Black and White

If you are set on your opinions that something is a certain way, you are seeing the world as black and white and as right and wrong, and this view is based on your belief system. But what is "right" for you may not be right for someone else. And what is right for you at one time may not be right for you at another time (look at how your beliefs have evolved over time). Everything is in constant change --- there is nothing that stays the same. So how can you make a definitive judgment about something if it is constantly changing and if you see it a certain way because of your belief system? Think of all those times that you made an early judgment about something or someone, only to get additional information which makes you realize your earlier judgment was wrong. Well, this is not the only time this happens --- it is just the times you recognize. Actually, you never have enough info to make a black and white judgment. This type of judgment comes from the ego.

This world is a blending of black and white to grey. When you relax into the grey of the world, it becomes very peaceful because you are not making judgments. You realize that you do not have enough information to do that. Black and white involves rejection. There is always an opposite to what you favor, so that is what is rejected. If we reject something, we are denying God, because He is All. The grey, the blended view, is acceptance of what is. The grey is a blend of All, and this includes you. So when you see from the grey, you are not only accepting of people and things "outside" of you, you are also accepting of yourself.

When you think of everything as grey, there is no separation. Think about a continuum or a circle. You seem to "exist" on one part of the continuum (located in space and time), but this is only an appearance, like a wave that appears separate from the ocean. But like the the wave and the ocean, you exist both as a point on the continuum and as the continuum itself. You are both One with God and His holy creation.

What Would Happen if ....

What would happen if you turned off the TV for a week? What would happen if you did not read the paper or listen to talk radio for a week? What would happen if you took a long walk in the woods alone each day for a week? You would hear Him ever so clearly. He is there for you --- always, regardless of the fact that you only hear Him, feel His Presence, every once in a while. He is closer than your breath, and you have never left holy communion with Him. It is not God that pulls away. It is you that "appears" to pull away. Of course, that is impossible as He expresses through you and you are One with Him. Watch the cycle of pulling toward and away from Him. When you feel away, what are the types of thoughts you have at that time. I will go ahead and give you the answer ---- fear, self judgment, shame, guilt, resentment, bitterness, self pity, pride. What a list of winners that is. But these beliefs are what block you from feeling His Presence without interruption. When you release these false beliefs, He is there! He has just been covered up, kind of like the sun is covered by the clouds but is always there

How to Get More Money

Now, I bet I caught everyone's attention with that title :)

Actually, this is about getting more of anything you want. Financial abundance is just a part of that. To get something, you must give something. This runs completely counter to what you logically think would be the case. Because we live in a dream world created by our egos, it appears that you want to hold on to things. Because if you give away things, you no longer have them, right? Wrong --- that is just an appearance based on a belief that we are all separate. But when you come from a perspective of Oneness, you cannot truly give anything "away." As you give, you are giving to yourself. We add to Creation by giving. This is what Jesus did --- he gave fully of himself. When you come from that place of Oneness, there is no separate self. Jesus gave selflessly and only what was best for the whole body of God, not what was best for himself, or an individual or group.

So when we give, we are giving to our Self as the One, and what is given is increased exponentially through the act of giving. Also, in order to give something, you must have it. So simply by the act of giving do you acknowledge that you have it, reinforcing it again and adding to it. This is a very neat system!

I think a lot of you would agree with all of the above as it relates to giving Love, but how about finances? It works the same way as there can be no exceptions. I understand that it may be very difficult for you to do that around finances, but it would benefit you greatly if you start moving toward this realization. As you write checks or pay bills online, take a moment and feel the gratitude and joy that you have the money to pay these. If you think that this is draining your bank account and you become fearful, then you are reinforcing lack of money, and the cycle is working in reverse versus what is described above. So feel the joy when you pay bills, pay for the plumber, give your kids an allowance, etc. You can also feel the joy and gratitude that the plumbing company employees or the credit card employees are receiving abundance from you. You are a clear vessel which can receive and give great abundance. If a certain number of people in the world came from this consciousness as it relates to abundance, the financial situation and the world in general would look like a completely different place.

When is Worry

Worry is never in the present moment. When you worry, it is always about something that has already happened (the past) or something that you think will happen in the future. Worry is not possible in the Now, because the Now contains God. This is where you commune with Him. There can be no worry, because you truly know who you are in that instant. You are His Son, and you have never left the moment of your creation. In this holy instant, this dream world fades away and you know that no separation from Him ever occurred. There can be no worry, because there is no fear. There is only immense peace, joy, and Love.

