But the remnants of the ‘flame’ or the candle ‘light’ (call it carbon dioxide and water) is now together with all the other elements in the environment or space or the ‘world’. We are all in one. Another action can bring back the flame on another candle stick. The ‘stick’ is different, the light or the flame that comes out of it is now different yet it is also a part of the previous because the energy if the previous ‘flame’ is all in one with the universe… The flame is ‘reincarnated’ but yet it is also not the same…

    Starting from the act that brings back the flame or bringing life into this world, we are connected to each other through our actions knowingly or unknowingly. “I” cannot exist if “you” didn’t. All our lives are entwined with each other whether we like it or not. Every little action of one will change the life of another.

    This reminds me an incident in Buddha’s life: A woman offered food to a particular monk every day. One day Buddha was passing her home and she offered the food to him not identifying who he was but thinking that he was this other monk she offers food every day (because all monks including Buddha wears the same orange colored robes). Then she saw the other monk walking in the distance and realized that she had mistakenly identified someone else as the monk. She quickly ran back to Buddha, took away the food from him, and offered it to this other monk. The other monk was heartbroken to see that his Master’s food was taken away from him but Buddha explained to the monk the events that lead to this moment. He explained that never in any of his past lives he had a chance to give anything to this woman while the other monk had.

    So does this mean that something is destined to happen just in one way? Absolutely not! The woman could have made a decision to offer another portion of food to the monk without taking away the food she had given to Buddha. She made a decision not to.

    You can change the cause of action by conscious decisions you make in this life. Because this is a new life although you have connections to the past. Just like the newly lit candle.

  • By Rachelle, April 30, 2010 @ 6:32 am

    Sammy – I agree with Christine and it appears you’ve made a difference in the lives of your students. How rewarding to know that you’ve helped others learn. Teaching is one profession that deserves respect and great pay!

    Oh yes Happy Friday! TGI FRIDAY!! :)
    Rach

  • By hilly, April 30, 2010 @ 11:06 am

    chavie…thanks for that reference I’ll go see if I can get a copy. Oh and thanks for taking the words out of my keyboard as far as Jimbo’s inappropriate posts were concerned!

    I agree with your last line there Rach…having done some teaching (and hated it) I agree with you wholeheartedly… the old adage ‘those who can do and those who can’t teach’ is so insulting!

  • By hilly, April 30, 2010 @ 11:08 am

    this post is not really relevant to the topic here but I wonder how many of you would agree with me that it would be nice to be able to log in before scrolling down to the end of the last post (and then having to scroll all the way down again to comment….sometimes I forget who I wanted to answer in the time it takes to get here (prrrriggle…oh sorry, for those who don’t now me – that’s a cat laughing!)

  • By hilly, April 30, 2010 @ 11:09 am

    chavie…I’d like to contact you off this blog – my e-mail contact is somewhere on the fan forum posts if you are OK with that

  • By chavie, April 30, 2010 @ 11:29 am

    @hilly – cat?

  • By chavie, April 30, 2010 @ 11:29 am

    sent to cat in france thingy?

  • By hilly, April 30, 2010 @ 11:42 am

    gotcha!

  • By patricia, May 1, 2010 @ 12:43 am

    Hi Paul ! How are you ? It’s always a pleasure to read your post. It helps me to find my own Light into my soul.
    I don’t forget you and I hope you remember who I am.
    Wishing your light.
    Patricia (from France)

  • By cynth, May 1, 2010 @ 1:58 am

    Dear All

    Greetings from Manila, Philippines. This is an awesome blog that was recommended by someone.I am here to tell you that we love both Paul Michael Glaser and David Soul.

    http://www.4shared.com/audio/pXEYpIZF/artist_-_Bakit_ngayon_ka_lang.html

    Please copy and paste the url and you will all find out how we love David Soul and how great this song he interpreted is in both English and in our language. He has not lost that voice.He sings in both languages very well.

    We are sharing it with you so those who are interested can realize that this is a man with real talent, even if he is old.

    You can also find this in another site, maybe later on visual.Maybe also in another site as some know. One of us will try and also place it on the you tube of someone.

    Bakit Ngayon Ka Lang means why did we meet only now and David Soul did it in English and in our language.

    Please don’t get angry at our people. Some just like to live in peace and read blogs and study other people’s thoughts Mr. Jimbo, these kinds of people like Chavie also want to learn and deserves her own space also. Some people appreciate the writing of Mr Glaser very much while some love David Soul.

    Mabuhay!

    http://www.4shared.com/audio/pXEYpIZF/artist_-_Bakit_ngayon_ka_lang.html

    Maybe translation to come later but it can be understood because there is english. thank you.

    Metro Manila
    PHILIPPINES!

  • By Nadine, May 1, 2010 @ 3:35 am

    Aujourd’hui 1 MAI je tiens a vous offrir un brin de MUGUET ( virtuel ) Mais réel à mon coeur afin de vous souhaiter à toutes à vous Paul du BONHEUR ! du BONHEUR et du BONHEUR!!!!!

  • By chavie, May 1, 2010 @ 5:35 am

    @Rachelle – please see your you tube :)

  • By hilly, May 1, 2010 @ 7:31 am

    Nadine is offering you all a lily of the valley – the traditional gift n the May 1st in France – to wish you happiness.

    I would like to add mine to the bouquet..may spring be great for all of you

  • By hilly, May 1, 2010 @ 7:37 am

    “Remember, stay in the moment. If you simply follow your breath, life will surely catch up.”

