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  • WHY BOTHER WITH THE DEBATES?

    U.S. Vice President Joe Biden and GOP Vice Presidential candidate Paul Ryan meet this Thursday at 9 pm Eastern/6 pm Pacific time for a 90-minute debate. Should anyone bother watching? If so, why?

    Many people within the so-called New Thought Community appear to be scoffing at politics this election year in the United States, expressing little or no interest in hearing what the candidates for the highest offices in their country have to say about the issues of the day.

    “They’re all just lying anyway,” one such observer was recently heard to say. “Nobody can actually tell the truth, and the whole game is rigged, so what’s the point of giving it any energy?” Of course, if you think that life is rigged against you, it is. And if you think that life is rigged in your favor, your experience will reflect that.

    This is because like is rigged. It will show up for you pretty much as you expect it to. And when those expectations are held by, and spread across, an entire group, they have even more power in the lives of humans. As someone once said, “Wherever two or more are gathered…”

    I do not hold the thought that everything that is happening in life on earth is the working of some system or cartel that is plotting against us. Do I think that too many vested interests control too much of the political and economic power on our planet? Yes. Do I think that there is nothing—absolutely nothing—that anyone can do about it? No.

    The people of Egypt have proven that. The people of Libya have proven that. In 1776 the people of the United States proved that. Can they prove that again? This remains to be seen. But part of the process is to take part in the process—however imperfect it may be.

    Vernon Howard, the American spiritual teacher, author, and philosopher whose work created the New Life Foundation and who celebrated his Continuation Day 20 years ago, said, “You are slaves to whatever you don’t understand.” There is no question about the truth of that. And that is the best reason to have an interest in the debate between Paul Ryan and Joe Biden if you are a citizen of the United States.

    Even if both men wind up skirting the truth, the Fact Checkers who have proliferated in abundance since the advent of the Internet will let us know this very quickly, and that alone will tell us something about them, about their positions—and about ours.

    We can’t understand that to which we pay no attention at all, deciding in advance that we already know all there is to know. And we cannot change what we refuse to take part in.

    Yes? Make sense?

  • 50 miles in 50 states in 50 weeks…on my 50th birthday

    On February 7, 2011, I began a 2500 mile “walk the walk and talk the talk” journey for Peace. My intention was to walk 50 miles, in all 50 states, in 50 weeks, in conjunction with my 50th birthday, while spreading the message to anyone who would listen that Peace is our natural state and, to assert that conflict is generated by fear. Moreover, to declare that fear is the result of uncertainties about life. With support from my husband, family, friends and many complete strangers, I achieved this goal on January 21, 2012.

    As humans being provide an integral role in the biosphere (indeed, we are the embodiment of Nature) , I became determined to illustrate that our precious Mother Earth not only demonstrates our inherent peacefulness, but is the perfect model for equanimity. I felt that by demonstrating Nature’s synergy, her impulse to grow effortlessly in an expression of life, to adapt and seek harmony, to thrive efficiently and without waste and to protect only when growth is threatened, that she reflects the most sublime aspects of our being. I believed that with thoughtful consideration, the obvious conclusion would be that something against our nature was creating fear for, devoid of Ego or uncertainty, Nature is certainly fearless!  The effort to capture this concept produced a small book entitled, “From Fear to Eternity: A Path to Peace” that I distributed in every state.

    For me, the Peace Walk was both confirming and illuminating. As most of the 2500 miles was completed on trails, paths and walkways, I was privileged to witness a variety of natural ecosystems and their exquisite coherence. What I didn’t expect was that there is a flourishing network of parks and trails that is literally, reconnecting our country to Nature and to each other. Urban and rural, metropolitan cities and small towns have been and are creating pathways to encourage outside activity, alternative transportation routes and unity amongst the residents. Given the “nature” of the walk, I was most encouraged to find that a majority the 100 or so trails that I traversed were very well-kept and inviting.

