December 12, 2012 marks the end of the Mayan calendar. The 5,125 calendar cycle will close followed by the start of the new cycle.
The surprise to many who view 2012 as the time the world will end are in store for a considerable shock. One thing is certain, humanity will experience a major shift in consciousness.
Here lies the mystery. What is the true significance of this new cycle?
The recent "2012" movie is a scenario of fear and destruction rather than a time of transformation. Many believe it is a time of reckoning and those true believers who survive will experience the so called rapture. Then there are those who believe that the 2012 prophecy is telling us we need to wake up and see that this time, this moment, is calling us to action...that humanity is in a great initiation period and it is up to us to chart a new course.
Is it possible that this planetary moment has never existed until now? Is it possible that a paradigm evolutionary shift in human consciousness is staring us in the face. Is it possible that humanity is becoming truly human for the fist time in our history?
Do not be deceived. Every citizen of the world is responsible for the way in which these next few years play out. This shift into a new age will not be easy but we can lighten the load by making choices. Choices to live our lives as peacefully as we can. This means inner peace and the acceptance of true brotherhood among mankind.
Our practice of forgiveness, gratitude, tolerance and belief, and the power of love will be the catalysts to opening the portal to renewed life on planet earth. We must be diligent in our understanding of words and actions, for they are truly transformational-- for good or evil.
The majority of human beings are unaware of the significance of their lives and the power they have to help shape the new world that is emerging. And it is emerging! Nothing can stop it.
As we struggle to find our way, do not underestimate the power within that is our right and priviledge. We need only become awake and aware. The choice is ours.
Submitted by IN OUR OWN WAY --- November 2009
Note: This is one in a series of articles on the significance of 2012
(check our www.13moon.com for more detailed information on 2012)
Tuesday
REMEMBER THE BUTTERFLY
Relative to size the caterpillar is one of the most destructive beings on this planet. It can devour a whole branch in record time without any awareness of its impact. When it's full, the caterpillar weaves a cacoon around itself and, within that structure, fulfills its destiny to dissolve into formless goo. In that goo are the cells that hold the possibility of the butterfly. The goo(the old) is threatened by these cells and tries to destroy them. Because of this threat, these new cells gather together into groups, and in that support, the beauty of the butterfly is born.
This is humanity's story. The caterpillar and its self-absorbed destruction represent the old way. The butterfly, which represents the new way is the opposite of the caterpillar. It doesn't destroy life -- it serves life by pollinating flowers. It can fly far and wide, so its view is much broader than the caterpillar.
You and I are asked to become the butterfly inside ourselves, and part of our task is to trust this time of goo that is so turbulent and frightening. It is essential to our transformation. We are also being asked to gather together to support one another and the world in "remembering possibility". We are asked to put no one out of our hearts, for we do not have the luxury of positioning anymore. There is no THEM in this process.
We are on the cusp of the most important evolutionary shift that has happened on this planet -- the shift from unconsciousness to consciousness -- the shift from the mind to the heart. THIS IS OUR BUTTERFLYNESS. June 2009
This is humanity's story. The caterpillar and its self-absorbed destruction represent the old way. The butterfly, which represents the new way is the opposite of the caterpillar. It doesn't destroy life -- it serves life by pollinating flowers. It can fly far and wide, so its view is much broader than the caterpillar.
You and I are asked to become the butterfly inside ourselves, and part of our task is to trust this time of goo that is so turbulent and frightening. It is essential to our transformation. We are also being asked to gather together to support one another and the world in "remembering possibility". We are asked to put no one out of our hearts, for we do not have the luxury of positioning anymore. There is no THEM in this process.
We are on the cusp of the most important evolutionary shift that has happened on this planet -- the shift from unconsciousness to consciousness -- the shift from the mind to the heart. THIS IS OUR BUTTERFLYNESS. June 2009
Wednesday
THE WISDOM AND POWER OF KABBALAH
Try to imagine yourself filled with light. The kind of light that gives you great
insight, pleasure, energy and unshakable peace. If you find yourself wanting, check out Kabbalah.
The wisdom of Kabbalah helps us understand the reason for existence -- why we are born; what we live for; the purpose of life; where we come from and where we go when we die. It is an ancient system that gives us a way of reaching the inner spiritual part of ourselves that is so sorely needed in our world today.
This scientifically proven formula has been tested for over two thousand years.