    (Gurudas Śunyatananda aka Dharmadude…Gurudas is an ordained Catholic bishop and a Buddhist monk – he is not a Theist.)

  • By hilly, May 1, 2010 @ 7:38 am

    Good to see you here Patricia.

  • By hilly, May 1, 2010 @ 7:40 am

    In the light of some of the directions this discussion took some of you might find this interesting…

    http://livingdharma.spruz.com/pt/Beyond-Rituals-and-Religious-Institutions/blog.htm

  • By hilly, May 1, 2010 @ 8:00 am

    hahaha; now I have the time to read something more than coursework and ‘time out for my brain’ crime novels I’ve been catching up on some of the other places I go. I gleaned this one – so apt to Paul’s discussion of the mind;

    In its classical sense, mindfulness means the ability to hold one’s full, impartial attention from moment to moment on whatever one experiences in body and mind. Although this mental muscle is natural, its function is so vital to meditative learning that its constant care is the foundation of Buddhist practice. Mindfulness practice is crucial for freeing us from the instinctive bias that normally restricts our ability to see the world more objectively.

    Joseph Loizzo, “Science of Enlightenment”

  • By chavie, May 1, 2010 @ 1:02 pm

    @Hilly … sent. I hope that did not sound like a philosophical discourse rather than a friendly letter. It’s my passionate (there again) observation (not judgment btw) of why and how family is almost essential because one grows up with these set values, yet, one is “anchored” even as one goes through one’s own life.. it’s like that umbilical chord is always there. After all, the fact that you’re born means that you’re human I think. I may be wrong of course.

  • By Christine, May 1, 2010 @ 1:35 pm

    Merci Nadine.

    Impressive huh? one word of French and that’s my lot!!.

    Hi Hilly, Thank you, and a great spring to you too.

    Hi Terri, Glad to know I’m not the only one lol.

    Hi Sammy, Thank you.

    Happy weekend to Paul, Pam, and fellow blogger’s hope its a good one for you all.
    With love as always, Christine xx

  • By chavie, May 1, 2010 @ 3:36 pm

    @Rachelle – sent
    @Hilly – Replied. What you term as disagreement is something I expected.. re-read. See that it’s a tactful way I wanted to say I agreed about everything we discussed . People and life always have “contradictions” (please bear with these philosophical terms) .. but that is exactly why we are human. People are “cut” and they become even more vulnerable.. and the courage is how to handle the KNOWLEDGE of how fragile and vulnerable we can be. I think real courage is when one simply does have to say it, but show IT instead and live it.Gee… why did I meet you only now? (lol!)

  • By Rachelle, May 1, 2010 @ 5:00 pm

    Christine – Thanks for the weekend wishes. I hope you have a great weekend, too!
    Chavie – Received. :)
    Happy weekend to everyone!

    Rach

  • By hilly, May 2, 2010 @ 12:29 am

    chavie: read it replied and, believe me, we are not alone!

    You know one of the great things about coming here (and to the other places where some of us meet) is the variety of thinking and reactions that Paul’s thoughts provoke…and discovering how many people are out there giving real thought to where they see themselves on the path that is life. what do I mean by “real” thought? I mean that they are open to new idea(l)s and not brainwashed by one dogma.
    I echo Chavie’s comment to me…but this is for so many of you here…why didn’t we meet before?!
    Isn’t that one of the good things about internet – we have met.

  • By Frances, May 2, 2010 @ 5:18 am

    I really enjoy reading this blog, and reading all your interpretations of Paul’s words. as I have said before I read because I am not as articulate as the rest of you. I want to single out Marly in particular because he/she is the one who expresses my thoughts almost perfectly, and its lovely to read someone who (unknowingly) puts down in words just what I want to say. So I just want to say to Marly, keep up the good work!.

  • By hilly, May 2, 2010 @ 7:26 am

    after reading your post I went back and looked at Marly’s last post. I agree; she (I think she’s not a he) puts things clearly and manages to keep the neutrality that avoids getting those who have an unswerving belief from taking every abstract comment as an insult.

  • By marly, May 2, 2010 @ 8:06 am

    Dear Frances,
    Nice to read your comment!
    To be honest, I don’t consider myself to be particularly articulated as well.
    My fervent need to put my two cents in during some discussions over here often wins it from my doubt/insecurity whether I’ve got something worthwhile to contribute or not.

    Yes, I really enjoy this blog too!
    Pmg’s shared thoughts are inspiring and often lead to many ( diverse ) interpretations which provide me with fresh food for thought again and again.

    Kind regards to you, Frances!

    Marly(who happens to be a “she”)

  • By Frances, May 2, 2010 @ 8:46 am

    hilly,
    Thanks for the heads up! (he/she).
    She wrote clearly and I empathised
    with her. Not that I don’t like reading everyone’s opinion but I tend to take a less strident view of how life goes along than some of the other posters. But then that’s why I enjoy reading this blog, (Don’t the French have a saying, something about enjoying difference!) Glad you understood.

  • By Frances, May 2, 2010 @ 9:01 am

    So sorry Marly
    I was too busy replying to hilly that I did not see your post till now, (you can understand why I just sit back and read the posts now!) I for one will look foreword to you “putting your two cents in” and more than likely saying just what I was thinking!
    Look after yourself
    Regards Frances.

  • By Janise Anthony, May 2, 2010 @ 11:21 am

    OK, seriously people complaining about having to scroll down this blog to post???!!! Seriously??!!

