Archive for April, 2013

Being Salvador Dali

dali

This past night I woke at 4 am, restless.  Since I could not get back to sleep, I decided to do something productive with my time … so I meditated.  The message that I received was this:

“You become whatever it is you fight against.”

If you fight your fears, you become afraid. Fight against the judgement of others, and surely you will only receive more judgement heaped upon you. Fight against the awfulness that are tragedies outside your ability to command, and you will become depressed.  Fight against the the darkness within you, and you become inevitably owned by that darkness.

I received a mental picture; a vision. I was standing next to a candle in what appeared to be a darkened castle; stone was all around.  The light of my candle simply served to make the darkness beyond more frightening … a prison, if you will.  To break free of the prison there were only two options: snuff out the light and simply become accustomed to the night, OR pick up the candle and take it with me.  I walked every inner corridor of this metaphoric domain, and along the way I found I could pass on the flame.  Soon the entire place was filled with light and I could walk wherever I pleased.

The same would have been true if I had blown the candle out as well though … it would have been less lit, but my eyes would have grown accustomed.  That domain was my soul … that darkness a part of me … no matter how many candles I lit, there would always be darkness somewhere.  To truly BE your True Self, you must end the inner struggle … accept both sides, just as they are, and allow Love to fill up all of it.  Then there is no fight … only the supreme richness of Being.

Here are my quotes to meditate on today; on the subject of being yourself:

“Each morning when I awake, I experience again a supreme pleasure: that of being Salvador Dali.”

– Salvador Dali

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“Let yourself be drawn by the stronger pull of that which you truly love.”

– Rumi

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“Be yourself – not your idea of what you think somebody else’s idea of yourself should be.”

– Henry David Thoreau

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Religion4All is an idea: that every human being (no matter their race, religion, sexuality, social status, lifestyle, or any other possible factor) is LOVED by God; just … as … they are.

We all are loved by God, and NO religion or person has a monopoly on it. Every single person on this planet is loved equally by God … SO many are cut off from God because they are told they don’t belong. God loves everyone … we ALL are beautiful creations … we don’t need to cringe when we hear the words “God”, or “religion”, or their judgments … God LOVES us all!

There is no requirement to change in order to be LOVED by God, or to LOVE God. God is LOVE, and LOVE is God … period. There is no one who God loves more than anyone else … there are only those who choose to LOVE more … to love God more, and consequently then to love each other more. In doing so, we grow closer to God … and know God.

By opening our hearts, and minds to God (free of boundaries like religion, or social trends); by LOVING God … we are exactly where we are meant to be. If we maintain that openness, never allowing any person or event to make us close our hearts, we will be guided by God to be who we are meant to be.

In that space of openness we can then live a life of LOVE, and be guided to where we are meant to be … forever in LOVE.

Southern California, Northern California, Mission ViejoIrvineLos AngelesSan FranciscoMarinSan JoseSan Juan CapistranoSanta AnaPalm SpringsLong Beach

Hurricane You

hurricane_2

I once had a professor who would jokingly refer to me as a literal hurricane … because we were close I took it as a token of affection.  I was studying to be a classically trained singer, so what better description could one ask for than to be compared to a force of nature?? lol

While I do have a fairly sizable personality, we ALL affect the world around us in the same way … even the quietest and shyest person in the room.  If you don’t believe me, try doing an experiment where you act in a manner that is unusual for you.  For me that would be to sit in a corner, without saying a word.  For someone else, perhaps that would look like they were being wildly charismatic.  What do you think the result would be?  I’ve tried this experiment out, so I know for myself.

When I was in college I once made the attempt to not say one word for an entire evening.  You’d think that I would have had an educational evening of solitude where I could actually learn things about others (what a concept).  No … suddenly people were buzzing around me, trying to figure out what was wrong!  They kept asking me if something was bothering me and I would simply shake my head … it all went on for quite a while before I finally broke down and said I simply was taking a break from speaking for the evening.  Even that explanation wasn’t good enough … I became the topic of conversation simply by doing nothing!

The point is, we each are our own personal force of nature.  Whether you want to own that or not, it is most definitely true.  You can decide that you aren’t going to believe it and continue to stumble about the world like a bull in a china shop; causing unintended ripple effects in reaction to you wherever you go.  OR you could start to pay attention, become a watcher, and see how things unfold around you … and what role you have played in them unfolding in the manner they have.

What we really are supposed to be UP TO in life is being conscious, awake, and aware of this reality.  When you truly see it you then start to try and figure out how to minimize the negative effects and maximize the positive aspects you bring into the world.  That is just the beginning … because what you ultimately will find is that there is a TON of work to do at figuring and sorting yourself out … who you really ARE.  You will go on a wonderfully frightening adventure within yourself; meeting both the demons and saints of your psyche.  It is your own personal mythology and, if you stick with it, you will ultimately discover that Love is really the only thing of importance in this world … Love is what will set you free.

Eventually (we can all hope) you will get to the point where you decide you don’t want anything but Love to be the ripples of your influence.  That is certainly what I hope for myself ;-).

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– this post was the result of meditating on my prior post, “Freedom“.

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Religion4All is an idea: that every human being (no matter their race, religion, sexuality, social status, lifestyle, or any other possible factor) is LOVED by God; just … as … they are.