Common Mistake

The most common mistake we all make is to see the world and think that it is a certain way. I have talked about in the past how we all see through our own set of colored glasses based on our belief system, thus we are all seeing a different "reality." Today I want to mention how this plays into your spiritual belief system. God expresses through each of us in a unique way, and how we see Him is unique. If you are rigid in your spiritual belief system, all of these spiritual "variations" will cause you to be fearful, because you cannot accept any possible exceptions to your system. One exception opens Pandora's box. If you are flexible in your spiritual belief system, you are open and welcome the many variations of how people express through Him and how they understand Him. This allows you to be open enough to learn from others, because after all, He is expressing through them as well as you.

Being flexible does not mean that you hop from spiritual belief to spiritual belief, although some people do that in their searching. You may have a set of spiritual beliefs or a religion that works for you and brings you closer to Him, and that is great. Being flexible means that you know your "way" is not the only way, and as important, it means that you are open to your belief system evolving. God is infinite. We cannot reach a stopping point in our journey or remembrance back to Him. If we are open to where He wants to take us, we can soar. This means you cannot put Him in a box and say that He has to be this or that. Nor does it mean that you live by "shoulds" as it relates to what your beliefs and practices are. Shoulds are of the world, not of God. If you fully trust in Him and love Him, you know that He will guide you in every step, even if this means that you go down a path that you previously might have thought unlikely.

Our Choices

Continuing on from the previous blog, let's resume from the knowing that God is One, that God is All. The thing I love about this self discovery process is that it is very logical. You move from one step to the next, and the impossibilities are eliminated. So since God is All that is, we are inseparable from that Allness. How do our choices come about? Well, although you can state it a number of ways, I like to say that God is expressing through us. What we know for sure is that He is not a separate deity who is deciding what happens to us. If He is expressing through us, we are making choices with Him. It is important to remember the paradox here. We are both One with Him, and we also appear to be separate from Him. As All that is, He created us in order to express His perfect Love. This means that we make choices as the One, and concurrently we make choices "separate" from Him. Our choices are not separate from Him, but He also supports our choices and makes them come about.

We need to make a distinction between choices you make at an ego level and those you make at a spirit level with God. Someone might say that they have prayed to win the lottery, but that is an ego desire. Ego desires are not real --- well they are "real" within this dream world, but this is not reality. At a much deeper level you have made choices of what you want to happen in this dream world, and you have likely chosen experiences that bring you back to a remembrance of your true nature, allowing you to see past this dream world. When someone has a horrific experience, as I did with my mother (detailed in my book), people on the outside may ask, "why would you ever choose that experience?" And that is an understandable question, but it is one from an ego perspective. Now, I think it is important to realize that I went through a long journey of healing, and if you had asked me early on if I chose that experience, then I would have looked at you like you were crazy. But there is a purpose behind all experiences, regardless of how horrific. Each of us is like a tree in the forest, unaware of how far the forest extends. If you are looking at and maybe judging another's experience, how can you possibly know the full extent of everything that has happened, since our creation, in that soul's experience? We are in no position to judge. Only God, as All, has that perspective.

When we go through a long healing journey, we are given a much higher perspective on our journey back to God. Instead of only having a view from the roots of the tree, you are raised high enough to see the forest. What a blessing that is, because that is great comfort when we go back down in the spiral and we have to work through more false beliefs in order to continue our healing journey. The higher perspective allows us to see how God works through everything and everyone. In my case I came to see what happened to me as a gift. People will question me and say there is no way what happened was a gift. But that is their ego, very limited, perspective talking. How can someone judge my experience and tell me, the person that experienced it, that it was not a gift?

Instead of seeing my mother as a body that did this horrible act to me, I came to see it, after some time, as God working through her to facilitate what I wanted to have happen in this dream. Would I be compassionate on a child who went through the same thing --- of course! It is very hard on children this happens to, and a child cannot understand a higher perspective. There again is the paradox. We can walk through this world and best help it through compassion and Love as it relates to the great suffering we see, WHILE shining our Light into the awareness of others, hopefully allowing them to remember the Light inside of them. Because ultimately the suffering that we see will not go away by using means within this illusory world. It will go away by raising the consciousness of others, allowing them to know that they can see past appearances to the Love behind All.

Perfect Order

Nothing happens in the body of God by chance. If you try to make any exceptions to that, then God cannot be One, He cannot be All, as there would be a split. This is what we have created through the ego view of separation --- a split. This view has created the world of chaos, of good and bad, that we appear to live in. Everything happens in perfect order, and you bring to you, those people and those experiences, which you need to heal, to remember.