    Watch this link below then….

    Also a follow up on comments about my comments of handicaps being gifts and lessons to all.

    WATCH THIS LINK AND LEARN HOW TO MAKE SOME SWEET LEMONADE!!!

    Peace to all,
    Janise

  • By hilly, May 2, 2010 @ 11:42 am

    I do so agree Marly – Paul’s thoughts not only provide food for thought but something to get our teeth into and really chew over before making up our minds….

    (sorry folks I couldn’t resist that pun run)

    Frances : it’s vive la difference – best translated as ‘hooray for differences’!

  • By chavie, May 2, 2010 @ 12:00 pm

    @hilly – please check mail

  • By Christine, May 2, 2010 @ 12:59 pm

    Hi Paul, Are you ok? hope you are well. I know you are busy but please come back here soon! I am missing your ‘thoughts’.
    Take care,
    with love as always,
    Christine xx

  • By chavie, May 3, 2010 @ 11:01 am

    @Rachelle – I asked someone to send you something in your you tube :)

    @Hilly – replied, was out last night lol!(check email)

    Question to all — there are so many great old blog entries here. Is there some rule that we get to reply only to the last blog entry? Just want to know in case I may be breaking rules.

  • By hilly, May 3, 2010 @ 11:44 am

    LOL chavie – rules were made to be broken!

    I can’t speak for others but I do look back at the other blogs to see if anything new has been added…when I remember.

  • By Janise Anthony, May 4, 2010 @ 6:57 am

    Hi Paul,

    Hope this past month was productive for you while enjoying the beautiful spring weather !

    My best friend Peg Yorkin, your old friend, says hello to you. During dinner last night I was telling Peg about this new blog I found and she told me about her and Bud hanging out with you back in the day. Fond memories and she sends her best wishes to you.

    Tonight we host the “Global Women’s Rights Awards” raising money to help Afghanistan women through Peg’s organization. Should be a stimulating evening.

    Looking forward to your next posting Paul, whenever you squeak the next one out.

    Peace
    Janise ;)

  • By Sarah Levy, May 6, 2010 @ 6:35 am

    Today, I read an online article which I found interesting and also relevant to the discussion on here.

    ‘Who Are We? Experiments Suggest You’re Not Who You Think’

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-lanza/spirituality-who-are-we-e_b_551719.html?ref=fb&src=sp

  • By Sammy, May 7, 2010 @ 6:29 am

    For me this is going to be a long weekend- I just got to know that a friend of mine committed suicide. Everything that we were talking in our blogs sometime ago went through my mind. He was well educated but never was satisfied of what he was doing. I wasn’t in touch with him that often but we communicated once in a while. He had never said anything about his problems. For women, talking about problems comes natuarally. We have our own support groups. We even talk to each other on this blog and still feel connected even we don’t exactly ‘know’ each other. But men, let us say 95% of men, keep everything neatly packaged inside and does not open up. When it blows up you cannot do anything about it anymore (I am not judging but merely stating something I have observed).

    This is someone I knew. Someone I liked and someone I looked upto. He leaves behind two children (between 10-15 years of age) and what would become of them.

    I know what can drive a person to this point. I have been there myself but I managed to pull through. We need friends and family with us. That is not asking for too much. We just have to open up, talk and share our problems. We may not get an answer, we may not even be looking for an answer, but talking about it relieves the pressure.

    How can someone get from the thought of killing himself to actually doing it? How can you make up your mind to go there? How can your mind take you there?

    I wish my friend had talked to someone about his problems. I have this heavy and crushing feeling in my chest.

  • By Christine, May 7, 2010 @ 7:06 am

    Hi Sammy, I am so sorry to hear about your friend. I just wish we lived closer so I could truly offer you some support. I do know how you are feeling, suicide is a very hard thing to come to terms with; there are just so many unanswered questions. For now just be kind to yourself, where ever he has gone to he will now be at peace and the desperation he must have been feeling will be over. The way you are feeling right now, my heart goes out to you we always wish they had only talked to us. Take good care of yourself,
    Christine.

  • By Christine, May 7, 2010 @ 7:45 am

    Hi Pam, Just a quick ‘thank you’ from me for reminding us that because someone has committed suicide they are no lesser a person for it. I totally agree with you on this one. Everyone will have their own opinion no doubt but how can you really think badly of someone who has found things so unbearable? Miss them yes, but never judge their decision for we truly don’t know what’s going on in another’s life/mind.
    Best wishes
    Christine xx

  • By hilly, May 7, 2010 @ 8:02 am

    Sammy I am so sorry to hear about your friend. I echo that thought that because someone commits suicide it does not make them a lesser person – how could I think that of my own father even if I hardly remember him?
    It is a hard moment for you and your friend’s family. there are no words…no platitudes….just hope

  • By hilly, May 7, 2010 @ 8:13 am

    a reflection on suicide. Many years ago, after a very bad experience I got so depressed that I started to wonder if my father hadn’t taken the right decision when he ended his life. I became more and more convinced that like father like daughter blah blah and that I would one day take my life. before anyone panics – I’ve gone way beyond that and would only take my own life if I thought that some bloody doctor was keeping me alive for his profit!

