In view of the recent horrific tragedy in Newtown, Connecticut, and the continuous murders in our inner cities, we have another opportunity to wake-up our minds to the suffering caused by violence.
Most of us ignore the warning signs of trouble in our lives. We anesthetize our minds with massive dosages of toxic beliefs to help us rationalize that our angry outbursts toward a loved one or stranger is just aberrant behavior. It's not something we need to work on, because no one was seriously injured.
For us to heal ourselves of violence, we must unlearn the beliefs and values that make us all potential perpetrators of violent acts. And this healing of our minds begins with our addressing the small, seemingly innocuous things we do in our everyday lives.
Some of things we do and say to others when we are driving on the freeways are warning signs that we need some help with healing our toxic beliefs and values. Although many of us believe we have mastered control of our violent tendencies, unfortunately we won't know the answer until we are confronted with certain situations.
In moments of great distress, when we feel powerless to handle our problems, violence is one of the options in our beliefs and values. Many of us are quick to point out what we would do if someone tried to attack our families. We wouldn't hesitate to kill them.
When it comes to killing people to protect ourselves and our families, we believe our actions are morally defensible. The same logic applies to lethal injections and similar forms of killing.
Meanwhile, those of us who have appointed ourselves as morally qualified to judge others' behavior have a tendency to forget our own addictions to violence. Our mindfulness toward our own actions disappear in the miasma of the little, innocuous trail of angry outbursts defining who we really are without our self-righteousness judgments.
Nearly everyday of our lives we seek some form of violence to satisfy our addiction. A good illustration of this seemingly innocuous violence is manifested in our behavior during a boxing match.
During a boxing match, we want our favorite boxer to knockout his opponent. The more he hits him, the more we jump up and cheer. Some of us even imagine ourselves doing this to someone who messes with us. The sight of bloody noses, lips, faces distorted by swelling and cuts make us feel good for days.
After years of inculcating toxic beliefs and values, our minds trick us into cherry-picking which violent acts we want to focus on. A good illustration of this is that there are thousands of people dying everyday from violent acts. We ignore most of them..
Nevertheless, when we see them on television, they become knowable. Unfortunately, most of us don't feel a deep angst over their deaths unless we know them or they died in our hometowns.
Meanwhile, there are steps we can take to overcome our inherent violent beliefs and values. First, we must go within our minds -- intuitive unconditioned consciousness -- for the answers. Second, we must trust ourselves enough to acknowledge that we were born into a violent, toxic world.
Third, we must accept and believe that we have the power to overcome what others taught us about ourselves and the use of violence And fourth, we must create a clear, nontoxic vision of ourselves with the power to overcome the illusions distorting our perceptions of the self and our relationship with others.
On our enlightenment journey, some of us gain the sagacity to know that we can evolve our minds to express a deeper potentiality for nonviolence than what we are currently doing. This awareness is the clarity we need to imagine a world without violence.
Now is the time for us to address our own violent beliefs and values.
"Therefore get wisdom; and with all thy getting get understanding."
.
Monday, December 17, 2012
Friday, December 14, 2012
Creating Healthy Minds
There are some things in our lives that we don't want to share with others. These surreptitious experiences, things we don't want to face, have great power over the way we want people to see us.
Many of us don't realize that it's our secrets that prevent us from freeing our minds of toxic beliefs and values. And those who do know, find it difficult to accept responsibility for things -- behavior, addictions, children, poverty, and so on -- that we believe lessen who we are today.
We imagine that people like us the way we have projected ourselves to them. And if they should discover that back in the day we did some things we're not proud of, they might not like us.
Many of us constantly enter into relationships -- personal, business, and marriage -- without revealing who we really are. In other words, we don't really tell people we are holding back certain things in order to impress them.
We live in a society where secrets and lies are expected. So people establish criteria to help them decipher what we tell them. Many of us know people are not telling us everything, we just hope and pray they're not holding something back that will cause us to regret ever meeting them.
Meanwhile, for those of us who are removing the secrets from our minds, we know that it's important to have this freedom if we are to express enlightenment. We are the ones working to free our minds of the distortions causing us to devalue who we are in the present moment.
Some of us have reached the point in our work where we are willing to acknowledge that we have an illness. We are working daily to achieve the power to accept that we are responsible for everything that ever happened in our lives. Obviously, we are not speaking of people who have been raped or physically and psychologically victimized by others.
Our awareness of inner-mind power enlightens us to know that we have the power to heal ourselves. We are able to see that most of our deceptions come from the judgments we have about right and wrong. And to know that the more we judge our actions, the more mistakes we create in our lives.
Nevertheless, over time, these mistakes entangle us in a seemingly hopeless psychological quagmire. And it is in this seemingly hopeless situation that we all must begin our work. This is the starting point for those who desire to do the work to enlighten our minds.