Seeing God Within --- Part two

I want to mention a couple more things related to my last blog. First, whether you see through the eyes of the ego or whether you see through the eyes of Christ is a choice. Even if you cannot immediately see the God within that other person due to the hurt or anger, you must want to do that above all else. When you know what Truth is, what is your obligation to yourself, that other person, and to God? You create through your thought. If you want to hold on to the anger in order to punish this person, you are sending out thoughts which do not align with Christ, with Love. When you think you are punishing that other person by holding on to the negative emotion, you are definitely seeing through the eyes of the ego, because you think that you can punish a body "outside" of you while doing nothing to yourself. Of course, because we are One, this is not true. When you want to punish someone else by not letting go, you are really punishing yourself.

By not letting go, you are acting as your own jailer. Only you have the key. If you set your intention with God that you want to see from a higher perspective, forgiving in the sense that I wrote about in the first blog, then this will happen --- even if you don't immediately feel it. When you set an intention of Love, heaven marshals all of its forces to help you. Above all else, what is the reason that you want to release the emotions and forgive what happened? Because holding on to it does not bring you peace! If you hold on, the ego thinks it has won, but that is a lonely victory. The saying that you can be happy or right is very accurate. Letting go brings a flood of peace as well as a great amount of Love for the other person. Because after all, they did this "incident" to you by your request, and from a space of Love.

One Of The Hardest Things To Do Is To ....

One of the hardest things to do is to see past the body to the God within for someone that has really angered or hurt you. This world takes the appearance of separate bodies with whom you interact. Some appear to treat you kindly and others badly, but when we see from this perspective, we are seeing from the ego. And when we see from the ego, we are getting bounced around on the rollercoaster, subject to its ups and downs and subject to experiences that seem out of our control. This is how a victim sees the world --- they do not want to take personal responsibility for what happens to them, so they assign control outside of them and say that "all of these things are being done to me. Look how pitiful I am and how much the world, this group, or this individual craps on me."

When we rise to a much higher perspective based on unity and our Oneness with God, we take full responsibility for what happens to us, because we are creating our reality. We draw those people and those experiences to us which will allow us to grow. How do we want to grow? We want to grow in our remembrance of God and His Love as well as our unity with Him. This is the only reason for the experiences and people that come into your life. At a very deep level, we have agreed with these other parts of God (for we are One) and these other parts of ourself (one and the same as parts of God) to come together and to help the other to remember. Sometimes this means that the appearance is ugly, like a humiliation, a fight, or even a lifelong animosity with someone. Whether or not someone recognizes themselves on a path of remembrance toward God does not matter, because we are all on this path, and we are all having these experiences (except if you live in a cave all your life) that we have asked for. The experiences that I mention above hurt. They are painful to go through, and we have all had them at different times in our lives. But they are our greatest opportunity for growth. Because this is a dream world and because it takes the appearance of separate bodies doing all of these things to us, if we can see past the hurt or anger, see past the perpetrator's body to the God within, then we have really taken a huge leap. Heaven is easy --- we are surrounded by Love. But this dream world will give you a great opportunity to truly see that only Love exists.

Sometimes we will do better at this than other times. Sometimes we will think that we have done really well with this, only to have an episode sideswipe us out of nowhere and we are disappointed in our reaction. Be gentle with yourself. This process is like a spiral, and you probably have been doing very well. It is coming up again, because you have gone to a deeper level of clearing out false beliefs around who you really are. When we drop all of those false beliefs, then we can really see that we are One with God.

So how do we get to this higher perspective? Forgiveness. This is not the type of forgiveness that you normally think of where you still believe that this person truly did this to you and you forgive them but remember what happened. That is not forgiveness --- that is an ego strategy. True forgiveness means that you rise to a higher perspective and you know that what happened was only in the dream (like a play onstage), and most importantly you know that you asked for this to happen. You have to continue to come back to that high perspective, or the experiences will cause you great distress. Remember, you are never given more than you can handle, so the fact that a hard one comes up means that you can handle it. However, if you don't move to that higher perspective, then you will really suffer. When the experience first happens, it may be hard to carry that higher perspective. Intellectually you may know it, but the pain, hurt, and anger may be very fresh. That is normal. Just watch your thoughts around what happened and continue to bring those thoughts back to your center and that higher perspective.

What Goes With Guilt?

Picking up the theme from my last blog, what is it that goes hand in hand with guilt? Self judgment. If you feel guilty about something, then you are self judging. Self judgment is like a subset of guilt. I mentioned the projection of guilt in the last post, an and interesting thing happens with the guilt which you project in order not to feel it. You also project the judgment, because by definition, if you see someone as guilty, you are judging them. And if you are judging someone, you are seeing them as guilty. You see this whole illusion and separation belief that we carry fits into a nice little package. Self judgment, guilt, fear, sin, and a punishing God are all legs on the same stool, but if you take one of those legs away, the stool falls. That is how easy the belief in separation can go away, because there is no basis behind it. Truth is self evident, and illusion is not.

