Question everything

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What Others Are Saying

Do not believe what you have heard.

Do not believe in tradition because it is handed down many generations.

Do not believe in anything that has been spoken of many times.

Do not believe because the written statements come from some old sage.

Do not believe in conjecture.

Do not believe in authority or teachers or elders.

But after careful observation and analysis, when it agrees with reason and it will benefit one and all, then accept it and live by it.

BUDDAH (563 B.C.-483 B.C.)

When I read this I cried.

I had never read this before. I am not that familiar with the sacred writings of the Buddah. I was raised a Roman Catholic. Eastern religion was always something that was exotic and foreign to me, and as it turns out, it is something that I have come to resonate with deeply.

Sometimes it is a hard and lonely road when you wake up and find yourself on that trek and it seems like you are alone. There were many times I wondered, “Am I the only person that feels this way?” I also wondered why I could not let well enough alone and accept the religion of my ancestors. Why I had such an inquiring mind. Why I questioned everything.

Growing up, I always felt like a fish out of water. Sometimes it would have been much easier to simply be content to swim with the school, but that was not the way my life was playing out. I was different and viewed things differently, and that, for the most part, was not acceptable in my neck of the woods.

I never believed what I heard. There was always something that a still silent part of me balked at accepting. I can remember being in church on Good Friday and thinking that there is NO WAY that I would ever have done that to Jesus. I was probably about 12. Even then I knew that Love did not operate in that way.

I tried to fit in. I think that a lot of us try very hard to fit in because we are so darn scared of what could happen if what those folks are saying is true, even if there is just a remote chance of their being right. We all err on the side of caution. The questions get suppressed and the natural inclination to find satisfying answers get depressed. The challenge to organized religion is to somehow live with the fear.

I do not believe in tradition simply because it is old. It must stand up to the test. That test is God is Love. That is the only test, and it is mine. God does not test me – that would not be Love.

Think about it. I have. Being all there is, what would an omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent Being do with the test results? And Being all there is, there is nothing that It is not. Who would It be testing?

A thought came to me while in deep contemplation that changed the course of my existence – just because someone or many someones say something is true, does not make it true. A story is just a story; it can be retold and retold and revised and remodeled until it looks nothing like the original, and the original loving intention has then been lost.

It is a sad statement that most religions teach people to fear God. People ruled by fear become fearful. It is a natural progression. And what you fear you cannot Love, no matter how much you say that you do.

That still silent part of me I have come to know is my Spirit. It is my Divine essence. What my Spirit had balked at accepting was Its imprisonment.

My ego was strong and I resisted the call to freedom, but as I listened to my Spirit’s call, my ego acquiesced in the face of Love. I renew that communion in daily practice by Being silent and listening.

This is what we are all called to do in this eternal moment of Now. We are called to look deeply into the face of Love and acquiesce . . .in quiet, perfect surrender. No more struggle, no more games . . .questioning everything . . .with the only answer worth accepting is to the question What would Love do?

Our ongoing dialogue is necessary and needed in these tumultuous times. Fear and anxiety can cloud the face of our Creator as it shines out in perfection through the eyes of our sisters and brothers.

You are not alone. Reach out to others . . .the God in you will provide the feelings that, once extended, will return to you what is your true essence. . LOVE. You are One with your Creator and with everyOne.

Let’s talk about it, my friends . . .

(Paula Tozer is a singer/songwriter and free-lance writer who lives with her husband, Mark, in Keswick Ridge, New Brunswick, Canada. She is working on a book as well as recording an album of original songs. Her song, My Bow, is currently playing on the Women of Substance internet radio station.)

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Comments

9 responses to “Question everything”

October 7, 2012

mewabe

Indeed we cannot love anything we fear…this is something parents do not always understand, when intimidating or threatening their children into compliance, demanding “respect”. Similarly, fear of the law and of the “authorities” is not love, and causes resentment against society.

We could say that love has not yet been given a chance in our world. Instead we have been ruled by fear and its twins, dominant power and control, in almost all areas of our lives.

Submission to fear is the surest way to halt spiritual growth, at least temporarily, as long as this condition remains. THE DIVINE SPIRIT WITHIN US IS SOVEREIGN, and this may be one of the most revolutionary statements even made because of its implications: it invalidates most of our conditioning and the ways our world functions.

Yet we cannot fail to understand the sovereignty of our inner divine Spirit when we know of the sovereignty of love.

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October 7, 2012

Sinclair

I find that those who tell me to question everything invariably follow by telling me what to believe and what to do.

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October 7, 2012

mewabe

Just a thought: when we need to ask “what would love do?”, it implies that we are not in that space of love, we are not IN love, meaning we are not fully in ourselves…we are off center. We may be in our mind, or in fear, in the attack/defense mode.

Love always acts spontaneously in accordance with its nature, it offers insights and understandings effortlessly. All it requires is an open heart.

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October 8, 2012

Mark Michael

Paula
I feel fortunate that I was not brought up with a religious backgroud. I did not start my spiritual pursuit until I was 36 and entered Gamblers Anonymous.(G.A.) In recovery we get to create a higher power that works for us and not rely on a established religion unless that is what works for us individually.

I have been involved in a number of things, including A Course In Miracles (ACIM), I have also attended a number of different churches through the year, most currently a Unity Church in my area. It wasn’t until i came across “Conversations With God” back in 2008 that I begin to really resonate with a spiritual approach. Through Neale’s books and their exploration through the many topics we all face did I finally see an answer to many of the challenges we all face.