We all are loved by God, and NO religion or person has a monopoly on it. Every single person on this planet is loved equally by God … SO many are cut off from God because they are told they don’t belong. God loves everyone … we ALL are beautiful creations … we don’t need to cringe when we hear the words “God”, or “religion”, or their judgments … God LOVES us all!

There is no requirement to change in order to be LOVED by God, or to LOVE God. God is LOVE, and LOVE is God … period. There is no one who God loves more than anyone else … there are only those who choose to LOVE more … to love God more, and consequently then to love each other more. In doing so, we grow closer to God … and know God.

By opening our hearts, and minds to God (free of boundaries like religion, or social trends); by LOVING God … we are exactly where we are meant to be. If we maintain that openness, never allowing any person or event to make us close our hearts, we will be guided by God to be who we are meant to be.

In that space of openness we can then live a life of LOVE, and be guided to where we are meant to be … forever in LOVE.

Southern California, Northern California, Mission ViejoIrvineLos AngelesSan FranciscoMarinSan JoseSan Juan CapistranoSanta AnaPalm SpringsLong Beach

Freedom

fame

My words for meditation today … continuing on the theme of service to others; of valuing others.  We all can give service at any time, but our actions affect the world around us greatly … each of us has value … you are important.  The importance is that service should come from a place where that it pours out of you because you simply cannot contain it … your soul is burgeoning with Bliss, and overflowing with Love … attaining such a state IS a service to others, and the rest will simply follow naturally.

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“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?”

– Jesus

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“Become aware, awake. Then you will see that everything comes and goes, all things come and pass. Life is a flux. Your consciousness is the only thing that is immovable, that is eternal. To attain it is freedom. To attain it is the goal of life. If you miss it you have missed your life and you have missed a tremendously great gift, a great opportunity.”

– Osho

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– pic from FAME; providing much needed medicine in Africa.

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Religion4All is an idea: that every human being (no matter their race, religion, sexuality, social status, lifestyle, or any other possible factor) is LOVED by God; just … as … they are.

We all are loved by God, and NO religion or person has a monopoly on it. Every single person on this planet is loved equally by God … SO many are cut off from God because they are told they don’t belong. God loves everyone … we ALL are beautiful creations … we don’t need to cringe when we hear the words “God”, or “religion”, or their judgments … God LOVES us all!

There is no requirement to change in order to be LOVED by God, or to LOVE God. God is LOVE, and LOVE is God … period. There is no one who God loves more than anyone else … there are only those who choose to LOVE more … to love God more, and consequently then to love each other more. In doing so, we grow closer to God … and know God.

By opening our hearts, and minds to God (free of boundaries like religion, or social trends); by LOVING God … we are exactly where we are meant to be. If we maintain that openness, never allowing any person or event to make us close our hearts, we will be guided by God to be who we are meant to be.

In that space of openness we can then live a life of LOVE, and be guided to where we are meant to be … forever in LOVE.

Southern California, Northern California, Mission ViejoIrvineLos AngelesSan FranciscoMarinSan JoseSan Juan CapistranoSanta AnaPalm SpringsLong Beach

Purposefully Blissful

 

bliss

The topic for my meditations … allowing ourselves to be servants to the beauty that is the Divine Uniqueness we each possess:

“A customer is the most important visitor on our premises, he is not dependent on us. We are dependent on him. He is not an interruption in our work. He is the purpose of it.”

– Mahatma Gandhi

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“He who wants to be first shall be last, and the servant of every person.”

– Jesus

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“Real service arises out of bliss.

If you are blissful you are bound to serve people. And when service comes out of bliss it has a fragrance of its own, a beauty, a grace. It is something divine. Its very touch is healing. It transforms dust into gold. So first become a blissful person.”

– Osho

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– pic by El Cantil
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Religion4All is an idea: that every human being (no matter their race, religion, sexuality, social status, lifestyle, or any other possible factor) is LOVED by God; just … as … they are.

We all are loved by God, and NO religion or person has a monopoly on it. Every single person on this planet is loved equally by God … SO many are cut off from God because they are told they don’t belong. God loves everyone … we ALL are beautiful creations … we don’t need to cringe when we hear the words “God”, or “religion”, or their judgments … God LOVES us all!

There is no requirement to change in order to be LOVED by God, or to LOVE God. God is LOVE, and LOVE is God … period. There is no one who God loves more than anyone else … there are only those who choose to LOVE more … to love God more, and consequently then to love each other more. In doing so, we grow closer to God … and know God.

By opening our hearts, and minds to God (free of boundaries like religion, or social trends); by LOVING God … we are exactly where we are meant to be. If we maintain that openness, never allowing any person or event to make us close our hearts, we will be guided by God to be who we are meant to be.

In that space of openness we can then live a life of LOVE, and be guided to where we are meant to be … forever in LOVE.

Southern California, Northern California, Mission ViejoIrvineLos AngelesSan FranciscoMarinSan JoseSan Juan CapistranoSanta AnaPalm SpringsLong Beach

Beware Your Intentions

tumblr_m6lzche5K31r8vrhxo1_500

Inevitably your intentions are what end up owning you.  What is a famous saying?

“Oh, but I had the BEST of intentions!”

