A Daughter's letter to Dad

Hi Dad,

It was great to see you! I always enjoy spending time with you even though I messed up the enchiladas :(. Ah, I don't care if I messed up dinner, spending time with family was the most important thing :).

As for my brother, well... yes, he was drunk, and when he is drunk he becomes obstinate. I don't think there was anything you could have said to change the discussion or the outcome. I don't think you need to prove your Christianity to  my brother, you only need to prove that to God and Jesus...

This is where I have a problem: when religious beliefs become grounds for battle, the beliefs are not worth it. Whenever I fight with  my brother, this is what I say: Jesus never preached war, he loved everyone and did not judge anyone, he preaches acceptance and understanding...This is what I believe, and there are many ways to live the Teachings, as we are all unique. We, as humans, are flawed: we are judgmental, and becoming more than our judgments is the most difficult task that was given to us. My brother is stuck in between brainwashing and truth, in my opinion. This is where patience is the key ;) Only time can heal...And  my brother needs healing and a whole lot of patience. 

I need a whole lot of healing as well (and I will elaborate), but so do you. You said that when you think of the Pastor (I don't remember his name), you still become angry and that feeling of angriness eventually becomes resentment, but why is it there in the first place? In my opinion, it comes from the feeling of inadequacy you felt in your family when you were a child, but this is just my opinion and in no way means truth.

Believe me, Mom loves me, but I will never be the daughter she wanted, so I live with the constant feeling of inadequacy as well. This is not a criticism against Mom, I love her, she is just stuck within her ways of seeing things, just as my brother has allowed himself to be brainwashed (this may be to harsh of a word). This is where we need to be patient with Mom and my brother, you see? Becoming angry is useless. Jesus tried to teach us tolerance. This is where we need to learn to become more than our emotions, we need to become more than our anger, we need to become better than these conflicts. 

War ravages within me every day, I struggle with anger and fear! The only war is with me and myself, and I struggle to not bring that feeling outside of myself. This is the war that was taught in the New Testament, as I see it, the only conflict is with yourself, and what you bring others is the understanding of loving and acceptance. The message is simple, but we are maggots, and it takes so much work to live that simple Truth. No religion, no temple, no church, no denomination will bring you what Jesus tried to teach. Only true understanding of yourself, your shortcomings and your willingness to bring that understanding to others when you finally do manage to grow beyond yourself. I still have a lot of growing to do before I can give in any significant way, I do give to my son and to people in need around me, but that is all I can do at this time.

I hope I'm not insulting you in any way by writing these words, and words are never adequate to express what we feel. I would have way more words for my brother and Mom, but they don't need words, they need other forms of expression to understand. From a daughter to a father, I see in your eyes that you struggle with the same battles I struggle with.

I hope to speak to you soon. Lovingly,

A 

(not my daughter's initial. I friend sent this to me)

"If
you are depressed you are living in the past. If you are anxious you are living
in the future. If you are at peace you are living in the present." -- Lao
Tzu

You Light Up My Life

So many nights

I'd sit by my window,
Waiting for someone
To sing me his song.

So many dreams
I've kept deep inside me.
Alone in the dark
But now you've come along.

And you
Light up my life.
You give me hope
To carry on.

You light up my days
And fill my nights
With song.

Rolling at sea,
Adrift on the waters.
Could it be finally
I'm turning for home?

Finally, a chance
To say, "Hey, I love you,"
Never again
To be all alone.

(Chorus x2)

It can't be wrong,
When it feels so right.
'Cause you...
You light up my...
Life

This song I originally hear sung by Debby Boon. It tells a story of need and romance. But is that what the song is really all about. Some would say yes, but it is really a song that describes how the God within works in our life. He brings us hope, love and encouragement.

He really does light up our life. In times of need, hopeless and struggling with life's ups and downs.

The song talks about our need to go to God with everything in our life. It says that we are not alone. We have someone special to go to. Someone who knows us from birth to death and beyond. Someone we can say "Hey I love you" and know that we are loved in return.

Yes, it is true, we can consult with another person here who we consider our best friend. Someone who can keep a secrete and never tell anyone else of our struggles and problems. Someone who just might be able to give us the right advice at just the right time. It's Gods way of answering our prayers. God really is our best friend.

