Dave's Blog
Monday, December 22, 2003 11:54:47 PM
There is Only One God
It is very interesting to me that there are people in conflict in the
name of religion, all worshipping the same god. The Jews have one
god, who has several names, depending on which part of the scriptures
you are reading at the moment. The Christians have one god, and they
recognize this as the god of the Jews. The Muslims have one god, and
they also recognize this as the god of the Jews. The Greeks had one
god, did you know that? The Hindus, too! Now, here is an
interesting point: If there is only one god, then what you call that
god is irrelevant. Knowing that there is a god, that it is the god,
and that there is no other god, is sufficient to recognize that
whether you call it Jim or Frank or Angela doesn't matter. And if
your god is the only god, and someone else's god is the only god, hey!
It's the same god!
A Muslim is a person who "surrenders to god." Jesus was a Jew, and
Jesus was a Muslim! Just think about that one for a minute!
Some Hindus recognize that brahma is the god of which all existence
is but an aspect. The Greeks recognized that Zeus was the god of
which all other gods were but aspects. The Roman version of Zeus was
Jupiter, but does that matter? Well ... let's see.
Zeus (Dios, also a Christian name for god) became all that was by
consuming his grandfather, Ouranos. Ouranos was the Universe, and in
consuming the Universe, Zeus also consumed all the other gods, making
them all part of him. So, you see, Zeus is all there is. In
encompassing the Universe and all the gods, Zeus became the one and
only god.
Antiochus Epiphanes placed the Altar of Zeus in Solomon's Temple in
168 B.C. This was called an "abomination of desolation," guess by
whom. Jesus told his disciples they would live to see an
"abomination of desolation" in their lifetime. Vespasian and Titus
destroyed Solomon's Temple in 70 A.D., and in 135 A.D. Hadrian
erected a Temple of Jupiter upon the Temple Mount. Since 685 A.D.
al-Haram al-Sharif, the Noble Sanctuary, has stood on that 35
acres. There are Jews today who would level the Noble Sanctuary and
build a new Temple of Solomon.
Hello! If there is only one god, a temple to god is surely a temple
to that one god, regardless of what you call it. It does not make
sense to desecrate one temple to god and erect another to praise it.
That is a succession of temples, but not a praise of god, because
there is, as all these people recognize, only one god.
Monday, December 08, 2003 10:24:15 PM
Margaret and I attended Laura's drumming circle on Sunday evening.
Today the moon was full at 12:37 PST, so it looked full last night.
The evening was a celebration of Persephone, as she rises from the
earth on the Winter Solstice, December 22nd. Part of the activities
of the circle included a journey into the earth with some power
animals, and a return with a gift from the deep. Interestingly,
instead of darkness, I emerged from the deep with a gift of light!
It was fun relating our experiences to the circle. I saw some of the
members were living in a place of fear, and some were living in a
place of love. Some were living in a place of lack, and some were
living in a place of abundance. I took the responsibility of
reminding myself that I was living in a place of love and abundance.
As I did so, the evening became a lesson for me. Total open loving
acceptance is still on my list of things to do, not on my list of
"been there, done that." Yet I know I am love, I know I am a healing
presence, I know I am prosperous. I achieve the knowingness in every
moment through lessons lived and internalized, like this evening. As
an observer, watching the participants, I learn also to watch myself.
So each person becomes a teacher, as each person becomes a learner.
All the participants had something to say, every one of them brought
her universe into the circle, all of them wanted to be heard. Every
person in the circle became my teacher, and every one of them danced
a dance of cooperation in forming the tapestry of the evening's
spirit and its lesson. There were multiple messages at multiple
levels.
When a leader encourages a follower to take the lead, the leader
learns the grace to become the follower. I get to see this, so that
when I am a leader and reverse the role, I will know that the role
cannot be half-reversed. The follower's new ideas may be contrary to
what the leader has expected, and a new lesson is taught to the
teacher.
Friday, December 05, 2003 8:27:45 PM
"I am willing to see the light."
-- Bijan, Absolutely Effortless Prosperity, p. 13.
Well, I'm working a shift upwards of 11 hours, no time for breaks or
lunch. I did break for dinner while a tester checked out the lab.
Doom and gloom, or light and joy? It means I'm useful, and it means
I'll be working with this customer for a while. That's good!
Thursday, December 04, 2003 9:32:10 PM
"I do not know the real meaning of what I see."
-- Bijan, Absolutely Effortless Prosperity, p. 12.
The American stock markets took a nice little roller-coaster ride
today. See how the indexes all went up, to about 11:00 am, then down,
to about 2:30 pm, then up again? Notice how they ended pretty much
at the same level as they started? The Dow closed +0.58%, the
S&P 500 closed +0.47%, and the NASDAQ closed +0.44%. A sleepy day.
For a day trader, up hours might be good and down hours might be bad.
For a short seller, down hours might be good and up hours might be
bad. But the indexes seemed to move randomly.
Let's take a look at the 5-year history of the Dow:
Look familiar? It should. Another random walk down Wall Street.
