I agree.  It sure can change a life if allowed into it.

I wrote this several years ago to my family and friends and thought it might fit in here.

I've been musing about love lately. Not just romantic love but all the different kinds of love.

We should all know what love feels like either coming to us from another or giving it to others. It starts with our mothers before we are born. The first few years of our lives we usually are surrounded by love. In that way, we learn to love in return. We are given love, and we return it in order to get more. As we grow we start to learn how to give love without expecting anything in return...unconditional love. An example is giving that first Valentine to mom or dad. Then maybe along comes a kitten or puppy, it is our chance to give love to something without getting much in return besides a lick on the nose.
As we grow, we find love grows...even our love of life.
Then there is that wonderful first love. You remember the one you couldn't stop thinking about. Was it mostly glands? Of course, but that didn't make it any less love. It was enough love that it could break our hearts and usually did. Again we learned about love.
As the years go by we love our parents (even more than we knew we did),friends, mates, children (some of the purest love), pets, and even some strangers. Our love continues to grow.
Hey, wait a minute, did I just say strangers. Yes, I did. Ever make a contribution to a charity? How about a homeless person? Maybe you gave to the food bank or a hospital. There you have it...love of strangers. It is another form of pure love...giving from the heart or pocket without expecting a return.
If I ever wonder what God is like, I think of all of these loves especially that pure unconditional love. By loving unconditionally, we all are more like God. What a goal to aim for!

T'ressa

Just a reminder:

"You have heard the law that says, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you! In that way, you  will be acting as true children of your father in heaven. For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike. If you love only those who love you, what reward is there for that? Even corrupt tax collectors do that much. If you are kind only to your friends, how are you different from anyone else? Even pagans do that. But you are to be perfect, even as you Father in heaven is perfect."

Matthew 6:43-48.


rondele wrote on Apr 14^th, 2016 at 5:25pm:

Thank you.

For your presence.

Thank you.

Each of you.

For your presence.

Not an impossibility, if we seek to love others unconditionally. Why would Jesus say be ye perfect as your father in heaven is perfect if it isn't possible to do so?

Alan McDougall wrote on Apr 15^th, 2016 at 11:49am:

Thank you.

For your presence.

It is simple.

Love is all that matters.

Forgiveness is part of love. It is the same as love. The difference between love and forgiveness is only in how love is directed or what love is directed to.

Forgiveness is that part of love that we can direct towards things distasteful. Forgiveness is what enables us to love in all directions. 

God's love is forgiving.

There is no sin so great that it cannot be forgiven.

God gave man freewill to make mistakes and learn and grow, and God knew beforehand all the sins that would be committed, all the errors man would make along his freewilled journey.

Repentance is the presentation of our sins to God. It is presenting our self to God, as we are, in full acknowledgement of our sins. And in request for forgiveness. 

Repentance enables God's light to shine into every dark and horrid corner of our being, and clean and lighten our self.

In repentance there is no sin that God will not forgive.

Although God's life is in all things, his spirit animates all things, is within us, we cannot keep it out, for it animates our soul, but by not repenting we keep out God's forgiveness which is God's love, we keep a part of our self away from God, we make a barrier that keeps God's love and light out of our self.

Repentance enables forgiveness to come into our self. It is like opening a cupboard door to let the light shine in. It is like inviting a cleaner into our house and showing the cleaner all our dark and dirty places, the places we are ashamed of, and then the cleaner cleans them. But if we invite the cleaner into our house and only show her the cleaner parts to clean but keep the dirty rooms and cupboards locked, then she cannot clean those places and leaves the house only part clean. But if we show her all the dirty places she will clean them and leave our house clean right through.

Repentance is our opening up to God, is showing God our wrong and dark and dirty places. Forgiveness is the cleaning and relieving light that then comes in.     

Forgiveness is relief. It relieves the weights of guilt and shame, and the ailments that accompany them. It frees us from the darkness and blindness of denial and irresponsibility, and enables us to see clearly within and without of our self.

All prayer commences with repentance. Repentance lets in God's light, right into our being, even into the darkest places to lighten them. Repentance brings connection and honesty between our soul and God. 

