Category: heart

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Everything is a Choice and We Each Have the Freedom to Choose.

“Freedom is a condition of the Soul. As we turn to the kingdom of our inner Self, we find the reign of divine Power in the outer world. As we seek peace within, we find harmony without.”

~Joel Goldsmith, The Art of Meditation

 

freedom-insideFreedom is something we all search for. Freedom of religion, freedom to be who we’d like to be, freedom from abuse, freedom to choose certain things in our life, freedom to feel the equality we are supposed to have. But, as we all find out: in this world today, these ideals are not easily attained by all.

In a world that we would like to work for everyone, most people never experience this ideal, because they have expectations for those who don’t have the limiting beliefs for others that they do. We, in general, are unwilling to allow people to be different from us. We don’t live up to their expectations. Most can’t, because of biases held by those who would persecute them.

Jesus, a Jewish Rabbi, seen as the founder of the Christian religion, said many things that, if actually embraced by Christianity, would go a long way to healing the the ills of the world. Jesus is/was also embraced as a teacher and prophet in Judaism and Islam, but today “jihad” which literally means striving or struggling, especially with a praiseworthy aim, has been usurped by Islamists to justify the destruction of Christian world, which has attempted to eliminate Muslims for over a thousand years.

Even Christianity from its humble, love filled beginnings, was used by the world rulers to pacify the masses and control them. Alexander the Great and the Council of Nicaea chose what books to include in the Bible and attempted to eliminate the remainder by making the Bible decreed by them to be the official text of Christianity. From there, the Roman Catholic “empire” ruled with an iron fist eliminating anyone they didn’t like during the inquisition. It was a dark time for humanity.

The point to all of this is to bring into the light how religion has created more division than love since its inception.

In spite of this, we each have the option to be personally free in any situation simply by choosing not to dictate our todays and tomorrows by our past. Freedom is a state of mind. Auschwitz survivor, Victor Frankl chose to forgive his captors, even while everyone around him was dying, saying “Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.”

Similarly, Nelson Mandela chose freedom in his own way, “I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.”

Both of these men surmounted all their fears with the courage to see beyond the appearance of hopelessness to not only achieve their freedom, but also to tell their stories to the world and in Nelson Mandela’s case to become the president of South Africa and end Apartheid.

Lest you think they are exceptions, there are thousands of people every day that we never hear of that have overcome adversity and gained freedom from oppressive relationships, addiction, poverty and much more.

So never stop believing that you too can move beyond the beliefs that others have directed toward you. Remember, self-love and forgiveness can free you from your past beliefs. As you begin to change your thoughts about yourself and others, your life will begin to take on new meaning, new direction, and greater self-empowerment.

 

“Freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose…”

~ performed by Janis Joplin, Songwriters: Fred L Foster / Kris Kristofferson

~revjim

© James T. Starke

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Raise Your Voice to Freedom!

“Raise a glass to freedom something they can never take away.”

~ Lin Manuel Miranda, Hamilton, the Musical

“To this day I believe we are here on earth to live, grow, and do what we can to make this world a better place for all people to enjoy freedom.”

~ Rosa Parks

“It was during those long and lonely years that my hunger for the freedom of my people became a hunger for the freedom of all people.”

~ Nelson Mandela

 

We are so blessed today in comparison to a few centuries ago and even a few years ago, but there is still so much to be done, both spiritually and in the spirit of conscious activism, because, as far as we have come, there is still so much more to do before we live in #aWorldThatWorksForEveryone.

So, please know with me, that this finite and fragile space we choose to call reality, though it may be an illusion, and seems built on the suffering of many, is our testing ground, of perseverance and our faith that something bigger than us, bigger than all of us, guides us to an ever higher, ever more loving and inclusive existence here on this plane.

By our acknowledgment and recognition, however transitory or fleeting of a divine source or energy behind all things, we raise the energy of the planet. So, right here and right now I say, Raise a voice to freedom! Raise your thoughts to the ever higher idea and ideal of the indestructible GOOD in, through and as everything and everyone and know, as I do, that love the ultimate good, is that force which can never be diminished or destroyed.

Know that our actions in everything we do, say, feel, and think moves us on this complexly, interwoven path to nirvana, to peace, to love, to God. And, as we wind along this path, we are ever blessed by our instruction along the way.