Kabbalah is a practical study, for we learn about ourselves step-by-step.
We connect with the inner self and experience internal changes that only we can feel and know. In short, we grow and experience a new and enlarged awareness that
allows us to lead a life of grace and inner peace. It also opens us up to the power of not only receiving, but the joy of giving.
The wonder and wisdom of Kabbalah has influenced leading philosophical, religious,
spiritual and scientific minds. Until today, however, it has been hidden away in ancient texts, available only to scholars. Now, the power of Kabbalah is available to all who chose to create a realm of awareness, meaning and soul enhancement.
Yehuda Berg's book "The Power of Kabbalah" comes highly recommended
Posted: December 2008
insight, pleasure, energy and unshakable peace. If you find yourself wanting, check out Kabbalah.
The wisdom of Kabbalah helps us understand the reason for existence -- why we are born; what we live for; the purpose of life; where we come from and where we go when we die. It is an ancient system that gives us a way of reaching the inner spiritual part of ourselves that is so sorely needed in our world today.
This scientifically proven formula has been tested for over two thousand years.
Kabbalah is a practical study, for we learn about ourselves step-by-step.
We connect with the inner self and experience internal changes that only we can feel and know. In short, we grow and experience a new and enlarged awareness that
allows us to lead a life of grace and inner peace. It also opens us up to the power of not only receiving, but the joy of giving.
The wonder and wisdom of Kabbalah has influenced leading philosophical, religious,
spiritual and scientific minds. Until today, however, it has been hidden away in ancient texts, available only to scholars. Now, the power of Kabbalah is available to all who chose to create a realm of awareness, meaning and soul enhancement.
Yehuda Berg's book "The Power of Kabbalah" comes highly recommended
Posted: December 2008
Modern Mythology
Dr. Edmund Roach, MD
Author of “The Kingdom of Heaven Is at Hand”
October 2008
Before devoting ourselves to the study of Biblical Prophecy,many modern men and women must first be convinced that it is worth their while to do so. The following discussion is aimed at them, with the hope that they will venture further within.
According to New and Old Testament scripture the end of this age is a time when great deception and delusion is upon our world. Many of our modern assumptions have helped to create these delusions and to blight the minds and souls of innumerable, unwitting victims over hundreds of years.
Ideas have power. They influence our every choice and decision. They can steer us toward love or hate, life or death, anger or forgiveness. They pervade our minds unperceived and unquestioned. Beneath the surface, out of sight they filter every thing we see, hear, and believe. Had we been born in a different time or a different place, those assumptions would be entirely different and so would have been our minds, ideas, and lives. We are largely products of the culture into which we are born. In order to see more clearly we need to become aware of and to remove the modern biases through which we have been made to see.
Plato taught us that the material world was but the shadow of a greater spiritual reality that lay beyond the senses. In direct opposition, modern man teaches us that spiritual reality is but an illusion cast by matter. Atoms and particles of matter are the only true reality.
The origin of the universe is currently felt to be the Big Bang which resulted in the origin of time, space and matter out of nothing. Life is thought to eventually arise through the random operation of natural laws on lifeless matter over time. Given enough time, complex life forms are thought to have evolved as a result of random changes in living matter that cause either benefit or detriment to the organism. Through the process of competition and the survival of the fittest the best of these changes are preserved for the next generation and the worst are discarded. Gradually simple life becomes more and more complex as the random beneficial changes accumulate over time. In this way biologic evolution eventually results in the development of brains that are complex enough to give rise to consciousness and mind. This is called the theory of Darwinian evolution. In summary the current paradigm is that the universe suddenly comes into existence for reasons unknown and then evolves through natural law into the vast and complex universe we see around us today. The status quo scientific establishment believes that all phenomenon can be or will be explained within this paradigm. The philosophic result of this scientific belief states that we live in an accidental and random universe without intrinsic meaning or value, other than that which we arbitrarily choose to give it. God becomes an unnecessary explanatory element within this paradigm. He is a figment of the human imagination that can now be replaced by scientific rationalism. He is a mere "opiate of the masses," keeping the ignorant and uniformed from getting too unruly. Man’s hopes and dreams, struggles and convictions are reduced to the specific arrangement of his atomic constituents. There is no good and evil, no right and wrong. There are no Absolutes to measure by. As a result man becomes the measure of all things. He is the standard. He is the arbiter. He is in short god. Science replaces religion and becomes the solvent for all of man’s problems. Morals and ethics are replaced by power and politics.
