Here is a list of Religion & Spirituality Blogs ordered by Last Commented, posted by members. A Blog is a journal you may enter about your life, thoughts, interesting experiences, or lessons you've learned. Post an opinion, impart words of wisdom, or talk about something interesting in your day. Update your blog on a regular basis, or just whenever you have something to say. Creating a blog is a good way to share something of yourself with others. Reading blogs is a good way to learn more about others. Click here to post a blog.
PURPOSE AND DREAMS
PURPOSE AND DREAMS
There has been a great confusion about purpose and dreams, so many writers took them both to mean the same while some who try to differentiate them end up making the whole thing most complicated, this being the fact that some write out of feelings or out of experience but not as a result of thorough study about it, it is quite simple to some other writer to quickly give the definition of purpose and dreams but never bother about who is responsible for the fulfilling of them both, but some who bother end up saying that we are all responsible for the fulfillment of both, this gave the reason for this writing, to clear the burden and worries in the mind of many about purpose and dreams and to whom the responsibility of each is vested upon.
In this part I will go straight to give a simple straight forward definition to them both so I don’t get to bother this page over much writings as been the fact that there already exist so much definition of purpose and dreams of which my may or may not be much different from.
Purpose is what God created you for, what God want you to become, while dreams is a mental picture of what you want to become, sometimes they both agree and some other times don’t. Purpose can be revealed to its subject and as well may not be revealed, the decision to reveal it or not is soly for the ONE who gave the purpose, in other to make you understand the difference between them both I would like to give this illustration;
The sole purpose why mobile phone manufacturing company produces phone is to be able to send and receive information of any kind, be it browsing with it, call or send text messages with it. Despite the fact that there is game inside the phone but it is not met for games (in fact our old men and women understand this better). But the buyer of the phone has the choice or will or can decide to use it for games only (like buying it for your children for games purpose), but he cannot access the game without inserting a sim card inside the phone, so before he can access the game he must insert a sim in it, and the moment he insert the sim a message must be delivered to that phone by the sim network for activation, and the moment he receive that message the purpose of the phone has been fulfilled irrespective of what the buyer will continue to use the phone for (games).
Therefore, the main difference between purpose and dreams is that purpose does and cannot die and must be fulfilled but dreams may die without being fulfilled and that is while a writer once said that the richest place on earth is the grave because there lies abundance of unfulfilled purposes, now there may be so many questions in your mind now as to purpose being from God and as well a must “fulfilled thing”.
You may ask, what about a baby that is born within the next seconds/minutes is dead, what about a young talented man who struggle for life/survival at the verge of his breakthrough he end up dead, does this means that God is wicked and what is their purpose? Now everything that happens on earth does not take God for a surprise, and all things that God created He has a purpose for it, and as well He wants to show forth His power, and to teach men to give Him praise and trust completely on Him, a child that is born and within the next minute is dead, maybe God wants to teach the family how to handle pains and how they can keep their trust on Him, so the purpose of the child is to bring pain to the family to see how the family will react in such pain and as well the people around them, sometimes when such family hold on still on God, end up victorious by having other wonderful kids who will restore or bring back their joy, a young man in his limelight gave up dead could be a lesson to the whole world that to God only has the power to turn things around within a twinkling of an eye.
There has been a great confusion about purpose and dreams, so many writers took them both to mean the same while some who try to differentiate them end up making the whole thing most complicated, this being the fact that some write out of feelings or out of experience but not as a result of thorough study about it, it is quite simple to some other writer to quickly give the definition of purpose and dreams but never bother about who is responsible for the fulfilling of them both, but some who bother end up saying that we are all responsible for the fulfillment of both, this gave the reason for this writing, to clear the burden and worries in the mind of many about purpose and dreams and to whom the responsibility of each is vested upon.
In this part I will go straight to give a simple straight forward definition to them both so I don’t get to bother this page over much writings as been the fact that there already exist so much definition of purpose and dreams of which my may or may not be much different from.