At the moment we believed we fell from Grace and that we had sinned against God, the following happened: we felt guilty, we self judged, and then we felt fear. These happened consecutively but all at the same moment, as only the present moment, the now, exists. So we are working our way back through those steps of our perceived separation, and that is why there is so much guilt, judgment and self judgment (one and the same), and fear in this world. That is why we all have to deal with it on an individual and collective basis. But it is kind of like a fever that gets really bad before it breaks. That is what appears to be happening in the world. You can only stretch a rubber band so far before it breaks, and you can only move so far away from God (perceived separation) before it becomes so painful and you rush back. The good news is that it is still all just happening in the one moment, and thus there is no "past" that we have to go back and correct. Simply by being in the present moment and changing our understanding, by knowing, and by remembering, we can come back to Him instantly.

Guilt

Guilt is the largest impediment to remembering our Oneness with God, because when we believed that we fell from Grace, we felt guilty. This is what we must work through in our everyday lives so that we heal that perceived rift with God, because as we work through it with those around us, we are working through it with God, as those around us are God. So our relationships serve as the fodder to release the attraction of guilt. Guilt never serves a purpose, and this is especially true when it is used to make someone or yourself do a certain action, make an apology, etc. When you release the belief in guilt, you can see very clearly what actions you need to take in any situation.

When most people feel guilty, they lash out in anger because they want to project that guilt away from them. All of this is usually not happening at a conscious level. Once you become aware of this pattern that you do, you can pull that projection back in. You can hold back from hurting someone out of anger. When you initially do that, you will likely still feel the guilt, but by recognizing and pulling in that projection, you have started to unwind that guilt. Guilt will often continue to rise up in you, and it may seem more vicious than the last time. You may ask yourself why this is occurring, as you have been working on the guilt. It is appearing this way, because you have been working on the guilt, and you are going to a deeper level each time. Guilt is very deep in our cells, individually and collectively, as well as being passed down through generations. Even our major religions are based on guilt. So be compassionate with yourself as you work through the guilt.

The vast majority of us see a world of separation. It appears that there are bodies, animals, trees, buildings, cars --- an infinite number of grains of sand, an infinite number of separate things in this world. And it appears that the interactions between all of these separate things is totally random. The beginning of my book asks the following question. What is the difference between the two statements? The world is as I see it, or I see the world as it is. Think about that. It brings up the question --- what is vision? Do the eyes lead or does the mind lead? Do the eyes see what is there and that just registers in the mind? Or does the mind see through distorted glasses, unique to each individual, and the eyes bring to the mind what confirms its belief system and its own perspective?

Creating Your Reality --- Part Two

As a follow-up to the last blog, let's talk about fear a little more. Anytime you look outside your Self for your identity, you will become fearful. This encompasses several areas. A large percentage of people believe that their government will take care of them. Whether this is "true" is irrelevant, because the world that we see, as I described yesterday, is not real. It is only an appearance. If you are looking to anything in the world to solve your "problems," then this will engender fear. Your "problems" are "created," because you believe that the world is real. If you drop that perspective, the basis behind your "problems" may still be there, but you will see the "problem" in a totally different light, and you will see and be given the means to "solve" that "problem."

Nothing in the world can be solved using the means of the world, because this world is an illusion. The only way to "solve" something in the world is to bring it to Truth. Instead of looking toward the government or anything outside you to solve your problems, give all of your problems to God, the only Source that can truly heal them and take care of them. Although it may appear that way, your Source is not your job, your disability check, your investments, etc. These are only forms through which He works. Form is constantly changing, and all forms are temporary, so do not get attached to the form. Get attached to Him and you will be surprised at the number of ways (forms) He gives you the keys to the Kingdom.

In a similar vein to what we discussed above, a large number of people look outside their Self for their identity. "If I do this he might love me." "She is mad at me. I must have done something wrong." "I need him to complete me, to make me happy." Everyone must go through this at one time or another as they remember who they are. Your true identity, your true Self, does not depend on anything or anyone "outside" of you. If you depend on this, you will be disappointed time after time, because it cannot work. You are meant to discover who you are. This is one of the purposes you are here for. You can only know your Self by knowing that you are one with God. That is your identity. That is who you are, who you have always been.