Powerful Man, by his natural right rules over weaker man. Ann Rand's and Friederick Nietzsche's new superman has been born. The results have been an unimaginable scale of human suffering and pain for much of the world. Philosophic materialism has provided the intellectual justification for the removal of spiritual reality from human philosophy. It has spawned the ideologies of modern man. Secular humanism, communism, socialism, capitalism are systems of human thought that promise to hold the answers to human life. Man has not progressed a long way from ancient times. He has gone from the worship of idols to the worship of ideologies. Idols are a physical figment of the imagination and ideologies are an intellectual figment of the imagination. Despite the far reaching effects of philosophic materialism few seem to know (including scientists) that modern science itself has already decisively destroyed the foundations of materialism. Matter has been discovered to be a myth, better described as vibrations in a field of energy than as a solid entity. Quantum mechanics tells us that those "solid particles" that we thought we understood can go through two holes in a wall at the same time. Furthermore, the results of our experiments are subject to change according to whether or not we observe what happens! We also find that particles located at opposite ends of the universe affect the behavior of one another through instantaneous connections that we do not understand in the least. These results and many more like them tell us that our models of reality and the assumptions we have put into them are false. The universe is far stranger than our simple ideas have presumed. In fact, our concepts and models regarding reality will never be able to completely capture the object of its study. Finite mind has to break reality into parts in order to study it. As a result we loose information that is contained in the whole. The whole is always greater than the sum of its parts. Reality is transcendent to any idea that we may have about it. Reality is to mind as a sphere is to a circle. It is a higher dimensional entity. We unknowingly stand in the midst of the miraculous. Our own theories are telling us so. Sadly, despite the recent findings of science most of our scientists, intellectuals, and leaders continue to form their ideas about man and his world through the distorting lens of philosophic materialism. We flatten out and crush the mystery that surrounds our every experience.
Another important scientific idea that has been overthrown is the one of randomness and the accidental nature of universe existence. We now know that the constants of nature such as the mass of an electron and proton have to be very finely tuned and coordinated in order to make life possible. If one were to change any of the constants of nature by even a very slight amount the universe would be incapable of supporting life. The probability of this fine-tuning happening by accident is very close to zero. Even hard core scientists are looking at this and saying that our universe certainly appears to be designed to support the eventual existence of life. Scientists that would like to avoid this conclusion posit that there could be an infinite number of parallel universes and that we just happen to live in the one that can miraculously support life. Why such a fear of admitting the obvious? Is it because atheism, secular humanism, philosophic materialism and the entire modern worldview rests on the supposed accidental randomness of the universe?
Randomness is also under attack within Darwin's theory of the evolution of life. Modern science has shown life to be unimaginably more complex than was once supposed. It can now be shown that random Darwinian evolution is mathematically impossible within the constraints of a finite universe. The improbabilities are so enormous it would require a well nigh infinite amount of time to happen. However the universe appears to be quite finite in time and space. If life did not randomly evolve then it must have an element of design. There is that nasty word again. The religion of naturalistic science is not holding up to scrutiny. I think that the final theory of the evolution of life will contain elements of random chance, natural selection, and design. Reality is subtle, not black and white.
And so, we can see how our "science" has led us astray... We can explain the universe. We can control it. We can bring about our own peace, prosperity, and happiness. Man no longer needs God. Man is god. This is the grand experiment that is being played out in the world today. God is a good parent. He knows that His children must learn from their own mistakes. When we reject truth we are destined to believe a lie. When our darkest days arrive we will ask Him why He allows the suffering that we ourselves have chosen. We will learn that error is guaranteed when imperfect beings are bestowed with freewill choice. Fortunately, even our errors work to our benefit in this universe of a loving God. Like a teenager, mankind is growing up by the seat of his mistakes. Maturity takes time and experience. God supplies the time and the experiences. Man supplies the desire; the desire to embrace all that is beautiful, true and good; the desire for perfection; the desire to know and do God's will and the desire to follow His way of Mercy and Justice.