Whether it's up or down depends on where you choose your starting
point, but it appears to have lots of randomness. How much you make
seems to be a function of how much you put in, and when. Some
investors drop out, some investors lose a lot of money, and some
investors make a lot of money.
Now let's take a look at a very long history of the Dow. All those
little 0.5% rises and falls begin to take a larger shape, that of the
exponential curve driven by the demands of the market participants
themselves. Overall, the trend is a 3% return after inflation. Some
investors drop out, some investors lose a lot of money, and some
investors make a lot of money, but the overall trend is historically
3%. Wall Street doesn't walk randomly, it walks the 3% return line,
albeit unsteadily.
Out of chaos, order.
Wednesday, December 03, 2003 9:28:04 PM
"I am aware of what I see."
-- Bijan, Absolutely Effortless Prosperity, p. 11.
(c) ASSIST Information Services
Tuesday, December 02, 2003 10:18:30 PM
"I notice what I hear today."
-- Bijan, Absolutely Effortless Prosperity, p. 10.
I used to think that this meant that I decided what to hear and what
not to hear, that I changed my filters so that positive words came
to me, and negative words stayed away. But today I realized no matter
what the words were, there was a positive or a negative way to hear
them. Like the cards of the Tarot or the characters of Pokemon,
words can be perceived with a high, or positive, interpretation, and
with a low, or negative, interpretation. But even this statement
contains an interpretation. For while I associate positive with high
and negative with low, I associate them with good and bad. "Evil" is
a 17th-Century word for "bad." God being in all things, and God
being good, it follows that there is good in all things. An
interpretation is neither good nor bad, and neither right nor wrong.
What, then, to distinguish, if not judge, our interpretation? How
about "supportive and non-supportive?" This is what Harv Eker
advocates, and I find it useful.
Today I heard a call that asked whether I could get something done
immediately. It was an innocent call, not taking into account my
personal expertise or the architecture of the problem. I could have
taken a non-supportive interpretation, such as it was not my area of
expertise, I wasn't on a high-speed network, I didn't know the true
architecture of the problem. However, I accepted the challenge and
began calling other experts, until I had a clear picture of who could
contribute what to the solution, and what my contribution could be.
Sure enough, the problem was solved by the end of the day. As I was
reflecting on the challenge, I realized a supportive interpretation
of the call. I was needed, I was vital. I could sort out what could
be done to solve the problem, and I could coordinate the effort to
bring about its solution. I was valuable! The "problem" had
actually been a "puzzle," and I was the one who sorted it out!
~ oOo ~ ~ oOo ~ ~ oOo ~ ~ oOo ~ ~ oOo ~ ~ oOo ~ ~ oOo ~ ~ oOo ~
I would like to spend a few minutes contemplating the "low" and "high"
interpretations of "evil." The "low" interpretation might be
"morally reprehensible," which, if we wander through the dictionary
long enough, translates to "disapproved of by the principles of right
or wrong." That is, "evil" translates to "wrong." That's all.
Now the definition of evil leads to a problem for theologians, as the
Encyclopedia Britannica explains:
evil, problem of
a theological problem that arises for any philosophical or religious
view that affirms the following three propositions: (1) God is
almighty, (2) God is perfectly good, and (3) evil exists. If evil
exists, it seems either that God wants to obliterate evil and is not
able to—and thus his almightiness is denied—or that God is able to
obliterate evil but does not want to—and thus his goodness is denied.
The theological problem of evil can be solved logically by denying
any one of these three propositions. Vedanta Hinduism, Christian
Science, and Stoicism have sought to solve the problem by denying the
existence of evil. They affirm that evil is mere appearance or is
imaginary. The U.S. philosopher William James attempted to solve the
problem by denying the almightiness of God. He regarded God as having
great but limited power and as being perfectly good. Orthodox
Christianity, however, has generally chosen to live with the tension
involved in affirming all three propositions. Some, instead of
denying the proposition that God is almighty, have defined the
proposition to mean that God can do anything that is logically
possible. The 17th-century German philosopher Gottfried Wilhelm
Leibniz, for example, stated that, because God is limited to that
which is logically possible, the existence of evil is necessary in
this "best of all possible worlds."
"Evil, Problem of." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2003. Encyclopædia Britannica Premium Service.
03 Dec, 2003 <http://www.britannica.com/eb/article?eu=33962>.
Now it seems to me that as Americans foray to the ends of the earth
to support what an Army general reputedly called a battle between
good and evil, we are discovering that the terms "good," "bad,"
"right," and "wrong" have very slippery definitions. One man's food
is another man's poison.
I would have to deny the existence of evil, in the classical sense,
on the grounds that God is infinitely powerful, omnipotent, and that
God's power is not limited to things which are logically possible.
The popular definition of a miracle is precisely a demonstration of
God's power that goes beyond the logical.
How, then, do I read passages referring to evil? In the interest of
making a distinction, if not a judgment, I think of something called
"evil" as "non-supportive." If I had seen it in my path, I would not
have stepped in it. It had consequences that increased effort and
turmoil, rather than ease and peace. God is Good, and God is Peace,
so the perception of something as evil is the illusion that it is
counter to God.