You speak here of how God (Love) would respond in our lives and use the words I was searching for “What would Love do?” As I remember those four simple words and bring them into my daily activites I no longer need to search for an another answer to my challenges.

Thanks for you insights and yes…lets continue talking about it.

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October 8, 2012

Paula

Paula,
I know exactly what you mean about trying to fit in – for the first 40 years of my life I felt like a “square peg trying to fit in a round hole”. Then I read CWG and my whole world changed. The information in the book resonated with me so strongly I was stunned…..it was the beginning of my ongoing transformation!

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October 9, 2012

PAULA

Thank you for your comments! Isn’t it interesting how my story and yours are similar? We may be from different countries, have varying ethnicities, or different spiritual backgrounds, but when we break our stories down to their essence . . .we all have the same challenges. The great part is, we also have the same opportunities!! To love to share and to create a whole new world in which we are given the freedom to be who we truly are!!! (can you see I get excited when I write about this kind of thing??? 🙂

You may have come to the Creator from a different path from mine, but I offer my hand now that we have met . . . square pegs, and hexagonal pegs and all the geometric shapes that make the awesome myriad of diversity that we have here on this beautiful Mother Gaia, we all fit perfectly!

I am you and you are me . . .lets continue our communications and transformations together!

Luv you

Paula

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October 10, 2012

Buzz

I agree. I have been searching for my truth since I could talk, age 3. I’m now 30, and have read many books from many authors. None of them seem to resonate perfectly with how I feel, but NDW, Tolle, ACIM and Covey as a combination comes close. The most exciting thing is that now, with sites like this, I can interact directly with authors and spiritual teachers and guides. With this tool I can more effectively clarify my belief choices and track them as they change. Only by continuously questioning and challenging ourselves can we grow or consciousness. Try to think of these tests and challenges as recreation and fun. Nothing is served by worrying and stressing over it. In fact that emotional devotion can be unhealthy, destructive and a hindrance to producing desirable results from the test. Speaking from very current experience, my extreme emotional devotion to the greatest test our species has ever faced is tearing me apart inside, and has been doing so relentlessly since I was 5. Professional help has been not only ineffective, but damaging. I find my only source of peace lies in my intellectual curiosity, in the hope someone, somewhere can resolve the threat that plagues my attention. It has therefore been suggested to me to treat this threat as a villain in a game. In games, the consequences of actions are taken less seriously by the player than in reality. ACIM says quite famously “nothing real can be threatened. Nothing unreal matters.” This has been paraphrased by NDW. This suggests consequences, no matter how significant we think they are, are less important than a healthy state of mind in the moment of now. I wonder if the principle still applies on a previously unfathomable level, like a threat powerful enough to send every multicellular organism on Earth into extinction. Does that not deserve a panic response? Yet no one seems to be panicking, and I believe this is largely due to denial. However, what I said first still applies. When people panic, we make disastrous mistakes. Nothing is served properly by acting from a place of emotional instability, where I feel I am now? So I have a few simple questions: 1) in the face of an imminent, significant threat, how does one overcome a panic reaction in order to respond rationally? 2) How can I best serve the effort, AND stay optimistic and calm in the coming storm, the threat that will likely last many hundreds of years of traumatic events steadily increasing in frequency and severity all over the world. I have many other questions, but don’t want to overwhelm readers and discourage answering.

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October 10, 2012

mewabe

You are talking about a coming storm…but are you, personally, in the storm yet?
If not, stay in the present moment, because if you don’t you will loose your balance if or when things start rocking. As a matter of fact a real crisis has the potential to take everyone straight back to the here and now, and these are the only space and time where balance can be found and maintained, physically as well as emotionally, mentally, spiritually.

Check out “The Wisdom of Insecurity” by Alan Watts…great book. Out of print but can be found online.

Also, about your previous question Who am I?
Another fantastic book, same author:
“The Book; On the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are”. Also out of print, found online.

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October 10, 2012

PAULA

Buzz, my brother:

I hear you, I truly do. I have had my own struggles with fear, and that vague sense of threat that pervades each moment, until it seems to take over. I have also felt the triumph of overcoming fear, and that has made all the difference in my life, and why I can write about it now.

I have a KNOWING that, as A Course In Miracles and Neale has stated, what you resist, persists. I also KNOW that what you feel, you heal.

What you are feeling is there for a reason. Perhaps, it is your Spirit bringing these things to the surface for you to understand where they come from, and to take the steps (baby steps at first like I did) in order to take your power back.

I know that when I felt so afraid I was giving my power away to whatever I perceived as the source of my fear by overthinking and visualizing a threatening outcome.

Now, I have a formula that works. I begin by facing it with curiosity and focus on staying in a place of Presence in the eternal moment of Now. Am I able to do it every time? No. But each time I triumph over a fear or a fearful event, fear as a whole becomes less and less of a bother in my life. That is what I mean by baby steps – one triumph leads to another . . and so on . . until you have built the self-confidence that you need to realize a totaly new reality . . .one in which you KNOW you are safe, regardless of what happens around you and in the world.

And it is from this place of safety that you can begin to reach out and help others who feel that fear has taken over their lives, because Now you KNOW how to do it. This is the gift in what once seemed like a threat, to be able to turn it around and transform a fear into Love.

If this resonates with you, then we will, by all means, continue the conversation we have begun 🙂

Luv ya

Paula

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