We should not discard the truths of spiritual reality simply because modern experts and scholars in their latest passing fancy, tell us that they are not worth investigating. For instance, many modern atheistic biblical scholars refuse to acknowledge that hundreds of detailed Old Testament biblical prophecies have in fact come true. The prophecies of Daniel are so detailed and so accurate that modern scholars' only explanation is that they were written after the fact despite ample evidence to the contrary. When facts are inconvenient we sweep them under the rug. We have too much invested in our worldview to be bothered by the truth. We should not be so easily fooled. We need to investigate for ourselves. Truth today is buried underneath the slick and the superficial. Almost everything popular and in the public eye is false. Almost everything we think we know is untrue.
The final and permanently decisive nail in the coffin of a mechanical, reductionistic universe is Godel’s incompleteness theorem. It is the ultimate critique of pure reason. Godel proved mathematically that there will always be mathematical truths that can not be logically deduced from prior mathematical truths and assumptions. This means that the intuitive mind is and always will be an essential element in the discovery of mathematical truth. The need for intuition can not be eliminated by pure reason. Reason is analytical. It breaks things into parts in order to understand the whole. Intuition is the other mode of mind function that grasps the whole directly. Reason and intuition work together to produce the products of the human mind. Reason lays the groundwork and eliminates inconsistencies and errors. Intuition makes the leaps off the platforms established by reason. Reason once again eliminates errors and inconsistencies from the intuitive ideas. Therefore Godel’s incompleteness theorem leads directly to a new philosophy of mind. Pure reason is dethroned. Intuition comes before reason and goes after it. Intuition is both a valid and necessary mode of mind function of all human beings. Understanding can never be merely reduced to reason and logic. Computers can never be intelligent in the way that human beings can be intelligent. They lack intuition, the other modality of mind that complements reason. Reason and logic validates the outer world of objective experience. Intuition validates the inner world of subjective experience. Intuition grasps the whole. Reason grasps the part. Faith is the intuition that the inner universe of spiritual experience is real. Science is founded on the intuition that the external universe of the senses is real. Science is the search for objective truth in the external world. Religion is the search for subjective truth in the internal world. Subjective truth and objective truth are two sides of one coin, one reality. They should not contradict one another, neither should they constrain one another. We see with two eyes, one of faith and one of reason. Together they give us the perception of depth, rather than the flat one-eyed vision of rational materialism.
Matter is real. Spirit is real. Faith and reason are complements. Brilliant scientists can and many times are devout believers. The "either/or" dichotomy of Western Philosophy is being replaced by the "and" philosophy of tomorrow. Science and Religion. Faith and Reason. Spirit and Matter. Outer and Inner. In summary, matter is the lower dimensional projection of a higher dimensional spiritual reality. As Plato said, matter is the shadow of spirit and not the other way around. We should have listened.
Author of “The Kingdom of Heaven Is at Hand”
October 2008
Before devoting ourselves to the study of Biblical Prophecy,many modern men and women must first be convinced that it is worth their while to do so. The following discussion is aimed at them, with the hope that they will venture further within.
According to New and Old Testament scripture the end of this age is a time when great deception and delusion is upon our world. Many of our modern assumptions have helped to create these delusions and to blight the minds and souls of innumerable, unwitting victims over hundreds of years.
Ideas have power. They influence our every choice and decision. They can steer us toward love or hate, life or death, anger or forgiveness. They pervade our minds unperceived and unquestioned. Beneath the surface, out of sight they filter every thing we see, hear, and believe. Had we been born in a different time or a different place, those assumptions would be entirely different and so would have been our minds, ideas, and lives. We are largely products of the culture into which we are born. In order to see more clearly we need to become aware of and to remove the modern biases through which we have been made to see.
Plato taught us that the material world was but the shadow of a greater spiritual reality that lay beyond the senses. In direct opposition, modern man teaches us that spiritual reality is but an illusion cast by matter. Atoms and particles of matter are the only true reality.
