We Know Not of Reality

Dear Lord, thank you for your love that is within me which shines with the warmth of sunshine. Nope Pandora with lyric music isn't going to work. "Sunshine on My Shoulders" influenced straight away as Krauss' "Fly Away" did yesterday. And, "Dust in the Wind" is leading my mind. I'll switch to my Vivaldi channel.

This book I'm reading called The Naked Jesus by John Casimir O'Keefe is fascinating.  It's another anti-institutional Christianity book. However, it doesn't quite dwell too much on the short comings of the Church, though any such dwelling is too much for me, its focus is the concept of the naked Jesus. Much of it, I see as a reflection of many ideas I have contemplated over the past several years. In particular, my thoughts on  realizing that what we call reality is, or more precisely what we refer to as reality, no, that's not good. I realize that we live as if our perception of the universe is reality. But, in fact it is only a reflection of reality that is distorted by the physical medium through which our senses detected reality, distorted by our senses translating the detections to our brain, interpreted and hence distorted by our brain's model of the universe and finally and most importantly distorted by our sense of and belief in what we think of how the universe should be.

Thank you Lord for the wisdom with which you created me. May I learn to realize that all I experience is a distorted and biased perception and while nearly all the time my perception will serve me well may I always be cognizant that it may fail to adequately represent reality and may I be able to recognize when it doesn't. May I always be open to modifying my model of the universe and grow in deeper understanding of it and of all with whom I inhabit it. Amen to you Lord Jesus my Lord and God. I pray for peace among us one and all on this planet. Amen, Amen, my dear sweet Lord, Amen.

Fly Away

Oh Lord, I'll fly away, music of Allison Krauss playing in my ears from Pandora.  Thank you Lord for leading me to find her voice and music. Love that bluegrass.

I want to write down my dichotomies with the Church. I'll start the list here, but may not be able to be complete in my recall tonight, but I'll have at least started the list to which I can add with future recollections. Amen, Lord.

• A. My focus is on the way Christ taught us to live rather than on Christ himself.
• B. My focus is on sharing God's love to live the Kingdom of Heaven that is present here and now rather than avoiding sin to enter the Kingdom of Heaven after I die.
• C. My focus is on embracing everyone as they are rather than on believing there must be a theology that describes how the universe is.

It seems as if there were one or two more things.

Maybe a better C:

• C: My focus is on accepting the universe as it comes to me as it is rather than on a theology that describes a contrived universe.
• D: My focus is on accepting myself and others just as we are rather than on standards by which to judge the sins of one another.

I believe that any assertion made about the universe must be testable before it can be considered a fact.  I believe in you Lord. I cannot say it is a fact if you exist or not. You serve me well as a source of confidence and of love.  Thank you, Lord, for your fountain of love that flow from within me and may I allow it to flow out from me into the universe and share it with all I encounter.

Maybe next time I can consider if and how my introversion blocks love or if. Nah. I am just reserved in social situations. Just because your love doesn't pour out overflowing in social activities, it doesn't mean it doesn't flow out as it should. Amen. Lord, Thank you for your love day and night, awake and asleep, alone and with others. Thank you dear sweet Lord. Amen, and goodnight, Amen.

Hi Lord, a bit of hiatus because it was late before getting to this each night. And, I've felt more and more rotten since Tuesday. I don't think off-hand of anything else specifically that would bring me down. So, I need to keep this up to help center my soul and focus it within where your love is. This is my only source of sure love.  Love resides in all our souls, however, it is clouded and obscured by our Sin, and by Sin, I simply mean that which is in each of us that blocks the love within us. It is not a thing for judgement. It comes from our hurts and our ignorances. It becomes the decisions we make that we believe are in our best interests but is turned into a means of coping that undermines our love. So, I cannot be sure of love from anyone else. I may witness it in some and it may inspired me, but the only place from which I can count on as a constant source of love is from within myself because my sin is the only sin I can overcome and see past. Thank you Lord for creating me as a vessel, source and conduit of your love. May, through prayer and contemplating I may overcome my Sin and see, release and share your love from within me.