Really?  Truthfully? More frequently than not our intentions have everything to do with with something that will wind up being beneficial for US.  We fight for them. We lie for them. We deceive for them. We even cause pain for them.  It doesn’t start out that way, for sure … but if we don’t guard what the roots of our intentions are, we wind up on a difficult road to climb.

There is no substance known to man that is more slippery than intentions.

So how do we get at the roots of our intentions? Well, it really is pretty simple in concept … it’s the execution that kills us.  We have to let go of the outcomes … we have to simply step back and TRUST that whatever takes place is what we are meant to experience and learn from.  We don’t like that though … being polished isn’t pleasant, and being honed is even worse.  That is what these experiences in our lives are for though … they are what we need to learn the lessons that we are supposed to learn.

When we go about trying to force reality into a box of our own making THAT is when we start bringing things into our lives that are harmful.  Then we wonder how God could be SO cruel to allow something like that to happen to us … when most of these circumstances are simply the realities we have created for ourselves.

If you have a relationship and you are dreadfully frightened that they will leave you or be unfaithful … what do you do?  You scheme, and snoop, and badger, and harangue the other person SO much to try and make sure they aren’t … that you actually drive them to the place you feared most.  You created that reality … your intention wasn’t based in Love.

If you get a brand new car and it is so beautiful that you adoringly fawn over it … but then somehow it loses its luster over time.  Well, you clearly have to go get something new that you can fawn over again, because it felt SO good.  More and more, you just keep piling it on … and each thing you guard ferociously, because at one time they meant SO much to you.  Eventually through all that hoarding and possessing you wind up stepping on people’s toes, or worse … you actually behave dishonestly.  Something happens and you end up losing some or all of the things you cared so deeply for.  You created that reality … your intention wasn’t based in Love.

The list can be described for virtually anything … any possibly thing that you can attach an intention to.  Does that mean you should do nothing … not attach any intentions to anything??  No … it merely means that you want to be as vigilant as possible as to your true intentions actually are.  Check your intentions, scrutinize your intentions … make sure that the intention you affix to something has Love at its core.

True Love … Unconditional Love … does not step on toes, bully, push people out of its way, snoop or spy on, or any other number of results that come from unhealthy intentions.  True Love lets go … it allows your heart to always be open … it allows your intuition to hear where you are being Divinely Led.

So get at your roots … and don’t be afraid to dig.

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– pic from the soul is bone.

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Religion4All is an idea: that every human being (no matter their race, religion, sexuality, social status, lifestyle, or any other possible factor) is LOVED by God; just … as … they are.

We all are loved by God, and NO religion or person has a monopoly on it. Every single person on this planet is loved equally by God … SO many are cut off from God because they are told they don’t belong. God loves everyone … we ALL are beautiful creations … we don’t need to cringe when we hear the words “God”, or “religion”, or their judgments … God LOVES us all!

There is no requirement to change in order to be LOVED by God, or to LOVE God. God is LOVE, and LOVE is God … period. There is no one who God loves more than anyone else … there are only those who choose to LOVE more … to love God more, and consequently then to love each other more. In doing so, we grow closer to God … and know God.

By opening our hearts, and minds to God (free of boundaries like religion, or social trends); by LOVING God … we are exactly where we are meant to be. If we maintain that openness, never allowing any person or event to make us close our hearts, we will be guided by God to be who we are meant to be.

In that space of openness we can then live a life of LOVE, and be guided to where we are meant to be … forever in LOVE.

Southern California, Northern California, Mission ViejoIrvineLos AngelesSan FranciscoMarinSan JoseSan Juan CapistranoSanta AnaPalm SpringsLong Beach

Every Inch, But One

V-for-Vendetta-mask-Occup-007

My words for meditation today:

“I shall die here. Every inch of me shall perish. Every inch, but one. An Inch, it is small and it is fragile, but it is the only thing the world worth having. We must never lose it or give it away. We must never let them take it from us. I hope that whoever you are, you escape this place. I hope that the world turns and that things get better. But what I hope most of all is that you understand what I mean when I tell you that even though I do not know you, and even though I may never meet you, laugh with you, cry with you, or kiss you. I love you. With all my heart, I love you.”

Alan Moore; “V for Vendetta”

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“Wholeness is not achieved by cutting off a portion of one’s being, but by integration of the contraries.”

– Carl Jung

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“May what I do flow from me like a river, no forcing and no holding back, the way it is with children.”

– Rainer Maria Rilke

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pic from The Guardian

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Religion4All is an idea: that every human being (no matter their race, religion, sexuality, social status, lifestyle, or any other possible factor) is LOVED by God; just … as … they are.

We all are loved by God, and NO religion or person has a monopoly on it. Every single person on this planet is loved equally by God … SO many are cut off from God because they are told they don’t belong. God loves everyone … we ALL are beautiful creations … we don’t need to cringe when we hear the words “God”, or “religion”, or their judgments … God LOVES us all!

There is no requirement to change in order to be LOVED by God, or to LOVE God. God is LOVE, and LOVE is God … period. There is no one who God loves more than anyone else … there are only those who choose to LOVE more … to love God more, and consequently then to love each other more. In doing so, we grow closer to God … and know God.

By opening our hearts, and minds to God (free of boundaries like religion, or social trends); by LOVING God … we are exactly where we are meant to be. If we maintain that openness, never allowing any person or event to make us close our hearts, we will be guided by God to be who we are meant to be.

