Religion & Spirituality Blogs (1,490)

Watching an interesting video...

So far...not done watching it yet....however...

Basically, every person has a purpose..an inner energy/being...that often times becomes constrained by that person's body. The body facilitates in that energy/being in achieving its purpose. However, the body can also be a constraint or a jail to that energy/being. According to the video: only a small amount of people use the body to achieve the inner energy/being's objectives.

As a side note: I wonder if that is why people develop such mental conditions as depression or addiction. There is a conflict between the inner and the outer.

Our body and hence our inner being/energy live within the confines of human made environments...such as capitalism. I would think in order to develop and manifest the inner being's purpose, the outer being (body) would need to be free of external constrains....thus allowing the outer body to realize the inner being's purpose. In order for that to happen, I think one would need knowledge and resources. Knowledge to know there is an inner being with a purpose that needs to be realized...and resources to allow the body to explore these inner being purposes. I would think it would be difficult to explore this inner being purpose while stressing about how the bills will be paid, stressing about where one's next meal will come from. So money to some extent would allow for the exploration of the inner being...and to allow for enlightenment to shine among whoever. Of course, not wealth to the point where you are obsessed with it.

Another constraint is one's mind. As the video points out, the mind is not the inner being/energy...but it is the connection between the two. So a "clean" mind will help remove constraints. A mind altered by alcohol, drugs, ...addictions in general....could cause one to fail to explore and illuminated the inner being/energy and its purpose.

So...if you have a feeling that something is not in harmony with yourself...a peace...a comfort...a confidence...a clear assessment of yourself, perhaps trying to remove constraints from your inner being/energy and its purpose.

A song that I like and hear/listen to often enough is “The Goodness of God”. It reminds me of the truth of my life amidst all of my challenges, when I become doubtful and forget that God loves and cares for me more than I even do. I have become so angry with God in the past, that I not only blamed him for the bad things that happened to me, but I even stopped reading or listening to anything about Him altogether. I just didn’t care.

Sadly, there are many around me (on and off CS), who feel that they have not had positive experiences that show God’s goodness towards them. Hence they do not recognize the blessings that they receive every day of their life, as being sent from Him. I have been there. But, I have had many reminders to help me to ‘see’ the truth of His goodness.

During some types of Counselling therapy, a practice is to write down the pros and cons about a situation or a person in order to get a clearer picture of the matter before taking a decision. For example, if a person is dating more than one person and needs to decide who he/she should become exclusive with, it would be beneficial to make a list of the positives and negatives of each person and, based upon one’s own preferences, decide which is the better ‘fit’.

I learnt a long time ago, that making a list had many pluses – it kept me organized, helped me separate what I needed vs what I wanted, showed me how close/far I was from my planned goals, gave me a sense of real accomplishment the more items I could tick off as I completed tasks, reminded of things that had to be done as soon as possible, etc – so I make one as often as I need it (which is quite often these days ). One of the lists that I have made in the past was one itemizing the blessings that I have received from God.

No, not just what I or someone ‘human’ could have provided (e.g. finances, friends & family, a job, a home, etc) but also what only He could give, and still continues to. Here’s a quick look at some things that I claim God’s goodness for:
* LIFE
* (Reasonably) GOOD PHYSICAL HEALTH
* (Reasonably) SOUND MIND
* PROTECTION FROM UNSEEN EVILS
* SPIRITUAL SALVATION
* THE HOPE OF LIFE IN HEAVEN
* HIS LOVE & FORGIVENESS

You may count your blessings in a different way, focussing on the physical things more than the supernatural, but that’s a good list too. After all, those things are only possible because of the LIFE that God gave you. So, make a list today. Count your blessings and ‘see’ what God has done.

I believe the good book is good.

So, if the good book is telling us accounts of times past, and is believed by very many to be true, isn't it time to stop for a second and ask yourself something?

Who...or perhaps even...what, is Jesus?

Somebody who can walk on water.
Somebody who can make the cripple walk again.
Somebody who can make the blind see.

Are these just metaphors? Or, are these real physical acts he performed?

Or perhaps, mistranslations?

If they are real physical acts he performed...as many truly believe. I am not aware of any such human that can perform these feats. Was Jesus human then?

Hope is a feeling of expectation and desire for a particular thing to happen. It can be an expectation and anticipation that rests in what we believe.

