An Eye for an Eye

A 7 year old girl was killed when a man drove by the car her mother was driving and opened fire.  The car was full of children.

This thug shot into a car full of children to get revenge on the mom, and it was the wrong mom.  It was a case of mistaken identity.

Just think how reckless, how evil that is. What immoral soulless monster does this?

It’s a lot like a drone bombing a house full of children to get at an enemy.  If one is wrong, what makes the other right? 

Is the difference in the shooter? One is a criminal and the other, the man behind the gun, is a soldier and by extension a government?

Does the needs of the many really outweigh the needs of the few? Does not evil only repay with evil?  We take our opportunity to destroy one evil, and create more hatred, more pain and death and more evil.

This is why every single attempt at peaceful resolution of conflict has the potential to cancel lifetimes of suffering.

The thug will go to jail.  The child will be buried.  Both lives are over.  Many lives are crushed  in both households.  Nations go to war and the dead never go unavenged. 

Every trigger is a cycle of death.  There is no way to weigh the outcome of righteous evil.  Such is karma an endless war.

Ringing in a New Year 🔔

Ring out the old, ring in the new,
Ring, happy bells, across the snow;
The year is going, let him go;
Ring out the false, ring in the true.

An old church custom, ringing the bells was a more-than-symbolic tradition for warding off evil.  This is significant because bells vibrate and carry the message of our spirits with the sound.

Joyful bells ring in the start of marriage and they toll to mourn the passing of a loved one.

The bells ring in a new year with good intentions and high hopes!

As we welcome a new year, I remember those I lost and pray for those in need.

We don’t know what the new year will bring, but we can brighten and cheer and lend an ear when needed.

As Pope Francis said ‘You pray for the hungry. Then you feed them. This is how prayer works.’

No one is perfect, but we can choose to be God’s instruments, to shine a light in the darkness and ring a bell to spread cheer.  Make someone smile when you remember them.  Ring a bell.  Today you will find them on doors and phones 😇

God bless each of you and your families and Happy New Year! 🔔 🎵 🛎 🎶  🔔 🎶

A Good Deed Goes Unpunished

You’ve read the adage ‘No good deed goes unpunished.’

The concept goes back to biblical times and before.  We’ve noticed that the universe seems to reward our generosity with spite.

This is of course because we seek credit for it.

Knowing this I recall once doing a needed favor for a friend knowing full well I would reap misfortune.  I did it anyway.  I couldn’t think of a way to do it anonymously.

I wasn’t as clear on this concept then as I am now.

Every action begets an equal and opposite reaction.

So why do good and reap evil?

Only one power negates this effect.  The power of Love.

A mother is expected to care for her children.  Her love does not provoke ire.

A stranger is not expected to provide for another.  His actions provoke the universe.  It’s unnatural and will be punished.  The most extreme example is Christ sacrificing his life because he dared show us his love.  Yet his love saved him for it is the most powerful force in our world.

So yes, I was moved to help a friend.  I’d do it again.

I’ve suffered consequences from each sacrifice I’ve made to help another.

Sometimes I forgot to consider myself.  It’s unnatural and it’s caused suffering to myself and others.

Those times, I punished myself and the universe didn’t have to.

So do good because you care and not for credit.  You may suffer anyway, but at least you will be able to live with yourself.

When you do good, you relieve a measure of suffering. According to the law of karma, the suffering must be paid for elsewhere.  We read of gurus who take on a measure of someone’s karma in order to help them. Now you see anyone can do this in the manifest world.  We may not have the same degree of understanding as a guru, but we all have the capacity to help and love.

A simple example: do you have some relatives in need? The holidays are coming. Could you help them out, and would doing so mean one or two less Christmas presents under the tree for you and your family? What really makes you feel better.

Happy Thanksgiving

The Pilgrims celebrated the first Thanksgiving here in America by sharing their food and company with their neighbors.

The native Americans had shown the pilgrims how to survive and grow crops.  These people braved the harsh journey across the ocean to find religious freedom and a better life.

The grateful pilgrims shared their bounty with the natives who had helped them and started a tradition of Thanksgiving.

Let us remember that spirit of gratitude this year and remember to share what we have.  Sometimes that means sharing a smile, or a kind word.  Sometimes it means checking in on your neighbor or calling an elderly relative.

Sometimes it means helping out at a food pantry or soup kitchen.  And when modern day pilgrims show up at our door, let us remember the look in their eyes when we tell them America is closed.

There are no more lands of opportunity.

As you sit at your table this Thanksgiving, be grateful for having all you need to eat, and people to share the meal with.  Not everyone was born into such abundance.

Peaceful Religions

The question posed today:

If Christianity is such a peaceful religion, why is so much violence done in its name?

I believe there is a distinction between studying theology and reading the original holy works.

Even so, each religion has a historical record of war, or violence.

Some embrace conflict or war, calling it Duty.

Christ embodied the spirit of Forgiveness.

The Old Testament and the Torah had plenty of conflict, and those conflicts continue to the present day.

Hinduism speaks of rising above the battle, but in the Bhagavad Gita Krishna teaches the necessity of battle as a part of Duty.

Even Christ took a whip to the money changers who had defiled his temple.

There is also religious persecution, as happened to the early Christians, the Jewish people, the Mormons, and just about anyone now who is not part of the mainstream religion in their country of residence. The US is hardly an exception to this as it has become xenophobic, and religiophobic.