The origin of the universe is currently felt to be the Big Bang which resulted in the origin of time, space and matter out of nothing. Life is thought to eventually arise through the random operation of natural laws on lifeless matter over time. Given enough time, complex life forms are thought to have evolved as a result of random changes in living matter that cause either benefit or detriment to the organism. Through the process of competition and the survival of the fittest the best of these changes are preserved for the next generation and the worst are discarded. Gradually simple life becomes more and more complex as the random beneficial changes accumulate over time. In this way biologic evolution eventually results in the development of brains that are complex enough to give rise to consciousness and mind. This is called the theory of Darwinian evolution. In summary the current paradigm is that the universe suddenly comes into existence for reasons unknown and then evolves through natural law into the vast and complex universe we see around us today. The status quo scientific establishment believes that all phenomenon can be or will be explained within this paradigm. The philosophic result of this scientific belief states that we live in an accidental and random universe without intrinsic meaning or value, other than that which we arbitrarily choose to give it. God becomes an unnecessary explanatory element within this paradigm. He is a figment of the human imagination that can now be replaced by scientific rationalism. He is a mere "opiate of the masses," keeping the ignorant and uniformed from getting too unruly. Man’s hopes and dreams, struggles and convictions are reduced to the specific arrangement of his atomic constituents. There is no good and evil, no right and wrong. There are no Absolutes to measure by. As a result man becomes the measure of all things. He is the standard. He is the arbiter. He is in short god. Science replaces religion and becomes the solvent for all of man’s problems. Morals and ethics are replaced by power and politics.
Powerful Man, by his natural right rules over weaker man. Ann Rand's and Friederick Nietzsche's new superman has been born. The results have been an unimaginable scale of human suffering and pain for much of the world. Philosophic materialism has provided the intellectual justification for the removal of spiritual reality from human philosophy. It has spawned the ideologies of modern man. Secular humanism, communism, socialism, capitalism are systems of human thought that promise to hold the answers to human life. Man has not progressed a long way from ancient times. He has gone from the worship of idols to the worship of ideologies. Idols are a physical figment of the imagination and ideologies are an intellectual figment of the imagination. Despite the far reaching effects of philosophic materialism few seem to know (including scientists) that modern science itself has already decisively destroyed the foundations of materialism. Matter has been discovered to be a myth, better described as vibrations in a field of energy than as a solid entity. Quantum mechanics tells us that those "solid particles" that we thought we understood can go through two holes in a wall at the same time. Furthermore, the results of our experiments are subject to change according to whether or not we observe what happens! We also find that particles located at opposite ends of the universe affect the behavior of one another through instantaneous connections that we do not understand in the least. These results and many more like them tell us that our models of reality and the assumptions we have put into them are false. The universe is far stranger than our simple ideas have presumed. In fact, our concepts and models regarding reality will never be able to completely capture the object of its study. Finite mind has to break reality into parts in order to study it. As a result we loose information that is contained in the whole. The whole is always greater than the sum of its parts. Reality is transcendent to any idea that we may have about it. Reality is to mind as a sphere is to a circle. It is a higher dimensional entity. We unknowingly stand in the midst of the miraculous. Our own theories are telling us so. Sadly, despite the recent findings of science most of our scientists, intellectuals, and leaders continue to form their ideas about man and his world through the distorting lens of philosophic materialism. We flatten out and crush the mystery that surrounds our every experience.
Another important scientific idea that has been overthrown is the one of randomness and the accidental nature of universe existence. We now know that the constants of nature such as the mass of an electron and proton have to be very finely tuned and coordinated in order to make life possible. If one were to change any of the constants of nature by even a very slight amount the universe would be incapable of supporting life. The probability of this fine-tuning happening by accident is very close to zero. Even hard core scientists are looking at this and saying that our universe certainly appears to be designed to support the eventual existence of life. Scientists that would like to avoid this conclusion posit that there could be an infinite number of parallel universes and that we just happen to live in the one that can miraculously support life. Why such a fear of admitting the obvious? Is it because atheism, secular humanism, philosophic materialism and the entire modern worldview rests on the supposed accidental randomness of the universe?
Randomness is also under attack within Darwin's theory of the evolution of life. Modern science has shown life to be unimaginably more complex than was once supposed. It can now be shown that random Darwinian evolution is mathematically impossible within the constraints of a finite universe. The improbabilities are so enormous it would require a well nigh infinite amount of time to happen. However the universe appears to be quite finite in time and space. If life did not randomly evolve then it must have an element of design. There is that nasty word again. The religion of naturalistic science is not holding up to scrutiny. I think that the final theory of the evolution of life will contain elements of random chance, natural selection, and design. Reality is subtle, not black and white.