Purpose is what God created you for, what God want you to become, while dreams is a mental picture of what you want to become, sometimes they both agree and some other times don’t. Purpose can be revealed to its subject and as well may not be revealed, the decision to reveal it or not is soly for the ONE who gave the purpose, in other to make you understand the difference between them both I would like to give this illustration;
The sole purpose why mobile phone manufacturing company produces phone is to be able to send and receive information of any kind, be it browsing with it, call or send text messages with it. Despite the fact that there is game inside the phone but it is not met for games (in fact our old men and women understand this better). But the buyer of the phone has the choice or will or can decide to use it for games only (like buying it for your children for games purpose), but he cannot access the game without inserting a sim card inside the phone, so before he can access the game he must insert a sim in it, and the moment he insert the sim a message must be delivered to that phone by the sim network for activation, and the moment he receive that message the purpose of the phone has been fulfilled irrespective of what the buyer will continue to use the phone for (games).
Therefore, the main difference between purpose and dreams is that purpose does and cannot die and must be fulfilled but dreams may die without being fulfilled and that is while a writer once said that the richest place on earth is the grave because there lies abundance of unfulfilled purposes, now there may be so many questions in your mind now as to purpose being from God and as well a must “fulfilled thing”.
You may ask, what about a baby that is born within the next seconds/minutes is dead, what about a young talented man who struggle for life/survival at the verge of his breakthrough he end up dead, does this means that God is wicked and what is their purpose? Now everything that happens on earth does not take God for a surprise, and all things that God created He has a purpose for it, and as well He wants to show forth His power, and to teach men to give Him praise and trust completely on Him, a child that is born and within the next minute is dead, maybe God wants to teach the family how to handle pains and how they can keep their trust on Him, so the purpose of the child is to bring pain to the family to see how the family will react in such pain and as well the people around them, sometimes when such family hold on still on God, end up victorious by having other wonderful kids who will restore or bring back their joy, a young man in his limelight gave up dead could be a lesson to the whole world that to God only has the power to turn things around within a twinkling of an eye.
~~ Women are certainly more courageous ~~
In all the cultures all over the world, it is the woman who leaves her family and goes to the family of the husband. She leaves her mother, her father, her friends, her town, everything that she has loved, she has grown up with; for love’s sake she sacrifices all that. The man will not be able to do that.
In fact, because the man has been pretending to be superior, he should have done it; he should have gone to the girl’s house rather than bringing the woman to his own house. But in no culture, in no society in the whole of history, has man taken that step — to drop out of his family, out of his grounding, out of his atmosphere, to sacrifice everything and to become part of a totally new atmosphere, a new land, to be replanted in a new garden, in a new soil, and to blossom there. The woman has done it, and done it gracefully.
She is certainly more courageous.
In love, and in different phases… She loves as a mother, which no father can do; she loves as a wife, which no husband can do. Even as a small child she loves as a daughter, which no boy can do.
A woman’s whole life is love.
For the man, life is a big thing; love is only a small part in it. He can sacrifice love for money, for power, for prestige — for anything he can sacrifice love. The woman cannot sacrifice love for anything; everything is below love. Everything can be sacrificed, but not love.
In fact, because the man has been pretending to be superior, he should have done it; he should have gone to the girl’s house rather than bringing the woman to his own house. But in no culture, in no society in the whole of history, has man taken that step — to drop out of his family, out of his grounding, out of his atmosphere, to sacrifice everything and to become part of a totally new atmosphere, a new land, to be replanted in a new garden, in a new soil, and to blossom there. The woman has done it, and done it gracefully.
She is certainly more courageous.
In love, and in different phases… She loves as a mother, which no father can do; she loves as a wife, which no husband can do. Even as a small child she loves as a daughter, which no boy can do.
A woman’s whole life is love.
For the man, life is a big thing; love is only a small part in it. He can sacrifice love for money, for power, for prestige — for anything he can sacrifice love. The woman cannot sacrifice love for anything; everything is below love. Everything can be sacrificed, but not love.