Call on him. Let Him know you have a problem and then, listen for His answer. It comes at just the right time.

Who or What is God

Jesus said "God is soul, and Soul is God. Not the soul that is in the created man, but the Soul that is Deity and self-existence, without beginning or ending, and Whose entity is the one great fact in the universe of being. 

God is without form but nevertheless, He is of form, which only the soul perception of the soul of a man which has arrived at certain degree of development, that is taken on the Divine nature of the Father and thus became a part the Soul of God, can realize as an entity.

God is back of force and principle and law, which are only expressions of His being, and which without Him could not exist; and they are only existences, changeable, dependent and subject to the will of God, who only, is Being.

God is Soul, composed of His greatest attribute, Divine Love, which is His very nature and essence, followed by Mercy, Goodness, Power, Omniscience, Will, and Mind. Although God has no form such as He gave to mankind on incarnation, nor a spirit body, which is manifested by man after his physical death, yet God possess His definite form, which becomes more clearly perceptible to the soul which feels or perceives God's Oversoul, or the divine attributes thereof, as it comes into close rapport with God through its soul development. For while God is Soul alone, unique in its Oneness, and while He has no material or spirit body, yet He has personality, the divine personality manifesting His Love and Mercy, His kindness and solitude for all His creatures. God, then, is not a cold intellect, an abstract mind, or force indifferent and unfeeling, but a personal warm and loving Father, eager for the happiness of His children, regardless of race or color or creed. He seeks through His ministering angels to turn His children to Him, and have them keep in harmony with His laws, or have them come to Him in longing of their human souls for that something they know not what and obtain at-onement with Him through the inflowing of His Divine Love into their souls in response to their earnest prayers. Soul is God and God is Soul and all His attributes added together do not make up who and what God is".

God was always existent - a Being without beginning, which idea the finite mind cannot grasp, but it is true; and so also everything which is in the universe today always existed, though not in form and composition as they now are; and as they are they will not continue to be, for change eternal is the law of His universe whether they be material or ethereal.

Creation of Heaven and Earth

God never created anything out of nothing, but His creation, such as are perceived by and known by man, were merely the change or composition of what had already existed, and always will exist as elements, though there will undoubtedly be changes in form and appearance and in constituent elements in their relation to one another.

Now, the earth did not always have an existence, as an earth, and neither did the firmament and the great galaxy of planets and stars, but they were not created out of nothing, and neither was there chaos, for in God's economy of being there is never any chaos, which if it should be, would mean the absence of the working of His laws and harmony.

But the earth and the firmament were created - at one time they had no existence as such, and at a coming time they may cease to have such existence. And this creation was in an orderly way, according to design, with no elements of change entering into it; and such creation was not through what your wise men may call accretion or evolution- that is self evolution- for every new or additional exponent of growth or manifestation of increase was the result of God's laws, which he operated in the creation of the creature.
Man, in his creation was from the beginning made perfect, with the exception of Divinity and Immortality. Man was created the perfect man. His physical body was perfect, and also his spiritual body and his soul.
Man in his creation, had bestowed upon him appetites and desires pertaining to his physical nature, as well as desires of his higher or spiritual nature, and they were all intended to work in harmony and not in antagonism, and in such workings, man was kept pure and free from sin - which is merely the violation of God's laws of harmony. But after the first disobedience, which in the greatest demonstration of the power of man to exercise that will, even when God forbade him not to do so, and after man lost this great potentiality, succeeding disobedience become easier.
But as man on earth continued to degenerate and to permit, what is sometimes called his animal nature to dominate his spiritual nature, many men died and continue to die , and their physical bodies went back to the dust of which they were created, and their spiritual selves became inhabitants of the spirit world, where they were freed, in a larger or shorter time, from the desires to exercise these animal appetites and the spiritual part of man again asserted itself, until many of these spirits became free from sin and evil and in harmony with the laws of God, controlling their natures and conditions as they existed before their degeneracy and before the disobedience commenced.
As a man progresses in the spirit world, he learns that there is an even greater possibility than just developing his spiritual self and soul to its original purity and that is to obtain God's Divine Love bestowed upon him. God's Divine Love takes the soul to the Celestial heaven that is above the spirit world. Man in the Celestial heaven partake of the essence of God, His Divine Love and immortality. There is no guarantee that a spirit in the spirit world will have immortality bestowed on him, and the opportunity to be in the Celestial heaven without God's Divine Love in him because at some point, the Celestial heaven will be closed to him.
In order for man to have God's Divine Love bestowed upon him is very simple, men shall believe with all the sincerity of their minds and souls that this Great Love of the Father is waiting to be bestowed upon each and all of them, and that when they come to the Father in faith and Ernest aspersions, this love will not be withheld from them, and in addition to this belief, pray with all the earnestness and longing of their soul that He open their souls to the inflowing of God's Divine Love, and that then may come to them the Holy Spirit to bring this Love into their souls in such abundance that their souls may be transformed into the very Essence of the Father's Love.
Jesus mission taught the transformation of man's soul from the image of God - the work of the original creation of man - into the very essence of God through the bestowal of the Father's Love upon whosoever should seek that Love in Ernest longing. This was the Good News that Jesus taught along with moral and ethical conduct.

