He among you without sin, cast the first stone.

Intro:
Where does all the blood shed and violence come from?

Is it from original sin?

If so then why is it the ‘wise’ and those who are ‘born again’, (those who have been forgiven), the ones who typically carry out crimes against humanity…from the beginning of time up until this modern age – and with any indicators from history…will continue to do so until the end of time.

Not born again:
“Not everyone who says to me ‘Lord Lord’ will enter the kingdom of heaven – only those who do the will of my Father.”

And what is this will?
“Love your neighbor as yourself and Love the Lord with all your heart.”

First and foremost, many people, from all walks of faith, do not carry out these great commandments…and its no wonder, they have yet to learn to love themselves.
Despite a clear definition for them in their Holy books – they seem unable to grasp the very concept of what Love is.

wolf leading the sheep:
The few who lead, shepherd the sheep in a way that they do not want to go, but they follow blindly, ever so foolishly, not searching for themselves to see if what the shepherd says is true.

“The Sheep know my voice” – unfortunately, many of the sheep appear to heed the call of another master. The entity which possess all of mankind – the ego.
(The false self, if that floats your boat. The term matters not, the word is a pointer to something beyond itself – let us not get bogged down in semantics.)

Evolution of the soul:
Those who are being led are a fierce group, and those that lead do so with ever so much caution.
Step by step, and layer by layer the masses have to be conditioned and trained for the next step.
Any fast move and the sheep will grow fangs and ‘bite the hand that feeds it’.

We do not realize the savageness of our own mini egos, which are part of the bigger collective ego – or in better terms, this ego makes what one can call a pain body.

The question no longer becomes, necessarily, is the shepherds intent good or bad – but what is the sheeps intent? It calls that it is in surrender, but in reality it loves to be lead by someone/something…as long as it does not have to take any remote responsibility for its own actions. God forbid that they recognize that they are part of the ‘body of Christ’ and to what it actually means. (Funny how people take the Bible for face value until they get to items they dont understand or are told to believe differently about.)

Moving forward:
This is not an anti religion post.
“God makes His rain to fall on the good and the bad” despite what the zealots may think.

This is more about the state of humankind…lets call it the fallen state.
Their evolution is slow and at each stage they fight and fend for their rights and the right to impose their will on others through all sorts of violence… that is, if at first, their subtle smiles and lies falter and are of no use to persuade.

Secularist or Religious…it matters not – people are all in the same boat until truly saved, and this is why we have the issues we face today. I would say probably pretty few really have jumped into the waters all the way to be baptized, as it were, to cross out on the other side to see what life is all about. – I know, it sounds rough. But we are all where we are meant to be at, and we will all wind up where we were meant to be. (Sounds a bit predestination like, I know…but its a good pointer to use for now.)

The wheat and the chaff:
You know the story…let the weed and wheat (whatever it was) grow up next to each other.
There is many similarities, and you dont want to harvest to early because you want to get all of the harvest.

No Im not a farmer, nor do I play one on t.v.
But lets look at it. Life is a journey, and not all have come to the point where they can comfortably say, “dude…I got it.” (and this isnt about a mental ‘i got it either’.)

You can have to people with what appears to be the exact same goal – but with extremely different motives…and an extremely different point of view. So much so that even though the end goal may seem the same, once you get their, at one you will find heaven, and the other will lead you into the flames of hell, as it were.

Again, I emphasis this is not going against religion…Im trying to hit on some different points without going directly into them – sure the point may be missed to some degree or even overlooked completely, and even taken the ‘wrong way.’

But the reality is simply that one must figure this stuff out for themselves, and as I have mentioned no one can convince another of anything…nor is their anything you can truly teach that is unique unto yourself. (meaning no one has the copyright on truth.)

Conclusion:
This post is now coming to a close, again, what I wanted to say really is lost.
I feel that I have been unable to communicate my thoughts in a manner that clearly reflect what Im thinking.

Sure I could do bullet points, but with details comes the, “Ah, I know this…” and the box is put around the idea and quickly closed and labeled. I suppose, and the reason I write the way I do, is in hopes that people begin to get stuck…and are unable to wrap what I say in a nice box.

Of course at first it looks like it may fit into one or two boxes nicely, but then there is the point in which the reader is faced with the fact that the writer, (myself), is pointing to something beyond what is being said…and its left to them to go and figure it out or see how it may incorporate into some thoughts that they may have had.