    So how did I deal with it? I had a wonderful psychology teacher at the time (I was as student).He was only a couple of years older than his students, irreverent and brilliant – he referred to Freud as ‘Old Siggy Fraud’.
    He sat me down with a bottle (and a few roll-ups of non-commercial variety) and we talked long into the night.
    Question: how would you kill yourself?
    Answer….I don’t know.
    OK so we went through each method we could think of.
    Shooting? not as easy as it seems – especially in a country where it was hard to buy any other gun than a hunting rifle! cross that one out
    Overdose? I have enough trouble keeping down a painkiller for a migraine…suppose I threw the pills up and ended up brain damaged? cross that one out.
    Drowning (that’s what dad did)? I’d probably swim instinctively – and I am too scared of heights to be able to jump of a bridge (how on earth did my dad do it?!) scratch that one then….
    And so we continued; each option had its ‘impossibility’ so finally, boozed and stoned and in no fit state to drive anywhere (I’d probably have written myself off – what an irony!) I slept on it and decided to deal with what had happened tome as best I could.
    Thirty something years later I’m still here….I wonder where Harry is.

  • By marly, May 7, 2010 @ 10:27 am

    Dear Sammy,

    So sorry to hear about the loss of your friend.
    What can I say to comfort you?
    Allow yourself to grief.
    It’s okay to feel sad.

    “How can someone get from the thought of killing himself to actually doing it? How can you make up your mind to go there? How can your mind take you there?”

    Depression?
    Desperation?
    Total hopelessness?
    These are just a couple of guesses …..
    You’ll probably never know the answers to your questions.

    A dear colleague of mine committed suicide 2 years ago.
    She got all the help that was available (from friends/family as well as from professionals) in order to prevent her from doing it but in the end no one could stop her.
    On her first weekend alone after spending a few months in therapy she committed suicide……
    It’s what she wanted, life had become an unbearable burden to her.

    We, the ones who are left behind stand defeated.
    Defeated in the face of a death we feel we could/should have been able to prevent.
    But we are no gods, are we?
    We can’t control these matters of life and death.
    We’re just human.

    Be kind towards yourself, Sammy.
    Mourn the loss of your friend and treasure your memories of him.

    Wishing you all my best,

    Marly

  • By Rachelle, May 7, 2010 @ 10:46 am

    Dear Sammy,

    I’m so sorry to hear about the loss of your friend. Always know your friend will be with you and in your heart. Please accept my condolences and prayers for you at this time.

    Hugs, Rach

  • By Terri, May 7, 2010 @ 1:34 pm

    Hello Sammy, So sorry to hear of the loss of your friend. I’m also sorry for the pain you feel. I’ve experienced friends who accidentaly committed suicide, still painful and shocking when you get the news. Your in my thoughts and prayers. Take care. Terri

  • By Sammy, May 7, 2010 @ 9:16 pm

    Dear Christine, Pam, Hilly, Marly, Rachelle, Terri

    Thank you so much for your words of love, support, and encouragement. I feel truly blessed to have you in my life.

    Christine: I know that you are with me through your thoughts. That closeness means more to me than anything else. It is the thought that counts. I know with time I will be able tolerate the pain and sadness. I just wish it would happen soon and I would not feel this void in me.

    Pam: You had put into words what I was trying to understand. Yes, all what matters during a suffering is a path to get-away from the pain that becomes unbearable. Some thoughts cannot be expressed to even our closest of the closest friends. Sometimes we try to hide our pain from them because we want to shield them from the pain we feel. That I understand. I know the tightening feeling that you get in your heart, and the pain that comes with each breath.

    Hilly: Thank you for reaching out and sharing what you faced in your life. I am glad and thankful for that psychology teacher of yours for taking you on that trip of realization. Tell you the truth I have gone through that trip by myself.

    Marly: Your words are so simple but they brought great comfort to me. When you said it is OK to be sad I realized that’s just what I had to do to ease my pain. He was so sure of what he wanted in his life and how he would get there. But something went wrong somewhere. We would never know. He must have felt helpless at the end. Like you said the ones left behind suffer. I am just a friend but his children… Their suffering just begun.

    Rachelle: Thanks for being here for me. I thought of him all day long and tried to remember the happy times. You know… He is this tall well built guy who had beautiful dark brown eyes, neatly cut slightly curled dark hair, a dashing smile and a mischievous look in eyes. He will be missed.

    Terri: Yes it is a shock when the person who left us is someone who is close or has been close to us. The image of him doing what he did to himself is stuck in my head. It doesn’t matter whether my eyes are closed or open. I see him.

    I would never think that he was a coward. For him that was the only end he saw for his pain. I just keep on shaking my head when I try to imagine or try to comprehend the sadness he must have felt. Did he feel that sadness at the very last minute or was he relieved that his pain was going to end. I hope he was at peace and thinking of a happy place he will go from here. I wish and hope he found his happiness.

  • By Christine, May 8, 2010 @ 12:42 pm

    Hi Sammy, Just picking up on your comment to Terri. One of the hardest parts of coming to terms with a loved ones suicide is the thoughts and images you have in your head. I truly know how terrible this can be, when my son did this I was filled with those awful thoughts and its a horrible situation to go through. We all have our own ways of coping, and I’m not trying to say I know best, no not at all, but what I found really helpful was to try to replace that thought with a one of his most dazzling smile, my son had a smile that could light up a room, remember his laugh, his giggle, it all helps to feel their love and take those other thoughts away. I’m not saying its easy but it does get slowly better. I’m sure he would not want you to be sad, but as humans we will be, just give yourself time. Take care, Christine.

  • By Rachelle, May 9, 2010 @ 10:29 am

    Hi everyone,

    I wanted to wish all the fellow Mother’s(including pet mom’s) a wonderful Happy Mother’s Day!