And so, we can see how our "science" has led us astray... We can explain the universe. We can control it. We can bring about our own peace, prosperity, and happiness. Man no longer needs God. Man is god. This is the grand experiment that is being played out in the world today. God is a good parent. He knows that His children must learn from their own mistakes. When we reject truth we are destined to believe a lie. When our darkest days arrive we will ask Him why He allows the suffering that we ourselves have chosen. We will learn that error is guaranteed when imperfect beings are bestowed with freewill choice. Fortunately, even our errors work to our benefit in this universe of a loving God. Like a teenager, mankind is growing up by the seat of his mistakes. Maturity takes time and experience. God supplies the time and the experiences. Man supplies the desire; the desire to embrace all that is beautiful, true and good; the desire for perfection; the desire to know and do God's will and the desire to follow His way of Mercy and Justice.
We should not discard the truths of spiritual reality simply because modern experts and scholars in their latest passing fancy, tell us that they are not worth investigating. For instance, many modern atheistic biblical scholars refuse to acknowledge that hundreds of detailed Old Testament biblical prophecies have in fact come true. The prophecies of Daniel are so detailed and so accurate that modern scholars' only explanation is that they were written after the fact despite ample evidence to the contrary. When facts are inconvenient we sweep them under the rug. We have too much invested in our worldview to be bothered by the truth. We should not be so easily fooled. We need to investigate for ourselves. Truth today is buried underneath the slick and the superficial. Almost everything popular and in the public eye is false. Almost everything we think we know is untrue.
The final and permanently decisive nail in the coffin of a mechanical, reductionistic universe is Godel’s incompleteness theorem. It is the ultimate critique of pure reason. Godel proved mathematically that there will always be mathematical truths that can not be logically deduced from prior mathematical truths and assumptions. This means that the intuitive mind is and always will be an essential element in the discovery of mathematical truth. The need for intuition can not be eliminated by pure reason. Reason is analytical. It breaks things into parts in order to understand the whole. Intuition is the other mode of mind function that grasps the whole directly. Reason and intuition work together to produce the products of the human mind. Reason lays the groundwork and eliminates inconsistencies and errors. Intuition makes the leaps off the platforms established by reason. Reason once again eliminates errors and inconsistencies from the intuitive ideas. Therefore Godel’s incompleteness theorem leads directly to a new philosophy of mind. Pure reason is dethroned. Intuition comes before reason and goes after it. Intuition is both a valid and necessary mode of mind function of all human beings. Understanding can never be merely reduced to reason and logic. Computers can never be intelligent in the way that human beings can be intelligent. They lack intuition, the other modality of mind that complements reason. Reason and logic validates the outer world of objective experience. Intuition validates the inner world of subjective experience. Intuition grasps the whole. Reason grasps the part. Faith is the intuition that the inner universe of spiritual experience is real. Science is founded on the intuition that the external universe of the senses is real. Science is the search for objective truth in the external world. Religion is the search for subjective truth in the internal world. Subjective truth and objective truth are two sides of one coin, one reality. They should not contradict one another, neither should they constrain one another. We see with two eyes, one of faith and one of reason. Together they give us the perception of depth, rather than the flat one-eyed vision of rational materialism.
Matter is real. Spirit is real. Faith and reason are complements. Brilliant scientists can and many times are devout believers. The "either/or" dichotomy of Western Philosophy is being replaced by the "and" philosophy of tomorrow. Science and Religion. Faith and Reason. Spirit and Matter. Outer and Inner. In summary, matter is the lower dimensional projection of a higher dimensional spiritual reality. As Plato said, matter is the shadow of spirit and not the other way around. We should have listened.
Thursday
Entering The Castle -- By: Caroline Myss
More and more people are being drawn to the work of great mystics of Judeo-Christian and Eastern traditions. As an evolving spiritual culture, Author Caroline Myss believes we are ready for a spiritual evolutionary leap, for the world is "sorely in need of a touch of the Divine; the true self in each and everyone of us", says Myss.
Entering the Castle, An Inner Path to God and Your Soul, is about a life's journey that is transforming. We learn that prayer is a power beyond measure and that contemplation, essential to maintaining a dialogue with your soul and with God, requires more than just withdrawing into solitude.
"We need not leave home to meet God and receive grace. People crave a grounded spirituality that can be practiced every day. We crave to experience a deep mystical prayer and disipline without having to take off to ashrams or adopt extreme practics of deprivation. We need not take vows of poverty of chasity and we don't want to renounce family or friends", says Myss. "In short we want to be mystics without monasteries and ENTERING THE CASTLE provides the way".
