Duality

The universal law of duality expresses the fact that literally everything in this universe has two distinct ways of being expressed. Right verses wrong, good verse evil, up in relationship to down, forward to reverse. Duality shows us that no matter what mishap in life might occur, there is always another course of action available to us.

In the Bible we read in Ecclesiastes 3:1 "To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven..." The writer goes on to describe the duality to virtually everything.

Duality has been with each one of us since birth. When we were born into this world we were totally innocent and without blame. We didn't know anything about duality and yet, we would learn all about it in the years to come.

It seemed that our parents were constantly correcting us by saying, "Don't do that," whatever that might have been. When we got older and beginning to understand a little logic, maybe our parents changed their way of corrected us. Maybe our parents would ask us if we understood what could happen by our actions towards the other person.

Wouldn't it be great to start all over again knowing what we know today? Starting over with a clear and uncluttered mind, being totally innocent by having our past mistake erased forever. How great it would be if our actions would have been the right ones from the beginning. In fact, is there anyone in this world who can say that they are totally free of doing any kind of wrongs? Can we say that we are not involved in the duality of life?

We have all made mistakes in our lives and we provably always will. That doesn't mean that we cannot change. Doing right all the time is the ideal, however, by just knowing that duality exist and we can't get away from it, may make the difference between doing right and avoiding the wrong; correcting the duality of the situation. We do wish we could be totally free of all negativity in our past and regaining our innocents. Wishing that we could place the positive and negative of duality in their rightful place.

Please Note

The purpose of all the articles posted on this, my blog, are to bring to your attention certain things that you may have experienced in you life. I hope that no one has been offended by any one article and you have learned something useful. I will be posting more articles in the near future. Thank you for reading them. Rev. Ronald L. Koch

Likes and Dislikes

Why is it that when a person asks another person a simple question that they seem to think that we're being nasty, or bitter?  We only want a simple answer to a simple question. No nastiness or bitterness or hatefulness involved.

Not long ago I gave a friend a proposal, and not knowing that he was not at home in order to give me an answer right away, I wrote him an email.  I asked them what happened, in my own way.  They wrote back saying "that they read my 'not so nice email' and was not happy with it".  It was never intended as a "not so nice email", and yet that is the way it was taken. Why?

When a person believe what other people say about us, they tend to believe what they were told, by the other person, rather than their own knowledge of us. People who no longer accept us as who we are, but interject into their beliefs something that they shouldn't, are in reality looking for excuses to no longer "like us" period.  They'd never admit it, I'm sure. I  believe this is so.  We can't out quests what goes on in another persons head or what their beliefs are or how they are influenced by others. We cannot even know what, if anything they really think about us, down deep inside them. We can only continue to do our "own thing", so to speak, and hope others "get it".  This is really not us being bitter or hateful, but us wanting to know what it is that was so bad. What did we do that was so wrong?

How many times in your life has this happened to you?  Many I'm sure.  Can anything be done about it? Provably not. If others take a disliking to us, it takes an act of God to change their minds.  This should never happen in the first place.

Some people say that we are friends. Then turn around and "put a knife in our back".  Why?  Here again is a question without an answer.  If we say we take personal responsibility for our own actions, then their is no reason for bitterness, hate or even nastiness in our dealings with others.  It is our responsibility to just let others be who and what they are without judging them. That is not to say that it can't happen, it does.  It is then up to us to try and do something about it, if we can.

I cannot make you my friend even if I have tried many times to. Sometimes our best intentions are just not enough or even understood and most likely never will. Especially when others don't understand us, or even want to, they judge us, often, wrongly.  And that's the end of it...

Are You Empathic?

This short article cannot begin to cover the vast extent of the subject on empathy. However, it will talk about what being an empath entails.