Before I get to the creation of man, I want to say a few words about the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit

The Holy Spirit is that part of God's Spirit that manifests His presence and care in conveying to men's soul God's Divine Love. St. lucky, an apostle of Jesus, says "the Holy Spirit is not God and no part of the Godhead, but merely His messenger of Truth and Love emanating from his Great Soul and bring to man Love and Light and Happiness". Whenever the Holy Spirit is spoken of it should mean only that part of God's Spirit which transforms the soul of men into the Soul of God in its Quality and Love. The Holy Spirit while a part of the Spirit of God yet distinctive as is the soul of man is distinctive from other creatures of God; it is that part of God's Spirit that has to do with the relationship of God's Soul and man's soul, exclusively.

The subject of Its operation is the Divine Love of the Father's Soul and object of Its Workings is the soul of man, and the great goal to be reached by Its operation is the transforming of the soul of man into the Substance of the Father's Love, with Immortality as a necessary accompaniment. This is the great miracle of the universe; and so high and sacred and merciful is the transformation, that we call that part of God's Spirit, the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the instrument of the Father to bring God's Love into the soul of man, happiness and work to bring harmony with themselves as when the were first created.

Man's Creation

Man's Creation

When man was created he was made two fold - that is there were no male or female beings - which was intended to make a perfect one without losing any individuality on the part of either. Their names were not Adam and Eve, but Aman and Amon, which meant the male Am and female Am. Am means the exalter creation of God.

These beings were made perfect physically and spiritually. But these souls were not possessing of all the qualities of the Great Creator Soul, and in that particular were inferior to the Greater Creator. But as regards this soul part of their creation, they were made in the image of their Creator. The physical or spiritual part of their creation was not in the image of their Creator, for He had no physical or spiritual body. But their soul part was only made in the image of their Creator - and not of the substance - but this image was given a potentiality of obtaining or receiving the Substance of the soul qualities of their Creator and provided, if they pursued that course in their existence or living which would cause their souls to receive in accordance with certain operations of the laws which their Creator Soul had prescribed, this soul Substance. And only in obedience to these laws or their operations could the Substance of the Creator Soul, be obtained.

Well, these creatures were not equal to the test, or requirements, and after living awhile they became possessed of the idea that they needed not to comply with these prescribed laws, but could of their own will and power obtain this (Substance of God) by doing that which had been forbidden by these laws to do, and so in their efforts to obtain this Substance or Divine Love they disobeyed these laws, and, as a consequence, these potentialities of obtaining the Substance of the Creator Soul were taken from them, and they became beings still possessed of spiritual and physical forms and continued souls, but not of these great potentialities- and this was the fall of man.

The story of the Apple is a myth. No apple or anything else that was intended to be eaten, formed any part of the fall. It was wholly the fall of the soul's potentialities.

So you see the story of Genesis is merely symbolic.

The disobedience was the great unlawful desire on the part of these two. The soul substance that these two forfeited was the Divine Love of the Creator, which had they by their obedience became possessed of, would have made them a part of His Divinity, and hence like Him not only in image but in Substance and reality.

The spirit world provides a spirit with the opportunity to develop their natural love to its purest level as it was originally given to man at his creation.

Therefore, no spirit before the coming of Jesus, could possibly progress higher than the highest sphere, in the spirit world, where his natural love and intellectual development existed in their greatest degree of perfection.