The nature and workings of repentance and forgiveness are the essential teachings of Christianity.

   

Thank you.

For your presence.

Love is all that matters.

It is the clear path.

Alan McDougall wrote on Apr 15^th, 2016 at 12:14pm:


It seems difficult to forgive some things. But like anything, it is easy when we know how to do it, and how it works, what it does, and why it works, and when we want to do it because we understand its benefits, and when we have understanding of how and why such unpleasant things occur, why people do what they do.

We need to study freewill and forgiveness to understand them, in order to bring them together for others, their freewill and our forgiveness. As with any study, we must put in time and effort and practice.

Some things make forgiveness easier for us to do.

One thing is a sincere apology; an apology that contains responsibility for what was done, and
acknowledgement of the effects of what was done, and humility. But that is not present often, and we must learn to forgive without it.  

Another thing is understanding of freewill and how and why people do what they do.

And another thing that enables us to forgive is the method Jesus demonstrated when being killed on the cross, when we have no strength to do it, is to ask God to forgive on our behalf. It must be a genuine request, of course, we have to want God to do it.          

   Knowledge not lived is spiritual error. To those whom are more aware, more is required of them--the greater their responsibility.

Many on this board believe love is a superior form of "like".   But to like something is to prefer it.  Usually to set it up in the world of forms (the physical world), and often oppose it to something that is disliked.  In this narrow view, everything is black and white.  love/like vs. hate.  Opposites are seen and not recognized as being polarities of something bigger.

From my own experience and that of others, Love is something far different.  Love is the groundspring of our true nature before it gets perverted or warped by ego.  Love flows from God, out to all areas of the universe and in all astral planes.  Those who allow this low to flow through them "get it," and usually their love is then magnified  (Jesus says "Whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them.").  I love that quote from the NT, because it seems paradoxical.  What it really means is, as you open yourself up to universal love you get more. 

The person who closes himself/herself off to God's love is usually focusing on their own ego/needs, and getting lost in the "us vs. them" mentality of the physical world.  These people need to "be right" to show that others are "wrong."  To them, that have little universal love, that turn their backs to the flow of God's love, more is taken away.  Swedenborg was shown representations of people actually facing away from heaven; deliberately acting out of ego gratification and selfishness. 

So for myself, I see love as an all pervading force of good, which we either open our inner being up to and radiate outward toward others or we close ourselves off from (and in so doing turn away from it).

But we always have a choice.  People can and usually do evolve over time.  Not in an instant.  But gradually, all who live out of selfish ego-based gratification, usually find that the grass is "browner" not greener, and eventually, they look for a more universal kind of spirituality.

M

M, one can like good acts and/or bad acts. I suppose love is more fixed than ambivalent like/dislike in that sense because harming (not "harming") someone else is not love, or that love has a strong direction rather than like/dislike zig zagging. But love is not automatically present in all dealings just because one loves. X loves the family and dislike the son's teenage rebellion period, X also hates the neighbour and like it like that.

M, to some extent is a good response, if your response was nonsense it could still be good. Both responses can be great inspiration to dig deeper.

Hey Albert

For me, engaging our ego means to serve the part of use we invest into being apart from our link to God and the universe.  Our egos are built up from childhood.  It is the perishable part of our earthly selves that sees the world as a harsh place and is so lost in the forms that reality presents to us, it makes us think in selfish oppositional ways. 

There is an old buddhist saying "no self, no more problems."  Westerners unknowingly think that this is nihilism; that if we lose the shell of our ego we would cease to be, or merge mindlessly with some grand unity of things.  Nothing could be farther from the truth.

Sometimes, in deep meditation, in nature, or at other points in our lives, we deeply connect to everything.  In that state, we don't have to be right.  We don't have to be better than another.  We don't look down on others.  We aren't defending anything.  We are not afraid of losing an argument.  That enlightened state is, from my understanding our true self, and the more frenetic, confrontational, ego based state is, unfortunately the way most of us operate.

