Thursday, November 27, 2008

#8 (6:51 - 7:40)

crucifixion "Attempt to remove all enemies from your thoughts. The same intelligence that flows through you, flows through all human beings. When you know you are connected to all, you cannot fathom striking out at others; let alone feeling hatred for them. Or another way of saying this is... 'on a round planet, there's no choosing up sides'. We all are here for a reason, we all have the same Divine energy flowing through us and when we stop thinking of ourselves as separate from everyone else, we begin to see and experience the love that we are here for in the first place. In my opinion, God doesn't want us to love God, God wants us to learn to love each other. That's what it means to be a holy being; to not have enemies, and to love each other. That's truly what loving God is all about."

When I listened to this message, I thought of a couple ideas that I heard previously. The first being Jesus Christ on the cross being crucified, as depicted in the image above. His message was one of forgiveness. Why? Well, he understood that as humans, our common flaw is our ignorance - our inability to determine truth from what is not not the truth (falsehood). Therefore if we are not able to tell what is truth, then how can we be blamed for our actions. Therefore, he had compassion for them and asked his Father to forgive them, even as his 'life' was being taken.

The second idea that came to mind was from a lecture from Dr. David Hawkins. He relayed the same message of Christ. He also said that once there is love, there is no need for forgiveness, because there would be nothing to forgive the person for. From the time one feels the need to forgive, one have already judged the person. There is a tendency for the ego to judge others because there is a belief that in separateness. We are all at different stages of our respective journeys. Our judgements are mere perceptions of others' journeys that we do not and cannot comprehend.

This is an amazing concept. I totally understood that because we almost always instantly judge others at first glance. This is because we associate ourselves with our minds and bodies. Therefore, when we see someone or someone's actions, we immediately look at it from a superficial level, from a material level, and choose not to look at them from their Divine natures.

The first sentence of the lesson is "Remove all enemies from your thoughts". Am I able to do that? I believe I can. All it requires is that I become an expression of love and surrender everything to God. I have to let Go and let God as Dr. Dyer says. I have to become detached from all 'positionalities' and all ego-centered thoughts and ideas. Only then, will the conditions of lovingness, forgiveness and the perception of oneness prevail in my conscious experience.

Thank you.

God bless.

Frank

Sunday, November 23, 2008

#7 (6:33 - 6:50)

"Write down this ancient truth and re-read it on a daily basis. When you seek happiness for yourself, it will always elude you; when you seek happiness for others, you would find it yourself."

bill_gates_malaria,0-743195 Bill Gates: 'Malaria is robbing Africa of people and potential.'

The first idea that came to mind was the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation. I believe this is because I have spent some time reading and understanding all that they do. They have really thought out how they can best serve the world; doing the most good for the most people without any sort of bias for race, region, ethnicity, but just helping those that drew the short straws in life.

This message told me that one usually finds ones own purpose in the service of others. I truly believe that one can ultimately realize one's true self through the service of others. It does not have to be anything in specific, but just in our day to day lives. Be considerate of others today, hold the door open for someone today, help someone with something that they may need today, go out of your way one time today to assist a friend, or better yet, a stranger.

This allows us to connect to our Self because it shows us that we are not separate from anyone else. We are all one. This is what service is ultimately; the realization of the oneness of us all. We will learn to be compassionate, loving and be conscious of what others are experiencing around us. In this way, we will grow into a true expression of God; love.

God bless.

Frank

Saturday, November 8, 2008

#6 (5:40 - 6:30)

Forgive yourself for your transgressions. See that mistakes are lessons for you to transcend. Release yourself from the tyranny of self-incrimination; make the decision to be free. Everything that ever happened to you in your life, has happened for a reason and when you are filled with an absence of self-forgiveness and you are full of recriminations about what you did and what you shouldn't have done or what you should have done; all of these kind of things are really a message that you are sending to the Universe saying that God's plan does not work and mine does. That is really an insidious thing to say. Everything that you've done or experienced is over and you had something to learn from it, so forgive yourself and move on with your life."   