"Clairsentience is another way of saying "empathy".  This means to have the emotional feelings or inner knowing of events which are unknowable.  These empathic people are also called "sensitives".  Some clairsentients are extremely sensitive and may feel emotional highs and lows and even physical sensations that do not belong to them.  The trick then is discerning which moods are not your own and protecting yourself from unwanted receptivity, particularly in crowded areas or at emotionally laden events, such as funerals.  Many people are familiar with this skill from the Star Trek - The Next Generation show, where the ship's counselor, Deanna Troi, was known for her skills as an empath".

How many times have you been with another person and feel like you just want to cry, or run as fast as you can from their presents just to get away from their overwhelming  emotional state? How many times have you been talking to someone and had the feeling that they were being dishonest with you or just plain lying?  How often have you felt the underlying truth behind what a person was saying to you but didn't understand why they were not expressing it? Could it be that you are able to tune into the person in a way that you don't really understand?  Or, perhaps you get a sick feeling when you're around certain people, or feel their stress or physical pain.  Maybe you just think the other person just doesn't  understand you because you express your feeling openly.  You just can't hide what's going on inside you.  You're an empath.

A person who is empathic is highly sensitive to the feelings and intent of others.  They senses what is happening within a persons auric field long before that person feels any kind of distress or the on set of physical pain or illness.

An empath can't stand a person who constantly criticizes them.  It's not the criticism that is the problem, it's the underlying intent within the criticizer.  It's his/her supposed hidden internal grandiose that is the real problem, something that is wide open to the empath.

People who criticize others on a regular basis just can't understand why the person they are criticizing gets so upset with them.  It's because the criticizer is seen through the eyes of the empath and the empath just can't take what is constantly being constantly projected at them.

Most empaths don't even know they're empathic.  It seems that people and the whole world hates them, and they just don't understand why. They only know that when they are confronted with certain people or circumstances they get upset easily and can't wait to get away from it all.

Other people are open and honest and the empath feels very happy to be around them.

Knowing that you're empathic can go a long way in helping you to cope with other peoples emotions and ways of working.  It may not be easy to deal with, but just knowing that you're empathic helps. Knowing you're empathic also means that you can learn how to protect yourself from the extreme emotions and intent of others.

Empaths are special people.  They can spot when a person is in physical stress before that person shows any kind of symptoms. They feel within themselves the pain and suffering of others.  An empath can feel what another person is feeling often deeper than the person is actually feeling themselves. Why?

Empaths have a special gift from birth that is usually a mystery to them for many many years or even their entire life.  But once they understand the real source of their problem, they can learn how to use their gift for the great good of everyone they meet.  To help others understand themselves.  To develop their gift in a thousand ways, even as a psychic or medium or as a psychologist or counselor. An empath is able to use their gift to help a patient understand their problem(s) faster and easier and with greater clarity.

An empath is a clairsentient who feel the embedded emotions in people, objects and everything they touch and everything that is happening around them, even in the world.  A gift that can be used to change that which needs changing.  To know when things aren't going the way they should, or going all wrong long before other become aware that something is happening.

An empath needs to constantly protect themselves against the projected feelings and emotions of others in order to live a relatively good life in the presents of others.  A gift that is indeed special but at the same time difficult to control without training and understanding.

In days long past

In days long past when I was young, I took to the woods to find what no others could find. I searched here and there for weeks and found not what I search for.  “Why did you continue I was asked”, my reply was "it was expected of me." A walk in the woods always took me where I needed to go, the place where I had to be.  

Was it important for me to know where, maybe, but not always?  You see our soul always knows what is best for us. We only need to find out what that is because that is part of what life is all about – the searching.  The other part is to come to know the God within.

We often search for what others expect of us not knowing that we were really supposed to search for what was best for us.  Whether this is what we had in mind when we started, may or may not be what was intended.

Like so many searchers, we often go beyond are abilities. It doesn't matter what we're searching for, and we are never told what was really expected of us, what mattered was, we not knowing did what we should.