Myss draws heavily on the work of St Teresa of Avila and her brilliant meditation text, "The Interior Castle". She also does an excellent job of defining the outer self and the inner self (the way to God consciousness). The mystics from East and West have long proclaimed that the Kingdom of Heaven is within, thus Myss has given us a quide to finding and knowing God, a quest that will lead us away from our egos to a world of inner peace and transformative enlightenment.
One of the most enthralling components of the book is the story of the spiritual transformation of Myss herself. By writing about her own personal journey the reader's heart opens up to the possibilities of experiencing the Divine.
This book comes highly recommended. (Caroline Myss is the bestselling author of Anatomy of the Spirit and Savred Contracts)
Jane T. Morgan
Posted: August 2008
Entering the Castle, An Inner Path to God and Your Soul, is about a life's journey that is transforming. We learn that prayer is a power beyond measure and that contemplation, essential to maintaining a dialogue with your soul and with God, requires more than just withdrawing into solitude.
"We need not leave home to meet God and receive grace. People crave a grounded spirituality that can be practiced every day. We crave to experience a deep mystical prayer and disipline without having to take off to ashrams or adopt extreme practics of deprivation. We need not take vows of poverty of chasity and we don't want to renounce family or friends", says Myss. "In short we want to be mystics without monasteries and ENTERING THE CASTLE provides the way".
Myss draws heavily on the work of St Teresa of Avila and her brilliant meditation text, "The Interior Castle". She also does an excellent job of defining the outer self and the inner self (the way to God consciousness). The mystics from East and West have long proclaimed that the Kingdom of Heaven is within, thus Myss has given us a quide to finding and knowing God, a quest that will lead us away from our egos to a world of inner peace and transformative enlightenment.
One of the most enthralling components of the book is the story of the spiritual transformation of Myss herself. By writing about her own personal journey the reader's heart opens up to the possibilities of experiencing the Divine.
This book comes highly recommended. (Caroline Myss is the bestselling author of Anatomy of the Spirit and Savred Contracts)
Jane T. Morgan
Posted: August 2008
Saturday
ACTING ON THE INTUITION THAT GOD EXISTS
We are all invited to investigate the reality of God for ourselves. Do not doubt that spiritual realities are within our reach. True religion is directly accessible to us from within. This search is the first duty and the hightest privilege of all men and women.
We are not to be satisfied merely by knowing what others have said about God. Rather, it is the direct knowledge of God that is the treasure in the field and the pearl of great price for which we should trade all of which we have, and all of which we are, in order to own.
Words cannot describe this experience. Once tasted there is nothing else that will do. We have touched the third rail. The circuits of our minds are re-arranged. Our hearts are enlarged. All is becoming new. We see with new eyes and feel with new hearts. Only we ourselves can deprive ourselves of this experience.
We should never give up the search. It is not difficult, for we have been designed for success. The important thing is to start.
In order to discover truth in the infinite world where God resides, we must act on intuition as well as merely to perceive it. This is all that faith really is -- acting on our intuition that God is real. The results of those actions, over time, leads to an experience that validates our intuition. Faith is but a scaffold to the higher assurances of direct knowledge. To know someone is much different than to know about someone.
Just as in science, evidence for the validity of spiritual reality should be sought just as in any other rational eadeavor. However, we need to make observations regarding qualitative inner changes as opposed to the quantitative outer changes observed by science. Dedication to the knowing and doing of God's will leads to qualitative changes in levels of happiness, peacefulness, selflessness and the appreciation of the truth and beauty that surrounds us. We find ourselves changing in inexplicable ways and the fruits of the spirit are observable to ourselves and to others.
The inner man has biologic drives that vie for his attention but he also has a drive to understand himself and the world in which he lives. He has a drive to love and be loved -- he has a drive to become whole. The balance and achievement of these goals lies in accessing the energy and guidance of the living spirit which dwells within. God has drawn near to us through His spirit to guide us and comfort us. He becomes what we are to make us what He is. Although His wisdom is beyond knowing, we must learn how to choose it over our own.
The Son of Man introduced us to and intrigues us with the mysterious concept of the Kingdom of Heaven. We need to read His parables over and over again until we can stretch our minds over His words. We now have the knowledge and understanding to solve this ancient mystery. The time is coming for the implementation of a new way of seeing and living. The question is not whether or not we can accomplish this. The question is will we choose to accomplish it.