In that space of openness we can then live a life of LOVE, and be guided to where we are meant to be … forever in LOVE.

Southern California, Northern California, Mission ViejoIrvineLos AngelesSan FranciscoMarinSan JoseSan Juan CapistranoSanta AnaPalm SpringsLong Beach

Why We Shout In Anger

Guru-and-Disciples

A Hindu saint who was visiting river Ganges to take bath found a group of family members on the banks, shouting in anger at each other. He turned to his disciples smiled and asked.

‘Why do people shout in anger shout at each other?’

Disciples thought for a while, one of them said, ‘Because we lose our calm, we shout.’

‘But, why should you shout when the other person is just next to you? You can as well tell him what you have to say in a soft manner.’ asked the saint

Disciples gave some other answers but none satisfied the other disciples.

Finally the saint explained,

‘When two people are angry at each other, their hearts distance a lot. To cover that distance they must shout to be able to hear each other. The angrier they are, the stronger they will have to shout to hear each other to cover that great distance.

What happens when two people fall in love? They don’t shout at each other but talk softly, Because their hearts are very close. The distance between them is either nonexistent or very small…’

The saint continued, ‘When they love each other even more, what happens? They do not speak, only whisper and they get even closer to each other in their love. Finally they even need not whisper, they only look at each other and that’s all. That is how close two people are when they love each other.’

He looked at his disciples and said.

‘So when you argue do not let your hearts get distant. Do not say words that distance each other more. Or else there will come a day when the distance is so great that you will not find the path to return.’

Whoever Fights Monsters

Godzilla vs King Ghidorah original

My words to consider today:

“My place is the Placeless, 

my trace is the Traceless; 

neither body nor soul,

for I belong to the soul of the Beloved. 

I have put duality away,

I have seen that the two worlds are one;

One I seek, One I know,

One I see, One I call. “

– Rumi

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“When you make the two one, and when you make the inner as the outer and the outer as the inner and the above as the below, and when you make the male and the female into a single one, then you shall enter the kingdom.”

– Jesus; Gospel of St. Thomas

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“Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster.”

– Friedrich Nietzsche

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Religion4All is an idea: that every human being (no matter their race, religion, sexuality, social status, lifestyle, or any other possible factor) is LOVED by God; just … as … they are.

We all are loved by God, and NO religion or person has a monopoly on it. Every single person on this planet is loved equally by God … SO many are cut off from God because they are told they don’t belong. God loves everyone … we ALL are beautiful creations … we don’t need to cringe when we hear the words “God”, or “religion”, or their judgments … God LOVES us all!

There is no requirement to change in order to be LOVED by God, or to LOVE God. God is LOVE, and LOVE is God … period. There is no one who God loves more than anyone else … there are only those who choose to LOVE more … to love God more, and consequently then to love each other more. In doing so, we grow closer to God … and know God.

By opening our hearts, and minds to God (free of boundaries like religion, or social trends); by LOVING God … we are exactly where we are meant to be. If we maintain that openness, never allowing any person or event to make us close our hearts, we will be guided by God to be who we are meant to be.

In that space of openness we can then live a life of LOVE, and be guided to where we are meant to be … forever in LOVE.

Southern California, Northern California, Mission ViejoIrvineLos AngelesSan FranciscoMarinSan JoseSan Juan CapistranoSanta AnaPalm SpringsLong Beach

Coming Attractions

short

My words for meditation today … on being who you were created to be:

“Imagination is everything. It is the preview of life’s coming attractions.”

Albert Einstein

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“Why should a man be scorned if, finding himself in prison, he tries to get out and go home? Or if he cannot do so, he thinks and talks about other topics than jailers and prison-walls?”

J. R. R. Tolkien

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“If one is lucky, a solitary fantasy can totally transform a million realities.”

Maya Angelou

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Religion4All is an idea: that every human being (no matter their race, religion, sexuality, social status, lifestyle, or any other possible factor) is LOVED by God; just … as … they are.

We all are loved by God, and NO religion or person has a monopoly on it. Every single person on this planet is loved equally by God … SO many are cut off from God because they are told they don’t belong. God loves everyone … we ALL are beautiful creations … we don’t need to cringe when we hear the words “God”, or “religion”, or their judgments … God LOVES us all!

There is no requirement to change in order to be LOVED by God, or to LOVE God. God is LOVE, and LOVE is God … period. There is no one who God loves more than anyone else … there are only those who choose to LOVE more … to love God more, and consequently then to love each other more. In doing so, we grow closer to God … and know God.

By opening our hearts, and minds to God (free of boundaries like religion, or social trends); by LOVING God … we are exactly where we are meant to be. If we maintain that openness, never allowing any person or event to make us close our hearts, we will be guided by God to be who we are meant to be.

In that space of openness we can then live a life of LOVE, and be guided to where we are meant to be … forever in LOVE.

Southern California, Northern California, Mission ViejoIrvineLos AngelesSan FranciscoMarinSan JoseSan Juan CapistranoSanta AnaPalm SpringsLong Beach

Worry is a misuse of the imagination

worry

My words for meditation today … why worry?? Go out and enjoy life … enjoy the hell out of this day! 😉

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“Worry is a misuse of the imagination.”