    I was also instilled with an abundance of hope for our future. Despite what may be perceived in the media, our country is truly ready for a return to a simpler, more natural time which, invites and requires a reconnection with one another. I found this evident in the profusion of markets, community gardens, outdoor gatherings and ubiquitous “green” practices, as well as, the many discussions about the desire to find a “common ground.”

    Anyone who has read the miraculous Conversations With God series knows the primary tenet is that all Life is unified and its essence is Love. Never, in the history of the world, has the need to evoke this awareness been more crucial. Where we have slowly disconnected ourselves from Nature, we have also disassociated from one another and, until we restore that unity, we will suffer the mire of internal and eternal conflict. We have created a world, disparate of Peace, because too many have allowed the belief that we are separate to supersede our knowing we are ONE.  Now is the time to cease our illusion of division and move “from fear to eternity.”

    (Cassandra Curley, BA, LMT, Author and Messenger of Peace, has studied and been active in the fields of Wellness and Spirituality for more than thirty years. Her journey on the path to find her own inner peace has led her to understand Universal Truths that have been veiled by a false paradigm of judgment. During this critical time in history, while there is willingness for change, her mission is to help illuminate these hidden truths and assist others toward a movement of PEACE. She resides in Winter Springs, Florida with her husband of 28 years, Mark and can be reached through www.cassandracurley.com .)

    If you have a Guest Column that you would like to submit, send it to Lisa@TheGlobalConversation.com.  Not all material submitted is accepted for publication, but we appreciate each submission.

     

     

     

  • Is life truly ‘perfect’?

    Is everything truly perfect? Can we trust life to puts us under oportunities that we desire when we dont trust ourselves? For example my dream is to become a spiritual teacher just like you, and with it a doctorate in psychology. Yet, Im not a High school graduate im strugling to get my GED im 23. And ive been procrastinating a whole lot. I feel tied up. Can I or should I trust life to give me the way? Joy Truth and Love to you. Thank you…Ovi

    Dear Ovi…Life will “give you the way” if you will TAKE the way. Life can’t give you what you will not take. If you are procrastinating (thank you, by the way, for telling the truth about that; that was very honest of you), then you are not taking what Life is giving you. Study for your GED, take the test, and pass it. In fact, decide you are going to pass it with flying colors; with the highest grade!

    Then, go on to become in life what you wish to become. You do not have to hold a doctorate in psychology to become a “spiritual teacher.” I do not have such a degree. In fact, I have no college degree at all. I graduated from High School, and that was as far as I got. I did not have the personal discipline or the patience to finish college. I wanted to get on with my life.

    I am not saying that you should not seek a degree in psychology, if that is what you want. I am simply saying, it is not required for you to become a spiritual teacher. In fact, you can become a spiritual teacher right now. In fact, you already ARE one. All people are. Every person is teaching every other person who meets them and encounters them. We are all teaching each other! And the most effective “teachers” among us are the ones who live what we choose to teach.

    What are the spiritual “lessons” that you wish to teach, Ovi? Decide that, then look to your daily life to see if, and how, you are a living, breathing example of those lessons. Make every day a teaching for others. Show others what you want them to learn, by showing them what you have learned…about God, about Life, and about your Self.

    Begin your ministry of teaching right now, Ovi. That is my invitation to you!

    (Neale Donald Walsch is the publisher of The Global Conversation internet newspaper and the author of the Conversations with God series of books. Questions in the ADVICE column are answered by a team of life coaches who write for this online publication. Address questions to: Advice@TheGlobalConversation.com)

  • Are you ready to join God in speaking with One Voice?

    God has spoken to you many times in many ways over many years, but seldom as directly as this.

    This time I speak to you as You, and that has occurred on only a handful of occasions in the whole of your history.

    Few humans have had the courage to hear Me in this way—as themselves—and fewer, still, have shared with others what they have heard. Those few who have listened, and shared, have changed the world.

    Aesop, Confucius, Lao-tzu, Buddha, Mohammed, Moses, and Jesus were among them.

