Love and Religion

posted in: Blog, channeling, spirituality | 10

Many years ago, I had a startling experience with love and religion.

Still a teenager, I’d joined the US Navy. (Military service was required in those days.) Stationed far from my New York home, I was lonely and homesick, as were my shipmates. Simon (not his real name), my closest friend on the ship, was also from New York.

We were docked in San Diego, California at the time. Simon and I took a weekend off to explore San Diego. We “accidentally” came across a hospitality house owned by a Protestant church.Read more

Are You Challenged By Change? by John Cali

When I was younger I dreaded change of any kind, big or small. I felt threatened by it, as if my world was about to come crashing down around me. I deal with change much more easily now. In fact, I welcome it.

Many years ago I had a secretary who, when confronted with change, would be almost literally paralyzed with fear. She just couldn’t function. She was an extreme case, but not all that unusual among some folks I know.Read more

Is Fear of Food Ruling Your Life? John Cali

While the mainstream news media mostly focus on “bad” news, occasionally they will come out with something positive. The other day I read an article talking about all the scientific studies done over the years on the link between food and cancer.

Since this is the holiday season, when food plays a larger-than-normal role in our lives, I thought this would be a good subject for today.

It seems almost every type of food we put into our bodies every day has, at one time or another, been labeled a cancer risk.Read more

Is It Possible the World Really Will End on December 21? by John Cali

Today is December 1. Just 20 days from now, on December 21, we and our world will be destroyed. Or so the doomsayers, including Hollywood, say.

As “coincidence” would have it, December 21 is also the beginning of winter in the northern hemisphere—the darkest day of the year.

There are folks who believe the end is at hand because they believe the Mayan calendar predicted the end of the world on December 21, 2012.

Even if that was to happen, it would not necessarily happen to everyone on the planet.Read more

If You Never Quit You Will Always Be A Winner by John Cali

Ever since I was a teenager I wanted to be a writer. But I didn’t think I had the talent. When I was in college Rod, an older cousin of mine who happened to be a senior editor at Newsweek Magazine, read an article I’d written for one of my classes.

He said it was very good, and I was a talented writer. I wondered if he was just saying that because we were close family. So I let it all go.Read more

What Is God? by John Cali

Have you ever asked yourself that question? I have, many times.

I grew up in the Roman Catholic tradition. We were taught God was a loving father, and also a harsh judge. We had this confusing notion of a divine being whose love or wrath would engulf us, depending on whether we did his “will” or not.

Heaven was our reward and hell our punishment—not a pleasant way to live your life, never knowing where you were ultimately going to end up for all eternity.Read more

Can You Accept Your Life Exactly As It Is Right Now? by John Cali

Many years ago I had a dear friend who was about the unhappiest person I’ve ever known. Charlie (not his real name) was a successful businessman. But his personal and family relationships were rocky.

Charlie’s problem, simply stated, was people. He just could not accept most people as they were. He was an expert at finding something wrong with them. And, of course, he found little about himself to like, despite his worldly success.

His life was often a living hell.Read more

The Power of Gratitude by John Cali

Today is Thanksgiving Day in the United States. It happens the fourth Thursday of every November, and is a national celebration of gratitude for all our blessings. Other countries also have national days of thanksgiving.

As a human race we have a tendency to focus on all the things going “wrong” with our world. But, as my spirit guides often say, there is much more going “right” with our world than not. We have much to be grateful for, whether we’re celebrating Thanksgiving Day in the US or not.Read more

What Are Coincidences? by John Cali

A couple nights ago I had an unusual dream. In the dream I was visiting my hometown in New York State. I don’t remember the details, but I do remember the feeling and the energy of the dream. It was one of the most peaceful dreams I’ve ever had.

The next morning when I checked my email there was a letter from someone I grew up with in my hometown. He and I are about the same age, and our families were good friends when we were kids.Read more

Is It Time To Take Inventory of Your Life? by John Cali

The ancient Greek philosopher Socrates said “The unexamined life is not worth living.”

That’s a pretty strong statement. When I first heard it, years ago, I did not accept it. But now I see the wisdom in it.

So every now and then I take inventory of my life and my work. Not in a critical or judgemental way, but simply to get an overview of where I am in my personal and work life, and in my relationships. This helps me keep my focus on the path I’ve chosen to follow.Read more

What Is Your Relationship with Animals? Part 2 by John Cali

We received some interesting responses to our recent blog post, What Is Your Relationship with Animals?

Although everyone responding was polite and respectful, there were wide differences of opinion—particularly around the issues of animal cruelty, meat-eating versus vegetarianism, etc.

These same issues loom large here in Wyoming where I live. After all, agriculture, including cattle ranching, is the livelihood of many Wyoming folks. However, in my very unscientific observations, I’ve seen many people turning to vegetarianism, even here. So we have widely varying opinions and lifestyles.Read more

Is It Really True That All Is As It Should Be? by John Cali

My spirit guides are fond of reminding folks, including me, all is as it should be. But is that really true?

The past couple weeks, the United States, especially the northeastern part, has been wracked with a series of devastating storms, including the monster Hurricane Sandy. Many people were killed, injured, and left homeless. It could take weeks or months for them to recover.

When we witness events like that, and all the other disturbing news we see nearly every day, I wonder how anyone, even the spirits, can say “All is as it should be.”… Read more

What Is Your Relationship with Animals? by John Cali

 

I’ve loved animals all my life. When I was growing up in a rural area of New York State we were surrounded by animals—wild creatures, farm animals, household pets. Although we loved our pets, we saw wild and farm animals differently, more as resources to serve us. They were not part of the family, as pets were.

