Even in the centers of Christianity, churches (Churchianity) are dis-integrating, breaking apart and the Genderists are pouring "poor me" cocktails into the sermons. Men & Women groups are being normalized, all contrary to what Scripture reflects.
Being of a Sober Mind & Heart
Sober CHEERS to taking our power back from negative egoism. Confidence without conceit is a beautiful thing. Truth without compassion is cruelty. Say what you mean, mean what you say, but don't say it mean. But sometimes, IMO, we just gotta say it ANY WAY WE CAN in order to birth ourselves into a Higher Form of living and loving.
Someone's always gonna be offended, no matter what we say or do. I am NOT their problem. Happiness is a choice. They are their own problem.
As long as it's truly my HEART talking, I am on the right path. My heart knows who I am, because I surrendered my heart to God and I understand God, and I TRUST a Surrendered Heart over the brightest of human minds. The mind is a SERVANT of the heart, or maybe its Protector. Heart and mind should be a Team. The heart is the feeling part of the mind and the mind is the thinking part of the heart.
Earth School is not always the easiest place to co-exist, but I choose to love and forgive, despite the temperature of any given moment.
"What is Love? Baby Don't Hurt Me, Don't Hurt Me, No More!" LOL!
“Love is the expression of the one who loves, not of the one who is loved. Those who think they can love only the people they prefer do not love at all. Love discovers truths about individuals that others cannot see”
― Søren Kierkegaard
My rendition: “Forgiveness is the expression of the one who forgives, not of the one who is forgiven. Those who think they can forgive only the people they prefer do not forgive at all. Forgiveness discovers truths about individuals that others cannot see.”
Freedom FROM Speech; Commercialism
I've been writing every day but letting my voice be heard through Facebook rather than on my own Blog/Journal. No one reads my Blog, really, and that's actually OK. Over time, that will change. It's all about hard work and Divine Timing.
I rarely watch the 'Olds', AKA, the News. I got pretty grounded and happy when I took a TV Sabbatical for about 4 or 5 years. One day I found out U.S. Troops were in Iran or Afganistan or something for several years. My daily life was not impacted by politics at all. But when I DO listen to pundits and the like, I get weirded out by all of their mindless manipulation. It's easy to get sucked into the black hole of politics.
Anyway, people still ranting over politics. Nothing new. Haters gonna hate. Everyone wants someone to feel superior to, it seems. Laughable. Then add religion to the mix.
Ah, yes, the grand toxic spectacle of brewing religion with politics, anathema to defenders of freedom from sea to shining sea. Yet if nobody can talk about ANYTHING, then what use is freedom of religion, freedom of speech, or freedom at all? Don't curse the darkness, light a candle sort of a thing? Forgiveness runs deeper than the offense that required its presence. But the human ego loves to hate and lift itself up at the comparative expense of others. Someone has to be wrong, less than, less holy. No one can be president without the consent of those who allow them to run in the first place. One big friggin game of distraction.
Commercialism is Casting the Lot.
Art & Forgiveness
The pallet of forgiveness has islands of offenses in which we dip our brushes and paint our pain and healing. If our artwork is authentic, then it yields freedom & truth, maybe even a sacred connection to the person who has likewise suffered. Then when we step back from our work and see the big picture, we might realize our Life Canvas was a small piece of God's Jigsaw Puzzle. Maybe God uses the Authentic Self to draw us back together as Collective Masterpiece.
Miracles Continue for All of Us
If God can work through the likes of me, anything is possible. God uses the worst of us to help the best of us.
King David screwed up big time, but God allowed him to turn his heart in love back to God.
Paul killed Christians w/o the slightest concern for wrongdoing until Christ came and performed a miracle to turn his heart.
I am but an instrument of His Mercy & Peace. Miracles continue in my life, but in less visible ways these days.
What's ironic, is that so many people don't believe in miracles, but have been walking on water and bitching about it for years.
To To Convenience Themselves, They're Willing to INCONVENIENCE Others
People feel undervalued and feel they are entitled to undervalue others, as in employment settings where a person feels their pay is low and use it as an excuse to undervalue their employers and customers. The problem with this is that "values" are externalized. When a person feels the right to be rude to others because of only making Minimum Wage, for example, does that make this person inferior to someone who disrespects them by paying Minimum Wage? Giving or receiving Minimum Wage is besides the point of respect. RESPECT is an INSIDE job.
Anger & Imbalance
Synchronicity often shows the way out of perplexing dilemmas. There is a light shining in the darkness, but the darkness doesn't know it's there. If your standing in darkness, turn back toward the light and your shadow disappears from sight. We are usually our own problem.
Fallacy: We Can't Give Away What We Don't Have
Taking Our Power Back, Women as Role Models
UFO's, Born Again Atheists, Agnostic Bigots, and The Art of Learning
Born Again Atheists are such a joy to behold; such militants birth excuses for every close-minded agenda disguised as an attribute of teaching but is indeed proof of not being teachable. The courage of our convictions is FINE (Friggin Insecure Neurotic Emotional) if that's what one needs to feel good enough about oneself, but the courage to QUESTION one's convictions, whatever they may be, is the great source of freedom. One can learn from ANYONE, regardless if they are 100% mistaken about anything or everything.
