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Namaste -- the God in me recognizes and honors the God in you.
The Polluter, the Racist, and the Doubting Thomas
I wish to bring forth an environmentally sustainable, socially just and spiritually fulfilling human presence on this planet.
But...
I have a Polluter, a Racist, and a Doubting Thomas living within me.
Shall I ask them to leave?
I cannot do that, for they are part of me.
So I shall embrace them, shame them with my love for them in spite of their shortcomings, and invite them to change their ways.
Failing this, I will refuse to feed them.
On The Mexican Coast
In a small fishing village on the Mexican Coast, a Fisherman was tying his boat to the dock a little before noon. Pleased with his morning's catch, he was singing softly to himself as he prepared the fish for market.
Standing on the dock, an American tourist who had been watching him said: "My, that's a fine catch you have there. Must have taken you a long time to haul in that many fish."
"Not at all", said the fisherman. "Only a few hours this morning."
"You know", said the American, "if you were to stay out the rest of the day, you could probably catch 2 or 3 times as many fish."
"Why would I want to do that?" the fisherman asked. "I have all I need here to provide for myself and my family."
"Well what do you do with the rest of your day?" inquired the American.
The fisherman replied, "I go home to my wife Maria, we have lunch, then take a siesta, then I play with the kids for a while. Then after dinner, I grab my guitar and go into town to have a few drinks and sing a few songs with my amigos. It's a full and happy life."
"I'd like to help you out with some advice", said the American. "I know something about building a successful business and creating wealth. Here's what you do: Fish all day and put the extra money earned aside, until you've saved enough to buy another boat. Then keep saving and buying boats until you have a sizable fleet. Then you should buy your own cannery so you can make even more money. Then you'll want to expand to Australia, the US and Europe. After a while, you will own a very large and successful fishing business."
"And how long will all of this take?" asked the fisherman.
"Oh, about 15-20 years" the American replied.
"Then what, what happens next?" the fisherman wanted to know.
"Next comes the best part!" the American beamed. "You have a public offering of stock and make millions of dollars!"
"OK, but then what would I do after that?" asked the fisherman.
"Well" said the American, looking around, "You would retire to a small fishing village on the Mexican Coast, where you'd fish a few hours every morning, go home and have lunch with your wife, take a siesta, play with your grandchildren, then after dinner grab your guitar and head to town for a few drinks and a few songs with your amigos. It would be a full and happy life."
(I first heard this story as lyrics in a song by Texas singer-songwriter Richard Berman. He first heard it while traveling in Europe. Over there it was an Italian fisherman and a Greek capitalist.)
From: Eternal Higher Self
To: earthbound human self
You have asked why you committed to becoming a Spiritual Facilitator and Coach. You did so under my direction. Lately you have been more open to the promptings of your Soul, and for that I am grateful, as I cannot express my Divine nature without your cooperation. You have begun to awaken and are slowly becoming conscious of the true nature of things and so want to help the world turn away from the self-destructive path it is currently on.
You know you have much to learn, and you believe that the best way to learn something is to try to teach it to others. This is correct, at least for you, but you must be careful to remember that you wear and will always wear in this Earthly life, the white belt of the beginner. Accept and respect others for where they are, and for the gifts they have to offer. Do not judge, preach or assume that yours is the only truth or the best way for them to follow.
Just present the facts as you see them and your opinions as to their interpretation with love, and then let them come to whatever level of awareness they are capable of in their own time and way. Speak from your heart, not just your head. Connect with people on a gut, feeling level. And remember to be the change you want to see. Lead by example, not by words alone.
Do these things and you will fulfill your heart's desire to contribute to the solution by helping others awaken even while becoming more awake yourself. You will thus become an effective facilitator and coach of the spiritual growth of both yourself and others --your true purpose in life.
My favorite spiritual concept is that we live in an interactive and holographic Universe; that we are all interconnected and interdependent. That everything in this marvelous Universe comes from the same 'star dust', and in a mystical, quantum physics sort of way, we are still just as connected to Everything That Is as we were in the Cosmic Egg the size of a pinhead, and that in Ultimate Reality, we are totally and completely One with the Universe, with God, and with each other.
Therefore, we all live in a Field of Limitless Potentiality, where time is an illusion, and our thoughts, feelings and intentions literally become our reality as we attract to us what we focus our consciousness on. In other words, we, the sentient life forms in the Universe, are God the Creator manifested in physical form, and our Consciousness is the Creative Tool with which We create.
I know that for many people, these are just esoteric concepts, meaningless to their daily lives. To them I would explain that consciousness is the cutting edge of creation. If we focus it like a laser on our heart's desire, it will burn through all barriers and reveal that the object of our desire has been there right in front of us all along. Know that you can't always control events, but you can control how you react and respond to them. If you understand this, then it becomes possible to envision how working together, focusing on our Oneness instead of our imagined separateness, we can bring about a better world. I would then ask them to reflect on the apparent magic of the hologram, where if broken into many pieces, the image of the whole remains reflected in each part, regardless of how small or seemingly "separate" they may be.