~~ HAVE A LOOK INSIDE YOU ~~
Take a good look at your mind. Examine it closely. The first thing you will come to know is that the mind has become the master -- not you and not your soul! The mind says: Do this"! And you do it! If you don't the mind creates problems. It become sad, and the sadness of the mind becomes your sadness. If you do as it says you get nowhere, for the mind is blind. Where can you reach by obeying the mind! The is unconsciousness. If you listen to it you reach nowhere.
online today!
A New Muslim Renaissance is Here
American Muslims are becoming thought, cultural leaders and reviving perspectives on religious inclusion
History is witness to a time past when the Islamic civilization produced globally unparallelled architecture, literature, science, philosophy, theological discourse, and cultural influences – influences so strong it made European nobles want to dress like Muslims. Critics of Islam and Muslims scoff at this romanticism, asserting that Muslims have not produced anything great since the Middle Ages and most likely will never again. The inherent bigotry and even fallacy of that argument aside, for those critics I have to say, look out, a new Muslim renaissance is upon us.
In the midst of growing anti-Muslim sentiment in the US since 9/11, or perhaps thanks to it, this generation of Muslims is abandoning the traditional professions expected from immigrant parents (doctors, engineers, business people) and entering fields we all once thought were closed to us. The last decade has seen a steady and sure emergence of American Muslims as artists, writers, performers, activists, media personalities and intellectuals (on a global scale Muslims rank as top intellectuals). Inside the DC beltway you see evidence of this shift as well. Young American Muslims are working in national security, public diplomacy, foreign policy, politics – we have our share of hacks and wonks now too.
In a climate where America still finds itself in an uncomfortable dance with Islam, the fact that Muslims themselves are becoming thought and culture leaders in America has tremendous prospects. Anti-shariah bills loom large across the country, violence against Muslims happens and is encouraged, the homeland security apparatus is still figuring out how to work with Muslims as partners and not suspects, and a large swath of the public cannot even stomach something as innocuous as Muslims being in a patriotic coca-cola ad. But instead of being cowed, young American Muslims have reacted by demanding to tell their own stories, become influencers, and claiming their rightful place in US institutions and discourse.
This dynamism hasn’t been limited to the intersection of American Muslims with the prevailing culture. In the past five years American Muslims are leading movements to revive or reform perspectives on religious inclusion, most notably the inclusion of women and LGBTQ Muslims in sacred spaces.
On the issue of women’s leadership, inclusion, and status in Islam, there is a clear call to revive the traditions of female scholarship, leadership, and open mosque spaces. It’s no small thing that the Grand Mufti of Egypt Shaykh Ali Gomaa has acknowledged the permissibility of women leading men in prayer in the Western context after the persistence of female North American Muslim activists and scholars on the issue. A movement to explore the spaces allotted women in American mosques has lead to a larger discussion on what it means to be “Unmosqued”, or be part of a generation that feels little relevance and connection to any place of worship. “Muslim feminism” is being taken seriously by Western Muslims as the antidote to patriarchal expressions of Islam. The long standing idea, from the colonial period onward, that mosques and religious leadership are male spaces is finding its match not in a global Muslim arena, but in a Western Muslim one.
(Continued in Comments section)
History is witness to a time past when the Islamic civilization produced globally unparallelled architecture, literature, science, philosophy, theological discourse, and cultural influences – influences so strong it made European nobles want to dress like Muslims. Critics of Islam and Muslims scoff at this romanticism, asserting that Muslims have not produced anything great since the Middle Ages and most likely will never again. The inherent bigotry and even fallacy of that argument aside, for those critics I have to say, look out, a new Muslim renaissance is upon us.
In the midst of growing anti-Muslim sentiment in the US since 9/11, or perhaps thanks to it, this generation of Muslims is abandoning the traditional professions expected from immigrant parents (doctors, engineers, business people) and entering fields we all once thought were closed to us. The last decade has seen a steady and sure emergence of American Muslims as artists, writers, performers, activists, media personalities and intellectuals (on a global scale Muslims rank as top intellectuals). Inside the DC beltway you see evidence of this shift as well. Young American Muslims are working in national security, public diplomacy, foreign policy, politics – we have our share of hacks and wonks now too.