Open your heart, and your mind will follow. 'Who pays any attention to the syntax of things' (thank you, ee cummings) will never wholly love others. In a chess tournament, the best players respect the moves on the board and don't distinguish from whence they derive.
The good is the enemy of the best. “Judge a man by his questions rather than by his answers.” Voltaire
When I was a teenager, I had a person who was in possession of an IQ of under 60 say something shockingly profound. It almost seemed like a genius spirit inhabited his consciousness for about three-seconds, spoke, and then stared at me waiting for a response. I was speechless but in possession of an experience that never left me. I from that day listened to everyone, no matter what. If Satan Himself dropped out of a UFO and said something I believed, I would run with it, regardless of the source.
Another two experiences helped me toward open-mindedness, AKA, Objectivity. 1) In my early 20's, I had a Mentor who was a certified genius (MENSA). He was my chess teacher, boxing trainer, martial artist instructor, and life coach. I was 100% convinced of a particular truth, and in a moment, this Mentor proved I was 100% wrong about it. 2) The very next day, he disproved another idea I relied upon 100% and thereby helped me to suspend my beliefs in the exercise called 'consideration.'
Lastly, I heard a college professor talking about Nietzsche, and how his mind questioned everything. I've had other items help free me not to have a box to think outside of, but sufficient unto the day is the reasoning thereof.
Occasionally, an Agnostic Bigot burns a metaphorical question mark on my lawn, but I'm not their problem, and they aren't my problem. "There's no such thing as reality; there’s only perception," said Dr. Phil on the Oprah Show.
I'm in charge of what I say, while others are in charge of what they hear. Like the Buddha said, when the student is ready, the teacher appears.
The lead singer of Metallica summed it up nicely: "Boredom comes from a boring mind."
Take what you like and leave the rest. Alas, "human survival and well being is ultimately a collective responsibility." Taha Aljamrah
Forgiving My Childhood Sexual Abuser, Chapter 11
God put love in my heart for the person that abused me as a child, doing for me what I could not do for myself. Forgiving My Childhood Sexual Abuser, Chapter 11, from The Little Book of Miracles, Stories from the Incomplete Skeptic.
"Forgiveness runs deeper than the offenses that requires its presence."
We need to take our eyes off of the abuse and focus 100% on God, but only God can make that possible. We mere mortals struggle daily with injustice, meanness, abuse, war, deceit, etc. Focusing on the dark side begets more darkness, but there is a light shining in the darkness, and while the darkness doesn't comprehend the light, it shines in darkness nonetheless.
Forgiveness runs deeper than the offenses that requires its presence. God maketh a table for me at my enemies' table, but they are my enemy while I am not their enemy.
The Bible describes Satan as the most beautiful angel in heaven and 1/3 of the hosts of heaven followed him. His EGO thought to reign over God and seeks to supplant our trust of God with outrage at the world. EGO: Edging God Out.
Don't believe any story that doesn't empower you.
To the pure of heart, all things are pure. If anything pisses Satan off, it's that no matter what he/she does, we align with God because our earthly problems belong to God. 'Thy Will be done on earth as it is in Heaven'.
Look for Heaven. It is everywhere surrounding you, permeating your very existence at the deepest level, deeper than anything this world can throw at you.
More on Transparency & Healing Gender Separation
Ever problem starts small, with acquisitions surrendered, one successive approximation after another, until the solution seems impossibly distant. But solutions also surrender to success and it might take a while to unknot the generational impediments to healthy relationships once again.
It's none of my business what others think of me.
Seeing each other as we REALLY are is key. We can regain our innocence, and help others to do the same. Hurting people hurt people, I've heard it said, but I'm not willing to give that much room for play. Healed people 'heal people' is what I would rather focus on. Healed people were once hurting and needed healing. Someone had to touch their hearts for that to happen. Let's touch each other's hearts by running a complete virus scan and then purging the computer of the infected files. So what if we lose "programs" in the meanwhile? There's not a "price to pay" large enough to justify injuring people's hearts.
"Natural" & Its Misappropriation
Both thoughts and feelings are natural. Good & bad is a statement of the mind and has nothing to do with feelings, yet serves as a medium for the intellectualization of emotions, such as categorically saying, "Feeling bad is natural." Such a medium is the misappropriation of what is natural.
Most people who have a heart cry when they grieve the loss of a loved one. People might say the person feels bad, but they don't in that situation say that feeling bad is itself bad. No one mourns who does not love, and love is never wrong or "bad." They would in that situation say "feeling bad is natural." The expression of grief might be painful to observer or participant, but making our pain beautiful is about the consciousness of Grief as Praise and PROOF of Love. It's natural, and there's nothing 'bad' about it.
So while bad & natural does its tapdance in the thunderstorms of life, there is a tornado brewing, churning up rainbows in its swirling course until the spindle absorbs and then radiates every color imaginable. Tears become Holy Water, and the moistened, earthen heart sings its Praise.
Restoration of Innocence Through the 12 Steps
After Steps One & Two, Step Three is free.