    So, too, Chuang Tzu, Aristotle, Huang-po, Sahara, Mahavira, Krishnamurti…

    Also, Paramahansa Yogananda, Ramana Maharshi, Kabir, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Thich Nhat Hanh, the Dali Lama, Elizabeth Clinton.

    As well, Sri Aurobindo, Mother Teresa, Meher Baba, Mahatma Gandhi, Kahlil Gibran, Bahá’u’lláh, Ernest Holmes, Sai Baba.

    Including Joan of Arc, Francis of Assisi, Joseph Smith…and more. Others, not mentioned here. For this list could go on. Yet, relative to the total number of humans who have inhabited your planet, the number has been minuscule.

    These few have been My messengers—for all have brought forward the truth within their heart, as best as they have understood it, as purely as they knew how. And while they have each done so through imperfect filters, they have nonetheless placed into your awareness extraordinary wisdom, from which the whole human race has benefited.

    What is amazing is how similar their insights have been. Offered at vastly different times and places, separated by legions and centuries, they might just as well have been speaking all at the same time, so tiny have been the variances between them, and so huge the commonalities.

    Now it is time to expand this list to include others, living today, as My latest Messengers.

    We will speak with One Voice.

    Unless we do not.

    You will make that choice, even as you have always done. For in each Moment of Now have you made your decision, and announced it in Action.

    ========================================

    Editor’s Note: If you would like to COMMENT on the above excerpt, please scroll down to the bottom of the ancillary copy below.

    If Conversations with God has touched your life in a positive way, you are one of millions of people around the world who have had such an experience. All of the readers of CWG have yearned to find a way to keep its healing messages alive in their life. One of the best ways to do that is to read and re-read the material over and over again — and we have made it convenient and easy for you to do so. Come here often and enjoy selected excerpts from the Conversations with God cosmology, changed on a regular basis, so you can “dip in” to the 3,000 pages of material quickly and easily. We hope you have enjoyed the excerpt above, from the book: Tomorrow’s God.

    =====================

    About Book-On-A-Bench…

    If you believe that the messages in Conversations with God could inspire humanity to change its basic beliefs about God, about Life, and about Human Beings and their relationship to each other, leave those messages lying around.

    Simply “forget” or “misplace” a copy of Conversations with God on a bench somewhere. At a bus stop, or a train station, or an airport—or actually on the bus, train, or plane. At a hairstyling salon, a doctor’s office, a chiropractor’s office, a park bench, or even just a bench on the street. Just leave a book lying around.

    If everybody did this, the message of Conversations with God could “go viral” in a matter of weeks. So I invite you to participate in the Book-On-A-Bench program and spread ideas that could create a new cultural story far and wide.

    = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =


    ABOUT NEALE    …

    Neale Donald Walsch is a modern-day spiritual messenger whose words continue to touch the world in profound ways.  With an early interest in religion and a deeply felt connection to spirituality, Neale spent the majority of his life thriving professionally, yet searching for spiritual meaning before beginning his now-famous conversation with God. His With God series of books has been translated into 27 languages, touching the lives of millions and inspiring important changes in their day-to-day living.

    Neale was born in Milwaukee to a Roman Catholic family that encouraged his quest for spiritual truth. Serving as his first spiritual mentor, Neale’s mother taught him not to be afraid of God, as she believed in having a personal relationship with the divine — and she taught Neale to do the same.

    A nontraditional believer, Neale’s mother hardly ever went to church, and when he asked her why, she told Neale: “I don’t have to go to church — God comes to me. He’s with me and around me wherever I am.” This notion of God at an early age would later move Neale to transcend traditional views of organized religion.

    Neale grew into an insatiably curious child whose comments about life seemed to possess a wisdom beyond his years, and often caused relatives and family friends to ask, “Where does he come up with this stuff?” While attending a Catholic grade school, Neale would often pose questions in catechism class that would extend past the traditional grade school curriculum.

