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I am not a new teacher, but this year I was sent to a High School where my duties are to teach students who did not pass Algebra or Science. I also had a class where I had to teach students who did not pass the math test to graduate. The politics of the school district made my move for me. I didn't want to go, but ended up volunteering in the long run. I learned many things from this experience about myself and others. I would stay for the students, but I am transfering out next year to another school where I will teach similar students science, math and English because I felt the school district was taking advantage of me and the situation. "Lord let Thy Will be done."

"Lord let thy Will be done" is a technique to free the mind or make it unattached to one's actions. 'You reap what you sow" similar to the Eastern law of Karma. It doesn't matter if we are bound by gold chains or steel we are still bound by our actions and reactions so to get out of the cause and effect we detach ourselves from the action. Lord let thy Will act through me. I remove my ego from the situation, therefore; I do not reap the actions good or bad because I didn't do it. I really don't know the conservative view, but have reaped and sowen many thoughts and actions over time so I have no one to blame for this except myself for getting into the situation, but now I can remove myself from it with different techniques. Spiritual practise helps one to witness the physical, mental and spiritual and all the repercusions.

Yes, I feel we have limited free will. If one chooses to go against the laws of nature one becomes sick and dies. If one plants a mustard seed the seed grows into a mustard plant, not a fruit tree. In the same sense we are born with inherent genes for many qualities that affect our lives similar to the soil the seed is planted in. We might have a talent for sports, intellectual study, music, dance or spiritual contemplation. We are born into families that affect our upbringing, wealth, poverty, education, and addiction, but these have no power over the spiritual. "Lord let Thy will be done." The spirit will witness the situation or station one is placed in and make the right choices to benefit the greater consciousness, others, life and love in general. The right choices are the right books, teachers, thoughts and actions one performs. It is like a dog on a leash we have free will within a limit. Look at an object too big or small and we can't see it. Go to an evironment too hot or cold and we die. Think thoughts that are selfish and be sad. "Lord let Thy will be done." Open my mind to everything and attached to nothing. "Let Thy will be done." Conservative or Liberal let me do the right thing.

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Aslans, Good post, a journey towards unity and a new way of living. As we progress on this journey to oneness, we find our lives gradually transformed in a positive way, which includes both the conscious and the unconscious. This balance brings the discovery of a new reality along with a balance between the rational and the irrational, between the intellect and instinct, and between the conscious mind and the unconscious. As we acquire unity, we see that nothing exist in isolation so the nature of our being is unity, a unity of body, mind and spirit. Wholeness or holiness can be achieved with a watchful mind and the knowledge that everything is united in God, if old fears, doubts and prejudices wear away to make room for new ideas and understanding

God is a complicated situation that is so far beyond the grasp of languages that it cannot be expressed at all in an un-paradoxical manner, which is why it uses intuition. Throughout the different ages men and women have been intuitively aware of the existence of such a state, and among the saints and mystics of all times in all religions there is a common experience of unity. The common person cannot see or feel this experience because they have not gone pass the stage of judging others. It is natural that this would happen because some people have developed themselves more than others and are use to feeling and seeing in a dimension distinct from what others know.

The spirituality within comes from no human source and leads to no human end, but when we comply with what the soul suggest, we gain a momentum and an awareness that unites us to the spirit in all things.

I applaud all descriptions as they are inspiroring. My attempt is : Spirituality is a force that is capable of producing higher forms of consciousness. Pure consciousness is its source, an energy that is propelling man further on, ascending to the higher layers of the mind, developing all aspects as it evolves.

Could it be that there are different paths for different personalities? A person prone to emotions would seek and find God or the infinite in his/her emotional journey of devotion while the intellectual will find it in the rational pursuits that qualify or leads one to the divine. It is so nice to have different flowers in the garden.

Alans nice post, I hope this doesn't offend anyone. Very few people saw the ascended Christ when he was on earth because very few had achieved a measure of Christ consciousness to trust and believe that he was united with everything. Even today people think Christ is something that happened 2,000 years ago, something separate from us, but he is a living awareness constantly and continuously in pure consciousness. Every individual has the right to enter the same Christ consciousness that Jesus experienced, the ‘pure I’ consciousness by dedicating the mind to the recognition and realization of God’s omnipresence, seeing only one presence and one power in this world and that is God. When Jesus spoke of “The Father within,” he was referring to God as his consciousness, his ‘pure I’ consciousness. It is impossible to incase infinity in the body, the mind or anything else, but our consciousness can embrace infinity. One can’t know God with reason, but one can with the spiritual experience in God's pure consciousness.

