In today’s world, it often seems kindness is in short supply. But there are as many random acts of kindness as there are acts of cruelty. Or, perhaps, more.
We only need to open our eyes to all the kindness around us. There is more of it than you would ever imagine. Although you might not think so if you follow the mainstream news.
Kindness is the cure to a world gone crazy.
We have often talked about the power of kindness each of you humans possess.… Read more
In my own life, going deep in the Christian religion of my birth
has enabled me to see the same Spirit and Love in other religions as well.
Religion has, arguably, been the source of much human behavior the opposite of what Jesus Christ taught and lived.
Spirit
We realize many of you reading this are o were religious. Berna and Johnny were raised in Roman Catholic families. Both have now left the faith of their families.… Read more
Three weeks ago, we did a post called Graveyards. It generated some interesting thoughts and comments, on and off our website. So this week, we’re revisiting the subject.
Spirit
A few nights ago, Johnny had a vivid dream. When morning came, he recalled it in detail.
In the dream, he was speaking with a young woman he knew who had died a few days earlier.
Linda (not her real name) felt lost and alone. So Johnny was helping her get adjusted to her new life beyond the physical world.… Read more
When my son was growing up, he and I loved to visit graveyards. Through the years, we visited many. They ranged from the United States Civil War battlefields, to those of the American Old West, and those of our Italian immigrant family.
As we strolled among the gravestones, reading them as we walked, we often felt a deep sense of peace. It may seem ironic, but these scenes of death brought us feelings of healing and comfort.
What you feel when you visit graveyards is a piercing of the veil between life and death, between the physical and the spiritual.… Read more
Depending on your spiritual/religious beliefs (or lack of them), our title today could have radically different meanings for different folks.
Below is a recent, slightly edited conversation between Spirit and Berna. She had asked Spirit for clarification of the terms “conscious being,” “sentient being,” and “souled being.” As Spirit says below, the terms you use don’t matter—it is all God.
Spirit
You and Johnny believe—to put it simply—God is All That Is.
If that’s true, then God is in everything, in all that exists.… Read more
It’s a tough time to be a human on Planet Earth today. So many are feeling lost and broken. Perhaps you’re one of them.
Spirit
You’ve likely heard that tired old cliche, “No one promised you a rose garden.” Many interpret that to mean what one of Johnny’s old friends used to say—“Life’s a bitch, then you die.”
That’s a pretty sad, depressing outlook on life. But it’s the experience of many who feel lost and broken.
So is life on earth meant to be a joyless, tragic, and sad experience?… Read more
One of our favorite quotes from A Course In Miracles is in Lesson 204: I am not a body. I am free. For I am still as God created me.
Do you believe those words are literally true? Or are they just a “figure of speech?”
Your bodies are what you might call a “mixed blessing.” The importance you, as humans, place on your bodies is often inappropriate, to put it mildly.
Why do we say this?… Read more
In the book series, Life and Teaching of the Masters of the Far East, Baird Spalding talks about meeting a beautiful young woman in his travels through the Himalayan Mountains. He said she appeared to be about 19 or 20 years old. As it turned out, she was well over 100 years old!
How could that be?
Baird goes on to explain the lady’s people were known for their long lives, some as many as 800 or 900 years, as we count time today.… Read more
Easter is, obviously, a major religious celebration. It marks Jesus’s resurrection from death. But the true meaning of Easter goes beyond the obvious. Here are a few random thoughts about Easter:
Lesson 212 of A Course in Miracles tells us “I am not a body. I am free. For I am still as God created me.”
But do we really believe that? After all, so much of the Western world, defines (and limits) everything as if we were only a physical body. Obviously, we all have a physical body. But we are not that body. Nevertheless, we have a duty to care for our bodies as we would a beloved family member.… Read more
While we are not religious, we do find much wisdom in the Bible, and in the world’s other sacred texts.
This is a powerful, insightful statement from the Bible:
“Why do you observe the splinter in your brother’s eye and never notice the plank in your own?” Gospel of Matthew 7:4
The legendary Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung popularized the term, “shadow self.”
Spirit
Years ago, when Johnny first heard the term “shadow self,” it made him uncomfortable. He could not accept the idea all humans have a dark side.… Read more
In my personal life, I’ve found meditation a most powerful tool. I’ve meditated every day over 40 years, cannot imagine life without it. It can work magic in your life.
The benefits of meditation are many. It will help and heal you in all areas of your life—physical, mental, emotional, spiritual.
There are many ways to meditate. Our purpose here today is not to teach you meditation methods. There is plenty of good information on that available today.
What is important is that you choose a method that appeals to you personally.… Read more
Solitude is the great teacher, and to learn its lessons you must pay attention to it.~ Deepak Chopra
One of people’s greatest fears is being alone. How about you? Do you fear growing old alone? Or do you fear any situation where you are totally on your own?
Few ever consider the benefits of being alone, or the power of solitude.