For us to create healthy minds, we must release ourselves from the things causing us to devalue who we are now. We must believe, without doubts, that in this moment in time, we are complete, whole, and perfect.
Today is now. This is where we begin the work to heal our minds. We don't dwell on the past, nor do we devalue ourselves because of the judgments we have about it.
So let's get the wisdom to give us the understanding to know that our minds are unhealthy. And with this wisdom, we can seek succor within our own minds to make them healthy.
Many of us don't realize that it's our secrets that prevent us from freeing our minds of toxic beliefs and values. And those who do know, find it difficult to accept responsibility for things -- behavior, addictions, children, poverty, and so on -- that we believe lessen who we are today.
We imagine that people like us the way we have projected ourselves to them. And if they should discover that back in the day we did some things we're not proud of, they might not like us.
Many of us constantly enter into relationships -- personal, business, and marriage -- without revealing who we really are. In other words, we don't really tell people we are holding back certain things in order to impress them.
We live in a society where secrets and lies are expected. So people establish criteria to help them decipher what we tell them. Many of us know people are not telling us everything, we just hope and pray they're not holding something back that will cause us to regret ever meeting them.
Meanwhile, for those of us who are removing the secrets from our minds, we know that it's important to have this freedom if we are to express enlightenment. We are the ones working to free our minds of the distortions causing us to devalue who we are in the present moment.
Some of us have reached the point in our work where we are willing to acknowledge that we have an illness. We are working daily to achieve the power to accept that we are responsible for everything that ever happened in our lives. Obviously, we are not speaking of people who have been raped or physically and psychologically victimized by others.
Our awareness of inner-mind power enlightens us to know that we have the power to heal ourselves. We are able to see that most of our deceptions come from the judgments we have about right and wrong. And to know that the more we judge our actions, the more mistakes we create in our lives.
Nevertheless, over time, these mistakes entangle us in a seemingly hopeless psychological quagmire. And it is in this seemingly hopeless situation that we all must begin our work. This is the starting point for those who desire to do the work to enlighten our minds.
For us to create healthy minds, we must release ourselves from the things causing us to devalue who we are now. We must believe, without doubts, that in this moment in time, we are complete, whole, and perfect.
Today is now. This is where we begin the work to heal our minds. We don't dwell on the past, nor do we devalue ourselves because of the judgments we have about it.
So let's get the wisdom to give us the understanding to know that our minds are unhealthy. And with this wisdom, we can seek succor within our own minds to make them healthy.
Friday, December 7, 2012
Understanding our Mind's Relationship with Prayer
During these times of financial uncertainties, we are constantly searching for something to sustain us. Some of us are turning inward for the answers. And as we do, we need to know that in minds exist all the power we need to overcome life's uncertainties. This power is our unconditioned consciousness or the I AM.
There's nothing new about this power. Most of us have heard about it all of our lives. Unfortunately, few, if any, of us have been able able to access this power and use it effectively.
Similarly, many of us have relied on books and people to guide us in our search for this elusive power that's purportedly in our minds. One of the tools used by the spiritually enlightened men to access this power was prayer.
They recommended that we pray to an invisible God or Creator for solutions to our seemingly insoluble problems. They also taught that this power we sought was within us.
The great and wise men of yesteryear all understood this powers of mind philosophy and used it very effectively. Unfortunately, they have departed from the visible world and we have forgotten what they taught us about powers of mind. So here's a little reminder about the hidden secrets of powers of mind:
"When thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly."
In other words, when we go into our minds, we need to shut out the powers of our senses. This means we cannot allow ourselves to be controlled by our beliefs and values. We must believe that what we seek is already given to us by our commitment to the process of creation.
As we know, there are many other teachings by the Christ, Buddha, Krishna, the Vedas, Bhagavad Gita, Koran, Kabbalah and other books written to remind us to search for our power within our minds.
Most of their muses confirm what some of us know about our own powers of mind. We know that our minds are the source of our prayers. And that we typically pray whenever we doubt our powers of mind.
Furthermore, in spite of our doubts, we must remain mindfully that we are endowed with the powers of mind to imagine things not yet present in the visible world. And when we have the commitment to nurture our vision through the necessary time interval to its fruition, we produce miracles in our lives.
In some cases, prayer is one of the tools we use to inspire us to believe that which we seek will be provided to us by sources known and unknown. So what we believe are miracles coming from our prayers are nothing more than individuals mastering the powers of mind process.
So at the core level of our existence, prayer is part of our powers of mind. It is not something that exists on its own. We created prayer as part of our beliefs and values.
For us to use prayer effectively, we must first understand why we pray. And when we pray, we must understand who we are in the prayer, and what type of power we are possessing in our prayers. Otherwise, our prayers are just another tool in our arsenal of toxic beliefs and values.