– Dan Zadra

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“Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow, it empties today of its strength.”

– Corrie ten Boom

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“If a problem is fixable, if a situation is such that you can do something about it, then there is no need to worry. If it’s not fixable, then there is no help in worrying. There is no benefit in worrying whatsoever.”

– Dalai Lama XIV

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Religion4All is an idea: that every human being (no matter their race, religion, sexuality, social status, lifestyle, or any other possible factor) is LOVED by God; just … as … they are.

We all are loved by God, and NO religion or person has a monopoly on it. Every single person on this planet is loved equally by God … SO many are cut off from God because they are told they don’t belong. God loves everyone … we ALL are beautiful creations … we don’t need to cringe when we hear the words “God”, or “religion”, or their judgments … God LOVES us all!

There is no requirement to change in order to be LOVED by God, or to LOVE God. God is LOVE, and LOVE is God … period. There is no one who God loves more than anyone else … there are only those who choose to LOVE more … to love God more, and consequently then to love each other more. In doing so, we grow closer to God … and know God.

By opening our hearts, and minds to God (free of boundaries like religion, or social trends); by LOVING God … we are exactly where we are meant to be. If we maintain that openness, never allowing any person or event to make us close our hearts, we will be guided by God to be who we are meant to be.

In that space of openness we can then live a life of LOVE, and be guided to where we are meant to be … forever in LOVE.

Southern California, Northern California, Mission ViejoIrvineLos AngelesSan FranciscoMarinSan JoseSan Juan CapistranoSanta AnaPalm SpringsLong Beach

‘A reflection of us all’ – John Lennon

Startlingly concise … and good to remember!

‘A reflection of us all’ – John Lennon.

Darkness Is Your Candle

candle

My words to meditate upon – on the topic of accepting and loving ourselves for ALL of who we are … freedom is a prisoner in the darkness, and it is only there you can find it.  God already knows those places, and Loves you regardless.

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If there is wisdom in the sacred teachings, there should not be any war. As long as a person is involved with warfare, trying to defend or attack, then his action is not sacred; it is mundane, dualistic, a battlefield situation.”

–  Chögyam Trungpa

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You can ask forgiveness of others, but in the end the real forgiveness is in one’s own self. I think that young men and women are so caught by the way they see themselves. Now mind you. When a larger society sees them as unattractive, as threats, as too black or too white or too poor or too fat or too thin or too sexual or too asexual, that’s rough. But you can overcome that. The real difficulty is to overcome how you think about yourself. If we don’t have that we never grow, we never learn, and sure as hell we should never teach.”

– Maya Angelou

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“No matter how fast you run,
your shadow more than keeps up.
Sometimes it’s in front.

Only full, overhead sun
diminishes your shadow.

But that shadow has been serving you.
What hurts you blesses you.
Darkness is your candle.
Your boundaries are your quest.”

– Rumi

~~~~~~~

Religion4All is an idea: that every human being (no matter their race, religion, sexuality, social status, lifestyle, or any other possible factor) is LOVED by God; just … as … they are.

We all are loved by God, and NO religion or person has a monopoly on it. Every single person on this planet is loved equally by God … SO many are cut off from God because they are told they don’t belong. God loves everyone … we ALL are beautiful creations … we don’t need to cringe when we hear the words “God”, or “religion”, or their judgments … God LOVES us all!

There is no requirement to change in order to be LOVED by God, or to LOVE God. God is LOVE, and LOVE is God … period. There is no one who God loves more than anyone else … there are only those who choose to LOVE more … to love God more, and consequently then to love each other more. In doing so, we grow closer to God … and know God.

By opening our hearts, and minds to God (free of boundaries like religion, or social trends); by LOVING God … we are exactly where we are meant to be. If we maintain that openness, never allowing any person or event to make us close our hearts, we will be guided by God to be who we are meant to be.

In that space of openness we can then live a life of LOVE, and be guided to where we are meant to be … forever in LOVE.

Southern California, Northern California, Mission ViejoIrvineLos AngelesSan FranciscoMarinSan JoseSan Juan CapistranoSanta AnaPalm SpringsLong Beach

Spiritual Cosmology

brahmacakra1

My words for meditation today:

“When a civilization is without a cosmology it is not only cosmically violent, but cosmically lonely and depressed. Is it possible that the real cause of the drug, alcohol, and entertainment addictions haunting our society is not so much the “drug lords” of other societies but the cosmic loneliness haunting our own? Perhaps alcohol is a liquid cosmology and drugs are a fast fix cosmology for people lacking a true one.”

– Mathew Fox

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“I am enough of an artist to draw freely upon my imagination. Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.”

– Albert Einstein

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Religion4All is an idea: that every human being (no matter their race, religion, sexuality, social status, lifestyle, or any other possible factor) is LOVED by God; just … as … they are.

We all are loved by God, and NO religion or person has a monopoly on it. Every single person on this planet is loved equally by God … SO many are cut off from God because they are told they don’t belong. God loves everyone … we ALL are beautiful creations … we don’t need to cringe when we hear the words “God”, or “religion”, or their judgments … God LOVES us all!

There is no requirement to change in order to be LOVED by God, or to LOVE God. God is LOVE, and LOVE is God … period. There is no one who God loves more than anyone else … there are only those who choose to LOVE more … to love God more, and consequently then to love each other more. In doing so, we grow closer to God … and know God.

By opening our hearts, and minds to God (free of boundaries like religion, or social trends); by LOVING God … we are exactly where we are meant to be. If we maintain that openness, never allowing any person or event to make us close our hearts, we will be guided by God to be who we are meant to be.

In that space of openness we can then live a life of LOVE, and be guided to where we are meant to be … forever in LOVE.

Southern California, Northern California, Mission ViejoIrvineLos AngelesSan FranciscoMarinSan JoseSan Juan CapistranoSanta AnaPalm SpringsLong Beach

Eye of God

 

david-burliuk1882-1967-1350617916_b

 

My words to meditate upon today:

“The eye through which I see God is the same eye through which God sees me; my eye and God’s eye are one eye, one seeing, one knowing, one love.”

Meister Eckhart

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“The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and all science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead: his eyes are closed.”

Albert Einstein

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“I can see, and that is why I can be happy, in what you call the dark, but which to me is golden. I can see a God-made world, not a man-made world.”

Helen Keller

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– illustration by David Burliuk