A friend, Barbara Clark from Scotland, visited me in Wyoming this past summer. She’s also an animal lover and a talented animal communicator.Read more

What I learned From the Blizzard of ’79 by John Cali

Last week’s Hurricane Sandy brought back my memories of a fierce storm from an earlier generation. Way back in 1979 my family and I were living in the suburbs of Washington, DC. In those days that area rarely got the severe storms they’ve seen in recent years. So the sudden blizzard of 1979 came as a shock, especially since it was just a few weeks before spring was supposed to start.

In our town, 30 miles west of Washington, we got 40 inches of snow, all in one night.Read more

Why Do Disasters Like Hurricane Sandy Happen? by John Cali

As you all know, Hurricane Sandy devastated many areas along the United States east coast last week. Among the hardest-hit were the metropolitan New York and New Jersey areas.

Many folks are still reeling from the shock and the aftermath of that storm. Damage has been estimated at $50 billion. Nearly a million New York and New Jersey homes and businesses had no electricity, and vehicle fuel is in short supply.

According to weather forecasters, tonight another storm, a so-called “nor’easter,” will descend on the United States’ mid-Atlantic and northeastern coastal areas, including New York and New Jersey.Read more

You Are the Universe by John Cali

There’s an expression in Sanskrit, “Aham brahmasmi.” It means “I am the universe and the universe is me.”

My spirit guides have often said we are not our physical bodies. However, most of us identify the person we call “I” with our physical bodies. So if we are not our bodies, who are we? Where are we? What are we?

If the Sanskrit expression is right, and I believe it is, then whatever we perceive to be “out there” is really in here, within each of us.Read more

Where Do Dead People Go? Part 2 by John Cali

 

Last week we talked about life after death, and we had a pretty good response to it. We’re going to talk about it a bit more this week. Actually, we’re going to talk about life before death, a subject we’ve rarely discussed.

Over the years I’ve been honored to be at the “death beds” of some of my close family, though not recently. Although I wasn’t uncomfortable with it, I did not always know what to say to them, or to the other family members who don’t see death in the same positive way I do.Read more

Cowboys, Essential Oils, and Assumptions by John Cali

 

I know that’s a really weird title, but please bear with me for a moment.

My good friend Pete is a Wyoming cowboy. We’ve known each other about 20 years. Pete (not his real name) and I were chatting not long ago about a physical problem he was having. He mentioned the essential oils he’d been using to help with the problem were very effective.

Now, essential oils are not exactly a mainstream medical treatment, and I’d assumed they were used mostly by folks interested in alternative spirituality.Read more

Are You Guilty of False Modesty? by John Cali

Marianne Williamson famously said “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us.”

When I first read those words long ago I had to do a lot of soul-searching. Could her words really be true? It took me a long time before I could accept the truth of the words.

In my spiritual work over the years I’ve clearly seen how many folks, including me, do not let their light, their true selves shine.Read more

Where Do Dead People Go? by John Cali

 

One of our readers asked us what life after death is like. Death is a subject many of us avoid if at all possible. Why do you suppose that is? Probably because we fear it more than anything. And why do you suppose that is?

My personal opinion is we fear death because we often consider it the end of us. Even many who say they believe in the afterlife are scared of death. I think that’s because we do not know what death really is.Read more

Politics and Capital Punishment by John Cali

 

Tim Kaine is a politician. He’s also the former governor of Virginia, a state that was home to me for many years. Kaine is one of the few American politicians I deeply admire.

A devout Roman Catholic, he’s a former missionary to Honduras. He’s a compassionate, genuinely caring man, an advocate of social justice, a positive political campaigner, and a highly successful politician who is admirably bipartisan. One of his political opponents describes him as “a really nice guy.” Kaine is now running for yet another political office—US senator from Virginia.Read more

What Is Real Beauty? by John Cali

It seems to me we’re obsessed with external appearances in our world today. I often hear from folks how unhappy they are with, for example, the appearance of their physical bodies. No matter how beautiful they may be by the world’s superficial Hollywood-style standards, they can always find something wrong. So they judge themselves “ugly” or, at least, unattractive and simply not “good enough.”

My spirit guides and I have talked about this before, but true beauty—as we all know—is far more than the way our bodies look.Read more

How Can We Help Others Heal? by John Cali

One of our readers recently asked us this question:

When a group meditates and sends love/light/positive energy to a place or people or situation, can this help with healing?”

He also asked several related questions. These included:

  • The ideal size of the group.
  • Specific meditations or techniques.
  • Whether a small group could positively affect our entire society.
  • The number of repetitions needed.
  • And, in general, how to improve a group’s healing effectiveness.

Here are Spirit’s thoughts:

The best way you can help others heal is to heal yourself first.Read more

Are You A Master? by John Cali

One of our readers had some interesting comments in reply to our recent blog post, Is the World Driving You Crazy? I’d like to share them with you today, especially with those who may have missed them.

Hi John and Spirit,

I love the opening of A Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens!

First Line: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way–in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.”Read more

Remembering Violence and Terror by John Cali

You may recall it was 10 years ago this month the Washington, DC area in the United States was terrorized for 23 days by mysterious, random sniper shootings. Before the police found the two killers, 3 people were wounded and 10 killed. All 13 were strangers to the killers.

At that time I was temporarily living in the Washington area. I clearly remember the energy of fear and terror, as the whole metropolitan area was brought to its knees. Schools were turned into fortresses.Read more