Going beyond all expectations is something that we can do. We only need to get started.  The question is what is it that we expect of our selves? Do we stand up to our own expectation? Or do we fall short?  Who is it that we really have to satisfy?  Is it really you, or you, or you?  Can’t I do what I want without criticism, or make something totally unexpected?  Like what you say?  Good question.  You see it doesn't matter what it is.  It is I who does it.  It is your place to simply watch and do nothing, even say nothing.

The big mistake people always make has to do with others.  We demand that others conform to our expectations or else.  Why?  They don't think or act like us.  They don't even look like us.  So why question another persons right to be who they are?  You and I are to live our lives in harmony with others by letting them be who and what they are. Make no mistakes here, they are who they are and cannot be anything else.

Can you agree with this? That is the real and only question.

Relationships

Friendship and a good relationship with special friends is very important to me as it is for many of you.  A friendly relationship with two or more other people is a great gift.  A gift that has many good things attached to it.

When we were young we played together as friends enjoying each other’s company.  We shared our toys and playthings with others, things that today we would not share with anyone.

When we were young we shared with others everything we had without question.  We trusted them explicitly knowing that they would treat our things with respect.  No broken toys... Life then was simple for us.  We didn't know the difference between trusting and not trusting others. It was all the same to us.  What happened?

Today we seem to have lost our trust in each other. We need to know others very well in order to know if we can trust then.  Today we sometimes look at each other as strangers.  Have we changed so much over the years that we no longer enjoy having fun together? Have we lost all trust in each other. I hope not.  It would not be good for any of us.  Life is filled with those things that we as individuals have to be concerned with, especially with others.

We need friends and we need the opportunity to engage in playful fun.  To party and have fun together.  Consult with each on things we may need a little advice on.

Togetherness with friends by having family softball games, go swimming or fishing together, or playing tennis.  Going to the park for a picnic or the fair.  We can even enjoy going to church, a civic gathering or even school.   Maybe we just want to sit together having a little quiet time playing checkers or some other board game.  Togetherness is a way of expressing our trust and love for our friends and others. We even make new friends when we are on vacation that can last for the rest of our life.

When we take personal responsibility for our actions, our thoughts, and ourselves we are able to express our trust and friendship in a very beautiful way.  We need to relearn how to trust each other as we did when we were children.  Trust that others will always be there for us and always be there to lend a helping hand. Friends never judge us, and never talk down to us in a real or imaginary way.  A friend understands us as being unique and special, someone you trust, love and know as special.

A husband and wife have a special relationship that start developing the day they meet.  It's an on going relationship that grows with time.  Friends an even trust each other with their very life.  A very special kind of love and friendship exist when a wife, who loves her husband so much that she desires to have his children,.  When a couple who has been married for 40 or 50 years is ask how they lived so long together, they often say "it wasn't easy but we made it work because we love each other".  Two people who are special loving friends who have stuck it out together for many years.  We need this between friends.  That love that is in a friendship that only time can make perfect.

Yes, friendships are indeed a special gift that two or more people can give each other. Something we all need.

Can a Christian be a Spiritualist?

Can a Christian be a Spiritualist? The answer to this question is a resounding yes. Just because Spiritualism doesn’t preach that one must belong to a certain denominational church or believe in Christ as savior, confess their sins to God doesn’t mean that individual Christians can’t be Spiritualists. Oh you say, yes, Spiritualists do believe in God, and Christ but not as savior, per sa. When Modern Spiritualism was just getting started in the mid 1800s, all Spiritualism was known as Christian Spiritualism. This was because the people involved in Spiritualism were originally members of denominational Christian churches. Spiritualists in the early days believe in the teachings of the church and even used them in their churches. Until recent years, all Spiritualist churches had a Bible on their pulpits. They know that Jesus was one of the most gifted mediums of his time. “Medium” yes medium. There is the story in the Bible where Jesus was talking to a woman of Samaria at a well where he told her all about her life and what was happening at the time he met her. Gospel According to Saint John 4:19 “The woman saith unto him, Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet”. Webster’s dictionary says that a “prophet an authoritative person who divines the future”. Is a Spiritualist also a prophet? In many ways the answer is yes. They often do give people information about future events in their lives. However, a “Spiritualist mediumship” in no way gets involves with fortune telling. The work of a medium is to prove the reality of survival after so called death and to pass on practical help and understanding when needed. The information a medium gives a person is meant to help them make their own decisions in their life, not make them for the person.