The most important message I got from this lesson is to forgive myself. We have a tendency to be our own strongest critics at times, however, we must also be our strongest supporters as well. We must really learn to forgive ourselves because everything that happens are not because of coincidence, but all for a reason. The important idea to comprehend is that we must learn from these experiences and allow them to change the way we see things. I assure you that once you learn to do this with all of your life's occurrences, your entire experience of the world, will change as well. It is a beautiful thing. One of Dr. Wayne Dyer's new books portrays this message using the ancient teachings of Lao Tzu in Tao te Ching called "Change your thoughts, Change your life: Living the Wisdom of the Tao". This is a great book; I recommend reading it and trying the lessons each day; amazing changes will start to occur in your life once you change the way you think.

Only when we learn to forgive ourselves, can we learn to forgive others. How we treat others is merely a projection of our own thoughts and ideals. It is what's inside of us that is expressed externally. Therefore, if we can't forgive ourselves, this is what we will project unto others. It all starts from within; it all begins with going inside ourselves as we learned in a previous lesson.

One of the affirmations in The Course in Miracles states that "I can choose peace over this". This is a very important lesson in forgiveness. We all have a choice to react in a particular way; we can choose to hang on to guilt, shame, apathy or fear, or we can choose to forgive and surrender to God. We all have the choice to "Let go and let God" as Dr. Dyer always says. This is truly a great lesson in forgiveness; it is ultimately a huge lesson we have to learn in life; just forgive. This, I believe, is one of the secrets to life.

[image credit - www.christinepeloquin.com]

Sunday, November 2, 2008

#5 (5:00 - 5:38)

meditate "Be peaceful, experience silence, meditate and really listen to God. The result will be that you would find the solution to each and every one of your problems, whether it be related to relationships, finances or health or self-image, all within your self. The peace, the silence, the solitude, all come from an understanding that God's one and only voice is silence, as Herman Melville reminded us. If you could be peaceful even for one moment today, just peaceful and go within, you're going to find the bliss you were looking for."

Herman Melville said that God's one and only voice is silence. This is amazingly true. Beyond the noise of everyday life and the noise of the mind, there exists a field of silence that is truly of God. As I type this, I am reminded of the first verse of the Tao Te Ching where Lao Tzu describes the Tao as the nameless and unchanging; that which is the silence. It becomes a challenge at times to contemplate on these sort of ideas in a society that is moving so quickly and values speed so much. This is why I believe it is important to sit in silence and be at peace any time I have the opportunity. Only then is it possible to reconnect and truly hear that voice in your head; the voice of God. It is amazing how it is in that silence that we derive the answers to what we have been looking for.

I have a practice of sitting in silence, closing my eyes and going within when I am uncertain about a particular situation. Usually I come out feeling a lot better; things are a lot clearer and I have not been bewildered more by other people's opinions. More so, the act of going within usually brings clarity. It is rare that we get the chance to do this in our busy and hectic lives, that is why we all should make it a priority to meditate or be in silence a few times during day. It does wonders for me, maybe it will for you also. A great teacher said that the answer to all questions lies within. Go within oneself and listen to that voice and the answer will be revealed. That's all that is needed at times; meditation.

I have always enjoyed the silence. It somehow makes me feel connected to everything because I am focused on nothing. It is hard to explain at times. For some, it is really difficult to be in a room alone. It is not my experience; I really enjoy that; the peace, tranquility and connectedness it brings to me. I remember when I lived in North Carolina, I went out to the woods adjacent to my apartment and just sat there in mindfulness. By that I mean I just did nothing but be there in that moment; in contemplation. It became something I really enjoyed. Now I am back in New York; different lifestyle, different environment, so it takes more effort to do that. However, I am consciously aware of it and do it when I can. The peace, I believe, already resides in me. It's just a matter of connecting to it.

God bless.

Frank.