He might take me to some unknown location,
and zap out on me, and I’d become a statistic.
Tuesday 2015-03-31
This morning at Dunkin’ Donuts, about 8:45 I stood in line with my arms crossed behind my back, clenching a $5 bill in my left hand. It occurred to me that at McDonald’s, only 100 yards away, I’d never do that. If I did that at McDonald’s, someone would surely snatch the bill and run.
This thought proved to be an omen.
Sooner or later, it had to happen.
Sunday, about 14:00, I had just bought my second coffee at McDonald’s. I put it on my table and, as they require me to do, took all my things with me to go out and smoke.
Related: Does McDonald’s discriminate against the homeless?
Outside, I took one more shot at trying to understand how evil — negativity, conflict — happens.
There are those who say that evil is necessary because without it, humans would never be able to appreciate joy. I have never found this believable.
Continue reading The inevitability of evil
I originally wrote this as an introductory passage for “What the New Testament means to me.” I wound up leaving it out as I didn’t think Ezekah would care for a whole lot of abstraction.
As I view the world right now, I see three elements: (1) What Is, including the material (seen) world, the spiritual (unseen) world, and all possibilities of events that can possibly occur. I may as well call this “God.” (2) A single set of principles that govern existence and all events that can occur. What we call the laws of physics are an example of these principles. I may as well call this “God’s will.”
(3) Human activity. It may be that there are no commandments, and no such thing as sin. Rather, God’s will is inviolable; and it is how we interact with What Is, inevitably in accordance with those principles, that brings weal or woe. If we act this way, we can have a world of harmony, beauty and joy. If we act that way, we’ll have a world of poverty, violence and bloodshed.
So far, there is neither need nor room for teachings of John and Paul that deviate from Jesus’ teachings in the Synoptics: no need nor room for a Son of God, perfect sacrifice, “belief in” Jesus, or heaven or hell — aside from the heaven or hell we create for ourselves in this life, here and now.
“What the New Testament means to me” points to ways to create, in effect, heaven on earth. The opposite path is described in “A living hell.”
Originally posted 2014-12-17.
What can we be sure of?
Billy Joel, “Don’t ask me why”
Related: Rainbows
Related: Pious frauds
Related: Farther along
Tags: What Is, Certainty, Pious frauds, Cosmology, Acceptance
Sin and death don’t have the last word.
The center of the universe is you.
Here and now, this moment, wherever you are — that is the center of the universe, for you.
From this point, you can move in any direction, in any direction. But you can only begin here. You cannot begin from anywhere else.
A vector in a three-dimensional space.
I envision the emotional or spiritual world as a ten-dimensional space, in which a vector (arrow) beginning at the origin (the center of the space) depicts a person’s emotional state at any point in time. The vector’s length indicates the intensity of one’s emotions at a given moment, while its direction indicates what kinds of feelings those are — equal parts joy and sadness, for example, or some anger and much love.
These are the energies one is emanating at that moment, the kinds of light or darkness one creates.
Continue reading The wandering will
From “Learning to pray:” “[T]he most common mistake I observe in other folks’ prayers [is] an assumption that God is distant and apart from human beings.”
My belief is at the opposite extreme.
On the one hand, God’s omnipresence means that God is fully present to every cubic centimeter of empty space, to every atom and electron of your being.
If, as I believe, God is All — which must be so, if God is infinite, since if God is truly infinite there cannot be any thing that is not part of God — then every speck of matter that exists is actually part of God.
Continue reading Co-creators with God
For years, I’ve had a special sensitivity to reports of child abuse.
This one may give you nightmares for the rest of your life.
Victoria Martens
According to the police report, on her 10th birthday, the mother’s boyfriend and his female cousin injected this little girl with drugs “to calm her down.” They proceeded to strangle, torture, rape and dismember her.
While her mother looked on.
Where is God, or what is God, when such an event can occur?
At first I expected this author to affirm the “blame-your-past” orientation of “the prevailing psychological wisdom of our time.” Instead, she sets forth an intriguing vision remarkably similar to my own, with, for me, remarkably intriguing ramifications that I want to consider further.
Her counsel is to accept What Is.
Continue reading The Real Reason Why You Haven’t Healed Your Trauma/Depression/Heartbreak