When a person is able to let go of the ego, they find they live differently not because they are "trying" but because that is the only way to be.   Sacred texts be it the gospels in the new testament or Lao Tzu's writings therefore say that a good person is kind to those who are kind to them, and also kind to those who are unkind to them.  Why?  Because kindness is our nature without ego. 

M

Hey Albert,

I do think we are in agreement.  And I do personally believe the ego is a mask we all adopt through parental education and by necessity to function in the earth plane.  But I think most people focus on their egos and lose their connection to God and love.  After death, I believe there are stages where the ego falls away.  Swedenborg called this the second stage after death.  In that state, the mask we wear serves no purpose. 

I do think that many eastern religions are not nihilistic, but you have to get deeper into them to see it.  I do also find that humble loving people rarely want to take credit for their acts of charity.  Swedenborg mentions that this is the way the angels (deceased basically good human beings) act in the afterlife.  That they are keenly aware that when they do something good, it is because that is the only way to be, and that it is the love permeating creation (from God) which is really what they say to be thankful for.

M

Thank you.

For your presence.

Love is you.

Love is all that matters.

  As each blade of grass, each snowflake, each thumbprint is unique, so wasn't each Spirit and every Soul connected to the various created Spirits, created unique and at least slightly different than one another. 

  This basic individuality/uniqueness, and self awareness, never changes or alters, unless one happens to destroy themselves through such severe and consistent blockage of attunement to Love.

   Even when one consciously merges with Source, there is individuality, uniqueness, and self awareness retained. 

   And Albert is correct--i've devled enough into some Eastern belief systems to realize, with much less expereince and delving than him, that some of these speak of the individuality and self awareness of our Souls and Spirits as an illusion and that there is only One self. 

  In other words, some of these are lopsided, over polarized to the Yin.  Why, because some of these beliefs and interpretations come from those who were overly polarized/lopsided to the Yin themselves.  We teach and perceive that which we are. 

  But there are even some Western mysticism beliefs that talk similarity.  I remember reading a book about a nun, and which talked about St. John of the Cross, and she talked about a very similar concept, that individuality and self awareness was an illusion--and one that we supposed to banish. 

    Again, over Yin polarization.  Those more polarized to the Yang, or those who have a greater balance and integration of the Yin and Yang, will easily understand and perceive that the above is a distorted interpretation of reality. 

  Conversely, some people that are over polarized to the Yang, focus over much on individuality and either lack awareness of Oneness/interconnectedness or consider it less important. 

   One of the big, consistent human dilemmas, and why i so often speak on and stress the importance of balancing and merging these both within ourselves and within the larger society/culture. 

    The most expanded teachers, will be those that have a complete integration/merging of the Yin and Yang within themselves like Bob Monroe's "He/She".  And He/She definitely has a sense of self and it's own unique individuality.

   I've had a couple of guidance dreams, which made the point of showing that we retain our individuality and self awareness, however much we expand. 

One dream involved me meditating outside while looking at the Sun, and merging with the Sun.  The super expanding sensation was at first almost frightening and i thought i might lose my self/sense of self and i initially resisted the process.  But then i chose to let go and let it happen, and found out that i was still me after the process, but a much more expanded version of myself.

  I had another dream where i was standing in a circle, connected to others, and i had an awareness that i was supposed to move in the middle and fully open up to the Christ consciousness within and Spirit without (yes, somehow it seemed like both simultaneously--very hard to explain or describe).  After the process was complete, i still had a sense of self, but i also felt completely connected, and because of that connection, felt extremely powerful and transcendent. I was still me, but a higher, better, purified version of me--me connected to (in a fully conscious sense) Source and the Whole. 

Because of these powerful and affecting dream guidance dreams, i am fairly sure that my long time intuition about all of this is correct.   

  Since Source cherishes it's uniqueness, self awareness and individuality, and specifically created us with freewill, uniqueness, individuality and self awareness, why should these be considered any kind of illusion? 

  It's only when one puts the little self above the Oneness/interconnection or our Source, that it becomes limiting and delusion. Some did this in the very beginning--the lost ones who for whatever reason, became very separative. Some of these have caused a lot of issues and inharmony in creation since, and not only have become stuck themselves, but have had that influence on others. 

