Choices...
Be advised that everyone has made their choices. Whether they are aware of those choices is not the issue. You have all chosen every aspect of your life, whether through wise decision making or by relinquishing your choices to others. If you are suffering, you have chosen to do so. Otherwise, you would choose to learn remedies for your suffering and eliminate them. They serve no purpose other than suffering. It is truly that easy.
Following the "safe" route will lead you to the slaughter house. If you end up there, smile because you have chosen this fate. Breaking off from the herd can provide some much needed enlightenment. It is hard to do though. Outside the protection of the masses, vulnerability becomes obvious and threats become real. The knowledge of the road ahead causes great mental anguish, until... Until you have that moment when...
There is a moment in the journey when everything becomes clear. The mind finally grasps the concepts and realizes that all is not lost because all is just lessons. No one is truly going to "die", ever. Some may suffer, but they will learn from this and hopefully next time through they will enjoy lessons with much less pain. This is their choice, always your choice.
So, as things begin to unfold, please do not allow fear to blind you to the truth. If only you could all know and all believe that death is a myth, perpetrated to keep fear at a maximum. Of course, this fear of death also encourages learning. As you can see, the balance of dark and light, bad and good, is the only similar thread woven into our existence. Everything is bad and good at the same time. Destruction leads to creation and creation eventually leads to destruction. The yin yang of our three dimensional reality. Once you see this, you will be set free. You will no longer see evil or miraculous events. You will only see that which truly is.
Ponder this... for it will be a helpful concept in the near future. Acceptance of this one truth will allow your mind to see all, rather than just that which the wizard wants you to see.
ciao from the coconut...
posted by cozy @ 9/22/2005 11:54:00 AM
3 comments
3 Comments:
I just read this today and it reminded me of some of your comments. Take a look and see how this lines up with your explanation of RELIGION. You are absolutely right!"
In His shalom,
Beverley
>October 28, 2005
>
>More On Religion and Spirituality
>by John Fischer
>
> "When you give a gift to someone in need, don't shout about it as the hypocrites do--blowing trumpets in the synagogues and streets to call attention to their acts of charity! I assure you, they have received all the reward they will ever get." (Matthew 6:2 NLT)
>
>I don't know how many of these sayings are floating around out there, but I may have uncovered something significant. Earlier this week I quoted one of our readers as saying that a religious person sits in church thinking about fishing while a spiritual person goes fishing thinking about God. (Not at all meaning to imply that the spiritual person is fishing in place of going to church, by the way. The point is simply that spiritual people worship God with a heart that permeates everything they do, while religious people may look holy, but not have their heart in it.)
>
>Now someone has sent me this: “A religious person is trying to avoid hell; a spiritual person has already been there.”
>
>Religion is the nemesis of Christianity, and these types of contrasts point that out. Religious people are stuck in a religious points system that keeps track of everything. They are actually pretty confident that hell can be avoided based on their own point tally. By contrast, keeping track is the last thing spiritual people want to do, because their track record condemns them. They believe that they deserve hell and get heaven by God's grace. Spiritual people are constantly pinching themselves because they can't believe their good fortune. The last thing they want to do is tally up points, because that will only confirm what they already know: they don't have enough. Never will.
>
>I think I'll try my own hand at this:
>
>Religion is a system; spirituality is a state of being, made possible by a relationship. Religion is trying to please God; spirituality is enjoying God. Religion is Martha fussing in the kitchen; spirituality is Mary listening at the feet of Jesus. Religion keeps the score; spirituality keeps the faith.
>
>And yes, spiritual people have been to hell and back, because that is how they came to know God in the first place. They all came to the end of their rope in some way, calling out desperately to God and finding Him there, eager to listen and respond. It's the hellish kinds of experiences that have brought them to realize their need.
>
>No one can be found unless they are lost; no one can be saved unless they are drowning. Spiritual people realize this because they have been rescued. By contrast, “Jesus saves” means nothing to the religious because they have nothing in their determination from which they need to be saved. Religious people have too tight a hold on their own lives to ever let go. Spiritual people let go and find that God is always there to catch them.