    Finally, the parish priest invited Neale to his rectory to answer the difficult questions that he didn’t wish to address in front of the rest of the class. This meeting turned into a once-a-week visit that blossomed into an open forum in which Neale learned not to be afraid to ask questions about religion and spirituality—and also learned that his asking these types of questions did not mean that he would offend God.

     

    Joyless spirituality is observed.

    Is rigidity and anger sometimes produced by religion?

    By the age of 15, Neale’s involvement with spiritually based teachings led him to observe that when people got involved in religion they too often seemed less joyful and more rigid, exhibiting behaviors of prejudice, separateness, and even anger. Neale concluded that for many people the collective experience of theology was not positive.

    After graduating from high school, he enrolled at the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee, but academic life could not hold him and he dropped out of college after two years to follow an interest in broadcasting that eventually led to a full-time position at the age of 19 at a small radio station far from his Milwaukee home, in Annapolis, Maryland.

    Restless by nature and always seeking to expand his opportunities for self-expression, Neale in the years that followed became a radio station program director; a newspaper reporter and, ultimately, managing editor; public information officer for one of the nation’s largest public school systems; and, after moving to the West Coast, creator and owner of his own public relations and marketing firm. Moving from one career field to another, he could not seem to find occupational satisfaction, his life was in constant turmoil, and his health was going rapidly downhill.

    A life-changing accident.

    A desperate questioning that touches the world.

    He had relocated in Oregon as part of a change-of-scenery strategy to find his way, but Fate was to provide more than a change of location. It produced a change in his entire life. One day a car driven by an elderly gentleman made a left turn directly into his path. Neale emerged from the auto accident with a broken neck. He was lucky to escape with his life.

    More than a year of rehab threw him out of work. A failed marriage had already removed him from his home, and soon he couldn’t keep even the small apartment he’d rented. Within months he found himself on the street, homeless. It took him the better part of a year to pull himself together and get back under shelter. He found, at first, modest part-time jobs, once again in broadcasting, then worked his way into full time employment and an eventual spot as a syndicated radio talk show host.

    He had seen the bottom of life living outside, gathering beer and soft drink cans in a park to collect the return deposit, but now his life seemed to be on the mend. Yet, once more, Neale felt an emptiness inside. In 1992, following a period of deep despair, Neale awoke in the middle of a February night and wrote an anguished letter to God. “What does it take,” he angrily scratched across a yellow legal pad, “to make life work?”

     

    The books that began a spiritual revolution.

    The words that opened doors again.

    Now well chronicled and widely talked about, it was this questioning letter that received a divine answer. Neale tells us that he heard a “voiceless” voice, soft and kind, warm and loving, that gave him an answer to this and other questions. Awestruck and inspired, he quickly scribbled these responses onto the tablet.

    More questions came, and, as fast as they occurred to him, answers were given in the same gentle voice, which now seemed placed inside his head, but also seemed clearly beyond his normal thinking. Before he knew it, Neale found himself engaged in a two-way, on-paper dialogue. He continued this first “conversation” for hours, and had many more in the weeks that followed, always awakening in the middle of the night and being drawn back to his legal pad.

    Neale’s handwritten notes would later become the best-selling Conversations with God books. He says that the process was “exactly like taking dictation,” and that the dialogue created in this way was published without significant alteration or editing. He also says that God is talking to all of us, all the time, and that he has come to understand that this experience is not unusual, nor does it make him in any way a special person or a unique messenger.

    In addition to producing the renowned With God series, Neale has published 18 other works, as well as many video and audio programs. Available throughout the world, seven of the Conversations with God books made the New York Times bestseller list, with Conversations with God: Book 1 occupying a place on that list for more than two-and-half years. Walsch’s books have sold more than seven million copies worldwide and have been translated into 37 languages.

    The With God series has redefined God and shifted spiritual paradigms across the planet. In order to deal with the enormous global response to his writings, Neale formed the Conversations with God Foundation, a nonprofit educational organization dedicated to inspiring the world to help itself move from violence to peace, from confusion to clarity, and from anger to love.