"Then the Lord God said, 'Behold, the man has become like one of Us,
to know good and evil. And now, lest he put out his hand and take
also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever' -- therefore
the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden to till the
ground from which he was taken."
-- Genesis 3.22-23 NKJV
"Judge not, and you shall not be judged. Condemn not, and you shall
not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. Give, and it
will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together,
and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same
measure that you use, it will be measured back to you."
-- Jesus Christ (Luke 6.37-38 NKJV)
"Now it came to pass, when the time had come for Him to be received
up, that He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem, and sent
messengers before his face. And as they went, they entered a village
of the Samaritans, to prepare for Him. But they did not receive Him,
because His face was set for the journey to Jerusalem. And when His
disciples James and John saw this, they said, 'Lord, do You want us
to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them, just as
Elijah did?'
"But He turned and rebuked them, and said, 'You do not know what
manner of spirit you are of. For the Son of Man did not come to
destroy men's lives, but to save them.' And they went to another
village."
-- Luke 9.51-56 NKJV
"If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, 'Give Me
a drink,' you would have asked Him, and He would have given you
living water. ...
"Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever
drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the
water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water
springing up into everlasting life."
-- Jesus Christ (John 4.10,13-14 NKJV)
"I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though
he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me
shall never die. Do you believe this?"
-- Jesus Christ (John 11.25-26 NKJV)
Monday, December 01, 2003 11:48:45 PM
"I watch what I say."
-- Bijan, Absolutely Effortless Prosperity, p. 9.
"Hear and understand: Not what goes into the mouth defiles a man;
but what comes out of the mouth, this defiles a man."
-- Jesus Christ (Matt. 15.10-11 NKJV)
"Again you have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall
not swear falsely, but shall perform your oaths to the Lord.' But I
say unto you, do not swear at all; neither by heaven, as it is God's
throne, nor by the earth, for it is His footstool; nor by Jerusalem,
for it is the city of the great King. Nor shall you swear by your
head, because you cannot make one hair white or black. But let your
'Yes' be 'Yes' and your 'No,' 'No.' For whatever is more than these
is from the evil one."
-- Jesus Christ (Matt. 5.33-37 NKJV)
"Assuredly, I say unto you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you
will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but also if you say
unto this mountain, 'Be removed and be cast into the sea,' it will be
done. And whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will
receive."
-- Jesus Christ (Matt. 21.21-22 NKJV)
"Have faith in God. For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to
this mountain, 'Be removed and be cast into the sea,' and does not
doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be
done, he will have whatever he says. Therefore I say to you,
whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them,
and you will have them."
-- Jesus Christ (Mark 11.22-24 NKJV)
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the
Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were
made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In
Him was life, and the life was the light of men."
-- John 1.1-4 NKJV
At the beginning of service, whether it be on jury duty, in the Armed
Forces, in elected office or in civil service, one common ceremony is
observed: an oath. The servant of the People swears to perform his
or her duty faithfully. Jesus Christ advised against this for the
same reason our culture encourages it: What you declare is done. An
oath binds you more deeply than the paper you sign or the witnesses
who watch you speak it. All these symbols add up to a powerful
commitment.
It has been said that man is a tool-using animal. In the past it was
asserted that man was the only tool-using animal, an assertion born
of ignorance. Today we know of other tool-using animals, and we are
more humble.
One tool man uses is the symbol. Words are symbols, and man uses
them so extensively that pivotal discoveries in religion, philosophy,
and psychology revolve around man's use of the symbol. Before there
can be physical reality, there is the idea. This principle is echoed
by Plato, Aristotle, and Jesus Christ.
When I declare Truth, I know that the Universe moves to support it.
I speak the Truth, and physical reality transforms itself to fulfill
my word. There is no need to invoke something outside myself to
seal my word, no need to bar myself from speaking a different word
in the future. What I request, knowing that I already have, is mine.
Treatment is a symbol, an abbreviation for Spritual Mind Treatment.
The five steps of treatment are a thought pattern that reminds me
of the Truth that I need to believe. First, that God is everywhere,
all present and all powerful. Second, that God is in me, and that I
am one with God. Third, that whatever I declare is made manifest,
and here I remind myself of that which is my desire, so that the
action of the Universe has focus. Fourth, an expression of gratitude,
for belief is both mental and emotional. Finally, a release, for a
statement of fact need not be dwelt upon.
Every word is a prayer. Every thought is a prayer. Praise is thanks,
and thanks is openness to receive. Everything I say reinforces my
belief, through clarification, amplification, and resolution.
Affirmations, mantras, and polite behavior reinforce my thought. I
once memorized mathematical truths; I now memorize spiritual truths.
It's the same process, really. As I would now not question the
utility and validity of statements such as "P = VI," or "F = ma," I
no longer question statements such as "like attracts like," and "God
is my source."
As I repeat each affirmation and truth for my brain to hear, I become
more reflexive in accepting it. Like the times tables, the
affirmative aspect of religion becomes an integral part of my
consciousness. And at some point I realize all that can be spoken
are words that affirm the truth.
"Be aware of how much you keep your word today."
-- Bijan, Absolutely Effortless Prosperity, p. 9.
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