    Rach

    Ps – Sammy my thoughts are with you! Hugs!

  • By Christine, May 9, 2010 @ 2:20 pm

    Hi Rach, Happy mother’s day to you my friend! Hope you have a good one. To all other mom’s (not mam’s as we would say lol) hope you get pampered for once!! Over this side of the pond Rach mother’s day was in March. Enjoy the rest of your weekend love Christine xx.

  • By Sammy, May 10, 2010 @ 5:35 am

    Hi Christine, I never knew how hard things have been for you. I wish I were there but remember in the future I always will be.

    Hi Rach, I feel it! It is Monday! dang it!

    -Sam-

  • By Sarah Levy, May 10, 2010 @ 8:04 am

    This is really weird. I posted a short comment with a link on May 6th at 6:35 but it doesn’t show up if I’m not logged in, so I am assuming that nobody else can see it either. Is the problem caused by me having attached a link to my post?

    I’ll re-post below.

    Best Wishes,
    Sarah

  • By Sarah Levy, May 10, 2010 @ 8:07 am

    Today, I read an online article which I found interesting and also relevant to the discussion on here.

    ‘Who Are We? Experiments Suggest You’re Not Who You Think’
    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-lanza/spirituality-who-are-we-e_b_551719.html?ref=fb&src=sp

  • By Sarah Levy, May 10, 2010 @ 8:12 am

    I’m so sorry for all of you who have lost loved ones. When someone commits suicide it can be so hard to come to terms with. It’s important to bear in mind that the person suffering from depression and suicidal thoughts often doesn’t understand them themself so to be able to discuss it can be impossible. They often are unable to make sense of the thoughts and feelings they are experiencing. Please don’t feel that you should have listened more or talked more to them. It’s unlikely that it would have changed things. I hope that in time, you will be able to remember the happier times you shared with the people you have lost.

    Sarah x

  • By Rachelle, May 10, 2010 @ 8:33 am

    Christine – Thanks for the Mother’s Day greeting. I had a lovely day :) … I wanted to say you’re such an encourager and through your experience you’re able to help others. Hugs!

    Sammy – You’re so right Monday is here. I worked Saturday (my one per month) so Friday is going to be very welcomed this week. Plus my eldest son turns 16 on Friday. So it will be a busy day!

    Rach

  • By Christine, May 10, 2010 @ 9:05 am

    Hi Sammy, Thank you for your kind words, you are appreciated! Hope you are doing ok, take care xx

    Hi Rach, I’m glad you had a good day!!. Thank you too and a Happy Birthday to your son. xx

    Hi Sarah, Your words are always a comfort to people. Hope you are well xx

  • By hilly, May 10, 2010 @ 12:38 pm

    Fiona (who was visiting with me this weekend) tells me that my remark about scrolling down was misunderstood – so I’ll try to be clearer. I’m not complaining about having to scroll down to post just pointing out that having scrolled down (and read the new posts) it is irritating (and time wasting and hard on the eyes)to log in and then scroll down again in order to reply. the posts ‘flashing’ down the page can provoke migraines for me….
    Fee and I have had a great weekend – discussing some of the ways these discussions have made us look again at some ideas…..and taking a lot of photos!

  • By chavie, May 10, 2010 @ 1:42 pm

    @Rachelle.. please check your you tube (or press my link on my name if it shows anyway.. news.. I may go there.. depending on circumstances)

    @Hilly … again, thank you my dear :)

  • By hilly, May 10, 2010 @ 2:04 pm

    Chavie – things aren’t as bad as you thought they were going to be are they? I know you and the one who is close to you will be just fine.

  • By chavie, May 10, 2010 @ 2:13 pm

    Hilly , fortunately no.. but the person (in my letter) is his having “anger” issues… fortunately, he manages to exempt me from these really bad fits of his.That means I have no problem.. but he does.

  • By Sarah Levy, May 10, 2010 @ 2:42 pm

    Thanks Christine. I hope you are well too.

    I think you are right when, in a previous post, you said ‘give yourself time’. Grieving is so painful but I do believe it is something a bereaved person needs to go through in order to be able to come to terms with what has happened.

    Sarah x

  • By Sammy, May 10, 2010 @ 4:17 pm

    Hi Sarah,

    That is so true- When one takes the time to grieve and cry and etc etc… it becomes easier to get over the pain once seemed unbearable. I tend to see things more clearly when I let myself cry over what ever is painful or bothering me.

    About your earlier post- I think when there is a link attached to your post it takes time to get posted here. I think it has to be approved or something like hat. Happened to me onetime too but the post eventually got posted. And it was also posted at the original date though it took sometime close to a week.

    Thanx for your thoughts and comments.

    Sam.

  • By Sarah Levy, May 10, 2010 @ 5:59 pm

    Hi Sammy,
    I was so saddened to read the post about your friend. This is going to be a tough time for all of you who were close to him. Bereavement brings out so many emotions in us but I hope you are able to realise that nobody is to blame for your friend’s death. Not even him. He was very ill and his mind was not working as it normally would be. In your post, you asked,
    ‘How can someone get from the thought of killing himself to actually doing it? How can you make up your mind to go there? How can your mind take you there?’
    A friend’s daughter attempted, and almost succeeded in killing herself. She’s almost 20. She had been suffering from severe depression but appeared to be recovering well. However, one small incident triggered something in her mind which convinced her that her life was worthless and that her loved ones would be better off without her. The whole suicide attempt happened in less than 30 minutes. No warning signs. She said it was like a switch going on in her brain. Luckily, she survived and is making good progress. I’m not implying that every suicide victim’s brain works in that way, but for some, the thought of suicide turns into reality very quickly. There’s no room for the usual weighing up of the situation and what it might mean for others.