In a climate where America still finds itself in an uncomfortable dance with Islam, the fact that Muslims themselves are becoming thought and culture leaders in America has tremendous prospects. Anti-shariah bills loom large across the country, violence against Muslims happens and is encouraged, the homeland security apparatus is still figuring out how to work with Muslims as partners and not suspects, and a large swath of the public cannot even stomach something as innocuous as Muslims being in a patriotic coca-cola ad. But instead of being cowed, young American Muslims have reacted by demanding to tell their own stories, become influencers, and claiming their rightful place in US institutions and discourse.
This dynamism hasn’t been limited to the intersection of American Muslims with the prevailing culture. In the past five years American Muslims are leading movements to revive or reform perspectives on religious inclusion, most notably the inclusion of women and LGBTQ Muslims in sacred spaces.
On the issue of women’s leadership, inclusion, and status in Islam, there is a clear call to revive the traditions of female scholarship, leadership, and open mosque spaces. It’s no small thing that the Grand Mufti of Egypt Shaykh Ali Gomaa has acknowledged the permissibility of women leading men in prayer in the Western context after the persistence of female North American Muslim activists and scholars on the issue. A movement to explore the spaces allotted women in American mosques has lead to a larger discussion on what it means to be “Unmosqued”, or be part of a generation that feels little relevance and connection to any place of worship. “Muslim feminism” is being taken seriously by Western Muslims as the antidote to patriarchal expressions of Islam. The long standing idea, from the colonial period onward, that mosques and religious leadership are male spaces is finding its match not in a global Muslim arena, but in a Western Muslim one.
(Continued in Comments section)
Direction
I really don't understand what direction my life is going to. It is like I wake up to the same routine everyday. I do the motions of being a teacher. Yes, life as a teacher is always different everyday but you go through the same motion without variation, it becomes boring. I feel like a robot just going through the same thing. Did anyone ever experience that at one point in your life?
~~ O MY LOVE WHERE R U ~~
During my whole life, I always thought that I loved somebody. Now, being here for the first time with you, I ask myself: have I ever really been in love? Am I even able to love? Am I able to love you? Or has life brought me to a point where happiness in love does not happen any more?
The basic fallacy that you are carrying within you is that you always loved somebody.
This is one of the most significant things about all human beings; their love is always for somebody, it is addressed – and the moment you address your love, you destroy it. It is as if you are saying, “I will breathe only for you – and when you are not there, then how can I breathe?”
Love should be like breathing. It should be just a quality in you – wherever you are, with whomsoever you are, or even if you are alone, love goes on overflowing from you. It is not a question of being in love with someone – it is a question of being love.
People are frustrated in their love experiences, not because something is wrong with love…they narrow down love to such a point that the ocean of love cannot remain there. You cannot contain the ocean – it is not a small stream; love is your whole being – love is your godliness. One should think in terms of whether one is loving or not. The question of the object of love does not arise. With your wife, you love your wife; with your children, you love your children; with your servants, you love your servants; with your friends, you love your friends; with the trees, you love the trees; with the ocean, you love the ocean.
The basic fallacy that you are carrying within you is that you always loved somebody.
This is one of the most significant things about all human beings; their love is always for somebody, it is addressed – and the moment you address your love, you destroy it. It is as if you are saying, “I will breathe only for you – and when you are not there, then how can I breathe?”
Love should be like breathing. It should be just a quality in you – wherever you are, with whomsoever you are, or even if you are alone, love goes on overflowing from you. It is not a question of being in love with someone – it is a question of being love.
People are frustrated in their love experiences, not because something is wrong with love…they narrow down love to such a point that the ocean of love cannot remain there. You cannot contain the ocean – it is not a small stream; love is your whole being – love is your godliness. One should think in terms of whether one is loving or not. The question of the object of love does not arise. With your wife, you love your wife; with your children, you love your children; with your servants, you love your servants; with your friends, you love your friends; with the trees, you love the trees; with the ocean, you love the ocean.