Step Three for me happened when I freely chose to "turn it over", my life was no longer "mine" anymore. "WE" became a Triune of sorts, to wit: God, Fellow Members, and Me.
Step Eleven: WE is implicit in this Step, too: (WE) "Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out." Now IMO the language is relatively archaic, God being a "Him", but the heart hears deeper than the words used to transport any given message to the mind. For example, I am in charge of what I say, you're in charge of what you hear.
But I've noticed time and time again how NOT working the Steps INBETWEEN Steps 3 & 11 creates a gulf of misunderstanding between the heart & mind.
The heart is the feeling part of the mind, and the mind is the thinking part of the heart. In balance, the synergy is unstoppable, for INTUITION, deeper than WORDS, RECREATES our field of innocence. WE get our innocence back!
WE REcover (go back to what we were before the damage, back to who we REALLY are). Deep harmony releases a peaceful incense back to the world of our comprehension, AKA, Step Twelve.
The Culture of Blame & Gender Separatists
Sexual Harassment is a timely topic and one well-deserving of resolution, but when someone recently asked if I knew of ANY women who said they were never sexually harassed, I responded, "A couple" (it just so happens a woman on The View TV program just said it this morning, which I consider a timely coincidence). Yes, I believed a couple of females when they explicitly stated they were never a victim of sexual harassment.
I want to believe in the seductive Culture of Blame, victim-mentality gig. It's hard to wrap my mind around the idea when I try to dissect the 'whys' or 'how can it be true' of it all, but I refuse to call them dishonest. I'm reluctant to play Drill Sargeant or psychoanalyze their answer. If the circumstances were right and with no agenda, I might be willing to have that discussion with a good friend, but I viewed these women as intelligent, independent women. I remain reluctant to enable or engage the Culture of Blame.
It's a rare person who has not experienced some form of discrimination by the so-called "Opposite" sex. I prefer UNITY so view "us" in a Union of Polarities, or as a Fellowship of Equals.
Ironically, people often subscribe to an "Opposites Attract" philosophy. Maybe it's the Law of Attraction at work in the advent of gender separationism. We create what we believe.
"We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are." Talmud
Born Again Militant Atheism
For me, God is Love (or Good Orderly Direction). There's nothing to 'overcome' in surrender.
EGO = Edging God Out. Well, religionists can ESO = Edging Science Out, too. For me, Science & God are not opposites. Science "believes in" theories and some members "believe" in God or not. But whatever I choose to believe in is up to me.
A perfect circle rarely exists in nature, but when we pull out our tools and draw one, we might as mathematicians get excited. We might even have a 'relationship' with math. C'mon, I have heard countless people say they "LOVE" math. There's nothing wrong with that any more than it's silly to "LOVE" God. Math without a relationship is akin to the truth without paradox, because "truth" without a paradox is dead, just like faith without works is dead.
Here's an exciting circle: An Agnostic says they don't "know" if there's a God or not. Well, I believe there is a God, but I don't "know" it, either. I guess that makes me an Agnostic, of sorts. Here's the Full Circle Rub: if someone knows there's a God, they have just destroyed faith. If we see it, what value is there in belief or faith? What human perception holds for religion and science today will change over time. I would rather be on the Learning Curve of any given discipline than on the platform of an Agenda.
Intelligent people build prisons to think inside of, just as much as religionist can be dogmatic. Some militant atheists need a God in whom NOT to believe. I called this brand of Atheist, "Born Again Atheists."
Emily Dickinson said, "Dwell in possibility." Maybe Possibility is a Higher Power. I accept everyone whether or not they have a belief in a Higher Power (or not) and have enough self-respect not to feel threatened by an absence of faith that looks like mine.
We can love each other, even if we might not like someone or what they believe in, per se.
Me, I like everybody. That's one of the values that come from not making OVERthinking a Higher Power.
Live & Let Live is a GREAT Slogan.
The Problem/Solution Penitentiary or the Prayer of Serenity
If I'm not offended, there's nothing to forgive. That is to say, if I am not offended, there is no "problem" to solve. It's the Irony of the Ages that any given "Solution" needs a Problem to solve, much like forgiveness needs an offense to forgive.
For me, Serenity is a gift and the SECOND word in the Serenity Prayer.
No One Comes Out the Way They Went In
They have a saying in prison, "Nobody comes out the way they went in".
But guess what? When a judge embarks on their career, they're probably pretty excited about their prospects of making the world a better place to live in. But the truth is, even for a judge, or a cop, or social worker, or an attorney, or a civil rights worker, or a minister, or a humanitarian, or even for most great spiritual leaders, maybe the same truth encapsulates their lives as well.
Nobody comes out the way they went in.
However, we often show up for one reason and stay for another. It's not what happens to us that matter so much as how we respond to what happens. Our world seems to be addicted to judgment. When we criticize anyone for anything, I suspect we are really only proclaiming that our defects of character are superior to their defects of character.
The most secure prison in the world is the one we are in but don't know we are in. The invisible walls are always more secure than the solid ones. Dressing up slavery and calling it freedom, and then charging extortion to support the illusion of the equality is the sorest type of any inequality that exists.