Let me warn you (the reader) that this essay may come across to you as rather cold and mechanical rather than warm and "coming from the heart" as I would prefer it to be. I will do my best to make it as heartwarming as I can. Please bear with me a bit on this shortcoming since I feel that it is important to explain the "mechanics" of the connection and relationship between the body and soul in order to get a better understanding of each of those two entities (body and soul) and the interaction that should go on with each other.
Let's start with an act of love itself as carried out by a human being (a body-soul entity). An act of love that originates from the soul (as opposed to an act of love motivated by love that originates from the mind) is the "true" and "pure" love. The act is carried out by the body as directed by the mind in response to the "influence" of the soul on that mind. When the body acts in this particular manner, it is doing so in alignment with its rightful design and role as the medium by which the soul is able to carry out its nature. What is the nature of the soul? Although the nature of the soul consists of lots of things that is beyond my mind's ability to fathom, I do know with certainty its most important and elemental aspect...that aspect is none other than love...true and pure love...love that is God.
When the body acts in the above described fashion, we can say that it (the body) is in harmony with the soul (its counterpart). There is no other motive for this type of act other than to achieve this harmony between the body and soul. This harmony is important to us human beings because when this harmony is absent and the alignment of the body with the soul is in disarray, then our body and mind will manifest this disharmony in the form of mental and physical illness, the inability of the body to heal itself, and worst of all malaise, the absence of "inner peace".
If you want to think of the motive for this type of act of love in terms of the concept of "reward" as the motivator for the act, then think of the reward this way - the love that within the soul is active...it cannot stay in one place...it needs to flow from the soul on to another soul. Although all souls are connected, souls cannot carry out acts and therefore needs the body to do the carrying out of the loving act. The reward in this case is therefore the enabling of the flow of love. This can be considered a reward because when true and pure love is allowed to flow, then the rightful order of the universe is realized. When the rightful order of the universe is realized, then "all is good" (for lack of a more appropriate phrase).
With the above illustration, we can now visualize this activity as the establishment of a connection between two bodies that is in alignment with the (already existing) connection between the two associated souls.
~~~~~
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Kneel Down to Stand Up
What a lovely morning to wake up to today. The birds are chirping melodiously at the very same moment that I am reading this quote in an email I opened from a friend - "The one who kneels to the Lord can stand up to anything." Imagine that!
If I perceived my soul correctly, it revealed to my mind (at the very instant I read the quote) that this is an absolute truth.
If I perceived my soul correctly, it revealed to my mind (at the very instant I read the quote) that this is an absolute truth.
First, allow me to clarify how exactly I am perceiving this quote. As I read the quote, I am visualizing a person in the act of kneeling down with reverence before God...acknowledging with humility his/her need for God, His energy and His love...making an earnest plea for strength and courage in standing up to the challenge that is at his/her doorstep...asking for guidance and wisdom to discern how best to engage and conquer the challenge.
Do I have any personal life experiences that validate this wisdom? You betcha! Lots of them. The best example of these - I am still here in this existence...and finally able to find joy and peace in being here.
However, the most powerful example of this truth as applied in practice is that of Jesus kneeling in prayer to God the Father (in the Garden of Gethsemane) just before His submission to His capture and subsequently to ridicule, torture and death...a act of supreme love for the redemption of all mankind.
~~~~~
Monday, July 13, 2009
Love
The word "love" is at once the simplest and most complicated term (associated with the human experience) to properly grasp and express. Everyone brings to the term their own personal meanings and perceptions borne out of their life experiences.
Love can be an noun...love can be a verb. Love can be a feeling...love can be an act.
In my search for clarity amidst the confusion resulting from the variety of perspectives and meanings, my experience has taught me to simply look at the term from the perspective of where it is originating from.
Love that originates from the soul is simple, unconditional, liberating and free. This is love in the form of an act.
Love that originates from the mind is complicated, tit-for-tatish, possessive, controlling and often fraught with landmines and anguish. This is love in the form of a feeling.
~~~~~
Love can be an noun...love can be a verb. Love can be a feeling...love can be an act.
In my search for clarity amidst the confusion resulting from the variety of perspectives and meanings, my experience has taught me to simply look at the term from the perspective of where it is originating from.
Love that originates from the soul is simple, unconditional, liberating and free. This is love in the form of an act.
Love that originates from the mind is complicated, tit-for-tatish, possessive, controlling and often fraught with landmines and anguish. This is love in the form of a feeling.
~~~~~
Heartfelt Message to the Reader
Dear Friends,
I finally have a decent number of enlightening feedback, impressions, and comments on the various essays on this blog. I received candid comments on both sides of the spectrum (pro and con). The pro comments gave me much needed encouragement in knowing that someone, somewhere out there, got the light they very much needed in their moment of darkness.
The cons are valuable to me because they give me insight into the various other ways that the words and style of writing are being perceived...perceptions that are potent roadblocks to the correct understanding and appreciation of these writings. Part of the motivation for writing these thoughts down stem from a sense of desperation in not having fully realized my parental desire to impart adequate guidance to my daughters, nieces, and nephews before I pass away. Life is fleeting and tomorrow is not guaranteed to come for us...the next hour is not guaranteed...neither is the next ten minutes. The only thing we do have with certainty is this moment...this very moment.
