Hello Boys and Girls. Seeing this is Sunday, I thought I would share another excerpt from the book, The Untethered Soul, about the kind of Love that God has for everything and everyone. Not to be preachy….but because this chapter spoke to me about loving one another. There seems to be such divisiveness in the World today. There is hate coming into our lives from so many places and on so many levels; with family discord, road rage, self-hate and lately, so much hate even in Politics. True love, the type of Love everything and everyone receives with grace from God, is pure and unconditional. It is best described IMHO, in Corinthians 13:4-7: ‘Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵ It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶ Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷ It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.’

All religions point to the same idea that we are all one. In The Untethered Soul, the author points out that; “In the Gospel of John, Christ says, ‘That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us….I in thee, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one’. So it was taught in the Hindu Vedas; so it was taught in the Jewish Kabbalah; so it was written by the great Sufi mystic poets; and so it was taught in all the great religious traditions of all time. Such a state exists; one can merge into the Universal Absolute. Once can merge into God.”

Of course it may be hard to understand these teaching and sometimes we have to ‘read between the lines’, as the translations have been misinterpreted and misunderstood over time, then repeated so many times in dogma and doctrine….that we come to ‘believe’ what we ‘think’ we have ‘learned’.

The chapter goes on to say, “This is how you know something about God. You become one with Him. Ultimately, the only way to know about God is by letting your being merge into The Being, and then seeing what happens to you. This is universal consciousness, and the qualities of the beings who have attained this deep state are similar in every religion.” Notice the author says EVERY religion. He is not speaking about the kooks of the world who have put a hateful slant or meaning to their religion. Not the fanatics who kill in the name of God. But the basis of ALL religions....as being 'Love of one another as you love your self'.

The author explains that experiencing true love….God’s love…..as what happens if we could walk this path the way God does. “What transformations do they go through along the way? To understand this, imagine what would happen if you started feeling tremendous love for all creatures, for every plant, for every animal, and for all the beauties of nature. Imagine if every child seemed like your own, and every person you saw looked like a beautiful flower, with its own color, its own expression, shape, and sounds. As you went deeper, you would start noticing a phenomenal thing – you are no longer judging. The process of judging has simply stopped. There is just appreciating and honoring. Where there used to be judging, there is now respecting, loving, and cherishing. To differentiate is to judge. To see, to experience, and to honor is to participate in life instead of standing back and judging it.”

“When you walk through a beautiful botanical garden, you feel open and light. You feel love. You see beauty. You don’t judge the shape and placement of every leaf. The leaves are of all sizes and shapes and they face every-which-way. That’s what makes them beautiful. What if you felt that way about people? What if they didn’t all have to dress the same, believe the same, or behave the same? What if they were like the flowers, and however they happened to be…..seemed beautiful to you? If that happened, you’d get a glimpse of God. That’s the best way to know God. Watch what happens to you as you get closer to God.”

That pretty much sums it up for me. It explains clearly that when we compare and judge…we are separating ourselves from this wonderful love. When we  love unconditionally….we are becoming ONE…and that is what I think we are here to do on this physical plane. And if we stop comparing, judging and feeling separate from one another….we can get closer to how God intended us to be.  

So, to check to see if you are getting closer to God or going farther away from what God intended for us, sense how you are feeling. If you are feeling alone or jealous or combative….you are moving away from God. If you can stop yourself from judging and begin to love, respect and accept everyone….then you are definitely moving towards what God if offering us each day with all the splendor that surrounds us.

Have a wonderful Sunday peeps and begin to notice all that beauty that you may be taking for granted out there.  And it IS everywhere. Hugs and Mush - Gommy

INTENTION

Hello Boys and Girls. Do you have what is called the 'Need To Please Disease'? Do you do things you don’t really want to do, just so that person won’t think you are mean, cheap, lazy, unkind, etc. etc.? If you don’t like that trait about yourself…. the next time someone asks you to do something you may not want to do, just step back and ask yourself….what intention am I putting out there that is making these requests come to me all the time? If you are that 'people-pleaser' that is doing stuff that you later regret and may even eventually resent….you must say no if you really don’t want to do ‘it’. Because if these requests keep coming….they are coming because the intention has been formed (by you) that you ‘must’ like to do ‘it’ because you keep saying yes. Gotcha!