Gratitude is my only reward for this sometime wondrously challenging journey. I would have it no other way. I am grateful for all I learn from others and from my own words and actions, both intentional and unintentional.

Equally, I am grateful for each of you in my life as I move ever forward into a better version of me.

For each and everyone I. Say, Thank you Spirit, Thank you Spirit, Thank you Spirit.

I know this is so right now, and so it is. Amen.

“We must strive to be moved by a generosity of spirit that will enable us to outgrow the hatred and conflicts of the past.” – Nelson Mandela

Blessings to you all.

 

revjim  #Peace & #Love

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What is a world that works for everyone?

What does that look like? How do we get there?

Some might say we are there already, and in a limited sense, we are.

agreement-black-business-943630We are not limited in the possibility that the world can work for everyone, but in our belief that it doesn’t work already.It works right now by the conscious belief that it does or doesn’t. While I may believe it works for me, and it does, another person may feel that the world really sucks for them. So, by our belief in the idea that it works, it does. And, conversely, by ones belief that it doesn’t work for them, it doesn’t. It doesn’t mean it can’t, but their choice is it doesn’t.

How can this be? How can it work for me, but not for everyone? It works by our belief in it, and by our disbelief that it could. It’s that simple, but we have to learn to let go of our expectations that everything must happen the way we expect it, and be open to the idea that there is another way, or another possibility.

Most people get stuck in the idea that their way is the only way and that everything must unfold exactly as they have planned it. If they were the only ones who existed in the moment that may be true, but with 7 billion people and just as many thoughts, we need to be open to the idea that just maybe there is an alternate or better way.

I remember when I was manufacturing hot sauce, I had this great idea for a name that was colorful, and enticing. I checked the trademark and there was nothing, so I engaged an artist friend of mine to design a label around my theme “Leapin’ Lizards.”

I designed the labels and was ready to send them to the printer when I took a trip to Miami to buy equipment and visited a manufacturer I was thinking of using for distribution and went on a tour of his factory. It was there that I was introduced to “Leapin’ Lizards” marinade. There were hundreds of cases and right then, I knew my label idea was history.

I could have let that be my demise or held the thought that my hot sauce line was doomed, but I knew something else would come along, and upon returning to the islands a friend referred to my sauces as being “a little spice from paradise” and a new tag line was borne. From that came a bunch of even better ideas and Caribbean Marketplace and “Mean Mama Jamma” were borne.

So, just because something doesn’t work the first time, doesn’t mean it won’t work, or that something even better won’t come along. Heck, Thomas Edison failed to invent the light bulb hundreds of times, but in the end, he did. In the process what he did was to eliminate all of the ways not to have it work. That’s what the scientific method is all about. You may be a success right out of the gate or you may have to work at it a little. That’s life.

So, how do we build a world that works in a positive, sustaining, productive way for everyone?

We open our minds to ideas that are inclusive of everyone. We begin to respect each other’s cultures and recognize that in the differences, we find similarities.We learn to engage in real conversations that build on those relationships and cultivate them with compassion and empathy. And, above all, we learn engage with and respond to people from a loving place.

Will this happen overnight? Probably not, but the only way it will happen at all is, if we try.

Image: Courtesy of Pexels.com

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Our Spiritual Nature

Behind your image, below your words, above your thoughts, the silence of another world waits. A world lives within you. No one else can bring you news of this inner world.

~ Anam Ċara: A Book of Celtic Wisdom

 

spi-natOur spiritual nature is an inextricable part of us. Yet, while we do not wear it on our sleeve, it does live within us and there is evidence of it all around us. Nature is all spiritual, because it never exists in opposition to the divine. Man is the only creature on earth that tries to defy nature, creating artificial substances and devices in an attempt to “cheat death,” part of the birth-death-rebirth cycle, which is common to all life.

We are the only creatures, that think ourselves to death. Rather than living in a flow, we create blocks of resistance, which cause us to become out of sync with the world around us. We are the only creatures on the planet that don’t give back to the earth in a natural way. We use, abuse, rape and pillage its natural beauty and resources and leave behind refuse that is indigestible and non-renewable.

Yet, if we just looked to the mystical roots of all of our religions or spiritual paths, we would find that if we did the inner work, spent time looking within ourselves, we would find all the answers to living a gloriously, happy life, that isn’t about consumption and destruction. We would find that whatever we do and whoever we are is enough. We would find that we don’t have to keep up with the Joneses, because we have already surpassed them in the only way necessary. We are happy with our life as it is.