>
>Consequently, when spiritual people serve, they do it out of full hearts of gratitude. When religious people serve, they do it for points, and as Jesus said, they already have their reward (Matthew 6:2).
>
>You can see how religion has kept a lot of people from Christianity. It's a shame, because there couldn't be anything farther from the truth of what it means to know God.
>
>
>John Fischer is the Senior Writer for Purpose Driven Life Daily Devotionals. He resides in Southern California with his wife, Marti and son, Chandler. They also have two adult children, Christopher and Anne. John is a published author and popular speaker.>
>
>
> PurposeDrivenLife.com, with articles by Rick Warren and other insightful writers.
>© 2005 Purpose Driven Life. All rights reserved. >PurposeDrivenLife.com
>a division of Purpose Driven Ministries
>20 Empire Drive
>Lake Forest, CA 92630
>________________________________________
Here's something else to go along with your line of thinking.
Shalom & blessings,
Beverley
Temptation Leads to Life
“Count it all joy, my brothers, when you fall into trials of many kinds; knowing that the testing of your faith works perseverance [in you]. Let perseverance have a maturing work, that you may be mature and complete—lacking nothing…. Happy [is] the man who perseveres [through] trials, because, becoming approved, he will receive the crown of the life which the Lord promised to those [who] love Him. Let no one being tempted say, ‘I am [being] tempted by God,’ for God is not tempted by evil, and [He] Himself tempts no one. Each one is tempted by his own desires, being led away and enticed. Afterward the desire, having conceived, gives birth to sin, and the sin, having been perfected, brings forth death.” Ya’akov (James) 1:2-4, 12-15
Life and death. We think of these as opposite destinies—and indeed, they are—but these two have more in common than we think. The road that leads to either life or death intersects with a common path, called temptation.
The way we handle temptation leads to two very different lives: the Life which God has promised, or a life of—and ending in—death. In both cases, temptation is the place of conception for life—be it a Life for God or a life for Death. How we respond immediately following that moment of conception decides our path. To achieve death, it’s a short trip—once securely fastened in the seat of temptation, next stop sin... death is around the bend. But Life... how do you get there?
It takes determination to persevere through the tests of life and live! To live with God, we have to be determined to persevere in faith. But to live with Death, we have to be determined to persevere in sin. Perseverance in faith makes us mature, complete and whole—it builds character. Perseverance in sin makes prepares us only for death. Though our character is built by our past, in it we can see our future—it can go ahead of us to lead us to Life, or it can be a beacon of warning that we are missing the path.
We pass the test by saying “Pass!” to temptation, sin, and death. But either path we choose, God promises us life. If we persevere in temptation, pressing on toward sin, we will receive a life… of Death. But, if we persevere through temptation and head on toward faith, we will receive blessings and Life with God. Wholeness awaits you on the other side of desire! Count it all joy!
P R A Y E R
Father, teach me to be quick to trust You and slow to embrace sin. Make me a person of character, that I will receive Life and the blessings of Life that you have promised to those who put their faith in you. Thank you, Father, that you are the restorer of all things; that even in sin, I can come to you to set me on the right path. Lord, let me be determined to persevere in trust and holiness, pressing on toward you, that I might regard testing as joy because you are waiting with the crown of life....
Thank you for the information. It helps to know that many people question these things.
Please know that I do not distinguish between life and death for they are the same thing. Humans place TOO much value in the fleeting physical bodies of this existence and ignore the eternal soul that resides inside. Once you can accept all aspects of your true soul, you too will see there is no sin. Choosing to follow a path of disagreement with the mainstream is choosing to accept all good and bad as the One Creator's handiwork. We defined certain actions as not acceptable and we made God the judge. There was no "sin" until man defined the word. And this was done to control those of weak mind. We are only here to learn and to accomplish this, we explore the dark and the light, the night and the day.
The rules are only in place for those that are not yet ready to break them and understand why. The rules must be learned and understood before they can safely be broken. Once understanding supplants mandate, the rules may be bent and broken at will and with safety.
I highly reccomend reading the post "Oak Tree" for the answer to existence. I wrote it but the words were a gift.
Pura Vida!!
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