Regardless of how many enlightened people advocate for power within us, many of us don't believe we have this great power in our minds. We continue to believe it exists outside of us in the vastness of the universe and we're not directly connected with it.
There's a part of our minds, our unconditioned consciousness, that remains free of the illusions. This is the consciousness of I AM. The power we have to exist without existing as something. In other words, this power is similar to imagining ourselves enlightened while our senses confirm us as powerless.
We are always imagining ourselves as such and such person with all types of characteristics. And depending on our powers of mind, we embody the beliefs and values that confirm this new identity.
A good illustration of imagination is to perceive ourselves free from all forms of oppression.
First the thought of freedom. Second, the embodiment of the thought as a reality, and we begin to express freedom. Third, the faith or commitment to do the work to nurture the thought or vision through the necessary time interval between conception and expression. And fourth, the daily action required to produce a clear vision of freedom and stick with it when confronted by the doubts of our beliefs and values.
Meanwhile, if we want to understand our powers of mind, we must be willing to lose ourselves (beliefs and values) in order to find ourselves (enlightenment).
"Far greater is He (unconditioned consciousness) that is in you than he (powerless ego) that is in the world."
"Therefore, get wisdom; and with all thy getting get understanding."
There's nothing new about this power. Most of us have heard about it all of our lives. Unfortunately, few, if any, of us have been able able to access this power and use it effectively.
Similarly, many of us have relied on books and people to guide us in our search for this elusive power that's purportedly in our minds. One of the tools used by the spiritually enlightened men to access this power was prayer.
They recommended that we pray to an invisible God or Creator for solutions to our seemingly insoluble problems. They also taught that this power we sought was within us.
The great and wise men of yesteryear all understood this powers of mind philosophy and used it very effectively. Unfortunately, they have departed from the visible world and we have forgotten what they taught us about powers of mind. So here's a little reminder about the hidden secrets of powers of mind:
"When thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly."
In other words, when we go into our minds, we need to shut out the powers of our senses. This means we cannot allow ourselves to be controlled by our beliefs and values. We must believe that what we seek is already given to us by our commitment to the process of creation.
As we know, there are many other teachings by the Christ, Buddha, Krishna, the Vedas, Bhagavad Gita, Koran, Kabbalah and other books written to remind us to search for our power within our minds.
Most of their muses confirm what some of us know about our own powers of mind. We know that our minds are the source of our prayers. And that we typically pray whenever we doubt our powers of mind.
Furthermore, in spite of our doubts, we must remain mindfully that we are endowed with the powers of mind to imagine things not yet present in the visible world. And when we have the commitment to nurture our vision through the necessary time interval to its fruition, we produce miracles in our lives.
In some cases, prayer is one of the tools we use to inspire us to believe that which we seek will be provided to us by sources known and unknown. So what we believe are miracles coming from our prayers are nothing more than individuals mastering the powers of mind process.
So at the core level of our existence, prayer is part of our powers of mind. It is not something that exists on its own. We created prayer as part of our beliefs and values.
For us to use prayer effectively, we must first understand why we pray. And when we pray, we must understand who we are in the prayer, and what type of power we are possessing in our prayers. Otherwise, our prayers are just another tool in our arsenal of toxic beliefs and values.
Regardless of how many enlightened people advocate for power within us, many of us don't believe we have this great power in our minds. We continue to believe it exists outside of us in the vastness of the universe and we're not directly connected with it.
There's a part of our minds, our unconditioned consciousness, that remains free of the illusions. This is the consciousness of I AM. The power we have to exist without existing as something. In other words, this power is similar to imagining ourselves enlightened while our senses confirm us as powerless.
We are always imagining ourselves as such and such person with all types of characteristics. And depending on our powers of mind, we embody the beliefs and values that confirm this new identity.
A good illustration of imagination is to perceive ourselves free from all forms of oppression.
First the thought of freedom. Second, the embodiment of the thought as a reality, and we begin to express freedom. Third, the faith or commitment to do the work to nurture the thought or vision through the necessary time interval between conception and expression. And fourth, the daily action required to produce a clear vision of freedom and stick with it when confronted by the doubts of our beliefs and values.
Meanwhile, if we want to understand our powers of mind, we must be willing to lose ourselves (beliefs and values) in order to find ourselves (enlightenment).
"Far greater is He (unconditioned consciousness) that is in you than he (powerless ego) that is in the world."
"Therefore, get wisdom; and with all thy getting get understanding."
Saturday, December 1, 2012
Powers of Imagination
When we reach the "darkest hour," the time when our pain becomes intense, we inevitably turn to our minds for assistance. Some of us focus our thoughts only on the impending doom and gloom, while some of us focus on imagining ourselves overcoming the problems causing the doom and gloom.