When I lived in Korea and went to church with my wife, I memorized a different poem or spiritual verses that were a formula for spiritual experience. I felt the momentum from the collective consciousness, but used it to go deeper in Christ consciousness. I loved the depth of prayer contemplation that I found.

I think we are all tired of the church about Jesus and its moralizers. The church of Jesus is about our individual spiritual experience with Christ. We must think and direct our actions, intellect, moral and spiritual growth to know what is expected from our own particular talents. This expansion or awareness of one’s consciousness is the resurrection of the Christ consciousness within where the dead rise again to enjoy eternal life in an expanded consciousness in a totally new creation. The Church that can give each one the spiritual experience they need to grow will have to be flexible with a celebration that acknowledges the Christ within everyone. Silence or music which relies on silence will play a big part. The church might be outside but the altar is within.

Ideas don't come from small-minded men; they first come from the higher deeper layers of the mind before they are established in the lower layers. When we reflect on unity in the higher layers of the mind, we get acquainted with different spiritual aspirations and endeavors realizing that there are different upward paths in a variety of religions. As we climb and scale the mind from the lower layers to the higher layers the differences in traditional religions diminish because all paths that ascend lead to God. Evolution of knowledge comes from inside and then is built into the life outside in a life of love and unity. People who practise the religion about Jesus say other religions are not true. They are not experts in these religions and it shows they are not experts on Christianity either. Why would they spend so much time trying to prove other ways inferior? It seems they are not secure in their own faith. Those that are secure and practise the religion of Jesus by having a personal relationship with Christ and spiritual experience with the Spirit, if they study other religions it is to go deeper in their relationship and experience. They are true Christians and not the superficial ones pointing fingers. Their fingers are held together in unity, contemplation and deep prayer.

Your posts are so beautiful. I am going to add to an old vision. We are drinking divine nectar at the local watering hole where people are trying to decide which way is superior. Jesus walks across the water, Mohamed comes down from the mountains with Shiva, Krishna walks across the meadow, and Buddha gets up from under a tree to join us. Sorry, we need the Goppis, Parvati, Saint Thereasa, Mother Mary, and Mary Magdeline. We look at them puzzled to what will come next. Are they going to rumble? No, they come together and hold hands, dancing around and around in one swirl until they become one. We are sitting watching, loving and trying to understand our role. We run to join in the swirl and become one with them. The folks argueing see a brawl and start to fight, but when we look at them while we are dancing it looks like they are dancing too. They look at us and see us fighting, both are true depending whose eyes one is looking through. We can decide which group to join. Recognizing that we are all one in God’s consciousness gives us full protection in His unity by integrating our individual life with the world around us and providing a basic harmony and equilibrium in our hearts and minds. This is a kind of insurance from the flood of negativity surrounding us because a relaxed mind and body is positive, priceless and an indestructible way to receive successful ideas and results. "Love your neighbor as yourself" Thanks you Jesus for showing us how to dance. I hope I don't step on any toes. Love

The old churches are beautiful with their steeples pointing to heaven. The only problem is they are locked most of the time. Is that to keep God inside or the people who need God the most outside? Do they sell Bible belts in those church lobby stores? I bet they are good for disciplining children. Church should be a shelter for everyone good, poor, homeless, gay, and seekers, too bad they are built by donations for donations.

I call them weekend Christians. You can tell them by their jaundiced eyes. I joking, I don't think they cheat people all week in business in the name of service. One hour a week is better than none I guess.

I agree with your that God reveals Himself in the condition of love, which is a kind of spiritual and physical unity.

It is truely amazing the coping mechanism we humans have so we can enjoy the bliss of eternity while at the same time, suffering and struggling here on earth. It sounds like we are on the same plane trying to share the joy. My mother fell down and had a hip replacement. We took turns spending the night with her because we had to help her go to the bathroom ect. She couldn't do anything. She hit her head and went through some major changes. The meaness inside she fought for awhile holding on to it as independance, but as soon as she accepted her situation she became a beautiful child. She had good reasons for treating me the way she did, I will never understand them so I don't judge. I just enjoy the time we have now. I think I was accepted back when I got married in Korea and finally returned to the US, it was an excuse to just go on without appologies or excuses.