    Like you, I also feel that after a session of crying, I feel calmer and more able to think clearly. I know that there is sometimes disagreement between scientists and psychologists as to whether there are chemical, social, or psychological factors with crying, but personally, I believe it does release endorphins which make a person feel calmer. That seems to have been my experience anyway.

    Thanks for letting me know about the link situation. I was wondering if I had attached it in such a way that it couldn’t show.

    Thinking of you,
    Sarah.

  • By hilly, May 10, 2010 @ 11:48 pm

    chavie – you know where to find me and my shoulder is always open. It is so hard to deal with someone else’s ‘self-anger’ especially when you are not able to break through his personal firewall. We build walls sometimes when the going gets tough and we can’t or won’t let anyone else into our emotional space. But you are close to him that is what will eventually help to remove the bricks in your way.

  • By hilly, May 10, 2010 @ 11:49 pm

    Buddha Sakyamuni admonished, “Believe nothing because it is written in books. Believe nothing because wise men say so. Believe nothing because it is religious doctrine. Believe only what you have examined and know for yourself to be true.”

    (my emphasis)

  • By Terri, May 11, 2010 @ 7:45 am

    Hi hilly, Your last post really hit. I so can relate to those statements.I remember the early years when you believe what your told or read. Then life. Now I take a lot of things ‘with a grain of salt’. Terri

  • By hilly, May 11, 2010 @ 8:02 am

    me too Terri – sometimes a grain and sometimes a great big spoonful!
    Remember that you can’t tell a book by looking at the cover – so why take anything at face value? Until we learn to read between the lines there is so much we miss.
    I’m off to play with the photos I took this weekend (over 80 of them) I wonder if I will see chat I thought I was seeing when I took them

  • By hilly, May 11, 2010 @ 1:16 pm

    snort typo: ‘what’ not ‘chat’…mind, Fee and I were chatting when we took the photos so anything is possible

  • By PamT, May 11, 2010 @ 2:07 pm

    @ Sarah. I’m glad you persevered with posting the link to the Huffington Post article. I found the piece itself extremely interesting and some of the responses equally so. Many thanks for that.

    I agree with your thoughts on bereavement – I think the passage of time can help in enabling us to see the person(s) we have lost in the context of their lives, without our thoughts being dominated by the events and circumstances of their passing. In many cases, those people have exerted a profound influence on who and where we are in this moment through the way that we have connected and, to that extent at the very least, I think they each leave a legacy that lives on within us. And I believe the same can apply to people who move on out of our lives for other reasons.

    @ Sammy. I can only echo the sentiments already expressed by others here. Please accept my sincere condolences to you on the loss of your friend and, of course, to his family too.

    @ Christine. I can’t even begin to imagine what you have experienced. I take my hat off to you for the benevolent and empathetic approach towards people, and life in general, which you project.

    Wishing all well.

    PamT

  • By chavie, May 11, 2010 @ 3:47 pm

    @HIlly – my father is getting to be more impossible to handle! I shouldn’t be writing here.. willwrite you. He insists on disobeying EVERY doctors order!

  • By hilly, May 11, 2010 @ 11:19 pm

    chavie: by now you will have seen my e-mail. Hang on in there!

    on bereavement. My mother was widowed twice; she always tells people that the first year is the hardest. it is the year when every event, every anniversary, every ‘holiday’ brings the dead one back – what would s/he have said/done/thought/liked to do etc. Then the second year you move on- you have done it all once ‘on your own’ and go forward.

    There are religions and traditions that put a definite framework to the mourning process – whether it is a period of sitting Shiva or old ‘non-religious’ tribal ceremonies. This is easier when the society you live in makes it possible. Jews and Moslems expect to bury their dead within 3 days max. and it is usually possible to stick with that. But consider how hard it is when yo have to join a ‘waiting list’ for a funeral. I know from family experience that in England it once took 4 weeks to get a ‘spot’ at the local crematorium – 4 weeks without what the psychobabblers call ‘closure’! This morning I’m going to a memorial for a young woman who died of cancer; 2 weeks ago. Here in France there are not enough creamtoria (it is still considered a new idea in an officially secular but still catholic county!) and to add to the pain the new one in Avignon only opened last month – 2 years after the nearest one in Orange went up in flames (oops!) so people were having to go 30 miles to Nimes. For this woman’s parents and family these 2 weeks have been misery – all the more because they were used to having to wait no more than 4 or 5 days for a funeral.
    The period between death and burial is a no-man’s land for the emotions….