~~~~~~~

Religion4All is an idea: that every human being (no matter their race, religion, sexuality, social status, lifestyle, or any other possible factor) is LOVED by God; just … as … they are.

We all are loved by God, and NO religion or person has a monopoly on it. Every single person on this planet is loved equally by God … SO many are cut off from God because they are told they don’t belong. God loves everyone … we ALL are beautiful creations … we don’t need to cringe when we hear the words “God”, or “religion”, or their judgments … God LOVES us all!

There is no requirement to change in order to be LOVED by God, or to LOVE God. God is LOVE, and LOVE is God … period. There is no one who God loves more than anyone else … there are only those who choose to LOVE more … to love God more, and consequently then to love each other more. In doing so, we grow closer to God … and know God.

By opening our hearts, and minds to God (free of boundaries like religion, or social trends); by LOVING God … we are exactly where we are meant to be. If we maintain that openness, never allowing any person or event to make us close our hearts, we will be guided by God to be who we are meant to be.

In that space of openness we can then live a life of LOVE, and be guided to where we are meant to be … forever in LOVE.

Southern California, Northern California, Mission ViejoIrvineLos AngelesSan FranciscoMarinSan JoseSan Juan CapistranoSanta AnaPalm SpringsLong Beach

 

With A Hawk’s Eye

300px-OspreyNASA

During my meditation today I had a curious experience … one could say an enlightening experience even :-).

When I meditate I always start of by filling myself with God’s Love; drawing from the earth and surrounding nature that God has given us to live in.  Once I have done this I release all negativity up and out into the Universe; whether it has been created by me, or forced into my life by outside influence … I let it go.  Then, once I am clear of any form of negativity, I send my thoughts and intentions deep into the Earth … I give the Love that I have just filled myself with to the Earth, to use wherever it is needed.  Once I have accomplished this I can then move on into wherever I feel Divinely led.

Today, after finishing this meditative ritual, I felt an uncomfortable pressure against both of my temples.  Before I began meditating daily I would try to do some sort of breathing exercise to rid me of this … OR do something to simply distract myself like play a game, read a book, have a drink, or who knows what?  While those things are fun, and I still do enjoy them, when they are used as a form of escape they can become extremely unhealthy.

So I leaned into the disturbance in my head … it felt like some sort of painful congestion, but in my temples instead of my sinus cavity.  As I focused in more and more I felt something break through … and start to grow.  Very soon I had two giant wings extending from the side of my head (all in a meditative dream state, of course).  Not only that, but I felt/saw the head of a hawk unfurl itself from my 6th chakra and up into my crown chakra.  I immediately became lost into a wonderful vision of flying over the sea; swirling higher and higher into the air, diving into the ocean to grasp my prize.  When I came back into the room I at first started to be aware that perhaps I had somehow intruded on those around me (as I was in a room full of people).  I felt the urge to not back down though … I expanded the wings more and flapped them to create a breeze, and in doing so spread Love throughout the room.  Any time a fear would come into my head, the hawk would simply swoop and sever the tie that fear was attempting to create with my soul.  Eventually, the hawk settled back down … the wings did not go away, they just folded up naturally … the hawk’s head settled down behind my 6th chakra, but I could still feel it’s penetrating gaze looking out at the world around me.

When I came out of my meditative state I was in a state of blissful peace … extremely grateful that God had sent this companion to help me, and guide me for however long it stays.  God is so good … and will give to us all that we need, if we make ourselves ready to receive … willing to follow the guidance and accept the consequences that are accompanying.  It is very frightening at first … because we must let go of ALL control.  Be strong though … push through, and keep your heart open … you will see.  God is there waiting with Love that is beyond measure.