What you wrote was seems to come from a point of witnessing. Witnessing is looking upon a broader horizon across all the experiences that are limited and unpleasant. With unattachment you see the dazzling light of a new dawn where everything is unified in a spiritual vision. It seems you sister was attached to her world and couldn't open up to help you. My parents dis-owned me and kicked me out of the house in High School. My brother and my country betrayed me so I too had resentment and anger. Thanks to unattachment I gave up the emotions and am now helping my parents in their old age and have relations with my brother. My emotions within and without resolved themselves in the simplicity of the whole experience, when I focused on simple unity and have become acquainted with the pure consciousness that is apparently outside and within ourselves. This consciousness is witnessed inside, when we know that reality is more than what is observed outside with the senses. Letting go of what is little, I entered into a larger concept of life where there is nothing to fear because I realized that conflict is the result of seeing only in part, not the whole picture. What happened to me left scares, but they have healed and are now scares of strength. I am glad all that happened because it sent me searching for my true home. When I lived as a monk I became closer to women than ever before because I was unattached to any relationship. Maybe, because I and the women were not threatened by each other we could become very close. I think unattachment can be interpreted in many ways, but I see it as a tool to witness and not be attached to the physical realm trying to control and manipulate things. It helps me to let it be and flow.

In India as a monk for one week I could only eat what food I received from begging. As an American I was bigger than most Indians, but when I went to thier mud house with a dirt floor they gave me half of their daily ration of rice and gur (cane sugar). They were unattached in their giving because they didn't care what country, religion or situation I was in; they gave with pleasure. They had the faith that God would provide for their family the next day because they were living day to day. Similar experiences happened to me in Morrocco where I was seen as the enemy and the people helping could of been arrested because it was during the day in Ramadan. State religion demanded everyone fast during the day. Now, I am very comfortible and if I lost everything I hope to have the same mentality thanks to unatachment. I have things and know they are temporary. I don't think my family has internalized unatachment and would probably suffer. I was happy as a monk with nothing and I am happy now with comfort, thanks to unattachment.

Traveller, Jesus is guiding your every step. You took the first step a long time ago and believe that Christ's deeper reality is real. You have the passion and dedication and are taking the steps out of separetness to wholeness. I bow to the divinity within you.

i would say it is better to invest one's energy into oneself and one's own system of worship than to judge other system's.

Great post. When two countries are fighting both countries think God is on their side. He is on both sides in His cosmic play. Everything is directed by Him to teach us a leason. He puts ideas, thoughts, dreams, arguements in our mind and if we trust in Him we follow them to their conclusion, which sometimes points out that we are wrong andr those thoughts were wrong, but they were put there to teach something.

I am 58, lived over seas 20 years and was fortunate to be guided by many individuals that I met in many countries. Some very drastic things happened to me that forced me to reflect, re-evaluate and leave the US. I lived as a monk in most of the countries with the vow of poverty and watched as local people took care of me, physically, emotionally and spiritually. Poor people in poor countries shared many things with me in India, Middle East , Africa, Europe and Asia. They showed me the Spirit, acceptance, unattachment and joy beyond the mind. I am trying to pay my debt to them by sharing those things here in the US. In 1978 I was in Iran for their revolution and the Iranians were so good to me. We must respect all life, because that is our life. The modern saints that I encountered see the value of money as a medicine for the suffering humans caught up in this world's poverty. They know that the first layers of the mind have to be satisfied and developed before the higher layers can be experienced. How can a family think of the more subtle things of life, when it can't think past lunch? If the parents of a child have no money to feed their baby, they will surely be active in the pursuit of food; therefore, they won't have the time to contemplate their pure essence or God. If modern man has a chance to make money, he surely will not reject it; the hard part is to be unattached from it. It is good to have food, shelter, nice clothes and a car, but it is not good to be consumed with them. They can also affect the mind and keep it from the higher pursuits that will make it truly happy. Acceptance, unattachment, and joy all in the Spirit of God. Salutations to the Divinity within you...

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