STRANGE THINGS GOING ON IN OUR WORLD

    Is there something strange afoot on planet earth? Why are we hearing so much about computer implants in the human brain that will enable humans to tap into "the cloud?" Why are we hearing so much about human beings becoming part cyborg, gene and DNA manipulation that is theorized to make us, and I quote, "stronger, sexier, taller, smarter, longer livers and even god-like" And some of this " technology," is allegedly coming into effect within the next ten years.

   Why are we hearing so much about quantum computers that can potentially tap into other dimensions? Why are physicists talking about opening gateways to other realities and possibly bringing something, or someone through. The list goes on and on of strange and unusual things science is doing to manipulate the human body, our atmosphere, our food and even our reality. Why do many individuals in our governments participate in strange and macabre rituals, and belong to peculiar secret societies? And why do these people consider themselves to be the elite?

    Conspiracy theorists run rampant with these topics; but a little honest research will show that there are a myriad of articles and lectures from academics and scientists who speak on these very things. Crazy, tinfoil hat wearing people aside, these things are a reality in our world. Is it all just hopeful speculation, theory and over estimations from the scientific community?  Or are these the beginning signs of mankind spiraling out of control? Are these the last days? Is something sinister about to come upon the earth? Whatever it is, don't blindly follow the pied pipers of government and technology into whatever abyss they are hoping to   prepare for us all. Don't be overly hypnotized and allow yourself to fall asleep mentally and spiritually, as they wave the latest technological breakthrough in front of your face like a carrot on a stick. Stay awake, stay connected to God, and educate yourself about what's going on behind the scenes in our modern world. Your life, your very soul may depend on it one day.

WHO FASHIONS YOUR REALITY?

    Don't do anything that makes you unhappy. The world at large has a way of dictating to us how we should live. They write the script, they edited the movie and tell us the story from beginning to end. Who decides how an individual's life should be? Who has the right to fashion reality and tell you that we must live in their creation? Strangely, those organizations, institutes and persons who try to define reality for everyone else, generally define it in a very one-dimensional way. It is often void of God, has no connection to anything spiritual and sets up material objects as secular deities that must be bowed down to. Is it any wonder that depression is on the rise, when people feel that they are trapped in a prison of steel, concrete and paper. We are spiritual beings, and we cannot be fully satisfied living in the materialists microcosm. But you can break the spell, by thinking bigger, dreaming broader and having your own personal connection with God. For it is we who desire to explore the unknown horizon but it is God who gives us the wings to fly above the illusions of this world.

A NOTE FROM THE JOURNEY

    I have met and talked to a lot of people on my spiritual journey. And I must admit, there is one thing that stands out in my mind from those meetings. That thing being, the lack of love in the lives of many individuals who claim to be spiritual. I have spoken to and had chance run ins with folks who were: Buddhists, Christians, spiritualists, energy healers, Reiki Masters, life coaches and spiritual counselors. Some gave spiritual readings, and others led meditation groups. It was astounding to me how arrogant, unloving and callous many of these people were. Is that what spirituality has become, by and large, in our world today? Is it nothing more than a badge that we wear, a title we give ourselves or something that makes us feel self-important and elevated above others? Over the years I have given readings to many people who run or belong to spiritual healing and meditation centers. From what I understand, and have heard from these individuals; the amount of backstabbing, extramarital affairs, competition and usery that goes on within these circles is astronomical. How can we heal ourselves and others, when our spiritual groups are nothing more than club houses for the ego? I'm just one person, and I certainly don't have all the answers to the worlds problems. But perhaps the reason we are seeing so much of this in our modern-day spirituality, is because many of them say that they only believe in themselves. They say they are spiritual, but the concept of God or a higher power is almost a laughing matter to them. Or, their concept of such, is very amorphus and lacks any moral fiber that would make one ponder their own actions from a higher perspective. Could it be, that this is a major piece of the big problem at large? After all, if we worship the self, then we will only look to serve the self. And the self can be a very hard, greedy and lustful taskmaster. With no boundaries to keep it in check, it will consume everything in its path with no shame or regret.