  • By Raffy, May 12, 2010 @ 2:59 am

    Following the Hilly’s post, also it is hard when you have to attend “exhumations” of your loved ones after many years from the burial. When you are not rich enough to buy a tomb, the corpses can only be inhumated, (here in Italy at least, where cremations were also very rare 20 years ago), and then after a certain amount of years you have to decide what to do with the remains. It is of course a difficult moment above all because you have to choose whether to see the remains or not…and of course it is not an easy choice…many emotional things come up, as you can imagine. It is also a sort of strange journey deep within yourself, and a “revisitation” of all you have gone through over the years. I chose to be present, both for my father and my mother’s exhumations. Don’t know why…maybe it happened in a right moment, but I think I wouldn’t be able to be there and refuse to participate in the whole thing. I know though it was not a need to have that last human “contact”, however terrible it could be. It was more a human compassion for all that we are as human beings, even what we abhor. And I really “touched” the fact that we are not “there”, much more than I felt before, and not because I could not accept what I was seeing.
    The situations were different, for my father we had to choose for a cremation, for my mother they only had to remove her bones. I can thank the sensitiveness of most people doing that work (not all unfortunately…), even if the whole process was not as good as it should have been. I just hope that things have improved with time. I never regretted that choice fortunately (but I’m not sure I would experience it again). However hard that moment was, and the memory of it in my life too, the same I know that they were not alone while they were seeing their earthly remains being so strangely under the sun, in the wind…

    Namaste, Raffy

  • By hilly, May 12, 2010 @ 4:09 am

    Raffy I’ve seen that happen here and the family was very distressed at the situation. In many European countries where there is not enough available land to consider huge areas to ‘house’ the dead there are often 2 options: buy a “perpetual” tomb or family plot, or accept that burial is for a predefined period.
    Many cremetoria offer the possibility of scattering the ashes in their parks if the family does not have a plot or a place in a memorial wall.
    Why do we bury our dead? To have a marked spot where we can go to honour them?
    On the other hand – as one friend of mine said “we’ll all be buried in the same place; that way whether or not there is an afterlife we will all be together”…not bad reasoning IMO

  • By Nadine, May 12, 2010 @ 7:27 am

    Vos commentaires me rendent un peu triste , je n’aime pas prononcer ces mots ” Mort , tombe ! ” ce sont des sujets que je rejette ces mots m’ont hanté pendant des jours et des nuits !!! nous avons eu si peur de perdre papa , des nouvelles ? il va mieux il n’a pratiquement rien ” gardé ” de son AVC à part quelques pertes de mémoires pas plus et j’en suis heureuse ! Je dois être réaliste , je sais que je ne garderai pas mes parents tout le reste de ma vie ça je le sais ! mais ils sont encore présents et je veux profiter d’eux encore longtemps ! Je vous embrasse très fort !

  • By hilly, May 12, 2010 @ 11:12 am

    Nadine:
    “you remarks make me a little sad, I don’t like saying words like ‘death’ ‘tomb/grave’ they are ideas I push away and the words have haunted my days and nights. We were so cared of losing our father. My news? He is much better and has almost no sequels to his cerebro-vascular accident except for a little memory loss; and I’m happy. I have to be realistic; I know I won’t have my parents for ever! but they are still there and I want them to be there for a while more. I send you all my love”

  • By Christine, May 12, 2010 @ 2:22 pm

    Hi Pam T, Thank you for your kind words. One of the nicest things about Paul’s blog is that I have ‘met’? some lovely people. I always come away feeling positive. No matter how busy a day I try to check this blog, don’t want to miss anything lol. Take care, Christine xx

  • By HILDA LIPRACE, May 13, 2010 @ 10:03 pm

    QUERIDO SAMMY .ESTOY TRATANDO DE LEER TODO LOS COMENTARIOS ,SE ME HACE DIFICIL POR QUE TENGO QUE TRADUCIRLO Y ME ENTERE DE TU AMIGO ,SE QUE PERDER UN AMIGO ES DOLOROSO ,TENDRAS QUE PASAR POR ESE DOLOR PERO CON EL TIEMPO TE ASEGURO QUE TENDRAS LOS MEJORES RECUERDOS FELICES DE ESE AMIGO QUE PARTIO .LO SIENTO DE CORAZON REALMENTE ,YA QUE EN EL TRANSCURSO DE MI VIDA E PERDIDO MUCHOS AMIGOS ,PARTIERON .COMO YO DIGO SE FUERON DE VIAJE UN VIAJE DONDE EN ALGUN MOMENTO NOS ENCONTRAREMOS .TE PIDO QUE NO TE SIENTAS CULPABLE Y PERDONA LA DESICION DE TU AMIGO .RECUERDA LOS BELLOS MOMENTOS JUNTO A ESA PERSONA ,QUE DIOS TE DE PAZ EN TU CORAZON Y LA FORTALEZA ,DIOS TE BENDIGA GRANDEMENTE ,
    HILDA LIPORACE

  • By Rachelle, May 14, 2010 @ 5:15 am

    Happy Friday Paul, Pam and everyone! Woo hoo!

    Chavie- Thank you!

    Sammy – I hope you’re doing okay! TGIF!!

    Christine – I agree it’s a lovely blog with great people!

    Rach

  • By Sammy, May 14, 2010 @ 5:21 am

    Dear Hilda;
    Yo no hablo español, pero estoy usando un traductor en línea para escribir esto. Espero que se dé el correcto y verdadero sentido que quiero que sea. Muchas gracias por sus amables palabras. Esto significa un mundo para mí para ver cómo todos ustedes se ha tomado tiempo para estar allí y dar su amor y apoyo para alguien que sólo han alcanzado a través de la ‘web’. Yo creo que de mi amigo con mucho cariño. Siempre será ese tipo con la hermosa sonrisa y el alma hermosa que conocí hace tantos años. La culpa es un sentimiento que es inevitable, pero sé que mis amigos y yo finalmente llegarán a un acuerdo con lo que pasó y ver que podíamos haber hecho nada para detenerlo. Era su hora de pasar. Una vez más, gracias por escribirme.
    -Sam-

  • By Sammy, May 14, 2010 @ 5:28 am

    Rach: It is a slow process but yes I am getting there.