     

    The work expands.

    A movement begins.

    Neale founded the School of the New Spirituality and its CWG4Kids program to bring parents the tools to share new spirituality principles of a loving, non-condemning God with their children, and Humanity’s Team, with branches in over 30 countries, promoting the concept of the Oneness of all people and of all of life.

    What Neale calls his “final creation” is The Global Conversation, put in place as a means of generating a worldwide conversation about the old cultural beliefs of humanity that have resulted in many of the most desperate problems faced by our species today.

    Termed “The Conversation of the Century,” the conversation’s focus is a person-by-person discussion to introduce the possibility that if we co-author a New Cultural Story on our planet, we could easily produce paradise on earth.

    Neale’s work has taken him from the steps of Machu Picchu in Peru to the steps of the Shinto shrines of Japan, from Red Square in Moscow to St. Peter’s Square in Vatican City to Tiananmen Square in Beijing.

    Everywhere he has gone—from South Africa to Norway, Croatia to The Netherlands, the streets of Zurich to the streets of Seoul—Neale has found a hunger among the people to find a new way to live; a way to co-exist, at last, in peace and harmony, with a reverence for Life Itself in all its forms, and for each other. And he has sought to help them develop a new, expanded understanding of God, of life, and of themselves that allows them to create and experience this.

    Neale Donald Walsch lives in Ashland, Oregon with his wife, the American poet Em Claire (www.emclairepoet.com).

  • Question #1

    If a way could be found to prolong physical life forever, even stopping us from “growing old,” would you favor it…or do you think we should all “have to die” in order to give Life meaning?

  • Bring on the bliss

    For those of you yearning to hear the internal whispers of your soul amidst the noisy chatter of an unruly mind…for those of you longing to experience the calm bliss of simply “being” when your experience of life at this moment feels like a never-ending cycle of “doing”…perhaps the soothing voice and gentle rhythms of Snatam Kaur is something you would be willing to make a regular part of your day.

    The transcendent power and healing qualities of the devotional chants of Snatam Kaur have elevated it to become one of my most beloved choices in my musical collection.   Her songs combine a unique blend of ancient chants sung in Gurumukhi, the sacred language of the Sikhs, and English.

    Snatam Kaur (whose name means universal, nucleus, and friend to all) uses her music to bridge diverse cultures, faiths, and traditions, and to promote peace and inner strength.  When asked what her definition of ‘peace’ is, she replied, “I feel peace is defined in each person’s life in the moments of their greatest struggles and challenges. Peace is the ability to stay true to yourself, and in any situation find the light or find the way to grow and transform in that situation, while uplifting yourself and other people.”

    The purity and clarity of Snatam’s voice radiates and her soft spiritual chants touch your soul.  Her albums “Anand,” “Celebrate Peace,” and “Grace” are just a few of my personal favorites.  You will quickly realize that understanding the language in some of the songs is not a necessary element to having a profound experience of bliss and peace, that her music transcends the confines of any one particular language, and that her universal message of oneness is one that is deeply felt.

    The book When Everything Changes, Change Everything speaks to the importance of meditation, whether that be a sitting meditation, a walking meditation, or a “doing” meditation; that some form of meditation is “the single most important commitment of your entire life: a commitment to your soul, to be with your soul, to meet your soul, to hear and listen to and interact with your soul.” 

    If your attempts at meditation thus far have been unsuccessful, I invite you to consider incorporating the sacred mantras of Snatam Kaur as a gentle assistive tool to elevate your meditative experience to the next level.

    I close now with the lyrics to one of Snatam’s songs, “Long Time Sun,” an old Irish blessing which is currently sung by thousands worldwide as a parting prayer in Kundalini yoga classes:

    “May the Long Time Sun
    Shine upon you
    All love surround you
    And the pure light within you
    Guide your way on
    Guide your way on.    “

    You may read more about Snatam Kaur and purchase her music on her website:

    www.snatamkaur.com 

    (If there is a book, movie, music CD, etc. that you would like to recommend to our worldwide audience, please submit it to our Managing Editor, Lisa McCormack, for possible publication in this space. Not all submissions can be published, due to the number of submissions and sometimes because of other content considerations, but all are encouraged. Send submissions to Lisa@TheGlobalConversation.com. Please label the topic: “Review”)

     

     

  • ARE WE DISCOVERING GOD?