THE FRIEND THAT STUCK CLOSER THAN A BROTHER

    On my spiritual travels, Christ was not easily forgotten. He showed up at various times, like an old friend waiting on the street corner. He would greet me with a smile and a wave, and sometimes we would sit and visit for a while. At the end of our visit, I would always bid him peace and be on my way in search of ultimate spiritual truth and knowledge. At those times, I was not yet ready to fully embrace my estranged companion; for the bitter taste of my experiences of Christianity past still lingered on my tongue. But Christ did not berate me for this, or weigh me down with feelings of heavy guilt and threats of hell. To hear some religious people talk, one would think that the Lord would have found me appalling during those times, wanting nothing to do with me because I had abandoned the faith. But much to the contrary, he supported me, and sent me on my way with his blessing and the hope that I would find what I was searching for. And then we would speak no more, until I once again found him at some point in time, sitting by the roadside awaiting one of our visits, even if for a short span of time. Thus,we continued in this way for nearly eighteen years, until one day I met him at the end of the road; the place where my spiritual journey had ultimately ended. And it was then that I realized, that the truth and the light which I had been seeking was with me all along. He was the friend that stuck closer than a brother, the companion who never abandoned me. I know now the wisdom of my journey; it was to learn, to grow and to purify my relationship with Christ beyond that which had been dictated to me in years gone by. Far from being the angry judge that religion makes him out to be, Christ was a true friend who walked with me every step of the way on that journey, even if it was in the shadows. And in the end, he greeted me at the front gate and welcomed me home because we are more than just friends; We are something beyond even the bond of family... we have an eternal connection that will never be broken. This is the connection he wants with all of us. This is the Christ we all should know.

THE WISDOM OF THE PATHS

    I exited Christianity in the late 1990s. The reason: over many years I had encountered numerous, negative church teachings, and encountered nothing but hypocritical and judgmental individuals in those churches. At the time, it was very heartbreaking to me. I searched out many different denominations in search of my spiritual home. But in the end, I was greatly disappointed and encountered many, many people who told me that my personal beliefs about God and Christ were wrong, evil, of the devil and not real Christianity. Every little thing was examined under a microscope and condemned. The people who were supposed to have believed like I did, had no problem scrutinizing my life and telling me how to live in order to be pleasing to God. It was exasperating. All of this took a toll overtime and I eventually left the faith.

 Over the next decade or so, I traveled many different roads. I searched for spiritual truth in a variety of practices but often came to feel that something was missing. Here are some of those practices I engaged in and why I eventually found them lacking.

 Buddhism – Now don't get me wrong, I love Buddhism and the Buddha. I learned many things on this road and wouldn't be the person I am right now if it were not for this particular faith. I will always carry the essence, and practice of Buddhism with me in my personal beliefs... But the one thing I found lacking after a while, was the absence of God. This is largely a religion that encourages one to look within themselves. That is an awesome thing for all of us to do, but, to whom do we turn when ourselves are not enough? And being one who always connected with the spirit realm, this path began to feel a bit desolate after while. Buddhism does not discourage anyone from believing in God, but it gives very little direction or insight to one who wishes to encounter the Divine Being.

The New Age - The New Age movement is a conglomerate of beliefs and practices. It's very interesting and kind of cool in many ways in my opinion. But where it came up lacking for me is in its Polyanna way of thinking. Some in the New Age movement would have us believe that we can simply think our troubles and sufferings away. By meditating, making affirmations and thinking right the universe will align to make everything just perfect. This is just not realistic thinking, and many have been disappointed to think that this is so. Some folks in the New Age movement are not very careful when it comes to encountering spiritual entities. They believe they are all good, and encourage their adherence to pretty much open up and except any paranormal being that comes along presenting itself as a teacher or a being of light. This of course, can be very dangerous, and I myself witnessed people getting themselves in a load of trouble by believing this form of spirituality without safeguards or education. The New Age movement can also be very politically correct. It doesn't like labels like good, bad or evil. Everything just is, and everybody's true spiritual essence rises into the paradise of the next dimension after they die anyway; or they perhaps reincarnate and have another chance to do things right the next time around. Serial killers, terrorists or whomever all eventually end up in the same place. So, many in the New Age movement are encouraged to just let everything be, just let it flow. Don't label because life is just an illusion anyway. So we can't really say that anything is inherently evil or wrong because it doesn't really exist. We're just all spiritual beings on a journey back to our divine selves. Everything that happens in between, is no big deal in the end. These are just some of the fallacies that made the New Age movement fall short for me. The individual practices that the New Age movement has borrowed from many other spiritual paths can be very enlightening and helpful. But the doctrine of the New Age movement itself is not realistic, and can even be dangerous in some instances.