Finally, I would suggest that if we would engage others, especially our "enemies", out of this understanding instead of demonizing them, some common ground could perhaps be found to give us a foothold that might keep us from slipping into the Abyss.
Vision Dreamers
They are the Architects of Greatness.
Their vision lies within their souls.
They peer beyond the veils and mists of doubt
and pierce the walls of unborn Time.
The belted wheel, the trail of steel, the churning screw,
are shuttles in the loom on which they weave
their magic tapestries.
Makers of Empires, they have fought for bigger things
than crowns and higher seats than thrones.
Your homes are set upon the land a dreamer found.
The pictures on its walls
are visions from a dreamer's soul.
They are the chosen few--the blazers of the way.
Walls crumble and Empires fall.
The tidal wave sweeps from the sea
and tears a fortress from its rocks.
The rotting nations drop off from Time's bough,
and only things the dreamers make live on.
- Herbert Kaufman (1878-1947) American writer and newspaper editorialist
"Don't ask yourself what the world needs; ask yourself what makes you come alive. And then go and do that. Because what the world needs most are people who have come alive."
-Harold Whitman
One of my favorite spiritual teachers, Neale Donald Walsch, made the statement: "It matters what you believe, because what you believe matters!"
Now before you dismiss this as a mere redundancy, let me explain:
It matters what you believe, for example, about God.
If you believe in a God who would judge and condemn a person based on their religion, race, nationality or sexual orientation, then you will likely do the same. This belief can, and often does lead to hatred and violence. But if you believe that we are all Individuations of the Divine, all part of the same Unified Energy Field that some call God, and others Love, then you are more likely to treat your fellow travelers on Spaceship Earth with a little more kindness, compassion, love and forgiveness, yes?
There was a time in my life when my concept of God was that of a
Supernatural Being out there somewhere, who had definite rules about what to believe, and ways of proving belief, that better be followed, or else. This belief system caused much tension and confusion between my mind, heart and soul. I had good friends, whom I considered to be good people, even better than myself, but who were going to be eternally punished by God for not believing the "right way". When over time I came to change that belief, and embraced a God who creates and expresses Itself through everything in the Universe, including me, the tension and confusion dissolved, and I felt one with and part of everyone and everything. By choosing to believe in the Theology of Oneness instead of the Theology of Separation, I have become a much happier person.
So you see, what you believe matters!
It matters what you believe about Life.
If you believe that Life is a struggle, a trial, a proving ground, a test you must pass, then that's the way Life will show up for you. But if you believe that you are Co-Creator with Life of your own reality, Life becomes a golden opportunity for you to continually re-create yourself in the Next Grandest Version of the Greatest Vision you ever held of Who You Are. Then your eternal journey of spiritual evolution will be a joyous one.
I confess that I have spent most my life, either fighting with Life trying to make it be the way I wanted, or simply going through the motions, taking the path of least resistance, while hoping that what I wanted would magically show up one day. Not until I realized that I had within me the same power as the Creator, that that's what it means to be created in the "Image and Likeness of God", did life begin making sense and I began creating my life as I had always wanted it to be.
So you see, what you believe matters!
And it matters what you believe, perhaps most of all, about yourself.
If you believe you are stained with "Original Sin", not to mention all the countless indiscretions you've committed throughout your life; if you believe that only a Power outside yourself can 'save you', then guilt will diminish your experience of the joy of living. But if you understand that you were born a pure, innocent, beautiful being, an inheritor of "Original Blessing" (otherwise known as the gift of Free Will), who is on an Earthly adventure to remember Who You Are and to reunite with the God within yourself and everyone, then you will find authentic happiness in service to others and exquisite joy in self-discovery.
I used to believe that I was a flawed, imperfect creature by nature that needed, but did not deserve, Grace and Forgiveness. This belief caused me to be painfully aware of my shortcomings and fostered low self-esteem that led to constant negative self-talk and a pessimistic outlook which nearly ended my marriage, and could have potentially ended my life had I not chose, before it was too late, to change my belief about who I was. I now believe that any "wrongs" I have committed in my lifetime have arisen out of being unaware and ignorant of my True Self. I was sleepwalking, in a trance, believing that I had no power to shape my own destiny. I now know that I am the Captain of my own ship, and by staying connected to and feeling one with the Source of my Being, that Pure Creative Spirit some call God, I can forgive myself and navigate to anywhere my heart desires.
So you see, it really does matter what you believe, because what you believe matters! That is, what you believe literally becomes matter, actually manifests in physical form, creating your reality!
Thoughts are powerful, far more powerful than most of us realize. And thoughts that are repeated over and over in one's head, then spoken aloud to others, who validate them, become beliefs. And beliefs become the stage upon which we act out all our thoughts about Life, God and each other. And if we play our parts over and over again, our parts we will become!
By using our thoughts, words, actions and beliefs as a sculptor would use putty knifes, we can shape not only our own personal realities, but working together, the collective reality of our world!
So may I suggest deciding and choosing carefully what you believe?
Because..."What you believe matters!"
-Glenn McIntosh, July 2008
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