    Some people around the world have had their fears raised even further Monday with the announcement in Stockholm of the 2012 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.
    The prize has been awarded to John B. Gurdon of the University of Cambridge in England and Shinya Yamanaka of Kyoto University in Japan for their years of work and ultimate discoveries leading to advances in cloning and stem cell manipulation.

    In a news report of the story for the New York Times, Nicholas Wade, the paper’s science writer and editor, wrote that the techniques of both researchers “reach to the beginnings of life, and have generated objections from people who fear, on ethical or religious grounds, that scientists are pressing too far into nature’s mysteries and the ability to create life artificially”

    This raises the question: Is there such a thing as “artificial life”? Because we simply define “artificial life” as Life which is created in a way that does not involve intercourse, does that make it really “artificial?” Or are we actually, as a species, finally learning about the true nature of Life, and is it our definitions, our beliefs, and our religions that are creating “understandings of life” that are artificial?

    Dr. Gurdon, who is 79, and Dr. Yamanaka, who is 50, share the Nobel Prize in their field this year for pioneering work that they conducted 40 years apart. Their separate research led to “the discovery that mature cells can be reprogrammed to become pluripotent,” according to the Nobel committee.

    The term “pluripotent” refers to the ability of a living human body cell to differentiate into another type of living body cell. The work of the two researchers has shown that completely mature cells can be induced to turn back the clock of their own maturation process, returning to their original state as immature cells—meaning that they become cells that are once again undifferentiated, and can differentiate in any way. The discovery that living cells of the human organism are both reversible and reprogrammable is monumental.

    The ability to reverse and reprogram cells in a laboratory suggests that cells of any human being can be extracted from the body, induced to reverse their life cycle, turned back into undifferentiated cells, then reprogrammed to differentiate, or form themselves, into healthy cells that could replace injured, diseased or dying cells in that person’s body.

    In other words, illness—and even deathly illness—might well be able to be reversed, by using the body’s own cells, simply regenerated.

    This implies that ultimately—when continuing research moves to the next step forward—a person could live forever, simply by replacing degenerating body cells with regenerated ones. This approach, already being seriously explored as a means of abating disease, is called Regenerative Medicine.

    Now might be a good time to point out that Conversations with God made it clear, in a statement that drew scoffs and skepticism years ago, that life in the physical was meant to be eternal, lasting as long as any individual wished to inhabit a particular body, and that it has been the Free Will decisions and choices made by our species that has created behavioral (smoking, no exercise, etc.) and environmental (pollution, global warming, etc.) factors leading to our own short live spans.

    In other words, says the New Spirituality, it doesn’t have to be this way. And now Science is proving it—and giving us the means to actually reverse our own previous bad decisions. Could it be that there is no such thing as “artificial” life, and that there is only Life? Could it be that how it forms itself out of Itself is the mystery that creates Eternal Life? Could it be that this mystery is now being solved? And should humanity fear this knowledge, or celebrate it?

    When we know more and more about How God Works, is this a cause for sadness?

  • Hung up and held back

    The accepted definition of “addiction” in the medical community is “continued use in spite of negative consequences.”

    Now combine that with Conversations with God’s definition:  We experience addiction when the absence of something in our life renders us unable to experience joy and happiness.

    Let’s look at humanity’s addiction to our story.

    What is “story”?  Story is a tool the ego uses to protect the small us, the physical sense of who we are.  An observation of mine is that most beings are living in a distorted reality as a result of our ego protecting what it has made up about what it imagines we are lacking.  We then take that out into the world, either silently or quite loudly.  Some of us sneak through life quietly, hoping to not be noticed due to our story that we are simply not good enough; others have to be the center of attention, the loudest person in the room, for fear that they, too, will be seen as insufficient.  We all know the person who is always ready to knock someone else down in order to prop themselves up.