If we believe that we are valued in our job, then we hope that the raise we ask for or the promotion that we apply for will be granted. If we believe that we are loved by our significant other/life partner, then we hope that we’ll have a wonderful, lasting relationship together. Heck, if we believe that it’s gonna rain, we hope that we don’t get wet or catch a cold if we do.

We all hope/have hoped for so many things throughout our short lifetime, and probably for everyday of it. But ‘hope’ is something that many of us overlook or take for granted. Love (the most used 4-letter word on the planet ) - we know about and consciously think about, speak about, write about, dream about and seek after. But ‘hope’ is something that we do without realizing it. Kinda like breathing…it’s a reflex. So, for someone to feel hope-less would be cause for concern.

Feelings of hopelessness can occur for a variety of reasons, but it’s one of the main traits of sadness, and even more so, depression. Remaining hopeful is the key to overcoming them, so we should examine what we believe about a person or situation that worries us, in order to find a ‘silver lining’ and restore hope within ourselves. Hope helps us to keep dreaming, keep trying, keep smiling, keep planning, keep working, keep loving, keep giving, keep communicating, keep forgiving, keep praying…to “keep on keeping on”.

The thing that keeps me hopeful is my faith in God, because I believe in His Love for me. His Love and Faithfulness keeps me going even when I feel like giving up on after-50 dating, malicious family members, duplicitous politicians, greedy business owners, warring world leaders, etc., (and even myself, sometimes ). My expectations and anticipations are new every day that I wake – but mainly the hope of having a really good day regardless of the weather, regardless of the state of my finances, regardless of my health, regardless of my single status, regardless of the negativity that may come my way, regardless of the challenges.


What keeps you ‘hopeful’?

From birth, we are innately selfish, and have to be taught how to share and to care about others around us, as we grow. So, it isn’t hard to understand why many of us strive to please ourselves over pleasing others. However, when we love and or respect another person, we sometimes forget ourselves entirely, trying our best to please him/her.

Even when we falter in that regard, we try to make up for it by working harder and doing better. If that person is our mother/father, grandparent/guardian, then as you grew under their care, you tried to do things that would please them. And when they were pleased, you were usually ‘rewarded’…sometimes a smile or praise of any sort was enough for you.

Who is easier to please? Who should we WANT to please more? Mankind or God (our creator)? Physical evidence is usually available for us to tell when we’ve pleased someone, but not so much when it comes to pleasing God. When we do things as though we are doing them because God asked us to, then we would usually do them willingly, and do them to the best of our ability, because we want to please Him…even though we won’t ‘see’ Him smile at us when we do so.

Even when we have to do things that are tedious and mundane at work, in our community, in our family, focus on the tasks as though it was God who asked you to do them for Him. He encourages us to focus on Him whatever we do because pleasing Him brings even more/better rewards to us – the most valuable of these being ‘spiritual’ blessings.

Don’t think that the physical/material blessings are the best; it is the things that money cannot buy that are always the most valuable. Love, joy, peace, prosperity, humility and wisdom, are treasured ‘rewards’ that most of us should want in abundance, and only God is the true source for them. Hence it would definitely be wiser to focus more on doing things as though they are for God. So NOT easy...

Happy Sunday.

Well, the women of Iran have shown what they feel about wearing head scarfs. Swinging them round in front of officials. That shows that they don't accept any reason for wearing the covering and that it should be voluntary if some women desire it.
How backward the Iranian government is. How uncivilised those officials are.
But in my country loads of women wear them and without compulsion. But are they pressured from within their own community?

Yesterday night, my God mother who is a Florida resident, was experiencing the fears/concerns of most (if not all) others over Hurricane Ian. The anticipation of real damage, and even death, was palpable, but she was hopeful that things would be over by morning. All that I could do for her was to hope and pray, which I did.

Earlier this morning, I called (on Whatsapp). She/someone answered, but almost immediately there was a loss of audio and no communication could be had. I hung up and immediately felt wary, but still hoping and praying that she was ok. About 2 hours later I received a text message from her proclaiming "GM Thank God I had no damage all is well Thank you for your prayers". You could imagine my relief!

Was she lucky? No, she was blessed with yet another opportunity to continue in the land of the living and to sing God's praises for His protecting her (and many others), from yet another hurricane.

I pray that even though the hurricane has "whacked" Florida, there was no loss of life.

Condolences to the Royal Family and to the Royal people

Sir Robert Rubin founder & owner of Mysterium Philippines. My teacher in Intuitive Awakenings & Candle Magick 101(2017). So you're no practitioner but you're scared of the bad juju. Rob teaches you what you can do when you have to do without.