 Paganism – Ever since I was a very young child with any concept of God, I have always had my little paganistic beliefs. I always believed that the universe was a magical place; angels and nature spirits were real and every person, animal and plant had a guardian spirit watching over it. My travels down the road of paganism was like coming home to myself. Parts of it will always be a part of who I am, and it has helped me to return to my original beliefs about the cosmos and the world in which we live. It also helped me gain a great respect for our planet and grew my desire to see it treated better by those who live upon it. It has reestablished my love for ritual and the connection with God through such practices. Christo-pagan is not a bad term in my opinion, and I have probably been a Christo-pagan since I was about four years old! However, jumping onto the neopagan path had its shortcomings for me. The biggest and only one being that you pretty much created God in your own image in this faith. You are free to rifle through the many pantheons of gods and goddesses and chose the ones that appeal to you the most. It was kind of like going to the cosmic mall and picking out the god that stood out to you most on the shelf. And if that didn't appeal to you, well, you could just sort of make a deity up or have an amorphous idea of who your god and goddess were. That aspect of the path felt very contrived to me and just didn't feel real.

Sufism - This was the path that eventually opened the door that led me back home. Sufism is a very beautiful and mystical path, and I cannot really say anything negative about it. It can be very philosophical and satisfying on many levels. My issue on this path did not have anything to do with Sufism itself, but rather had to do with the Qur'an. The Qur'an is not taken literally in Sufism, and they read it with a more meditative and allegorical view. However, even in doing this, some things start to really stand out in the text. For starters, Allah can be quite an angry deity. Nowhere in the Qur'an does it ever say that Allah loves us; we are simply his servants and he only shows favor to the believers. If you're a nonbeliever or of a different faith, you are abhorred by this deity and promised a painful chastisement in the afterlife. The word love is hard to come by in the Qur'an, and this was a difficulty for me; because I have always experienced God as a very loving, personable and kind being. It was sometimes difficult to meditate on the Qur'an when the words were so stark and even angry sounding. When encountering such passages, my question always was, "how do I put this in context with a loving God and a peaceful life?" There were parts of the Qur'an that just made my soul feel uneasy and I could not contribute those words to the God I've always known. Even reading this book in a mystical and allegorical way, it was sometimes difficult to put some of its words into perspective.

 Miscellaneous paths – There were many other minor paths that I had explored for shorter periods of time. All of them had interesting components, but they had many downfalls as well. Such as, worshiping their founders as prophets and gods. Telling their adherents how to worship or connect with the Divine, rather than letting them find God in their own personal way. Cruel practices like shunning others who decided not to believe the doctrines of the group any longer. The worship of inanimate objects, or strange alien space creatures that were said to live on some mysterious planet light-years away. The list goes on and on, and sometimes the ridiculous outshined the positives. I've always said that there's a difference between knowing God, and knowing about God. And many spiritual paths do just that. They define God for every individual and discourage any personal thinking or exploration. Thus, the followers of such religions and practices become spiritually stunted in many ways. And their actions begin to show that the love of God and a deeper spiritual knowledge is not present within them.

-TO BE CONTINUED-

THE RETURN

    The return; The title not only pertains to my return to the blog after another lengthy break. But it also means for me, a spiritual return to my spiritual roots. For those who don't know, or who have not read any of my books, my entire life has been a quest. And that quest has been to know as much spiritual truth as I can in my lifetime, but also to know God and be as close to him as possible in my day-to-day living. Since I was about five years old, I felt very connected to the world of the Spirit. It has always felt familiar to me, like home. It is my greatest goal to return to that place when I leave this world, and to be in the presence of the glorious Divine. I believe, to enter that presence, we must live a life of goodness and love. We must treat others as we ourselves would be treated.

    I, myself, was raised with Christian beliefs that were first introduced to me by my grandparents. They were not scholars, or church going people. They did not read the Bible regularly or have any religious training. They were simple, country folk who were not very educated; but their simple spiritual beliefs made an impact on me at a very early age. I grew up with my own brand of folk Christianity, and was happy in that belief system until the time my parents took me to church for the first time. Over time, organized religion and its adherents had all but destroyed my simple faith. Later in life, I would walk many different spiritual paths and seek truth in various esoteric practices. I learned a great many things on those spiritual journeys, but there always seemed to be one thing lacking, and that was the presence of God. Thus, over the years, the journey has come full circle and I have returned to my spiritual roots: Faith in God, Christ, Angels, Saints and good spirits. I am not a church going person, I am not a scholar, but I read a bit of the Bible each day and take what light comes to me from it. I listen for the voice of Spirit to show me wisdom in the words, and let no man tell me what the meaning of the words is supposed to be. I read Tarot cards, meditate and burn candles with specific intentions. And... I feel the presence of God in my life. (More on the journey tomorrow.)