You need to re-read what you quoted of me. I said "many", not the "majority". And there are many, too many, little boys who are groomed, manipulated, aroused, masturbated, indoctrinated and brought up into a confusing condition that they would not otherwise have developed into and then need help to sort themselves out. These are those to which I referred.

Personally, I am indifferent to homosexuality. What others do, does not bother me. But indifference is considered homophobic by leftists.

Most conservatives/libertarians are indifferent to it too. That is what conservatism is, the belief in freedom to do whatever you like, providing it doesn't harm others or restrict other's freedom. Most conservatives just want to be left alone to live their lives without leftists constantly telling them what they are not allowed to do, say and think, then being labelled haters, racists, sexists, homophobes etc for thinking or saying anything outside of leftist bounds. 

Leftists are just self-righteous authoritarians. They want to restrict others and change society. And worse, they want to level society. There is no human attitude more authoritarian than that. The worst of them seethe with hatred. Not fleeting thoughts or passing impulses to hurt or harm, but they have a constant chronic wish for the destruction and elimination from the planet those who are not like themselves or not compliant with their dictates on how people should be, or anyone who is not compatible with their fantasy of how they think the world should be.       

Your claim that I :
Quote:
is not true. You have made that accusation of me twice before, and you have not cited it. Unlike you I do not delete posts, so you should be able to find it somewhere if it exists. 

I have said this though: Homosexuality should be allowed but it should not be encouraged i.e. by making it sacrosanct - beyond criticism.

That is only reasonable, to a reasonable person. Anything that can be thought of can be criticised, include heterosexuality, so I think homosexuality can be criticised too. Nothing should be above criticism; nothing should be sacrosanct.

And nothing should be banned that does not harm others.
    

Yes, the far left is nothing other than hypocritical.  They claim to celebrate diversity and yet they shout down any conservative who dares to speak at their college.  Diversity to them applies only to those with whom they agree.  Their mindset has gone so far down the rabbit hole that we have delusional situations like this:

http://eagnews.org/video-harvard-students-debate-whether-whites-should-kill-them...

Justin, you have already been suspended by Bruce for your injection of politics into your posts among other reasons.  Yet you continue.  Isn't there an Occupy demonstration somewhere that you can attend?  Or a 9/11 Truther event?  Maybe even a meetup group in Richmond you can try to join?  You obviously have an abundance of free time.

Just knock it off.  1796 has more wisdom in his fingernail clippings than in any of your narcissistic, self righteous posts.

R

Yes. Please return to a respectful way of arguing.

Listen up "doctor."  You have been on the board long enough to recall not only the ridiculous, but obscene, allegations made about 9/11, including the charge that no plane crashed into the Pentagon.  That it was all a setup done by the Republicans to justify our intervention in Iraq.

It was claimed that the Pentagon was actually hit by a cruise missile fired from a submarine  (never mind that there are no waters in the vicinity in which a submarine could navigate).  And the passengers and crew booked on that flight?  Well, they were all intercepted by the CIA and kidnapped before they arrived at the airport.

Yes, this is delusional left wing thinking and clearly politically motivated.  It would be easy to ignore this nonsense except for this fact- one of the passengers killed that morning was a neighbor of ours who placed several frantic phone calls to her husband, telling him what was going on.  That's a matter of record.  He's a man of complete integrity.  He was devastated.  As were we.

We passed by the Pentagon each day to and from work.  We saw and heard the accounts of the first responders who dragged charred bodies from the building.  Pieces of the plane were plainly visible.

So.....let's bottom line this.  We have a board member who is accusing innocent people of committing mass murder.  No other way to spin this.  And you are upset by the use of the word narcissistic.  I suggest you save your disdain for the execrable behavior of the person who truly deserves your approbation.

In the 17+ years I've been on this board, there has never been anything so outrageous and obscene. That, to me, is far more egregious than anything I've said.

R

Roger,

Not sure why you put "doctor" in parenthesis, you can just call me Matthew.  I like my screen name, and don't use it for any reason other than it suits me and I started off with it.  If it was meant as a dig, I forgive you.