And that is the beauty, what I say may take on a meaning of its own to someone else, which I totally did not mean for it to have – and it will help them. True help usually comes when we are not sitting around trying. It comes out of our broken words which we stumble around to get something a bit coherent out with.

I may go into more, later, on the subject I have in mind…its something I have been pondering a lot.
Its really a multi faceted topic which I suppose I figured I would try to tackle in a quick writing a midnight…so there you go, no wonder if it doesnt come out the way I wish it would.

Again, perhaps more later.

Peace

dAlen

Rotating Skyscraper

This is just way to cool:

Peace

dAlen

River of Fire

This is an interesting excerpt, that meant a lot to me when it was shared by a friend who worked with me at In Touch Ministries.

Its about the ‘true’ nature of hell. And its written by an Orthodox Christian (older than Catholicism, the faith, not the text)

Its a view on hell, I had never heard before…it was ‘unorthodox’.

Enjoy: Peace – dAlen

Excerpt from: The River of Fire
By: Alexandre Kalomiros

God is a loving fire, and He is a loving fire for all: good or bad. There is, however, a great difference in the way people receive this loving fire of God. Saint Basil says that “the sword of fire was placed at the gate of paradise to guard the approach to the tree of life; it was terrible and burning toward infidels, but kindly accessible toward the faithful, bringing to them the light of day.” The same loving fire brings the day to those who respond to love with love, and burns those who respond to love with hatred.
Paradise and hell are one and the same River of God, a loving fire which embraces and covers all with the same beneficial will, without any difference or discrimination. The same vivifying water is life eternal for the faithful and death eternal for the infidels; for the first it is their element of life, for the second it is the instrument of their eternal suffocation; paradise for the one is hell for the other. Do not consider this strange. The son who loves his father will feel happy in his father’s arms, but if he does not love him, his father’s loving embrace will be a torment to him. This also is why when we love the man who hates us, it is likened to pouring lighted coals and hot embers on his head.
“I say,” writes Saint Isaac the Syrian, “that those who are suffering in hell, are suffering in being scourged by love…. It is totally false to think that the sinners in hell are deprived of God’s love. Love is a child of the knowledge of truth, and is unquestionably given commonly to all. But love’s power acts in two ways: it torments sinners, while at the same time it delights those who have lived in accord with it” (Homily 84).
God is love. If we really believe this truth, we know that God never hates, never punishes, never takes vengeance. As Abba Ammonas says, “Love never hates anyone, never reproves anyone, never condemns anyone, never grieves anyone, never abhors anyone, neither faithful nor infidel nor stranger nor sinner nor fornicator, nor anyone impure, but instead it is precisely sinners, and weak and negligent souls that it loves more, and feels pain for them and grieves and laments, and it feels sympathy for the wicked and sinners, more than for the good, imitating Christ Who called sinners, and ate and drank with them. For this reason, showing what real love is, He taught saying, ‘Become good and merciful like your Father in Heaven,’ and as He rains on bad and good and makes the sun to rise on just and unjust alike, so also is the one who has real love, and has compassion, and prays for all.”

In the new eternal life, God will be everything to His creatures, not only to the good but also to the wicked, not only to those who love Him, but likewise to those who hate Him. But how will those who hate Him endure to have everything from the hands of Him Whom they detest? Oh, what an eternal torment is this, what an eternal fire, what a gnashing of teeth!
Depart from Me, ye cursed, into the everlasting inner fire of hatred,” 47 saith the Lord, because I was thirsty for your love and you did not give it to Me, I was hungry for your blessedness and you did not offer it to Me, I was imprisoned in My human nature and you did not come to visit Me in My church; you are free to go where your wicked desire wishes, away from Me, in the torturing hatred of your hearts which is foreign to My loving heart which knows no hatred for anyone. Depart freely from love to the everlasting torture of hate, unknown and foreign to Me and to those who are with Me, but prepared by freedom for the devil, from the days I created My free, rational creatures.
(NOTE: MY FAVORITE PART)
But wherever you go in the darkness of your hating hearts, My love will follow you like a river of fire, because no matter what your heart has chosen, you are and you will eternally continue to be, My children.

Amen.

Visions of the Future (In the Now)

An excellent find as I was browsing through thoughtware.tv

Im tagging this under ‘love’ as you will need ‘true’ love to pull off what is in this video – and make it work. Much to be said about this and for sure it could be expanded on to make clearer the point.
But for now, sit back and enjoy the video…the universe is truly full of potential.

