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"8But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. 9The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance." 2 Peter

Thanks for that poignant excerpt.
Where did you attend Seminary?

I'm ordained by the Universal Life Church. However, I classify myself as a Buddhist. Most here would consider me an atheist, but then, some of them require proof of my atheism. Beyond me stating that I am a rationalist.

You, our cat and Homer Simpson all ministers of the ULC.

Actually I know several people that got their certificates there. One has even been allowed to do weddings in her state.

Isn't an atheist someone who believes in nothing?...and if you believe in nothing, are you not believing in something?

No man can reveal to you aught but that which already lies half asleep in the dawning of your knowledge.

The teacher who walks in the shadow of the temple, among his followers, gives not of his wisdom but rather of his faith and his lovingness.

If he is indeed wise he does not bid you enter the house of his wisdom, but rather leads you to the threshold of your own mind.

The astronomer may speak to you of his understanding of space, but he cannot give you his understanding.

The musician may sing to you of the rhythm which is in all space, but he cannot give you the ear which arrests the rhythm nor the voice that echoes it.

And he who is versed in the science of numbers can tell of the regions of weight and measure, but he cannot conduct you thither.

For the vision of one man lends not its wings to another man.

And even as each one of you stands alone in God's knowledge, so must each one of you be alone in his knowledge of God and in his understanding of the earth.

KG

http://www.themonastery.org/

We are non-denominational and support a full spectrum interfaith ministry that is open to all with no hurdles, no hoops to jump through, no tests of loyalty, no rings to kiss and no fees to pay.
At the Universal Life Church Monastery, we believe that all faiths are best served by choice and the freedom of individuals to express and share their faith in a forum where everyone is equal and resources are accessible. We appeal to a worldwide audience through our online church services.

That is not an atheist. That is a nihilist. An atheist doesn't believe in a deity. Nothing more, and nothing less.

Thank you for the info. I didn't know.

Not a problem. I took no offense. I hope you didn't either.

No, I certainly did not. If I'm wrong or don't know the answer to something, if a person tells me nicely I appreciate it...and you Sir, unlike some others that I know were very nice about it.

That was the only reason I went through the ordination process (all five minutes of it )

Thanks for that excerpt! I really enjoyed reading the illumination of a fellow Human.

A very nice post.

There are times in our lives that we all need to hear words of wisdom and words of peace and that peace must come from within.

Many of us here on CS have had our hearts badly bruised and we suffer in pain and terrible sorrow, yet there is no need for us to live in agony and regret and guilt and wishing we could change the past.

Nobody is capable of hurting us except ourselves.

To wallow in self-pity (as I have done many times) is not very clever.

We need to look both outside ourselves to see the beauty of life and also within ourselves to cleanse ourselves of bad thoughts and feelings.

I really believe it can be done, and I really belive we can CHANGE our lives by moving one tiny mental step at a time towards something really positive and good and humble and accepting.

By refusing negative thoughts to take over our consciousness we can allow wonderful thoughts to take their place and then we can begin to 'glow' with the spirit of life and others will know it and see it and benefit from the 'new' beings we have become.

I knew a beautiful intelligent woman who was miserably unhappy but did not know why.I lost track of her for years.when we met again she had undergone a metamorphosis.
All she could tell me was that she drove her car around a bend in the Alaska highway and realized she did not have to feel bad all the time.
So she stopped it.All at once.No process that she could describe.
One of those "evolution or revolution" dilemmas.

On Religion
Kahlil Gibran
Have I spoken this day of aught else?
Is not religion all deeds and all reflection,
And that which is neither deed nor reflection, but a wonder and a surprise ever springing in the soul, even while the hands hew the stone or tend the loom?
Who can separate his faith from his actions, or his belief from his occupations?
Who can spread his hours before him, saying, "This for God and this for myself; This for my soul, and this other for my body?"
All your hours are wings that beat through space from self to self.
He who wears his morality but as his best garment were better naked.
The wind and the sun will tear no holes in his skin.
And he who defines his conduct by ethics imprisons his song-bird in a cage.
The freest song comes not through bars and wires.
And he to whom worshipping is a window, to open but also to shut, has not yet visited the house of his soul whose windows are from dawn to dawn.


Your daily life is your temple and your religion.
Whenever you enter into it take with you your all.
Take the plough and the forge and the mallet and the lute,
The things you have fashioned in necessity or for delight.
For in revery you cannot rise above your achievements nor fall lower than your failures.
And take with you all men:
For in adoration you cannot fly higher than their hopes nor humble yourself lower than their despair.


And if you would know God be not therefore a solver of riddles.
Rather look about you and you shall see Him playing with your children.
And look into space; you shall see Him walking in the cloud, outstretching His arms in the lightning and descending in rain.
You shall see Him smiling in flowers, then rising and waving His hands in trees.