As to the 9/11 posts, I have not read them.  I still see no reason to use an insult, even if you find someone's theory disgusting.  Obviously, some conspiracy theories are outrageous.  Some posts on this board are outrageous.  Say so (or don't), but use the moderator system if you feel it is justified. 

There is no need to insult someone personally.  Whether a person has any personality flaws should not enter into a discussion as it demeans both the person and the person giving the insult.  I still contend that there is always another way in a forum discussion.

Once can say that someone's argument is ridiculous to me, or doesn't make sense, is simplistic, misses the point, etc. That is different.  I'm sure when I'm passionate about a topic I may cross the line sometimes too.  But it is not right, and I try to be mindful of it. 

"Doc"

  1796, i can only look back at the last 40 posts in your total posting history.  You have been here since December of 2013. Between these, this would make it very difficult to pinpoint your old post(s) which talked about this issue. 

  In any case, i don't need to, as what you recently said, if a person reads between the lines, says plenty about your position.   

  So doesn't the following, Quote:


   Very gracious of God's special messenger to allow homosexuality. 

  As far as encouraging it?  Why does it matter one way or the other?  First off, for the huge majority of people, it's a inborn thing that a person knows and feels since very little. Actually talk to some folks whom are gay, and you will learn this very quickly.   

2nd, there is absolutely nothing ethically, or morally wrong whatsoever, about adults of the same gender engaging in consensual sexual, romantic, and/or long term relationship interactions. 

   So it doesn't matter how many people do or don't do it, and it should be beyond criticism, and frankly, unless it affects you directly, it's no concern of yours at all.

Also, people that are gay, don't and really can't "convert" others to be gay.  The only time any kind of influence happens, is when an adult unethically molests a child, and people that are gay and who have not been molested themselves, do not go around molesting minors.   

   Where is the holistic logic or love in any thing you have said regarding this subject? 

  Rondele, again i invite you to actually debate the issue of 9/11 and the facts and evidence around same, in the Off Topic section. 

   This is not the place for it. You are the one going off topic with this. 

  And while i would be more than happy to debate you re: that issue, i have a condition.  No indirect or direct ad hominem attacks, but actual point by point discussion of the various accepted facts and evidence. Either you or i will bring up specific evidence and facts, and we have to logically explain these according to our viewpoints. If you support the official story according to the authorities, then all evidence and facts brought up, need to be specifically countered concisely and in a holistically logical, internally consistent way.   

  Last time, you did not do the latter at all, but solely engaged in the former. I will bump that thread up so that others can see for themselves. 

  Do we have a deal?  Or, are you only capable of engaging in ad hominem attacks such as now? 

 

Quote:

Thankyou seagull.

Alan McDougall wrote on Apr 19^th, 2016 at 7:23am:

he he he, just letting you know the seagull is a woman Alan.

And a nice one too. She even puts up with me.

Quote:




   I just read all of this post and enjoyed it. I like the way you kept inserting positive comments reminding others as to why it was started in the first place.   

   First comment on what Justin wrote: Quote:

   I appreciate your posts more than anyone else on this conversation board, as they make a lot of sense to me. The above quote follows what I believe and have experienced in life while during this physical incarnation.

   I can easily relate to the He/She writings in Bob Monroe's books as I kind of have a physical head start on that. Besides being transgendered (feeling like a woman trapped in a man's body), I think I may have chimerism, which is having both male and female DNA. Currently I can't afford the test to confirm this. I try my best though to keep a Yin and Yang balance in acceptance of both my male and female side. Earlier in life I thought of this as a curse keeping me from being accepted as a normal person in society. The last several years I have decided to consider this as a gift giving me better insight of life from a wider understanding and perspective than those who have a male or female viewpoint only.

When you said Quote:
it reminded me of my solar meditations where I would look in the direction of the sun. Then after a short while, my eyes would be protected by a dark disc blocking almost all of the bright light around the center of the Sun, allowing me to look directly at it without causing eye damage. Besides preventing eye damage, I eventually improved my eyesight from 20/30 vision to perfect vision. One time during the winter while staring at the Sun, I felt extra heat emanating towards me and it actually melted snow on a lawn table in front of me causing it to drip water onto the ground.