Spiritual Path ?

Quote from Dan Millman's book "The Journey of Socrates"

When I was young, I believed that life

Might unfold in an orderly way, according to my hopes and expectations.

But now I understand that the Way winds like a river,

Always changing, ever onward, following God's gravity

Towards the Great Sea of Being.

My journey revealed that

The Way itself created the warrior;

That every path leads to peace,

And that life has always been,

And will always be,

Arising in mystery.

Are these words that you can relate to? Perhaps they are . . . Perhaps not. I wrote a poem and wound like to read it to you as an further introduction to my subject this after noon  titled Spiritual Path?

A path of light

A path of joy and happiness

A path of spiritual awakening

Filled with a multitude of ups and downs

Criss-crossing the paths of others.

Searching for the one that is right

Overflowing with love and compassion

A striving for perfection, but fail to acquire

Working and working to no avail.

Bumping into every obstacle

Longing for relief

And hoping for the best

Making our way thru life not knowing where to turn

To find that which We believed We lost

But never did

Here We are and so it be

We've found our path so great

Right here inside of us where it needs to be

A spiritual path of never ending joy.

What kind of path are you walking on? Is it made of snow, dirt, sand, stones or perhaps concrete? Did you leave any foot prints behind?

When we look at a field full of newly fallen snow we see a beautiful carpet of whiteness that sparkles in the sun light. Then the children come out and start running in the snow creating paths and foot prints that criss-cross each other. Some of the paths appear to be overlapping one another or two paths or more side by side. Some of the children's paths seem to go in circles for a while then moving from one circle to another finding themselves in a rut that they can not seem to get out of. However, the path that each child makes is unique to him/her and can be followed from start to finish. 

The overlapping and side by side paths show the close relationship that one person has for another. Two individuals or more walking together and yet separate in every way. We live our lives as individuals who have earned the right to express ourselves in our own way. We not only live different lives that is due to our constantly changing will, motivations, efforts and habits. Our way, for us, is the only way. In fact, a persons personal definition of there individuality define who they are and no one can say that he/she is right or wrong. 

What about our spiritual path? Are we really on a path? Or is it just a metaphor that we've heard that sounds good to us?

I believe it is true that when we think about our spirituality and spiritual growth we can say that we really are on a spiritual path. A path that it is an outward expression of our love for God and the indwelling Holy Spirit. Our life is an expression of our divinity ─ the God within. We strive to let God's love shine forth from our very heart and soul so that all who come in contact with us knows that here is a true son/daughter of God. One filled to over flowing with God's love.

True spirituality is an expression of God's love in us through our divine nature ─ the God within. And true spirituality is an expression of going from knowing about God to knowing God personally

As a spiritual person we will always choose to do good towards others while the materialistic person will always choose what is satisfying to him/herself ─ the ego self. The materialistic person only believes in what will make him or her happy or better than another person.

Should we be striving to be just like another person? No.

We go through life learning and experiencing a multitude of life's challenges and making decisions that are unique to us. 

We call our life experiences parts of the path that we are on, Parts that makes us who we are. A unique individual amongst 7 billion others.

Spirituality is being able to express God's love in and through us ever striving for spiritual perfection. To be God/Christ like in everything we do and say. It doesn't matter whether we go to church and Sunday school each week. Even though going to church is a reflection of our religious side and may help us be a better person spiritually.

True spirituality is a striving to do unto others as we would have them do unto us. We also strive to love our neighbor as ourselves.

If we can daily practice giving to others a little love and compassion, we have come a long way in being a true spiritual person living a spiritual life not a religious life.

Our physical life path ends with us taking up residence in the Spirit World. And there we will continue to experience and prosper our spirituality that is unique to us, ever growing to perfection. We will then enter into the abode of God with a pure heart filled with God's love.

There is no other person just like you or me and our spiritual paths meet and criss-cross each other's so that we can help each other grow spiritually.

We can and do walk our spiritual paths together and the path which makes the most coherent sense becomes the correct one for ourself.

Silver Birch said "You cannot be given immunity from the difficulties and problems of your daily life. That is why you are on earth, to encounter them, to overcome them and to emerge triumphant, stronger in character and in spirit".

Sent from my iPad