This brings me to the subject of how we do manifest things we want and things we don’t want.  I was listening to a radio program that was describing the difference between 'manifesting' and the Law of Attraction.  To actually manifest what it is we are ‘wanting to attract’ we must be in alignment with God/Source/Spirit.  There is a Law Of Attraction and it is that ‘like attracts like’. We aren’t usually trying to manifest the bad stuff, but the Law of Attraction brings things to us that which we don’t want as well as the stuff we are asking for. According to a Huffington Post article…. “In ‘The Secret’ we learned that this is based on "scientific principles" alluding to quantum physics supporting this contention: that you will attract to yourself whatever you put out.” 

And don’t be so quick to dismiss this as all woo-woo stuff, because the article goes on to explain, “Recent brain imaging studies are rapidly showing that the brain does in fact conform in its function to the "Law of Attraction". Perhaps the most convincing evidence to date has been the discovery of "mirror neurons". At first seen in monkeys, scientists eventually found a set of "mirror neurons" in humans that mirror the behavior of someone who is being observed. That is, when we observe someone doing something, the same pattern of brain activation that allows that person to do what they are doing (e.g. lifting up their right hand or smiling) is mirrored in the brain of the observer. It is as if the observer is doing those same things. Activations are seen in the pre-motor and parietal cortex of the brain: regions that prepare the body for movement and attention. Thus, our brains appear to mirror the actions of another person automatically. Similarly, when we act, the brains of others will fire in a similar way. Our actions cause similar action-representations in the brains of others.”

I just recently learned of an author who writes about the power of intention. On her website….it states that, “Lynne McTaggart is a best-selling author, researcher and lecturer whose work has rightly been described as “a bridge between science and spirituality”.  Her work is being proven by scientists synthesized discoveries from quantum physicists about the nature of consciousness into a unified theory.” And it states furthermore; “For the past 20 years she has been researching medicine and its shortcomings, and quantum physics and what this means for you and the world we live in.” In an interview....she even stated that she is not a 'woo-woo' at all (and those were HER words...promise!).

Still not believing? There are many scientists who are on board in trying to prove or dispel the notion of enlightenment. One is Dr. Fritz-Albert Popp. He is a German physicist and founder of the International Institute of Biophysics in Neuss, Germany. He is credited with the discovery of biophoton emissions – tiny currents of light emanating from living things. (Enlightenment means knowing the light within us, EN-LIGHTENED.)

Dr. Popp is an Invited Member of the New York Academy of Sciences and a member of the International Consciousness Research Laboratory (ICRL) at Princeton University. He has written some 150 publications on theoretical physics, biology, complementary medicine and biophotons.

Still not buying it? Then how about what the Bible says about miracles? And what are miracles but intentions that we may have asked for? There are several references to ‘believing’ that are in the Bible. One is in Mark 10:27 and states that, ‘With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God." Now, it doesn’t say…..just some things are possible…it says quite plainly that ALL things are possible. I rest my case.

But getting back to the ‘alignment’ stuff. What that means is that we mirror…or get back…..what we are putting out there. We cannot merely ask for help...or *whatever. We have to BE the giver of what we want…and then it will be given back to us (remember the mirroring stuff?). Now, I’m not saying this is easy….and we are only humans, hopefully trying to get to be a better ‘us’ (you know….works in progress). But to get to the place where we truly are not in judgment of anyone else, and come from a place that we are reflecting the Love that is God... is what is needed to be on the right path, so to speak. And granted....this is not as easy peasy as we would like it to be.  But if we have the right 'intentions'.....we will get there eventually.