As for what Rondele / Roger wrote, I like to stay out of politics. I know you have your mind made up about what occurred on 9/11/2001, but I implore you to further research. What DocM / Matthew wrote is the truth. He probably did a lot of research about what happened that day (as have I since day one) and doesn't rely on what propaganda news is spinning for the masses to accept. For one thing, cell phones were physically incapable of working on those planes at altitude on that date, therefore your neighbor couldn't have possibly made a call. Also, I have studied pictures showing the Pentagon as having a tiny hole in the building at the precise location that housed the records of the missing 2 trillion dollars that a day or so before Donald Rumsfeld told a congressional committee were missing due to  computer glitch (how convenient) and all of the important personnel just happened to be at the other end of the Pentagon that day (how lucky for them). I know many things about that day but just mentioned a few relevant FACTS to give you food for thought. Here is a quick link among many that you could find through proper research and I'll leave it at that: http://911research.wtc7.net/mirrors/killtown/penta_lawn.htm

I have many other things to say for this thread but I'm already getting too long winded. Thank you seagull for starting this post, even though everything in it but what you wrote is totally unrelated.   

This is a good example of how your hatred of anyone with political views other than your own distorts your judgment, not to mention your comprehension.

The frantic cell phone calls I referenced were from our neighbor to her husband, before the plane hit the Pentagon.  The route was from Reagan airport in VA to the Pentagon, a short distance in the state of Virginia.  But you say it's impossible because cell phones were unusable after the other two planes hit the WTC.

Listen carefully....Virginia is approximately 200 miles from NYC.
Cell phones worked here.  Can you grasp that?  And I'm supposed to engage in a discussion about your "facts" that show the whole thing was an inside job?  And if a missile hit the Pentagon, tell me what happened to the passengers booked on that flight?  Where are they?  And how were they all intercepted before getting to the airport?  Large blue  birds flew them away?

The two of you should get a one way ticket on that vehicle that goes to the center of the earth.  Enjoy the view.

R

  True PUL type Love endures. 

  This Love stands in the storms and spreads centeredness, positivity, and logic.  It speaks to higher ideals and walks the walk in the face of adversity and challenge.

  PUL type Love stands up to those bullying or purposely trying to mislead others. 

  PUL type Love accepts people as they are, warts, shadow and all and doesn't seek to cut off all interaction/communication because the young ones are behaving badly, as younger ones are apt/prone to do (unless the situation is really extreme).    

  PUL type Love, and real helper types, try to get through to people, even when it doesn't seem like people can be reached. 

   PUL type Love finds the humor even in the ugly situations.   

   Yin retreats or indirectly attacks/provokes.  Yang directly fights/attacks.  Somewhere in the middle, in the blend, the extremes meet and one neither fully retreats nor truly attacks, but a balanced expression/interaction happens.

  Love is so much more than the huge majority of humans think it is.  And above all, among humans, the completeness, the balance, the perfection of Love can be found so far, only in one example, one name, one life.  And if that life is examined objectively, one will see all the above examples of PUL type Love expressed.


 

Quote:


You can google like anyone else and find old posts. Someone with a 157 IQ could do that easily. So find what you accuse me of writing.

I am a swinging voter. I have voted left at least as often as I have voted right.

I am and have been a member of several leftist/socialist associations, including a leftist think-tank, and I am and have been a member of several conservative associations too.

A democracy is steered in a straight line in a similar manner to how a motor vehicle is steered in a straight line, with continuous slight left-right movements of the steering wheel. Too much or too sustained turning of the steering wheel to either left or right will result in the vehicle or the democracy running off the road. Good steerage of a motor vehicle or a democracy is a process of continual corrections to left and right as required, with care not to over-steer or over-correct.

Along with being steered by two opposing forces, a democracy is also driven by those two opposing forces. They are like the opposing strokes of the piston in a two stroke engine. 

I find the harmonious conflict between the two attitudes and their forces to be wonderful and fascinating. They are of the same vehicle, both required to drive it forward, and both required to steer it straight.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LuCUmQ9FxMU