John
A few years ago, I had a strange experience which baffled me when it happened. It was strange — but, at the same time, not strange.
I was sitting at my desk and needed to write some notes to myself about tasks I wanted to do the next day. I picked up my old-fashioned fountain pen (which I love writing with). But I hadn’t used it in a while, and the ink was low.
So, I opened my desk drawer where I keep a bottle of fountain pen ink.… Read more
Above is the complete original text of the Prayer of Saint Francis. It is a line-by-line English translation of the earliest known French publication of the prayer in 1912.
No one really knows who wrote the prayer. It may or may not have actually been Saint Francis. It doesn’t matter who the real author was.
Spirit has talked about Saint Francis and his prayer before. But today we’d like to review it again. It seems particularly timely now with all the turmoil and chaos engulfing our world.… Read more
The pan flute player in this picture was born without hands and parts of his arms. His parents and siblings all played instruments. But, obviously, he could not. His father kept thinking about a way for his son to also play music. One day the father came home with a pan flute for his son. The son then locked himself in his room with the flute.
After many hours, he came out of his room and said to his parents: “I am going to become the best pan flute player in the world.”… Read more
Berna
Recently I was in Ireland for a week’s retreat. The retreat’s focus was on the Aramaic Lord’s Prayer as taught by Jeshua (Jesus) to Jayem (www.wayofmastery.com). Aramaic was Jeshua’s original language.
At one point we were all chanting the first word of this prayer, “Ah bwoon,” for ten minutes. Each of us chanted at our own breathing rhythm. Sometimes I stopped to feel and listen, because the energies were so incredibly powerful and special.
One of us was a female singer with an angelic voice.… Read more
If you spend much time with the mainstream news media, you may think you’re losing your mind. Maybe you think people are evil, and the whole world is headed for hell in a handbasket.
Spirit
Among humans, as we have discovered from observing you for many centuries, there is a “bias,” if you will, toward expecting the worst in life. And, there’s an even worse bias toward expecting the worst in yourself and in your fellow humans.
You don’t need us to remind you of where that inevitably leads you.… Read more
We’ve talked about karma before. Recently Berna was telling me she’d read a surprising comment about karma in a Facebook group.
Someone was talking about a recent unpleasant event in her life. She said it probably was caused by something she had done in a previous life—-as if she had to repay a debt or was being punished.
Berna’s opinion (which I share) is karma is often a weapon people use to instill fear in others. Or to control them.… Read more
If you’re paying much attention to the mainstream news media today, you’re aware, perhaps painfully so, of all the turmoil and chaos in our world today. If you’re paying too much attention, scientists call that “doomscrolling.”
Personally, Berna and I pay little attention to the mainstream news—only enough so we know a bit about current events.
A recent article we read reported researchers had concluded exposure to negative news is a “source of vicarious trauma.” In other words, people are dangerously affected despite not experiencing trauma first-hand.… Read more
In our last post we talked about our encounter with a so-called “spirit cat.”
This week, we’re discussing another peculiar situation with this cat.
After we left the cat, we drove 5 kilometers north. There we came upon an attractive small, white 13th century church and, behind it, a graveyard. A beautiful white light was shining down from the sky on the back of the church.
While Berna walked to the graveyard, I walked around to the other side of the church.… Read more
Berna and I took a few days off this past weekend in the northeastern part of The Netherlands. It’s a beautiful rural area, known for its prehistoric tombs, called “hunebeds,” dating back to 4000-3000BC.
The hunebeds are the oldest monuments in the Netherlands. They are prehistoric tombstones built by the Funnelbeaker people using boulders Mother Nature transported to Drenthe during the Ice Age. Drenthe has no fewer than 52 hunebeds in a 30-kilometre radius.
We went to one of them last weekend.… Read more
Today we all live in challenging and often-tragic times. Just look at the mainstream news media headlines. But don’t do it too often. It will break you. There’s a better way.
Spirit
Many of you are struggling and suffering with all the challenges and changes your modern world is flooding you with.
It’s not an easy time for you to be on Planet Earth. But it is a good time—the perfect time—for you to be here.
Every one of you is facing your own unique challenges today.… Read more
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
You may have heard about the American billionaires searching for eternal life. Not the eternal life religion teaches, but eternal life in a physical body. They’re sinking many millions of dollars into what may be the biggest waste of money ever dreamed up by humans.
Spirit
We’ve talked about this subject before. You humans seem to be insanely driven by this (in our opinion, wasteful) search for eternal life.
Here are just a few (out of many) of our thoughts about living forever:
One of Spirit’s favorite phrases is All is well. In today’s world, we need more reminders that all truly is well, despite appearances.
Spirit
A Course in Miracles tells you in Lesson 292, A happy outcome to all things is sure. We realize that’s a tough one for many of you to wrap your minds around.
Perhaps one quick glance at your daily news convinces you your world is really going to hell. How then, you might ask, can there be a happy outcome to all things?… Read more
How often have we (ALL of us) judged another without knowing the pain they were feeling?