Peace

dAlen

Observations on Life and why people just don’t ‘work’

Intro
You know, it seems a lot of the mysterious pieces,(of the puzzle of life), are starting to come together to form a recognizable picture for me. – At least in regards to what it means to be human and why we really are so dysfunctional.

The desire for change:
We hear it constantly it seems with the ‘08 presidential elections around the corner.
The slogan for Obama’s campaign: ‘Change you can believe in’.

Even before the presidential elections it has been rooted in the very essence of humans to better themselves and to seek out a higher good and to ‘change’. – at least that is the perception of how things ought to be by the masses of us. I suppose its that small evolutionary seed in us which tries to help us to evolve and get to the next level…that which we would call enlightenment.

But dont be confused, at the end of enlightenment is yet another phase of enlightenment to be reached. Enlightenment is merely one stage in the process of evolution to the other, albeit a quite a big shift indeed.

It would make it seem that there is always to be worthy of striving for or seeking for, and even logic would seem to dictate that all things must be done for the higher good, there must be some purpose to go forward.

Ironically it is this very thing which tends to hold us back.
Yet in a way it could be evolutions way of weeding out those which are not strong enough to move on to the next level of evolution, per say. (And Im sorry if your Christian and are getting stuck in the terms I am using…I can only point to the door with words, but you must open it to see past the words to that which they are pointing.)

So in the end, in our wanting to see change, we go about trying to change others.

Forcing change on others:
True change, and the only kind that really matters, cannot be forced.
This is great, if you are one of the few to make it to the end for the next cycle of growth/development and realize this…but for those stuck in the endless game of ‘chase’ it is not comforting at all.

But dont despair, as the good book says, ‘even in sheol/hell I am there’.
In reality it is saying even in the midst of your sufferings, salvation is at hand.
The suffering is a tool for the means of your salvation, albeit its not by any means a requirement.
And we all can see that indeed many suffer an never go beyond the borders to cross over to the other side of enlightenment.

That which holds them back is one thing: FEAR.

So what happens in fear is that we begin to enslave others to our way of thinking.
We want to drag them down our path to suffer that which we toil with.
Like the old saying goes, “misery love company” – or should we say that ego (or rather the egos pain body) loves to feed off and enhance its (false) identity through misery.

Religions role:
Religion is neither good or bad, it is a tool like anything else – it is merely what you make it.
For many it is a tool used to propagate ones own agenda, which hasnt even born fruit within ones own life.

Its a means to make others conform to something – as conforming to nothing is short of being heretical. It is scary to the ego or to the false self which only feels comfortable when it feels it is in control and knows.

One look at the infiniteness of the universe would bring to light the reality of the saying that “Gods ways are not our ways, nor his thoughts our thoughts” – for who indeed is man that God looks upon him?

Our little means for control are indeed quite laughable.
But this laughter quickly subsides when one dwells in the midst of fools. (I being a fool myself.)
You all to quickly begin to realize the pain that these innocent people not only plague others with…even killing in the name of some unknown God…but the tortures they bring upon themselves which drive them to this insanity.

Insanity on different levels:
Let us look at life as one.
We are all insane.

Does this make you nervous?
Doe this vary thought make you wont to revolt? “I am NOT insane” I can hear your cry.

Right there, the ego is feeling threatened…it fears its death…its loss of control.

What it does not know is that nothing can grow until death occurs.
A peach seed will never grow into a peach tree, baring much fruit, unless it dies to itself.

Yes, I know, this is beautiful symbolism, but rarely is it practical.
Its not practical because we always set a goal outside of ourselves to reach in a future moment that will never come to you…except in the form of the present moment.

“Ah, the power of Now”, I hear you sigh.
“A load of rubbish”, you may say, or “just not for me now”, or “I cant make it work”.

Thats because it does not serve the purpose of your master, the ego.
That entity which possesses you and claims to be you…a.k.a. your obsessive thinking.
Can you go one day…one hour…even one minute and silent your mind?

Can you observe the beauty around you and truly be aware and awake and feel the liveliness of life without bringing in a flow of words?

Now you see the issue, its more comfortable to live in the horses stable than to move out and move into the mansion down the road. “After all”, the mind will say, “maybe its not all that good after all…Ill try it out tomorrow…etc.”

I used to be a thought pusher:
Many of you reading this know by now that I used to be one of these though pushers.
I was a Christian evangelical missionary for a couple of years and my whole life revolved around the Bible.