Yet another part of the motivation is to do my little part in helping alleviate the pain in others who like me wander about this existence with frustration, emotional anguish, desperation, uncertainty, and most painful of all, the absolute feeling of aloneness even in the midst of so many children, friends, relatives, and loved ones. I desperately sought true inner peace in my predominantly disturbed life and I believe that I finally found it and a reliable source for it from which I can always draw from.
Can you blame me for wanting to share this source and the path that led me to this source with all of you who anguish in the same manner as me?
Can you see how important it is for me to tweak and refine my writings, choice of words and manner of articulation to minimize turning people off to the insights I am earnestly trying to share?
If the essays are therefore coming across as preachy and self-righteous, please pardon my poor manner of articulation. If these words are coming across as being written to impress intellectuals rather than written in a manner that common folk can easily understand, please forgive the poor choice of words. At this point, I am just writing down words as fast as they are coming to me. I promise to revise all of these within the next several months to address the comments and feedback I received from those who so generously gave them.
I hope you can get past the imperfections of this early version of the writings and somehow manage to arrive at a correct understanding of the underlying message.
I am far from being a man adequately in control of and capable of overcoming the various forms of my human nature (which we, for the most part, all share in common). However, I am making important little strides and steps toward becoming the better person that I earnestly strive to become. My successes here is where my sense of inner peace comes from as well.
For those of you who know me, I hope that you can manage to look beyond the inadequacies apparent in the example of my own life and relationships (or possibly your assessment of it) and not require perfection in my daily living before you grant any amount of credibility to the content.
Light, love and peace.
~~~~~
I finally have a decent number of enlightening feedback, impressions, and comments on the various essays on this blog. I received candid comments on both sides of the spectrum (pro and con). The pro comments gave me much needed encouragement in knowing that someone, somewhere out there, got the light they very much needed in their moment of darkness.
The cons are valuable to me because they give me insight into the various other ways that the words and style of writing are being perceived...perceptions that are potent roadblocks to the correct understanding and appreciation of these writings. Part of the motivation for writing these thoughts down stem from a sense of desperation in not having fully realized my parental desire to impart adequate guidance to my daughters, nieces, and nephews before I pass away. Life is fleeting and tomorrow is not guaranteed to come for us...the next hour is not guaranteed...neither is the next ten minutes. The only thing we do have with certainty is this moment...this very moment.
Yet another part of the motivation is to do my little part in helping alleviate the pain in others who like me wander about this existence with frustration, emotional anguish, desperation, uncertainty, and most painful of all, the absolute feeling of aloneness even in the midst of so many children, friends, relatives, and loved ones. I desperately sought true inner peace in my predominantly disturbed life and I believe that I finally found it and a reliable source for it from which I can always draw from.
Can you blame me for wanting to share this source and the path that led me to this source with all of you who anguish in the same manner as me?
Can you see how important it is for me to tweak and refine my writings, choice of words and manner of articulation to minimize turning people off to the insights I am earnestly trying to share?
If the essays are therefore coming across as preachy and self-righteous, please pardon my poor manner of articulation. If these words are coming across as being written to impress intellectuals rather than written in a manner that common folk can easily understand, please forgive the poor choice of words. At this point, I am just writing down words as fast as they are coming to me. I promise to revise all of these within the next several months to address the comments and feedback I received from those who so generously gave them.
I hope you can get past the imperfections of this early version of the writings and somehow manage to arrive at a correct understanding of the underlying message.
I am far from being a man adequately in control of and capable of overcoming the various forms of my human nature (which we, for the most part, all share in common). However, I am making important little strides and steps toward becoming the better person that I earnestly strive to become. My successes here is where my sense of inner peace comes from as well.
For those of you who know me, I hope that you can manage to look beyond the inadequacies apparent in the example of my own life and relationships (or possibly your assessment of it) and not require perfection in my daily living before you grant any amount of credibility to the content.
Light, love and peace.
~~~~~
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
The Garden of Eden
When we look clear past the body (its color, shape, sex, appearance, mannerisms, nature and programming) and directly into the soul of a person...when we are in tune with the awareness of our mind's inability to see the activities of that soul...when we are in sync with the realization that we are in no position to cast judgment upon any body-soul entity as a result of this blindness...then and only then can we begin the process of tearing down the natural mental roadblocks of prejudice and discrimination and let blossom the connection between our mind and the mind of the other and thus bring these into alignment with the spiritual union that already exists between our soul and the soul of the other.
Pride has no chance to continue to exist under those circumstances. In its absence and in its place, Love grows, flourishes and blooms just as it perfectly did once upon a time in the Garden of Eden.
Know in your heart that our imperfect existence is but a prelude to the rebirth of a perfect existence, purchased with the blood of the Lamb, where all body-soul entities are in full union with God.
~~~~~
Pride has no chance to continue to exist under those circumstances. In its absence and in its place, Love grows, flourishes and blooms just as it perfectly did once upon a time in the Garden of Eden.
Know in your heart that our imperfect existence is but a prelude to the rebirth of a perfect existence, purchased with the blood of the Lamb, where all body-soul entities are in full union with God.
~~~~~
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