So let’s look at these two levels of consciousness: The level of the Battle and the Level Above.

Krishna would have us do our Duty no matter how sickening, but in our spirit remain true to Love.  As depicted in the Bhagavad Gita, only then would the Gates of Heaven open.

Christ laid down his life to illustrate this lesson, and simultaneously showed mercy as he prayed for those who crucified him.  He lived and died the principle of Rising above the battle.

So why did Ghandi say:

I like your Christ. I do not like your Christians.  Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.

I could point out that the Christian Bible was assembled from many different books during the Councils of Nicaea going back to 325 AD.  There the church fathers decided which books were to be included and others rejected.  There are accusations of editing and book burnings from that time.  I myself have read an alternative gospel which makes Jesus even more divine in terms of character but also more human.  It is clearly impossible for the average man or woman to aspire to such purity.

So the story of Jesus may be somewhat edited.  Some learned people have suggested that Jesus may be a composite character, and that there were several enigmatic characters from that time whose stories merged.  That could explain why one Jesus had a whip and the same man allowed himself to die like a lamb for his principles.  One gospel has a single, meat-eating Jesus, another unfavored manuscript tells of an angelic child for whom flowers sprung up at his feet, who heals small creatures, and who later married and arrived too late to save his own wife.  This widowed Jesus was vegetarian and died because he broke Jewish law when he refused to sacrifice the lamb for Passover.  To me, the gentle animal-loving Jesus makes perfect sense.  He was a zealot, a rebel, and pure of heart. His life was difficult but he had compassion for others.

Today’s Christians are taught that Jesus died for them.  They expect their lives to be protected and blessed by Him, and they expect to go to heaven because his death paid for their sins.

These are clearly two different stories.  Jesus’ life was an example.  If you don’t learn anything from it, you didn’t rise above the battle.  You are here because God wants to see YOU in action.  It’s not going to be easy.  You need to show your real character, and when you see you have fallen short, own it and try to be the best version of yourself.

So many Christians are unlike Christ because they don’t know him. The Council of Nicaea argued the question of Christ’s divinity.  A divine Christ who washes away the sins of the world with his blood takes away guilt and sin, and Christ did believe in Forgiveness.  It also takes away personal responsibility for one’s behavior.

Christ forgave everyone:  That is true, but it is theologically taken out of context.

From the agony of the cross, Christ looked upon those who had done this to him, and uttered the words ‘Father, forgive them for they know not what they are doing.’

This is your lesson, expect forgiveness, but you should also expect consequences.

Christ suffered here on earth and rose in spirit above the hate and above the horrific reality.

Today as in every age we have choices to make.  We have ourselves to feed and protect, we have those we love.  We have others, even those we perceive as enemies to deal with.  Every choice, every action is measured in that it affects us all.  How you treat your brother is how you treat God’s children.

So Mother Teresa said she saw the face of Christ in every crowd of impoverished people, and she lived to serve them.

        I see Jesus in every human being. I say to myself, this is hungry Jesus, I must feed him. This is sick Jesus. This one has leprosy or gangrene; I must wash him and tend to him. I serve because I love Jesus.

Mother Teresa

Real Thoughts

Since Einstein, science has grappled with the troubling evidence that Time and Space may be an Illusion.

Now that man is finally thinking outside of the box, he begins to look within to what is real.

Einstein knew:  It is always Now.  You move in the present.  Always in the Now.  That is the only real time.  One instant.

You are always Here.  Wherever you may be, your core reality is always centered. You may think about Bermuda, and dream of your youth, plan for retirement, but you are always in one place and time, in the here and now.  When you die, nothing will have changed except your perception of reality.

You are always You.  You will be looking at reality from this side of the veil, or from the other side.  You will have a lighter body, but these bodies are not you.  You will still know you are you.

There is only One time, place, being. This is our One Truth.  Unity is recognizing the mirror.

All else is the illusion of change.

Nothing you can grasp in this world is real.  It is all here today, gone tomorrow, and so are your feelings, thoughts, and one day your body.

‘Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words will not pass away.’

That is the distinction Jesus drew between temporal reality and Truth.

Truth is always.

The New Civil War

I always thought myself a moderate.  I can often see both sides of an issue.

For example, it irks me to see Colin Kaepernick kneel for the national anthem.  However, I can deal with it, because I’ve dealt with perhaps a modicum of the discrimination that he, or his friends and family have so I try to understand his frustration.

I read Jim Carrey’s statement today, and I must say I had no idea the man was more than just a brilliant comic.

“He’ll stand for the anthem when the anthem stands for him,” Carrey said of Kaepernick.

I don’t travel a lot, but even I have noticed the difference in the same network’s news as I travel from North to South and from East to Southwest. We’ve all noticed the slant from network to network. The news you read and watch is often not the whole news, and is often skewed to influence your opinion. If you go to dubious sources for your news, then you increase the risk of being controlled by outright smears and becoming a victim of overzealous political ideology.

To quote myself, earlier today:

‘ I actually think all of us are being influenced by the media, not just one political side.  If we aren’t careful, the opposing voices are going to cause a civil war.  As you say, we need logical dialogue.  My message reflects my opinion that absolute power corrupts absolutely.  This applies to both political parties because they both run amok when their power is unchecked. ‘

That is why it’s time for a change, again. We have stopped moving forward.  To have a good balance of ideas we require a good balance of power.