    PamT: Read your lines today. Thank you so much!

    Chavie: I hope you are feeling better too.

    Hilda; I hope my translation worked.

    To all of you: I am so glad I found you.

  • By rita, May 14, 2010 @ 1:01 pm

    A thought.
    Take a little trip with me.
    Does the mind feel?
    It thinks. That’s how it experiences itself.

    one and a half months later and i finally realize, what the opening reminded me of:


    always know
    sometimes think it’s me,
    but you know i know
    and it’s a dream.
    i think i know of thee,
    ah yes, but it’s all wrong.
    that is i think i disagree.

    let me take you down,
    ’cause i’m going to
    strawberry fields
    where nothing is real
    and nothing to get hung about;
    strawberry fields forever.’

  • By hilly, May 14, 2010 @ 1:08 pm

    a magical mystery tour indeed

  • By hilly, May 15, 2010 @ 10:48 pm

    part of the process of mourning is the acceptance of what has to go on. When we have accepted the loss; when we have acknowledged the change in our lives; when we have set our minds to continue and learn from the lesson that the loss taught us; then we are ready to move forward.
    Loss – not necessarily bereavement is mourned. Sometimes it brings anger (as Chavie knows right now) and frequently that anger stems from the fear of ‘how am I going to deal with this?’

    We learn to take a moment to mourn and then move on. Sit Shiva, mark the 12 months with a stone on the grave, hold a wake or a celebration, reflect and learn. Visualise and concretise the fear that the loss engenders in our hearts and minds. And when we are ready to move on, we do so with the knowledge we have gleaned from the experience (and try to build on it positively not negatively). We learn to let go.
    http://blog.dharmadudeunplugged.com/?p=691

  • By HILDA LIPRACE, May 16, 2010 @ 8:13 pm

    SAMMY .MUCHAS GRACIAS POR TUS PALABRAS ,REALMENTE MUY BIEN LA TRADUCCION AL ESPAÑOL .CREO QUE POR ALGO ESTAMOS AQUI ,PABLO NOS UNIO PARA REFLEXIONAR Y PARA DAR AMOR .ES PARA ESO QUE ESTAMOS EN ESTE MUNDO PARA PODER ENTENDER Y COMPRENDER ,QUE NO ESTAMOS SOLOS ,EL AMOR ES UNIVERSAL ,EL AMOR UNE ,AUN A LA DISTANCIA Y SIN CONOCER A LA PERSONA ,EN NUESTRO INTERIOR NACE EL AMOR Y LA COMPASION POR EL PROJIMO .EL RESPETO Y TE DIRIA TAMBIEN EL COMPAÑERISMO .TODOS SOMOS UNO .DE ALGUNA FORMA ESTAMOS UNIDOS O CONECTADOS ,NO SE ,PERO ESTO ES MARAVILLOSO ,CUANDO LEO LAS REFLEXIONES DE PAUL .Y LAS DE TODOS NOSOTROS Y VEO ESA CONECCION .DIOS TE BENDIGA Y NOS BENDIGA A TODOS PARA SEGUIR ESTE CAMINO DE AMOR ,GRACIAS A TODOS Y GRACIAS SEÑOR GLASER POR PERMITIR QUE NOSOTROS PODAMOS ESCRIBIR LO QUE SENTIMOS EN NUESTRO CORAZON -BENDICIONES PARA TODOS -HILDA-

  • By chavie, May 17, 2010 @ 2:45 pm

    @ Hillly – writing you..

    @Hilda – thanks for adding Paul and David’s pics on my faebook :) Te Quiero

  • By MoriaDole, May 30, 2010 @ 9:50 pm

    Pmg:

    Out of curiosity, if belief systems are a compilation of our story-telling distilled into tenets or truths that you must either accept at face value or dedicate your life and will into studying, based on the added acceptance that this is the only way to believe or experience faith, what is the alternative in terms of developing “your” character, in developing healthy relationships with others? In light of that statement, how would you (personally) define honor? Loyalty, integrity, compassion? Friendship? Responsibility? Love? Without a system/foundation of firm, honest beliefs–that distinct line each individual consciously and unconsciously draws when deciding who and what he/she (based on individual conscience or standards) when defining (strictly for him/herself) the kind of person, human being they strive to be…as well as the kind they are determined never to become–how do you then learn to be the kind of person who brings joy to the world around you…

    rather than causing/bringing to that world (and the people in it) pain?

    Maybe I’ve fallen into the trap of making a question so complicated that it can’t feasibly be answered.

    What I’m essentially asking is this: given your comment on the definition of belief systems, how can any of us (without a firm and sincere foundation of beliefs) fail to sink into the kind of blinded narcissism (that must inevitably lead to a form of self-delusion/self-deception) that leaves us blowing in the wind, carried away by any and every whim, emotion, or fad that may coincide with the urge (itch?) of the moment?

    How can any of us be decent (meaning positive, productive) people?

    Develop honest, healthy relationships with others?

    (Or ourselves, for that matter?)

    ~M. Doland

  • By jade, June 4, 2010 @ 12:52 pm

    The mind cannot feel. It only receives. How we choose to perceive that which we receive is our channel to true enlightenment and oneness with the universe. May we all receive that which is presented in only the most perceptive and enlightened energy, that we may release and refer that energy in an open, loving and positive force.

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