Imagination is a powerful tool for expressing enlightenment. For us to use this great power, we must have a disciplined mind and unwavering confidence in ourselves. And at the basic core of our beliefs, we must believe in our own abilities, independent of the judgments and criticisms of others.
For many of us, this means we must recognize that everything that happens in our lives comes from our beliefs and values. Some people refer to them as "stored consciousness" or subconsciousness.
Nevertheless, our beliefs and values control our imagination. And most of us are always imagining something. It seems that our desultory desires keep us in a perpetual state of motion, which affect our powers to imagine.
For those of us who are able to discipline our minds to imagine ourselves with great power, we awaken this great power within our minds to remove the distortions created by our toxic desires. And this power is all we need to rebuild our minds with enlightened beliefs and values.
The mythologies of religion and spirituality, at least religion and spirituality born from toxic beliefs and values, confuse us about our own identity and power. Some of us become too dependent on the teachings and forget that all power comes from our minds.
All of the great ones have taught that the "Kingdom of Heaven is within you." And not to look for it in another person. This means that each individual has within his or her mind the power of a sleeping Jesus Christ or Buddha. However, some of us continue to search for this great power outside of us.
No one can give us what they don't have to give. Who can give us peace other than the beliefs and values in our minds.
Nevertheless, when we clear our minds to imagine goodness in others, we unleash the power of transmission within our minds. This is the power that will attract into our lives that same goodness we imagine in others.
Unfortunately, the converse is if we imagine others as being deceitful, angry, greedy, and so forth, then we attract these types of people into our lives. So it's not an accident when we meet people that cause us to suffer. We brought them into our lives by imagining their type of behavior in others.
Similarly, we can always image ourselves with great power. We don't have to assume that the outcomes in our lives will always been less than what we are capable of producing with the proper mindset. In other words, we can imagine having a hefty bank account just as easy as we can imagine having a paltry one.
Meanwhile, if we begin to imagine ourselves as being already enlightened or with the Christ-Buddha-Krishna power in our minds, then we become that which we imagine ourselves to be. This is similar to imagining ourselves being poor or rich, handsome or ugly, and other toxic manifestations.
All we are doing is using our imagination to confirm what we already believe about ourselves and others. The power we seek is found within our minds. We can never find it in another person.
Now is the time to search for enlightenment within our own minds. We know it's there, but we must gain the confidence to imagine ourselves with this power.
"Therefore, get wisdom; and with all thy getting get understanding."
Imagination is a powerful tool for expressing enlightenment. For us to use this great power, we must have a disciplined mind and unwavering confidence in ourselves. And at the basic core of our beliefs, we must believe in our own abilities, independent of the judgments and criticisms of others.
For many of us, this means we must recognize that everything that happens in our lives comes from our beliefs and values. Some people refer to them as "stored consciousness" or subconsciousness.
Nevertheless, our beliefs and values control our imagination. And most of us are always imagining something. It seems that our desultory desires keep us in a perpetual state of motion, which affect our powers to imagine.
For those of us who are able to discipline our minds to imagine ourselves with great power, we awaken this great power within our minds to remove the distortions created by our toxic desires. And this power is all we need to rebuild our minds with enlightened beliefs and values.
The mythologies of religion and spirituality, at least religion and spirituality born from toxic beliefs and values, confuse us about our own identity and power. Some of us become too dependent on the teachings and forget that all power comes from our minds.
All of the great ones have taught that the "Kingdom of Heaven is within you." And not to look for it in another person. This means that each individual has within his or her mind the power of a sleeping Jesus Christ or Buddha. However, some of us continue to search for this great power outside of us.
No one can give us what they don't have to give. Who can give us peace other than the beliefs and values in our minds.
Nevertheless, when we clear our minds to imagine goodness in others, we unleash the power of transmission within our minds. This is the power that will attract into our lives that same goodness we imagine in others.
Unfortunately, the converse is if we imagine others as being deceitful, angry, greedy, and so forth, then we attract these types of people into our lives. So it's not an accident when we meet people that cause us to suffer. We brought them into our lives by imagining their type of behavior in others.
Similarly, we can always image ourselves with great power. We don't have to assume that the outcomes in our lives will always been less than what we are capable of producing with the proper mindset. In other words, we can imagine having a hefty bank account just as easy as we can imagine having a paltry one.
Meanwhile, if we begin to imagine ourselves as being already enlightened or with the Christ-Buddha-Krishna power in our minds, then we become that which we imagine ourselves to be. This is similar to imagining ourselves being poor or rich, handsome or ugly, and other toxic manifestations.
All we are doing is using our imagination to confirm what we already believe about ourselves and others. The power we seek is found within our minds. We can never find it in another person.
Now is the time to search for enlightenment within our own minds. We know it's there, but we must gain the confidence to imagine ourselves with this power.
"Therefore, get wisdom; and with all thy getting get understanding."
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