When we are in the flow of life, we find that everything we need is already provided for us. Just as all of nature, unobstructed by man, receives everything it needs, we would receive all that we needed and more. The natural ecosystem is a phenomenally complex system, which provides what is necessary for life. When the system is attacked, it makes necessary corrections to bring itself back into alignment.

We can do the same thing with our lives. If we get out of alignment, we can change how we do things or think about things to bring ourselves back into alignment with life, and find ourselves happier, healthier and more energetic.

~rev jim

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Judge not!

The secret of harmonious living lies in the ability to withdraw all our estimates and judgments of situations and people.

– Joel Goldsmith, The Thunder of Silence

listenOne of the interesting things about our mind is that everything we see, hear, or feel during our lifetime we have an opinion about. While some are observations, most of the time we make an immediate judgment about that thing or idea, rather than an observation.. More often than not, that. Judgment is not always even based on personal data collection or experience. It’s usually based on something we’ve heard and, more often than not, it’s based on something we’ve only heard in conversation and never personally verified. When we do this we diminish ourselves. When we do that we’re not speaking our truth. Instead, we’re giving our power to know the truth to someone else.

When we do make a call on our belief of something or someone, do we do so from the aspect of Love? Do we know what has driven that person to say what they said? Do we share from the perspective of having walked “a mile in their moccasins?” Are the words we use kind? Are they incite-filled or full of insight?

Today, the world seems to be in general state of laziness. The professional people we used to be able to trust for truth, in general, can no longer be trusted to share the truth.

People are speaking before they think about what they are saying. They react to something, rather than responding. By that I mean they speak from their emotions (ego), rather than responding in a way that might invite greater inquiry and discussion, which might find some more common ground, or a common position of compromise. It’s become a “My way, or the highway” kind of world. We would have to be robotic drones to all believe or do the same thing. How boring would that be?

What we can do though, is to begin being more kind to each other, being more understanding of people’s religious and cultural mores, and not prejudging people by the color of their skin, ethnicity, their sex or sexual orientation. When we condemn someone for any of these qualities, we condemn ourselves by our own ignorance. We would do better to get to know someone rather than misjudge them out of the door.

-jts
www.spirit-edu.com

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Giving Up!

man_with_question_mark.epsFunny, this word never used to be in my vocabulary. It still isn’t in the conventional sense. I have never given up on something I’ve thought was worthwhile. As I think about this, I know that I’ve almost never done something that I didn’t think was worthwhile, for me or someone I was trying to help.

So what has changed? Only the most basic reason, that I am doing it for me, or that I am doing it at all. It used to be when I was doing something I truly thought that it was me doing it. That I was in charge. I believed that it was my intellect that made it happen and I was the Mr. smarty pants that was responsible for all the great ideas. Then I realized that I was part of something greater. I realized that there was something at work here that is without equal in the universe, and it’s all a part of me, a part of all of us really.

There is a power in the universe, no, it is the universe, and it is the infinite source of our good. We can ignore it, or try to, but when we do that it is still there operating in and as us. It is our thoughts, and as we think about things the landscape of our life is being painted for us. The details of how our life unfolds, is pretty much up to us, and how we paint it. The colors we use and the detail we put into it paints a picture of greater and greater clarity.

Sometimes the colors we use don’t work, but luckily our canvas is not indelible, and we can scrape off what doesn’t work, or paint over the old, or better yet, begin with a new canvas. It is totally up to us. We are always supported from within as we fill the canvas of our lives.

We can start with a blank canvas anytime, and this clean canvas can be filled with our most precious thoughts, or our grandest dreams. We can paint this canvas in black and white, allow for shades of gray, or paint it in glorious color. It’s always best to keep it light of course, allowing for great and glorious things to unfold in full, living color. So, pull out that brush, spatula or crayons, and draw yourself a beautiful life. Allow the broad brush strokes of life to move through you in grandiose ways. Paint your thoughts like you life depends on it. Dreams become reality, and thoughts are things. If you keep your thoughts in alignment with with how you want your canvas and your life to look, both will become the masterpiece your mind has painted.

So, give up. Yes, give up on your old thoughts and ideas, if they’re not working for you and know that you are the artist of your life, and your thoughts out-picture as your life. The universe always gives you what you paint. Keep it bright and give it up to the power that resides within you, within each one of us!

~revjim

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