~~ SENTIMENTS ARE NOT STONES ~~
"There are three layers of the human individual: his physiology, the body; his psychology, the mind; and his being, his eternal self. Love can exist on all the three planes, but its qualities will be different. On the plane of physiology, body, it is simply sexuality. You can call it love, because the word love seems to be poetic, beautiful. But ninety-nine percent of people are calling their sex, love. Sex is biological, physiological. Your chemistry, your hormones – everything material is involved in it…
"Only one percent of people know a little bit deeper. Poets, painters, musicians, dancers, singers have a sensitivity that they can feel beyond the body. They can feel the beauties of the mind, the sensitivities of the heart, because they live on that plane themselves. But a musician, a painter, a poet, lives on a different plane. He does not think, he feels. And because he lives in his heart, he can feel the other person's heart. That is ordinarily called love. It is rare. I am saying only one percent perhaps, once in a while.
"Why are many people not moving to the second plane because it is tremendously beautiful? But there is a problem: anything very beautiful is also very delicate. It is not hardware, it is made of very fragile glass. And once a mirror has fallen and broken, then there is no way to put it together. People are afraid to get so much involved that they reach to the delicate layers of love, because at that stage love is tremendously beautiful but also tremendously changing. Sentiments are not stones, they are like rose flowers…"
"Poets are known, artists are known to fall in love almost every day. Their love is like a rose flower. While it is there it is so fragrant, so alive, dancing in the wind, in the rain, in the sun, asserting its beauty. But by the evening it may be gone, and you cannot do anything to prevent it. The deeper love of the heart is just like a breeze that comes into your room, brings its freshness, coolness, and then it is gone. You cannot catch hold of the wind in your fist. Very few people are so courageous as to live with a moment-to-moment, changing life. Hence, they have decided to fall into a love on which they can depend.
"I don't know which kind of love you know – most probably the first kind, perhaps, the second kind. And you are afraid that if you reach your being, what will happen to your love? Certainly it will be gone – but you will not be a loser. A new kind of love will arise which arises only perhaps to one person in millions. That love can only be called lovingness."
"Only one percent of people know a little bit deeper. Poets, painters, musicians, dancers, singers have a sensitivity that they can feel beyond the body. They can feel the beauties of the mind, the sensitivities of the heart, because they live on that plane themselves. But a musician, a painter, a poet, lives on a different plane. He does not think, he feels. And because he lives in his heart, he can feel the other person's heart. That is ordinarily called love. It is rare. I am saying only one percent perhaps, once in a while.
"Why are many people not moving to the second plane because it is tremendously beautiful? But there is a problem: anything very beautiful is also very delicate. It is not hardware, it is made of very fragile glass. And once a mirror has fallen and broken, then there is no way to put it together. People are afraid to get so much involved that they reach to the delicate layers of love, because at that stage love is tremendously beautiful but also tremendously changing. Sentiments are not stones, they are like rose flowers…"
"Poets are known, artists are known to fall in love almost every day. Their love is like a rose flower. While it is there it is so fragrant, so alive, dancing in the wind, in the rain, in the sun, asserting its beauty. But by the evening it may be gone, and you cannot do anything to prevent it. The deeper love of the heart is just like a breeze that comes into your room, brings its freshness, coolness, and then it is gone. You cannot catch hold of the wind in your fist. Very few people are so courageous as to live with a moment-to-moment, changing life. Hence, they have decided to fall into a love on which they can depend.
"I don't know which kind of love you know – most probably the first kind, perhaps, the second kind. And you are afraid that if you reach your being, what will happen to your love? Certainly it will be gone – but you will not be a loser. A new kind of love will arise which arises only perhaps to one person in millions. That love can only be called lovingness."
Facebook..Support..troops...god fearing
On Facebook people seem to think that we need to support our troops in conflict but i take hum bridge at this. When men join the Army its a career choice..not conscript..but also it's our governments that send these guys to foreign lands that we have no right to be in.