    We have all heard someone tell stories like, “I would have gotten the promotion, but my boss doesn’t like people who are taller than him” or “Jane broke up with me because she didn’t like how I say what is on my mind” or “The cops had it in for me because I have tattoos.”

    Is that person really higher up or more evolved than the rest of us, therefore deserving of their self-created pedestal?  Is anyone greater or less than another?  Are we addicted to our separation?  Are our hang-ups holding us back from experiencing life in all its grandness?

    Why is it that many of us tend to hide behind a story?  A reason for why we act the way we act?  Are we really just acting out our lives  here in this grand illusion to protect ourselves from some unforeseen danger?

    What makes some people rise above their story?  What is your story and when will you change it or, at the very least, challenge it?  What would it look like if you did this?  What would the world look like if we all managed to get out from under our self- imposed prisons?

    By now almost everyone has heard the saying “The truth will set you free,” yet not too many people are willing to tell the truth even to themselves.  Does the truth hurt or does it truly open us to more freedom and joy?

    (Kevin McCormack may be reached at Kevin@TheGlobalConversation.com)

     

     

  • “I love you, you’re perfect, now change”

    “I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change” is the title of a highly successful and now retired Off-Broadway musical in New York City which emphasized in a light-hearted fashion what has sadly come to be the not-so-light-hearted and oftentimes painful experience found in so many relationships:  partnerships foundationed in neediness and expectation, two of the “three love-enders,” as described to us in the book Friendship with God, with the third “love-ender” being jealousy.

    Conversations with God offers to us the following insight:

    “When you lose sight of each other as sacred souls on a sacred journey, then you cannot see the purpose, the reason, behind all relationships.”

    If we are entering into our relationships with the idea that our partners must BE a particular way or DO a particular thing in order for us to experience the depths of our own happiness and abundance, the expansiveness of our own joy and light, and the fullness of our own completeness and sufficiency, we are functioning within an understanding of “love with conditions” and misguided ideas of what perfection truly is.

    In an era where the divorce rate exceeds 50%, what is really going on here?  What are we not understanding and, thus, not being allowed to experience?

    Are our limited understandings and parameters in relation to this institution called “marriage” too narrow to hold a space for a deeply fulfilling soul partnership to thrive?   Have we placed unrealistic human boundaries on the aspect of ourselves that is without limits?

    Most of us, at one time or another and at one level or another, have experienced the joyful bliss of a budding relationship and the devastating heartbreak of its demise.  So many of us are yearning and searching for the perfect partner, what is often termed a “soul-mate,” only to experience repeated outcomes of disillusionment and disappointment; yet there are those who have discovered and held onto that seemingly elusive but deeply satisfying recipe of love and commitment.

    Why does this experience of a spiritually rich and loving relationship evade so many in what seems to resemble a cruel game of hide-and-seek?  It has been my own personal experience that a gentle shift in perspective can elevate a relationship from an experience of division and angst to an experience of unity and bliss.  This type of shift will invite me to take a conscious step away from my expectations and attachment to outcomes; to separate myself from my mind’s craving to be “right,” which oftentimes requires making someone else “wrong”; and to be fully present in the completeness of not only myself, but in the completeness of my beloved other.

    Perhaps someone, someday, somewhere will create and produce a musical about relationships that carries with it a message from within the perspective of The New Spirituality, and perhaps a title of…

    “I Love You, Without Condition, Eternally.” 

    (Lisa McCormack is the Managing Editor & Administrator of The Global Conversation.  She is also a member of the Spiritual Helper team at www.ChangingChange.net, a website offering emotional and spiritual support .   To connect with Lisa, please e-mail her at Lisa@TheGlobalConversation.com.)

  • Question everything

    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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