The question is, what happens to the Spiritualist when he/she dies? Christianity says that non-Christians sleep in the grave until the “great day of judgment”. When a Christian dies he/she is then “absent from the body and present with the Lord”. We answer this by saying that we go to be with the same Lord and heaven that Christians go to when we die. However, what Christians don’t know is that we also believe that the criminal, etc. will go to a lower spirit world where they will be given an opportunity to make restitution for their wrongs, and then be able to progress to higher spirit worlds. You can’t accept that, ah? That’s ok. You see it has been proven by thousands of mediums that life continues after the change called death and that is the only think that Spiritualists are really saying. Yes, we also believe that we can communicate with the so-called dead, as a proven fact. Did Jesus go into the grave and sleep when he died? No. He was very much alive and came back many times to teach and be with his disciples.

In the late 1800s and early 1900s scientists and highly educated men and women investigated Spiritualist phenomena and came to the conclusion that it was real, not a fakery or even fraudulent in any way. However, their were a large number of people who took advantage of the “darkened séance room” to defraud the sitters. That is one major reason the scientist went to extreme measures to assure that no fraud was possible with the people they were investigating. [See Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s books “History of Spiritualism” Volume I and II.]

All Spiritualist churches and associations make sure that the people who attend their activities are not asked to set aside any of their own religious beliefs or even stop attending their denominational church. The director of the church I attend is a Jewish woman who is married to an Anglican Priest and her best friend is a Catholic nun.

One of the main things that I want the reader to know is that God has provided for each and everyone of His spiritual children no matter what wrong choices, sins, they had made or are making here on this earth plain. Something Christians just can’t accept are non-Christians because their Bible and denominations refuse to believe in them and their teachings. People who were not born and raised in their particular denomination are lost.

When one reads the Bible one finds dozens of examples of Spiritualist phenomena, especially in the Old Testament. Jesus was not only a special son of God, but one of the greatest men who ever lived. There is no doubt about it. Jesus was a gifted healer, teacher and prophet. One only needs to read to Bible to know this.

Is God a God of wrath and does he hate sin? No, God is not a God of wrath, God is a God of love but He does hate sin. Because he hates sin he has provided a way for all his children in this physical world to make restitution for their sins. Whether you believe that Jesus is the only way or not makes no difference. God is a God of love and loves every man, woman and child in this world. Even all non-Christians who have lived here from the beginning of time? The bible tells us that God is perfect and His creation is perfect and He created "He them in His own image." So why would a perfect God create a human being in His image, and then have to send a son to be killed by them? The answer is that God in His infinite wisdom gave man total free will; free will to choose between right or wrong. Can it be that only the church can determine what is right and what can be considered as wrong? Can perfection produce non-perfection? Can it be true that humanity could only become Christian after the death of Jesus? What about the billions, trillions who came into this world long before Jesus did? Were they lost to eternal hell fire and brimstone?

One of the biggest things that people in this world do is judge each other. It doesn’t matter whether or not a person has been told from birth “don’t judge others.” They judge others just the same because that is what their parents and grandparents did. If you were a non-Christian before you became a Christian, was their any hope that you could be saved? You say yes, but how do you really know this? You were no doubt told by a Christian that you were called by God to be saved and that is why you are. Choice. That is what you were given. A choice to choose between what Christians considered right over wrong.

I could go on for pages talking about all the things mentioned above and would not exhaust the subject. Whether a person believe in Jesus or not doesn’t mean that they are lost for all eternity. If it were so, God would not be a God of love.