Luckily it was around the Bible and not around dogma or I would have been stuck in a cesspool of my own ignorance.
The phrase, “seek and you will find, when you search with all your heart” is a phrase that is like gold…many are afraid to search with ‘all their heart’ and stay within the cesspools of dogma and doctrine.

In all my time, I have come to realize you cannot convert anyone to anything.
If someone does convert than it is an ego taking on an even bigger egoic story which will then make them “twice the son of hell” that Jesus talked about when he chatted to the Jewish missionaries. (Pharisees.) – I have an article title “twice the son of hell” take a look, it will give some more insight into what Im talking about here.

But you know, its not just religion that we find this type of thought pusher…its throughout all of society. The ego has a monopoly on this world and its in its interest to keep people back from reaching the next level of evolution as it spells the death to an era – the era of the ego.
(Which started back at the garden of eden with Adam and Eve and the tree of knowledge.)

Small city thinking:
It has become so evident that this is the case as I sit back and watch the little busy ants around me in this small city.

As fate would have it, each small city are collections of small egos which form to create a tribal identity. And in this growing world we are now trying to merge to create one global mass identity, but it is indeed a difficult task and a feat unto itself.

In short the ego would appear to be in the process of trying to evolve itself so that it wont have to be eliminated to give birth to the next phase, or in some strange way, be a part of the next phase itself.

While this is all and good, I doubt that the ego will ever reach the fullest potential that it could, if it would just surrender and die. Again, nothing wants to die.
But the fruit that comes from one seed is quite the miracle in and of itself…only if the ego (the seed) could see to what would become of it in full surrender.

This parallels much of the Christian teachings does it not?
These are teachings that are in the very heart of each of one of Gods creatures.
The very universe has planted a seed within us that knows this truth, but its a path that we have to choose to follow.

In the end, the universe will have its way and the next step in evolution will take place.
For all of the egos trying, it will eventually destroy itself. The ego is clever, but not intelligent.
Again, for more on this, listen to the audio book, “A New Earth” by Eckhart”.

However, it is just amazing how how tight nit the egos of individuals are… especially in smaller towns. Clinging so much to something that would make it larger than itself. It really is a very sad and pathetic thing to watch. Its like watching a wounded dog suffering and you wish you could put it out of its misery.

Conclusion:
Does this sound like a harsh comparison?
If you begin to observe in yourself many of the things which you cling to – and begin to realize how silly all of it is, I think you will begin to see to that which I point. And as you do, you will see how this whole planet would appear, (from one in space), to be infested by some kind of disease.

In reality, the planet is fine, but this planet is a place of learning, a place of growth, and most of it through pain. Again, the pain is not out of necessity, but out of our own ignorance.

I cannot tell you what to believe…nor would I even try.
There is nothing for me to gain in having won a group of disciples over to some new belief system.
Is this not the very thing I have been saying is holding everyone back.

There is no way to awaken anyones eyes, as it is their choice as to when and where they awaken…if at all. This realization would end all missionary efforts in a heart beat. Well, one may say that there would be some remanence of it…after all, even though I am not trying to change anyones belief system…nor do I believe I can…I still am talking.

What is that about if its not some sort of missionary type effort?
Well first there is no effort. Its what I think, and I enjoy writing for my own amusement.
Life is the dancer and we are the dance.

Secondly, whatever I say will only awaken that which was already ‘predestined’ to awaken in you to begin with. (No, Im not presbyterian, though there is some merit in their teachings…as there is with other teachings.)

So to wrap up…wouldnt it be nice if we could just ditch the silly games and expectations we put on one another? Allow someone to be whoever they are. (And yes that means my allowing people to have their games, I know an irony it seems, but none-the-less.)

You know what this is called? Its called love – its all about acceptance.
Does not mean you can not bring about inner change for yourself or even outer change.
But it does mean you respect the choices of others to make direct decisions about their own lifes journey.

When we do that we will be fulfilling the greatest commandment of all.
“Love the Lord with all your heart” because we will have learned to “love our neighbors as ourselves.”

Notice the need to love oneself.

Peace

dAlen

Im not alive, but dead.

Intro:
Religion is quite interesting indeed – it shows mans apparent need to have something to believe, and his (more than) willingness to dump all responsibility onto anothers lap and subject his/her life under that persons authority.

Mind you when I say ‘dump responsibility’ I do not mean it in probably the way you are thinking…that line of thought falls with what I will call the ‘dark side’ of religion.