I want to work harder and be more diligent about my practices (8/23). I had days designated for thankfulness (Monday), happiness/suffering (Tuesday), emotions (Wednesday). Nothing for Thursday and today, my down days. Even so, I was not so successful Monday-Wednesday. My awareness was not good so I was not very mindful. I need to find a way to help me keep aware. It cannot be something that becomes routine to the point that I lose awareness. I will try and think about it. For tomorrow I will focus on judgements.

Thank you Lord for your love and may I continue and always drink and grow from that love which resides within me in my soul that you so created as a fountain of your love. Amen my sweet Lord, Amen.

There Is No Must, Only the Truth of Love

Lord, this has been a great day of peace and joy. I feel like I have never been so close to the truth. All I read talks about the Way. I feel more like everyone has their own personal Way about the truth that we share. The truth is that oneness we are all immersed together in.  Thank you Lord for guiding my hand with your hand in search for the truth, clearing away the dust of the attachments of this world that covers it up. These attachments are all things I have been taught are truth that are in fact dogma and contrivances of the universe which actually are illusions upon which our teachers try to make the universe conform.  But, you cannot make the universe conform.  It is a free spirit of which we are a part and to try and force it to confirm is to approach it as a blind man would ascertain an elephant. Our perceptions of the universe are clouded and molded by what we have been taught they are supposed to be. You can only see the universe as it really is if you approach it as a child whose vision has not been corrupted, distorted.  Thank you, Lord. May I continue to cast off the yoke of the burden of conforming the universe according to what any other teacher says it must be. There is no must, only truth.  And, truth is beyond what our senses show us which is a distorted illusion of reality. Truth is love, love is unconditional. It means all have an equal and valued place in this universe. Amen tonight my dear Lord.

The Truth Is Within

Lord, there is joy in contemplation of the unity of all people in considering there is no enlightenment, no salvation. The joy of our spirits is, has always been there within. We only have to uncover it, expose it, just see the illusions, the negativeness that covers it. Once we can see the love of God within us, beneath our egos, then we are free to be free and unshackled from the shackles of what others tell us we should believe and we can believe ourselves. There is more truth and honesty looking at our own hearts than can be taught us from without by the wisest scholars and teachers. It only requires stripping away all we have been taught to be true without being given the chance or taking the opportunity to decide for ourselves. I am more wise than any other person on this earth simply because I know who I am better than anyone else and only I can see in my interior soul and deep within my heart. We are more wise than anyone else if only we turn to embrace our own hearts. Amen, thank you, my Lord, Amen. Amen.

twitter (9/4/14): Each of us is wiser than anyone else because we know our own hearts best, and it is only in our hearts where we can find the love of God.

Thankfulness to Others

I should concentrate on one exercise at a time. Today will be thankfulness. Amen. Thank you Lord. I will always be thankful to you for creating my life, creating me to experience the universe and being with the universe. Amen, Amen, Amen. May my spirit pause with each encounter of or reflection on another and consider the benefit my life has by virtue of encountering their spirit and be thankful to them for their touch that has granted me the honor of that benefit. Amen, Amen, Oh Lord, Amen to you I say this evening and may I always feel your presence and love within the bosom of my heart and the spirit of my soul. Amen dear Lord, good night.

twitter (9/2/14): Lord, thank you for creating me to experience the universe and for the richness all my encounters with everyone I meet bring to my life.

Practice

Lord, there are somethings I would like to put into practice.

[What I said to Lee was not good and it was poor judgement on my part to jump to the conclusion you did not care about my interest or needs. I will strive to respond more respectfully in the future. I appreciate your trying to help me with my predicament with the evidence of insurability information.. Best regard, Jesse]

Good. That is a a good, loving path to choose. Amen for the spirit of your love that is within me, that is a part of me as you created me. Amen, Amen, Amen.

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The things to practice:

1) Thankfulness for others being in my life and for all things that others do. 2) Acknowledging that we all have in common that we wish to be happy and not suffer. 3) Recognize my emotions, positive and negative, and understand what it is that I desire that brings on emotions when I attain what I desire or when I do not have what I desire. 4) Seek to increase the happiness and decrease the suffering of others. 5) Do not judge the ways of others, especially when they are different or contradictory to my ways. 6) Allow myself to have the emotions that come by having or not having the things I want, recognizing them and the object of my desire.  Then I may chose whether or not I wish to keep the emotion.