A beautiful thing happens when you begin to live from your true identity. Love permeates your interactions with others. There are no games that you have to play to get someone to do something so you can boost that false identity. There are no expectations or burdens you place on the other person. You see and interact with them from a place of realness (is that a word?). And when you come from this space, they will drop their defenses and be who they really are. This is how we are meant to walk the Earth. This is what Jesus meant when he said the Kingdom of God is at hand. See there is nothing you have to do to get this except be who you really are. You both have and are the Kingdom.

Your Belief Creates Your Reality

I have touched on this before, but the understanding and practice of this truth is becoming very important. This world is starting to go into a difficult period. Actually, what I mean is the appearance of the world is going this way. Do you believe this world is what really exists, or do you believe it is an appearance? If you believe the former, then you will be living from a consciousness of fear as the appearance will continue to get worse. Your belief that the world is real creates that reality for you. If you know that this world is only an appearance, then you will be able to handle what is coming, and you can create whatever you want.

As an example, the world could appear to be in a great depression with high unemployment. If you believe this is real, your belief will be that you could lose your job, your business will go under, people will be cutting back and you will have less clients, etc. Even if you only think that this could be the case, you have a belief around it that has power, the power of creation. You will bring to you what it is that you fear to the extent that you have that belief. The question to ask yourself is how often and to what intensity do you hold that belief. We are referring to a world economic situation, but this is applicable to any fear you have related to anything. If you only get into the fear every once in a while (everyone holds some degree of fear), and you are able to witness yourself in the fear and after a certain time period center yourself in God, you are probably okay. The fear is only like a little spyware that gets in your computer but does not really affect the overall operation.

Unfortunately, the vast majority of people on this planet are not aware that they have fear, and it runs like a computer virus undetected. A negative feedback loop is often created around a fearful situation. Let's use the depression example again. Someone hears in the media that we are in hard economic times. This is how fear is often created. An "outside" source, a worldly source, tells you that a certain situation is going on, and you believe it (believing something outside of yourself). So maybe only a small fear is created, but that small fear that you hold, is already altering your reality. Maybe you don't get a raise this year, or maybe others in your company are laid off. So what happens --- these new "more fearful" events compound your fear, which leads to more events that are now bigger in intensity, which leads to more fear, and on and on. Do you see how the negative feedback loop is created? You believe these events are really happening in the world, and you don't see that you are creating them, bringing them to you by the power of your belief.

The only way to stop this cycle is to witness your fears and know that God is One and you are part of that Oneness. These events do not exist outside of you. There are not random experiences happening to you. All of this perspective is created by a belief in separation. The fear that arises from believing you are separate is one and the same as the fear that the world holds hardship for you, the fear of losing your job, the fear of others, the fear of death, etc. All of these fall away when you stay centered in Him. Your reality can be anything you want. You can create a positive feedback loop. Regardless of the appearance of the world, you can know that the Kingdom holds only peace, love, and joy for you. This is manifested in the world by amazing experiences, great prosperity, great relationships, etc. As you know this to be the case, you bring more of this to you, which reinforces this knowing, bringing more to you, and on and on --- a positive feedback loop!

How Do We Get To The Peace That Passes All Understanding

Do you notice what happens right before your mood brightens or goes down? You make a judgment about something, someone, or a situation. Your judgment is that it is good or bad, and then your mood follows the type judgment you made. If you watch the mood that is created by these thoughts, you will witness it go up and down like you are riding a rollercoaster. You may be in a "good" mood for a large part of the day, and then something "happens" which upsets your mood. It could be that you hit a traffic jam, you can't get someone on the phone you really need to talk to, the bank is closed, or someone gives you a wrong look. It can be an infinite number of things. Conversely, maybe you hear that you are getting a raise, your sport team wins, or you get the prime parking spot.

The experiences/situations can be "major" or "minor." They can brighten your mood or bring it down. What it is and to what intensity it appears to you does not matter. It is seeing what it does to your mood that matters. You are being bounced around like a rag doll, because you are seeing something or someone as "good" or "bad." Nothing is inherently "good" or "bad." It just is. You make it what it is by placing a judgment on it, and then that judgment affects your mood.

This mood shifting happens a huge number of times per day -- you are just not aware of it unless it is really significant in intensity. But your mood, which is always shifting, is not who you are, and thank God for that! Your mood is created by your thoughts (judgments), which arise from your ego. As you become more centered in God (ego-less), you make less of these judgments. You are then the rollercoaster, not the helpless victim who is riding it. When you remove "good" and "bad", everything just is, everything is neutral. Just as you watch a play on the stage and you realize that what takes place in the play is not real, you begin to view this dream experience that we call life from the same perspective. When you remove judgment, you see the God within. As opposed to your mood jumping all over the place, you are centered in the peace that passes all understanding.