Spirit
You have a saying that goes something like this: Never judge another till you have walked a mile in their shoes.
You have all walked many miles, in this lifetime and others. In some of those lifetimes you’ve walked alone. In others, you’ve walked together.
But we would ask you, as you walk through this lifetime, to imagine what it’s like for others, especially those who walk beside you.… Read more
In today’s cruel and crazy world, it’s tempting to believe humanity is lost. If you spend much time following the mainstream news media, you probably wonder if there’s any hope at all for world peace. Many say they want it, but few do much to promote it.
Are there any good people left in this old world of ours? Yes, there are, more than we know. Here’s a powerfully uplifting story of one such person.
This is a true story. It happened November 25, 1854 on the shores of Lake Erie, one of the five Great Lakes on the US-Canadian border.… Read more
According to Amnesty International, the United States is among the 8 countries who inflict the most death penalties. The most recent, and widely publicized, execution was of James Barber, a convicted killer in the US state of Alabama. That was last week.
Alabama had botched its last 3 attempted executions. Those likely caused unimaginable suffering and horrible pain to the condemned men. Yet the US Supreme Court refused to delay Barber’s execution. One of the dissenting judges said the court was allowing Alabama to experiment again with a human life.… Read more
Recently, Berna and I were having one of our daily chats about spirituality.
She told me she was planning to visit a close friend of hers. I asked her about this friend’s neighborhood, as I remembered it from our recent visit—the red brick buildings with many big trees, large grassy expanses, and other details. Berna knew the area well.
Then she said she and I had never been there together. I was, to put it mildly, surprised! I asked her if my description of the neighborhood was accurate.… Read more
You may have seen the recent news about possibly hundreds of poor migrants dying in a tragic shipwreck on the Mediterranean Sea. On board were about 750 people, including 100 children.
In another recent shipwreck, 5 wealthy people died in a tragic submersible accident.
Which do you think got the most news coverage? And on which was far more money spent? Were the migrant lives worth less than the lives of the wealthy?
Spirit
The title we have chosen for this article is, in itself, a tragedy.… Read more
There are as many different worlds as there are perceivers….you are not here to create one world where everyone is the same….you are here to be that which you want to be, while you allow all others to be that which they want to be. Abraham/Esther Hicks
Spirit
One of the major problems in your modern world is diversity.
Virtually every issue humans face today is rooted in their refusal to accept diversity. You want everything and everyone to be the same.… Read more
If we understood the awesome power of our words, we would prefer silence to almost anything negative. ~ Betty Eadie
How often do we speak without first thinking? Probably often. We don’t consider the power of our words, or how deeply they can hurt, how deeply they can heal.
Spirit
We sometimes observe in humans what you call “idle chatter”—words without real meaning or effects.
But there is no such thing as idle chatter. Words are powerful tools you all have available to you.… Read more
Some religions claim to be the “one true” religion. Is there any such thing?
Spirit
It’s most interesting for those of us in Spirit to observe those of you experiencing the many facets of life on Planet Earth.
Among the most interesting (and most divisive) is religion.
It’s curious that the name of God (or whatever you call the divine energy) is used to excuse the most horrible deeds humans are able to inflict upon themselves and all life.
The Roman Catholic Church even supports something it calls a “just war.”… Read more
We’ve written about war truces before. But one particular truce stands out in our minds. It was during the brutal, bloody World War One.
Spirit
As Johnny said, we’ve talked about war and truces before. War seems to be a perpetual curse humans have inflicted on themselves throughout history.
What has war ever accomplished?
In our view, it has accomplished nothing of value. So why do humans persist on the path of war?
The only value in war is to teach you there is no value in war.… Read more
Our title today is an 1839 quotation from 19th-centruy English author Edward Bulwer-Lytton.
As you’ve probably heard, the legendary writer Salman Rushdie was brutally attacked recently as he was giving a speech.
This dreadful event happened at the famous Chautauqua Institution in Chautauqua, New York. That happens to be a short distance from my old hometown of Westfield in rural western New York State.
Spirit
As our friend Seth says, “There is never any justification for violence. There is no justification for hatred.… Read more
Arguably, one of humanity’s greatest questions—and greatest fears—is What happens when you die? Does anyone really know? Is there anything to fear?
Spirit
Those are great questions. Are there any good answers? Definitely, yes!
As Johnny said, our title is arguably the most-asked question among humans. So the first thing we want to address today is the myth of death. For there is no death. Most humans move through their lives fearing something that does not even exist!
We realize what you call “death” seems to be a real experience.… Read more
One day many years ago, I was driving to my office in the Washington, DC suburbs. I had stopped at a red traffic light. When it turned green, I started to pull into the intersection. Just then, a car on my right ran through the red light and nearly hit my car.
A bit shaken, I waited a few seconds, and then started through the intersection again, the green light still in my favor. At that moment, a loud, clear voice shouted, “Stop!… Read more