But, just asking for the guidance to bring us to that place will go a long way in getting there a little bit faster. And gratitude. Gratitude is a HUGE part of the deal. Ask with love….Act with love....Be grateful....and love will be reflected back to us. We can do it peeps…Gommy is pulling for ya....er.....US! And I’d appreciate it if you would pull for me too. We can all use a little of that Unconditional Love.
 Hugs n' Mush - Gommy

Spirituality and Religion

Hello peeps. I want to talk about something that is not very wise to talk about; Religion. It seems everyone has the other taboo topic (Politics) well under way right now with the 2012 elections in full speed ahead….so why the heck not mixed it up with Religion too? LOL

The reason it isn’t a wise subject to discuss is because people are very protective of their religions and their religious beliefs. Many times, ‘sharing’ religious philosophies causes conflict. I read an article that explained; ~ If you tell people that their “God” is only a metaphor, their defenses are going to go up quite dramatically and quite fiercely. It's a challenge to their beliefs, which feels like an attack at the very core of their self-image.~ (Paraphrased)

So, I am not going to tell you that….but I do have my own beliefs on this topic. The reason I started thinking about all this, is that I was having a conversation with someone the other day and they mentioned another someone they knew and said they were spiritual. Welllll, I didn’t want to start an argument…(far be it from me…right?) but I felt that the person in question didn’t seem spiritual to me, but could more aptly be described as a religious person.  This isn’t to say there is anything wrong with being religious….but for me they are not the same thing.

I suppose it is easier for me to ‘question’ religious beliefs because I wasn’t raised in any formal Religion. I like to say that I was raised a ‘Visitor’ because my Mom took me to many different denominations of churches….and even a synagogue or two.  My Dad had long given up on his religion after he read the Inquisition of Spain and was disgusted by what people will do in the name of ‘religion’.  So, I didn’t have the dogma and doctrine of a particular religion ingrained ‘into me’, so investigating what I did believe…or not….was not forbidden….nor was it foreboding to me.

I can say that it was easier for me to come to my own Truth…or my own True North, precisely because my understanding and unfolding of what I believe, didn’t hinge on a set of rules…or have to’s to ‘win’ approval of the One Spiritual Being/God or whatever makes one feel comfortable calling ‘All That Is’…..the I AM. I just went by what felt right to me. I do believe that the Truth can stand up under any poking or prodding. And as a very wise friend of mine said, ‘Don’t believe anything I say or anyone else says….believe what you feel is right.’ And so far…I have been able to come to my own understanding with a calmness and find my own peace when I followed those feelings. And those feelings come from ‘Within’….and ‘Within’ is where all peace must come from to begin with. This is what allows us to feel at peace with everything and everyone around us.

So, getting back to religion and spirituality. A good metaphor to illustrate the confusion about the terms religion and spirituality are some other terms;  ‘ocean’ and ‘sea’. When I looked up the difference between oceans and seas, the article said, ~‘Many people use the terms ‘ocean’ and ‘sea’ interchangeably when speaking about the ocean, but there is a difference between the two terms when speaking of the study of the Earth's surface. Seas are smaller than oceans and are usually located where the land and ocean meet. Typically, seas are partially enclosed by land.’~  Both ARE bodies of water, so it is understandable that they could be mistaken for one another. And they are both bodies of salt water…but still not exactly the same. You ‘see’? And I don’t think the ocean or the sea would mind being interchanged…it is only we humans that seem to mind the labels that are put on us.

I have also observed over time, that when people speak of someone being spiritual…..they tend to think of that person as being all woo-woo.  So, call me woo-woo if you wish….but spiritual….more than religious, is how I think of myself. I can remember a time that I also scoffed at those who seemed all airy-fairy and woo-woo…..but the laugh was on me because I have since realized that they were waaaay ahead of me when it came to getting closer to understanding how to connect with Divine Intelligence. It turns out that emotions are a large part of the process. The downside is that Divine Intelligence (God or whatever you feel comfortable calling the Supreme Being.....One/ Eloah/Jehovah, etc.) brings to us whatever it is that we are most passionate about when we think about it for any length of time….good or bad. That is where the ‘Free Will’ part comes in. So, I would advise that you keep your thoughts positive. That is probably where the saying, “Be careful what you wish for” came from …..because thoughts do become things. Just a little friendly and spiritual heads up for ya’. Woo-Woo and *wink-wink!!