The will is the simgle most important part of a human being. It is the will that situates us in time and in eternity. We may have grown up in a world of rebellion but we have the power to turn it off with a simple switch.
Dr. Edmund Roache, Author
THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN IS AT HAND
We are not to be satisfied merely by knowing what others have said about God. Rather, it is the direct knowledge of God that is the treasure in the field and the pearl of great price for which we should trade all of which we have, and all of which we are, in order to own.
Words cannot describe this experience. Once tasted there is nothing else that will do. We have touched the third rail. The circuits of our minds are re-arranged. Our hearts are enlarged. All is becoming new. We see with new eyes and feel with new hearts. Only we ourselves can deprive ourselves of this experience.
We should never give up the search. It is not difficult, for we have been designed for success. The important thing is to start.
In order to discover truth in the infinite world where God resides, we must act on intuition as well as merely to perceive it. This is all that faith really is -- acting on our intuition that God is real. The results of those actions, over time, leads to an experience that validates our intuition. Faith is but a scaffold to the higher assurances of direct knowledge. To know someone is much different than to know about someone.
Just as in science, evidence for the validity of spiritual reality should be sought just as in any other rational eadeavor. However, we need to make observations regarding qualitative inner changes as opposed to the quantitative outer changes observed by science. Dedication to the knowing and doing of God's will leads to qualitative changes in levels of happiness, peacefulness, selflessness and the appreciation of the truth and beauty that surrounds us. We find ourselves changing in inexplicable ways and the fruits of the spirit are observable to ourselves and to others.
The inner man has biologic drives that vie for his attention but he also has a drive to understand himself and the world in which he lives. He has a drive to love and be loved -- he has a drive to become whole. The balance and achievement of these goals lies in accessing the energy and guidance of the living spirit which dwells within. God has drawn near to us through His spirit to guide us and comfort us. He becomes what we are to make us what He is. Although His wisdom is beyond knowing, we must learn how to choose it over our own.
The Son of Man introduced us to and intrigues us with the mysterious concept of the Kingdom of Heaven. We need to read His parables over and over again until we can stretch our minds over His words. We now have the knowledge and understanding to solve this ancient mystery. The time is coming for the implementation of a new way of seeing and living. The question is not whether or not we can accomplish this. The question is will we choose to accomplish it.
The will is the simgle most important part of a human being. It is the will that situates us in time and in eternity. We may have grown up in a world of rebellion but we have the power to turn it off with a simple switch.
Dr. Edmund Roache, Author
THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN IS AT HAND
Friday
ABOUT PROPHECY
Isaiah tells us that God's ways are not man's ways. God words, the words of true prophecy are also not like man's words. God's words start out as small seedlings, but over time they grow, give off branches, form buds, and finally burst into bloom. Just so, the word "Israel" starts out as the tiny seed of one man named Abraham, but through the ages, the word "Israel" grows, changes, and finally bursts forth into the brotherhood of all mankind.
Words of prophecy often have past, present, and future connotations. Each word demands tremendous respect and study of all the contexts of its usage. Reverence for the sources of prophecy is the key to its study, for it is God who must lead our minds into the understanding of what He Himself has inspired.
Without the indwelling spirit there would be no true prophecy and no interpretation of prophecy. But reason and the scientific method are also critical for the elimination of error, and for the building of a strong foundation from whence inspired intuition may leap safely. Therefore, both reason and faith are necessary for the complete appreciation of prophecy, just as they are for the full appreciation of all other phenomena. April 3, 2008
Dr. Edmund Roache, Author of the "Kingdom of Heaven is at Hand". The book can be ordered from this site or on Amazon.com. Scroll down blog page for book review.
Words of prophecy often have past, present, and future connotations. Each word demands tremendous respect and study of all the contexts of its usage. Reverence for the sources of prophecy is the key to its study, for it is God who must lead our minds into the understanding of what He Himself has inspired.
Without the indwelling spirit there would be no true prophecy and no interpretation of prophecy. But reason and the scientific method are also critical for the elimination of error, and for the building of a strong foundation from whence inspired intuition may leap safely. Therefore, both reason and faith are necessary for the complete appreciation of prophecy, just as they are for the full appreciation of all other phenomena. April 3, 2008
Dr. Edmund Roache, Author of the "Kingdom of Heaven is at Hand". The book can be ordered from this site or on Amazon.com. Scroll down blog page for book review.
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