A. (1) Thankfulness

B. (2, 4) Keep the happiness and suffering of others in mind.

C. (3, 6) Manage my emotions by recognizing them and the desires and wants that evoke them.

D. (5) Never judge others even for actions that are different or contradictory to my own ways.

I. Be thankful.

II. Be for the happiness and not suffering of others.

III. Understand my emotions and desires.

IV. Do not judge.

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I. Thankfulness

II. Others' happiness and suffering.

III. Emotions and desires.

IV. Judgements.

Amen Lord, thank you for my intellect and mindfulness to enable me to see ways to enrich my spirit. Amen, Amen I say, Amen to you and good night my sweet Lord. Amen.

twitter: (8/31/14): Some joyful practices: thankfulness, happiness of others, knowing the source of your emotions, refraining from judging yourself and others.

Thank You for My Presence

Lord, here I am again with you. I am always with  you and you are always with me whether I realize it or not. That is the miracle of your Love always supporting me no matter who or what I am at any given moment in time. Amen to you Love and all your creation. I may not meditate long to night. I "should" meditate and reflect every night.  Not because I should do it to grow, but because I want to do it to grow.  If I do it even when I don't feel the Spirit moving me, I can find purpose in knowing that every time I do it, it will strengthen my habit and give me more fruit more often.  Thank you, Lord, for your gifts. Amen, Amen. Amen. To grow more I resolve to be thankful for everyone I encounter in my life. May I express to them I am thankful for their presence and how it enriches my life. Amen Oh, Lord, Amen. I thank you and treasure you in my heart. Amen.

twitter (9/1/14): Establishing habits of spiritual exercise will strengthen your connection with the love of God within you.

I Am Who I Am

Lord, here I lie down with your spirit. There is calm here with you and peace. I come here to learn of peace of spirit, to learn, not just know, of the oneness of me and you and the universe and all who inhabit it.  Thank you for having created me in the world no matter the anxieties and sadness which seems to be more the rule than the happiness and joys. I am glad to be alive, to have existed and experienced life. The joy is becoming better, clearer as I begin more and more to see and know that how I am and that the judgements I make are what they are supposed to be, well, not supposed to be per se, but are as they are meant to be simply by virtue of them belonging to me, being a part of who I am. Thank you, my Lord, and may peace be with you and all of us and all the things that make up the universe that you are.

Amen, Amen, Amen

twitter (8/29/14): Joy is clearer upon knowing judgements you make are what they are supposed to be by virtue that they are yours and are part of who you are. 

Ignore Me, Screw You

Another day, a frustrating, and a fruitful day. I experienced some of Mel's feeling of abandonment when a couple of people, including her, ignored my chats. So, I felt like screw them, screw the world and just logged off so no one could see me. I need to let my negative emotions come out so I can chose them or not instead of being calm and ignore them.  Let's meditate.  Amen, Lord, Amen, Amen, Amen. Good night.

twitter (8/27/14): If you deny your negative emotions, how can yourelease them? Embrace them, and only then can you can decide they're no longer needed.

Happiness Follows from Loving One Another Which Follows from Valuing One Another

When we love another, that means we wish for them to be happy and not suffer*.  It is the value we see in someone that leads us to love them.  In the beauty of our diversity, each and everyone of us has the potential to make the universe more rich and beautiful.  Hence, there is value in all of us on this planet. And, so, if, by the grace of God, we can see the value in everyone, we will love everyone. The happier we are, the more beautiful our universe is.  The more beautiful our universe, the happier we are.  This circle strung with love is God's gift of happiness.

Blessed be God to us all.

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*The Dalai Lama once said what we all have in common is that we all wish to be happy and not suffer.

Physical, Mental, Emotional, Intellectual, Spiritual

Who we are consists of the physical, mental, emotional, intellectual and spiritual, all of which are equally important facets of who we are. They all contribute to how we perceive and interact with the universe. 

• The physical, the body, is what we use to interact with the universe. 
• The mental, the ability to perceive and interpret, makes the universe real and understandable to us.
• The emotional, feelings, are how we react to the universe. 
• The intellectual, thoughts, are how we make deductions and decisions about the universe. 
• The spiritual, values, are our relationship with the universe.