We have often said you are never alone. So why are we talking about solitude, or being alone, today?… Read more
Various statistical reports show Americans, and others living in the United States, suffering from an unprecedented degree of mental stress and distress.
These certainly are unprecedented times.
My mother, then barely a teenager, lived through the 1918 flu epidemic, also called the Spanish flu. She survived the flu herself.
Ever the eternal optimist till the moment she left us many years later, she always said “God will take care of us.” And S/He did.
Mom knew how to go with the flow of life.… Read more
In the workbook for A Course In Miracles, one of our favorite lessons is “I am not a body. I am free. For I am still as God created me.”
While your true identity is not your physical body, that does not give you an excuse to misuse or abuse it. But that’s what many humans are doing today, for various reasons.
Your physical body is the “vehicle” you have chosen to help you accomplish the mission you’ve chosen for this lifetime.… Read more
We sometimes hear our children are the last best hope for humanity and our planet. Whether that’s true or not, Spirit has some thoughts about raising children in today’s world.
If you’re religious, you may remember the Ten Commandments God reportedly gave to Moses. The second commandment is “Honor thy father and thy mother.”
Today, we’d like to turn that around and say to you who are parents, “Honor thy children.”
Becoming and being a parent today in your modern world, particularly in Western society, is an awesome responsibility.… Read more
Many years ago, my local Boy Scout troop went on trip to Philmont, the Boy Scout ranch in northeastern New Mexico. It was a fun trip, full of adventures, but often tiring for a group of teenage boys.
One of our adventures was a full-day backpacking trip into the mountains. I’ll never forget when we got back to our base camp that day, and released our backpacks. I felt so light, as if I was flying, free of all that weight.… Read more
Lately, we’ve been talking about the coronavirus. While we do not want to dwell on it too much, we realize it’s been preying on nearly everyone’s minds.
As Spirit has said before, the fear around the virus is worse than the virus itself. The big question is “How much protection do you need?”
Lately, Berna and Spirit have held a series of question-and-answer talks. Occasionally, we’ll be using some of those for posts. Today is the first one.
Many years ago, I had a dream about standing in the middle of a cornfield, as a man, in the 18th or 19th century.… Read more
Every day you look out at the world around you through the doors of your perception. How real is that perception? What if you’re making it all up?
You may have heard the story about a wise old guru who always had the perfect answer for every question.
One day, someone told the guru he was moving to Chicago, and wanted to know what the city was like. The old guru asked, “What is the city where you live now like?”… Read more
Time and space are modes by which we think and not conditions in which we live. ~ Albert Einstein
A couple months ago, I took a trip to northern Montana. When I travel, I keep track of the exact mileage. From my house in Wyoming to my destination, Shelby, Montana, it was 532 miles north.
The next day I traveled another 34 miles north to a town called Sweet Grass.
The total distance from Wyoming to Sweet Grass, then, was 566 miles or 1,132 miles round trip.… Read more
“Forgive your worst enemies.”~ Eva Kor, Auschwitz survivor
Nazi Death Camp at Auschwitz, Poland
I don’t pay much attention to the mainstream news media. There’s too much focus on “bad” news and negativity for my tastes. But there was one recent story that caught my attention.
It was about the death of Eva Kor. Eva was a survivor of the Nazi death camp at Auschwitz. It was probably no “coincidence” that she died during what turned out to be her final trip to the Holocaust site in Poland.… Read more
Karma (in Buddhism and Hinduism): The sum of a person’s actions in this and previous states of existence, viewed as deciding their fate in future existences.
Oxford English Dictionary
Buddha in Meditation
Karma is a confusing concept for many folks. You can see karma as the ruler and master of your life. Your present lifetime then becomes a prison from which you can never escape.
That’s a dismally depressing way to live out your days.
Man’s ultimate destiny is to become one with the Divine Power which governs and sustains the creation and its creatures. ~ Alfred A. Montapert
I love that quotation above. Do you believe our destiny is to become one with God, with Goddess — or whatever name you prefer for that divine power which created all that is?
You are the answer to every question, every dilemma you have ever had. You are divine, literally. But your ego and your world have done a great job of brainwashing you.… Read more
When the power of love overcomes the love of power the world will finally know peace. ~ Jimi Hendrix
Many years ago, one of my spirit guides said the sole purpose of humans is two-fold: first, to remember who they are and second, to remember why they are here.
One of the aspects of love is a choice you can freely make—the choice to see the divinity in all beings, in all that is.
Every thought of love and compassion you hold soothes and nurtures the world around you.… Read more
It doesn’t take a psychologist to see why so many people are totally stressed out today. Our world is experiencing more chaos and confusion than it has in recent memory, or perhaps ever. The stress can take many forms: illness, broken relationships, anger, fear, depression. And the litany goes on.
People are frantic in their search for peace of mind. One place they search is the future.… Read more