Now Miguel..an Egyptian posted this below the photo..see how the friendly Born again Christians reacted to his post !...Miguel had a point right ?
Anne cassidy, an elderly American women, who is god fearing, whom I doubt has never even been to other country replied in her own unique way...If you think peace will ever happen while religion is still here...think again !
Miguel A. Asali f*ck them .... get out of our land !!!!!
Daniel Graser get out of germany too!!
Anne Cassidy Hamilton Daniel: you would be speaking Russian right now if the allied troops were not in Germany. Read a history book you a**hole.
Anne Cassidy Hamilton You get out of ours .... You all profess to hate the west but flood here like cockroaches....
RodEileen Meldrum Good on you Anne Cassidy Hamilton we. agree!!!
Della Abd-Elghany Nasty unnecessary insults-stooping to that proves nothing.
Doug Keith If its your land & it's so good f*ck off back there stop the insults & start thinking you're self's lucky to be in such nice clean country
Ian Watson I'm appalled at replies from western people here...Anne...these troops made a career choice...Why do they need our support...and the west has invaded the middle east and caused this shit we see now...ignorant westerners that watch to much tv..I'm a westerner living in the middle east and your abusive comments are revolting ....
~~ DIALOGUE ~~
Dialogue means trying to understand the other with an open mind. Dialogue is a rare phenomenon and it is beautiful, because both are enriched. In fact, while you talk, either it can be a discussion – a verbal fight, trying to prove that I am right and you are wrong – or a dialogue. Dialogue is taking each other´s hand, moving together towards the truth, helping each other to find the way. It is togetherness, it is a cooperation, it is a harmonious effort to find the truth. It is not in any way a fight, not at all. It is a friendship, moving together to find the truth, helping each other to find the truth. Nobody has the truth already, but when two persons start finding out, inquiring about the truth together, that is dialogue – and both are enriched. And when truth is found, it is neither of me, nor of you. When truth is found, it is greater than both of us who participated in the inquiry, it is higher than both, it surrounds both - and both are enriched.
Shri Neem Karoli Baba..........
About a year ago, Roberts told Elle magazine that she was attracted to Hinduism and converted to the religion after seeing a picture of the baba. Born Lakshmi Narayan Sharma in Akbarpur, Uttar Pradesh, the baba is called 'Maharaj-ji' by his followers. A devotee of the monkey god, Hanuman, he taught that compassion is the highest virtue....... .. ..According to one version, Jobs, who was then 18, and his friend Dan Kottke travelled to the baba's ashram in what is now Uttarakhand but found that the guru had passed away by then.
But other celebrities came into contact with the baba and have gone on to live a life guided by his teachings. Among them is Larry Brilliant, a physician, humanitarian and the former head of Google's philanthropic arm.
Among his lifelong devotees is Ram Dass, an American born as Steve Alpert. Dass is the author of the spiritual book 'Be Here Now' that has sold over a million copies. He, Brilliant and other followers of the baba started the charitable organisation Seva Foundation. Jobs donated $10,000 in 1978 to help launch Seva.
The baba's followers run ashrams in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and New Mexico, United States. In 2008, American gossip website Gawker reported that Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg was at an ashram of 'Maharj-ji.' He was taken there by Brilliant, who is also said to have taken Google co-founder Larry Page and eBay's Jeff Skoll there..... ...
Darshan Weekend September 25 to 27, 2015
Widen your hearts, your vision, your thoughts, your entire life – make it bigger. Life becomes so much more alive when you live it with a broad mind which doesn’t stop at “this is mine and that is yours”.
When one’s vision widens, differences don’t appear to be even bigger but, on the contrary, one increasingly begins to see how alike we all are and ultimately that we are all the same – in the most positive sense of the word.
'Miracle of Love - Stories about Neem Karoli Baba' by Ram Dass
Published by E.P. Dutton, New York, USA in 1979
Many seekers have come to know Sri Neem Karoli Baba through his devotees Ram Dass, Krishna Das and Bhagavan Das.
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