Spirituality has gotten a bad rap if you ask me. I think it is very misunderstood. I believe that religion is really the searching for spirituality in connection with the Divine Spirit (John 4:24 – “God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.".)

For example, if you are a religious person…..you probably believe in a God who is outside of you. Usually thought of as an older man with white hair….but definitely outside of you that you pray TO.  If you are a spiritual person….you believe that the Divine is within you, i.e. you and the Divine are One….. or you are at least trying to become One with the Divine. It’s like we are searching for the ONE and then we put a label on ‘It’….then we go about worshiping that idea or label, instead of  the ONE. We should just cut out the ‘middle man’ if you ask me. It isn’t about our idea or the label that we put on the Divine. I see it as WE ARE THE DIVINE…..experiencing us. There is no separation. Separation is what causes all strife, racism, jealousy and all the ugliness people feel about each other when we think of ourselves as being separate from each other and from the Divine. If we just could see that we ARE One….there would be no use for comparisons, prejudice and hatred towards another human being. 

I always have a hard time understanding why religions preach the Trinity….or point to the Christ within us….and then those same parishioners can’t accept when someone spiritual says the same thing in a different way. And if, as the Bible teaches, we all came from Adam and Eve….how could we not all be one? Those aren’t my teachings….they are the Bibles’ teachings. I personally feel that the Adam and Eve story was a metaphor….but I won’t go into that right now.  I am more of the sense that we ARE all one but more so like the quote by Pierre Teilhard de Chardin that goes; “We are not human beings on a spiritual journey. We are spiritual beings on a human journey.”

If you are a religious person, you probably also think that you must obey an omniscient, omnipresent ‘Divine Being’ to earn love from that Divine Being. If you are spiritual…you feel you ARE the love and are PART of that Being.  Like a diamond has many facets…but each facet is part of the one diamond. And like the ocean has many waves….but all the waves are STILL the one ocean. You cannot separate the facets from the One diamond, nor can you separate the waves from the Ocean.

Religions are man-made.  Religion was created by people who wanted to pursue a spiritual evolution. Religion at its most divisive can be self-righteousness, tyrannical, prejudicial, and be full of hatred and judgment. Religions and religious people can be pious. But religion that focuses on being the best it can be…. is the doorway to becoming spiritually enlightened. Enlightened is another word that makes some people think, oh- oh….‘woo-woo’! But don’t think that 'enlightened' means over the top peeps….because enlightened is in the Bible several time too. For example, Psalms 19:11 is just one reference, ‘Moreover, by them is thy servant enlightened; in keeping them there is great reward.’

If you could see it not so much that religion and spirituality are different, but rather that they are pathways between two points.  Then those who are protecting the dogma and teachings they have been taught so stringently…. may not be as ruffled. Imagine the ‘points’ representing the level of understanding on one end…to getting to the Divine on the other end……with religion as the starting point for most of us…..and spirituality as religion advanced to the ending point.

Religion and spirituality don’t have to be contradictory ideas. They can go hand in hand…. in the search for inner peace.  The real problem starts when religion insists that there is only one ‘Right And True’ way to believe…..and spirituality knows that it's (we) who are all Right And True. Spirituality can encompass religion with no arguments, but it rarely happens the other way around.
 
So, that is my ‘sermon’ for today boys and girls. I feel we sometimes think of terms a certain way for a very long time….not realizing that we may be confusing what they actually are. Just keep searching for what feels right to you and you will know when it is the Truth. The Truth always ‘feels’ right….and if it isn’t your Truth….it won’t feel right to you. As that very smart friend of mine always ends her offerings with, ‘I offer this for your consideration’, I offer this for your consideration as well. If it doesn’t feel right or true for you….that’s ok too.  As for me….I say take what feels right to you….and leave the rest. Life is a smorgasbord….and you can put on your tray whatever you feel like sampling and pass on by the stuff that isn’t appetizing to you. Sometimes….we have to stop thinking so much….and follow what our hearts tell us is True. You can do it peeps….Gommy is pulling for you! Hugs & Mush, Gommy