Peace and Love to you all.

~~~~~~~

Religion4All is an idea: that every human being (no matter their race, religion, sexuality, social status, lifestyle, or any other possible factor) is LOVED by God; just … as … they are.

We all are loved by God, and NO religion or person has a monopoly on it. Every single person on this planet is loved equally by God … SO many are cut off from God because they are told they don’t belong. God loves everyone … we ALL are beautiful creations … we don’t need to cringe when we hear the words “God”, or “religion”, or their judgments … God LOVES us all!

There is no requirement to change in order to be LOVED by God, or to LOVE God. God is LOVE, and LOVE is God … period. There is no one who God loves more than anyone else … there are only those who choose to LOVE more … to love God more, and consequently then to love each other more. In doing so, we grow closer to God … and know God.

By opening our hearts, and minds to God (free of boundaries like religion, or social trends); by LOVING God … we are exactly where we are meant to be. If we maintain that openness, never allowing any person or event to make us close our hearts, we will be guided by God to be who we are meant to be.

In that space of openness we can then live a life of LOVE, and be guided to where we are meant to be … forever in LOVE.

Southern California, Northern California, Mission ViejoIrvineLos AngelesSan FranciscoMarinSan JoseSan Juan CapistranoSanta AnaPalm SpringsLong Beach

Walking Corpses

antinbath-zombie-walk-2

“Some people live as though they are already dead. There are people moving around us who are consumed by their past, terrified of their future, and stuck in their anger and jealousy. They are not alive; they are just walking corpses.”

– Thich Nhat Hanh

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“The seed of God is in us. If the seed had a good, wise and industrious cultivator, it would thrive all the more and grow up to God whose seed it is, and the fruit would be equal to the nature of God. Now the seed of a pear tree grows into a pear tree, a hazel seed into a hazel tree, and the seed of God into God.”

– Meister Eckhart

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“Man suffers only because he takes seriously what the gods made for fun.”

– Alan Watts

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pic from antinbath

~~~~~~~

Religion4All is an idea: that every human being (no matter their race, religion, sexuality, social status, lifestyle, or any other possible factor) is LOVED by God; just … as … they are.

We all are loved by God, and NO religion or person has a monopoly on it. Every single person on this planet is loved equally by God … SO many are cut off from God because they are told they don’t belong. God loves everyone … we ALL are beautiful creations … we don’t need to cringe when we hear the words “God”, or “religion”, or their judgments … God LOVES us all!

There is no requirement to change in order to be LOVED by God, or to LOVE God. God is LOVE, and LOVE is God … period. There is no one who God loves more than anyone else … there are only those who choose to LOVE more … to love God more, and consequently then to love each other more. In doing so, we grow closer to God … and know God.

By opening our hearts, and minds to God (free of boundaries like religion, or social trends); by LOVING God … we are exactly where we are meant to be. If we maintain that openness, never allowing any person or event to make us close our hearts, we will be guided by God to be who we are meant to be.

In that space of openness we can then live a life of LOVE, and be guided to where we are meant to be … forever in LOVE.

Southern California, Northern California, Mission ViejoIrvineLos AngelesSan FranciscoMarinSan JoseSan Juan CapistranoSanta AnaPalm SpringsLong Beach

Harbingers of Self-Sabotage

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I find it amazing how often the SAME things come back into our lives for us to work through!

My biggest obstacle has always been fear; and primarily fear of rejection (i.e. what others think of me) and fear of failure.  These past couple of years, however, I have overcome all of what I know to be my greatest fears and have thusly felt liberated and vindicated!  It kind of blew my mind a little to realize (while meditating yesterday) that sure enough I was allowing those SAME things to sabotage me yet again.  How did they manage to creep back into my brain so stealthily?!  I am grateful at least that I have gotten to a level where I can identify these harbingers of self-sabotage and work them out to a point of respite and resolution.  In this light, here are my words for meditation today: 🙂

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“There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure.”

Paolo Coelho

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“Something did happen to me somewhere that robbed me of confidence and courage and left me with a fear of discovery and change and a positive dread of everything unknown that may occur.”

– Joseph Heller

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“There are two basic motivating forces: fear and love. When we are afraid, we pull back from life. When we are in love, we open to all that life has to offer with passion, excitement, and acceptance. We need to learn to love ourselves first, in all our glory and our imperfections. If we cannot love ourselves, we cannot fully open to our ability to love others or our potential to create. Evolution and all hopes for a better world rest in the fearlessness and open-hearted vision of people who embrace life.”

– John Lennon

~~~~~~~

Religion4All is an idea: that every human being (no matter their race, religion, sexuality, social status, lifestyle, or any other possible factor) is LOVED by God; just … as … they are.

We all are loved by God, and NO religion or person has a monopoly on it. Every single person on this planet is loved equally by God … SO many are cut off from God because they are told they don’t belong. God loves everyone … we ALL are beautiful creations … we don’t need to cringe when we hear the words “God”, or “religion”, or their judgments … God LOVES us all!

There is no requirement to change in order to be LOVED by God, or to LOVE God. God is LOVE, and LOVE is God … period. There is no one who God loves more than anyone else … there are only those who choose to LOVE more … to love God more, and consequently then to love each other more. In doing so, we grow closer to God … and know God.

By opening our hearts, and minds to God (free of boundaries like religion, or social trends); by LOVING God … we are exactly where we are meant to be. If we maintain that openness, never allowing any person or event to make us close our hearts, we will be guided by God to be who we are meant to be.

In that space of openness we can then live a life of LOVE, and be guided to where we are meant to be … forever in LOVE.

Southern California, Northern California, Mission ViejoIrvineLos AngelesSan FranciscoMarinSan JoseSan Juan CapistranoSanta AnaPalm SpringsLong Beach

The Illusion Veil

Veil

My words for meditation today:

“It is often tragic to see how blatantly a man bungles his own life and the lives of others yet remains totally incapable of seeing how much the whole tragedy originates in himself, and how he continually feeds it and keeps it going. Not consciously, of course—for consciously he is engaged in bewailing and cursing a faithless world that recedes further and further into the distance. Rather, it is an unconscious factor which spins the illusions that veil his world. And what is being spun is a cocoon, which in the end will completely envelop him.”

– Carl Jung

~~~~~~~

Religion4All is an idea: that every human being (no matter their race, religion, sexuality, social status, lifestyle, or any other possible factor) is LOVED by God; just … as … they are.