Breaking out:
Looking into modern physics and science in order to unlock the hidden mysteries of the Bible is something worthy of doing if one is so inclined. Its not without its quirks as well as pitfalls, but each person has a road they must traverse.

More and more I realize that what I say matters not in the end to whom I say it to.
If someone heeds the words I say, they would have done so if an ass talked to them face to face.
So, I suppose I am the ass (donkey), I am but a vessel that the universe (god) channels its life through me.

Better put – “Life is the Dancer and I am the Dance.” – Eckhart Tolle.

The Dancer:
And I can quite relate to that indeed.
I had an experience that I have recounted elsewhere on the web, and perhaps in this blog, about a few experiences that I had which got me to thinking.
- N.D.E. (Near Death Experience)
- O.B.E. (Out of Body Experience)

These experiences peaked my interest into better understanding the unknown and what happens when we die. Or better yet, what does it mean to be alive?

It was my explicit experience with the latter that I was indeed not real…no matter how real I feel now. I can feel this keyboard, I can sense the emotions inside of me and watch the thoughts turning in my head…but all of this which makes ‘me’ is an illusion – at least to how I had experienced it.

Bummer:
This can be a bummer or a kind of a let down to those who are so wrapped up in their egoic identities, or their senses of self that they have built out of their mental constructs.
i.e., the jobs they have, their status or lack of status in society, the goals they seek to achieve or missed, etc.

All are thought forms which are basically mini idols that we in turn worship and then defend.
Interesting when you grasp this concept and come to the realization that we are true idol worshippers for which the Bible has warned us against being involved with.

At the same time, and I will throw this out here, its as if we are possessed and dont know it.
Those idols we make are the possessing entities…ie., the thoughts that now rule our lives and for which we will defend with our life. (I am right and you are wrong. So right and wrong that we are willing to kill each other for these beliefs.)

End of beliefs:
Is it not time to shake loose and rid ourselves of the crutches of beliefs and take for ourselves some solid fruit to eat.

Is it not time for practicality and the end of duality – well the end in as far as you wake up and realize it is but a tool. A hint, many have woken to some extent, and they are your masters now.
But this may be all in good timing, for all things have a time and a place ‘under heaven’ as wise old solomon said.

Death:
What if I died and willed myself alive, so much so that I can remember even making the circumstances for which I wanted to see?

It would be interesting, but not beyond the realms of possibilities.
And with all the thought of parallel universes, etc. – it would be quite plausible indeed.

What do you do once you realize that certain things that your life was built upon was nothing but castles made of sand, to be swept briskly away by the oceans waves after all of the labor and turmoil you put in?

You do realize your time is coming as well?
A hit by a car, or even natural causes. One day, as Solomon says, we all have the same fate as the dog. The point, one would suppose is what are you doing with the life you have now?

Missing the point:
Its so easy to miss the point, as their really are no points to be made as I stated earlier.
But many believe in various ideas that keep them motivated while they breathe the breath of life upon this earth.

Some are motivated to leave a better future for those who will come after them.
And yet others wreak havoc upon the earth in the name of ‘god’.
- As if a supreme god would need them to extend a helping hand in creating devastation towards his/her own creation…

I wonder how many are concerned with that which matters most. YOU.
Yourself, not others. How many are truly into themselves.

Honestly, you cannot begin to fathom honestly loving someone until you know what love is – and Paul did a good job with the definition – and then you try it out on yourself…in a consistent manner.

Lack of love:
I honestly dont know anyone who really that loves themselves the way that love is properly defined by Paul. People are actually afraid to love themselves.

But once you love yourself, you will find that in all of your doing, – yes you may act as a seed planter – but the only change that happens is that which starts from within you.

To often we are the zealot wanting to make change, and we do make change…but we change into that very thing which we initially opposed. Now ask yourself why is this.

And I would say once you know, keep pondering this, as this key unlocks a door to greater understanding concerning all that has been said here. And not only is it good for knowledge, but knowledge is nothing without self application.

Why do I write. For fun, I like it.
You read it, thats great, you dont, thats great. I have not one thing to sale anyone one.
I just like to write and talk…well depending on the mood.

So what I say, if it speaks to you – then it was already in you and its just showing what you already know, but didnt know.

The post was flowing and now I feel it lost the flow, at least to the extent that I wanted it to go in.
So with this I will conclude.

Good night, well its actually very early morning…

Peace

dAlen