We all are loved by God, and NO religion or person has a monopoly on it. Every single person on this planet is loved equally by God … SO many are cut off from God because they are told they don’t belong. God loves everyone … we ALL are beautiful creations … we don’t need to cringe when we hear the words “God”, or “religion”, or their judgments … God LOVES us all!

There is no requirement to change in order to be LOVED by God, or to LOVE God. God is LOVE, and LOVE is God … period. There is no one who God loves more than anyone else … there are only those who choose to LOVE more … to love God more, and consequently then to love each other more. In doing so, we grow closer to God … and know God.

By opening our hearts, and minds to God (free of boundaries like religion, or social trends); by LOVING God … we are exactly where we are meant to be. If we maintain that openness, never allowing any person or event to make us close our hearts, we will be guided by God to be who we are meant to be.

In that space of openness we can then live a life of LOVE, and be guided to where we are meant to be … forever in LOVE.

Southern California, Northern California, Mission ViejoIrvineLos AngelesSan FranciscoMarinSan JoseSan Juan CapistranoSanta AnaPalm SpringsLong Beach

 

The Patience To Wait

doors

My words to meditate upon today … a day that could prove to be fortuitously portentous: 🙂

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“The two hardest tests on the spiritual road are the patience to wait for the right moment and the courage not to be disappointed with what we encounter.”

– Paolo Coelho

~~~~~~~

Religion4All is an idea: that every human being (no matter their race, religion, sexuality, social status, lifestyle, or any other possible factor) is LOVED by God; just … as … they are.

We all are loved by God, and NO religion or person has a monopoly on it. Every single person on this planet is loved equally by God … SO many are cut off from God because they are told they don’t belong. God loves everyone … we ALL are beautiful creations … we don’t need to cringe when we hear the words “God”, or “religion”, or their judgments … God LOVES us all!

There is no requirement to change in order to be LOVED by God, or to LOVE God. God is LOVE, and LOVE is God … period. There is no one who God loves more than anyone else … there are only those who choose to LOVE more … to love God more, and consequently then to love each other more. In doing so, we grow closer to God … and know God.

By opening our hearts, and minds to God (free of boundaries like religion, or social trends); by LOVING God … we are exactly where we are meant to be. If we maintain that openness, never allowing any person or event to make us close our hearts, we will be guided by God to be who we are meant to be.

In that space of openness we can then live a life of LOVE, and be guided to where we are meant to be … forever in LOVE.

Southern California, Northern California, Mission ViejoIrvineLos AngelesSan FranciscoMarinSan JoseSan Juan CapistranoSanta AnaPalm SpringsLong Beach

Your Very Flesh Shall Be A Great Poem

tzu

My words for meditation:

“Your hand opens and closes, opens and closes. If it were always a fist or always stretched open, you would be paralyzed. Your deepest presence is in every small contracting and expanding, the two as beautifully balanced and coordinated as birds’ wings.”

– Rumi

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We are not yet what we shall be, but we are growing toward it, the process is not yet finished, but it is going on, this is not the end, but it is the road. All does not yet gleam in glory, but all is being purified.”

– Martin Luther

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“Re-examine all you have been told at school or church or in any book, dismiss whatever insults your own soul; and your very flesh shall be a great poem, and have the richest fluency, not only in its words, but in the silent lines of its lips and face, and between the lashes of your eyes, and in every motion and joint of your body.”

– Walt Whitman

~~~~~~~

Religion4All is an idea: that every human being (no matter their race, religion, sexuality, social status, lifestyle, or any other possible factor) is LOVED by God; just … as … they are.

We all are loved by God, and NO religion or person has a monopoly on it. Every single person on this planet is loved equally by God … SO many are cut off from God because they are told they don’t belong. God loves everyone … we ALL are beautiful creations … we don’t need to cringe when we hear the words “God”, or “religion”, or their judgments … God LOVES us all!

There is no requirement to change in order to be LOVED by God, or to LOVE God. God is LOVE, and LOVE is God … period. There is no one who God loves more than anyone else … there are only those who choose to LOVE more … to love God more, and consequently then to love each other more. In doing so, we grow closer to God … and know God.

By opening our hearts, and minds to God (free of boundaries like religion, or social trends); by LOVING God … we are exactly where we are meant to be. If we maintain that openness, never allowing any person or event to make us close our hearts, we will be guided by God to be who we are meant to be.

In that space of openness we can then live a life of LOVE, and be guided to where we are meant to be … forever in LOVE.

Southern California, Northern California, Mission ViejoIrvineLos AngelesSan FranciscoMarinSan JoseSan Juan CapistranoSanta AnaPalm SpringsLong Beach